Montessori and Me: Part VI Learning with FRIENDS

Disclaimer: I would like to clarify that by Montessori, I mean the philosophy that Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor, put forth for helping the young minds of the world live in this World. I use the word live here because after all, quoting Dr. Montessori, education is a way of life.

Today I got to see the 'FRIENDS: The Reunion' episode, thanks to - an ex-colleague, a good friend and stand up comedian - and his friend :). The episode was a brilliant jog down the memory lane for the cast after 17 years. Some amazing tablereads, questions, guest stars, recaps, fashion walk, emotions, opinions and of course laughter. 

But this post is not about the FRIENDS, but my friends and well, Montessori. Watching the episode took me back to my college days. I remember huddling together at a mutual friend's (Yes, I am not naming anyone, so be ready for lots of 'friend's) room and getting introduced to this iconic series. College life, especially hostel life does that. 

But it was not only about TV series', that friends introduced me to. NIT Tiruchirapalli, for all the cursing that students gave about hostel toilets and mess food (we were from the 2009 batch), had some amazing set of extra-curricular student initiated activities. Be it Student run commercial/social clubs, the arts, literary, dance, music and theatre groups, cultural festivals, sports or  symposiums, or learning words like 'Mistress', 'Masturbation' there were plenty of opportunities to explore our interests apart from academics. 

Some of these, I got to know through a couple of cousins of my day scholar friend and majority of them through my peers. How did they know? From their seniors. The first years from other states and NRIs were very much in touch with their state seniors as 'ragging' was prevalent at that time. For me, the information that I was getting from these guys were opening new avenues to try. There were even times when I was 'sneaking' bread omlettes from snacketria or juices from our juicy for these friends of mine (ragging banned them from these treats) from the mixed group classroom. I was wishing that I had some department seniors to tell me more about what to expect. 

One of the toughest things that I realised for me was to say 'No!' (though there is one particular friend and my entire set of wing mates who think otherwise) to my friends. I really didn't want to travel back home from my new found freedom haven (though some of you may disagree). But the first few months, I couldn't say 'No' to my school and in turn college friends. There's one friend who was a day scholar and he would invite me home every other weekend initially and later, whenever he went home. Again, it took me some time to say 'No'. I even missed the one Club induction (which I eventually joined in my second year) that I wanted to get in because of my predicament. The point being, I was conditioned to satisfy others ahead of my own wish and found it hard to break it. 

Came the end of first year. We had two hostels to go to - Diamond (where I lived) and Jade (which became my nickname unwittingly). I was telling my 1st year  roommate and close friend from Sri Lanka, that we should get a room with two other fellows. We asked our third guy, who was from Maharashtra, but he had his own 'state' plans. On the last day of classes, I stumbled upon two other friends from my class, who were discussing the situation. They both were in a similar confusion, looking to get away from their own pulls. I jumped at the chance and they welcomed the offer to club with us! We ended up having a Sri Lankan, a Punjabi from  Baroda, a Kannadiga from Abu Dhabi and a TamBrahm from Chennai in the same room. 

We had some things in common - 2 of us were smokers (They were kind enough to step out each time), 3 of us were drinkers (I love that photo where it portrays the converse), 3 of us liked Lit events, 2 of us rushed for the morning paper's crossie (I was late always), 2 of us ended up in the same club - but still I got to play my cricket, meet MY friend and his family, occasionally travel back home and each of them got to do their stuff. I needed the space and time with myself and I was happy that I got it. But I had to pre-empt this setup before my school friends asked me, because I couldn't stand up for myself.

From my second year, I was much more sure of what I wanted to do (apart from not focusing on academics I mean). I knew I enjoyed what the college had to offer and I tried to stay entire semesters from third year I think. The third year, when we had to move hostels (single rooms) again, I decided to stick with the same lot (the Sri Lankan ditched us though :( ) and moved with them. We ended up in a wing with a Goan (Ece), an Indori from Pondicherry (Mech), the TamBrahm from Chennai (Ece), a Bong from Baroda (Mech), the Punjabi from Baroda (EEE), the Kannadiga from Abu Dhabi (CSE), a Mallu from Chennai (CSE), a Gujju from Pune (EEE), a Bong from Chennai (CSE), a Ghati from Pune (Mech), another Bong from Baroda (EEE), a Kashmiri from Pune (Mech), a Thambi from Pune (Meta), a Gujju from Surat (Chem), an UPite from Gujarat (CSE), a Gujju from Baroda (ECE), an Oddu from Trichy (ECE), an UPite from Kuwait (ECE), and 3 more Bongs (Chem, Prod and Mech). Quite a collection it was! Our wing was easily sanctioned by 'authorities' as it had 'diversity' already! 

Again this group had lots in common (apart from almost one-third being Bongs - I really didn't know that until I listed it out!!) - lits, college cultural festival, art, design, theatre, film making, club management, cricket (IPL had arrived), smoking, smoking up (which means something different), drinking, wine tasting, tech festival, Puliancholai trek, dingo juice, TV series,  academics, preparing for CAT/GRE - while still not imposing anything on anyone. I remained a non-smoker throughout. I ended up missing out on almost all of the trips to Saarang, Unmad, MoodIndigo, Kodai, Ooty, Pondy or Kalpakkam, Bengaluru citing some work or the other. Third year end, I even stayed back for the vacation in the form of a project. 

These two (2nd and 3rd) years were the time when I really was seeded with the thought to become a teacher. A close friend of mine, told me once, that I continue to try to be unique and not go along with the crowd. Thinking now about it, each of us were/are already unique. I was simply trying to be myself. What I didn't realise was that instead of running away from what I saw as obstacles, confronting them could have been an option. For example, I could have simply told my dear school friends what I felt on their face and stuck to my decision even if they chided me. I didn't know that I could do that - is the best that I can think of. 

This is where Montessori comes in. Everyday, children in my classroom decide what activity they want to do, how they want to do that and whom they want work with. Dominance, camaraderie, frustrations, happiness, sadness, conflicts, teamwork, compassion, gregariousness, hurt, anger, cries or laughter are some outcomes of their decisions. Helping them learn to handle those situations without disrespecting others' choices is probably the biggest day-to-day challenge of every Montessori adult. As an adult, if you learn to be yourself, you will find it easy to facilitate young children objectively. But if one is limited by their own conditioning, then it is going to be a game of carrots and stick. How do we know what is coming out of conditioning and what is not? You will have to find it out for yourself - because after all each of us are unique.

Starting blues...

Warning: Readers above 18 years of age can read the post. Others please excuse! You can come back once you turn 18 though.

I hope you're agreeable to this new modality and will continue this arrangement as though we were meant to be. I hope this has satisfied your thirst and will continue to satisfy your thirst.

One of the beautiful things that I like about you is that you let me express without making me wet. At the same time, you are the best when coming out in a slow, steady manner. Mocking me all this while, you're continuing to come out smoothly and serenely. I wish you'd do that all the time when I touch you and not disappoint me. Do tell whenever you get dry and I shall fill you in with the right thrust and timely pushes. I hope you don't mind the dips through the necks of oblivious ecstasy.

This experience of using you has given me the greatest joy in recent times. It was a reconnection with an age-old tryst. A tryst that has put me in several spots and blots throughout life. Long after I forsake you, for short one-time affairs, you came back to run with me. Honestly speaking, I came searching for you and you gracefully kept by my side, finding a place close to my heart.

One of the biggest worries for me is that, I may have to part with you in light of recent events. There are speculations and questions around your origin. It is not the speculations that I fear, but I am afraid of your future. You are unique and truly one of the beauties that have come from beyond the highest of abodes. Though you may have come from eons away, there are a few who still yearn for you.

Catching everyone's eye is your gorgeous head that hides the sleek sharp figure within. People complain that you do not last long enough, but only the well initiated understand how to handle you. I am proud to say that I, though not yet a master, have understood the intricate nuances of welling you up sufficiently to keep me excited for hours and sometimes sparingly for days together.

The real trick lies in suspending you deep inside, poised at a right angle and then pushing through your navel repeatedly and tantalisingly long enough so that you are filled up to your utmost satisfaction. Knowing this secret is the key to managing you and keeps you happy. Practice makes perfect. The more your body works with me, the smoother and more enjoyable the experience.

Sometimes I feel that such an experience brings my heart out with love and tenderness wishing for the wells of joy to never dry as we etch this piece of future history.

Basing such meetings appropriately also matters. The softness and smoothness of the floor surely brings the best out in both of us. The ecstatic combination of all three is some thing really. Those are the times, when I feel I should hold you, caress you, stroke you along the curves for as long as you last.

Hoping for many many such journeys with you



Yours lovingly
The thumb, forefinger and middle fingers of my right-hand (together)
Holding a long unused HERO PEN, MADE IN CHINA,
Writing on the last pages of my classmate notebook.

Corona Chronicles - Casual Creativity Cruise

As the action abates

Bringing boredom and blade

Clinging to cards of creativity

Decided to detach this day -

Elegant entertaining endeavours

Finding far more freedom

Grinding great gospels

Heaping happy hours

I initiate in isolation this

Job of jest and joy

Kindling kind Knowledge

Ladling lovely lines

Making melancholic musings

Nesting nostalgic news

Of old or original

Piecing Poems Positively

Quelling quizzing questions

Reaping rousing rewards

Singing songs of Satisfaction

Telling tales to Treat 

Usurping unopened urges

Venting vulnerable verses

What would you weave?

'xtending 'xcellent 'xamples

Yielding yard and yards of

Zest Zeal and Zing

- Irah

One Sunday morning run

A warm-up walk to the shore,

Brought a cloud cover to my sight

A crimson tinge came fore,

As the sun peeped out slight.

I hit the shore front with the sun by my side,

Ready to make my morning ride.

Barefoot I was with the soft earth below,

Water kissing my feet every then and now.

A stump of history washed ashore;

A throng of red clad people by the temple shore;

Fisherfolk here and there attending nature's call;

Groups of friends, couples and all;

Parents with children, dogs with their masters;

Pro and wannabe photographers;

Were some of the pictures I could behold,

While the sun became a bright gold.

A short water break

With half the hour past

The return was at stake

Starting with a walk fast.

With my mind less troubled

The joy of running was doubled

As I identified a couple

Living far away in the country of maple

The run restarted after a quick catch-up

With lots of time to makeup

I found some spare to push

A catamaran with lots of fish

Back I reached the Bessie beach

Not far from the place I teach

Kilometres I covered around nine

My expectations and run totally fine.

-Irah

Montessori and Me: Part V The Elementary Course Experience

Disclaimer: I would like to clarify that by Montessori, I mean the philosophy that Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor, put forth for helping the young minds of the world live in this World. I use the word live here because after all, quoting Dr. Montessori, education is a way of life.

The above disclaimer shall be repeated keeping in mind new readers who might chance through this blog :). So plough straight ahead the next time :).

While my first Montessori diploma was an eight month long Marathon, this Elementary course was a different race to be run. Spread over a scheduled four modules and 8 weeks of Observation/Teaching Practice, with ample breaks in between, the course was to run from September 2015 until November 2016. Alas! With floods in Chennai, the carefully planned schedule was sabotaged and we finally completed in February 2017.

Each module was a six week sprint. And not the kind of sprints that IT companies (well mine used to have one) have for targets. Every week was a hundred metre dash, with barely any time to breathe. Tuesdays were submission days by default and whatever happens from Monday to Friday in class had to be fair-typed (Yes - only typed :'( ) and submitted with appropriate illustrations. My tryst with computers had to continue and I had a tough time keeping up with the deadlines, thanks to -my procrastination, printer and well, the internet - in short me.

As for what happened during the course, I wrote it as a poem when we were planning our convocation. The major chunk of the course is for us to understand how, when, why to show the materials to the children, interspersed with theory on how we should prepare ourselves. This pattern, in essence, was very similar to the earlier course. But there was no order in which each of these subjects were presented, which is exactly how it will be with Elementary children as well. But within the subjects, there are certain progressions from one difficulty to another and that order was maintained throughout. 

(To those who are familiar with the Sun and Earth song, that was the inspiration.) Here is the poem I wrote:

Language, Math, History and Biology,
along with Geometry and Geography
All have a story and play their part
In the development of a child in Elementary

Math it starts with WHM
Winding its way down to Proportion
Be it any subject, Math remains
Causing us lots and lots of pains.

Language, its structure is intricate
Keeping every subject up to date!
With names of yore and lots of action,
Giving every Part including emotion.

History, it is old and new,
Even though civilizations have been few
Humans Satisfying needs all along
Helping each other for years at long.

Geography, it is short and sweet
With lots of charts and experiments in it
Showing how humans depend unaware
On sun and earth and water and air.

Biology is all about life
Starting with how lives at strife
Live with finding whatever their needs
And finding time for some good deeds.

Geometry is an abstract class
Starting way back even before Pythagoras
Relating lines back and forth
Leading shapes to what they're worth

Music and Art, they play their part

Inspiring the children to go far at heart.

The patterns and combinations flow

Always asking the question of how!

Theory it is for the adult to know

Helping him or her how to show

Observing the child at every stage

And pacing the ideas at any age.

(For those unfamiliar, WHM refers to Wooden Hierarchial Material - a material that impresses the idea of families of numbers.)

While each of these areas were being covered, the concept to be covered was already in my mind. But how Dr. Montessori meant for the children to arrive at it on their own was the most intriguing part. So, while the materials and lessons were shown, there were several 'Aha!' moments. The one that I vividly remember was one with division of fractions by fractions. Children are always familiar until then that division always refers to sharing equally and the answer is always what a single whole unit gets. This was beautifully materialized in the Fraction material that I exclaimed in joy while the presentation was being shown to us! I even had the perfect moment to present it to children during my teaching practice and was a wonderful, satisfying experience.

While the breaks were dedicated to my work at Jamunamarathur with RELIEF Foundation, the course otherwise kept me occupied full time. When I look back at the past year and a half and more, I still somehow found time to cook (thanks to my Dad as well who came in whenever he could), attend some close friends' weddings in several places North and South, attend the Mumbai Montessori Conference, run a full marathon and a couple of half-marathons all along this time. 

While we were being given the presentations, like our trainer Ms. Ann Dunne used to say, there were always unsaid things. It is those things or thoughts that the Elementary child can easily imagine, reason out and pick up. And the joy of picking them up on their own is what really cements the learning. It is always those thoughts to which we put our mind to work and execute, that retain as our experiences. Be it a mistake or a success, we surely learn from such experiences. The idea of Dr. Montessori again here is to maximize the possibility of having such experiences for the children of the second plane (6-12 year olds), and that is what we learnt we should be doing as an Elementary Director or Directress.

Freelancing for FirstPost: ISL 2016

Firstpost were willing to give me another chance to cover the Indian Super League for this year. I was not sure of attending all the home matches, but covering by watching on Television was still alright with them. So I began my second stint at Freelancing with a preview for Chennaiyin FC for ISL 2016.

Just before Chennaiyin FC had their first match, Firstpost asked me to pick some players to watch out for and I wrote on three players who could make a change to Chennaiyin FC this year. Soon the first Chennaiyin FC game was upon me. This was away at Kolkata. Chennaiyin came back from a goal down to take the lead and finally conceded a penalty to end the pulsating match in a draw. I wasn't happy with the Chennaiyin formation and actually wrote it as six takeaways. The headlines from now were not mine mostly.

My misgivings in the first game came true when Delhi Dynamos FC thrashed us soundly in the first home game. The Mendy-Riise partnership had to end. The defense, goalie and the manager were all under fire in the five takeaways that I wrote from the match. I couldn't make it to the stadium that day as I had some submissions to work on for the next day at my Elementary course.

Firstpost asked me to write on some early trends emerging from the first two rounds of ISL 2016. Initially I wrote it in a hurry and it turned out to be too short. So I beefed it up a bit and it came out after my analysis on Chennaiyin's home victory against FC Goa. I attended the match and was there at the press conference. Zico was flustered about signings made in his absence and was bullish about Goa's chances of recovering.

Marco Materazzi on the other hand, when I questioned on how Jeje and him felt about Jeje's omission, went on a tangent to explain some journalists all over the world aren't happy about team selections. It was a day when Chennaiyin, for the first time for any team in ISL, had Mehrajuddin Wadoo as captain and ended the game with 7 Indians. He later gave me a nose-cut when I called his formation a 4-2-3-1. It was a 4-4-1-1 apparently. Credit is due to him though for getting his formation right and I wrote my analysis praising him for the changes.

Then came two away matches. The first, a hard fought win against Northeast United FC for the first ever time in ISL history for Chennaiyin FC. The new found solid defense played a huge role and I had four more positives to write about from the match. Then came a 1-1 draw against FC Pune City. That match really emphasized that Chennaiyin FC can threaten with anyone really. This match saw the sixth different goalscorer from a sixth different assist provider  for what was Chennaiyin FC's seventh goal of the season in just 5 matches.

P.S: I will keep adding to this post as and when I write more.

Montessori and Me: Part IV Anecdote from Elementary Course.

Disclaimer: I would like to clarify that by Montessori, I mean the philosophy that Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian doctor, put forth for helping the young minds of the world live in this World. I use the word live here because after all, quoting Dr. Montessori, education is a way of life.

The above disclaimer shall be repeated keeping in mind, new readers who might chance through this blog :). So plough straight ahead the next time :).

I'm in the middle of teaching practice as part of the Elementary Montessori course. This Friday as on all Fridays, the class I was assigned to, had a writing workshop. This is conducted by the adult who is the assigned Montessori directress or 'class teacher' of that environment.

This week, the adult talked about words changing when we simply take out a letter from it. One of the examples she gave was 'Without the 't' train becomes a rain'. She gave few such examples and when she read them out again the word 'becomes', she pointed out, was repetitive. She gave a couple of suggestions as to how she can change them. 'Without the 't' train falls like rain' was a change she suggested. Soon the children, who by the way are all six to nine year olds, quipped several ideas.

One of the youngest actually suggested the reverse. He said owl becomes a bowl. More ideas started spilling. Once the adult felt the children got the hang of it, she quickly disengaged and asked them to pencil down their thoughts.

After half an hour we got to read several sentences like 'Without the 't' hair flies in the air'. Another wrote 'Without the 'b' it rains but with the 'b' I have brains'. The children were busy writing. Those few who can't write fluently also tried hard.

This was in several ways a typical elementary approach to a lesson. The adult stayed long enough to give the key aspects of the idea. The children's imagination then took over to exploring the Language. Their ever strong 'herd instinct' pushing them to try even when they may not be ready. We were probably writing several dictation tests when we were that age.

I was sitting and listening to the adult and soon my pen wanted to try out a few lines. I thought 'Without the' was also repetitive and so started writing lines like that of a poem. And lo! When I re-read the first eight lines I thought of our favourite panda Po and finished the poem with him in mind.

Though, an endless thought
Read a mouldy bread
Prays to the rays of sun
Sways to normal ways.

Rides a cart to make an art
And grow a row of hair
Steep went step after step
To an abode that Bode well.

Ahead with a head on top
Came a pot, oh not! Po!
To fall in front of all
And they all bowed to Thy.

If this is what happened to a twenty-eight year old who didn't have such rich early experiences, I wonder what to expect off the intellectual explorers of six to nine when they grow up.