Literacy Week and CAS
In the last week of September the DP students were given the opportunity to plan and organise the MYP-DP Literacy week. Students took charge of coordinating many unique events and were also given the chance to suggest their own ideas and plan events more closely related to their own personal interests. Through a collaboration between teachers and DP students, a wide range of activities ranging from poetry and literature, to film-making and art and even video games and treasure hunts were planned and organised within the month of October. Finally Edubridge came together to celebrate these events from October 18th to 22nd.
Planning an Event
Gazing through the planning document I was immediately drawn to the Unconventional Careers events. The purpose of this event was to bring experts from unique professions that perhaps don’t get as much attention due to their differences from traditional careers. I think I was impressed by this event as it could be valuable to all high school students. Almost reaching adulthood, all of us are anxious about what we are going to ‘be’ when we get older. However I think not many realize that there are so many professions and opportunities that we don’t even consider because they are not as popular or endorsed as other career paths. Many times we don’t even know they exist! By getting experts from novel fields of work, students may be able to find their vocation, and even if they aren’t interested in the specific career of the experts, they may find the encouragement needed to pursue their own interests and ideas.
Keeping this in mind, I formed a group with 2 other classmates and decided to create a plan for how we were going to coordinate this event. We were allowed to have 3 speakers. We chose a date and time for the event and coordinated with available speakers. We decided to have each speaker present for 10 minutes and have a presentation if they wished, then the students would be given time to ask questions. Through the help of teachers we were able to find a list of experts fitting the criteria of having an ‘unconventional’ career.
Hosting the Event
We recorded and hosted the event where the speakers were able to provide great insight and encouragement to students, speaking enthusiastically about their journey, difficulties, achievements and joys in their career path.
- Mr. Prashant Raguram spoke about designing games. The talk was very simulating as almost all of us have heard or played games but we barely stop to think about the work and creativity involved in making them. He also spoke about gamifying other fields showing a more general application of his work. Through this we were able to learn about how games can be used in education to help improve learning.
- Ms. Mallika Dabke spoke about her experiences working on presenting virtual exhibitions during the time of Covid. She presented a website created by her, she discussed the importance of different artifacts and how the internet was helpful as a tool of collaboration to better understand art and culture. Her presentation was captivating due to the unique pieces of art and the mystery surrounding them. Through this we understood how knowledge of art and culture are applicable in different careers.
- Mr Tanay Kumar spoke about his career being the CEO of Fractal ink a company that focuses on design. He spoke about the ambiguities in careers that relate to design and the serendipity involved in arriving at solutions. He also spoke about the importance of the work environment on results. This was thought provoking as almost all of us have a consistent work environment but very few think about its effect on our work. He showed pictures of the company office, showing a variety of different rooms meant for the generation and discussing unique ideas. We saw colourful rooms that contrast the grey cubicles we imagine making up an office as he spoke about how designers need their own unique space to generate ideas and collaborate.
By Iman Khan, DP 1.