The world is our curriculum.
But what is the curriculum?
Is it defined by me or the learner or none or both?
Life is part of the curriculum
Living is curriculum
Learning is part of the curriculum
When all this merges, it just becomes an experience.
We asked shared one difficult thing from the day
Hard to walk with pain.
Difficult to reach the station in time.
Learn freestyle rhythm in drumming.
Difficult to take laziness out of the body.
Difficult to research to find fish in India to keep in our pool.
Control temptation to eat.
Tough to play basketball
The week was busy with creating our own curriculum – Deciding what I ‘want’ do, Planning ‘How’ I want to do, and Reflecting on ‘comfort, challenges and frustration in any task we did with the visual tool of traffic light’.
JOBS at Aarohi brought opportunity to learn – Campus medic – To understand my body to take care of my basic health. Keen do research. Accountant – I have taken this as subject and found work interesting. System admin – I like fixing computers fixing hardware/software. Excited that he can solve real problems. Campus warden – I will fix everything at the campus and few more coming up like Campus tailor, Kitchen Manager, Receptionist, Campus Gardner as part of our living curriculum at Aarohi.
Can a campus teach? Where does the water come from and where does it goes? Well, the living invited the curriculum to understand water and waste system at the campus – some pondered what is a reed, while some exclaimed Oh! urine to the plants!
Clubbing – another way to come together and learn – Any group of similarly interested people forming CLUBS. The people interested define nature, rules, commitment, duration, and frequency.
STUDY CLUB – Some want to study – reasons are different – basic Knowledge for future, Give 8th, 10th, 12th and college, Field not sure, a certificate for safety. Some want a structured plan (milestones – study plan monthly ), study together and need for teaching. The club is based on Self-directed and Teacher / Mentor available online or in person.
We asked what in an activity club you want – To fulfill the need of Basic skills (reading, writing) in English, Maths( simple calculations) and any Language through exploration, experimentation, and different activities, like games, puzzles, dramatics, stories, etc.
TEEN/ TWEEN club, an exclusive space for Tween and Teen to understand self and social needs. We asked, what should space for Teen and Tween have? The need to explore self and social topics in a safe and stimulating environment. The need to understand self, emotions, growing up, social through talks, discussion, activities or just simply coming together.
Creations are part of our life – CRAFT CLUB with Crafter Kanchan and that’s all! Yes, fitness is part of our living, hence part of our curriculum, RUNNING CLUB to run with runner Kowshik with a dedicated plan. We play, practice and learn drums in MUSIC CLUB. SINGING CLUB is just to Sing and Alap
Trek to Anchetty Durgam to discover self – For some, it was the first trek and for some, it was nth time. Nature gives us various experiences and opportunities to push ourselves beyond our limits and a cherishing experience that we take back with us. Refreshing wind, Nature’s beauty, natural pond, breakfast at the hilltop, walk in the sun, connecting with each other, supporting partners, teamwork, pushing individual limits were some of our takeaways from the trek.
Inspiration is part of curriculum – One knows film making and she took the session to share about film making, another one supporting anyone who wanted to learn computer programming, one exhibited that learning wave board is not difficult – a few more joined, one knew how to make jewelry – few more got inspired, One who drums – teaching a few more, one who can flip fearlessly on the trampoline – shared the tricks with others. Planning, Packaging, Preparing products and finally selling at the
the market was the curriculum decided by some at Aarohi.
One session on film making exposed us to many aspects of Filmmaking – an expression of thoughts, stop motion, video filming, Motion, graphic, cuts, Shots, Transition, Anime – each frame is drawn, How is Video different than a movie? Post-production, pre-production, shooting, planning, scriptwriting, camera, writing, imagination, dialogue, editing, audio, subject, frame, light, shadow, exposed, overexposed, lookup table, footage ( LUT), CinemaScope,
We understood emotion beyond just feelings – Emotions are also called feelings like being happy, sad, mad and scared.
Emotions can be sometimes strong and sometimes mild.
Sometimes emotions come with a physical reaction( eg: When he got angry, he threw his toy.) Basic emotions can be felt by many different living things- not just humans. Have you seen a dog wag a tail? This is how a dog shows joy. There are higher emotions like shame, pride, and guilt experienced by human beings and few animal species. All emotions are NATURAL and are always changing as different things happen to us. These changes you can clearly see in your body and mind.
We connected – where all one may need help? The group came together to explore that understanding my need is also doing! I can do by asking for help when I need – emotions, fights, hurt (emotional/ physical), to convey my feelings and thoughts, to be listened to, when I feel put down, when I am teased, i have the need to be heard, feeling low, hurt sexually (touch, show inappropriate content, harassing, etc). The invitation is to expand our safety circle by making and using many helpmates – a peer, a friend, an adult in the community, any other adult I relate to (siblings, relatives), parents and facilitators.
Hmmm the curriculum is not what others define for me, but what I define out of my living.
https://aarohilife.org/home/blog/creating-our-own-curriculum