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Q2 Plan

We had done a lot of ad-hoc things in Q1, one of which was last minute decision on exams. We (faculty team at BWH) sat down for a comprehensive discussion on the plan for Q2 and what could be done better.

Some highlights:

• We have now planned tentative exam dates in advanced (practicals will be a separate exam on a dedicated day unlike this time)
• 3 exams per quarter (1 / month)
• Decided on CS faculties for this quarter, addition being Kaushal (he leads Frappe Framework support from BWH)
• Primary CS Syllabus: Emails, Terminal, Scratch Revision (given their “weakness” with the topic), Foundations for Programming with Python (major)

First Dropout

Sadly. 12 → 11.

There were a mix of reasons for this, the primary being the student not being able to cope up and had a injury in her hand right before the exams. The parents were also no longer aligned as per Rekha ji’s evaluation and it was best to not push and let her go.

Emails Etiquettes

Shivam decided to help students write better emails. He called out how they were emailing their assignments with no/bad subjects, no understanding of CC/BCC etc.

He took a hands-on approach with very practical examples: write an email to postpone standup call. He gave them homework assignment to send some emails, reviewed, and provided individual feedback.

Visit by Sunil

Sunil ji visited Jagdalpur and spent a few days with the kids. He was overall happy with the progress. Co-incidentally Indu ji was also visiting during the same timeframe. Indu ji, Rekha, and I had a catch-up at BWH office. Chetna and BWH now have a bi-weekly management review meeting, as suggested by Sunil ji, to stay in sync.

Side note: I was down with food poisoning during this week 😔

Teacher’s Day Celebration

Student’s organised a very nice programme for teacher’s day! Unfortunately due to some family emergency I was not able to attend in person, but joined through a video call.

I was surprised to see how much effort they had put into this and they had done it “dil se” 😀

Math Week

Given the problems students faced with Mathematics, Sunil ji advised on sending his colleague (Manoj Sir) from the foundation team to help them.

Last week was Math week at CS17. Manoj ji from Azim Premji Foundation’s Raipur office visited Jagdalpur for a few days to brush up our student’s fundamentals.

Vishwajeet shadowed him during the classes and also took notes on his pedagogical approach. Based on the feedback received from both the sides (Manoj ji and Vishwajeet), it was a very fruitful decision.

BWH team and Manoj ji visited Chitrakote waterfall (at its peak these days) and after that had dinner together, before seeing him off:

The IGNOU Issue

IGNOU study materials have arrived. CS is fine but Mathematics was the surprising bit here. It has calculus! (and a lot more)

No way we can cover all the things without hurting our timeline and primary focus. We have decided to help them just pass: self-study + a sprint before IGNOU exams.

I want to see one cycle of this through, if it still hurts, we might have to find an alternative next time.

Presentations & Blogs on Frappeverse

This was Shivam’s idea. We gave them an assignment to prepare a presentation on their visit to Frappeverse. They also had to write a blog. The goal was to help them further improve their communication skills and increase confidence.

We had shared the trip photos with them which they used very well in story telling in their slides. They have also submitted their blogs which we are in process of reviewing.

Broken Laptops

1 broken headphone jack, 1 non-working trackpad, and 2 cracked back panels.

Students were apparently waiting for me to visit the campus to inform about this 🙈

We had to get them repaired but before that some alignment was needed to teach them some care with laptops. Firstly they all used to carry the laptops in hand to and from training hall, sometime open. They now always have to use the laptop bag. One of the laptop’s back panel was cracked because a student sat on it, upon enquiry it was on the bed. I have asked them to not keep it on bed and place it back in the bag once the work is done. They seem to following the advice, as of now.

Epilog & What’s Next

Crazy what all can happen in just 2 weeks! The immediate plan is to start with my lectures on core topics for this quarter, while Shivam helps them practice logical thinking. Mathematics is mostly sorted, for now, but will continue for this quarter too.