Snippets from our classrooms

My first week was a real eye-opening experience. I have been in schools for the past two years, but that in no way could have prepared me for what was coming. The schools I visited were located in north Chennai, a 90 minutes commute from where I lived, when I got to the schools the first thing I noticed was the lack of space, with classrooms being divided by just some benches in some schools to an entire school being packed into a two-floor building which looks like any apartment you would see in the city. I thought to myself that this is going to be difficult before even stepping into the classrooms. But when I did I was pleasantly surprised by the teachers in more ways than one.

Teaching a classroom of 40 odd 5-year-old boys are bound to be difficult; the attention span of these kids can sometimes be as small as the crayons they hold. But Kamala Ma’am has her ways around that. “What kind of claps do you want,” she asks with a smile. The tiny tot in the corner replies “super clap” (one of the 10 different claps the class uses), and there all the students clap in unison to the joy of the child who answered the teachers question correctly. Kamala ma’am in her own ways has created a reward system which is unique and diverse which promotes class participation and a positive atmosphere in the class.

The next day as I sit in an LKG class in a different school I see a bunch of students standing around Devi Ma’am and keenly observing what she is teaching another kid, this kid was one of the slow learners in the class and was finding it difficult to even hold the chalk, but the teacher was patient first showing him how she writes the letter B and then asking him too. But seeing that he fails, she tries to break this down even further tries to get him to write this letter, this back and forth goes on for 5 minutes at the end of which as of this kid finally writes the word B, the entire crowd of children bursts into a loud round of claps.

Going up a few grades to the 3rd, Banu Ma’am is teaching science to her children, she was talking about simple machines and their classification. When I was wondering how can an 8-year-old understand pulleys, lever, and screws in a scientific manner, she simply walks up to the window and point to the screws on the window and asks “what will happen if we remove these”, by simply using this example, she took what was in the books and made it more relatable and easier to understand

These were just some of the instances that I saw, these may not seem out of the ordinary, the may seem like simple common sense things to do while teaching, but unfortunately, these are not common ways to teach. Even if they are used they aren’t used with the right intent.  These teachers in these schools are showing some good signs, they have an open mind towards new learning methods and they are ready to invest time in getting better. It is my responsibility to provide them with the resources and the space to empower themselves and grow as teachers and leaders.

– Anand Murali, Team Vidhya Vidhai