Blog 2: Books For A Cause!
I am going to share some updates related to our “Mega Project” that our circle has made so far. Our Project is related to providing Quality Education for underprivileged children. So that they will have equal opportunities in the future.
- Progress on the Mega Project:
In the first face to face meeting with the Zanoor Foundation, we have signed a hard copy of our agreement (MOU) with them as well. Then we have further explained our project to them one on one. On that day all of our members were present as it was our first in-person meeting with them.
We have started our project by facilitating a session on “Story Narration” which was followed by a thorough discussion with the children of classes 4 and 5. The discussion was basically to enhance Analytical Skills among children and to put forward their points of view.
The storybooks were also provided by our circle to them. Books were related to their age and mindset and particularly the stories in those books have a moral/conclusion at the end. Some of the story books names are as follows;
Lion and the mosquito, Fox and the grapes, 3 Bears, Snow white, Thirsty crow, Rabbit and the turtle, Lion and the mouse, The boy who cried wolf, The golden egg, The wise old owl, The farmer and the well, The proud rose, The milkmaid and her pail, The ants and the grasshopper, The bundle of sticks, etc.
We have also discussed the moral with them by giving examples and the children have actively participated in the session as a whole.
Total five sessions have been done with those extremely talented children. One of the session was about “Story Narration” as I have explained earlier. While the other sessions revolves around fun-based- activities.
One of the activity was about guessing what was happening in the picture that we have pasted on the white board.
In that activity first they have to guess what was happening than they have to further elaborate the picture with relevant examples.
The activities were intentionally made fun-based so that the children will participate in maximum.
The other activities that we have facilitated so far includes;
Mathematics hub, Connecting words, Fishbowl, Manners hub, Recognition of colors, Guessing the pasted picture and explain, Practice counting, Rhyme time, Debate, etc.
We have also organized a teacher’s training in which teachers were given guidance on effective teaching methodology. This session was being facilitated by our circle member Jawaad Ahmad as he is a Clinical Psychologist.
2. Challenges/Problems and Solutions:
At first, it was very difficult for us to manage our duties as we all live in different cities. And most of our members are either job holders or doing research work so it was quite difficult to schedule them for an activity session at the foundation.
But we discussed each other’s problem in a couple of meetings and according to the ease of all the members, we have distributed our work, as well as specific days were assigned to each member on the basis of their availability in Lahore. We have made a group of 2 for the activities keeping in mind the COVID situation
The other challenge that we have faced was about that on the very first session when we all were present for the “Story Narration” we observed those children and also after communicating with them we came to know that they don’t have command on basic things like in Maths Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Tables and also they don’t even know basic English and this was the condition of 5 graders so we decided to re-design some of the activities in such a way so that children would also learn the basic concepts.
We have also faced some issues in collecting donations to buy books as well as stationery for them.
Zanoor Foundation received very less funds for the stationery items so we also decided to incorporate this in our projects as well.
We have communicated this thing in our social circle and by the grace of Almighty Allah we received stationery and note-books from a very humble lady and we distributed those things in our session to those innocent children.
They all were over the moon that day after receiving gifts from our Circle.
3. Change of Approach:
Yes, we have changed our approach first our entire focus was on the activities that revolve around Critical Thinking, Problem-solving and Decision making and Thinking outside the box but now we have also incorporated some academic-related stuff in our activities as well after observing the students as they lack some basic knowledge even the 4th and 5th grader doesn’t have a grip over basic Maths and English.
We are also working on teacher’s training so that effective teaching can be possible in the classroom. For that, we have arranged a session which was facilitated by Jawaad he has given important tips and tricks on how to understand student ideology and also how to improve Mental Health during lectures and also how to encourage less active children to participate equally in the activities.
We have also planned to organize an awareness session that will be held on our Facebook page live on Thursday.
To discuss some really important topics related to education. In the very first session, we will discuss “ Importance of Education And Problems In the Way of Quality Education
4. Each Circle Member Contribution (Roles and Responsibilities):
We are 6 in the Circle. All have contributed well to the Mega Project so far. Muhammad Binyameen has managed our Facebook page.
He posted all the updates including pictures, Videos related to our activities on our page to make people aware of our project. As well as he has also collected donations through his social circle on Facebook. He has facilitated activity sessions in the school as well.
Fatima Chaudhry (Me). I have finalized all the activities for my sessions as well as purchased stationery and storybooks that are required for the activities.
On the other hand, I have facilitated story narration sessions and provoke discussion on the stories with the students.
I have also assigned duties and schedule days for each member in our circle according to their feasibility.
Aatika Rizwan has actively communicated with the foundation regarding time as well as helped in signing the MOU with the core body.
She has also made a presentation on our activities as well as initial presentation of our project that we have presented to the Zanoor core body which was being edited and finalized by me.
She has facilitated activities in pair with Dawood their activities were both revolve around critical thinking and the academic segment as well.
Jawaad Ahmad has facilitated activities and teacher training which was a great success.
Dawood has done most of the purchasing-related stuff as well as facilitated fun activities including Manners hub connecting words, etc.
Mussadiq has also facilitated some great activities in the school.
and he was pair up with Aatika and Dawood. He has also helped in promoting our project on social media platforms.
5. Impact that we have generated to date?
We have collaborated with one organization which is Zanoor Foundation. This organization provides education to slum area children.
We have targeted this organization and worked on improving the standards of education that they are already providing, through fun-based activities.
Our impact so far is that we have given a taste of activity-based learning to the children. We have motivated children to actively participate in the activities. We have opened the phase of Analytical and Critical thinking among children through our specially designed activities. we have also somehow tried to inculcate concept-based study among them and not just cramming through lines.
Teachers were also provided training on the effective teaching methodology and how they can incorporate them in their lectures.
The foundation have appreciated our efforts and work a lot!
6. Plans to ensure sustainability?
We are planning to visit the school after our mega project completion and to stay in touch with the foundation if they needed some funds for their talented children as well as we are planning to organize some activities twice or once a week even after the project to ensure sustainability and to be connected with those shining stars afterwards.
We are hopeful to make a difference. And we all are working hard on our dream project to make the future of these super-talented children beautiful by providing them exposure to Quality Education!
As it is rightly said by Criss Angel;
“When the mind, body, and spirit work together, I believe anything is possible”
