It is sports day in school. The chief guest is a legendary athlete who has won many medals. He asks the children if they know how many sports events are organized as a part of Olympics 2024. Several hands go up. Amidst them a shy child hesitantly puts his hand up. He is nervous. He can feel all the heat rushing up his throat. A voice telling him, "Forget it. No need to tell." Another voice in his head says, "Go ahead and tell. You know the right answer. Are you going to let it go when you know the right answer?"
What should this child do? Which voice do you think he chose to listen to?
8 year old Rishab (name changed to protect privacy) came home that evening from school looking incredibly happy. He joined the Young Readers' Club session with a big smile. The facilitator asked him,
"How was your day today?"
"Good!" he said with an even bigger smile.
"What was good about it? Something special happened?"
That's the question he had been waiting for. He narrated what happened at the assembly that morning, the chief guest arriving, the talk about the Olympics and the great question,
"How many sports events were scheduled for Paris Olympics 2024?"
Rishab said that he looked around. So many hands were up.
"15!"
"20!"...the numbers kept changing. The chief guest nodded his head to say, "Not the right answer."
"'32!' I said," Rishab told the facilitator and his friends on the Young Readers' Club.
"That's correct!"
Rishab couldn't contain his excitement. He had overcome his nervousness and reluctance to speak in a group and said the right answer. The others looked on surprised as they hadn't heard Rishab contribute much in group discussions. He preferred to stay quiet and here he was beaming that he got the correct answer while many others who appeared bold didn't.
The moment was cloud number nine.
Rishab felt like he had won the gold!
When no one knows the right answer but you have an idea that sounds silly...
There is a feeling of pride and joy when you are at an advantage. But we are not always in that situation. What if we could create a space where it is ok to think, express oneself without having to worry about whether those thoughts are silly or not. Sometimes, the ideas that seem silly turn out to be one of the most brilliant ones!
Take the post it note that typically comes in squares and in yellow. Spencer Silver came up with adhesive that couldn't permanently stick. Who would need an adhesive that wouldn't permanently stick? The idea didn't take off until a scientist used it to keep his bookmarks from falling off.
Take a stuff toy and smash it till it becomes a pillow. Sounds horrific. But turns out Pillow Pets was born to be just that. It did very well. Later it was bought by ToysRUs.
Children's literature have books in which the protagonist finds his/her voice and helps deliver the same effect in the readers' minds. For instance, Book Uncle and Me by Uma Krishnaswamy shows the protagonist a little girl trying to come up with an idea to help save her neighborhood library. Dhara's Revolution by Varsha Seshan is another good example of the protagonist finding her voice and bringing about change.
While we read about the school inside a train one of the young readers suggested classrooms on the move for field trips. The other readers thought that it wasn't a good idea at all as students would be distracted. But who knows it might be the way classrooms of the future might look like.
Whether one's thoughts/ideas get implemented or not is besides the point. To be heard, to be noticed for an effort makes a huge difference in shaping children's personalities and allows them to build confidence. It also helps them to show empathy towards another person who is trying to say or do something in a classroom situation but is too nervous to do it.
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Both weekday and weekend batches are available at the Young Readers' Club for the 8-12 age group.
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