Is the Trial the Experience?

July 10, 2010

Suddenly today I was approached at one of the schools and asked if I could cut my project in scope by a third and reshuffle the two classes into three, thus reducing the amount of time I see students to only once a week and in slightly different groupings.  Note that, as part of this project, the classes are visiting a local heritage site to interpret the carvings in the rocks through drama.  Only one class has gone so far, since a weird governmental process is causing delay for the second group.  So, if I refigure the classes, the students will no longer be working on similar ideas and will be as much as two weeks different in their experiences so far.

I bring this up because 1) I believe it is important to track challenges I face and 2) to note a point about compromise and collaboration.  Although I have in theory planned this project for more than a year, understanding seems to have dawned only in the past couple of weeks.  In the four weeks I have been here, the on-going ‘suggestion’ has been to remain flexible as ‘things change.’  I have already faced a reduction in amount of time I work with the students plus accepting extremely large groups of children to try to accommodate all of them within a grade level.  Slightly less than a third of the way through the project and suddenly what would have been possibly 24-28 hours of time is requested to be about 8.

The challenge comes from the outside, primarily, with the age old concern of parents and some teachers – taking away instructional time.  This is not about whether the project I am doing offers quality or a positive experience for the students.  That does not seem to be in question.  In fact, a day earlier I was informed that there has been positive feedback about the children’s experiences.  It’s the catch twenty-two of this endeavor: We like what you are doing, but we want to reduce or remove it, as the children’s learning is being interrupted.

When does one draw the line on compromise?  When has the foundation of a project been so altered that it no longer supports the purpose of the endeavor? What does compromise mean in a collaborative process?

This story is not finished as I write this.  As might be assumed, I sit in anticipation of the outcome with an exaggerated disappointment since I have literally transformed my life to engage in this project.

PART TWO: After a couple of days of waiting while conversation about this dilemma occurred with several people involved at the schools—most of the conversations without me there—a decision was handed to me.  It’s a bit hard to know how to feel, given the multiple pieces of this decision.  I am still mulling over my reactions and how I make sense of what the ramifications are for my project and Fulbright-Nehru experience, which are not one and the same thing.

The decision is to: 1) Redivide the 6th standard classes from two groups to three, making them more in line with their regular classes, 2) Give me one group a day a week for about an hour 3) Schedule all three groups to meet with me on Saturdays.  If I have helped you make sense of this, then you understand that the amount of time I will be with the students will be reduced, as well as the number of times I see them each week.  The class groups will be changed, which means some of the small working groups will have students that are two weeks behind others in their experiences with me. I will spend less time at the school each day and add one more trip a week to the school (for which I need to hire a car).  Saturdays I will have all of the students together to split up as I will. 105 students.

The issue that complicates this for me is that the school will make every Saturday a school day, which they usually only do occasionally, just so the students can continue to work with me. Thus the dilemma in how I feel about this.  This change poses several challenge, but at the same time the school is making special accommodations for my project.

So I return to the central question about compromise and collaboration.  Despite these challenges, I have not been in situations where such a large scale compromise has been made on my behalf, even as the issue has a large impact on what I hope to achieve.  It is a fascinating experience that has kept me mulling over how I feel and should react.

To end this reflective blog (have you had enough of the inside of my mind?), I touch back on my mention of the difference between my project and the Fulbright-Nehru experience.  Since the Fulbright does not require me to fulfill any specific proposal or project, but rather supports my endeavors and experiences, then should I be concerned about the effects of this dilemma on my project or allow myself to adjust to the experience since I have been given the chance to work within a context and culture quite different from what I know?