I recently read a letter which had a vision of my future. The writer imagined that four years later, in 2013, I'd be teaching a group of 18 year olds about languages across the world. I'd also be alone in a different city somewhere, spending my free time walking around, soaking my senses in myriad sights, sounds, smells.
When I read that letter, it struck me how old some of my closest dreams are. It doesn't make my desire to become a teacher more valid than someone who has decided to teach today. It doesn't rule out new dreams, younger dreams. I'm simply humbled by their power. Things change every day; there are no footprints in a desert. Once in a while, a wind blows again and again, steady among the shifting sand dunes.
This wind is now making me change my direction once again. If you know anyone who has done or is doing a B. Ed in India, do let me know. I want to become a teacher.
Awesome! Did you get started on this? Also, you know you don't need a B.Ed to get started right?
ReplyDeleteI echoed your thoughts about a year or so ago - I was searching for alternative schools and considering pitching myself to them. The news back then wasn't so encouraging, and I put it down to the fact that my exposure to schools and school managements was quite limited.
ReplyDeleteAfter working with BLPS and visiting lots of schools, I felt that telling stories to children and discussing them was one thing; teaching children how to read, write, express, communicate, think and enjoy literature would be a whole different ballgame. (Perhaps I ought to combine the two, is what I'm thinking as I write this.) But I felt like I lacked a few skills - lesson planning, working with children with learning disabilities, alternative methods of evaluation, child psychology - I felt a B. Ed would help me learn these things and most importantly, give me the time and space to explore different approaches to learning. That is the real luxury of higher education - having the time and space to learn something you love/are curious about, be humbled by its possibilities, get better at it.
And then I asked a school I like visiting - it's called Riverside Public School, in Kotagiri - how they select and appoint teachers, and they told me that very few of their teachers have a B. Ed. Most of them just approached them, did a demo class, did a good job of it, were appointed, and picked up lesson planning and other administrative skills along the way. (But this is feedback from one school - plus this school's management is different from most government/private CBSE schools I've come across in Tamil Nadu.)
Then I made some inquiries about the B. Ed at DU, and realised that it's going to be a two-year program from 2014, and although the 60% actual classroom-teaching component of it is quite exciting, the program is a little straitjacketed and outdated (their approach to teaching and evaluating English for middle school learners, i.e classes 4-6 is pretty awful - there is no mention of poetry anywhere).
So now, since I still feel that I need to sink my teeth into some theory+practice, I'm considering doing this: an MA (Education) from TISS. I won't be able to afford it on my own money and will have to live with my parents, but the curriculum is pretty awesome and they are flexible about how soon you want to finish the course. Plus there's a lot of field work. :)
This is a LOT of information and I'm not sure if you wanted to know so much. :D
Sounds promising! Good luck :)
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