#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#21stcenturylearning
#socialemotionallearning
#emotionalawareness
#emotionalintelligent
#afterschoolprogram
​#learningforkeeps

In today's fast pacing and ever-changing world, the requirements of children are also rapidly and constantly shifting. To be able to help them access their highest potential and become the best versions of who they can be, those around them also need to adapt and evolve, and we can start from the basics - our education system.

Today's education system needs a major transformation so that children's needs can be catered to in a holistic manner. It goes without saying that educators play a huge role in this. Here is our founder, Ms. Sreeja Iyer, in conversation with The Better India about today's education system and its role in shaping today's generation and the many more to come, and why it could be an 'unconventional' career path.

 While in the midst of chasing after things we want to achieve or acquire, how often are we approaching life or rather, really experiencing life? How often do we choose to live our life the way we truly feel inspired? What are we learning from our lives? 

Here is Esha giving a perspective on life through her eyes, and how choosing to see life as a chef has helped her see things in many interesting ways, and a lot to take away. 

Let us know in the comments what the flavours of your life are. 

​#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#youngachieversacademy
#21stcenturylearners
#socialemotionallearning
#reggioemiliainspiredlearningphilosophy
​

SM's holistic approach to learning and life cannot be complete without our parents. But what is the role of parents at Sparkling Mindz? How do we continue to keep child in the centre, keeping the caregivers in mind? What are the expectations from our parents? 

Let's listen to our founder, Ms. Sreeja Iyer, give us a sneak peak into our culture. 

A level 3 Young Achievers Academy Class. A game is laid out and a discussion ensues just prior to it.

​N is a 12 year old who doesn't like rules.

N: I don't like rules, rules are bad.
F: When you are at a traffic signal do you tell your mom to keep going even if it is red light because rules are bad?
N: No!
F: What about in Nikhalasia (his fantasy land), what will you do there?
N: I'll build a bridge for people to walk above vehicles. So no traffic signals.
F: So then people have to walk above and vehicles have to go below - aren't they rules too?
N: Yes
F: Are they bad?
N: Well, no they keep people safe and moving happily. Not all rules are bad :)

In yet another 10 year old child's case: his prompt was "a perfect evening". Sharing his visualization.

"I've been struggling to watch a particular angle of the moon for several days, got a picture uploaded it onto a forum that I've been following. I won a cash prize of $1000! Yayyyy!

When I told my dad in the evening, Dad and I decided to go for a celebratory walk (mom not joining...yay!!!). I saw a t-shirt at discount and bought it! Day was made!"

Facilitator: What was the perfect part S?
S: Of course, the cash prize and the new T-shirt! Duh!!!
F: In your visualization.

S is looking at external and materialistic things as making up a perfect evening and not seeing the satisfaction in his own effort of getting the snap of the moon or his evening spent in his dad's company.

The Covid-19 took the whole world by surprise. Before we knew it, the entire world went into lockdown. The regular life came to a pause. It started to show up in everybody's lives differently. When we look back at it a few years, decades and centuries from now, what will people see or talk about?

​As the children in the school embarked on a newsletter project on - No Virus Can Stop Us, they asked Sreeja Ma'am to write a column about it. She chose to write a poem in her role as a mother of all children in the system and it's an exploration of the mother and child together of the situation that they suddenly find themselves in as well as a promise of hope to the ones who can't see the light.

 Let's read on.
​

The machines came to a grinding halt
The morning rush no longer the default
People scared, holed up in no virus can stop us listening to me homes
A sight one heard of only in tomes

Did the virus win? What happened next?
Mummy, please don't stop just yet
How did everyone live like that?
In fear of a virus from a bat!

Did everyone put down their arms?
What about workers and the farms?
Did everyone stop everything?
From factories to market gathering?

No one went out to play?
Or on a holiday?
No one strolled in the park?
What a sad story with no spark!

Sonny boy! Not all that meets the eye
Is the truth or what we should buy
Let's Look further and beyond
To see how humans respond

There were doctors and nurses
Who without a care for themselves
Served every needy sick and patient
Despite lack of equipment

Tough decisions they had to make
Who to save and who to forsake
It broke their hearts and soul
Yet, they focused on the goal

To prevent loss of life and reduce pain
They tried hard, sometimes in vain
What made them not give up
Mummy, of what are they made up?

Pain and adversity have their way
They go deep within to find a way
Through the hurt and the pain
To build out the power within

Some families drew closer together
A few others broke altogether
Industries, workers had to heed
Very harsh realities indeed

Less fortunate were losing homes, 
Migrating by foot, hurt by stones
Hungry for food, blisters on feet
Breathing their last on the street

Briefly, students cheered
No exams that they feared
Soon boredom and despair loomed
Everything seemed to be doomed

Through these times, a few discovered they could
Work from home
Work on their own
Do house chores 
Cook
Dream
Sing
Dance
Tell stories
Play
Connect
Be generous
Serve
Discover themselves
Generally, do with less

Mummy, do tell me more
Did they forget how they lived before?
My dear boy, people didn't forget
But people didn't regret

They ventured forth to create - 
New ways of being
New songs for dreaming
New dances for creating
New books for seeing
New forms of working
New norms of serving
New connections for making
The world a better place
And each of our lives worth living.

It's your turn to reflect on how you are taking this pandemic, and how you are choosing to spend your time. Let us know in the comments. 


Contributed by Sreeja Iyer, CEO & Co- Founder, Sparkling Mindz Global School and Preschool.

#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#youngachieversacademy
#covid-19
#deepthinking
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#21stcenturylearning
#reggioinspiredschool

T is visibly upset, screaming and crying, sitting on her pink mat, "I want H to sit next to me not Ash!!!!!!!"

Now both the classes, Cubs (4 - 5 y/o) and Joeys (5 - 6 y/o) were staring at the scene, wondering what was happening. 

T was then reminded to use her words and that we couldn't help her if we didn't understand why she was so upset. After a few seconds, when nothing seemed to help her calm down, the facilitator (F) stepped in, "Can T please come with me? Let's go to our calming corner."

This was done so that her emotions could be addressed with her calmly and to help her calm herself. 

T and the F then came to their class (Cubs' class) for further discussion,

F: What happened? 
T, still crying, at this point her words are not clear, murmurs something. 
F: You know I can't understand what you are trying to tell me. 
T, calms down and starts to talk after a few seconds: I wanted Ash to sit here (pointing to her left) and H there (pointing to her right). I didn't want Ash to sit here (pointing to her right). 
F: So what can you do about it?
T (now angry): I told her so many times. She didn't listen!
F: Okay, I hear you. 
T: NOOOOOOOO!!! (screaming and crying slightly) She made me upset. 
F: You're saying that she made you feel upset and cry? 
T: Yes.
F: What can T do about this now?
T, now calm: I can take a deep breath and go sit somewhere where there is space. I can make new friends also. I was upset because she made me. 
F: Hmm, so you are saying that somebody else has the power to upset you and make you cry?
T agrees. 
F: So you have given the power to make you feel angry or any other emotions, to people outside of you?
T: Yes. Only others can make me feel bad and happy. 
F: Interesting. So that's what you're choosing to tell yourself ?
T, now pondering, but also agreeing. 
F: Okay. Let's think about it this way, what does this power of yours look like? 
T: Like a mossy rock!
F: Awesome! And?
T: Yellow, bright like that sun (points at the ceiling, to show the sun in the sky). Oh, I don't need that sun, I can make a sun for myself!
F: WOW! And where is this power?
T points into the middle of her chest.
F: In your chest? Wow. So when you give your power away to others, when others have the power to upset you or make you happy, where does this bright mossy sun go? 
T, thinking. No response. 
F continues, "Next time you feel like others have upset you, can you look for that power within you and see where it is?"
T: Yes.
F: And if you that power is missing, what can you do?
T: Put it back in my chest! And I'll be powerful and bright like the sun! (does a little dance)
F: Awesome! Would you like to think about this and come back after a bit, so we can talk more about it?
T: Mm-hmm. 

And off she went hopping and skipping with the power of mossy sun within her! Who knows what hidden powers we carry when we don't stop to introspect or too easily hand over all our power to others to hurt, to anger us. What if, we chose to take back that power and work with it instead? What would your power look like? Have you wondered?

And off she went back to the class, happy as ever. Holding space for children to express their emotions give them the understanding that it's okay to feel what they are feeling without feeling judged. In this space, they feel safe to be themselves, and to be open to express and explore different parts of them.  

Now when T starts to get triggered, she can simply be reminded of the sun to shift it back to within herself and she's good to go. And that's all it takes, to emerge out as an empowered person, to realize and remember that we have the power within us to do whatever it is that we want to, that it is nobody but us who are responsible for our own lives. ​


#sparklingmindzglobalschool
#sparklingmindzglobalpreschool
#socialemotionallearning
#youngachieversacademy
#inspiringconfidentlearners
#everychildcan
#21stcenturylearning
​#powerwithinme

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool