The human society keeps evolving.
The human society keeps evolving. So does, as an effect, the collection of learners that we meet in the classroom. Every year it is different. The needs of the classroom also hence keep evolving. A teacher needs to respond to these needs on a continual basis. The only way is to take it as a challenge and follow the cycle:
(a) Examine the situation,
(b) Examine one’s ways of teaching,
(c) Declutter the toolbox of strategies and learn more,
(d) Reflect and … back to step (a).
But
one needs a frame of reference as a base in order to avoid being tossed around
by any thought process.
To build a relationship with oneself would mean to
keep growing more and more aware of oneself and integrate the new knowledge
into existing schema. This would require a life where one is constantly facing
new challenges for “…an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new
information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation)” (McLeod,
2018). In order to achieve again the sense of equilibrium, we make an effort
and learn new tools for the same. For example, after teaching only Indians for
years, when I stepped into an IB school, suddenly I faced learners from Korea
who had varied levels of expertise of English. I was uncomfortable and had to
increase my tools to be able to integrate methods to teach them.
For some maths is God! For some it is mandatory to
learn. For some it is a subject to teach. A teacher must explore his or her
relationship with the subject. It is the teacher’s passion that flows through
to the students.
‘So you can teach maths. What else can you do for the students?’ Our IB school director would ask again and again. As I explored this question, the process led me to see the students differently. I learnt the core value of relationship with students is to learn to connect beyond the subject, as human beings. I see now that “… connection is why we're here. It's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives”, (Brown, 2010, 3.01). This has been the most beautiful journey for me and so well encapsulated by Brene!
I have a passion for maths. But I have a bigger
passion for every student to maximise his or her potential in maths and in
life. Hence for me, maths classes are a space where there is a positive
learning environment that evokes all students to learn with joy. As maths
brings in a lot of anxiety, I have “…an arsenal of strategies that would
inoculate learners against the negative attitude by providing enough positive
experiences”, (Gang, 2018). I bring in a
number of teaching methods to differentiate the curriculum and make it
appealing to all kind of learners.
Let us
think “…about schools as systems of interdependent actors and processes, in
which the most important outcomes, as in a symphony, are in the synergies that
result from their interaction and collaboration”, (Reimers, 2009). We have colleagues,
staff, leaders, management and parents as an extension. Technology has made it
easy to collaborate with anyone across the world. I have, over the years,
learnt the value of collaborating with the larger community and enjoy the
synergy.
What is my place in the world and how do I create a
better one? This is the new that I have learnt from this course. I see now the
power of the IB schools to help build a relationship with the world that is based
on a sense of open mind. This is the part that has made me feel a twinge of
remorse at leaving the IB teaching. To be a travelling teacher, to give the
space to be a part of an international eco system, to choose for oneself what
one calls a ‘home’ in the world, this is so much more possible for an IB
teacher.
Relationship is the main frame of reference for me as
explored above. What I have learnt from this course is how all the dimensions
of relationships are multiple aspects of becoming and building global citizens
through a global mind-set. That is the pivot that gives meaning to all that we
do by integrating it around a core vision. To learn to live in harmony within
any community anywhere in the world would be the point of omega that we are
moving towards. The courage to develop “…the willingness to do something where
there are no guarantees…”, (Brown, 2010, 9.31).
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