Last week in order to learn more about our students and foreshadow an upcoming autobiography assignment, Ilana and I asked the girls at Railway to write “the story of me” for homework. In this family-oriented culture, it’s no surprise that most of my students began their compositions by listing the names, ages, and careers of their father, mother and siblings. To that they may have added a few of their own hobbies or favorite foods, but not much more. We’ll get there eventually. One of my students, Sandhya, did go further in describing her own outlook, passions, and dreams. For example, she wrote, “My aim is to become a great dancer for example we know: Mickel Jackson is one of the great dancer but he died and he is in heart of all dancers.”

student photography: Sandhya

As I paged through the rest of Sanhya’s notebook I discovered that I hadn’t read her first composition because she’d been absent the day the other students turned it in. The assignment had been to write a story or write your favorite story in your own words. Many students wrote a moral tale, but again Sandhya had broken the mold. She wrote a delightfully imaginative piece about her life as a dancer, which I am posting here:

Once upon a time, one girl who’s name is A. Sandhya. She was very good at dance. She always thinks about her dance and she always be in her dance. One day she wrote exam in M.A. dance. After a few days later her exam results came. She passed in first class in the exam. The other day she was going to take a certificate from the great dancer Mickel Jackson. So everybody in her family felt very happy. Even her friends Preethi, Sara, Shafia and other friends heard this news and came to Sandhya to give her good wishes and it became morning. Now the time is 8:30 AM. At 10 AM she is going to take the certificate. She is going on her bike and suddenly she had an accident with a lorry and she died.

The day I stop loving the dance is the day I closing my eyes forever.

Your sweet A. Sandhya

Keep

Smiling

The day after I read Sandhya’s story, Ilana and I arrived at Railway to discover one of our classrooms taken over by dance auditions for the upcoming Teachers’ Day celebration. We relocated to the main computer lab and held a joint class wherein we asked the girls to share their thoughts on the word “power.” Some of the responses included, “energy, strength, knowledge, tigers, and CM (chief minister).” When I asked the question, “Does anyone in this room have power?” most of the girls giggled. Some said “No” while a few, perhaps recognizing my question as a leading one, shouted, “Yes!” The next question came from Ilana: “What kind of things do you have the power to do?”

“Dance,” Divya, one of Ilana’s students, called out. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was—pleasantly so. The response allowed us to draw out ideas about power with much more relatable concepts for the girls than examples that come from our own cultural perspective. In recent classes at Railway we’ve been doing camera practice while encouraging creative composition and framing. Because the girls are so new to using cameras, at times these concepts have been difficult to explain. Next week when we delve further into how stories are constructed we will draw on the lesson we as teachers learned about the students’ connection to dance: One of the homework assignments we’ll give will be to create a short dance that tells a story involving elements such as a main character, conflict, and resolution. We’ll be sure to photograph or film some of the results, so check back soon to see how Sandhya and others live up to their Michael Jackson dreams!