amals visit to syden wala education projects

25 May 2017
observations (and a few questions /
ideas) from amals visit to syden
wala education projects
Including insights from:
Mr. Rafi Iqbal
Mr. Saeed Iqbal
Mr. Saad Sahil (Ali Institute)
Maryam Humayun (Amal)
Ali Siddiq (Amal)
Benje Williams (Amal)

Supported by research from:

Carol Dweck (Stanford University)
Dan Ariely (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
John Gardner (Stanford University)
Ken Robinson (University of Warwick)
Wendy Kopp (Teach for America)
Wilbert McKeachie (University of Michigan)
Salman Khan (Khan Academy)
 observation
The facility is beautiful, with renewable solar energy
and abundant (natural) lighting and ventilation.

For example, even the rooms at 1pm remained cool,

despite a 40+ degree temperature outside

inspiration
I am a big believer that inspiring physical spaces and rich
community really do elevate and develop ones thinking.

Khan, Salman. The One World Schoolhouse: Education

Reimagined (2012)
 observation
The girls seemed genuinely enthusiastic and excited to learn,
which was enabled by a very strong and positive learning
culture / atmosphere throughout the school.

inspiration
Energy level in a classroom is one of the things you
cant plot on a curve, but is palpable and important.
Khan, Salman, The One World Schoolhouse: Education
Reimagine (2012)

If you can light the spark of curiosity in a child, they will

learn without any further assistance, very often. Children
are natural learners.
Ken Robinson. How to escape education's death valley
(2013)
 observation / question
Observation: Learning was very activity-based, experiential,
and hands on: Almost 75% of the classes we visited
chemistry, computer science, biology, physics, general science,
and English were doing activities when we joined.

Question: Wondering if this was special because of a planned

visit, or if its always like this? As it seemed students were
really enjoying the learning

inspiration
Despite the fact that some instructors believe that telling is
teaching, a learner really hasnt stored new information in
long term memory until he or she does something with that
information. It might be that the learner makes a connection
between what hes hearing and what he already knows. Or it
might be that she creates an example or image to represent
the new Some form of active learning is necessary.

McKeachie, Wilbert. McKeachie's Teaching Tips (2013)

 observation
One teacher voluntarily admitted a mistake during an activity in
which Principal Farhana corrected the class (not the teacher) for
pronouncing doing in correctly.
After the students were corrected by the principal, the teacher
said Wow, even I didnt know how to pronounce that properly.
Now we know how to do it in the future.
Remarkable and very atypical to see a teacher voluntarily and
humbly take this responsibility.

inspiration
If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come
up with anything original.
Robinson, Ken. The Element: How Finding Your
Passion Changes Everything (2009)

In the fixed mindset, when you fail, you're a failure...

In the growth mindset, when you fail, you're learning
Dweck, Carol. Mindset (2006)
 question
Is there a way to enhance the students why of learning? To
increase their big picture understanding of why the information
they are learning is important?
For example, the girls were learning how to create Excel tables but
no one could really explain what they could do with the information
in the table (except for Fardosa, the class topper). Or when asked
why the sparrow was their favorite animal, they said because its
my favorite, but couldnt explain what made it their favorite.

inspiration
If we know why we are learning and if the reason fits our
needs as we perceive them, we will learn quickly and deeply
This failure to relate classroom topics to their eventual
application in the real world is one of the central shortcomings
of our broken classroom model, and is a direct consequence of
our habit of rushing through conceptual modules and
pronouncing them finished when in fact only a very shallow
level of functional understanding has been reached.
Khan, Salman. Education Reimagined (2012)
 question
Have we been able to assess the impact of the teachers
who have been hired /trained by Syden Wala School and
then dispersed to the government schools?
What is the impact on the classroom, the learning
outcomes, the schools itself?

inspiration
If we want to change what they care about, we should
change what we measure... To change behavior, we need
to change the numbers we measure.
Ariely, Dan. Harvard Business Review (2010)
 question
What can Syden Wala learn from Teach for America (TFA), which
not only trains and places teachers in government schools, but
also focuses heavily on recruiting the highest performing
graduates (and future leaders) from across the country.
Its believed that TFAs greatest impact is the quality of talent it
has recruited into the education sector (and the education work
theyve gone on to do after finishing TFAs two year program)
Can we have the founder of Teach for Pakistan (Khadija Bakhtiar)
visit Syden Wala? Can we have Wendy Kopp (TFA Founder, CEO)
visit? Can Babar sb meet Wendy (who is also friends with
Jacqueline) next time hes in New York?

inspiration
Everything starts with teacher quality. There are many factors at
play, but Im dead in the water if I dont have great teachers.
It all comes down to the two-sided coin of teacher recruitment
and retention. This priorityfind highly effective teachers and
keep themis perhaps the most labor-intensive part of a
successful school leaders job.
Kopp, Wendy. Teach for America Cofounder, CEO (2011)
 question
Wondering if it might be helpful to recruit a few male
teachers (3 4) for the boys schools, as the principal
mentioned all the boys school teachers would be women.
Think that its wonderful to have primarily female teachers,
and I also wonder if some men can be recruited/retained?
Would this help create positive male role models who can
serve as inspiration for the boys to come back to the village?

inspiration
With a talent mindset, school systems would
aggressively recruitactually go out and find
exceptionally talented people with leadership potential,
encouraging them to take positions as teachers.
Kopp, Wendy. Teach for America, Founder, CEO (2011)
 observation
Are the teachers fully utilizing the learning experience / training
at Ali Institute? Given that they are on their own special program,
are they able to learn from other teachers from other schools?
And are they taking this program as seriously/intentionally?
Would they take it more seriously if they received a degree and
not a diploma afterwards?

inspiration
Teachers are the lifeblood of the success of schools. But
teaching is a creative profession. Youre not there just to pass on
received information. Great teachers do that, but what great
teachers also do is mentor, stimulate, provoke, engage. In the
end, education is about learning. If there's no learning going on,
there's no education going on. And people can spend an awful lot
of time discussing education without ever discussing learning.
Robinson, Ken. How to escape education's death valley (2013)
 question
Is there a way to customize the curriculum (and even the
learning tools) so that its more village or rural centric?
E.g., Rafi sb suggested having models of local bugs or
rodents (in their biology class) that the students might
experience in their crops (in addition to having more global
animals, such as hedgehogs). Or they could have Excel tables
with agriculture yields instead of students marks, or
chemistry with agricultural chemicals/fertilizers, etc.

inspiration
We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of
education, which is based on linearity and conformity and
batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more
on principles of agriculture, recognizing that human flourishing
is not a mechanical process; it's an organic process.
And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All
you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which
they will begin to flourish.
Robinson, Ken. Bring on the learning revolution! (2010)
 question
Could we recruit someone to develop the curriculum
and design the learning experience especially at the
boys school who has a deep level of research and
experience (or the energy and acumen) to develop this
novel learning approach (e.g., the vision, curriculum,
teaching methodologies, etc.)

inspiration
Among the worlds children starting grade school
this year, 65 percent will end up doing jobs that
havent even been invented yet
Since we cant predict exactly what todays young
people will need to know in ten or twenty years, what
we teach them is less important than how they learn
to teach themselves.
Khan, Salman. Education Reimagined (2012)
 question
Is there a role that Amal can play in helping train the
existing teachers, helping develop parts of the
curriculum (especially at the FSC level), or helping train
and recruit teachers to join Syden Wala school (and
other similar village schools)?

inspiration
All too often we are giving our young people cut flowers
when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants.
Gardner, John. Self-Renewal (1964)

It takes seventy years for oak trees to mature. I know I and

my children will not benefit from this plantation, but my
grand-children will one day thank me for it.
Mr. Ruben Rausing via Mr. Syed Babar Ali.
Learning from Others (2015)