I begin this article with a short poem, When I Heard The Learn’d Astronomer by Walt Whitman, which I would like you to read aloud to yourself.

“When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts, the diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.”

This poem exemplifies the difference between the mathematical/scientific approach to a subject and the literary/poetic angle. Whitman, being a poet, is naturally biased toward the non-technical approach. He is allergic to proofs, figures, charts and diagrams “ranged in columns” – all things arrayed in perfect, military precision that would gladden the heart and the “little grey cells” of the detective Hercule Poirot himself.

Wearied and sickened by the scholarly astronomer’s clinical perspective on the subject, he “glided” away, his movements mirroring his mood, and glanced up to refresh himself with the sight of the stars. “In perfect silence” implies the meditative mood, a complete absence of analytical thought and comment. His mind is at peace and bathed in soothing silence after the lecture full of instructions on how to dissect ‘add, divide and measure’ the wonders of the night sky. Immersed in the “mystical moist night air” – far from the overdose of dry facts injected by the lecture, he continues to study the subject by direct observation. He looks in “perfect silence” at the stars. The line suggests that he drinks in the cold, pale beauty of the stars against the soft darkness of the night sky, in silence, without feeling the need to comment, qualify, analyze or otherwise dissect them. A reflective poem, it underlines the need to look at things as they are in all their “quiddity” instead of analyzing them to death.

In the light of the fact, as this poem suggests, that arts and sciences look at the world differently, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the latent poetry in a group of engineering students from Thodupuzha, Kerala, who were attending a class on communication. The group task they were set was to describe abstract concepts in a concrete way, using the five senses. So apt and evocative were the images the students used to “describe” abstract nouns such as “anger”, “loneliness” and “hope”, that I must highlight a few of them here:

The changes brought about by “revolution” was described as “the awakening of tides”; sorrow pictured as “a leafless tree,” “melancholy music heard from a distance” evoked the sounds of loneliness, hope was like “first rain” for a farmer, and smelt like “chicken curry in Somalia”. Anger was blood-red, sounding like a “war trumpet’, and peace was white, like snowfall in summer. Considering the general tendency to think in clichés, the similes these students brainstormed were surprisingly original.

So what can we conclude? Can man live by numbers alone? Is language just a tool for business-like communication? Why do we ignore the fact that words have such tremendous power to unlock concepts, arouse memory and plumb emotional depth. In a day and age when the ”successful” student is focused solely on language as a superficial means of clearing the “verbal ability” cutoffs in an entrance exam or impressing the moderator in a group discussion, it is time for teachers to remember that the word is packed with power. Far from being mere functional instruments that we use routinely like a toothbrush in the morning, words are the “skin of our thought”, as writer Arundhati Roy once put it in a press conference. Therefore, they contain all the depth of thought, the weight of memory and the motivational magic that advertisers strive to harness and control in order to make money.

Words, and the images and memories of reality they call up refresh the mind and spirit. Like water in a desert, they are desperately needed by students who are starved of food for the mind and spirit. They inspire, motivate and awaken the inner learning creature that can only be sustained, that can only grow and develop on a steady diet of meaning and symbol. And paradoxically enough, as the poem suggests, words also point to what lies beyond them, the world of wordlessness, where the human being learns to exist in silence, apprehend in silence, feeling the reverberating power of perfect silence.

The author is a journalist and teacher, having worked at The Indian Express, Hyderabad and at The Sunday Leader, Colombo. She was also the head of the English department at The British School in Colombo. She now works as an examiner and a teacher trainer in Kochi, Kerala. She can be reached at talitha_mathew@yahoo.com.

Accroding to the RTE, the State has to ensure that all children between 6 and 14 years of age are enrolled in schools. Since children who have never been to schools before will now attend schools, the government has designed a special condensed course, which will ensure that these children catch up with their peers in terms of their knowledge in different subjects.

Last month, I had the opportunity to participate in a chain of six day teacher training workshops organized to enable teachers to use these condensed course textbooks that are based on NCERT textbooks. I’d like to share here an experience from this workshop.

The session was on mathematics teaching and the master trainer was telling us how to teach equations. The question was to find out the value of x.

Equation written on blackboard 3x + 3 = 15 + x
A teacher who was a participant solved it as
3x + 3 = 15 + x
3x – x = 15 – 3
2x = 12
x = 6

Now, the master trainer asked, “How can this be taught to students in our classrooms?”

“By the balancing method,” a teacher answered.

“Yes, we can teach the equation using the balancing method, but these are students who have never been to school, so we have to introduce it in a simpler manner. Now, I am going to tell you another way of teaching this equation, which is more realistic and easier to remember.”

He started a story and wrote the equations accordingly.

There was a locality in which people of two different communities lived together very peacefully. This whole locality was divided into two by a canal, which passed through the middle. There was a bridge over the canal for the people to cross over from one part to the other.

3x + 3 = 15 + x (the two communities were numbers and variables, i.e., 3, 15 and x)

One day, a conflict emerged between the communities and a big communal riot followed in which both communities lost quite a few people. Both communities now chose one side of the canal as theirs and people moved to their part of the locality depending on the community they belonged to.

Those who migrated from their houses lost many things, i.e., family members, property, etc., so we can use minus signs before them (-).
3x – x = 15 – 3

In this way, people of both communities experienced great loss.
2x = 12
(Despite being from two different communities, as 2 and x were very close to each other, they continued living together for sometime.)

X = 12/2
X = 6
Now, this is the answer for x.

All the participants liked this story. One of them said that there was a correlation between the steps of the story and the steps of the equation. Another one said, “It will be very easy for students and they can memorize it without any difficulty.”

I, on the other hand, was not so happy. The story simply did not relate to the concept of algebra. It also ended without touching the main logic behind teaching algebra. Algebra is taught to develop abstract thinking in students. And where was there abstract thinking in the story?

Also, our National Curriculum Framework (NCF) says many things on the issue of peace and communal harmony. There is a separate position paper on peace and communal harmony. A few years ago, I had participated in another workshop called, ‘Teacher: an Agent for Communal Harmony’. In that workshop we discussed the teacher’s role regarding this important responsibility.

To promote communal harmony, we are also trying to redesign our curriculum and reading material. But my experience at this workshop shows that work should be done for changing or developing the perspective of our teachers also, otherwise they will not understand the importance of this issue.

NCF says that classroom teaching should be related to the experiences of the child. At the workshop, one teacher said, “This story is real and children can associate with it very easily.”

In my opinion, we should be very careful in selecting real or realistic examples. In our country, communal issues are very sensitive and these type of stories can pollute children’s minds. As teachers and educationists we should work together for national integrity and communal harmony. It’s very important for the growth of our nation.

The author has worked with several organizations in the field of education and is currently working in Rajasthan. He can be reached at umar.jckm@gmail.com.

When I asked my adult Indian students why they wanted to learn or improve their English, one responded that “English is a global language” and he could use it anywhere in the country. Other students identified English as a valued asset for finding a job, helping their children with their English homework, and improving social status.

I have taught English as a second language to immigrants in the United States, to children and business people in Madrid, Spain, and to young women and girls in Kabul, Afghanistan. Teaching English in India has come with its own pedagogical challenges.

What makes English unique in Hyderabad and presumably in most of India, is that it is already part of the “daily life”. It is mixed in with commercials, television programmes, and Bollywood films. Signs on roads, buildings, offices, and shops tend to be in multiple languages, including English. Some Indian friends have commented on how “Hin-glish” is commonly spoken. The challenge is how to teach my American English without being well versed in the subtleties of the Indian English dialect in Hyderabad. One can imagine the advantages of being able to “speak the mother tongue of the students”. (See Why English Matters, Teacher Plus, Kiswah Ashfaq and Abhinaya Rao, March 2011, Page 10). Also, the Indian Constitution recognizes 22 languages and there are hundreds of dialects spoken, which already intermingle with one another. This can also have an impact on how English is learned. I believe it would be fascinating for a linguistic to observe how India is establishing its own brand of English.

As an American teacher in India, it is important to understand the British influence on spoken English. A simple three-letter word such as “can” has different pronunciations. With my American accent, the “a” in the word “can” is closed compared to the open “a” or “ah…” that is commonly pronounced by my students. When to use the word “can” has also been a source of discussion. In many parts of the United States “can” is heard more frequently than “may” or “shall”, which I hear more often in India. Therefore, when I taught, “Can I take a message” for a business/phone conversation lesson, I had to clarify that “may”, “shall”, and “could” are acceptable and sound more polite and formal.

When do I “correct” a pronunciation of particular words? For example, a student informed me that the World Cup Cricket matches could be watched on television in homes, restaurants, and “hordels.” All of the students knew what a hordel was, while I had no idea. I wondered if this was a Hindi or Telugu word for a common location to watch sporting events. I asked them to spell it: “H-o-t-e-l”. Instead of immediately correcting the students, I thought of the different accents in my own country. For example, the Boston accent tends to drop the last “r” in a word. A simple sentence such as, “The drivah drove the cah to the bah” (The driver drove the car to the bar) could confuse a person from another part of the United States. If I were a teacher in Boston, I would not correct my students to say “car” with a strong “r” at the end. This is part of the Boston identity. Therefore, I do not want to take away the identity of somebody from Hyderabad who speaks with his/her own accent. A student in Spain once told me she did not want to speak English with a Spanish accent, but in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with speaking a foreign language with one’s own local linguistic style.

The way English words are used is unique from country to country. An Indian student came up with the question, “When did you conduct the meeting?” I understood the words, but the way “conduct” was used was not immediately familiar to my American ears. “When was the meeting?” would be a common way to formulate this question, however my Indian student’s question was not incorrect. Everybody in the class immediately understood his question, except for the English teacher. I showed the students other ways Americans may talk about “meetings” such as “I ran” or “I organized the meeting…” and of course, we use ‘conduct’, but not as frequently as my students. I find myself asking, “What do I correct?” Or do I show the various ways to say the same thing?

With good nature, usually, British friends have accused my fellow Americans and me of misusing the English language. A British workmate of mine in Spain emphatically explained how “pants” are worn under trousers, whereas in the United States, the word “trousers” is not used often. I was informed that my country and I was wrong. I do not want to be critical with my own Indian students. India has developed its own form of English and who am I to say what is right or wrong? I do not own the language. When a student says, “Yesterday, I going to my village,” then I can easily point out the improper verb tense. Yet, when one of my students says, “lift” rather than “pick-up the phone”, this causes me to reflect rather than correct. Truly, there is only a colloquial difference between “lift” and “pick-up.”

Because English is a global language, it takes on different forms according to how individuals interpret it in conjunction with their primary language. Teaching English grammar and sentence structure is relatively straightforward. However, when English words are adapted and pronounced to fit the local lexicon and accent, then the lessons become challenging, interesting, and even fun. This is an “ultra” (as my Indian students may say) complex discussion that may need to be tabled. But, what does a table have to do with a discussion?

The author is an elementary school teacher, in Bridgewater, Vermont, USA. He previously taught at the Children’s Workshop School in New York City. Recently, he volunteered with an NGO in Hyderabad called Kriti. He has also volunteered as an English teacher in Kabul, Afghanistan with the NGO, Afghans4Tomorrow. He started teaching 17 years ago in Madrid, Spain. He can be reached at jeff.symanski@gmail.com.

Nothing has revolutionized education the way the blackboard has. Even after some 200 years, the blackboard continues to dominate classrooms. But with advancements in technology and with classrooms becoming more technology oriented, will the blackboard become obsolete? Will whiteboards and projector screens take over?

As a teacher, I prefer the blackboard for day-to-day teaching, as I feel it is the most powerful teaching aid, the biggest, and the most visually relevant. Blackboard teaching makes it easier to watch the children and immediately grasp how well or not the lesson is progressing. Writing on the blackboard makes it easier to control content, to go at a speed that allows students to take notes. The blackboard does not hinder writing and teaching at the same time. The teacher can stop when a student wants to clarify something.

When a teacher asks a student to come forward and colour the picture she has drawn on the blackboard, along with learning the colours, the child also learns participation, discipline, and of course social interaction. When students come forward to write answers or do sums on the blackboard, they display their understanding of the subject. As they work their answers, the teacher can easily identify problem areas.

When a student comes to write on the blackboard everyone in the classroom, including the teacher, is actively participating and this interaction makes, the lesson enjoyable. The students gain in confidence, as they have to walk alone to the blackboard.

Blackboards aid in learning spellings, as children are observing and assimilating as the words are being written on the board.

While teaching geographical locations on maps there can be no better aid than the blackboard. Coloured chalk helps to differentiate the port from the river, the gulf from the strait. Though I am not against e-learning I feel that kind of learning forces information on the students. Content written with chalk can be added to or altered according to the progress of the lesson. Moreover, technology-based aids often require the lights in the room to be switched off, therefore the teacher cannot really tell how the students are reacting to the lesson. The points made by students during a discussion cannot be noted down, as easily as they can while using the blackboard. Sometimes, teachers are so engrossed in the actual operation of the computer or the projector that they overlook what the student should actually be learning. Besides, PowerPoint slides and transparencies for projectors have to be made in advance and involve a lot of work. If the size of the transparencies does not adhere to the projector requirements, the display will not be seen or read properly. Teaching can never be spontaneous as with the blackboard.

In my experience, a blackboard helps classroom management as well. Eye contact with the students is easily maintained, and this helps build a relationship with them, which in turn encourages the students to listen to the lesson. The teacher can easily read the expressions on the faces of the children and can change her approach to suit the mood of the class. The teacher has less control on how students behave in the darkened room. Visibility, both for the teacher and the students, is a must in reading body language to maintain discipline. Children need to take their cues from the teacher on forming behaviour patterns.

Replacing the blackboard with projector screens or whiteboards might not be such a good idea in practical terms too. The gritty texture of the blackboard surface has just the right resistance to help children when writing as compared to the slickness of the whiteboard. This is as relevant for teachers too. Chalk is less expensive, especially if one has to write a lot. It doesn’t dry out and can be washed off fingers and clothes more easily than marker ink. Blackboards are easier to clean as well.

Messages like ‘Happy Birthday Teacher’, ‘Happy Teachers’ Day’, ‘Happy Independence Day’, written on the board accompanied by the best of drawings are a delight to see and they help build a relationship between the teacher and her students. The neatly written date, subject, and number of absentees, the thought for the day, are all things teachers expect to see on blackboards. And what of the scores that are kept during spelling bees and quizzes? These are all part of the active learning experience. If these disappeared from the classroom, we’d certainly find something else to replace them with, but we’d definitely miss this best and least expensive teaching aid called the blackboard.

The author is a former senior secondary English teacher and now works as a freelance writer. Her works have been published in print and on the web. She can be reached at suman.susingh@gmail.com.

Living in China was not the only new and exciting aspect of our adventure. This was my first ‘real’ teaching job as a certified teacher, and working in China presents certain intricacies that test one’s resolve. One of our Canadian bosses once challenged us to see these as adventures rather than as irritants.

I didn’t know exactly what to expect on my first day on the job. The students hadn’t arrived on campus yet and neither had two of the five teachers who had been hired from Canada. We got a quick tour of the facilities. They seemed decent enough considering China was a developing country.

‘Can we see our classrooms?’ we asked.
‘Maybe…if we can find the keys’.
‘Can we see our office and work space?’
‘Yes…but we don’t have the keys and the doors are locked.’
‘Can we have a look at what textbooks are available, so we can start planning our lessons?’
‘That’s difficult because the textbook room doors are locked.’

I learned that first day that the guy with the keys was one of the most important people in China. If I ever got hold of a key, I immediately went into town to have it copied. My key chain soon resembled a janitor’s and all my work pants were worn through at the front right pocket from the mass of keys I carried with me. When the students arrived they taught me how to break into locked rooms using their cafeteria cards. This resulted in dirty looks from the Chinese staff, but it was necessary on more than a few occasions.

Once when I had gone through all the proper channels and booked the library for one of my classes, we arrived to find it locked. The doors were held together with a bicycle lock. I examined the lock and noticing that it looked rather similar to my own bike lock, I pulled out my own key and gave it a try. It worked and I let my class in. When the Chinese librarian returned from her lunch break, a good ten minutes late, she demanded to know how we had got in. With a straight face I lied and said that I had found the doors unlocked.

With the classrooms, offices, textbook room, and computer lab all locked up there wasn’t really much we could accomplish that first day. The principal was equally shut out and had no clue how to affect any progress, having been in China only a week. ‘Let’s go for a walk,’ he suggested. He and I headed down the road and ended up at the beach. Across the street, makeshift restaurants offered barbequed meat skewers and local seafood dishes. We sat down and had the first of several bottles of warm beer. I hadn’t expected to start my first day on the job drunk at the beach, but with the principal’s active participation and encouragement that’s pretty much what happened. Day one working in China had been more adventure than irritant.

Irritants soon replaced adventures, and our Canadian principal quit after just five months on the job. He found out quickly that he had virtually no power. It was not that he was power hungry, but to run a legitimate Canadian high school program a principal should at least have the power to order a few pens or notebooks. He simply couldn’t take it anymore.

From a teacher’s perspective there is one absolutely fantastic aspect of working in China and that is the students. I worked in a private school where the students were from wealthy, well-connected families. The Chinese teachers said they were spoiled and disrespectful, but to Canadian teachers used to the rowdy crew of teenagers back home, they were a dream to teach.

The kids treated their Canadian teachers with so much respect. We seemed to represent their future dreams and aspirations – they all planned to study at universities in Canada or other Western countries – but unfortunately they didn’t always show their Chinese teachers the same respect. Walking the halls past classrooms when Chinese classes were in session students could be seen slumped over asleep on their desks, while the teacher carried on with their lecture.

For the lack of respect from students, the long days and the superficial curriculum that many of them are stuck teaching, the Chinese teachers are rewarded with pay about one fifth that of the Canadian teachers they share office space with and face salary garnishment for all sorts of things. This is surely unlawful in a so-called Socialist state but the dictatorship of the proletariat doesn’t require or allow unions, so there is little that can be done except to quit.

Despite the bureaucratic irritants, the freezing cold offices, and the ups and downs of staff morale, teaching in China has been a wonderful and valuable experience; an experience that allowed and pushed me to grow professionally and personally. Some people will tell you working in China is (excuse the term) crap. With the right perspective I think it is more like crab. It is something that needs to be handled delicately, requires perseverance and patience, but ultimately is worth the effort.

This piece of writing is a series of excerpts from the author’s own book Dragons, Donkeys, and Dust published by Bing Long Books (www.binglongbooks.com)

The author is an intrepid Canadian traveller, teacher, geographer, and ice hockey ambassador who lived and taught for 12 years in China. He can be reached at info@binglongbooks.com.

I am lucky to have the opportunity to reflect and share some of my experiences as an elementary school teacher in the United States. The challenge is, where to begin? Therefore, I start the same way I encourage my students to begin a writing piece: ask questions and then select one to answer in the form of a writing piece.

My question: “What is a typical day of teaching in the United States?

Immediately, I recognized this is impossible to answer. I cannot speak on behalf of an entire country or any of my co-workers. And there is no such thing as a typical day of teaching. I am assuming this is true in India and around the world as it is in the United States. So much happens in a school day that an 800-word article could become a novel.

A school day is not limited to the time a teacher is with his/her students. It often begins the moment the teacher wakes up and lasts until he/she falls asleep that evening. Many a times, I find myself waking up and my first thoughts are about school.

“What do I need to do to prepare for the day?”
“Do I have a meeting with a parent?”

During my drive to school, the questions continue or sometimes I rehearse lessons. Part of my morning routine is to stop at a coffee shop, sit down, open my planner, and look over that day’s schedule. Again I find myself asking questions, “Should I give the math quiz in the morning rather than in the afternoon when the students are tired?”

“Should I have students read the chapter in class or for homework?”

Back in the car on my way to work, the approaching school day is still on my mind with more questions:
“Does the previous day’s argument between the two classmates need to be addressed again or should I leave it alone?”
“Will I have time to call the bus company for our field trip?”

When I finally arrive and pick up my students, I am answering their barrage of questions and comments from, “Can I use the bathroom?” to “I forgot my homework.” During the day, the core teaching of the academics is shared with managing time and the students. Upon leaving school, I begin to rehash the events of the day, grade papers, meet with coworkers, and make calls to parents if needed. Often times, during my commute I try to distract myself by listening to the radio, but on some days it is difficult to block school entirely and take a break. I have worked outside of the teaching field and never put so much thought and energy into each day.

I believe the difference between the teaching and the non-teaching jobs is the clientele. What makes a teacher’s day atypical is the clientele who are children and have been on earth for a fraction of the time that we have. It is our job and responsibility to provide them with information and ensure they comprehend new forms of knowledge, while simultaneously instilling upon them values and practices in order to help them become positive and productive members of their community, country, and even world. I want my students to understand the course materials and become critical thinkers and problem solvers. I expect to accomplish these goals with numerous students, each with their own learning styles, personalities, and backgrounds. In many “office jobs” the client is dealt with through emails or quick telephone calls. The teacher’s clients are with them for the entire day, sharing the same space. If a “client” or student is unruly, a teacher cannot hang up on them or delete them. Teachers have to deal with the situation at that moment while managing a roomful of other students and refocusing the class toward the current lesson.

It is important to leave all business and personal issues outside the classroom, which is sometimes difficult to accomplish. Politics, budgets, contracts, pressure for higher standardized test scores, licensing, meetings, the work place environment, coworkers, and of course personal life concerns, should not get in the way of teaching.

Therefore, how can there be a typical day in teaching? Atypical days properly challenge students and teachers and propel them towards success. Every day is new, which makes this profession exciting and invigorating. Instead of saying, “we teach”, I believe as teachers we should take a cue from the medical and law professions, and state we “practice” teaching. Teachers, like doctors and lawyers, are constantly practicing to improve. As a teacher I also need to continuously practice and improve because each class of students offers a new opportunity and welcome challenge on a daily basis.

Therefore, after addressing my initial question, “What is a typical day of teaching in the United States?” I now have a new one, “What strategies are best for creating educational, productive, and enjoyable atypical days for my students?”

The author is an elementary school teacher, in Bridgewater, Vermont, USA. He has previously taught at the Children’s Workshop School, an alternative public school in New York City and has volunteered as an English teacher in Kabul, Afghanistan with the NGO, Afghans4Tomorrow. He can be reached at jeff.symanski@gmail.com

A teacher, whether at school or at college, plays a vital role in his/her students’ lives. Today, every teacher has to think beyond books, the syllabus or the subject and endeavor to be a friend, philosopher and guide to the student. As teachers we should also realize that education now has widened its scope to include personality development and understanding the true meaning of life. Accordingly, we have to adapt to these changes.

When I entered this field in 2005-06, everything was new to me. Since accountancy was my subject, teaching it included talking about balance sheets, assets and liabilities. As time passed, I realized that accountancy alone will not suffice to guide my students through life. I would have to supply them with lessons of life, interact with them, motivate them and support them like a friend.

In one of my classes, after I had finished the day’s lesson, I had talked to my students about the three circles of life. While at that time I wasn’t sure of how much of what I had said the students had assimilated, I was in for a pleasant surprise. During an open discussion at the end of the second trimester, a student named Aarti said, “Ma’am I have entered the third circle of life.” I was glad that they still remembered the talk I had given them on the three circles of life in the first trimester. I then asked the class, “How many of you remember the three circles?” Almost 80% of the class raised their hands, and most said they were somewhere between the second and third circles. They even told me that they want more such motivation lectures. I realized that motivation works wonders, especially when it is given by a teacher.

All those students who would like to explore different avenues in life and wish to grow all their life will find these three circles of life very interesting and motivating too.

The third circle of life
While most people manage to progress from the first stage of life to the second, not many reach the third circle, because this circle is about allowing different kinds of people to enter your life and assimilating their good points while discarding the negative ones, about knowing and accepting their views, and about exploring life in an inexpressible way.

I urge all my students to move out of the second circle into the third circle. Although this may initially prove arduous, positive results are assured in the end. This is a tough and challenging stage because one has to overcome the odds of human psychology, which is full of give and take, jealousy, hatred, and competition.

I have been a teacher for seven years, and often in these years I have discussed life related issues in class. Students have approached me with simple and complex questions. I try to do my best in answering them and hope that my answers help and inspire them in the right direction.

The author is a faculty member in the Department of Accountancy at HL Institute of Commerce, Amrut Mody School of Management, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad. She can be reached at ld:vthlic@gmail.com.

As the first term this year drew to a close and most schools were busy conducting examinations – many of them squeezing in two exams a day to make up for the unexpected loss of working days, we at Centre for Learning, Hyderabad, got down to our almost week-long exercise of self-assessments with the children. Almost a week spent by the children (mostly 10 years and above) and teachers huddled in a room just talking can seem to an outsider as a gross waste of time, when there is so much of the “syllabus” still to be covered, and so much time has already been lost due to various bandhs. But these exercises remind me, as they always have time and again, how amazingly self-reflective and honestly self-critical children can be when we repose faith in them.Not just that, they are also capable of providing the teacher some insightful feedback and criticism.

The assessment exercise usually starts with one of the teachers introducing the children to the exercise we were doing. For the benefit of the newer children, she gives a few broad guidelines for looking back at the term – some of the key aspects that are suggested for each academic subject are understanding of concepts, coverage, interest, and confidence level in the particular area, effort, and feeddback on the respective teachers. In addition, there are some overall aspects like learnings that were personally important/exciting, behaviour, attitude, and level of responsibility shown. They are of course free to say anything else that they wish to about the term they just completed. Children are reminded that they are to measure their achievements against their own efforts and not compare themselves with others. After the initial and minimal introduction to the exercise, it is left open to the children to start off, in no particular order but leaving it to them to decide when each of them would like to take the turn to speak. Usually, children who have been longer with the Centre and have done this exercise a few times in the past, start off, as they know that they can speak their mind here without being judged. The newer children, with a little time and when they see the others speaking candidly, open up, if not the first time, very often, after a few sessions like this. Engaging with children to look at their own work and attitudes is a continous process through the daily routine. However, a milestone activity like this affords a different kind of space in two ways. One, since it is not related to an immediate task, or a particular behaviour that the learner has been involved in, there is a little more objectivity and a lesser need to be defensive. Secondly, as it is a collective exercise, seeing others look at themselves, makes children feel more secure in doing it themselves, and also helps them see that failure and weaknesses, are acceptable and not shameful to admit.

In the group of 8-12 year olds, Radhika who is 9, turning the pages of her English notes, felt, spellings was one area that she needed to work on. One 8 year-old felt he needed more practice in division. Giving their criticism on the teachers, a 9 year old said, “Although your handwriting on the board has improved, your writing in the books is still too difficult for me to understand,” – (the ‘still’ was because she had told me not to use running handwriting in the last couple of assessment sessions too!). And as another 10 year-old said, “Sometimes when you are angry with one of us, you also tend to show that anger with others”. Both these criticisms I had to accept as true, when I thought about them.

Anthony, a 15 year-old, who has been in and out of the Centre a few times, talked of how on the one side, he really wanted to study and would resolve to do his work at home, and how once he reached home, he would get totally overwhelmed by the urge to watch TV, or to go out with his friends and then would come back very late. Talking about his significant learnings in the term, he mentions the visit to the cancer hospital and says, “I know all the bad effects of smoking, but I still somehow cannot stop smoking totally”. We talk about his problem with TV and friends and how we could together overcome it and think of a few ideas that we would try out – including his coming to a teacher’s home to do an hour of study time with her.

Clara, a 13 year-old, feels she hasn’t made any progress at all this term. With stark honesty, she admits that sometimes she just gets very bored with most of the academic subjects and then the quality of her work slips. When asked what interests her, she mentions dance and embroidery.

As we go along, we came to know that Arun feels his interest in math has gone up this term, but still doesn’t feel very confident, he also thinks he gets into fights and scuffles much less now compared to last year, Navya is satisfied with her progress and thinks she has put in her best efforts. She loved her dance and singing, Rajesh and Suresh enjoyed compering for the Independence Day and enjoyed dancing on the stage for the first time in their lives.

At the end of the sessions, we not only had an idea of how the children felt about their progress in academics, but also about what excited them, what kept them from doing their best, situations at home, their interests, and what they thought about their attitudes.

Examinations are useful tools of assessment. If designed well, they do help to evaluate a learner’s understanding and to some extent application of their knowledge. However, they still can only throw light on WHAT the learner doesn’t know. They are limited in scope in answering the question, WHY has the learner been unable to learn what is expected in the examination, and treat the learner as a black box, in the sense that it just measures the output (read: performance of the learner) with respect to the input that she has got in the classroom in a particular period. Self-assessments, on the other hand, provide insights to the teacher into the learner as a person, her motivations, interests, what is personally meaningful to the learner and the different persona within that person and also help the learner become more self aware, which in itself is a valuable end.

For an exercise like this to be truly meaningful in an educational space, it demands that the role of teaching itself moves radically – from treating it as a job of efficient delivery of a present syllabus to that of a sensitive, caring, critical thinking, dialectic engagement with learners – from a 9 to 5 job to that of an act of love. Otherwise, an Anthony’s situation can be quickly dismissed as one of individual irresponsibility and utter waywardness instead of seeing him as a product of his circumstances and context, and also seeing that side of him attempting to overcome his situation, weak, but still alive and trying! Clara’s frankness in admitting to boredom in most of academics can easily be dismissed as sheer indolence (which is a possibility but not a certainty!), without raising deeper questions on the epistemic skewedness of what we deem as important knowledge – marginalizing and devaluing crafts and almost glamourizing the intellectual.

For an educational space that genuinely believes that a learner-teacher relationship can be democratic and is seriously committed to helping learners become self-motivated and independent learners, self assessment is not only a very important evaluation exercise, but is, in itself a direct and important learning activity towards the achievement of curricular aims.

As we bade goodbye to the children and prepared to leave for the holidays, I wondered if Anthony would survive the battles inside himself and still come back after the holidays … and wondered what to do with this girl named Clara… or rather what can we do that makes sense to her too! But the worry about the incomplete syllabus bothered me too…

(Names of the children have been changed to protect their identities)

The author works with the Centre for Learning, Secunderabad. He can be reached at knramgopal@yahoo.com.

Traditional teaching methods are based on the assumption that effective learning is a matter of conditioned response or ‘conditioning’; failure to respond to a question correctly is punished and successful responses are rewarded. Motivation for learning is derived from the need to gain rewards for success and avoid punishment for failure. These needs or motives are extrinsic to the learning process and form the basis for ‘extrinsic motivation’.

Conditioned learning is passive learning. Learning becomes passive because it is based on the memorisation of set patterns, i.e., ‘rote learning’. Superficial learning and so-called ‘knowledge’ is evaluated and measured in terms of a standardised system of evaluation, i.e., ‘grades’ and grade averages. Emphasis on grades creates a dependency on extrinsic motivation. The teacher transfers knowledge and depending on the way he/she does it, learning may or may not take place.

On the other hand, learning is an active, natural process. Natural learning is meaningful because it takes place in the context of experience, i.e., ‘experiential learning’. Experiential learning is a function of the brain’s natural capacity for learning which we will call brain-based learning. In the new paradigm for teaching, the teacher’s function is to enhance the learner’s intrinsic motivation. Effective teaching methods place the emphasis on the facilitation of self-directed learning. The teacher becomes the architect, designing experiences that will lead students to make meaningful connections.

Facilitative teaching methods are effective because they comply with the natural holistic functioning of the brain. Teaching for effective learning is teaching to the brain’s natural functioning while engaging the learner’s personal development.

Brain-based learning involves optimal functioning of the brain and depends on the unconscious motivation for the intrinsic rewards of knowledge and understanding, i.e., ‘intrinsic motivation’. In the new teaching paradigm emphasis is on intrinsic motivation.

Becoming a teacher today is more daunting than ever, and teachers must be prepared inwardly for the challenges of this role as well as outwardly in relation to their instructional knowledge and skill in the classroom. Teachers must be concerned with excellence, both for themselves and for their students, and this means breadth and depth in content studies as well as higher order thinking, complex and critical thinking, creativity, technology infusion, and values-based education.

The teacher is a leader whose influence appears in many forms, sometimes quiet and unobtrusive, but always persistent. The teacher-leader envisions possibilities – that all students can learn, that schools can get better, and all teachers can achieve high levels of success professionally, witnessed by their students’ accomplishments in learning. The teacher-leader encourages, recognises resources and talents, offers comfort to those in stress, challenges students to achieve deeper understanding, interprets the world and events meaningfully, and walks the moral road. He or she is an advocate for the helpless student and empowers the ineffective student, inspiring colleagues to adopt the same disposition. The teacher-leader is also an effective colleague in the process of school renewal. He or she views a school as a learning organisation and seeks skillful means to encourage thoughtful change processes. Whether faced with a colleague in despair, a school in chaos, or a child in need, the call to educate is a living vocation in the teacher-leader.

Skills to be developed by the teacher of today

Leadership Skills: Create the habit of learning in children through a thorough knowledge of how they learn and their individual learning styles. The Multiple Intelligences theory by Howard Gardner is an essential tool in identifying and understanding the various styles in which a child learns. Every child has many facets of intelligence in varying degrees. Gardner’s theory helps us find out how each child is gifted.

Technology Skills: Optimise the use of open and distance learning technologies to make the best use of their power to create interactive feedback between the learner and the learning program. Use technology as a tool for organisation, communication, research, and problem solving.

Classroom Management Skills: Organise classrooms into hives of active personal learning using all the resources available. Pre-empt typical behavioural problems that might arise in the classroom. Proactively prevent or at least minimise these problems from occurring in order to ensure the smooth management or functioning of the class. Equip yourself with strategies that will help deal with possible behavioural problems in the classroom.

Networking Skills: Develop all the ways of using communication technology to stimulate innovative learning. Network learners with other learners on a local, national and international basis and develop.

Counselling Skills: Empower each learner by helping to set and monitor personal goals through personal learning plans, mentoring techniques and individualised learning modules.

Self-Improvement Skills: Respond to the new lifelong learning world by continuously updating skills and competencies. Recognise the value of “self’ in teaching.

Inspirational Skills: Stimulate learning into an enjoyable and creative experience through a thorough knowledge of the psychology of learning motivation and how to overcome barriers to learning confidence.

I would like to share this incident, which a friend mailed me, with all teachers: “The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, ‘What’s a kid going to learn from someone who decided his/her best option in life was to become a teacher?’

He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: ‘Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.’ To stress his point he said to another guest;

‘You’re a teacher. Be honest. What do you make?’ The Teacher, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, ‘You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, and then began…)

‘Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can’t make them sit for 5.

You want to know what I make.’ (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)

‘’I make kids wonder. I make them question. I make them apologise and mean it. I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions. I teach them to write and then I make them write. I make them read, read, read. I make them show all their work in Math. They use their god given brain, not the man-made calculator. I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe. Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.’
(She paused one last time and then continued.)

‘Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn’t everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant…

You want to know what I make?
I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr. CEO?’
His jaw dropped, he went silent.

The author is an educational consultant with Sparsh, a division of SEED Infotech at Pune. She can be reached at shakun.jaisinghani@gmail.com.

I have failed to understand how in a span of 35 minutes of interaction, one can be a good teacher: a teacher who is supposed not only to teach but to perform multiple roles of a friend, philosopher, guide and caretaker. The B. Ed. teacher training is a course that aims at producing good and competent teachers – an aim that appears very superficial, now more than ever, because the goal is larger and more important than just producing good and competent teachers. One year of hard work and a 35 minute lesson each time…! I relate my own experience:

Poonam was a quiet, dark-skinned girl with an unpretentious smile, and rather small for her age. I met her during a practice teaching session I was required to conduct as a student of B.Ed. At that time Poonam was in standard five. I was taking an English grammar class and the lesson that day was on verbs. I was very happy with the way my teaching session was progressing for I had devised an innovative method to teach the children verbs. The students were having fun and more importantly they were connecting with me. It had been a satisfying session.

As I was leaving, someone spoke from behind, “Teacher, can I have your autograph?” I turned around to find a girl from the class I had just left. I was thrilled to see her hold out a pen and a book. I felt like a celebrity. As I was writing a message for the child I asked her name. “Poonam Jadeja”, she said with that innocent smile on her face. “Are you Punjabi?” I asked instinctively. “Mujhe nahi pata… mein pehle Punjabi thi,” replied Poonam. “What do you mean child? Your surname sounds Punjabi,” I said. “Nahi… mein pehle Punjabi thi. Abhi pata nahi kyun ki mein ab mummy ke saath rehti hoon.” I was dumbstruck.

What was Poonam getting at? I didn’t have the courage to ask her anything further. “Mere mummy-papa alag alag rehte hai… unka divorce hua hai,” she said without any reluctance, perhaps not even knowing what divorce meant at that age. I was crestfallen, my heart broke for that child… but I had another class to take and had to rush. I gave her my autograph with a nice soulful message… this was all I could give her as a teacher!

The image of a young Poonam has remained with me ever since. The two-minute conversation with her had left me feeling that she needed to understand her identity beyond her mother and father. At such a young age, forced to grow up sooner than kids her age, Poonam was facing an identity crisis. She confused her identity as a Punjabi with her parents being together. She believed that only if they were together as a family she was a Punjabi but now that the family was broken up she wasn’t so sure anymore.

This is one type of crisis that is faced by individuals. According to Erickson’s theory of psycho-social development, when there is Identity vs. Role confusion, a person fails to understand his or her identity and confuses his/her roles due to the inability to resolve the crisis. This is just one form, though, and identity crisis and the resulting role confusion can come in many forms. It can be personal or vocational role confusion, or confusion regarding sexual identity and orientation. This last is due to a lack of knowledge about one’s body and this can actually be resolved through sex education, the need and role of which we in India have yet to realise.

Over the years I have progressed from being a teacher to a teacher educator, and Poonam must be around 16 years old now. I don’t know if I can trace her. I hope her crisis has been resolved… but I will always regret not being able to spend another five minutes with her which could perhaps have helped her find an answer to her identity crisis.

A good teacher, I believe, is not just someone who can teach a given subject satisfactorily in the 35 or 45 minutes allotted. A good teacher is someone who can make a meaningful difference to the lives of the children she is teaching.

The author is a teacher trainer at Rizvi College of Education, Mumbai. She can be reached at radhika_143s@yahoo.com.