In the Head Mistress’s office, a painting of scenic India is accompanied by the caption: “To know the world one must construct it.” Mr. Pravakar, a teacher and assistant at the Railway Girls School, said,

“It took me three days to select this quote. I believe it captures the spirit of our school.”

The quote also resonated in me the spirit of The Modern Story (TMS). My goal as a TMS fellow is to both ‘bridge the digital divide’ and instill a sense of individual expression that ‘constructs,’ as the quote says, a student’s world view through images, sound and moving images to help themselves and others better understand their lives.

During a brief orientation discussion, Mr. Pravakar also noted,

“In the U.S. there is talk about first generation college students. Here, these girls are first generation learners. Their parents never had any schooling of any kind.”

He went on to describe a story of a former student,

“One girl, a student of ours, has been very successful. Neither of her parents went to school. She attended classes here at the Railway Girls school. She wanted to go to college. She told her father ‘No, now I want to study. I know how much you’ve spent on me my whole life. It is not much. Now, I want to go to college. I want this and you’ll give it to me.”

Her father was a carpenter on the railway. She went to college. She is a successful working woman. Mr. Pravakar says that 1/2 his classes are spent teaching and the majority of the rest of the time is devoted to motivational speaking and exercises.

With regard to our curriculum, I feel that motivation is inherent in many of the exercises of telling stories that are of interest and inspiration to the girls. Our first day went amazingly well. The girls are bright. They internalize the material quickly and demonstrate above average discipline. We have started classes here three weeks behind schedule. We have a lot of work to do and I can’t wait to go full steam ahead.

For today’s class we talked about images, sounds, and moving images. TMS fellows used an elevated platform in the classroom to give an example of images and moving images by imitating a fashion runway. One of the girls said she wanted to be a fashion designer and I like to keep in-class examples related to student interests. To demonstrate ‘subject movement,’ one student walked down the ‘runway’ and posed for the camera modeling her ‘dress.’ To demonstrate ‘camera movement’ I then showed the students how a cameraman can move 360 degrees around the model to show off the dress, or how he can pan down the runway as the model walks etc. The students giggled but immediately understood the point: Moving images are developed by things moving in the frame and/or moving the camera itself. Still images can be taken when the model stops to model her dress. Having enough light is important for the dress to look inviting to the crowd. TMS Fellow Vidya Putcha then did an excellent presentation on different kinds of sounds that are involved in telling digital stories.

Vidya also showed her example of a digital story on powerpoint. She talked about her family and showed photos accompanied by text. The students then did the following exercise. They chose an issue in their community. They drew a frame. They drew something in the frame demonstrating their community issue. They then answered the following three questions. ‘What is in the frame. What is not in the frame. Why are these choices important.’ For an example, I chose a pressing issue in my community which is gun violence. I drew a frame. I drew in the frame two men and a gun. I responded to the questions;

“What is in the frame: Two men and a gun.”

“What is not in the frame: Policemen, ambulances, families, children playing, people smiling.”

Why are these choices important: The absence of police suggests that this is a problem related to gun violence. The absence of children playing suggests that kids are not safe to play in the streets where gun violence is a problem. The presence of a gun and two men suggests that gun violence is a problem people are concerned about where I live.”

The Modern Story, with support form The America India Foundation’s Digital Equalizer Program, now has two classes operating at the Railway Girls School. Today was our first day. I am looking forward to a successful semester.

-Danny Thiemann
2009/2010 Fellow