Gurukul Parents Meeting

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Gurukul Parents Meeting

• March 18, 2007

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Agenda

• Gurukul Growth
• Updated Gurukul Mission
• Gurukul Books
• Teaching Consistency
• Student Assessment
• Cultural Demo by Parents
• Concert
• Gurukul Summer Camp
• Food For Thought
• Make Difference
• Upcoming Events
• Q/A and Sign up

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Gurukul Growth

• Started in 1998 with 5 students with one
  volunteer
• Today
• 6 Levels
• Number of students 220
• Number of classes 15
• Number of Teachers 29
• Gurukul Staff 50

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Updated Mission

• Goal
• Provide one avenue for instruction of Indian
  languages, arts and culture
• Benefits
• One stop shop for parents
• Access to more languages
• Access to art forms (dances and music)
• Bring larger section of community together
• Action Plan
• Consolidate current operations
• Start a pilot program

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Gurukul Books

• Goal
• Create and use customized Hindi and Cultural
  books
• Simplify teaching and improve consistency
• Benefits
• Books will meet unique Gurukul needs
• Continue to enhance them every year
• No hassles of getting books from India
• Easier for teachers to use and improve teaching
  consistency
• Action Plan
• A text book and a workbook for each level
• Create Hindi books for Level 3
• Create cultural book template before end of the
  year
• Create books for other levels next year.

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Gurukul Books

• How can you help?
• Need two volunteers to enter data in Word
• Expertise in formatting and designs
• Source printing solutions
• Identify any printers at reasonable cost
• Explore colored printing
• Contacts
• Pushpa Sihania (pushparvind_at_yahoo.com)
• Praful Kacholia (kacholia_at_hotmail.com)

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Teaching Consistency

• Goal
• Improve teaching consistency across Gurukul
• Benefits
• Remove wide disparity between the students at
  each level
• Uniform teaching will lead to improved pace and
  learning
• Improve student interaction and class
  participation
• Better feedback to teachers
• Action Plan
• Consistency matrix created
• Identified two individuals to attend classes and
  complete matrix
• Provide individual feedback to the teachers
• Create a guide for Gurukul teachers

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Student Assessment

• Goal
• Assess how children are learning Hindi/culture
  without adding stress
• Benefits
• Improve consistency among students in each level
• Provide quantitative information for year end
  promotion decision
• Provide regular feedback to parents
• Motivate children to achieve a level of
  proficiency
• Help improve teaching material and techniques
• Action Plan
• Create general assessment model
• Create schedule, subject break up, percentage
  distribution
• Start implementing from next year

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Cultural Demo by Parents

• Goal
• Parents help with teaching about India and Indian
  culture
• Benefits
• Parents get a chance to present their culture and
  heritage
• Motivate children as well as parents
• Provide more interactive learning for children
• Improve retention by using successful demo format
• Action Plan
• One demo by parents this year, may be more next
  year
• Topic Incredible India
• Date April 22

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Cultural Demo by Parents

• How can you help?
• Volunteer to present your region
• Team up with other parents
• Make the demos interactive
• Suggest ways to enhance parent demos
• Contacts
• Kavita Sharma (ka_sharma_at_hotmail.com)
• Ira Rastogi (ira_rastogi_at_hotmail.com)

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Concert

• Goal
• Expose children to Indian arts and music
  appreciation
• Benefits
• Finale of our cultural demonstration program
• Concert focused on children
• Increase collaboration with other Indian
  organizations
• Action Plan
• Annual concert organized by Ragamala in
  collaboration with Gurukul
• Gurukul to promote among Gurukul parents and
  children
• Includes Indian music and dances
• Date Saturday, June 16

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Concert

• How can you help?
• Reserve date on your calendar
• Buy tickets
• Volunteer to help on the concert day
• Contact
• Kavita Sharma (ka_sharma_at_hotmail.com)

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Summer Camp

• Goal
• Connect Gurukul children during summer
• Benefits
• Reinforce bonding among children during summer
• Help refresh what they have learnt during the
  year in a fun way
• Reinforce the Indian culture and languages
• Action Plan
• Hold day camp this year.
• Group to explore other formats
• Date July 14 or July 21 (Tentative)
• Location TBD

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Summer Camp Students by Age
gt 8 Years. 99 kids. 52 Male, 47 Female.
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Summer Camp

• How can you help?
• Participate in the summer camp
• Help create fun activities
• Help during the camp
• Contacts
• Om Maniyar (omaniyar_at_microsoft.com)

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Events Volunteers

• Annual Day May 20
• 10 volunteers for Food Other activities like
  ushering etc.
• 4 hours commitment.
• Picnic June 3
• 10 volunteers for Games Food.
• 4-6 hours commitment.
• Summer Camp July 14 or 21 (Tentative)
• 20 volunteers for games, Activities.
• 4 Hours commitment.

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Food for Thought

• Improving Conversation Skills
• What can be done at home?
• What can be done in class?
• Which conversations do you want children to
  learn?
• Parent Partnership
• How are you helping your children?
• How are you helping Gurukul?
• Are you providing constructive feedback?
• What are your expectations from Gurukul?

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Make Difference

• Text Books
• Pushpa Sihania (pushparvind_at_yahoo.com)
• Praful Kacholia (kacholia_at_hotmail.com)
• Archana Verma (archana_suren_at_hotmail.com)
• Cultural Education, Demo and Concert
• Ira Rastogi (ira_rastogi_at_hotmail.com)
• Kavita Sharma (ka_sharma_at_hotmail.com)
• Archana Verma (archana_suren_at_hotmail.com)
• Events and Summer Camp
• Om Maniyar (omaniyar_at_microsoft.com)
• Teachers Raj Jhanwar (rajj_at_gurukul-wa.org)
• Legal Advice Raj Jhanwar (rajj_at_gurukul-wa.org)

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Gurukul Events
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Q/A and Sign ups