UKEdMag: I learn as I teach by @ApraRalli

I had been teaching for 15 years transacting the curriculum of the national board in India. This was 6 years ago. I realised I used Differentiated teaching techniques and adopted an interactive mode of learning and teaching. Feeling that I needed to make that paradigm shift I moved from the CBSE to an IB school where we also have the IGCSE board.

There was a huge difference in the ways of doing things here in the new organisation. The class size to begin with was so small, the School provided for all infrastructure a teacher could dream of. Students and teachers were expected to be tech savvy and each one had their own devices, which were configured to the school servers.

This article originally appeared in the May 2017 edition of UKEdChat Magazine – Click here to view

A huge difference from my past experience where in we had one audio visual room and a lesson once a week to integrate technology into our teaching methodology. So with much excitement I went into class and started the unit. Half way through I was bombarded with questions from this boy from Malaysia. He had never studied Indian History and found the names and terms quite difficult to comprehend. So, patiently I kept taking him through the lesson that day and few lessons post that.

One day I saw him with his laptop open as I spoke. I enquired at the end of the class what he’d been up to. What he said shocked me : “Miss, I was checking what you were saying on Google. I even found the site you were speaking from”.

It was that day I learnt that students don’t need teachers to just rattle off information and show case their knowledge, but teachers must engage students to showcase their learning and understanding. That teachers are not and cannot be custodians of knowledge and it’s never too late to unlearn and relearn. Six years down the line, today I have my students engage in their own process of learning and evolving. That ownership is very important to make the students interested in your subject was my key learning and I now successfully guide, mentor and facilitate while my students lead, engage and empower themselves and me.

@ApraRalli History Subject specialist – NCR Delhi , India