So we come to the last phase - Juggling as a metaphor for teaching - personal commitments - school and teaching/learning processes - finding the answer to problems and solutions. Suddenly I am a learner once again.
I find a most interesting development occurring. My learning skills have suddenly blossomed again but it seems to be affecting my teaching skills............ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know it's temporary.
I love this uncertainty. Challenge. How to come out on top of this and every other new challenge that's ever gonna be thrown at me by life as its way of getting me to excel.
The game is for winning. As is the dame:) LOL.
End of timeline exercise. Summing up.
1985- 1993: teaching my friends in college unofficially
1993: teaching as a researcher
1994-1995: teaching in tutorial colleges
1995 - 2005: teaching in a Private, Govt. aided, NAAC accredited college under Kerala Univ.
1995-2005: Teaching as resource person for refresher courses for teachers and also conducting vivas for P.G students, guiding research projects officially and 'unofficially' for P.G. and M.Phil.
To sum up: Contexts are fluid, whichever way you look at it but content in the case of working with prescribed syllabuses is more or less fixed. The battle I'm now into is how to master the new demand of the context of teaching plus two students and high school students in a way palatable to them so that they pass the exam and get good grades etc without compromising on my inner drive to awaken them to see that there is something more to learning than basics like getting through an exam or getting good grades. In brief the content should be how they can be inspired to ask the "right" questions and find creative, original, innovative and deep solutions . And the context: Well , they need to know that there are concentric circles of contexts and each matters in its own way. The teacher has to creat contexts and not just know them.
Colour coding used: blue for theorizing, red for quotes and white for reminiscing.
News: I have started my first educational blog. Wish me luck!!!
The World Literature Blog
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005
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6 comments:
Well, last things first - Good Luck with your maiden Edu. blog!
Back to first things...
It has been quite an experience traversing your journey of your rich teaching career in your blog. Thank you so much for sharing these in your inimitable (and unrivaled, I might add) style.
Your reflections on your teaching years, your meta-reflections on terms such as context, your color-coding! (actually, white is your color for reminiscing, not black), have all added up to a wonderful, engaging and informative read.
I will respond in more detail to the individual blog posts at length in a bit.
Until then...
thanks for your encouraging comments shuchi :) and for pointing out the mistake too lol.
I have cut and pasted your writing on content and context into my content for PPSE file!
I had keyed in a two para comment on your first phase that I lost with a lost internet connection!
The point I had made was how well the impact of changing school climates on your methods of teaching was illustrated in your writing.
I think your attitude of life long learning is precious and if students we come in contact with take away just that it would be worth all the effort. Learning tools are all around us in the present context and what needs to be fostered is the will to learn. It is so easy to allow content to kill that will!
dear tara, thanks , you dont know hw much your comment had revitalized me :)
sandra: ty and :)
hey shuchi i corrected the mistake now :)
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