Prem Kiran | Educationalist
Prem is a seasoned educationalist with an experience of 12+ years in education. He has capped different roles in administration, operations, training, implementation and marketing. In his current role as the Head of Transformation at a Bangalore-based ed-tech company, he is involved in teacher training, implementation, strategising learning and development for students and teachers. As an avid reader and blogger, he writes pieces in education magazines and enjoys networking.
Today’s Institutions need a global approach to stand out and set the stage for the students of today to become leaders of tomorrow. The advent of NEP has given rise to new age thinking and, expectation from institutions to nurture an environment beyond the outcome of marks/scores/grades and deepen the essence of talent and focus on developing key 21st century skills such as compassion, communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration is high.
The new academic year is around the corner. As educators and school leaders it is important to revisit key factor that account to building such an inclusive environment, accounting in factors such as the social structure, society and influence of social media and also the availability of information as a vast accessible tool for all.Â
In such a scenario of inclusivity where students have easy access to information and content, the role of an educator has already mutated into a role of being a facilitator who can nurture the potential of the student to put to use the information into an actionable practice. Therefore, the first factor into building a global education institution lies in its ability to train educators to become facilitators of the classroom.Â
Being a facilitator of a group of students in a classroom requires an educator to derive and set the first important task, which is to empower the collective class to have a purpose in this learning journey, A purpose that would enable the students to have clear vision of their respective goals. The ‘why’ of doing things to be discovered at this phase so the students in their unique capacity of individuals can set their goals which they promise to work on for the academic year fragmenting their success in short term goals. This would allow the practitioners to review and set interventions to alter course of plan to achieve their desired results.Â
Secondly, the pedagogy- Every school, irrespective of the curriculum or board being followed, has a vision to impart in their students. As educators and facilitators, how we adapt this into our everyday classroom is crucial. Therefore, assessing if the vision of the organisation is aligned to the learning outcomes and objectives of the daily classrooms becomes a crucial touchpoint for teachers. In the same way, it is also important to weigh the curriculum and pedagogy to suit the learning requirement of the classroom and to tweak the same as necessary to suit the 21st century skills. To achieve the same, educators need to become collaborators who can take initiatives, research implement and analyse. It takes a good teacher to identify talent and nurture them; it takes a great teacher to heighten the potential of the student and be a bridge to amplify their potential to aim higher.Â
That brings us to the next factor that plays a key role in making a teacher transform into an educator and thereby assists the transition to becoming a facilitator. Practice - Most of the students in their formative years mimic their surroundings, try and be like someone they look up to. Therefore, it is quintessential for educators to practice what they preach, if you make a promise, stand by them. If you see an error do not point out, help the student correct it. Set an example to the students to be impartial, to be approachable, to always stay positive and exhibit optimism and confidence to students. It makes a huge different to the student who is watching you.Â
For discovering the purpose of your class - Make students gather around and write three things, individually mentioning the purpose of their educational journey at school. Discuss and arrive at a larger purpose that everyone could work towards.Â
For Pedagogy – bring one global practice into your classroom in one of the periods in a month, immerse and encourage the students to use this technique/practise into their learning plan for that month, review and repeat the same every month. You can also review this quarterly before every major breaks. Make this your projects during major breaks.Â
For Practise - It’s well done than said. Identify whether you are a teacher, educator or a facilitator using the below words and plan your progress way forward.Â
Lesson planning
Corrections/evaluations
Setting question papers
Great listener
Student driven classroomÂ
I research every week
I take accountability for my students
I know each and every student’s parents’ names
I plan/implement class building activities every fortnight
There are no empty spaces on my class display boardsÂ
My students actively participate in assembly/events of the school
I get asked a lot of questions from studentsÂ
I encourage student’s feedback on the class every monthÂ
I reward success and motivate failures
Enlist the above activities into two boxes marked - I do/I don’tÂ
If your ‘I don’t’ box have more points than ‘I do’ box, you are a teacher, if there are more points in ‘I do’ than ‘I don’t’, then you are a facilitator, If you don’t have any points in ‘I don’t’, you are a practitioner and a star teacher.
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