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Case Study: Developing Emotional Intelligence

12/6/2021

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Children learn to respond to situations better when their emotional intelligence is developed. The first step is to develop self awareness and awareness of emotions in others and Esha has demonstrated that very well in this case. Here is a short case study of transformative learning from our Afterschool Program on how a child who developed Emotional Intelligence transferred her learning to the home environment.



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Being A Changemaker

14/11/2020

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A lot of us have grown up 'rebels', throwing tantrums, opposing views, walking out on things that didn't feel right, etc. And most of us have labelled them as rebellious acts. Now to wonder on them, did we really create a positive impact doing those acts? Did that help anybody? If we could do certain things differently, how would we change them?

Being a changemaker is a shift in identity where, we create a change within ourselves first, before venturing out into the world to shift and change. Being a changemaker is so much more than what we call a rebel. A changemaker is a learner for life, a problem solver, an inspiration, an empowered being.

So how can one become a changemaker? Is being a changemaker for everyone? Moreover, do you think you are/ can/ want to be a changemaker?

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Let's make India beautiful: Our 5 year olds creating a change

22/2/2020

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It's the month of August, the month that's special for every Indian. It was the month in which India achieved Independence from the British rule 73 years ago. As the rest of India celebrates this month by reminiscing the sacrifice of the various people who contributed to the Indian freedom movement, our pre-schoolers (5-6 year olds) at Sparkling Mindz began their discussion with a prompt "What do they love about India?" and the following were their responses along with how the discussion moved forward.

*Sh: I love that India is a big country and I love the national anthem.
Sh: Why do we sing the national anthem?
Ash: We sing national anthem to wish India*

This opened up an opportunity to discuss about the geography of India. The States, union territories and their capitals. How big India was before Independence and how big is it now and a little about the national anthem.
*Ana: I love that freedom fighters fought for our country*

This led us to discuss about who did the freedom fighters fight against and why? Why did the British East India company come to India? Who were the freedom fighters and how did they fight (Violence and Non violence)?

*Em: everywhere I travel in India, I love the buildings*
This led us to discuss about the famous monuments or heritage towns in India.

*Aad: I love India because it's colorful*
This opened up an opportunity to talk about the diversity in language, food, clothing, culture etc. And how inspite of our difference we love each other.
*Tan: I love India because it's beautiful*
*Abh: But, there are also people who litter in India*
This statement ignited a spark in the class and everybody seemed upset and concerned.
Facilitator: Why do you think people litter in India.
Abh: Because they are bad people.
Facilitator: It is? Sometimes in class we forget to follow ground rules, does that make us bad people?
Class: No, they just don't know the ground rules.
Facilitator: what do you think we should all do about this?
Tan: When somebody litters we can take it and throw in the dustbin.
Facilitator: Do you think they will learn if we pick up all the garbage for them? Is it possible for us to pick up all the garbage in India?
Ved: We need to clean our roads.
Abhi: We need to have more bins on the pathways.
Avy: We need to have poop bins for the dogs on the streets.
Adi: If you don't find garbage bin, keep it in a bag and throw it when you see a dust bin.
Post this discussion, children began reporting about littering incidents they come across on a daily basis while traveling from school to home and other places.
Noticing the concern and the spark in children to make a change, the facilitator gave them a choice to come up with ways to educate people on keeping India clean.
​
Few suggestions they came up with were-
1. Role play
2. Making placards
3. Making videos
4. Writing letters

Considering all their suggestion the facilitator helped them thread through a mime which they performed to educate their parents on Independence day. They also went about and wrote letters to people they see littering the streets. 


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​Contributed by Yashika CG, Facilitator, Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool
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'Princesses Are Not Just Pretty!' Is it a boys' book or girls' book?

4/1/2020

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"He didn't read the book because it's for girls, he said."

"He didn't read it. He didn't like it at all. "

We received this feedback from the parents of two of the 4 year olds when they went home with 'Princesses Are Not Just Pretty' book after the Library Hour. The facilitator thought it would be interesting to get to the bottom of this 'boy-girl' bias for the book by reading it and discussing the same book in class. ​
When the preschoolers come in the morning to school, they have a play session (called Invitation To Play) where they are given a variety of things to play with to begin their day. Today, we decided to setup a kitchen set to play with where they were all to throw a birthday party for an imaginary princess which, they all happily agreed to.
K and T: I am making tea for the princess. 
An: I am cleaning up, folding and ironing all her clothes. 
S: I am making chicken for the princess. 
Kr, H and At: We are all cleaning up ma'am for the princess!
Together they all threw that princess the best birthday party ever and cleaned up after!


Post this, they all sat around for the book reading. Not many seemed excited about this particular book, especially the two boys who didn't want to read it but we were on an exploratory mission, so we went ahead anyway.

F: Do you think this book is only for girls?
H: No it's for boys and girls. Because there are kings and princesses in the book. 
K observing and nodding as if agreeing to the question whether this book is only for girls.
Aa loses his patience in the meanwhile and calls out to the facilitator: Ma'am can you please read the book? 
F: Alright. 
And the book reading began. 

On the first page, it talks about how the three princesses were taking a break, drinking tea, after managing their kingdom. There was a discussion on what kingdom is, where a kingdom was compared to the size of a country where they all wowed and drifted off to an imaginary land. 

F: What do princesses do? 
T: Have lovely tea parties.
An: Long hair
…
This conversation didn't seem to go anywhere. So the facilitator decided to give the children another perspective on princesses as they were having difficulties imagining a princess to do anything else. Since there were lots of games being played in the class with a lot of superheores and robots and fire, the facilitator thought of it as a good connection to make. 
F: Did you know there are princesses who can shoot arrows and fight with swords? 

There was silence. There were no sparks. No connections.

So the facilitator decided to give an example,
F: Who here has watched Bahubali?
Most of them raised their hands to this! 
F: Do you remember the princess in that movie who fought the bad guys with swords, bow and arrow?

Suddenly there were sparks in their eyes as if they were all in another land where they were witnessing princesses fighting wars and being heroes! 

Both the boys and girls were completely in on reading the book after this. After finishing the book, they all collectively agreed that whether they are princesses or princes, kings or queens, we need to be kind, strong and compassionate and that it's not always about looking pretty. 

Boys thing - girls thing is a very common distinction that's prevalent in our society today. It affects our children from such a young age and they refuse to participate in things that remotely resemble anything of the opposite sex, making children most of the time very inflexible and to start fights. 

An amazing book as this would have gone unread if it wasn't read in class to everybody and broken the stereotype of this 'boy-girl' confusion. As parents and adults who work with children, we need to make sure that we let our children figure things out for themselves and not pass down stereotypes and belief systems that aren't productive. Children need to learn to look at the world and wonder, and not corner themselves saying they are limited only to certain types of things just because they are born in that gender! We need to teach them to be free and wild, just as how naturally they are!

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


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Making ourselves better! - Point system vs. self-improvement

18/11/2019

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The 5 year olds classroom had a problem: Take homes were not being brought back regularly. As we gave them work that could help them connect with their learning and tried to make it as interesting as it could be. We figured the motivation levels with self-work at home seemed to be low and how might we increase it?

So, one day, the facilitator explored the option of giving points for take-homes that was done promptly, for better participation in class discussions, and for following the ground rules in the class. The idea was to motivate the children to complete their homework regularly, concentrate during class to ensure better learning and to maintain positive discipline.

After a while it was noticed that some children who usually followed all the ground rules started accumulating points very easily. Over a period of time, these children started getting obsessed over getting more and more points, though they did work towards it. Whereas, the others started giving up on their efforts to become better since the goal seemed very far away to achieve.
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Obviously, the system was not working. A change was needed. While discussing with the team we figured that like we give them victory claps from their baseline and view their growth from their baseline​, what if there can be individual goals set for each child to work towards so that goals can seem more motivating.

To initiate this process, children were shown a video, ”We’re different, but we’re the same”.
This video talked about how our looks, appearances and nature may be different but still we all
belong to the same group. Based on the video, a discussion was held in class where we discussed
about how each of us have different strengths and challenges.  Children were
encouraged to think about how they can aim to become better by comparing themselves with
their our own previous performances rather than comparing themselves with others. This set the stage for children to work on setting goals for making themselves better.
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​​Children started identifying areas where they need to improve and came up with their individual goals. 

Children who were just learning to read, or usually showed reluctance to participate in reading activities, came up with the goal , “I will learn to read”.
Avner identified that he gets easily distracted during discussions and came up with the goal, “I will not play in the class (during discussions)".
Ananya decided to challenge herself by coming up with goals to learn new words and share new
ideas.
Children who were not very regular in doing their take-homes decided to do their take-
homes regularly.
Naitik and Vineet identified specific topics or worksheets which they found to
be challenging and came up with goals like, “I will learn to do clock worksheet well", "I will
do syllabication worksheet well".

Daniel who was yet to learn to write in cursive, made his goal as, "I will learn to write in
cursive." 
Vineet who tends to cry and shout when he gets upset decided, “I will not cry and
shout”. 
Some children who seek their parents’ help for their take-homes, instead of attempting
to do on their own, came up with the goal to do their take-homes on their own.
Chirag identified that other children in the class get hurt because he tends to jump about in class and decided,” I will not hurt”. Children who usually prefer to sit, talk and play with only their friends, decided to make new friends...

​​The goals have been put up in the class and children have embarked on their journey in
MAKING THEMSELVES BETTER! Here all the children are equally challenged as they were
working on their individual shortcomings. And also, the goals seemed achievable to them. For example, the facilitator helps Avner by putting tally marks on the board every time he gets distracted, and every day he is now working towards gradually reducing the number of distractions. Rithanya, Nithin and Eden have started saving time for reading practice every day during the snack break. Mishka and Vineet have started working on doing their take-homes regularly. Mohammed is trying to make new friends by sitting with different children during activities and circle time.

​When given the opportunity, these 5-7 year olds proved that they were capable of self-
introspection, leading to self-awareness of their strengths and challenges, and setting goals for
self-improvement! How amazing?!
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Contributed by Jennifer Christy, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool. 
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Magical Group Hug Lifts a Mood!

16/5/2019

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Today a child came crying to school. It is not a usual sight at our school so naturally all the children stared at her and didn't know what to do - the loudness, the distraction, the helplessness...it was all evident in each of their faces. Once she settled, they all came around for their Welcome Song.  As the facilitator was calling her to the group, everybody was staring at her wondering what she was going to say. Eventually, she told everybody that she doesn't want to join in, she wants to stand alone. Children understood that but instead of ignoring her...they did something magical. One by one, all of them started to walk towards her and gave her a hug, which culminated in a group her. They stood with her until the facilitator asked all of them to come back. They held her gently unlike their usual group hugs that are very driven, loud and fast.  She was brought in with love and gentle affection. She was moved, she joined in.

Children know when to be gentle and kind to one another and it's a very important quality to have and to build within. For this class, we have been working on awareness and connection to emotions, expressing and understanding them in each other as well as being friends with all your classmates. Hence, the sensitivity that children showed - no one laughed, no one ignored, they were all very gentle. Then, the collective synergistic action they took together to bring her in - again with no verbal exchange between each other. All of it shows that something magical is happening in the class of my 3 year olds.

As parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, and anybody, let's help cultivate kindness and empathy among children, so that they nourish both themselves and others around them. But first, let's cultivate the same within us so that we can show them how to build it within themselves, and emerge stronger than they already are.

Contributed by Sruthy Krishna, Learning Facilitator at Sparkling Mindz Global Preschool.
Reviewed by Sreeja Iyer, CEO, Sparkling Mindz Global
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Can 3-year olds show empathy?

18/2/2019

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The 3 year olds class is having snacks, it's around 10.30am. The children have a place where they usually keep their water bottles to pick up during the day in the class. Ab is drinking water from his water bottle at the table and keeps it on the table itself. Av takes Ab's water bottle from the table, very graciously returns it to the window. Ab, confused by his bottle being moved tries to take it back, perhaps he was not done yet. Av just continues to move it further on the window where everyone's bottle was kept as if telling Ab, "this is where it should go". Unable to understand Av's intentions and thoroughly frustrated by now, Ab gets upset and starts crying. Maybe, Ab didn't like the intrusion into how and where he kept his water bottle and Av was more concerned about returning things to their rightful place.

F: Why don't you talk to Ab about what he is doing and that you are not liking it?

This didn't work. Ab did not stop crying and no amount of conversation seemed to be helping. Av struggled to see the impact of his behavior on Ab and Ab struggled to see the positive intention behind Av's action.

An who was sitting and watching all of this, seemed to have sensed and understood Ab's discomfort. She takes the water bottle from the window and gives it to Ab letting him have it back on the table.

She is not done yet; she runs to get a tissue and hands one over to Ab to console him too!

In this scenario, what An did was extraordinary where she showed an incredible amount of empathy to understand both the emotion and the intention. An took the initiative to solve the problem too and go over and above to show care. Ab was not communicating much yet, hence, An's efforts and thinking on the feet seemed even more exceptional.

Many a times, children seem to mimic a caring behavior from home. But thinking on your feet to solve a classmate's problem needs empathy in good measure.

When we as facilitators and responsible adults who work with children learn to observe these nuances, cultivate and nurture them is when we create an empathetic generation.


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

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