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 back into that strong and confident woman again whom I had lost for quite some time.I had lost my self. 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 “I Am A Teacher” 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 of “I Am A Teacher” is the one that I was longing for from the time I quit my job.
After going through all the above, one thing struck me and that was I wish I had teachers like these. The teachers displayed so much joy. I wondered how would be a great experience to be a teacher. I attended the information session at” I Am A Teacher” 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 to find my true worth. Taking it to Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey”. Right there in between refusing the call, yet thinking hard about the change that was required by the increased awareness that I had gained from the Information session.
Questions and doubts about how will I be able to manage expectations of the course were running in my mind. When I met my batch mates i
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 that was shared on that day.
Moving forward to take the call to Adventure and meeting the mentor who inspired, validated the need to take the call to move from the ordinary world to touch as many lives as I could.
The mentors exactly knew our state of mind. The Junga Retreat brought all of us to face our fears and challenge them. Pushing through our boundaries and trying to remove the patches that were built around. The retreat brought us to look at our fear. The feeling of overcoming the fear gave the feeling of confidence and readiness to face the challenge that this journey had in store for me. I was ready to immerse and dive in the unknown at this time. Thinking of taking one step at a time to bring the change in my self.
The activities and the sharing that happened during the debriefing sessions helped me look into my behaviour patterns. 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 each 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 a few years and they were our mentors for the year. I learnt how collaboration and sharing of ideas worked in the classroom. I was able to do the most difficult of tasks with the support of the Mentor Teachers in the real Classroom. We entered yet another milestone with the class teachers sharing strengths and weaknesses to empower each other. The process of collaborating with an experienced teacher 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 the Teacher will pass on my ideas emotions and thoughts into the children of the classroom, as a seed passes on its essence to its fruit and the fruit, in turn, shedding the seeds for new plants and new fruits.
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 to each day to face the challenge.
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