One student recently asked me if he would be receiving a certificate at the end of the TMS class in March. We haven’t yet talked to Remy & Piya about any end of the year logistics, so my response was ‘Sure, I’ll give you a certificate.’ His next follow up question was ‘Whose signature will be on the certificate?’ to which I said ‘Hmmm…I’ll sign it!’ I’m constantly asked, by students, teachers, and my own family members, why I am in India and what I stand to gain from teaching The Modern Story curriculum. I truly believe in what we are doing, but I wonder how we can effectively assess how students have grown in the past couple of months through the course. As a teacher, it’s easy for me to say what I’ve learned, but it becomes more difficult when I think about this issue from the students’ perspective. I definitely sense their excitement for the class, but wonder how much that has to do with the new friendships that they have made. For now though it seems easiest to understand their progress by reviewing the photographs that they have taken and the stories that they have written.

For their most recent assignment, students at the Railway school were asked to identify a family member or someone in their community to interview. After interviewing them, they took images related to a story about that individual that they would then combine in a Power Point presentation. While many students chose younger brothers and sisters or other immediate family members, I was impressed by Hajera’s choice of a nearby bake shop owner. She asked him why, in addition, to breads and pastries, he also sold soaps, shampoos, and other miscellaneous items. Many other students didn’t push the limits with similarly challenging questions, asking instead what people’s favorite foods were or what their biggest secret was. Her questions were thought provoking, resulting in the creation of a unique story about one of her community members.

Here are a couple of Hajera’s photos for this project: