Understanding the Hindu festival of Dussehra

My earliest memories of Dussehra are connected to the place I was born, BITS, Pilani. It’s a small institutional town in Rajasthan, India.

The effigies of the demon Ravana, Kumbhakaran, and Meghanath were burnt near the temple ground. The excitement of Dussehra was doubled, as that was also the day of the annual fair and we could buy all kinds of fun, traditional toys that probably did not last till we reached back home. But that didn’t bother us and year after year we used to look forward to Dussehra.

When my children were growing up, my desire was to help them understand a little about the culture of India. Being into education, I always wanted that they not only understand what Dussehra means but also learn something more too. So every year, probably since they were 10 years old, they used to make an effigy of Ravana in the open space outside our home in NOIDA and burnt it in the evening of Dussehra along with their friends.

First, it was just one foot tall and slowly it started becoming bigger and Kumbhkaran and Meghnath were added too.

Through this, our two children and their friends learned the physics, they learnt the mathematics and of course a lot about co-operation and teamwork.

As the effigy of Ravana was burnt, we all also put all our evil thoughts and bad habits into it.

Well! That was our Dussehra till the children left for college. Then in 2019, I came to know through my in-laws that we do Dussehra puja in the morning and pray to Ravana! That came as a big surprise to me.

We make an outline of Ravana with wheat flour and Kumkum on the floor outside the house. It is believed that Ravana was very knowledgeable and had all the wisdom of the Vedas and the Puranas. So, when Lord Rama’s arrow hit Ravana, he fell on the ground counting his last breath. At that moment, Rama told his brother Lakshman to go and sit on his feet and get all the knowledge from him.

Hence, we make Ravana on the floor and pray to him. We place some kitchen instruments like knives, rolling pin etc., some books and stationery items, or any other thing that helps us gain knowledge beside Ravana.

Also, as it is a ritual in Navratri to grow barley on the first day of Navratri, and we use them for the prayers on Dussehra. According to our scriptures, barley was the first crop after the beginning of creation, so whenever goddesses are worshipped, barley is offered in the havan. In fact, the main reason behind this is that barley is considered as Brahma and we should respect the grain.

These barley saplings have seen 9 nights of Navratri and are called ‘nortein’ which in Hindi means nine nights. On Dussehra day we pull out the little saplings of barley and tie mauli (the red pure thread) and attach them to all the above instruments that help us prosper in life. Along with prasad we eat bottle gourd curd (raita). Furthermore radish, sugarcane and singhada are a part of the offerings.

Barley saplings 9 days old

After prayers, we go around this outline of Ravana with a stick banging the stick on the floor. This is the onset of winters and in the northern part of India, the winters can get very severe. It is just a fun thing to do and legend has it that the banging noise scares the winters.

Layout for dussehra puja

At dusk the same day, we burn the effigy of Ravana. He is considered as a symbol of evil. His ego had overshadowed all his goodness and made him a demon.

In the morning we pray to Ravana for his knowledge and in the evening we burnt his effigy so that all the evil in us is burnt along with that effigy.

My take away is that there’s some good in everyone, and one must incorporate these good qualities and ignore the bad ones.

Ravana effigy

A Hackathon for teachers?

When I was first contacted by EdSense team to mentor a Hackathon for teachers, I was taken aback. Weren't hackathons for a large number of people who meet to engage in collaborative computer programming? But EdSense, an education management platform, elevated us teachers to a pedestal at par to that of the tech world. The timing was perfect, as India is under complete lockdown due to Covid 19 pandemic and the teachers are missing the high level of activity that they are used to. Edsense chose all the topics very thoughtfully. The topics were related to 21st-century skills, which are very close to a teacher's heart. The hackathon stimulated the teachers to think out of the box, collaborate, learn-unlearn-relearn, and share their ideas as they had done never before.

SMART TEACHER HACKATHON @HYDERABAD, 4TH APRIL, 2020

With excitement, physically and mentally ready to mentor the four teams assigned, I logged in, and then those 6-7 hours passed like a flash. I was delighted to witness that the teachers, who are considered pedagogical experts, rose to the occasion, and came out with astounding solutions to the assigned problems/ tasks.

@Education ministry: Don’t you want to include teachers who are involved in the nation-building activity day in and day out?

Being a teacher myself, I had always seen technical issues during annual days ranging from irregular song sequence being played to having to speak without a mike. To be frank, I was expecting a lot of commotion with 17 teams, each with three to four members, a mentor for each, submissions, evaluations et al. But it was like a fairy tale, all running smoothly for those 7 engaging hours. I was amazed at the proficiency of EdSense to conduct a virtual hackathon of this level.

SMART TEACHER HACKATHON @BANGALURU, 25TH APRIL,2020

Being invited yet again was an offer I jumped right into. My expectations were high from EdSense and they surely didn't let me down. This time with 30 teams, each 3-4 team members, tasks, the evaluation was even more challenging. As expected, all the 6-7 hours were equally engaging as the first time. This time more comfortable with my task of mentoring (reaffirming that practice makes one perfect!), I was able to witness how teachers who are most comfortable at performing in a brick and mortar set up, who are usually not tech-savvy or have apprehensions towards digital technology could break this barrier and be equally competent.

One of my favorite moments during the hackathon was when one participant was attending to her little one who was seeking attention and without getting annoyed with the child, showered the little one with kisses and hugs, while still being glued to the laptop. What are teachers made up of, was the thought that the hackathon left me with!

Thanks, EdSense for this amazing opportunity.

The picture below summarises a TEACHER:

Techniques to master reading high frequency words for kindergarteners

Move from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn

We all want our children to be fluent and fast readers as early as possible. In the zest of helping the children with reading specifically phonics, at times high frequency words take a back seat. We must keep in mind that apart from phonics awareness, the mastery over high frequency words plays a very important role in children becoming proficient readers.

High frequency words are indeed a very important supplement to phonics instruction. The ability to recognize high frequency words by sight and not by sounding them our phonetically builds fluency and speed in reading.

Some tried and tested techniques will surely help the early readers in their reading fluency. These techniques are based on Orton-Gillingham method of multi-sensory teaching.

1. See & Say (S&S): As the name says, the sight word flash card  is shown to the child and the child reads the word multiple times. It has to be repeated day after day till the child masters it. The procedure od See & Say is to keep the flash card at your shoulder height and just an arm’s length from the child. Each flash card has the sight word and an arrow going from left to right. Every time the sight word is read, the educator has to trace the arrow using index and middle finger.

2. Arm tapping: This technique adds spellings to make deeper cognitive impression. It stimulates kinesthetic learners and gives a tactile feedback. The procedure is to say the word tapping the left shoulder. Then slowly progress down the arm to the wrist saying the letters . Finally, say the word again sweeping the index and the middle finger along the arm. The child copies the same

3. Air writing: The physical act of writing in the air creates  not only a cognitive impression but also helps cement the word in the child’s memory. The procedure is to hold the flash card at arm length from the child and at the child’s eye level. First, use two fingers to underline the word saying the word. Next, using two fingers, air write each letter as you call the letters. Finally, say the word one more time, again tracing the arrow to underline it. (Important to have the child hold their writing arm straight as they air write the word.)

4. Table Writing: This technique brings together all the elements of sight words teaching, that is, recognizing on sight, spelling it, and writing it. It is in fact a prelude to writing. This is similar to air writing, only has to be done on a horizontal surface for example, the surface of a table. The child is shown the flash card with the word. The child copies the letters of the word on the table using the two fingers of the writing hand, then underling to say the word. Finally, the flash card is removed and the child writes spelling the letters and underlining to say the word.

All these techniques help in getting the words into child’s long term memory. These are assured to make fluent readers. Once the child becomes proficient, the proficiency generates interest and we soon have an avid reader.