Change is the only constant
Monica Kochar
Creating lasting impact in education through empowerment and collaboration.
“The only constant in life is change!” (crossroadsantigua, 2018, para 1)
To me the given sentence means constantly reinventing my relationship with myself, my subject, education and the community that I work in, as I face the challenges. It means being open to step out of my “comfort zone” (Cambridge, n.d.) to accommodate new challenges which leads to new learnings and growth in skills and values.
I am writing the reflective piece using 4 narratives that I grew in, during my years as a teacher.
My self
“People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. If you talk about what you believe, you will attract those who believe what you believe” (Sinek, 2009, 10:49).
Dependency
My world started with taking birth in a society that believed that women are subjugated to men. The skills expected to learn were household chores etc. The world changed completely when I moved as a teacher to progressive education and came in touch with the principles of ‘autonomous choices’. It was a game changer for me.
Independent Thinking
Instead of looking for authority, I was challenged to think for myself. With the result that I became an independent thinker over the years. To survive in the world of progressive educators, this is indispensable as it is rift with thought processes that push you out of your comfort zones. My belief system changed from looking for support to giving out my opinions freely.
My subject
Maths for exams
In the beginning maths was just a subject to be taught for the exam skills. However, when I saw the devastating effect it on the students who would chase me across school for half a mark, I changed my approach to focusing on the child and not the subject. I encouraged them to think for themselves and focus on their best skills. For example, I asked a girl, who was obsessed about maths, to focus on her strengths which were language and drama. As she did that, she went on to become the school editor and head girl!
Maths for applications
The next challenge was the stuffy system I was in, the Indian national curriculum. I felt that I had done as much as I could do within it and then moved to progressive education, where I felt the breathing space to explore education, for the pressure on academics was rational. This is where I faced the challenge of redefining maths as a tool and studied extensively to understand the role of maths in human evolution to understand it deeply.
My understanding of my subject enhanced.
Maths for developing thinking
My relationship with the subject enhanced further in IB schools. Since the focus was on developing skills for a life in a global set up, I saw my subject more as a tool through which I could develop a thinking mind.
Educator
Syllabus
In the initial years, the purpose of education was to finish the syllabus. The concept of learning design was never there in my mind. The tools were the textbook, board and chalk. But the question ‘what is education?’ was always there in my mind and I searched for the answer.
Curriculum designer
The answer to this dawned on me when I reached the IB school in my journey within school education. And that was: “The purpose of schooling is to prepare students for life in the real world in their communities and societies, both in the present—while students are in school—and in the future—after they leave school behind” (Reimers, n.d., para 1).
What are these capacities that the students need? What should I focus on in my classroom if I need to go beyond maths? For, “To succeed in this new global age, our students will need capacities that include but go beyond reading, mathematics and science”, (Mansilla, & Jackson, 2013, pp.2).
This is where I learnt, faced with the challenge of IB curriculum, the role of teacher as a designer weaving experiences for students that enhance the best of maths ability, learning skills and attitudes for life. I saw that these go hand in hand, that if a student is unable to learn alone, a collaboration set up works wonders. A lot of my experiences are on my blog, “humanemaths”, (Kochar, 2009)
Community
We have four “…basic psychological needs—for emotional and physical safety; for close, supportive relationships—a sense of “connectedness” (Resnick et al., 1997) or “belongingness” (Baumeister & Leary, 1995); for autonomy, or a say in what happens to us; and for a sense of competence—a belief that we are capable people and able to learn”, (Schaps, n.d.).
Initially as a teacher, I was alone. I was different. I asked questions and I played cricket with my classes to get them to bond with each other. I had a sense of purpose in a community that chiefly consisted of teachers who were there without any passion. I did not value them.
As I moved to progressive education, I encountered a community that believed in building relationships and my Achilles heel was discovered! I watched, observed and tried to imbibe what I could best.
But in the community of an IB boarding school is where I finally realised the role of community. Our maths HOD asked us, middle school maths teachers, to figure out a way to work with each other. She also tied us up nicely by dividing work in such a way that each affected the others. For example, each of us was responsible for test papers of a particular class.
This is where after a year of wars, that we slowly learnt to work with each other. We discovered our weaknesses and others’ strengths. This is where I discovered synergistic relationships, that is, “…when two people create a greater contribution together than they would independently. Synergistic relationships are based on co-creating outcomes”, (Ferrick, 2017).
This was by far the most beautiful year of my working life!
Conclusion
Although I have given 4 narratives, they are intertwined for one of the four streams could not have developed without the other. As I discovered my independence, I learnt to give it to the students too. With that came the need to learn to design curriculum better and I learnt to integrate life skills. As I needed to learn more of how to do it, I reached out at the community and discovered synergetic relationships. The four streams, like DNA, run intertwined and each affects the other.
The challenge could come from any stream, but it went finally back to my quest to find out ‘myself’. Who am I? and it finally ended with understanding that I am an evolving personality who would, with each experience, grow more towards an integrated whole in sync with the community that I am a part of.
This is the gift of teaching.
References:
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2wIt's crucial to be open to new challenges and experiences to grow both personally and professionally. I've noticed the same trend in the education industry, and it's exciting to see how it's transforming the way we approach teaching and learning.