Today I was listening to an orientation class by MAD and there was a mention that MAD follows an open class policy. In an open class, the student is free to walk out of the class room if its not interesting enough.
MAD is the coolest NGO in India and they teach English and Computers to kids in orphanages. They are driven by passion and a desire to Make A Difference. The open class policy is used by MAD as a parameter to evaluate its volunteers.
An organization like MAD who are not paid by anyone, who does not get any material benefit out of this activity is showing so much of pain to evaluate its volunteers. If a volunteer is not good enough, he/she is asked to leave the organization.
Now think about our school/college teachers ? Will they ever allow such an evaluation ? Will they admit their class has to improve if someone is sleeping in their class ? Will they take responsibility of a failed student ? Last time when an evaluation scheme was suggested, teachers union went on a strike against it.
Maybe MAD is showing an example on how teaching should be carried out. May be its time that we implemented a feedback system. May be its time to start learning from the students also.
Open classes sound like a excellent method to measure student interest in a particular teaching style. But then, an entertainer can hold a packed class without teaching anything of value. So what are the other parameters MAD uses?
Comment by Koshy John — April 27, 2009 @ 4:31 am
There is no thump rule that learning has to be boring. Its the presentation that matters most of the time. We have good and bad teachers for the same subject and the difference mostly lies in the presentation and the approach to students.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — April 27, 2009 @ 4:37 am
Since the MAD team is active inside india.. they have to consider about the moral values of the students they are dealing wtih..
According to the Indian customs and culture.. There is a “Teacher-Student” relation which keep a respect to each other.
There may be some situations which will not negotiate with this (Teacher-Student Relation) practice.. But if a group is teaching the young one to “React Wildly” This is gonna make some job for Police force of the country near future.
Student can react.. But should not be like beating on the face of the Teacher.
Comment by Ben Jacob — April 27, 2009 @ 5:48 am
No one ever said anything about beating on the face of the teacher. The only argument I have is that there should be a feed back and rating mechanism. It should not be like teacher is god and noone should ever question him.
Comment by Kenney Jacob — April 27, 2009 @ 6:05 am
Although such a system is good, it would not be that easy to implement such a thing in India as politics will come into play. Another issue is that teachers should be given more training and mental training to take open classess and the approach of the students to Open classes also matters.
Comment by Derick — April 27, 2009 @ 7:16 am
Glad to see a post on MAD. I am a MAD volunteer so my opinions may be biased
@Koshy: A very valid point. It wouldn’t serve our purpose if volunteer just came in, had some fun with the kids and left. MAD takes 56 classes a year in a Centre. One class 2 hours of duration. All these 56 classes have its own theme and content and the curriculum needs to be followed. This year we are using Cambridge University curriculum, the same curriculum used in International Schools in India. It is a 100 hour program and a volunteer is expected to complete the curriculum in a year’s (56 classes)time. What are our other Evaluation Techniques?
1. A Person becomes a MAD volunteer only if he/she has strong communication skills, high levels of energy and is ready to spend time in MAD for at least a year. It was for this interview process that Kenny was invited yesterday.
2. After every class the volunteer will come online and put their feedback of the class, which is monitored by a trained mentor and this helps us to understand if he’s adhering to the syllabus.
3. Once in every 2 months every volunteer is personally invigilated and ensured that they are able to deliver the curriculum. During this invigilation, one of the criteria that we have is the attendance level in the class which Kenny mentioned and the attention span of children, here if we see that kids are sleeping or is least interested in class then we DO think the volunteer is not doing a good job and refer him for further training.
@Ben Jacob: We teach in orphanages, street shelters, remand homes and poor boy homes. These kids have very little free time. And our classes are normally during their play time. Hence if a child felt his time is better spend playing or doing his chores than sitting in an English class then it is hard to stop them. Even if u force him to sit, he won’t learn a word. They don’t normally walk out of the class…they just don’t come for the class. That’s not rude, that’s just plain common sense. If I felt my time was better spend studying mechanics instead of sitting in a boring Hindi class, then I should be allowed to do that. And regarding ur view on Indian Teacher student relationship…I am sorry, but I think its bull shit…u’ll get the respect u deserve if ur a teacher or not..u don’t command it from anybody. If ur a good teacher u’ll be respected, no doubt…but if ur not..u should be shown the door, because we don’t have time to please him and listen to his crap. We have better things to do.
@ Derick. I totally agree with you on the training part, Kerala English teachers are trained by British council now. Some of their trainers and us work closely and they say its frustrating to work with mallu teachers because they don’t want to change..they don’t feel the need to change…change is never easy or comfortable..but people have to be pushed out of their shells to come out and change. Right now there is no incentive for these teachers to change. No matter what crap they do, no body cares, the kids are the silent sufferers. What if tomorrow their Job was on the line if the kids don’t study well..What if children don’t like the way they are taught and they voice their concern..Would anybody care today..no..but if there is a feedback system then teachers would be on their toes..They would have an Incentive to change.
I mean Come on !!..an ordinary toothpaste would have a toll free number to call and give the consumer feedback…why cant a student call and give feedback on a teacher??
Should we sacrifice that right for the “Indian Moral Values” ??
Comment by Jithin — April 27, 2009 @ 11:08 am
The open class idea is really cool…
@ Koshy – The point you made is valid. But as Kenney says learning can be fun. A class turns out to be interesting depending on the teacher’s interest/ability to teach, confidence and his attitude towards children.
I still remember my Maths classes in school. They were taught by one of my favourite teachers (Mr. Cyrill) and it was damn interesting… But in college, i feel like sleeping
The idea of open classes rock….
Comment by Varun Anand — April 28, 2009 @ 3:17 am
I really appreciate the effort taken by MAD team, and their procedure in evaluating their volunteers. It is a part of scientific measure that how a teacher can improve by a genuine feedback from the students. I totally agree.
@Jithin, Would like to know the procedure to be a volunteer by the view of Volunteering as per the definition you have given :- . ** “A Person becomes a MAD volunteer only if he/she has strong communication skills, high levels of energy and is ready to spend time in MAD for at least a year.” **; If a taxi driver who volunteers to be a driver in your team or anyone who believes he can make a difference by providing his service,I would like to know whether he will be accepted by the MAD team.
Comment by Tony Jose — May 1, 2009 @ 7:13 pm
He will not be a volunteer. He would be a well-wisher. If anybody wants to contribute to the organisation, he may, we would only be glad. Its well-wisher’s like him who made our posters, helped us recruit volunteer, helped us conduct camps etc etc. A volunteer is a more restricted profile. It is specific to a task. We have English volunteers, Computer volunteers and Placements volunteers. They need to have their specific skills and commitment levels to be a volunteer.
Comment by Jithin — May 1, 2009 @ 7:58 pm
Okey…! I think, u should remove such restrictions from volunteering. This is the age of equal opertunities. Let it be open to everyone. Say a yoga teacher or a painter, or a horse rider, every one can play a pivotal role. I believe education is not restricted to computer and linguistics alone. It should be holistic right?.
Comment by Tony — May 1, 2009 @ 9:53 pm
@ tony: What do u think is the difference between a volunteer and a well- wisher in MAD?
Comment by Jithin — May 2, 2009 @ 4:10 am
@tony Hi Tony. Im a MAD volunteer, so I would like to give my two cents worth. 1)Yes education is holistic, but you should remember that MAD has specifically stated it currently teaches its kids English and Computers. At the end of the day what matters most is the extent to which a child benefits from our services. How can we expect a person with minimal language skills to be effective at teaching a child English. There shouldn’t be any compromise in terms of what we give our children.
2)But that does not mean we believe education is centered around the subjects of English and Computers. MAD does in fact believe there will come a day when we will extent our services to include contribution from auto drivers, Hindi teachers, painters etc. In fact these people do still help out when we require non-teaching support. But they wouldn’t fit the job profile of an English or Computer teacher, which is what MAD, at least, for now engages in. But MAD does some day aspire to be an all out support system for a child
And I hope that day will come soon.
Comment by shahnaz — May 2, 2009 @ 5:01 am
@jithin. Labels of restriction. To be a volunteer, one should be good in computer and in communication skills,volunteers are the driving force of MAD, the post is ‘restricted’.
Anyone can be a well-wisher. but everyone cant be a volunteer. The term ‘restriction’ is what which is creating a difference. I feel the difference is similar to the difference between Security council and the General Assembly.
After all my points on the differences are based only on the statements you have provided in the previous posts.
Comment by Tony Jose — May 2, 2009 @ 7:30 am
Yes, I stand by my previous statement. A MAD volunteer is a specific job role. Like a Google engineer. They are in the organization to do a specific task. And to do a specific task one requires specific skills. And the recruitment to that JOB is RESTRICTED to those who have the specific skills.
The same way an arts student does not qualify to be a Google engineer if he does not have an engineering degree, the same way an English volunteer in MAD cannot be a volunteer without having good english skills.
Here I believe you are confused with the term volunteer in MADs context. Our focus is not on giving random people an opportunity to volunteer. Our focus is on giving our children good education. Now you may argue that teaching arts is also education. I fully agree with you. But MAD is small organization that is just getting its foot on the ground. We can’t teach the kids everything. So we decided to prioritize what we teach them. We decided our first focus will be on English because by having a good grasp of the language they can continue their higher studies which is in English medium and also the added advantage when they hunt for a JOB. Hence English was not chosen because we think its superior than any other subject but because we felt it will empower the kids the most.
So we have three projects in MAD
1. English Project
2. Computer Project
3. Placements Project
I am sure the teachers who taught you English you should have had basic levels of English proficiency and who taught you computers should have had basic knowledge of computers . Then why cant we demand the same for our children. Are they anyway less important than you?
Or since you are giving your service for free, nobody should question your capability or ability or qualification to give the service?
Imagine a person who donates free food to an orphanage says, There should be no “restrictions” to the quality of the food I give… its free… hence just eat it !!
Comment by Jithin — May 2, 2009 @ 8:09 am
@shahnaz : I understood.Thank you.
@jithin : I totally agree that we should give quality education and quality food. That is not what we were talking. It is a matter of ethics and sincerity. We all know how to behave and we all know what the purpose is. Quality is unnegotiable.
I admire MAD volunteers sincerity and commitment towards our children and the steps taken by them for providing quality education for the children. I would like to know whether you will be accepting a person, say a Psychologist if he/she volunteers to offer his/her service to MAD. The ‘restriction’ which we were discussing is applicable only in this context, its not about the quality of service, its not about training in English or in computer applications.
Comment by Tony Jose — May 2, 2009 @ 10:40 am
Amazing arguments!!!
i got just one thing to say.. i feel they whole confusion is due to the lac of understandability of the public about what MAD mean by “volunteer” and a “well-wisher”.
usually we hear about a “volunteer” as someone who is ready to render his services for that organization. and well wisher normally refers to those who contributes financially (and just wishes all the best).
but in MAD context these are different.
A MAD volunteer is a “specially trained person” who is assigned the main stream duties which jithin mentioned in earlier comments. unfortunately i’m not one of those volunteers.
A MAD well wisher is someone like me who is sitting out and helping them out financially(not me) or in other ways like helping the MAD to carry out its operations(might be as a driver, i’m ready to be one )
and for jithin’s question “Should we sacrifice that right for the “Indian Moral Values” ??”
we should not sacrifice it.. MAD is right.. anyone (including me) if don’t have the ability to educate a child (i wont use the word teach, i prefer educate) should not waste time as a volunteer.. and as jithin said the focus is on giving good education not picking up random volunteers.
Carry on friends MAD ROX
Comment by Ranjith — May 2, 2009 @ 12:23 pm
Amazing Post and comments. Kenney, never knew about MAD. Thank you for enlightning
Loved this comment by Jithin —> “Come on !!..an ordinary toothpaste would have a toll free number to call and give the consumer feedback…why cant a student call and give feedback on a teacher??
Should we sacrifice that right for the “Indian Moral Values” ?? “
Comment by Kuttyedathi — May 14, 2009 @ 6:25 pm