Sometimes I wonder about professional development for teachers. We gear professional development toward people who have a shared understanding of many things. We assume some amount of prior knowledge and exposure and a certain command over the English language. Our assumptions fall by the wayside, however, when we realize that English itself is indecipherable to these teachers and their struggle is compounded by the fact that the concepts they must teach are uncertain in their own mind.
The simplest act of listing objectives for a lesson suggests enough command over the subject matter to get to the crux of the material. Furthermore, it assumes sufficient fluency in English to articulate ideas in simple, grammatically correct sentences. Finally, ensuring that the flow of a class is smooth implies that the teacher herself must be able to see the connection between several parts of a unit. I found this entire skill-set missing in the majority of the teachers with whom I have dealt.
But, what is worse is the fact that when inputs are given in these or any other area, they tend to pick up parts without understanding the connection to the whole. For instance, the use of manipulatives in mathematics is seen as a motivational/fun exercise but not as an actual method to teach concepts. They don’t think about the inputs that we’re giving them critically, so nothing we’ve told them or have done has ever been questioned. And, since they don’t know how to learn except to memorize and reproduce what they understand, how can we expect them to teach their students any differently. Thus, despite exposure to new teaching methodology and any amount of information on teacher demeanor, nothing will really change until the way teachers engage with the material changes.
My constant struggle is how we can use professional development as a medium to bridge the gaps that we see while simultaneously working on teachers' own attitude towards learning. Nobody has ever given them permission to question material and construct their own understanding of it, so even when we are giving them bite-sized pieces of professional development, their teaching will not change until they themselves learn authentically. But how does one help them unlearn what they have practiced for 30 years?
While I realize that teachers face many constraints and are working as hard as they can despite them, it seems terribly unfair that people who are so ineffective are trusted with such important work. Part of me realizes that within the range of their limited resources and abilities, these teachers are doing the very best that they can. But mostly I'm just angry that we, as a society, have directly or indirectly decided that this is all our children deserve.
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.
Amrita, How correct you are. We teach english in hindi or any other regional language but English. Sadly professionals are reluctant to except their own limitations and learn. I was facing the same problems in Kargil where the Army is running a large number of schools for the local children. No teacher could speak proper English leave alone teach in English. We got some NGOs from Bangalore to help us out. Your Dad is aware of them. It really did not help. I got the help of Brinder Aulakh, Then director of the Regional Institute of English to teach our teachers how to teach English. She could make some headway. However, sustained training and refresher courses for teachers is necessary to keep up the momentum.
ReplyDeleteIn India, teaching is not the preferred profession. What can you expect from a teacher who themselves have had poor gradings throughout school and college? Wish there were more like you.