What's the story of a humble beginner to become a good and happy teacher?
A practice of education must enable its beneficiaries to attain the balance of mind by which we become also mindful of needs of others.
This quote has been a huge inspiration for me to get up and walk on this profound journey of Teaching-learning. It has been 8 such months since I started helping children to learn.
On the very first day of my teaching, at a low-income school (MGPS) in Ahmedabad, we, which includes me (as a teacher) and my kids, sat properly in a circle and thought together about a theme on Perfection with a lot of thought provoking questions such as – why does a human being need to have a thirst for perfection? what is perfection? how does one could work towards becoming perfect? In fact, I say, I was the one privileged to see those moments of how the kids had been engaged to seek its answers; I went jumped up and said to myself that - they can also become someone who can make difference and touch other people's lives. At the end, we came to the conclusion of the theme, and that is: "Each one of you has at least one gift. There is no human being on earth without a gift. Sometimes, it may be the gift of helping someone in need, studying everyday, giving respect to teachers and students, encouraging somebody, taking the troubles of someone, gift of telling the truth, and bringing out the best from somebody else and etc. All of these are great gifts. Whatever the gift is, improve it and move towards Perfection. You should not be today with respect to that gift what you were yesterday. At the end of this year, you should be able to look back and say to yourself I have moved on." After this, in order to put such themes into practice; we started doing morning meeting everyday along with a goal setting up for the day (by referring it from the student vision scale).
I believe, learning is a life a long thing. Especially, in current times, one should have at least the values of collaboration and ownership. Having a firm belief in this, while I teach, I raise questions through which I can implement the Think-Pair-Share (T-P-S) strategy in my classroom. Why is it necessary? It enables a kid to be curious to think and next collaborate with the other and take responsibilities of sharing it with the class. So, together, we believed and simply worked hard to practice the strategy while we kept learning. As a result, my kids have performed well in Mathematics in the Mid-Year 2017 assessment (was conducted by TFI) says the MY 2017 data. Taking a huge pride in saying, we have, finally, created a proper classroom culture where it helps us to to be disciplined while we learn, working proactively, following up the structures of the class, and consistently, opening the day with morning meeting and closing the day with reflection questions. Also, in the middle of the day, we have a two minutes silent time by which we get into a reflective space and get ready for the next session.
Having said that, I must also say, before this learning culture started budding, the same classroom was a boring and an uninteresting place for the kids. But, I am an ardent believer of education, so I believed, one's growth can be measured through amount of challenges that he or she faces. These simple words are always beautiful but difficult to follow. But, I had eyes to see through a light of possibility. Thus, I was able to transform the same boring classroom into a vibrant and effective learning space with a lot of interest among the kids to love that place.
On 6th Jan 2018, during a Parents-Teacher Meeting (PTM), one of my student’s fathers who came to attend the meeting said,
Sir, on the other day, my child had a high fever, but, he wants to come to school because of you and your way of teaching. So I am happy that my child is with a right person.
This one small episode of Hitesh's Father's testimony is a small fraction of the Impacts (I) we are trying to create through our creative learning approaches. In future, I hope to reach out to many such kinds of schools. With all humility and truthfulness, I would like to give my heartfelt gratitude to my PM Ayesha Kumar who has always given her valuable time and consistent feedback. I would also like to thank my school team members, and the headmistress who have given their presence in and around the class and their innovative ideas to overcome immediate challenges.
Finally, many thanks to my parents, as they have always been a huge source of inspiration and encouragement for me. And, the kids where I teach are my greatest source of happiness and satisfaction.
Posted by: Adhyaapak ki Soch
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