As many of you might be relieved to know, my work at Sshrishti has changed drastically since that first day in the slums. From now on, after discussing all of my volunteering options with my supervisor, I have decided to divide my time between teaching at the Sshrishti Learning Center and working in the main office. My experiences in the classroom have really run the gamut - from successfully introducing the present continuous tense to a well-behaved group of students to being handed a dictionary on the teacher's way out and instructed to "teach dictionary." One of my favorite moments came when, after teaching me a hand clapping game, one of the girls looked quizzically at me and said, "dost"? Fortunately, I'd learned that word in Hindi class the previous day and knew that it meant friend. "Friend," I nodded, as she then grinned and held out her hand for me to shake. The children at Sshrishti are wonderful, and I'm constantly reminded of how incredibly rewarding teaching can be. On the other hand, I've also become familiar with many of the limitations and challenges of the Indian school system that I've learned about in my socioeconomic development class. It can be especially difficult to overcome the incredibly large class sizes, sometimes 40 or more students, and the resultant wide range of abilities existing within a single class.
Teacher absenteeism is also a pervasive issue that can significantly impact learning outcomes in a negative way. I have also witnessed several instances of corporal 
punishment in the classroom, which was completely shocking to me. I have chosen to turn these experiences into inspiration to be the most kind, reliable, and nurturing teacher that I can.
On the organizational side, I will be helping with many of Sshrishti's projects related to communication and fundraising. One of the tasks I am especially excited about is compiling Sshrishti's 10th Anniversary publication to distribute to donors. A major part of this will be to interview a handful of graduates of Sshrishti as well as current students to learn about their stories. I look forward to sharing these inspiring personal narratives in the future. I will also be helping to update the information and improving the English used on Sshrishti's website. One of the most important projects, which really ties into the idea of sustainable development, is a series of workshops for Sshrishti's teachers. If 
I can improve the teachers' English and computer skills, as well as potentially teach them about creative lesson planning and alternative methods of discipline, I think this could be one of the greatest and most long-lasting impacts of anything I do at Sshrishti. I am currently working on how to coordinate these and am hoping to start this month. I've also run into my fair share of stumbling blocks in the office. I have found that the norms and methods of communication are wildly different in India than the U.S., and there seems to be a glaring lack of accountability across the board. Technological gaps can also be quite the challenge. For example, I literally spent 45 minutes of my time continuously refreshing Internet Explorer, as it crashed every time I came close to getting my email to load. However, I've gotten used to the communication differences and developed strategies to counteract the technological difficulties thanks to the reflection and interactive blog posts included in my service learning class.
As far as research goes, I am still working on developing a focus and linking up with an organization. Details to come...