My personal Journey at I AM A Teacher
Coming to this new city I was longing to be able to talk to people, I was missing my city and friends. I adhered to my daily tasks and thought I was busy my routines. I convinced my self by saying that I was doing my duties towards my child and family to the fullest.
Though I was not comfortable in my comfort zone, I never wanted to come out of it.
Days and months passed by seeking for my true worth. The fight within was on, there was immense discomfort.I was wanting to reboot and bounce into that strong and confident woman again.I had lost my self and I was taking shelter of my daily responsibilities and acting like a Victim.I kept telling stories to my self about how it was not possible for me to come out of the responsibilities that I was holding as a Mother and a Homemaker.
I got to know about IAAT when I first saw the website of the school for my daughter’s admission. The website has people speaking about 3 perspectives
1.Students Perspective: Where students of the school show us what school is from their eyes.
2.Parents Perspective: In this section, the parents have spoken about what they feel about the school and how it is the place where their children long to go.
3.Teachers Perspective: Showing school from a teachers eye, the teacher describes how it is a fun-filled learning experience for teachers.
The Journey in IIAT is the one that I longed for from the time I quit my Job.
After going through all the above, one thing struck me and that was the I wish I had teachers like these. The teachers displayed so much joy. I wondered it how would be a great experience to be a teacher. While going through the other parts I noticed the logo of I Am A Teacher. I attended the information session and understood the need for teachers in the education system. I told my self I had to take charge of my life and this was an opportunity find my true worth.
Questions and doubts about how will I be able to manage expectations of the course were running in my mind. After meeting my batch mates in the orientation,I realized that so many of us had so much similarity and it was so easy to share our thoughts with the stone soup story shared in the introduction. The mentors exactly knew our state of mind. Then the Junga Retreat brought all of us close to the activities and the sharing that happened during the debriefing sessions. We came out has a close-knit, confident group of people. I have made friends for life through the course.
Now I was getting more and more confident day by day. Soon we got into the theory classes, meeting different faculty members and understanding the importance of various aspects and viewpoints of Teaching and Learning. I was learning and absorbing every day. Learning to reflect each day on my own behavioural patterns helped me dive deep into my self.It helped me know my self and develop my own unique style of Teaching.
In order to be a truly effective teacher, you must know your students, and most importantly, you must know yourself– Peter Filene.
The concepts introduced in the Theory classes changed my perspective on Teaching and Learning. How important it is not come to inferences in the real classroom to avoid blocking your own minds towards children. Children come with this innate capability to learn and the role of the teacher is to facilitate the learning “The philosophy in Shree Aurobindo’s writings”.
Another milestone was introduced to us, we were expected to start going to the real classrooms. We met a community of experienced teachers who were in the classrooms for few years and they were our mentors for the year. My Collaborating Teacher accepted me with open arms and gave me her own space in the classroom. It takes courage for a Teacher to give her space for experimenting with a new teacher. We entered yet another milestone with the class teachers sharing strengths and weaknesses to empower each other. I did not know if I would be able to stand in a class of children as a Teacher. However, the process herein IAAT made things very very easy to follow and I felt empowered to be able to stand in a class. Very swiftly taking us through each of the milestones holding our hands we were released in the classes. Mentor Teachers and Teacher Educators were continuously standing by us motivating us to be able to be the future teachers. Being in the real classroom for a few days, I realized the importance of believing in the philosophy of creating a secure environment for the child to enable learning. Touching tender, curious minds as a teacher in early years goes a long way with the children. I have understood that I was a teacher will pass on my ideas emotions and think into the children in my class like a seed passes on its essence to its fruit and the fruit, in turn, shedding the seeds for new plants and new fruits.
Learning Mathematics to purposefully solve real-life solutions has fascinated me. Creating contexts and building stories to integrate all round value system within the learning of Mathematics. It is inspiring to see how the Jodo Gyan team works with passion to bring about betterment in teaching and learning. The unique feature of their school is to work on multigrade education. The team works with is immense effort to bring the research to the real classroom. The teaching-learning methods developed in this school is taken to various government schools of the country with a purpose to make learning mathematics fun for children across the country.
Learning of overall child development for early years through the Child Development classes where we understood the how children behave and learn in various stages of development. This gave us an insight into a child’s world. We had a fair idea of what we need to expect from children of the various age groups in various developmental stages. Enlightening sessions of Language Development in Early years, Brain Development, Story Telling for various age groups gave us insights into enormous food for thought. With Mindful Personal Leadership, we were brought closer to the skills that helped us to be more self-aware and the skill to collaborate, connect and foster relationships. To be able to do more than a mechanical just work, to be able to manage conflicts and most important to be able to think rationally.
The Journey has begun, There is a lot to unfold, learn and do in the days to come, I can’t stop thinking about many more folds that this journey will unfold. I am looking forward each day to face the challenge.