I wish my teacher knew…

Nidhi Qazi

This piece of writing has its inspiration in an article in the New York Times which the editorial team of Teacher Plus asked me to try out. Having gone through the article, I found all the right reasons to say yes and go ahead with doing this piece. So, dear readers, I present here a small window into the children’s world wherein they pour their hearts out to tell all of us – What I wish my teacher knew.

The making of this article was a new experience, unlike earlier, when I would facilitate certain activities with children, document their responses and share it through articles. This time, I was dealing with five government school teachers and convincing them to try out a writing exercise in their respective classes. They did get convinced and tried out the same.

Having gone through the writings, some children have expressed their need to feel acknowledged and appreciated by the teachers. Some have vented their anger on being reprimanded for no fault of theirs. Some writings are poignant for they reflect the socio-economic challenges children face daily and how these affect their learning and studying despite their willingness to score well and do well in life. Some pieces show the pain of settling in an urban space after having left their rural life behind. There are some writings which are long and reflect the children’s desire to express and share a lot while in other cases, it just takes a few lines to tell the entire story of a child’s circumstances and hardships.

“When I asked my class to write on the topic – I wish my teacher knew – most of the children were sceptical and refused to write. Some of them asked if these writings would be sent to the principal and would they be reprimanded later? I assured them that these writings would stay with me and they will not have to face anything,” said Seema, who conducted this activity in Class 7.

“This was a new experience as I was amazed to see those children write who do not speak in class otherwise; but were expressing themselves through writing,” said Parmeet.* (name changed on request)

“In my class, I observed a pattern wherein most of the children have written things they think would impress their teacher. They have appreciated me, my teaching and want me to know that they are fond of me,” said Jyoti, who conducted it for Class 6.

Were these pieces of writings helpful to the teachers? “For me, these writings have brought forth two categories of issues children face – the immediate classroom-related issues and the bigger, socio-economic issues. As a teacher, I do not have any control over the latter but I can certainly help address what children face in their class,” said Seema.

“Children see teachers as guides and mediators who could help convey their complaints; thus, it becomes our responsibility to assure them the support they seek. A lot of writings complained about long assembly time and the burden of homework. These two issues need to be paid attention to and as teachers, we must ensure that children are relieved of this burden,” added Parmeet.

This activity also took me back to the school days when similar issues found no space and mechanism to be conveyed to our teachers. Wouldn’t school life be so much more meaningful if teachers knew our desires, helped us build friendship with them, helped us get through the mess that is school life, helped us bring out the limitless potential latent in each one of us?

“These kind of activities, if they really want to fetch some positive change, need to be planned more,” said Murari, who conducted this activity in class 9. “Such kind of exercises help us teachers to understand our students better and guide us towards finding a solution to issues children face in school.”

While there is a shift to what is called ‘learner-centered pedagogy’, a lot of teachers may still find it difficult to understand the crux of what this approach in pedagogy means and thus grapple with transacting the same in classrooms. The above activity and many such similar ones wherein teachers get to know their pupils on a more humane level, are nothing but a way of making classroom experiences for children, learner-centric. Herein, the role of a learner is also donned by the teacher at times. And voila! the rocket science called ‘learner centered-pedagogy’ is no longer that – rocket science.

This piece wouldn’t be complete without including two such writings among others which stood out and made for a fun read!

The author is a Consultant with Language and Learning Foundation (LLF) and believes in the magic children create and the immense possibilities a teacher can create in making this magic happen. She can be reached at qazi.nidhi@gmail.com.