HumaneMaths

It was a life changing moment for me as I realised that “…As educators, [we] exert a powerful influence over classroom norms...” (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, n.d.). It reminds me of the time in my classroom when I had an epiphany ‘my moods control the classroom environment!’ I paused for few moments to absorb it, as I looked at all my students, waiting for me to begin the class. I am not the same person since then. I am taking the classrooms that I have taught in my teaching career. These are Maths classrooms of middle school, grades 6 to 8, of private schools in India covering national and international curriculum. In India, Maths is considered the god of all subjects and hence it is also dreaded by many. You could be considered a low level student if you are not good at Maths. So I was always under pressure by the students for ‘more marks in maths’ as that defined ‘them’ in their opinion. I was crushed by their obsession. My persistent thought was: How do I help them to come out of i...

My definition of Learning My definition of learning was in a nutshell, “ Learning was considered to learn to be ‘sensitive’ to self, to life and environment. Within that sensitivity everything operate d.”      I believe now that it was quite limited !  Because it is too vast and generic. The only theory I was looking at was J Krishnamurti (who set up the school) theory. The other theories were not allowed in the system for ‘he was the greatest’. This actually led to a lot of regression in the system for anything that turns into a clique naturally regresses. For example, if I ever asked for a book by another philosopher in the school library, I was asked, “Why? Why do you want to read someone else when Krishnamurti’s books are there?” And I allowed myself to be regressed.      I would now complete my definition as “ Learning is to learn to be sensitive, and anything or anyone that helps one to be that is one’s theorist or teacher. Learning also must be...

My entire philosophy of education has been in the context of maths education. Hence that is the space in which I will try and integrate the points expected to be integrated in the paper. Historical context My own education left me completely confused and mistrustful of the adults in my society. When I became a teacher, I was again very disillusioned by the approach to teaching by my senior peers, most of who were there without any passion and focused on examination alone. My students dreaded maths, wanted to excel in it only for it was socially an elite subject and hence my efforts to focus on creative ways of teach were met well however not to the extent that I wished for. Hence I moved to progressive education field, although it meant for a while a big dip in my earnings, and found the space to explore the meaning of education that felt personal to me. My Philosophy “The teaching design that I have created, to make the shift in the Maths classes, has two such aspects—The Inside and T...

  What is it to Be Vulnerable? A lot of us are not taught how to express our emotions at home or in school. School, by its very structure, expects everyone to toe the line. To stand out is risky! To expose one’s emotions at the risk of being rejected is very hard for most of us. “Vulnerability is basically uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure”, ( Schawbel, 2013, para. 1). We avoid it and try to connect to others while wanting them to like us. There lies the conflict that leads to wavering relationships. What Gets in The Way? “ Vulnerability is the core of shame and fear and our struggle for worthiness”, ( Brown , 2010, 12.21). We live a strange life curve. As a child we are applauded for all emotions for we look cute, but as we grow, the same emotional expression provokes the adults to ask us to grow up. As our sense of worthiness relies on the adults, we condition ourselves to behave in a way that is approved of by the community that we belong to.   And since ...

  What is dwarfism? Dwarfism is a growth disorder with typical adult with dwarfism with height 4 feet 10 inches or under. They have generally shortened upper arms and legs and a relatively long torso, shortened hands and fingers, larger head and a prominent forehead and a flattened bridge of the nose. Their physical problems can include reduced muscle tone and delayed motor skill development. Dwarfism can be hereditary and there is no cure but it does not affect intellectual abilities. They can live long and contented lives just as anyone else. (Gavin, 2020). Hence the dilemma is ours, regular height individuals, to break out of our stereotypes and accept dwarfs as one of us ( Weinstock, 2018). Especially when it comes to dwarf kids in schools in an inclusive classroom with a teacher. Problems in Classroom and Teacher’s Role Problems Teacher’s Role They need extra time getting to classes due to mobility issues (Gavin, 2020). They may need ti...

  My Social Mission in Maths Education The purpose of education is very closely linked to the purpose of life and that is to keep growing in all aspects of personality in order to maximise our potential at multiple levels. For this, it would be necessary to build right from childhood skills and attitudes that help the learners stay lifelong learners in their lives. Lifelong Learning “…serves to reject the school and post-school division to endorse learning across the lifespan, a learning which is worthwhile to the individual citizen and, therefore to the society of which she is a part”, ( Field & Leicester, 2001, pp.18). Keeping this as the vision, when I looked at my classroom for maths at the beginning of my career, I found at least half the students were filled with fear of maths. Maths phobia “…may be defined as a feeling of anxiety that stops one from efficiently tackling mathematical problems”, ( Raghunathan, 2012, para. 1). This looked to me a contradiction of the t...

The two principles that I have loved!! Safety and Play. They are very close to my way of teaching math where I focus on developing an eco system using variety of representations to differentiate it enough for each child to find a space in it. I vary content process and product depending on learning styles and student readiness (Teachings in Education, 2017). 1. All domains of child development —physical development, cognitive development, social and emotional development, and linguistic development (including bilingual or multilingual development), as well as approaches to learning—are important; each domain both supports and is supported by the others ( NAEYC , n.d.). When I was teaching middle school kids, I often found that there were kids frightened of math. I discovered again and again that no matter how hard we tried, they would not learn math or learn it mechanically. So I realized that I need to bring in first and foremost, something that emotionally calms them down enough ...

        Our social and emotional growth happens while we are in a social set up. As an intra personal human being, I have always found social set ups stressful. What should be the compass to direct social situations that also keep me connected to my true nature? As a teacher, I am a guide but what about conversations where we are equals, such as colleagues? I hear about empathy, ability to understand and feel the other’s feelings and experience ( Tomlinson & Murphy , 2018). This is truly a transformative space. However empathy may lead to taking up the other’s experience into one’s own being and that leads to exhaustion, especially if you are a sensitive being. Hence compassion, feeling others’ feelings without taking them into oneself (Tomlinson & Murphy, 2018) sounds more like a true north to follow. T he goal is to humanize the work we do by understanding and learning from one another in ways that lift our work. (Tomlinson & Murphy, 2018). Lifting our ...

Failing My definition of failing would be when the kids (Holt, pp.1) fail to develop more than a tiny part of the capacity for learning, understanding, and creating. This is what they were born and of which they made full use during, the first two or three years of their lives. I believe the main reason is their fear of (Holt, pp.1) failing, of displeasing the many adults around them, whose expectations keep them always anxious! Hence in my opinion, adults in families and schools cause kids to fail. Especially (Madda, 2018 the way schools are constructed. For adults use the word ‘fail’ as a stamp and not as a step on the way to learning something. What if we change the connotation of failure?   An Effective Teacher  An effective teacher would see his/her work as that of a gardener setting up the eco system in which all children in the class can thrive. The teacher would have a meaning of success different child, enabling personalized learning in the class. The teachers and sch...

Concrete Experience: “what I did” section Giving children autonomy and agency in how they approach problems and explore potential solutions with others improves executive functioning ( NAEYC, n.d.). Based on this, I organized a class where I gave the kids – who had laptops and wi fi – a website to self learn a topic from. I was quite pleased thinking that everyone will learn on their own and cultivate independence. This was my version of flipped classroom (Camiling, 2017) and used technology to redirect learning from large groups to individualized learning. Reflective Observations: “what I wonder” section As the class proceeded and I looked forward to a focused class where I would be mostly redundant, I found one kid very unsettled and crying. When asked, he said, “I do not wish to learn alone. I miss my friends and you. I am also unable to understand anything from the screen as the there is too much text and the yellow is hard to read from!” This stopped me in my tracks, as my careful...

  Concrete Experience:  “what I did” section I am not a very giving person unless I feel it very deeply. I was rejected by other children and that foreshadowed later behavior problems (Thompson, 2018). Yet, in the recent group project, when a peer joined on the last day with apologies, I did not ask or say anything but welcomes her and we shared the project done by us with her freely. She got it without doing a day’s work.   Reflective Observations:  “what I wonder” section How have I become the kind of person I am today, (Thompson, 2018) ? This is because in a STEM course, my Achilles heel, when I had no clue what to do for the group project, a peer who was a master carried it on his shoulders giving the rest of us the space to do what we can to our best. That was a game changer for me as he said, “you are doing the best you can and I am doing the best I can”. I wonder how anyone could be so giving!   Abstract Conceptualization:  “what I lear...

    Concrete Experience: “what I did” section Somehow I keep coming back to vulnerability (Brown, 2020), however as a way to connect to myself. I get myself into a tizzy with overwork, over and over again. I see signs of stress and know that I need to switch off, but I do not. I knew that week 2 is starting and I need to go slow on the other things that I am engaged with, but I did not and here I am on a Monday night, irritated which is always a sign of stress for me. Reflective Observations: “what I wonder” section I wonder why I do this to myself! Is it my lack of empathy (Rampton, 2021)? Empathy to myself and others. I work in a space where I am considered over smart. I do things faster and better than most. And I get irritated when others are not up to the mark. Am I getting burnt out because of my intolerance? Abstract Conceptualization: “what I learned”/”so what” section When I am tired and irritated, I will lose my capacity for emotional intelligence. That ...