Twinning Regenerative Educators: Ecomundi School (Mexico) & Teachers Center at Auroville Ecovillage (India)

After exchanging ideas, dreams and many possibilities, the twins EcoMundi and the Teachers Center at Auroville Ecovillage came to some important points to share about Mexican and Indian culture and what they have in common. They came to take the idea to create a game.

What steps were taken?

·        Florencia shared about her yoga class and shared photos from her sessions in connection with using them for the creation of the cards.

·        She selected some of the postures and activities that she was doing with children. We added some other ideas and activities as well.

·        Little by little the cards took form. Teachers’ Centre started to work on the cards on PPT.

·        After this we came up with the idea to add a question and make a book with the card, name and the question together.

·        After some time we feel there was a need to explain the activities, Florencia started to write a document with Maura about the major activities and we (Sarah and Ana) started to write about the pedagogical fundamentals of this work, adding FloreSer (Florencia methodology of work with children) and our experience in the education field.  In this way the teacher’s manual text came up.

·        After this, Rudhresh came to support us with the design and framing it all together.

·        Ana translated the whole kit to English with TC team support and Laura corrected and re-edited.

·        Finally the work came together and a set of cards, book, and teachers’ manual was ready.

·        During the process of creation Ana came up with the idea of the regenerative map based on GEN mandala and Aha questions as a game. Rudhresh worked on this idea and designed further.

What has been done to make this project a reality?

The collaboration of the twins partners, regular week meetings and the intervention of  Rudhresh in the design making a proper integral learning material.

Personal work commitment from TC team

After getting photos and text for the cards from Ecomundi team, Teacher’s centre has taken up a major role in the design and final outcome of the kit. Teachers’ Centre team has worked as follows:

Ana:

·        Completed the activities text sent by Florencia, corrected it, referred a biologist to check the information contain regarding the plants, and translated to English. Gathered feedback from the twin about the activities.

·        Wrote the pedagogic background for the teachers- theory manual, and translated it to English.

·        Supported the design of the cards, children manual, and in the creation of the regenerative maps and aha questions.

Rudhresh:

·        Created the visual design of the cards and Aha questions.

·        Illustrated the child book and regenerative maps under Ana’s supervision.

The illustrations were hand-drawn on a digital tablet using Procreate software.

·        Created visual layout for the teacher’s manual and posted it through Google slides/docs for easy access and future editing.

·        Provided support to review the translation for English version and corrected.

·        Final design and polishing in English and Spanish kits.

Sarah:

·        Planned and organise the work at Teachers’ Centre to follow up the twin project work.

·        Follow up the meetings and the out come

·        Work on the text corrections and design suggestions

·        Add information to the activities and also to the theory part.

·        Support to frame the text to the design layout.

Laura:

·        Reviewed translation and give suggestion to the Kit -English version.

Outcome:

Transformation cards kit covering:

Theoretical framework

Ana’s essay establishes the context for the pedagogical background, usage of the kit, planning and evaluation method/ templates. The essay explores varied curricula like Montessori, Holistic and Integral education, tries to dwell deeply into regenerative education and attempts to understand the methodology of FloreSer. She weaves a framework to make sense of the methodologies and sets up a foundation to the educational side of the transformation cards kit. This is so that we as educators need to have a deep understanding about why we do what we do, “believing that we teach what we are.”

Activities

After we got the text from Florencia we polished and translated to English adding some information and few activities. We considered it necessary to explain the activities one by one corresponding to each card.

Cards

The cards were conceived to be the centre of the transformation kit. The teacher would select a card and keep it at the centre as a point of reference throughout the activity.

The photographs used in the cards were of children who are students at ECOMUNDI School, Mexico, with exception of the card no. 21 (created by TC team) and 23 (drawing of Florencia son). Prior permission from the children’s parents was taken.

The back side of the cards is a design of the lotus flower which symbolises transformation.  

Total of 36 cards (29 activities, 6 cards/parts under the corn cycle activity, and 2 untitled cards- with the idea that the educators can create more cards and share them)

Children’s book

The book is for children to sit down in leisure and reflect on the different activities AFTER they have been done. Each page is about one activity (a total of 36 pages) with a question related to the activity.

The hand-drawn illustrations are intended to create a feeling of intrigue while also being colorful and fun.

Regenerative map

The map is to segregate cards based on 4 subjects: economy, ecology, cultural and social (there is also a “mixed” category.) To guide the children, hints are given in the form of illustrations in map. The map is A2 in size.

AHA question cards:

The question cards are in the form of speech bubbles which child will try to match up with the matching transformation cards.   

Looking back:

What was the learning?

Working in a team, creating something together, facing challenges, and being careful about our commitments and times. We enjoyed this process a lot and the feel fulfilled with the outcome.

What were the main challenges?

Finally we want to bring to your attention that the design of the transformation kit, the theoretical part of the teachers’ manual, the regenerative maps and aha question, final polishing and bringing the elements together was a big challenge and work to have it in the stipulated time.

We recognized that was a big work commitment. At some point, we even felt we wouldn’t be able to complete it and are happy that we worked and managed to bring it together.