Special Needs Children with Special Story Behind

Hey everyone,

So I just want you to know that after I graduated I choose to do internship in special school for special needs student. I believe that this opportunity came with the plan of universe. So when I finished my last exam for my thesis, I did volunteer for Alzheimer Indonesia. This event accidentally introduced me to someone who owner of the school. First I thought that search and apply for job in Bali (what I really want) is easy, but it's turned out "Not really". Maybe people will call me that I'm so idealistic, I choose to work in school or Non- profit than in cooperate,  I choose to work related to education, special needs student than work which related to economic or politic, I choose to work which located in Bali, East Indonesia, or outside country than work in Java Island. I'm being to optimistic and my father told me that I need to realize my capability that I'm a fresh graduate who don't have many experienced about works life. 

I believe this year will be a special year. God and universe introduce me to wonderful peoples from around the world and convince me about my path. I learned many thing from courage, work hard, professionalism, opportunity, and all things in my 22 years life in this world. So, after I met the founder of the school I decided to take internship in school and clinic. And do you know what I get??

AMAZING CHILDREN!!!!!!

I start my internship at August 18th the day after independent day, they have little party and games. The head officer wanted me to do short observation and give me chance to look how happy students and teachers while play variant of games. The truth is for 3 hours being in school, I feel little dizzy because majority of students is running, jumping, and screaming. It's new experience for me, when some teacher said to me to watch out one student with autistic. I hold his hand, make him to sit comfortably and quite. Hey!!! I realized that just for two seconds after that he jumping in front of me, jumping, and make a weird sound. Then I try for the second times to make him sit again and try to do clap and high five with him ( I can tell u that this game is work out for introduction, please remember just for introduction #1minuteonly). Then he jumping and running again, for a second I said to myself it's too hard for me, I give up. The teacher came to me and said that " He can't sit and be quiet, because he have difficulty to control his own body. When people push him, he can get anxiety and vomit so let him free but still guide him". I felt like 10 tons weight fall to make me realized that what I did before is wrong. Okay! I learned exactly in the right place.That day give me strength to wake up early every morning and take public transportation for almost 45 minutes and motorbike for 15 minutes. So this is my story....

My first day came to workshop class

Workshop class basically class for student start from 18 years old to deeper skill and knowledge so they ready to face the real world and survive. This class consist of around 20 students, they have different skills. There are students who works very well in all kind instruments like drum, guitar, bass, and piano. Then students who master at painting and crafts, also student who prefer to dance and sports. The student in here come with different needs, but most of them is Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Down Syndrome. When I came to their class for the first time, they look nothing different (I thought my appearance in their class will be special thing for them, but I'm not). They still love to ask many random question which not related, jumping, screaming, or some children even didn't notice me. But one thing that they want to know me about me is..."What am I doing in this class?" Well, I can 100% sure that's a hard question for me, and I answered "I want to learn with them and make more friends". 

So I want to share what I'm doing every morning until afternoon (so please don't get bored and still read my future story). Every morning, students have morning workout and stretching with cute movement, that make me smile everyday hahaha.... Then after that the class start, every children have their own schedule. The class system is moving class, so children need to get from one class to other class consistent with their class. Sometimes when they aren't in mood to do that class, the teacher will find way to change the schedule cooperate with other teachers. For children with down syndrome, they have instability emotion tendency and easily get angry, sad, or happy. Teacher must be sensitive with their emotion, and help them to have stable mood again.

My jobs is to help teacher guide the students while they learn. For the example when I help art class, the teacher will introduce me with all the equipment and the variety of learning. He let me to take responsibility for two or more children and help them to find out what they want to do in that class. The method of teaching is simple, just give them freedom but gradually increase the difficulty. When the one of the children can make portrait painting in black and white, the teacher then encourage that children to coloring and learn about shading. The progress will show if we take step by step, so the student will realize what they actually do. This process take many minutes, hours, day, even years. How the key of success teacher who work for this are patient, love, and passion. Everyday is a new day with new experience and problem, take a time to teach children with special need refer to their capability.

That the summarize of my job, I learned about the precious of connection between family (especially parents and siblings), teacher, children, and society. The process to raise awareness and connection to develop the children with help for varies part is important. The children will learn holistic and become a better student with their special needs. It's take a time to cooperate with the society especially break the stigma about the condition of the children. Like Vygotsky believe that environmental give impact to the children and that's why we need to clarify that children with special need is not Karma, Dosa (Sin), or many negative perception.That children come to this world to make us realize to be grateful, encourage other to do positive think, and show the world that NOBODY IS PERFECT!

So I will continue about my daily live internship at next story~

https://id.pinterest.com/pin/532480355916516801/

  

Living Values

"Education is a process of search meaning and purpose that's why educates heart and minds are important" -LVE-

Living values education program is practical methodology and experiential values activities for educators, facilitators, parents, and caregivers to help them provide the opportunity for children and young children to explore and develop universal values, associated with intrapersonal and interpersonal social and also emotional skills. The curriculum includes of several main values such as peace, respect, love, cooperation, happiness, honesty, humility, responsibility, simplicity, tolerance, freedom, and unity. LVE support the development of the individual and a culture of positive values in each society and believing that education can help humanity flourish. You can get more explanation, with open this link 

(http://www.livingvalues.net/about/docspdfs/Press%20Kit%20Int%20Fact%20Sheet%202011.pdf )

I knew about living values education for someone who worked at Green School Bali (Pak Scholastica), and he so passionate with Living Values Education Program. At first, I didn't understand about living values. I thought that living values was focusing on understand and live with values in our self. I didn't understand how people live in their own values in our variety society. I remembered when I made my thesis and talked about moral, which is so confusing. Moral, values, ethics are different or same? Do we have same moral or values across the world? Even, there's so hard to find questionnaire who exactly explain about the morality across countries. If I found several journal, they will explain in term of job culture, but how we define our universal values. 

I search definition of values, moral, and ethics from  

(http://www.tcls.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=39) 

- ethics describes a generally accepted set of moral principles

- moral describes the goodness or badness or right or wrong of actions

- values describes individual or personal standards of what is valuable or important

From this simple definition we can define that values is based on personal standards which come from our knowledge about society principle. Then we originally define our principle into good and bad or right and wrong action. We can conclude that our values is actually based on our society and our self. That's why I agree with how the living values education mission to understand their own values in our society. 

These are several ways I get from LVE website to apply this program in our class:

1. Take time before start the lesson (I would like to say it's better to take a time for mindfulness session with short meditation)

2. Help the children to reflect and get positive environment before start the class ( I agree with this one, because not only the children but also the teacher need to get positive energy before start the class and put their personal problem).

3. Help children to understand their freedom and build relationship with society and nature (If you have a garden you can walk a while with them or you can easily get them say "hello" to each other student in the class with beautiful smile)

4. Build their self esteem (Based on my experience worked with special need children, we really need to build their understanding to value their self and help them to understand that every people is unique and worth it)

5. Give them confidence to responsible for what they do (I love to make them confidence with themselves because it's increase their self esteem. For the first time, I thought that they need our help with their limitation. Then I realized that who build the limitation is actually me, they can do it very well if we give them chance to responsible for what they do).

6. Open discussion to share their ideas (This moment not use just for evaluate about subject in our class, but discuss about many thing from their life and a good time to evaluate teacher performance. I learn not to afraid of critics!)

7. The most important things to share and grow the understanding of values also living in values. 

I found the interesting point of LVE program, that they based on twelve values which I think can apply very well in every situation. If we take one example like love value which all peoples know in every places in this world. Every people can describe differently about love, but they will agree that how to love is like how to give, caring, being kind, sharing, and become lovable to everyone around us.  That's the clever thing to put universal values in our education system. Children learn to build their own values based on the universal values which is important to build the connection with other human being and nature around them. Living Values Education give attention to build good relationship with our mother nature. We can get those values also from unconditional love of our mother nature.

 (My class in Gerakan UI Mengajar , 2015)

(Social Project @GriyoSabinCommunity Jogjakarta, 2016)

I'm not specialized with LVE, I just a person who attract and want to know more about it. So if you have any recommendation for me to understand more about LVE, please let me know in comment below.

*Sorry for the wrong grammar or words, I'm on the process to make it better*

Green Course Educator: part 2

Breathe, breathe in the air,

Cherish this moment,

Cherish this breath.

Tomorrow is a new day for everyone,

Brand new moon, brand new sun.

When you feel life coming down on you,

Like a heavy weight.

When you feel this crazy society,

Adding to the strain.

Take a stroll to the nearest waters

And remember your place.

Many moons have risen and fallen long, long before you came.

So which way is the wind blowin',

And what does your heart say?

So follow, follow the sun,

And which way the wind blows

When this day is done

Xavier Rudd - Follow The Sun 

I will start my article with this beautiful song from Xavier Rudd, these song basically make us realize that be gratitude for this moment and all the moment you already passed. We need to believe that every day begin with new sun and end with new moon, so then we can reflect what we did today? How we solve every problem and shade all the worries? Come back with what your heart say not only your thinking. Being this moment, present, not past or the future. Then for every worries and uncertainty are seem like wind, sometimes they come or blow away.

I would like to continue my story and what I got from Green Course Educator. 

In second or third day (I'm sorry I forget exactly the date) we had discussion about what is connection of art and sustainable education. We begun with conversation about Gaia Theories " The theory asserts that living organisms and their inorganic surroundings have evolved together as a single living system that greatly affects the chemistry and conditions of Earth’s surface. Some scientists believe that this “Gaian system” self-regulates global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity, and other factors in an “automatic” manner. " (http://www.gaiatheory.org/overview/). Gaia theories or paradigm related with our mother nature or Pachamama. The reason behind why we called our nature is mother because nature give us everything with unconditional love and nurturing every human being. From this perception I realized that what I get from nature is all free, everyday, every second we have. Then the teacher told us to make our own culture, that's the way for us to recreate our myths, symbols, and heroes to re new our connection with our society and nature. We can apply these ways to find our own school culture, although it might be weird, but it's wort it.

 In this course we also talked with the architect of amazing bamboo building. They begun the project with brainstrom about the shape and material from local resources around the school. Like no others architect who came up the idea with theories and make a model by computer. The architect team begun with a model of building, use same shape and material. So they build all the bamboo building based on that model. The concept of wall-ness seen in every aspect of the architectural building and give impact to the atmosphere of the education. Like what I got before from psychology-architecture subject, there is a connection between the human and space. Human can impact to the design and function of space, in the same way space can also impact to our behavior and state of well being. That time I thought that kind of connection is just explain from theories or book. One time, I tried to observe the children behaviors in Green School and found out that they can expand their knowledge, sensory motor, and increase their sensitivity and concentration in the condition of wall-ness. They more connect with their environment and have space freedom to express, feel, and understand with experiential method. 

I just imagine if I had opportunity to come back to my early life and got chance to expand my connection and knowledge with society and other human being. What I look like in my future time?

Green Educator Course Journey - Education and Sustainable Education

Yesterday I finished my Green Course Educator, this course aim to help open minded educator for around the world to  learn more about Green School's holistic, student centered, nature-based curriculum. So, this is for the first time I got opportunity to met international educator and share their expertise in education and sustainability. Green School Bali has been my favorite school since two years ago. I even have planned to do my internship in Green School Bali before, but because I had responsibility to organize event in Jakarta I must postponed that. Five days in this course really give me new perspective not only about education but also about our real life, human being and the art of happiness. 

So, I will give summarize what I got for 5 days in these course. For the opening, they make some games and it's quite simple to introduce our self to other members. After that, Camilo (*from Biobus) divide our group into 4 and give us problem that we need to solve. We projected as firefighter who turn of fire with natural equipment around, and he just give us one cup of water. The problem is how to turn of the fire inside of circle with equipment that we made by natural resources around and water. The lesson from this games is the step to solve problem, that first we need planning, have goal and vision about our planning, do it!, and for the last and most important is evaluating. When we face with problem situation we can easily give up and go away from that, or we face it. 

Then in session two, we had art class with Penelope  a new teacher in Green School. Penelope basically made us comfort with our self and give us time to know what we looking for from this course. After that she told us to forget all about our expectation and just try to flow with this course like water in river. This moment help us to open our heart and strength our spirit during our course. Love yourself and side all worries and anxiety, give our body and mind space to feel the air and connected with our mother nature. Penelope said " When we still in early years as children, we love play in mud and being dirty is doesn't matter at that time. But then, it's suddenly change and we become anxious about all the thing when we grown up. Why? So that's why Green School Bali do something different and give all the children freedom to experience and know themselves better".  Then before the session is end Penelope taught one song

  Earth my body

  Water my blood

  Air my breath and,

  Fire *Clap* my spirit

This song is my favorite!!!! This song for me explain about how we as human being life in this world and always connected and need nature. Earth, water, air, and fire are four main resources that we need in our daily life. That four resources is powerful and also become a symbol for several indigenous group. 

Then we spent day one to visit all places in green school bali from class, garden, kitchen, and the best is the toilet. Three thing that important in Green School Bali is HOLISTIC, BEING GREEN, and WALL-NESS. That's why the teaching method which implemented in Green School Bali is about thinking and feel. They not only focus on intellectual thing and also to what children passionate about and how to learn to love with human, nature, and animal. In Bali is known as Tri Hita Karana, connected us with our society, nature and other human being, also our God. That's way to make all human being comfort with life we need protect nature and manage our trash into zero waste. So that's a summarize for day one in Green Educator Course, I will explain more about what I got in my next article.

" We need to help children achieve their own dream and facilitate them to develop their skill and feeling to become fullest".