Teacher possesses enormous impacts on the lives of the students. As a future teacher, being able to shape the lives of the future generation, I desired to be a teacher that provides my students with enjoyable educational experience. When I become a teacher, I want to be able to rationalize things that I do, and everything that I taught them. I want to emphasize the importance of what they are going to learn so that they can value the knowledge. I want to be a teacher that my students can relate to in every aspect of life. I want to be a teacher that has enough knowledge about everything so that my students can look for me for a piece of advice.

“Spoon feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon”

 – EM Forster

I have cleared most of my exams by mugging up a few formulae, learning a few lengthy answers and quotes, following the set path in our lives, listening to the advice of my teachers religiously as I was the first bencher and always tried pleasing my teachers & fought to be in their good books. It was all so simple and easy, I knew what types of questions were going to be present, I knew the answers and WOW……there it is.

I guess there was nothing wrong in me naturally assuming that this was going to be the way in life where there were answers all around and someone or the other would help you find it. And it actually was the same way; there wasn’t much of a difference from it. In fact, there were a lot of people who tried to help out as well. But something I realize as I faced a few challenges in life is that these solutions offered by others, the one size fits all approaches, the spoons from which we are fed from are not customized to our mouths, it is something which has worked for someone in the past and people try to shove it down your throat assuming that they are offering you a solution.

Ever since that, I started this teacher training course; I came across many forms of teaching strategies. They’re so different than what I had learned and what I have been teaching. But very few schools follow these new strategies. I read lots of divergent philosophers during my course and tried to have a deep understanding how different people, thought differently keeping education and children’s need in mind, rather than just following what others are doing.

Why do I teach?

I teach because I want to facilitate students as they become life-long learners and achieve their dreams. I always dreamed of becoming like my teacher and the teacher under whom I was trained & who helped me reach my goal, so I want to be that teacher for others.

What do I teach?

I teach lessons based on the standards, but I try to tailor and differentiate each lesson according to my student’s strengths, weakness, and interests. I want to help my students achieve while also providing them a challenge to deepen their thinking. By incorporating their interests the students are also engaged.

How do I teach?

I teach by incorporating student’s interests and offering choices. During Math, Literacy, Science, Word work centers students can have multiple exposures to a subject. This allows me to differentiate and students to gain a deeper understanding based on their individual needs.

To start with, my journey as a teacher started in 2006 and since then I’ve been teaching in Indian conventional school. Though I kept on working, there was always some guilt or emptiness in me, as I felt that our schools are not yet prepared for our children, especially ones with SPECIAL NEEDS. I have always seen schools having inclusion policy, but they never had different study material nor did they have special assessments for them. Being with these children and doing injustice to them always made me guilty.

Then came IAAT into my life at a very crucial time when I had taken a break from my job & and was looking for an opportunity to upgrade myself, which completely changed my perception in teaching. It taught me the true rights of a teacher & a student and we have all the rights to raise our voice and put our ideas on the table.

To start with, our journey in IAAT did not start in the classroom, but at THE RETREAT- KAAMBRE ADVENTURE RESORT.

What an amazing start to a wonderful journey. This was purposefully planned in such a manner that we start to realize our potential. The 10-month academic program was challenging and required complete physical, mental, psychological and emotional fitness. Activities like passing the marble through the pipes, the river crossing activity, making a raft and crossing the river, trekking with a blindfold and going under a massive waterfall which was so breath-taking. I really felt like heaven on earth. And not to forget all the reflection sessions after each activity which was the real essence of the platter which gave me the real insight of myself. I was always lost in my duties and responsibilities as a single mother, that I never spent even a minute to think about myself. But through those reflection sessions, I actually found myself and realized my true strengths. I was so different when I returned back. I WAS MYSELF......thank you once again.......

I came across the IAAT advertisement on Facebook & when I approached them & attended the orientation, I felt that it is UNIQUE and my inner conscience asked me to go ahead with the course. Through the process, I have also understood the importance of unlearning what is no longer relevant or effective. It is difficult for new learning to take place unless we are open to unlearning. Along with the introduction of new pedagogies and philosophies of teaching, IAAT also brought along the introduction of self-realization. The transformation was not limited to my personality. Education took on a new curve for me. The PGDLT program introduced philosophies about Aurobindo, J. Krishnamurthy, Mother and Tagore’s philosophies on education, but I had never thought that one day I’ll have a philosophy of my own.

I find myself fortunate to have found the new path with the newly unfolded trust within me.

THANK YOU IAAT