Dimensions of Experience A Student Needs

I woke up this morning and asked myself, "WHAT EXPERIENCE OR DIMENSIONS OF EXPERIENCE A STUDENT NEEDS TO GO THROUGH THROUGHOUT HIS SCHOOLING"?

The following answers flashed:

1. A Learning Experience
2. A Leading Experience
3. A Loving Experience

Dimensions of Experience - For Students

Learning should help the student expand his references of knowledge, understanding, and do things on his own as he grows.

Leading his own life, the student gets the essential survival skills, effective decision making, and also learn to initiate something for his family, his society and this country.

Loving experience during schooling is through loving and respectful treatment from his teachers, various mentors, enabling connections that builds the student in a positive psychological mould.

And I went on to ask, "TO WHAT EXTENT OF LEARNING, LEADING, LOVING, THE STUDENT NEEDS TO GO THROUGH?".

The following answers flashed:
1. Unlimited Learning Experience
2. Unconscious Leading Experience
3. Unconditional Loving Experience

Needless to explain why unlimited, why unconscious, unconditional.  But if you insist on why, my answer would be - this world is abundant.  If I were to start again and be a student, this is what I would long for. Every teacher, every parent, every caring person can give this unlimited, unconscious, unconditional experience to the student.

Continuous Learning Experience for Village School Teachers

I always thought of this - where do school teachers take help if they need help on subjects?  Teachers in cities and big towns always have good sources like professors, internet, library etc to take help from. However, teachers in the village do not have a mechanism to take help from. They are continuously exposed to continued teaching experience; but they do not get continuous learning experience. 

I have few ideas for addressing this need.  There is a huge entrepreneurial opportunity to execute one or all of these now -

• A tuition centre for teachers in the villages. 
• A call centre for teachers who can log in and take help. 
• Like medical camps, social workers and volunteers can visit villages and do education camps. 
• Universities can setup mandatory quarterly visits to villages or get the teachers to cities for quarterly refresher courses for village teachers.
• Lab visits for practical knowledge.

Mere provision of internet and electronic media to the teachers without any practical help can add to their frustration.
I will blog more on each of the proposals after brainstorming with like minded people.

CBSE's Open Book System for Analytical Skills

CBSE is planning to introduce Open Book system for the board students from next year.  This will help the education system moving away from 'memory based' learning to 'analytical thinking' based.  From what is called as Pre Announced Test (PAT), the students would know the passages from where the questions may be asked. Unlike the current system, students will not get a direct question - answer match from the books. 

Its a welcome move and this is how students can assess their analytical skills. It will be a good idea if this can be introduced even from junior classes partially. 

When I was a student, I broke the chapter passages into very basic questions and tried answering them. This helped me master some touch concepts even during my academic projects.

May be much more innovation is needed to take the academic load off the students and kindle the students' creativity and potential to the best. 

Teachers' Bad Behavior Impact Children

Today morning, there was a news (link) in the media where a Hindi teacher insisted the girls sit on his lap. The brave girl students have complained to the parents and the teacher is now absconding as the police is in search of him.

Here is what the child psychologist and counsellor Swarnalatha Iyer recommend -
Many a time child wouldn't know if what's happening to her is good or bad. Such behaviour by a teacher can leave a negative impact on child's mind. Also, there's a chance that a child would grow up thinking there is nothing wrong if a teacher behaves like this and may learn something which is not appropriate for the society. Parents play an important role in teaching a child about a good touch and a bad touch. Child should be told that only parents can touch her body, no one else.

Teachers are the architects of the society. Their behaviours impact the society multitude!

Dr. Haim Ginott

“I've come to the frightening conclusioin that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

Identity for the teachers

Identity for the teachers.  What is identity?

Each one of us believe that we support our family. We work. We do something.  We are here for something. We relate to each other. We are an authority. We do something for someone. We give something for someone. We receive something from someone.   We are all these, because of the identies.

We are a brother, husband, father, teacher, neighbour, engineer, philanthropist, social activitst, a book reader, a sponsor, a driver, an author, a poet, a cleaner, an artist and thus carry all these identities.  Above all, we carry a name.

These identities create beliefs.

Similarly for teachers, certain identiies influence them to believe.  A science teacher teaches science because she is one. A head master is strict because he is one. A primary school teacher does not look beyond because he is one.

An useful identity for teachers is "I am the architect of the future".

Hold on to this identity and see things transforming for better.

Our children are labeled

Accept the fact that our children have been labelled.  Either we as parents label them or the teacher label them.  I had been to my kid's school for the parents teachers meeting.  The class teacher had some observation and we responded. There was another parent to whom the class teacher was explaining the "labels" she has framed on the child. The body language and the language of the parent was shifting between supporting the teacher's view and then to advise the child.  The label the child gets during his / her formative days help construct beliefs, experiences, thinking models and the future itself. 

Talking of skills, we are in a world of peer pressure. We decide what skills our children should get based on what the other kids do. The kid cannot really differentiate (and also the parents), what is needed for her for that age.  A karate class on one side, a music on the other, a language class here and regular school there. What do you build or dump in your kid, finally?

Talking of disabilities, I believe there is nothing like disabliity. Every one has a different neuro structure.  We have been designed in a certain way. The moment we label a kid with a 'disability' tag, the tension mounts.  I would say 'anger' is a disability for the man kind. I would say 'worry' is another disability. Because both these emotions disable us from being a better human.

So, lets get off the tag, "disability" atleast for our kids.

The book "Our Labelled Children: What every Parent and Teacher needs to know about learning disabilities" is in my wishlist.

I touch future

I dedicate this blog to all the teachers and students community because they together constitute the future.  The world is better because of the teachers. The world is better because of the students.

Lets teach by living the principles.