What do you believe about yourself as a Teacher?

“What you believe about yourself as a teacher and what you believe about all children are closely related. (Harris, 2005)”

What is the purpose of teaching?

To teach is to progressively develop a transformative relationship with the student. A relationship that is a space into which a genuine connection can develop.  

“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment”.

When a teacher can grow into giving the student such a non-judgmental space, teaching happens and is not an effort.

What do I believe about teaching children?

I believe that teaching children is an art that may use some aspects of science. But broadly, it is an art. “Art does not confine to logic; it is an expression of feelings” (Chandra, 2013).

Hence it may use pedagogical structures, but by and large its base is emotions. It is subjective and requires a level of autonomy for the teachers. Trust, accountability and freedom is where teaching is expressed best.

3.      What kind of behaviour do I expect from students?

“The bottom line is that if we expect certain behaviours from people, we treat them differently — and that treatment is likely to affect their behaviour,” (Ellison, 2015).

Personally what I expect from students is a space where we can have a dialogue. This need not be an intellectual dialogue, which is boring, but one with emotions involved in it. Hence I find most at home with the very emotional age group of teenagers.

I can’t handle aggression or shouting. When they lose their control on emotions, I need to protect myself from them. But I keep maneuvering and waiting to have ‘that special point of connection’ when we can have a dialogue.

What do I expect of my students’ parents?

I expect them to back off! It may sound very demanding, but I feel they need to back off, unless invited into the zone of teacher-taught. I may not know everything about what I am doing, but I have all good intentions. So please do not get anxious when I make a mistake. Give me some space to find my way back to the student or your child. Let us find our way towards building a relationship.

There are parents who have done this and I have had incredible relationships with them and their children too.

Do I believe that every child can achieve?

Yes. I firmly believe that. However, having said that, I also believe in ‘to each to his own’. We need to give each student the space to develop, but develop to his or her best. As a Maths teacher, I found students were at peace when I focused on their best and not at Maths. Ironically, my approach calmed them and they actually performed better in Maths.

My job is “…to provide the optimum conditions for it to do that, to allow it to grow itself”, (Robinson, 2007).