Potential: The first word that comes to mind after a week of teaching Railway Class 8A. The girls have strong personalities, a willingness to learn and seemingly endless excitement. Perhaps even more importantly, our classes have already seen hints of the girls’ creativity come into play. This combination could lead to truly remarkable outcomes from the semester.  As the three of us navigate the newness of living and teaching in India, it occurred to me that these girls are simultaneously starting on their own journeys of discovery. We will both be faced with many challenges. As fellows, we seek to find ways to fall into step with the rhythm of Hyderabad and to develop our voices as teachers. At the same time, I especially hope that we can help the girls build their own sense of belonging in the digital world.

Our first three classes introduced photographs as sources of stories, the concept of matching words with pictures and the difference between subtitles and voiceovers. We integrated drawing exercises into each class. One girl drew Kelly and me in India:

Kelly and Dana in India

We appear to be saluting the Indian flag. This topic was not the assignment (we had asked them to draw a visual interpretation of a letter they had written for homework), but the drawing conjured all kinds of emotions in me. I was touched that Devipriya wanted to draw us and pleased that she gave us bindis and smiles. Mostly, I was curious about the salute. Is she hoping that we will come to love India? In a strange way, the drawing gave me a strong sense of humility. I’m so thankful to have a hand in contributing to the global education of these students. The next several months will be spent working to live up to both the legacy of past fellows and the sense of obligation to the students—who truly deserve a chance to raise their voices.