I took a little blog-hiatus – partly because things have been somewhat exhausting lately but also because I was having trouble finding something positive to write about and I realized that I was starting to sound a little negative and frustrated. Honestly, it is frustrating to watch teachers struggle with fourth grade math while simultaneously butchering the English language. However, there are some golden moments that make up for any amount of frustration and I have consciously decided to write more about those.
Last Friday I walked into a first grade classroom and neither the teacher nor her students noticed I was there; the first sign of a wonderful class. I sat on a bench with the students and slowly became mesmerized as a young teacher navigated a vocabulary heavy lesson with a twinkle in her eye and laughter in her voice. It was a perfect give and take born out of a deep and abiding understanding between the teacher and her students. She trusted them enough to teach them authentically and they trusted her enough to let her see their vulnerable little selves. It struck me that this was teaching in its best and most elemental form, where the relationship between the teacher and the student creates a medium through which information can be exchanged.
I realize I am waxing lyrical but these moments do not occur very often in the overcrowded, stuffy classrooms in which I spend the majority of my time. So, I ws fully conscious of the rarity of the situation. Despite the constraints of time, linguistic ability and space, this young woman found a way to make every single one of her charges feel seen, heard and respected. And, because they felt so deeply valued, the children were willing to take chances, make mistakes and reach new heights of understanding. More important than that the information in that single class is the fact that she is nurturing a fearless and ferocious intellectual engagement with new information which is invaluable and is something only the best among us can rouse in young children.
Why is this not our expectation of schools and teachers and why does this not factor into how we compensate them? Why have we reduced school to a place where time is wasted reading poorly written text and marking it up, writing dictated notes and testing unimportant and uninteresting material when the bulk of the school day can and should be spent creating such magic in the classroom? Why are we settling and allowing our children to settle for anything less?
About Me
- Amrita
- Through four years at Mount Holyoke, a year at Harvard and a year at Wellesley College, I said that I wanted to come back to India to work. Having found a suitably worthy cause (read NGO, which aims to make schools more palatable for the general Indian populace by effectively empowering teachers) and having put my money (or lack thereof) where my mouth has been for the last six years, I thought it would be useful to chronicle the result. Thus far, my adventures have led me to Bangalore-bylanes I had not previously traveled, Indlish I had not previously heard and found schools (literally in my backyard) I never knew existed. I predict that this voyage of discovery will continue to many more unchartered territories and that I will witness it all in the NGO uniform of Khadhi (or the closest FabIndia equivalent) and Kohl.
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