26 November VC- FACILITATOR’S REFLECTIONS – The Salvatorian Sisters School, Lebanon

Dear Fadwa and Pushpa,

Thank you for preparing your students for today’s fine video conference! The students were well prepared and all very willing to share and very excited to ask a plethora of questions to one another, though it was the first experience for both groups. Good job!

Here are some of my reflections of the dialogue; please be sure to add your own to our survey. Please leave your feedback for the Face to Faith team here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GDVPX2S  - this form should only take a few moments to complete and we really value your feedback. Your feedback is what helps us grow!

We started off the dialogue with students sharing what they like about their communities and schools. Chettinad students described the area and the neighborly nature of its people, and spoke a lot about the enforcing of the Indian culture at school through the dressing and general habits, eating especially. Salvatorian Sisters students spoke more about the green nature of the area, religious diversity at school, and how the school housed refugees from all the southern villages during the 2006 Israeli war. What was very striking is the readiness of students to share (and most describing elaborately) right from the start despite their very young age, the fact that they’re novices in the experience, and English is nobody’s native language.

We then had a good basis for a round of questions. I expected students to ask lots of response questions, ones based on what they heard, especially because what they heard was very rich. I think the enthusiasm of the students on both sides led them to ask all sorts of questions they initially had (Diwali, food in Lebanon), which is fine of course, but there were a few questions asked that were already answered in the first stage. Unfortunately, due to the microphone glitches and the bandwidth issues we experienced, we didn’t have much time for the questions before moving to dialogue about faith and belief.

When students were talking about faith and how it’s lived by them or their communities, Ramadan, Easter and Christmas were focused on in Salvatorian Sisters while worship in temples, practicing pranayama and the mudras in yoga in times of stress was mentioned in Chettinad. Unfortunately (with a capital U), we lost Chettinad right then after a beautiful chant due to a powercut, and Salvatorian Sisters couldn’t stay longer as we already extended the video conference to make up for all the time lost for technology problems.

Good practice:

• Students were very excited to share and ask.
• They expressed themselves to a very good extent.
• With the help of the probing questions of both teachers behind the scenes, students beautifully added more detail to their answers.

Suggestions:

• I think some more practice on response questions would be great. As the dialogue is only 60 minutes long, there’s only a certain number of questions that can be asked throughout, and they have to contribute to the flow of the dialogue and ideally (though not always possible) build on one another.
• As Carlos (and his friends!) from Salvatorian Sisters mentioned, I think we definitely need a follow up video conference with the very same groups to pick up from where they left off. I know the will is there, but we need to check the logistics at Salvatorian Sisters. If not possible at all (though highly recommended!), we can certainly have the students communicate over the online community at their own time.

In case you need a recording of the video conference, please email Kristen at kristen.looney@tonyblairfaithfoundation.org, and she’s more than happy to send you the file. Looking forward to meeting you and your students again soon!

Kindest regards,

Sara

VCs with The GEMS Academy, Dubai

Videoconference Feedback – Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam and GEMS World Academy -  12th February 2013

Dear All,

Many thanks for your participation in today’s vc; I think that it was very successful, particularly considering that, for one school it was their first experience.

As I was providing tech support as well today, I would just like to begin with a quick comment on that – which is mainly to do with being contactable on skype. It was great that Pushpa was able to sort out the audio issue at her end, but it would have been a great deal easier to provide you with effective support if I had been able to just communicate with you by skype text! A good lesson to us all – please make sure that you have added your facilitator and tech support on skype in advance (as it can take a while for those requests to get through). We did maintain solid video and audio connection throughout – although as I said to GEMS, it’s best practice to ensure that there is some solid projection for students’ contributions there – when they fade out it can be really difficult to hear.

There were some excellent dialogue skills on display today – some super questions, and some excellent response questions. I think that it is also worth remembering that a respectful question does not have to wear kid gloves (if you see what I mean), we got into some potentially challenging areas today, but the way that students asked those questions enabled us to explore them while maintaining respect. I think that it would be true to say that students at GEMS were confident to push a bit harder with their questions, and this is perhaps something that students in India might emulate in the future. I saw some superb contributions building upon other speaker’s points of view (though we do need to be careful to avoid repetition), and some excellent individual responses. I think that the way that so many students from India felt so comfortable about sharing such a diverse range of personal responses to the question about Arranged Marriage was superb.

I have to admit that the responses to the question about shoes were among my highlights of the VC – it just pointed out a perception of learning of which I think all teachers and students around the world should be reminded from time to time. ” Over here, when we go to a temple to worship, as Hindus we take our shoes off as they would make the place dirty – our classroom is like a temple, a sacred place, and we don’t want to make it dirty.”

We started off with some icebreakers thinking about differences between experiences, which immediately enabled some excellent response questions before getting into the area of discussion which both schools had asked for – the rights of women and girls. To begin with I think that students found it quite difficult to respond to this – we had quite a lot of really rather anodyne responses, before the question about the New Delhi Rape case took things onto a deeper level. While I felt that this was an important step in the discussion, I’m not sure that it really helped us go deeper into the issues at the heart of the question, as there was a lot of emphasis from both schools upon firm policing and ferocious punishments for offenders, rather than talking about underlying attitudes. I do appreciate though that that’s not an easy jump to make, but might be helpful in follow up discussions in class. I think that it might have been extremely useful for us all to have shared the discussions that were done in preparation before the VC  in order have focussed this section more carefully upon students’ expectations and prior work.

I prompted students to think about the ways in which their culture’s views of women might be framed by faith or tradition, and while we got some good responses, there was little opportunity to pick up on ideas that had been raised previously (I was hoping for a rather deeper exploration of the relationship between the dress requirements in Dubai and Islam – which had been implied earlier on, but never clearly stated), and some interesting ideas (expectation of Brides in Dubai, and the whole concept of Shakti in Hinduism) were knocked about before we found a comfortable topic here on Arranged Marriage. There was some excellent sharing here of personal perspectives – but at the same time a lack of challenge too. It is true that some people think that arranged marriages are not a good thing – but it’s also true that other forms of marriage are not without problems too – and it would have been good to get some push-back here. (Though in fairness, we were running out of time).

I know that there were still questions that need to be explored, indeed, like all good videoconferences, everyone had really got into their stride, and was feeling comfortable taking part when we had to stop. I do hope that you will encourage students to use the online community to share their ideas – either blogging a reflection about the VC, or contributing to the forum on marriage – it will be fascinating to hear from them (particularly from those who didn’t take an active role speaking in the VC).

I hope that you will really encourage students to use the online community – and indeed to blog their reflections from today’s VC As you know, it is also really important for us to collect feedback from teachers – so that we can ensure that we are meeting your expectations, and can develop what we offer to ensure that the experience is relevant and enriching for your students. There is a short survey, which you can find by clicking here (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F2F_teacher_feedback) where you can inform us of your feelings about the VC, or indeed this feedback. I’ll be only too happy to work with you via email or skype – as I just want to help your students be happier with the VC format.

You can download a recording of todays vc (in mp4 format) from https://www.box.com/shared/g1ag6hi5ty08sv78h01e - this is a great help when leading student reflection, even when focussing upon technique.

I look forward to hearing from you – and remember that it would be great for the students to tweet about their experience, using our hashtag #face2faith

All the best

Ian

Facilitator Reflections–Re: 13 February Face to Faith VC 5:30am GMT

Dear Brodie and Pushpa,

Thank you for your participation in our recent video conference!  Following are my reflections, but we would like yours as well– please take a few minutes to fill out the survey linked at the end of this email.  As always, please forgive me if I missed a name or spelled a name incorrectly!

We started off with a couple of icebreakers concerning both what students like about their communities and what they might change if they had the opportunity.  Both schools mentioned the diversity of cultures/religions in their areas as something they appreciated and both mentioned pollution as something they would change.  I did hear a couple of different comments that might be worth following up on in the classroom during these opening remarks.  Sahas at GWA mentioned that he wishes Dubai felt “more like a community.”  I wonder, how might he and other students work toward such a goal?  A good question for any group of students to ask/pursue.  As for Hari Shree, students mentioned that they wish there was a greater police presence on the streets to limit crime and traffic violations.  What struck me was the fact that later in the video conference they spoke about how safe their community was (especially in comparison to Delhi).  While the focus later in the conversation was major crimes, especially of the nature seen in Delhi recently, I still found it interesting that at some level the students did not feel as safe as they believe they should.  Again, a topic worth exploring and I wonder if they could figure out practical steps they could take to make their feelings known or to bring these issues to greater awareness.

The conversation then veered into the direction of festivals/diversity of religion.  Both schools mentioned Christian, Hindu, and Islamic presences in their community with Hari Shree also adding Buddhism.  Diwali, Pongul, Christmas, and Eid were all brought up.  When I asked what holiday students like to celebrate the most, all of these were again mentioned because of the festive, fun and celebratory nature of each.  I think it would be worth following up in the classroom and perhaps online if there exists a deeper significance as to why students like these festivals.  Usually such a conversation in the classroom or in a follow-up video conference provides students the opportunity to move beyond their initial responses of liking the time off, presents, burning crackers, etc. and may be an interesting future dialogue!

As planned, the remainder of the video conference focused on women’s issues in the communities.  If this is a topic the schools are interested in, it would be a grand idea to join one of the upcoming Women’s Day video conferences F2F is offering or if that isn’t possible to go through the materials provided as a resources for those video conferences.  Students didn’t seem as prepared as I expected to really dig into these issues, but they did a nice job of getting some ideas on the table which would definitely be worth exploring.  Both schools began the conversation by explaining how women in their areas are treated fairly and equally, with a student at Hari Shree mentioning India’s former female president.  Students at GWA spoke about the women in their region wearing burqas as well as the expectation that all women cover their shoulders to show respect.  While Sarah mentioned this last point as a minor challenge to a woman who is not Muslim, students seemed to convey the message that certain types of clothing were not detrimental to the fundamental view of women and, in fact, allow women to maintain a level of respect.

More serious challenges facing women were mentioned by students at Hari Shree.  Neha said that in rural villages females do not have access to education and are forced to work.  In addition, in these rural villages families often cannot afford the dowry for marriage, so female abortion has been a major issue, leading to some medical facilities not allowing scans to be performed.  I was surprised that GWA didn’t have any response questions and I wonder if students there might be interested in following up online concerning these serious facts about female life in India, especially rural India.  Students at GWA mentioned several other countries as they obviously have experience from around the world, but I thought Connor’s statement was particularly important concerning the U.S. when he remarked that laws are in place to give women equality, but in reality true equality has yet to be reached.  That seemed to be something that was hinted at regarding other countries as well, including India which has had a female president but also has problems such as those alluded to above.  As mentioned in my previous email, I began an online forum focusing on this topic and would love to see what students can do with it!  We ended the conversation with students discussing what statements their partner school made that caused them to think.  Students at Hari Shree were impressed with the fair treatment of women in Dubai because what they have read concerning the Middle East paints a different picture.  Emil at GWA spoke about child labor which was brought up, admitting he had not thought much about this issue before.  To me, this was an excellent way to end the conversation simply because students were showing that they were gaining new perspectives which is exactly the goal of F2F and can certainly lead to future learning opportunities!

Highlights:

• Student enthusiasm
• Learning opportunities that I’ve highlighted throughout my email.  Several different places which would be excellent sources of follow-up conversation in the classroom, online, or in future VCs.

Suggestions for future VCs:

Students now have  a great baseline to begin some rich conversation.  My greatest suggestion is to continue prodding students to drill deeper into the issues.  This can be tricky when working with a younger age group, but it appears to me that these students have the ability and foundation to push themselves into even greater realms of thinking about the terrific issues they raised!

It is very important for us to collect feedback from teachers so that we can develop what we offer in order to ensure that we are meeting your expectations and that the experience is relevant and enriching for your students. Our short survey only takes a few minutes to complete and can be found by clicking here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GDVPX2S

Thanks and I hope to work with you again soon!

Cory

13 Feb VC Chettinad Hari Shree and GEMS World Academy Facilitator Reflections

Dear Pushpa and Brinya,

It was a pleasure facilitating the videoconference today between Chettinad Hari Shree and GEMS World Academy.  Thank you for preparing your students so well for the videoconference.  They did a wonderful job!  Although we did get started late, I feel that students stayed on topic and ended up having a good discussion about their schools, women’s issues in their communities, and how their faith/values inform their views of women.   I hope you and your students found the experience thought provoking and meaningful.  I certainly did! Following are myreflections on the VC, but the Face to Faith team is equally interested in knowing your thoughts.  Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey at the end of this email.

Highlights of the Videoconference: 

• Students at both schools were actively involved in the VC.  Students are generally nervous during their first videoconference, but your students demonstrated confidence and excitement in sharing their own thoughts and perspectives.
• Students shared lovely and unique things about their communities.  One student at Chettinad shared that students don’t wear slippers at school because their school is a temple of learning.  Another student at Chettinand explained why girls braid their hair…it is a sign of beauty.  Students at GEMS talked about how they value the diversity of students in their community.  Another student talked about the Week Without Walls program, which is very important to the students at GEMS.
• Several stereotypes about women in the Middle East were challenged.  GEMS students shed some light the complexity of women’s rights and roles in the Middle East.  Depending upon the country or community, women’s roles can vary greatly.  They challenged the assumption that all women in the Middle East can’t drive, can’t work, have to wear the burka.
• Students at Chettinad discussed some of the most pressing women’s issues in India – the dowry, infanticide, safety of women.  They also challenged the assumption that the incident in Delhi happens everywhere in India.  One student said that she feels very safe in Chennai. She said that her government has promised to keep the women safe.
• A few students did a lovely job connecting their faith/values with their attitudes of women.  Two students at Chettinad talked about how there are several female goddess and women should be treated with respect.  Another students said that his grandfather has taught him to treat women with respect.  Two students at GEMS connected their attitudes and behaviour with the Koran.  ‘The Koran says that women should be treated with respect.’  ‘If you are disrespectful to a woman, it is a sin.’

Learning Opportunities:

• We didn’t have time to explore in depth all of the issues students discussed.  However, I was impressed that students felt comfortable asking questions, sharing opinions, and challenging stereotypes.
• I  hope both schools will continue the discussion on-line.  It would be interesting to have more students share how their faith/beliefs/values inform their opinions about the treatment of women.  A good follow up question would be:  what are your schools and communities doing to support women in your community?
• It was great to shape this introductory VC around the role of women.  Please consider joining our UN Day for Women’s Rights Videoconferences on 8 March.  We’d love to have you participate!

Suggestions for future VCs:

• Please make sure to dial in 30 minutes before the VC begins.  This way all parties can be tested to make sure everything is working well before the VC begins.

As mentioned above, it is very important for us to collect feedback from teachers so that we can ensure that we are meeting your expectations and can develop what we offer to ensure that the experience is relevant and enriching for your students. Our short survey only takes a few minutes to complete and can be found by clicking here <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GDVPX2S

It was truly a pleasure to facilitate the dialogue between your schools today!   I look forward to working with you again soon.

Warm Wishes,

Kristen

Facilitator reflections–Re: 11 February Face to Faith VC 5:30am GMT

Dear Brodie and Pushpa,

Thank you for your participation in our recent video conference!  Following are my reflections, but we would like yours as well– please take a few minutes to fill out the survey linked at the end of this email.  As always, please forgive me if I missed a name or spelled a name incorrectly!

First of all, we appreciate you connecting on time and, fortunately, there were no technical glitches during the VC.  We began by letting the students discuss what they like about their communities and what they might change if they had the opportunity.  Students seemed more or less prepared to give responses here speaking about safety, celebrating festivals, people helping one another, and learning opportunities both schools offer.  As for what they might change, it was interesting to hear both schools mention the environment (Roshan at Hari Shree discussed pollution as did Shananya, and Sergio at GWA mentioned his wish that people would bike more often around Dubai).  Poverty/unfair treatment of workers was also brought up by Sandish at Hari Shree and Sean at GWA.  These topics are found in other modules and may be great places to pick up future VCs since they came up without prompting here.

I then opened it up for response questions and we had a brief discussion of festivals in both communities.  Diwali was touched upon as was Ramadan and Christmas.  This made for an easy transition into the next part of our VC as I asked the students to define the word “faith.”    Unfortunately, this is where things stalled a bit.  Students gave a few responses, and fair responses at that, but not many spoke up.  I tried to push them along asking how they saw faith lived out in their communities.  Sure enough, more spoke up, but there was certainly some hesitancy.  The predominant answer from both schools was trust in others manifesting itself in the respect shown to anyone regardless of background.  Again, a fair response, but it might be interesting to follow up this conversation in the classroom and press the students a bit more.  Perhaps not everyone shows respect all the time?  Perhaps there are more specific examples of faith in action (Dakshan’s example of trust in animals was an interesting story!).

From the booking document it appeared that the treatment of women was a topic both schools have been discussing in class so I asked about that issue.  Roshan discussed equality in the workforce and Samyota made the comment that faith plays a role in the ways women are treated (that would be a great topic to follow up on!).  She also mentioned that in some rural communities discrimination still exists.  Such honest evaluation is crucial in these dialogues and I applaud her for bringing the  point up.  Kayna atGWA mentioned dress codes in respect of religious beliefs and Jordan brought up that he heard that the Islamic faith requires women to walk behind men, though he prefaced this by saying he wasn’t sure if it was true or not.  Later the question concerning women wearing burqas came up.  As I said during the VC, I think such comments/questions would be ideal to pursue in the classroom. Jordan’s preface, “I don’t know if it’s true or not” is an important one, and I wonder if he would be interested in finding out the answer to the question so as to substantiate what he has heard or to avoid misconceptions.  The dialogue then ended with each school reporting two things they learned about their new friends.

Highlights: 

• A desire to talk about communities
• Friendly/responsive demeanor by students at both schools
• Several good response questions

Learning opportunities:

• Possible future VCs on topics that came up early in this conference
• Have students continue the dialogue online.  I have posted a forum simply entitled “Hari Shree and GWA”.  It would be great to see them interact online!
• Topics highlighted above would be excellent discussions in the classroom setting and in future VCs.

Suggestions for future conferences:

I think preparation will be key for these students.  Especially at a younger age, it is sometimes difficult to feel comfortable discussing larger issues such as faiths/beliefs using the video conference platform.  Sharing the proposed agenda from facilitators has been a large help in my classroom as it gives the students a sense of confidence going in.  This leads to better discussion and more in-depth response questions.  This also cuts down some of the nervous movement/talking.

It is very important for us to collect feedback from teachers so that we can develop what we offer in order to ensure that we are meeting your expectations and that the experience is relevant and enriching for your students. Our short survey only takes a few minutes to complete and can be found by clicking here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GDVPX2S

Thanks and I hope to work with you again soon!

Cory

TBFF 12th Feb 2013 Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam and GEMS World Academy