Service Learning Magazine: Divya &Avanya (MYP-5)

There are 6 students in the Service Learning magazine group, each with different skills to help the creation of the magazine by the end of the year. We have divided ourselves into teams of reporting, tech, and editing. Due to the pandemic, everything has changed, and now we have to create a magazine virtually. At first, we all weren’t sure if the magazine will be able to come together, as it is harder to create an online version. We all started researching for ways in which we can create an online magazine. We are still working on the ways in which we can get the best possible outcome of the virtual magazine. With researching, we have found ways to include videos, photos, and audios in the magazine. None of us have done this before, and this is an opportunity we are waiting to experience. To get a better understanding of what the other service groups are doing, we created a form and sent them out to all the groups. The responses helped us get a clearer understanding of their goal, aim and plan.

Doorstep Art: Muhammad (DP-1)

For the Doorstep Art group, we initially came up with several great ideas for the possible activities and teaching outline. We started off by discussing the plan for a small interview with the head of the Doorstep community since Art was not a confirmed subject for the students. In the beginning we needed to propose to the Doorstep teachers a teaching outline and a short explanation of why Art as a subject should be a priority. The MIS leader of the Doorstep Art service separated the group to work on different aspects of the teaching outline and ensure that they would elaborate on points by adding a brief explanation and any stationery requirements to every outline.

At first, we struggled with planning the lessons because we were uncertain about a few factors, such as the age gap (year level) that we will be teaching. This led to a misunderstanding, we initially thought that we will tutor grade 5 students, but instead we are supposed to plan lessons for grade 1 students. We had to create a major change to the lesson plans and outlines, which consumed more time. However, with all of us cooperating, we were able to complete the presentation (lesson plans) on time.  Our lesson plans were formed through in-depth discussions and ideas. Collaboration and communication  were the other main factors in our group completing the plans. There were times when we as a group faced difficulty, but after endeavoring and persevering we were able to complete the lesson plans.

Equality for All –English:Vania (DP-2)

Throughout our weeks partaking in Service, we have faced both successes and challenges. The circumstances have forced us to adapt to a new solution. We agreed on creating booklets. As we had already been working through some ideas over the summer and brainstorming new topics, we had our earlier content to help us. We have been successfully creating and editing our booklets on time for Service. We faced challenges mainly with technology, our calls cutting off, not being able to hear each other, slow internet. One session we lost a large chunk of time because we were facing major issues with our Teams applications and it hindered our communication.  However, we continue to communicate during and outside of school and that is one of our greatest strengths. If we have the opportunity to teach the students through our screens, we will have to coordinate our plans around our lesson booklets.

We also have to consider the language and technology barriers we face and ask for help from a translator. Another challenge we came across was translation issues, as none of us speak Marathi. However, with the support of our advisor, Ms. Madhuri, we are able to deliver our lessons as accurately as possible. Currently, we have 4 finished lessons and our end goal is to completely compile our lessons planned into one comprehensive booklet.

For the next Service sessions, we plan to communicate with Ms. Maya and the Equality for All coordinators, brainstorm new topics for pages, and add supporting mini activities for further understanding.

Equality for All – Maths: Savera (DP-1)

Over the past few months, our group has been working on creating math workbooks for the Equality for All students. Our aim has been to help encourage them to take responsibility for their learning by using the resources we provide them. We have faced many challenges along the way such as the language barrier and the virtual aspects of creating the workbooks. As a group, we managed to overcome the potential language problems by using both simple English and including translations in the workbooks. Effective collaboration online was slightly harder to solve because of our current situation and environment. This led to multiple discussions in our group to figure out a way to achieve our goal.

We came up with a feasible response — communication is key. Considering this, each Tuesday our group would start a discussion by explaining what we did in the past week and what we would have to do for the next week. These discussions also consisted of question & answer periods along with time set for feedback and feedforward for each member of the group. Through this, we were able to collaborate and share our ideas with each other. Overall, through open-mindedness and reflection, our group has been able to produce successful resources and tools that the Equality for All students can use to achieve more in life.

Equality for All: How to use videos: Myunchan (DP-1)

Our group had set out to create guidebooks for the students of the Equality for All organization, to teach them how to use basic Google related software such as Google Mail, Google Documents, Google Sheets and Google Slides. Additionally, we are trying to create a guidebook for a communication software called “Zoom.” Our motives for creating these guidebooks came from the responses that we acquired from previously conducted interviews, where the organization’s members displayed an interest in improving familiarity between the students and the software. Learning how to handle this software will enhance their academic process and be a great start for their future development. During our process, we had to know the exact steps and specifications for each action/command within the software. Due to that, we had to try each of them, while recording the steps. This was a decent amount of labor and a test to our persistence while working on the project.

Also, we had to research different formats and mediums to create the actual guidebooks (could use software such as canva, flipsnack, paperturn). Through this, we were able to work on our ATL Research skills and become better Inquirers, in IB Learner Profile terms.

Korean Website Designing: Sehyun &Geonhee (DP-1)

There are over 28 nationalities in the school, which means many MIS students are from foreign countries. We noticed that many parents find it difficult to navigate and understand the website made by our school. This could be an issue as a school website is the first impression many have of the school. Parents usually check the school’s website before selecting whether they should enroll their children in the school. These DP1 and MYP 5 students joined together in the creation of a basic translated version of the school website, allowing foreign parents to have access to a simpler and understandable  (in their own language) website that contains information needed about Mahindra International School. We think that this website will really help the school, as it will promote and easily advertise it by making the information available to other nationalities. The first information website is to be in Korean.

Shaswat: Sanjana (MYP-4)

Shashwat is a renowned organization which focuses on educational development mainly among tribal kids. They work through a boarding school facility based in Manchar. Currently, the organization focuses on children between the age of 6-13 with plans on widening this age group. Currently, the organization is struggling to continue their astounding work in the wake of the pandemic.

The Shashwat group at MIS primarily consists of 5 people. Namely, Sanjana (me), Akash, Avaneesh, Gangho and Ved. Recently we gained a new member, Sharveen. Having very limited members was initially quite challenging. Group members had to take on various roles at a time in order to be productive. Our association with Shashwat began in late August when we contacted them to ask for ways we could assist them. We decided to initially focus on kids from the ages of 6 to 8. Our group then started working on ways to be of service.

Through brainstorming and miscellaneous exchange of ideas, we decided to create and provide educational resources which will help the kids learn concepts. One of the biggest challenges we faced was the language barrier. We learned that the children can only communicate in Marathi and unfortunately only 2 group members out of 5 could speak in Marathi. This meant that it would be fairly difficult for everyone to contribute to the creation of the resources. We had to contemplate many possibilities to reach the solution that we did. This was one of the many such challenges we faced but even then, we continued operating as a group and having successful outcomes. Currently, we have one group working on resources for Mathematics and another working on English resources. This distribution of duties allows us to work impeccably with serviceable developments.

Akshar-Sarita: Deokwon (DP-1)

We, the Akshar Sarita Group, started working on the action plan recently. We are recording short stories from Ramayana which today’s youth are usually eager to know more about. These are meant for the children who like to hear interesting stories. Our group chose to read small and moral based stories which everyone in the community would love to hear, and can therefore interpret them by themselves to understand them in depth.

Our group has completed more than 7 audios. We recorded several audios in our individual groups. Before starting with the action, we had planned everything and we made short documents in order to collect our ideas. When we started with the recordings, we faced many problems as we were all doing it for the first time. We faced difficulties in doing the right voice modulation, which was the key term to making an audio. We overcame all these problems and finally made some good audios. Yet there is a lot of scope for improvement as we have not perfected these skills yet. The group is doing well with the audio making. We were also asked to create some emotion so that it increases the interest of the listener. Hence following that we used emotion while reading stories.

Painting: Aryan (DP-2)

Our Painting CCA consists of seven students. In our CCA we push our creative side towards more perfection. In every class we try practicing and teaching new styles of art and challenge our skills by trying to teach the students with new difficult types and forms of arts. We do make changes in our teaching styles every time so that our goal of teaching new and different known and unknown art styles is accomplished.