This is the milieu -India.

-

 

My Milieu

At the moment, my situation is the situation of teacher education in India. This is the milieu. By and large, education is board and chalk and focused on examinations. To put the pressure to shift even a little from that evokes anxiety among the educators. “Conditions for learning refers to the factors that can enhance or diminish a student’s ability to learn”, (Juvonen, Kaganoff, Augustine, & Constant, 2004, pp.5). This is a space where learning to grow into global mind-set is very difficult as the examination expects mostly rote learning alone.

Outliers

In this milieu, however, there are several outliers. These are progressive schools that have broken away from being chained to examination and are focused on developing a human being. 3 of which are mentioned in my discussion, which are “…adopters breaking the mold of industrial age schools…”, (Lars, 2017)

·         There is a school called ‘keystone’ (http://keystoneeducation.in/), based on Project Based Learning. “Instead of working on a single project in a math class, project-based learning combines multiple disciplines in one project. It promotes active and deeper learning”, (Missouri, 2018).

·         There is ‘riverside’ (http://www.schoolriverside.com/)  that is focused design thinking in education. This is a “Fundamental redesign means adopting drastically different designs for learning”, (Lars, 2017)

·         There is Shibumi (https://www.shibumi.org.in/), that is a learning centre for young as well as adults. They have gone in for “Creation means implementing a new design in a totally new school or program”, (Lars, 2017)

These schools have a core team of leaders that have broken away from conventional thought process and set up something radically new. They were discontented enough from the conventional education to break out from the system. They had a clear vision, capacity to mentor others and the resilience to face the obstacles.

 Innovation

● Looks like…Disruptive. Shibumi has moved beyond all models of education and focuses only creating self-awareness among young and adult. This is a modern-day version of schools in the ancient civilization where the purpose of existence was finding of the self.

● Feels like…Vulnerable. “…the willingness to do something where there are no guarantees ...”, (Brown, 2010, 9.31) exposes all our fears and puts us in the space where we feel vulnerable to failure or ridicule. Innovation brings us to such a space. Keystone takes students to IGCSE exam. To be in the space where students are being prepared for examination yet hold on to the vision of having a life skill integrated project-based learning is a vulnerable space.

● Sounds like…Radical. Riverside thought the impossible. They focus on building humane individuals within the bounds of structure. They brought in principles of design thinking into designing the curriculum and planning. This is a parent initiative, turned to an education paradigm.

 Conclusion

The presence of these schools, 3 among so many, give me faith in the social structure. I believe that we will approach innovation in the society fully albeit progressively. These spaces are an inspiration.

 

References

1.    Brown, B. (2010). The power of vulnerability. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_the_power_of_vulnerability#t-5885

2.    Juvonen, J., Le, V., Kaganoff, T., Augustine, C., & Constant, L. (2004). Whole-School Reform Models. In Focus on the Wonder Years: Challenges Facing the American Middle School (pp. 98-111). Santa Monica, CA; Arlington, VA; Pittsburgh, PA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2004/RAND_MG139.sum.pdf

3.    Lars, E. (2017, March 10). Four Dimensions of Innovation in Education. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2017/03/four_dimensions_of_innovation_and_the_strategy_for_scaling_it_up.html

4.    Missouri, N. W. (2018, January 8). Why Innovation Absolutely Matters in Education. Retrieved from https://online.nwmissouri.edu/articles/education/innovation-matters-in-education.aspx

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Judge a man by the questions he asks!

-
Image
Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. (Voltaire) All our lives, we have been told that our smartness is measured by the answers that we have. And here comes Voltaire who says the opposite! My initial reaction is, ‘What does this mean?’ However, since it is Voltaire that says it, I think it must have some meaning and I dig deeper! As a listener, I may learn more by the questions I ask instead of by the quiet judgments I make. As a reader I may gain more by my questioning the text instead of believing what I read blindly. As a human being, I may contribute more to society by questioning the traditions than blindly following them. “The questions do mean a lot in life, not just for the sake of saying it, but for the sake that they define where your life is headed and how you are going to shape your life”, (Inspire99, 2019, para. 5) . As I read this blog piece, I felt pieces dropping in my mind and a change in the way I approached questions. Questions as a way to
Read more

Discipline models in classroom

-
Image
There are several models of discipline by different theorists. However, they can be broadly categorized  as (a) low approach, with low degree of teacher control and high degree of student control; (b) medium approach, with medium degree of approach for both; and (c) high, with high degree of teacher control and low degree of student control. Fay and Funk/ Low-control/Guiding model Jim Fay and David Funk focus to “create a classroom environment in which students can develop their own self-discipline and independent problem-solving skills” ( Models of Discipline Low Approach,n.d. ). The objective is for teachers to learn “ techniques to avoid arguments and power struggles”, ( Delosio, 2008 ). These are based on 9 essential skills for teachers which are, “(a) Neutralizing student arguing, (b) Delaying consequence, (c) Empathy, (d) The recovery process, (e) Developing positive teacher-student relationships, (f) Setting limits with enforceable statements, (g) Using choices to prevent po
Read more

Building school communities

-
Image
How do we build school communities that develop the knowledge and competencies that are essential for living and learning in a globally connected world? “With increasing diversity and difference in today’s education, schools now more than ever constitute a microcosm of our larger society”. (Evans, Montemurro, Gambhir) . Hence responsibility of a school community towards development of global mind-set. A globally connected world requires a mind that is progressively moving towards a global mind-set. Global Mind-set 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 others words, everyone is right. Keeping this at the heart, how do we them function as a community in a school, where everyone opines differently? It would require effort to cultivate some values and systems for the same. When I say values, I am taking it as a sum total of attitudes, skills and approaches to be developed. I a
Read more