I have reached a stage where I have started accepting the hierarchy in student-teacher relationships. I sometimes fancy myself believing that it is necessary. I went for school observations today. The basis of this entire exercise is rooted in hierarchy. I sit at the back of the class while my students teach. With the current…
One of the key things that I learnt from working on field projects early in my career is the importance of teacher communities. I realised quite early that regular training and updating of skills for teaching, organised by the government, was a far-fetched dream. Although things have since changed at school level, many have often…
It is a little weird to ask this question because we tend to take schooling, and therefore teaching, as a given. We do not sit and wonder about whether it is necessary at all. In a teacher education programme, this is even more so. Everyone in the department is a teacher- a student teacher, a…
If there is anything that teachers hate the most, I think it is assessment. Correction work is the most difficult to manage. It is endless, it is repetitive, and it is so boring! On top of that, not only am I giving the same comments year after year, to countless students, I am also writing…
I am again writing on a holiday. It is a bit disappointing that we continue to work on holidays, and yet, it seems so natural. My attempts at keeping work and personal life separate have gone for a toss. A few years ago I made a strong decision to not make work calls to people…
