I must have been a dancer in my previous life.

I have a strange connection to rhythm, beats and danceable music of all kinds. I find myself thinking in choreography too. I've put a lot of that to some good use in childhood and at preschool/school now. It's the other way round though, I didn't put it to good use because I had to. I did it because it felt right, I wanted to. It's one of my happy place to be - to dance to music. 

When I don't find a place, a partner or time to do it, I dance in my head. I've never been formally trained on dance and my mom was not amused that I wanted to do it instead of singing which she thought would be a life long hobby for me and she worked hard to train me in it. Dance had a limited shelf-life, in her view. She had a point. She was a trained dancer but she couldn't dance after a certain age, it was considered inappropriate but, I didn't care. I loved to dance and she didn't stop me. 

I don't particularly enjoy the work of costume, make-up, jewellery, flowers and the paraphernalia that goes with it. But, I didn't care. I'd always find someone to help out so that I could dance. I've beautiful memories of the dance, the floor, the rhythm, the team moving in unison, the song, my body, the beats and everyone else syncing for those few minutes. It's like experiencing the bliss of art for a few minutes that can then last a lifetime. This is what irresistible happiness must feel like!

Contributed by Sreeja Iyer, CEO & Founder of Sparkling Mindz Global School, Preschool, and Afterschool.

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#facilitatordiaries
#mypassion
#sundaymusings

​Is learning age-dependent? Is it limited to school or textbooks or exams? 

As our Cubs (4 to 5 Y/O) were thinking about what learning means to them, this is what one of them had to share. 

"When you are small you learn new things. When you are big also we learn new things"
- R,5 year old.

At SM children believe and know that learning is for life. Children equip themselves for constant change and are open to becoming the best version of themselves constantly by imbibing this belief in them. 

Can we always learn? Can we instill in us the mindset to be a learner? How so? (and the discussion continues...)

Inspiring learners for life!

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#inspiringconfidentlearners
#learnersforlife
#21stcenturylearning

Isn't it amazing how every human child is a possibility of many more possibilities! I sometimes ask myself this question, would I have been a different person had I had different circumstances? Like different parents, different religion, different school, different friends, read different books, watched different movies or may have listened to different kind of music. I strongly feel that I would have been a different person.

Human children are the one species who are born immature, both biologically and mentally compared to any other. This is possibly the nature's way of saying "build whatever you want to!" Isn't it fascinating? Let me tell you how I see this. I was raised around Andaman & Nicobar Islands, where I have seen young fishermen's children learning to swim at a younger age. And I have seen tribal children climbing tall coconut and arecanut trees; school going children cutting grass and milking cows. I have seen some working hard during daytime and studying hard at night. This made me realise something, there is nothing impossible for these amazing wonders. They can do anything they set their mind to. Their  ecosystem does impact who they become eventually. Now that we know this let's ask ourselves how do we make these wonders become the most wonderful being that they can be?

​Contributted by Minesh Happy, Chief Mentor at Sparkling Mindz Global School and Preschool.

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#inspiringconfidentlearners
#childawonder
#everychildcan
#21stcenturylearning
​#facilitatordiaries

​Every since I joined Sparkling Mindz a year and a half ago, I secretly wished to have been here as a child rather than a facilitator. Every time I heard stories of what happened in class or how a CWE or MPD or Life class went about, I would visualize myself sitting in the class experiencing the whole magic and feel disappointed at the end for not being there. 

I also noticed during a lot of events, I would get into a child mode and struggle to get into a facilitator mode. One such event was the Dandeli trip, where I just felt like one among the children and was constantly trying to pull myself out of that mode and wished I was not a facilitator but a child. 

But, when I was thinking about it yesterday, it just occurred to me that I am equally experiencing that magic that the children experience even by being a facilitator and I am so privileged to be back at school all over again and learn way more than what I learnt at school and this time with incomparable passion and enthusiasm and I am so grateful for this second chance.

Contributed by Yashika CG, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.

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​#facilitatordiaries

Today, I played.

Actually, last night I played a game of frisbee. I had never played this before. Unless, running back and forth and jumping with a disk flying around in the perimeter can be considered playing a sport. But for last night, and for this morning, I can safely say that I did play. 

I jumped and I threw and I caught and I ran. 

Oh! I ran! 
I learned and I tried and felt like I can!
Oh! I can! 

And all of this felt amazing. I think I have had a belief about myself that I can’t run and I can’t play and I don’t have the stamina for it, or that, I don’t have the skill for it. Long back, in school, I started thinking of myself as not-the-sporty-kind-of-girl. Last night, I realised that maybe I am not, not-the-sporty-kind-of-girl. But more than this I realised that I don’t need to be the not-sporty-kind-of-girl or the-sporty-kind-of-girl or any-kind-of-girl or some-kind-of-boy or.. Aaah! Even writing these labels is exhausting, forget about thinking about them, living up to them, living with them. 

This time when I played I just played. I didn’t think about who I am or am not, what I want or want not, what I have or have not. A lot of this also came from the team I played with, who did not expect me to be, or not be, anyone; didn’t need me to do, or do not, anything. 

With this state of mind and body, free of labels and judgment, I could just play. And when I could do this, I found that it was also easier to learn to play well. I didn’t need to. But I just wanted to have the maximum amount of fun that I could have, and playing the game well would give me that. So I tried. 
​
Today morning, as soon as I entered school, the prospect of playing a game emerged. And to my great surprise, I didn’t hesitate. I wasn’t conscious. I wasn’t scared of being exposed and everyone seeing how funny I look when I run or I didn’t have sounds of hushed giggling when I drop a catch. I just felt wow. Now, this is not a frisbee fairy tale, so I can’t say that suddenly I played like a champion. I have not a single catch to describe or 10 seconds of holding the disk, with my pulse rising, all eyes on me. I have a fall. I have some running and panting and watching the disk fly between my hands before I bring them together to hold it… I also have years of believing I can’t play that dissolved into the dust; loud jeers, that I dodged with louder laughs, which faded into silence… And most of all, I have a love to play, renewed and refreshed and freed from its chains, which is flowing through my legs. And a vision of a disk flying above and I, running below in sync… a slight lift and together! So, maybe, this is a frisbee fairy tale, after all!

Contributed by Pooova Agarwal, Learning Facilitator and Curriculum Designer at Sparkling Mindz Global School.

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#facilitatordiaries

I went away, to get some ‘me’ time. Plugged into a system… and my ears listened to something or my eyes watched something or my tongue tasted.. I was not quite sure what the sound or the sight or the taste was… but there was something, and yes, it was great! It was amazing! 
​
Sometimes I spoke… to someone, or perhaps, someone in my head… or to someone in the future.. Someone also spoke back at me…. Yes, words were exchanged, sometimes they were wordless stories… the meaning was unclear… but there was something, and yes, it was so great!

It was amazing! 

I always love this ‘me’ time. When I can really be ‘me’.. You know, just myself… I don’t have to listen to anyone or respond to anyone… I can do anything I want, think whatever I want, be whoever I want to be! Cuz, that’s me man! And I. LOVE. IT. And you know what, more than loving it, I just need it! I need my personal space… which nobody can enter.. Except, the voices in my head, the habits in my mind… and many other entities that I do not know, or do not wish to know… they come and they go… 

All these years, I had this ‘me’ time and I always asked for it and needed it and wanted it and hated people who didn’t give it to me and situations that didn’t give it to me… but all these years, there was something missing…. I loved this ‘me’ time, and I called it ‘me’ time...but ‘I’ had forgotten to invite ‘me’ to spend it with…

​Contributed by Poorva Agarwal, Learning Facilitator and Curriculum Designer at Sparkling Mindz Global School.

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#inspiringconfidentlearners
#socialemotionallearning
#metime

"What are you?"
Child doesn't answer. 
Continues to play, fully engrossed. 

"What are you playing?"
"Blocks", without looking up. 

There's so much happening in that little mind, from converting the imagination to the 3D structure, from building and from it falling, not giving up to building more, more different this time. It looks taller this time, I tell myself. 

The child takes an orange block and gives me one. 

"Here, you put it here." Points at the right side of that incomplete structure. 

"Sure. What am I making?"
"You're feeding the gorilla a piece of grass. He doesn't like fruits. He eats only grass. He was once friends with a cow. The cow told him that only grasses are healthy. He likes to be healthy."

I do as I am told. 
​
"How did you get to know about the gorilla?"
"He is my pet. He lives at my home. My mamma doesn't like him. Because he's so messy. So I take him with me in my bag, wherever I go. That makes him happy. I am his best friend!" There breaks out a smile on that little curious face. 

I am left to wonder. This child has taught me to wonder just by observing and listening to what he's made. 

"This is beautiful. Can I also be his friend?"
"You already are. He likes everybody. Here. You can give him a hug, if you want."

The child hands over a blue block to me. After I give that block a little hug, the child took it back and said, "He wants to sleep now. He just had food." 

And the child cleaned up the blocks, and looked at me. 

"I want to go home."
"Sure. I think your parents are waiting for you upstairs."

And up the stairs, ran that little bubble of joy, laughing, light on his feet, sparks flying everywhere, spreading curiosities and inspiration wherever he touched.

I can probably never see a blue block and pretend to not see a gorilla, ever again.

​Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global School.

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#inspiringconfidentlearners
#imaginativeplay
#creativeplay
#socialemotionallearning

On the back stage, children running around to get their costumes changed. The annual day that they have been practicing for over a month was finally here. It was their turn to go on stage. Amidst the frenzy I (facilitator) saw A a 6 year old sitting alone on a bench holding his stomach. 

Me: A, what are you doing there? Are you okay?
A: (his eyes filled, seeming nervous) What if I exit from the wrong side by mistake?
Me: You won't, you have already practiced so well and you remember everything. Even if you forget it's ok, we'll learn from our mistake.

By then T and Ad notice us and walk toward us.

T: What happened?
Me: A is a little nervous.
T: A, I also get nervous when I go on the stage.
Ad: I also get nervous.
T: A, this is not even your first time on stage, you already finished one round. Remember, You also went on the stage for Independence day and Poetic Soiree? Don't worry, you'll do well.

A, now seemingly a little relieved, probably he felt reassured by his friends and got into his costumes and off they went for their dance.

Maybe it was a sense of reassurance from his trusted peers, maybe it was memories invoked where he had successfully done shows on stage before, maybe it was reminding him of his capabilities, or maybe it was showing that it is okay to make mistakes on the way and that he will learn from them, and maybe it was all of it combined, acting as his support system that gave him the courage to go on the stage. 

Children, when given a space to grow, with a strong enabling support system that believe in them, can achieve anything they put their mind to, with hiccups along the way that they learn from. 

Contributed by ​Yashika CG, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool. 

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#beingchangemakers
#supportsystem