tms@themodernstory.com

India
13
Jun

2

Pre-Departure, The Modern Story Fellowship, TMS Fellow Updates

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Kelly Adams, 2012 Fellow Introduction

Namaste,

My name is Kelly Adams and I am one of the 2012 teaching fellows with the Modern Story.  I rest tonight at the home where I grew up in Lebanon, Pennsylvania- in a state of, at once, reflection and anxious anticipation for the journey of challenges and triumphs that await upon my arrival in Hyderabad in the coming days. I would like to take this time to introduce myself.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to work on behalf of the Modern Story, and towards the mission of integrating technology and narrative in the classroom and encouraging students to engage with their personal, social, and natural environment in a proactive way. I hope to facilitate experiential learning through the Modern Story curriculum and production of film projects that will extend from language development, technological confidence, and career planning to personal empowerment, cross-cultural education, and creative discipline. I am also excited to develop along my own course of digital storytelling in this unique opportunity to bring awareness to the lives of urban, Indian youth on a global scale, through the voices, images, and productions of those concerned.

I come from a background in Anthropology and Environmental Earth Science, and align my academic focus to the junction of these two disciplines, where the nature of human experience meets the human experience of nature. My senior thesis in Anthropology concerned Native American sacred lands, and the reality of religious freedom and self-determination for the Native American population of the United States. Writing this paper was as much a process of self-discovery as it was an academic project, and I was left with a new respect for the true beauty in diversity of ways of being, seeing, relating, understanding, and defining human life that co-inhabit the cultural sphere, and with a determination to serve the sustenance of cultural and ecological diversity on planet Earth.

I am a firm believer in the power of the film medium as a tool to enhance recognition, promote self-determination, and serve the empowerment of disconnected and disenfranchised people, communities, and cultures of the globe. This will not be my first experience in India – in fact, I have only recently returned to American soil after an 11-month trip abroad that began June, 2011.  I spent 7 months living and working in Pune, Maharasthra on behalf of a new media online documentary film festival, whose mission is to raise awareness and evolve human consciousness towards a more integrated and holistic paradigm. Upon completing my obligations with this festival, I took an extended layover in Cappadocia, Turkey where I had my first practice run at the creative construction of my own documentary project, which I entitled ‘Landscape Biography: Cappadocia” – something that I would like to pursue further in my future studies.

I am so excited to return to India, and feel that I would need to be a poet to communicate the emotion that this country awoke in me. Although I was initially disoriented in this country, by the overwhelming colors, sounds, smells, and tastes, there is a spirit that infests its air that has profoundly touched me.  In the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, ‘India is a bundle of contradictions, held together by strong but invisible threads,’ and it is a powerful place to confront the true unity in diversity of life on this planet. I have grown so much from my experience in India, and am excited for the chance to give back-  hands on, on the ground, and immersed in this culture daily.  If there is one thing I have learned in India, it is the extent of education that occurs outside of the classroom  – with this in my heart, I am grateful for the opportunity to enter the classroom and have a holistic, reciprocal, learning experience between fellows and students.

 

I am also excited to share this experience with all of you in the Modern Story community! We will be sure to keep you updated on the activities and projects of the students!

 

Until next time,

Kelly Adams

11
Dec

0

multimedia home

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Our Environment

Although the Final Celebration at Railway was the official showcase and end to TMS classes, we all decided to have small-scale celebrations at our AIF schools for the students who could not make it out to Railway.  We were lucky to have a few special visitors for those celebrations, including Liz Jones, a friend from the American Consultate in Hyderabad, who came out to meet the students at MGM and watch the screening of their video On the Road: Traffic in Hyderabad.  She was greeted by the customary sea of students and the chorus of “Hello m’am’s,” and interacted warmly and patiently with the onslaught.  The girls were so excited to have a visitor and to get a chance to examine the Ipad she brought along to teach them about the Consulate’s webpage and Facebook site.  She also took a lovely class photo for us and offered to cross-post the video on the Consulate’s webpage to help spread the video’s important message about pedestrian rights.

We are so proud of the videos the girls have produced this semester. Aside from all the work that went into writing, directing, shooting, and planning these video projects, many of our students also engaged in service learning projects that taught them how to become change-makers in their communities. It was truly inspiring to see this realization take hold in them. I look forward to hearing about the progress of these different projects — the TMS garden and clean-up project and the efforts of the girls at MGM to bring attention to the dismal conditions of the roads and hazards to pedestrians in front of their school.

Samantha’s Railway Class: Our Environment

Sultan Bazar: Our Time in TMS

Our Time in TMS from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

MGM School: On the Road

On the Road: Traffic in Hyderabad from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Great job, girls! Your teachers are so proud of you!

Oct, 22

0

Daily Updates

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Communities Rising Video: Women in Sports

The girls at Analadi High Secondary School voted overwhelmingly to create a video about their favorite sports and games. They explain the rules of their favorite games while demonstrating the technical skill through video. As a runner myself (I completed the Hyderabad Heritage Half Marathon the day after we returned from Tamil Nadu, coming in 6th in my category), I was thrilled to work with a group of active girls who wanted to prove that women can be just as athletic as boys.

 

Analadi Hostel Girls: Women in Sports from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Sep, 3

1

Daily Updates

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MGM Photostories

As Srilekha mentioned, its the holiday season, which means people are erecting ornate elephant statues all over the streets, feasting to mark the end of Ramzan as well as shopping, gathering with family and generally contributing to a lot of human traffic and celebration in the streets. What the holiday season also means, is that classes get canceled, so it has taken the girls at MGM a little more time to complete the project. However, we are still quite pleased with the results and hope that you are too!

Amina Achieves Her Ambition

MGM Photostory: How to Achieve Your Ambition from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Mera Sapana (My Dream)

MGM Photostory: Mera Sapana from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Urdu Medium Photostory

MGM Urdu Medium Photostory: School Through the Years from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

MGM Through the Years

MGM School Through the Years from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Jul, 26

3

Daily Updates

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Update From the TMS Classroom

As I approach the two week anniversary of my arrival here it’s both a relief and slightly daunting that I still have over five months in the country. However, as we begin work and settle into a routine it feels more comfortable to think about the length of my stay here. In particular when I think about our work in the classroom, I am glad to have as much time with the girls as possible for a couple reasons. First, their eagerness to learn and to please their instructors blows me away. They are all so wonderfully innocent and childlike at thirteen it is a little upsetting to compare them to children of their same age in the states. Even when I think about myself at their age, I can’t believe how impatient I was to grow up, when they seem so angelically childlike and happy. Secondly, I am glad to have as much time in the classroom as possible because the girls seem to really need help with their English. This is not a surprise to me, and neither is the wide disparity in skill level — these are both issues teachers must face in every country. I am very interested to find out how these two factors will play out over the course of five months — how the girl’s eagerness and excitement about the class will translate into their progress with English. My hope is that they can make great progress with their positive attitudes and I am trying to do everything I can to encourage and push them forward.

Stella riding the bus for our first day of teaching at Railway.

We bought 60 notebooks for all of the girls at Railway and are using the idea of journaling and sending personal messages back and forth as an investment strategy to get students writing in English everyday. I spent a large chunk of time last night reading all 30 of my student’s journals and writing them long paragraphs in response. Some of these paragraphs included tailored grammar lessons about verb agreement and tense, some asked questions to prod them to write more, some softly chided them for copying from other students, and all encouraged them to keep writing and pushing themselves in class. All students claimed to be very excited to begin the TMS program and seemed struck in only the first day of class by the creative, open, and personal structure of the class which is so different from the lecture style and rote memorization methods of teaching and learning that are so common here.

The class oath our students created on the first day.

Their assignment on the second day was to bring in an object that was precious to them, to begin a classroom trend of introspection, sharing the personal, and writing our stories. Most girls took the assignment very seriously and came to class proud to show off their favorite belongings. I was especially impressed that nearly all the girls remembered even after our class was pushed back a day due to a bandh — a protest that shuts down the city, usually due to the Telangana situation which is a separatist movement for Hyderabad to become its own state. Despite the delay, they came equipped with photo albums, bangles, jewelry, little bags, sweaters, and one girl even brought two stuffed dolls practically half her size! In class writing is a bit of a challenge for them, so I plan to create many opportunities for them to practice and develop their skills over the coming months. Neha, my co-teacher, is also on board and can’t wait to start giving them photograph prompts to write stories about — an assignment Kara and Ilana did last year that she clearly loved. Neha’s dedication to TMS and love of the children and the previous fellows is touching. When we brought in our own precious objects to share she came in wearing a rainbow beaded bracelet that was given to her from her best-friend, Kara, last year before she left.

Three of the girls showing off their precious objects.

Giving this assignment I was also struck by the simplicity and innocence (a recurring theme at Railway and certainly a juxtaposition when you consider it alongside my previous teaching experience) of their precious objects. Many students wrote about pens or umbrellas or cheap plastic knick-knacks. These objects were precious because of the people who thought to give them as gifts, not for their monetary value. I cannot imagine students in the US writing with heartfelt sincerity about the importance of items besides jewelry, electronics and other luxuries. Just another one of the many eye openers of living and teaching in India.

Teaching Voice-over at Railway: Our Precious Objects from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Jul, 20

2

Daily Updates

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The Effects of AIF and TMS at Work

Today we went to visit the MG school, after a visit to Sultan Bazaar yesterday. Both schools are partnered with The Modern Story through AIF and the organization’s initiative to donate computer resources to government schools. I was touched by the enthusiasm of the teachers and administration at both schools. When we sat down with the headmistress of Sultan Bazaar to discuss the days we will be coming to teach the class, we agreed to come on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The next question she asked us was, “Can you start now? Today is Tuesday.”

The teachers at both schools seemed eager to participate and learn more about the digital skills taught in the TMS curriculum. As a teacher myself, I understand where they are coming from. I am also eager to practice and develop my skills working with and teaching photography and film-making over the next six months. Upon my return, I know I will incorporate my new expertise in the classroom in a meaningful way for my students.

At MG we sat down in the computer lab on the customary plastic chairs with three teachers and the AIF coordinator. We went through the general and slightly awkward pleasantries of a first meeting, and then, presumably to fill time, the AIF coordinator began to show us a Power Point presentation the Biology teacher had created about different organisms and systems of nourishment. We all huddled around the computer and watched as the pictures, animations, and text scrolled across the screen. I was catapulted back to my high school and early college experience where I recall first being presented with information through Power Point. I remember thinking how refreshing and exciting it was to learn information through a new method of teaching. I was also touched by the glowing sense of pride the teacher took in her work as we “ooooh-ed” and “aaah-ed” over her animations and transitions. She immediately opened up and began showing us the YouTube videos she had downloaded to bring the natural world around us to life for her students.

It felt like a poignant moment, seeing the promise and importance of initiatives such as TMS to bring technology to these classrooms. In the US, I realize how much I took these basic resources for granted, when I sat next to these teachers who were overjoyed to explore the potential of new teaching methods. It was just the meeting I needed to open my eyes to the significance of the work we will begin tomorrow at Railway.

Feb, 4

0

TMS Fellow Updates, Videos

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Sultan Bazaar School Final Videos

Twenty-four hours and several Bollywood films after leaving Hyderabad, Ilana and I landed safely at JFK airport in New York City today. We still have lots to write about our final weeks in India, though, so you’ll keep hearing from us here. One important thing we have to share are our students’ wonderful final projects! The first batch comes from our pilot program at Sultan Bazaar Government Girls High School, in collaboration with the American India Foundation.

Our class at Sultan Bazaar involved small groups of teachers and students working together to learn digital technology skills and create multimedia projects that could enhance their learning/teaching experiences in regular curriculum subjects. As you will see in the videos below, this format proved to be an effective and accessible way to introduce such digital tools to participants unfamiliar with cameras or computers.

Ilana and I are excited to have been part of developing this model in TMS’s work and truly looking forward to see how TMS builds on our work in the next year. For now, enjoy this first series of curriculum-focused projects created by TMS students!

Cotton Project from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

 

Natural Resources Project from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

 

Triangle Project from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Jan, 29

0

Daily Updates, TMS Fellow Updates

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Aliens, Fear, and a Goodbye Poem

Thursday afternoon I arrived at the Railway school feeling tired. Ilana and I had trekked to Nalgonda for the last time Wednesday before and Thursday morning held an unexpected session at Sultan Bazaar, after finding out at 9:30 am that Friday’s scheduled class would not be possible.

When we began the class, Ilana and Asma each had a group of 7 girls editing videos (two computers for thirty girls makes a “stations” approach necessary), while Neha and I took the rest of the students outside for more time using the video camera. At first they were going to interview some of the tenth class students. In recent weeks our girls have conducted several teacher interviews for their final project about choices and decision-making, as well as two fantastic interviews with Google staff members during our recent field trip. (Have you watched Monika’s interview on Vimeo yet??) But after the first interview Thursday I could tell that the eighth class girls needed a change of pace.

So Neha and I divided our students into groups of five and instructed them to create one-minute silent skits of the following scenario: they are in a village and an alien lands there. (Thank you to Mira Dabit, a Palestinian storyteller who shared this idea in my children’s art class in Nablus.)

Amidst giggles and a few “Really, no words??” responses, the girls set to work planning their dramas with little need for guidance. When they were ready, each group performed their skits for the others, with one or two girls filming. All three groups portrayed a scary creature arriving to break up a group of girls working or playing. The actresses reacted to the alien with fear and violence. Here’s an example:

Alien Landing! from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

After watching all of the performances, we applauded all the groups, and I asked the students to separate into their acting groups again.

“Okay!” I declared, “I want you to make a skit that starts the same way: you’re playing in a village, and an alien lands there. But this time, I want you to pretend that the alien is friendly. Show us what happens.”

Looking a bit more pensive but nevertheless full of ideas the girls got back to planning and rehearsing. Again the groups performed with students filming. Here’s the second skit from the same group as above:

The Friendly Alien from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Coming together for a wrap-up, I asked the girls what emotions we saw in the two sets of scenes. For the first set, they identified happiness in the village, fear when the alien arrived, and anger directed toward the alien. In the latter scenes, the girls identified happiness, friendliness, sympathy, and sadness (when the alien left).

“That’s great,” I told them. “You demonstrated a wide range of feelings in your scenes. So now tell me something…Why are you afraid of aliens?!” The girls burst out laughing and shouted things about aliens being gross or mean or harmful. I asked if they knew any aliens. “In movies!” they replied.

“Sometimes things we don’t know are scary,” I said. “You didn’t know me six months ago…Were you afraid of our class?” Some of the girls ardently shook their heads, while others raised their hands with wide eyes, clearly recognizing the difference between how they felt in August and how they feel about TMS class now. I said something teacher-ish about how much we’d learned and shared with each other, and how even though some things we don’t know are scary, they can be really exciting, too. The girls were silent for a rare moment, looking at me with smiles.

After that we watched the videos they’d just shot and joined the rest of the students in the science lab, where some other girls recited a poem they’d written for me, Ilana, Asma, and Neha:

Railway Girls Goodbye Poem from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

As I listened to our students’ effusive goodbye, I reflected on my own feelings about our class, and how the lessons I really loved teaching were the ones where digital media skills were not the end goal, but the means through which we encouraged the girls to explore their world, to expand their imaginations, and importantly, to express themselves freely. The success we’ve had in those pursuits showed clearly to me during the alien skit exercise. When I left Railway Thursday afternoon I was no longer tired; I was inspired.

Jan, 28

0

TMS Fellow Updates, Videos

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Final Videos from Communities Rising Workshops

Arriving back from Pongal break last week, Ilana and I jumped into a long task list in our final push to complete projects and classes. We took the Railway girls on a field trip to the Google office in Hi-Tec City and had our last class and celebration with the boy at APRS. The students at Railway and Sultan Bazaar have been working hard to finalize their videos, and we’ll have screenings and celebrations with them tomorrow and Monday.

Before all the Hyderabad hubbub, though, I completed TMS workshops at Communities Rising in Tamil Nadu, and also had a final screening and celebration there. I am proud of the projects the students created in such a short time frame, so this morning I’m taking a few minutes to share them here.

At Communities Rising I worked with three different sets of students. The first video was envisioned and produced by Siva, a participant in the staff workshop I conducted. Siva is a computer teacher at CR’s after-school program in Periathachoor village. The video addresses the issues of fear and corporal punishment in schools and will be used by CR as a tool for promoting positive disciplinary tactics. Siva made both an English and Tamil version of his project.

Fear (Bayam) from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

As Ilana and I have experienced in our other classes, having a committed local teacher involved with TMS activities exponentially improves our effectiveness as digital storytelling instructors, both because of translation and the ability for the youth involved to continue learning when our program ends. After his own training, Siva played a crucial role assisting me as I taught photography, video, and editing skills to two groups of children in the Periathachoor after-school program. All of the equipment and software we used belongs to CR, and I know that Siva will continue guiding his young students through creative video projects in the coming months.

In the two projects below I created lesson plans that focused on practicing English skills while learning digital technology. My goal was to provide a model for meeting two of CR’s educational objectives–they emphasize literacy, math, English and computer skills–in an engaging way.

The following video shows two of five emotion dramas performed and filmed by 6th through 8th class students.

Emotions from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

The next video focuses on the English alphabet. Fourth and fifth class students explored letters visually with the cameras and verbally by reading on film.

ABC Movie from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Communities Rising’s college volunteers created the final three videos, in which they discuss their life experiences and perspectives on CR’s role in education for youth in rural India.

Fire at Communities Rising from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

An Engineer from a Village from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Education at Communities Rising from The Modern Story on Vimeo.

Jan, 10

0

TMS Fellow Updates

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“I” is for India: An update from Tamil Nadu

While Ilana dealt with the uncertainties of AP’s Telangana situation, I’ve stayed on in Tamil Nadu to conduct TMS workshops at Communities Rising. Last week I worked with teachers from CR’s after-school program for village youth. They are creating a video that discourages the use of corporal punishment in education, which will become a teaching tool for CR staff trainings, as well as a great Tamil-language resource for other organizations. Expect to see a subtitled version in the next few days!

This week I am conducting two three-day workshops with 4th to 8th standard students in CR’s after-school programs. Inspired by the success Ilana and I have had in our curriculum-focused Sultan Bazaar classes, I’ve designed photo and video activities in which the kids reinforce their English lessons through learning multimedia skills. The teachers to whom I introduced digital storytelling last week are a great help in organizing these activities.

Today I held my first session with forty 4th and 5th standard students. After a quick name game with the younger crew, Siva–CR’s Periathachoor computer teacher–and I demonstrated how still cameras work. The 4th and 5th class students each practiced taking group shots, using TMS’s “3-S” tip of straight-steady-smooth. Then it was time for their break while the older bunch rolled in. Again Siva and I explained the parts of a digital camera and how it works, this time to twenty-five 6th to 8th standard students. We also demonstrated the use of a Flip video camera and tripod before they ended for and distribution of snacks and brand new Communities Rising backpacks. Tomorrow the older kids will get the chance to be more hands-on, but one particularly eager student, Androos, hung around and tested out the Flip camera after getting his goodies. The rest of them shook my hand at least seventeen times each (as Indian kids are wont to do) before heading out the gate.

The students gaze curiously into the lens as I explain how the shutter works.

Next the 4th and 5th graders returned for their second session, which is typically English class. We divided them into 3 groups, with one adult per group. I passed out pages showing alphabet letters to the groups, so that each group had eight or nine letters. They were supposed to go around the schoolyard, identifying and writing down things they saw that began with those letters. With the sun setting, this ambulatory activity descended into a bit of chaos, but by the time we reigned them in for closing, the groups had a list for almost every letter, and the kids were excited to take pictures of those objects tomorrow to create their own photo alphabet!

Group shot captured by one of the students during camera practice.