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“Good teaching cannot be reduces to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” – Parker J Palmer
This was the first day of the class in the school. I was very excited for the new beginning but at the same time little nervous as I was to face a larger class for the first time. I have been taking evening preparatory classes for smaller batches therefore I was comfortable with the content of the teaching. There were many questions running through my mind like whether children will listen to me, will I able to remember their names and about the thing I will do the entire day. For me, taking class of around thirty students was clearly stepping out of my comfort zone on one fine morning.
As a part of residency program, Grade 5 was assigned to me and I started with class observation for few days before slowly getting into co-teaching with our mentoring class teacher. The observation of children and teachers during this period was of great help to me as it laid down foundational stone in my journey of teaching and provoked a thought process to ignite the whole purpose of teaching. For me, learning through observation has been very effective. Importantly, my mentor was aptly experienced in these skills and this helped me keeping a raised benchmark for myself. During the period, I observed many skills in my mentor teacher and its importance and effectiveness, few f these are classroom technique and strategies, voice modulation, brainstorming, crew settings, peer learning, Jigsaw, energizer, voice meter, graphic organizers, culture targets Etc.
It was amazing to see the ease with which she used to bring silence in the class with only few words. She did not require raising her voice and would make children understand more, this technique was so overwhelming for me. I wanted to learn all these technique and strategies.
Every observation cycle had a pre-briefing, observation and de-briefing sessions. My first pre-briefing session left me with many questions and each of the questions gave me an opportunity to think more and work more to prepare an effective lesson plan.
“Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” ~ Josef Albers
In journey of making of a teacher, IAAT taught me the importance of questioning in the learning process, be it children or adult.
For me, every de-briefing session was a chance to retrospect and define short term working goals which helped me to improve further.
The residency component of this course is designed to provide an opportunity to work in real classroom environment. The experiential learning is different from conventional approach of teaching and its efficiency depends on how effectively a teacher unfolds new topics to the class.
Coming back to the start of my co-teaching, there was a large class, new pedagogy and a shift in my own perspective. This definitely built curiosity in me to go for my next step in teaching like noting the small details, evaluating it and then talking to my mentor teacher. In few weeks, I used stand comfortable in the class knowing children by their names, getting connected and sharing talks with them. This built a foundation and encouraged me to step out for the next. Initially I was asked to take class for 15 minutes every day. I remember those first 15 minutes were really difficult for me as I used to be left with so many doubts, fear and assumptions, but as I progressed the reward of those 15 min was worth it and increase in my classroom confidence was a big achievement for me. After few weeks, the co-teaching duration of 15 minutes was increased to 30 minutes and I was gradually transitioning into the process of teaching. The more one puts in the practice the more one get chance to groom oneself as a teacher. This course was giving me ample opportunity to practice in the classroom which was the best part of it.
Lesson plan is a key component of effective teaching; this course required its residents to learn preparing lesson plans for the assigned class. This helped me understand the importance of it for the teacher run the classroom very effectively.
I always had thought that teaching is only about imparting knowledge to the children and should be a cakewalk for one with good subject knowledge. This assumption was shattered out in first few weeks itself. Teaching is about not only giving children the correct answers but also to set them to their own enquiries. Encouraging a student to feel free to ask questions and provide them the environment where they can discuss with their peer student and build their knowledge on their own from their own ignited curiosity. It’s all about enabling them and putting confidence in them that they can do it.
“Woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep and miles go before I sleep.” – Robert Frost
I would say that I have just started my journey. My higher curiosity to know more about varied approaches of teachings keeps me refueling and work to attain higher level of purpose and understanding in this field. In the journey, I strongly relate myself to experiential approach of teaching and constructivism learning and want to learn more to continuously keep improving in the journey.
“Good teaching cannot be reduces to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher.” – Parker J Palmer
This was the first day of the class in the school. I was very excited for the new beginning but at the same time little nervous as I was to face a larger class for the first time. I have been taking evening preparatory classes for smaller batches therefore I was comfortable with the content of the teaching. There were many questions running through my mind like whether children will listen to me, will I able to remember their names and about the thing I will do the entire day. For me, taking class of around thirty students was clearly stepping out of my comfort zone on one fine morning.
As a part of residency program, Grade 5 was assigned to me and I started with class observation for few days before slowly getting into co-teaching with our mentoring class teacher. The observation of children and teachers during this period was of great help to me as it laid down foundational stone in my journey of teaching and provoked a thought process to ignite the whole purpose of teaching. For me, learning through observation has been very effective. Importantly, my mentor was aptly experienced in these skills and this helped me keeping a raised benchmark for myself. During the period, I observed many skills in my mentor teacher and its importance and effectiveness, few f these are classroom technique and strategies, voice modulation, brainstorming, crew settings, peer learning, Jigsaw, energizer, voice meter, graphic organizers, culture targets Etc.
It was amazing to see the ease with which she used to bring silence in the class with only few words. She did not require raising her voice and would make children understand more, this technique was so overwhelming for me. I wanted to learn all these technique and strategies.
Every observation cycle had a pre-briefing, observation and de-briefing sessions. My first pre-briefing session left me with many questions and each of the questions gave me an opportunity to think more and work more to prepare an effective lesson plan.
“Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.” ~ Josef Albers
In journey of making of a teacher, IAAT taught me the importance of questioning in the learning process, be it children or adult.
For me, every de-briefing session was a chance to retrospect and define short term working goals which helped me to improve further.
The residency component of this course is designed to provide an opportunity to work in real classroom environment. The experiential learning is different from conventional approach of teaching and its efficiency depends on how effectively a teacher unfolds new topics to the class.
Coming back to the start of my co-teaching, there was a large class, new pedagogy and a shift in my own perspective. This definitely built curiosity in me to go for my next step in teaching like noting the small details, evaluating it and then talking to my mentor teacher. In few weeks, I used stand comfortable in the class knowing children by their names, getting connected and sharing talks with them. This built a foundation and encouraged me to step out for the next. Initially I was asked to take class for 15 minutes every day. I remember those first 15 minutes were really difficult for me as I used to be left with so many doubts, fear and assumptions, but as I progressed the reward of those 15 min was worth it and increase in my classroom confidence was a big achievement for me. After few weeks, the co-teaching duration of 15 minutes was increased to 30 minutes and I was gradually transitioning into the process of teaching. The more one puts in the practice the more one get chance to groom oneself as a teacher. This course was giving me ample opportunity to practice in the classroom which was the best part of it.
Lesson plan is a key component of effective teaching; this course required its residents to learn preparing lesson plans for the assigned class. This helped me understand the importance of it for the teacher run the classroom very effectively.
I always had thought that teaching is only about imparting knowledge to the children and should be a cakewalk for one with good subject knowledge. This assumption was shattered out in first few weeks itself. Teaching is about not only giving children the correct answers but also to set them to their own enquiries. Encouraging a student to feel free to ask questions and provide them the environment where they can discuss with their peer student and build their knowledge on their own from their own ignited curiosity. It’s all about enabling them and putting confidence in them that they can do it.
“Woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep and miles go before I sleep.” – Robert Frost
I would say that I have just started my journey. My higher curiosity to know more about varied approaches of teachings keeps me refueling and work to attain higher level of purpose and understanding in this field. In the journey, I strongly relate myself to experiential approach of teaching and constructivism learning and want to learn more to continuously keep improving in the journey.
Classroom culture:
We have been observing our respective class for couple of days. When we talk about Classroom Culture, there are so many aspects which we can reflect on to get an overall view of any classroom. I would like to categorize my observation as following and explain one by one.
Classroom Space: Classroom is the most important part of school for every child. It’s their room, where they spend maximum part of their day. In MP the rooms are spacious, neat and with wide windows. I was attracted with number of boards classroom has where children can put their thought and work. This is an innovative way to provide and engage children to the classroom and also share their idea among the class. One of the boards in the classroom carries the children name and picture posted, this board depicts a family tree in the classroom and also enthuses strong feeling of belongingness.
Traditionally, classroom is arranged in rows and column pattern where every child faces the class stage. This directionality does not help in creating a group and exchange of thought among themselves. This pattern primarily leaves them in receptor mode rather than collaborators.
In my practical class, children sit in small groups, called crew, facing each other.
Recently I sat in a crew and observed that how effective this is as compared to traditional seating arrangements. I observed that crew gives opportunity to learn, collaborate, discuss and grow. Many time the crew come up with many thoughtful options as a solution to their problems at hand. These are important though small for children to feel comfortable in their classroom.
Classroom Norms: Every class frames their own norms, which is comprehensively framed at beginning of the school academic session. These norms are primarily a set of basic rules and practices which the classroom has to follow, these are framed with joint participation of students and teachers. These norms are small, simple and less in number so that it can be reinforced by the teacher effectively. For example, ‘raise your hand before speaking’, ‘don’t interrupt the speaker’, ‘don’t mock others’ Etc. Finally, these norms are captured on posters and pinned on the board so that it stays as a reminder to the class for the entire session.
I observed that their joint participation during the framing of these norms helps them to own these and follow them religiously, after all it’s their rule and they have made it. I also observed that there are list of duties which are delegated to children. These duties are rotational, helping every child to get an opportunity to perform and learn the roles.
Method of teaching: Before going into method of teaching I would like to mention that teacher and teaching has altogether taken a different and more defining meaning from our time. I do remember that after our first practice class, Prerna asked us “how did you feel?” and I just had a word to say then - “I doubt”; my thought was whether I will be able to do it the way our teachers are doing. It’s not a just a brick and mortar classroom, it’s a kind of family where teachers and thirty kids are members. They go together and they go so flawlessly.
I realized that teaching is not a technique it’s an art, the art of grooming kids who are so different from each other. One has to be sensitive enough as one is handling real emotions and has to be focused also directing all the attention and energy to achieve the learning target.
The teacher has to possess patience interacting with the entire class. Children learn from teacher and they treat them as their role model. It’s really a challenging but noble and satisfying job. As a teacher it has always been very important to have knowledge of the subject. On my first day in role of a teacher, I realized this is the only one thing that I have whereas this is just ONE AMONG MANY qualities which a teacher has to have. This opens the world of opportunity for me to learn and experience many more qualities of a teacher.
Teacher acts as a facilitator who kindles and provocates thought in children to bring their originality. It’s a two way communication between teacher and children and this is the beauty of the learning process in this school. At every stage of learning process, children are comfortable, contained and expressive. I was amazed by the way they talk to their teacher. I could feel that they are talking to their teacher as my kids talk to me back at home and this is only possible when one has fearless and comfortable environment.
Discussion is given prime importance during teaching process. Teacher plan their day in such a way that after every topic, children are given few minutes to discuss their learning and then this follows by open discussion. I would confess here that on my first day, I felt “why so much of discussion, isn’t waste of time?” but after few class, I realized its importance. Discussing and sharing give so much more information to each other. At times they get their questions answered themselves and in this process they get to know many more new things. This helps them to develop curiosity to explore new things and work together to come to the conclusion. I really felt that the role of the teacher is as a guide, who constantly keeps helping them to achieve their learning goals. Most of the questions, teacher give are of multiple answer types and she listens to every answer and helps them with few words if they are missing anything. More importantly, she brings back the child who, for some reason, is off-tracked with her answer.
Student behavior: Before starting my engagement with fifth grade I had an assumption that children are grown-up enough to judge me and challenge me. But to my surprise they were so innocent and natural that they accepted me easily into their class. Now I know them, I talk to them and they approach me with their queries. This atmosphere gives great comfort to children and any new comers. If I recall our days, schools used to be really dull and boring. Their pedagogy used to be very mechanical. Children used to spend their time in school and the atmosphere and ambience then were not given enough importance at all whereas in modern time, children enjoy liberty and freedom. There are no hard and strict rules binding them. As they enjoy freedom to discuss, to move around, to ask question from teacher, to express their thought and views, they are not conscious and hesitant in their behavior.
Before concluding the classroom culture of my classroom I would like to mention two incidents that touched me. On day Surbhi ma’am had put some music for morning meeting. It was really nice experience for everyone. In the afternoon when we were having expedition class and they were doing some writing, one child asked Subhi ma’am to put the same music on. To my great surprise she put the same music . And I could feel the effect of this, they were all enjoying the music and doing their work quietly.
In-fact today, during the class closer, Surbhi ma’am stood at door and gave hi-five to each of the children. In library class today she was sitting with a small group of children and sharing a story from a book and I felt the connection between the teacher and pupil.
Although, it has been a short stint for me in class, but the experience and the learning I am going through is awesome and unfolding many new aspects of modern education system.
Feedback from the teacher:
Dear Bharti,
Your essay has a natural flow and a very reflective flavor to it. I am happy to see the way the role of a teacher in coming alive in every segment of your essay. I also see the importance of the role of a teacher in many conversations that I have with you. You have been able to unpack some essential and subtle aspects of a classroom culture and relate them with where you yourself stand as an observer and a teacher in the making.
I was reading the incident you have shared at the end and wondering that it does not demonstrate any conflict, which I had asked in the assignment. I am assuming that there hadn’t been any conflict witnessed by you in the class when you had written this paper. However, if you can narrate an incident of conflict you have observed by now and share how the teacher responded to it and what were some of the values that got passed to students during that incident, it will be great! Let me know…
-Prerna
Back
We have been observing our respective class for couple of days. When we talk about Classroom Culture, there are so many aspects which we can reflect on to get an overall view of any classroom. I would like to categorize my observation as following and explain one by one.
Classroom Space: Classroom is the most important part of school for every child. It’s their room, where they spend maximum part of their day. In MP the rooms are spacious, neat and with wide windows. I was attracted with number of boards classroom has where children can put their thought and work. This is an innovative way to provide and engage children to the classroom and also share their idea among the class. One of the boards in the classroom carries the children name and picture posted, this board depicts a family tree in the classroom and also enthuses strong feeling of belongingness.
Traditionally, classroom is arranged in rows and column pattern where every child faces the class stage. This directionality does not help in creating a group and exchange of thought among themselves. This pattern primarily leaves them in receptor mode rather than collaborators.
In my practical class, children sit in small groups, called crew, facing each other.
Recently I sat in a crew and observed that how effective this is as compared to traditional seating arrangements. I observed that crew gives opportunity to learn, collaborate, discuss and grow. Many time the crew come up with many thoughtful options as a solution to their problems at hand. These are important though small for children to feel comfortable in their classroom.
Classroom Norms: Every class frames their own norms, which is comprehensively framed at beginning of the school academic session. These norms are primarily a set of basic rules and practices which the classroom has to follow, these are framed with joint participation of students and teachers. These norms are small, simple and less in number so that it can be reinforced by the teacher effectively. For example, ‘raise your hand before speaking’, ‘don’t interrupt the speaker’, ‘don’t mock others’ Etc. Finally, these norms are captured on posters and pinned on the board so that it stays as a reminder to the class for the entire session.
I observed that their joint participation during the framing of these norms helps them to own these and follow them religiously, after all it’s their rule and they have made it. I also observed that there are list of duties which are delegated to children. These duties are rotational, helping every child to get an opportunity to perform and learn the roles.
Method of teaching: Before going into method of teaching I would like to mention that teacher and teaching has altogether taken a different and more defining meaning from our time. I do remember that after our first practice class, Prerna asked us “how did you feel?” and I just had a word to say then - “I doubt”; my thought was whether I will be able to do it the way our teachers are doing. It’s not a just a brick and mortar classroom, it’s a kind of family where teachers and thirty kids are members. They go together and they go so flawlessly.
I realized that teaching is not a technique it’s an art, the art of grooming kids who are so different from each other. One has to be sensitive enough as one is handling real emotions and has to be focused also directing all the attention and energy to achieve the learning target.
The teacher has to possess patience interacting with the entire class. Children learn from teacher and they treat them as their role model. It’s really a challenging but noble and satisfying job. As a teacher it has always been very important to have knowledge of the subject. On my first day in role of a teacher, I realized this is the only one thing that I have whereas this is just ONE AMONG MANY qualities which a teacher has to have. This opens the world of opportunity for me to learn and experience many more qualities of a teacher.
Teacher acts as a facilitator who kindles and provocates thought in children to bring their originality. It’s a two way communication between teacher and children and this is the beauty of the learning process in this school. At every stage of learning process, children are comfortable, contained and expressive. I was amazed by the way they talk to their teacher. I could feel that they are talking to their teacher as my kids talk to me back at home and this is only possible when one has fearless and comfortable environment.
Discussion is given prime importance during teaching process. Teacher plan their day in such a way that after every topic, children are given few minutes to discuss their learning and then this follows by open discussion. I would confess here that on my first day, I felt “why so much of discussion, isn’t waste of time?” but after few class, I realized its importance. Discussing and sharing give so much more information to each other. At times they get their questions answered themselves and in this process they get to know many more new things. This helps them to develop curiosity to explore new things and work together to come to the conclusion. I really felt that the role of the teacher is as a guide, who constantly keeps helping them to achieve their learning goals. Most of the questions, teacher give are of multiple answer types and she listens to every answer and helps them with few words if they are missing anything. More importantly, she brings back the child who, for some reason, is off-tracked with her answer.
Student behavior: Before starting my engagement with fifth grade I had an assumption that children are grown-up enough to judge me and challenge me. But to my surprise they were so innocent and natural that they accepted me easily into their class. Now I know them, I talk to them and they approach me with their queries. This atmosphere gives great comfort to children and any new comers. If I recall our days, schools used to be really dull and boring. Their pedagogy used to be very mechanical. Children used to spend their time in school and the atmosphere and ambience then were not given enough importance at all whereas in modern time, children enjoy liberty and freedom. There are no hard and strict rules binding them. As they enjoy freedom to discuss, to move around, to ask question from teacher, to express their thought and views, they are not conscious and hesitant in their behavior.
Before concluding the classroom culture of my classroom I would like to mention two incidents that touched me. On day Surbhi ma’am had put some music for morning meeting. It was really nice experience for everyone. In the afternoon when we were having expedition class and they were doing some writing, one child asked Subhi ma’am to put the same music on. To my great surprise she put the same music . And I could feel the effect of this, they were all enjoying the music and doing their work quietly.
In-fact today, during the class closer, Surbhi ma’am stood at door and gave hi-five to each of the children. In library class today she was sitting with a small group of children and sharing a story from a book and I felt the connection between the teacher and pupil.
Although, it has been a short stint for me in class, but the experience and the learning I am going through is awesome and unfolding many new aspects of modern education system.
Feedback from the teacher:
Dear Bharti,
Your essay has a natural flow and a very reflective flavor to it. I am happy to see the way the role of a teacher in coming alive in every segment of your essay. I also see the importance of the role of a teacher in many conversations that I have with you. You have been able to unpack some essential and subtle aspects of a classroom culture and relate them with where you yourself stand as an observer and a teacher in the making.
I was reading the incident you have shared at the end and wondering that it does not demonstrate any conflict, which I had asked in the assignment. I am assuming that there hadn’t been any conflict witnessed by you in the class when you had written this paper. However, if you can narrate an incident of conflict you have observed by now and share how the teacher responded to it and what were some of the values that got passed to students during that incident, it will be great! Let me know…
-Prerna
Back
