The Resource Room approach has been lucky enough to benefit from the thoughts and actions of all those who have been part of the experience. Here, some of them share their observations.
Sonika has done some fascinating work with primary and middle school children that introduces, encourages and supports inquiry-based learning. I have seen her in action, and it is remarkable how immersed the children are in the process of self-initiated learning.
The Resource Room is truly a unique and creative learning space which encourages children to explore topics and issues that interest them, and where their learning is facilitated such that they become independent, confident learners
Beena Choksi
Educational Consultant, and Trustee – Chehak Trust (Sahyog)
The Resource Room was created out of a desire to offer children opportunities to tap into their innate curiosity and love for learning. Sonika’s work with the children has managed to do exactly this.
The semi structured environment maintains a great sense of order and purposefulness, without stifling the enthusiasm and drive of the children. The children are encouraged to go much beyond the syllabus, work individually and in groups, and apply their learning through projects and meaningful assignments.
It is always a pleasure to watch the children stretch the boundaries of a conventional classroom and learn joyfully.
Sanaa Shaikh
Director – Investor Relations at United Way Mumbai, and ex-Chief Operating Officer at the Aseema Charitable Trust.
My first exposure to the Resource Room was when I visited Sonika’s project at Aseema. My initial impressions were how the children were deeply engrossed in their activities and a gentle buzz of thinking minds – no chalk and talk, no lessons being loudly drilled, but teachers with the students gently guiding them in their respective groups.
Fortunately, soon after Sonika agreed to work on a pilot project at VIDYA (my organization then) to test out the effectiveness of this methodology in a Beyond School environment at one of the communities called Milind Nagar. It was a huge success in just less than 3 months, which led to another academic year of the project at the same community. The results were extremely encouraging, with the impact being palpable in the children’s learning, as well as their interest and improved grades in school studies
Each of my visits to the Resource Room was rewarding – the peaceful beginning of the session with the ‘Silent Activity’, the self-regulated behavior of the students as they smoothly reached out for journals and stationery and broke into groups, their quickly getting submerged into their ongoing projects with the involved Resource Room teachers ably facilitating the learning and finally the journal writing. Taking a peek into the Curio Box was my favorite!
During my final year at VIDYA, I had the wonderful experience of working very closely with Sonika as we worked out the integration of some of the key components of the Resource Room into the more academic-oriented Beyond School schedule. Right from teacher upgrades to implementation, it was an incredible learning experience which made me wish I could be a student at one of Sonika’s Resource Room centers!
Manvi Singh
Consultant – Social Development, and ex-Director Operations and Strategy at VIDYA Mumbai
As parents and educators, we want our children to be independent, self confident, focused, and learn to respect each other. We see this happen effortlessly when children take charge of themselves and their friends in the playgrounds during free play.
When children are in charge of their own learning, they learn to tinker, question, make rules, resolve conflicts and enjoy the whole process of learning. I have observed the RR methodology creating a safe space for children’s voices to be heard, and providing immense scope for collaboration / creativity /critical thinking and other twenty first century skills!
Jayshree Murali
A Mumbai-based Teacher & Teacher educator, Volunteer and Academic Committee Member at VIDYA Mumbai.
Sonika’s Resource Room Project brings to the fore two most crucial aspects: the elements of an Optimum Learning Environment (OLE) and the elements of an Optimum Teacher Interaction (OTI).
The OLE is reflected in the organization of space where everything is accessible, organized, planned, is meaningful in the context and encourages engagement. The OTI is reflected in the teacher being a facilitator, engaging the child as a learner rather than as a student, encouraging ownership [and therefore responsibility], providing a safe space to experiment, reflect, being flexible and actually modeling the way.
The osmosis of these in the VIDYA classrooms and the imbibing of these by some of the VIDYA teachers, has paved the way for an enriched learning experience, the impact of which can be seen in children exhibiting curiosity, a determination to meet their individual goals and above all a motivation to keep learning.
Sangeeta Gupta
Educator, Counselor and ex-Vice Chairperson at VIDYA Mumbai