How do we build school communities?
How do we build school communities that develop the knowledge and competencies that are essential for living and learning in a globally connected world?
Ranker (2018) “It is the ability to step outside one’s
base culture and to understand there is no universally correct way to do
things”. In other words, everyone is right.
Value:
Getting started
with mindfulness (2018) states, “Mindfulness
meditation asks us to suspend judgment and unleash our natural curiosity about
the workings of the mind, approaching our experience with warmth and kindness,
to ourselves and others”.
Keeping mindfulness as the core value to be practiced in a school itself
would lead to developing related values required such as Open mindedness,
respect and empathy. For when we do not judge, we
respect and empathize with others.
Several schools in India
have ‘moments of mindfulness’ embedded during the day. A bell rings and
everyone pauses to take some deep breaths. Over the time it becomes a natural
habit.
Systems:
“Make mindfulness a part of
classroom learning by integrating it into curriculum-themed activities through
exercises in breathing, sensory experience, guided imagery, and movement”
(Shardlow, 2015).
Community service within the school or
communities around is another great way to develop empathy. Reminds me of an
Australian student talking to a villager as they worked side by side to build a
kitchen in the village school. They did not understand a word of what each
said, but their affection for each other was evident and a lesson for adults.
· Classroom Teaching framework
Value:
If
school is the microcosm of the society, then classroom teaching is the
microcosm of the school. Classroom teaching needs to be completely in a
framework of skills and attitudes of learning. The focus of classroom teaching
needs to be building the intelligence to live life with clarity. Syllabus
provides the content, the knowledge.
“Intelligence
uses knowledge, intelligence being the capacity to think clearly, objectively,
sanely, healthily”, (Krishnamurti, n.d., para 2).
Systems:
Several frameworks are
available to ensure that the classroom approaches are inclusive of development
of skills. The chief focus of all systems must be, “Global
citizenship education refers to a pedagogical approach that fosters K to 12
students’ inquiry skills and their ability to be agents of social change”, (Evans, Montemurro, Gambhir, & Broad, Eds., 2014,
pp.22)
Value:
Risk
taking is defined by Ranker (2018) as “Letting
go of the fear that comes from stepping out of what is known, letting
go of an ethnocentric attitude to adopt a more inclusive mind-set, a learning
mind-set.”. A school that wishes to develop a global mind-set must have global
citizens in it as a crucible to develop the capacity of stepping out of one’s
own zone.
Systems:
When I applied to
work at my first IB school, I came from national curriculum in India. I did not
expect to be accepted. When I asked the school director why she accepted me,
her response was, “You are from a Krishnamurti school. People from there are very
vocal about their thoughts. I want a mix of individuals in my school”.
National and
international cultural mix of teachers bring their own energy in a school. As
we work, play, live together we grow. I was fascinated by the levels of
collaboration that experienced with the international fraternity. They were
fascinated by some of our features.
I had in my class
once students who spoke English, Hindi and Korean. I had to develop creative
ways and means of ensuring that everyone learnt the material without losing my
calmness! It was hard but developed immense creativity in my work. “…vibrant diversity provides abundant
opportunity to explore global issues and realities within typical classrooms”,
(Evans, Montemurro, Gambhir, & Broad, Eds.,
2014, pp.11).
Value:
To be open to
others is a lifelong process. One needs to keep growing as an individual.
Considering the Corona crises today, the most important aspect that we need is
to be able to face the uncertainty of modern time. I do not know if the way the
world is today; it will be tomorrow too. For me, lifelong learning is about building
adaptive expertise, that is “An expertise that is adaptable and open to be
challenged. This is developed when one gets used to rethinking what one knows,
allows oneself to be challenged and drop old views”, (Bransford, n.d.,
pp.133).
Systems:
Everything in our
curriculum and professional development points to it. If we keep the focus of
each microcosm of school life as a space where the views are challenged in
order to develop an independent approach to life, in my opinion school has done
its job.
Value:
“Classroom
strategies, curriculum, and resources need to focus on the building of
community, the valuing of diversity, and the inclusion of an international
perspective”, ((Evans, Montemurro, Gambhir, &
Broad, Eds., 2014, pp.22).
Systems:
There
are several communities such as teaching and non-teaching staff, students,
parents and stake holders. Bringing all of them together is a part of community
development. Too easy is for one part of community to blame the other. But if
individuals learn to sit around a table and talk and get onto the ground and
play, communities can be built up. Schools' events are a great way to do so.
· Reflection
Value:
Recently
I started tracking the food I eat. I want to know what is going in my body and
its effect. However, unless I have a framework that tells me the optimum
nutrients that my body needs, tracking is quite aimless. Education communities
also requires the same in order to continuously reflect over one’s progress in
life to know where one is in comparison with where one is going. One needs
indicators of success and growth points. “In combination with professional
development and curricular resources, global competence indicators support
teachers in creating classrooms that are open to the world” (Education, V. I. F. I, n.d.).
Systems:
Education, V. I. F. I. (n.d.) has given a framework “…as part of its Global Gateway system: Understanding,
Investigating, Connecting, and Integrating. For each grade-level pair of
indicators, checklists are provided to support integration into everyday
classroom practice”.
1. Bransford,
J. D. (n.d.). THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS. Retrieved from
https://www.desu.edu/sites/flagship/files/document/16/how_people_learn_book.pdf
2. Evans, M., Montemurro, D., Gambhir, M., & Broad, K.
(Eds.). (2014). Inquiry into Practice: Learning and Teaching Global
Matters in Local Classrooms. Ontario Institute for Studies in
Education of the University of Toronto (OISE). Retrieved from: http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/oise/UserFiles/File/TEACHING_GLOBAL_MATTERS_FINAL_ONLINE.pdf
3. Getting Started with Mindfulness. (2018, September 14).
Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/
4. Krishnamurti, J. (n.d.). Jiddu Krishnamurti
texts. Retrieved from
http://jiddu-krishnamurti.net/en/krishnamurti-on-education/1974-00-00-jiddu-krishnamurti-krishnamurti-on-education-talks-to-students-chapter-3
5. Ranker,
G. (2018, April 6). Global Mindset Definition: what it really means? Retrieved
from https://www.garyranker.com/global-mindset/global-mindset-leadership-what-it-really-means/
6. Shardlow,
G. (2015, November 18). Integrating Mindfulness in Your Classroom Curriculum.
Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/integrating-mindfulness-in-classroom-curriculum-giselle-shardlow
7. Education, V. I. F. I. (n.d.). Teacher Guide,
K-12 Global Competence Grade-Level Indicators. Retrieved from
https://s3.amazonaws.com/com.appolearning.files/production/uploads/uploaded_file/818f97c9-21e2-4de3-82fa-30b2e63aecc6/K-12GlobalCompetenceGrade-LevelIndicators.pdf
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