1st day in the schools

Today was the first day for working in the schools. Our little group of 9 went to the Mahatma Montessori Private school. The welcome was beyond anything I expected. We were greeted at the entrance with an elaborately decorated table and a group of students dressed in fancy traditional clothes. Each of us was given a bindi mark (the dot on the forehead), and hand made garlan in the country flag colors, and a woven hat (like a sailors cap). The hat signifies what Raj called India's 99% movement. Back in the 1940s, Indians had to ship their materials to the U.K. to be woven into fabric. India didn't like this method so they fought for the right to weave their own fabrics. The hat we were given is a symbol of that revolution.
Each morning, all of the students gather at an assembly for morning prayers. Today, we got to observe this ritual. I had no idea religion played such a key role in the schooling here and it's very interesting to see how it's incorporated into the school day since it's separated in the U.S. Hindu, Muslim and Christianity are given equal importance in the school.
After assembly, the students went to classes and we went to a meeting with school administrators. We were given coffee and cookies and flowers for our hair by the other teachers. The headmasters of the 4 schools talked about their school system, buildings and staff for awhile and then Prof. Kelly introduced our group. This was the first time I'd really heard Prof Kelly speak, and he is phenominal! I was left wishing I had been able to take Edu Psych with him! I can see why he's won so many awards and why he is so popular among students at Iowa. After our introduction, we were given buttermilk - a traditional gift to guests to keep you cool. It tasted like drinking sour cream with chives. I didn't really care for it so I just took it like a shot! lol
The rest of the day, we spent time in 4 different classrooms. First, we visited a first grade class. The students participated in a story about a mouse and a pencil. They responded to the teacher, properly filling in the teacher's pauses. The school uses stories to introduce each topic, then incorporates activities and crafts to activate learning of the topic. I really like this method - the students seemed very engaged and created wonderful products. We were given some of their work as gifts.
Next, we visited a kindergarten class. The students performed a play of the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus and sang songs to us. They sang songs in English, Tamil (their regional language), Hindi (the national language) and Sanskrit (the traditional state language). These children all receive instruction in English, Tamil and Hindi. I have always thought it beneficial and impressive to learn multiple languages, so I'm thoroughly impressed with the school's chioce to produce students fluent in 3 languages. One of the most impressive things I noticed in this room was the penmenship. These 3-5 year olds had better penmenship than most adults I know! I asked the teacher if the work book pages had been written by the teacher or a parent, but she assured me it was the students' writing.
The third class we saw today was a 3-4th grade math class. The school is trying to work it's way through the 21st century by providing smart board technology in the classrooms. This class was using the smart board video to learn about fractions. The students were seated on the floor and fully engaged in the lesson. They were eager to answer the teacher! It's really interesting to think of all the things that could go wrong using technology in the classroom, especially in a country where power outages are frequent (there was one during our time there today).
The final class we visited today was 9-10th grade. All of the students in grades 9-10 assembled in the hall where we heard morning prayers and were allowed to ask us questions. Many of the questions asked us about comparisons between their school and our schools in the U.S. It was fun to hear what the students were curious about in terms of U.S. schools.
Overall, I was really impressed with what I saw today and I look forward to seeing and experiencing more over the next couple of weeks. For now, I'm exhausted again, so I'm headed to bed. Good night from India (9:45 pm) and good day to y'all back home (10:10 a.m.).