Put the power in the learner's hands

LOVING WHAT YOU DO IS THE FIRST STEP.

SECOND IS OUR PROVEN PROCESS.

ACCEPTANCE BEFORE CHANGE

Despite years spent in the classroom, more than half of grade Six children cannot read a simple paragraph at the grade 2 level. Yet, after only few sessions of instruction in reading activity, almost 80% of participants become readers, in that they are able to read simple stories.

Every session at Sahaya we start with a strong determination of strengthening the basic Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing skills which will enable them to pursue their academics in a better way and to gain knowledge by reading and learning things on their own which interests them.

ACCURATE SCHEDULES 

STARTING FROM BASICS

These kids are exceptionally talented to learn multiple languages at their very early ages. Most of these kids struggle with the grammar rules and in turn they start to hate the language itself. The trick is to make them learn spoken language first and then turn them to Grammar but not the other way around.

To equip them with better learning ability we plan different events which try to improve their interpersonal skills and increase their confidence which is much needed for accomplishing their day to day tasks in a better way!

SETTING UP THE READING CHALLENGE

OUR ACTIVITIES TO BRING A DIFFERENCE

Mylibrary: Books are always a great source of learning, if kids are equipped with reading skill then they can select a book of their interest and read. Our target this year is, to make libraries accessible to all the kids of all the schools we are operating in.

PUT THE POWER IN THE LEARNER'S HANDS

Swecha: Giving freedom to the thoughts of kids, through Swecha Events we try to create a platform where they can show their skills and identify their hidden talent. (Read our recent event report here.)

KA Lite: E-Learning and visual learning is one of the more effective ways of making kids understand a given topic. Our plan is to make KA Lite available to kids so that they can go through the basics repeatedly whenever they need and when we are not available.

We want to be a source of guidance to them by answering their queries and as a point of contact where they can reach out for any suggestions.

WORKING TOGETHER FOR OPTIMAL & DESIRED OUTCOMES

At Sahaya we meet like minded graduation pursuing students as volunteers and in the process of teaching they gain and exhibit a great adaptive nature, showcase teamwork, and superb interpersonal skills unknowingly.

Enjoying the essence of learning while teaching.

"We make a living by what we get, but we make life by what we give" given by Winston Churchill suits to every volunteer of Sahaya. The satisfaction which we get being a Sahayan is immense.

The ‘growth mindset’

We are very fortunate to get a chance to organize events for Swecha2K15. Swecha is about what more we can do with young people from an early age to inculcate and teach a passion for continuous learning and growth and observe how they are participating, reading, learning and improving their skills. Events should provide an opportunity for the students to think, imagine, analyze and implement which finally leads to learning.

Students who embrace a ‘growth mindset’ – those who believe they can learn more despite failure -- perform better in events than those who don’t. So, choosing right kind of events plays an important role.

Measuring ‘the learning gain’

The ability to learn, understand and retain are not fixed and can change and increase with effort, diligence and hard work.

Role play and Running dictation were the events conducted for Swecha 2K15. Role play was conducted for VIII and XI which was quite tough for them. It went good in all the schools but it might have been much better if they were given more time for practice in presence of volunteers at Kukatpally school. Student have shown interest and enthusiasm to participate but Telugu medium class students found difficulty while speaking English. They were ready to speak in Telugu and they requested to conduct role play in Telugu in few classes but after explaining the importance of English, they were convinced, tried their best and a few performed beyond our expectations. Few role plays were very impressive by creating suitable environment for given situation creatively.

Running dictation was simple which helped in testing their reading, listening and writing skills. We observed that the words which we gave for running dictation were out of their capability. They need to improve a lot in spellings. But there was an active participation in all the schools for this event.

Our team has done meticulous work in organizing events that rigorously measures the performance of individual students, and include awarding. Turn up from VNR VJIT, Maheshwara, MNR, MLRIT(NSS Team) is the sole reason. Heart-full thanks to everyone who have worked hard to bring such huge group of people into Sahaya. Hope they continue with us.

I’d welcome your thoughts and ideas – what should we do to improve on the concepts, research and evidence discussed above to get better outcomes of education.

-Mounika Kolagani