BTSA comes to India - February 13

BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support Act) is a mandatory program for most new teachers in California. It has two main features. The first is that it gives new teachers a mentor (an experienced teacher) who meets with them once a week to support them through their first two years of teaching. New teachers usually appreciate this part of the program – although a lot depends on the relationship they develop with their mentors. The second part is much less popular – activities and meetings the new teachers and mentors complete together. New teachers are overwhelmed with all their responsibilities and often feel a tad resentful about the time this portion of the program takes. However, I know from experience that the activities ultimately have value – but that is easy to say when I am not in their shoes.
I was a mentor teacher for the last 6 or 7 years of my teaching years at Carmel High and really enjoyed working with some truly wonderful new teachers – all of who became dear friends. Last year I worked for the BTSA program in a different capacity – I helped guide the new teachers and mentors as they learned the program. There were several reasons why I decided not to do it again this year – and one reason was that I wanted to go to India – which happened to fall right in the middle of the BTSA program year. So, I might not be directly involved with BTSA these days, but I have brought a bit of BTSA to India.

Now, how does it relate to India? Traditional Indian methodologies are rote learning and lectures and notes. Teachers write on the board, the children copy and then repeat the information on tests. There are some projects – but everyone makes the same exact model of the solar system, for example, or draws the same exact picture. Kavita and Arpi want their teachers to be more interactive. They want their students to practice critical thinking, to be more evaluative, to reason, not just recite.

The other challenge is the profession of teaching in India. For many it is seen as something the wife does – not important income and certainly not something you spend any time on. Teachers will not show up – or even leave the job - without advance notification. There is little lesson planning – you read the textbook in class and write some notes of the board.

Now, before I get too critical, the Indian schools have wonderful things going for them. Discipline is NOT an issue. Children are polite, respectful, interested. I saw them as little sponges wanting more information. But the challenges are many. The classrooms are small, facilities are old, supplies are limited.

What Arpi and Kavita wanted me to do was show different ways of teaching. Get ready, all you teachers out there, and BTSA colleagues – they LOVED putting the objective for the lesson on the board. They LOVED having the rules posted. When I stated the BTSA mantra, “Make the invisible, visible,” (meaning post expectations so students know exactly what is expected of them) they almost cheered. Kavita said if her teachers only did those 2 things (objectives and rules) she would feel that a major change had happened. It would mean that teachers had actually planned a lesson and had considered the need for clarity of expectations.

Kavita is so proud of Arpi and of what he has accomplished and was excited to see how he would respond to my lessons. He asked me to do 2 things:

1. Teach four demonstration classes – several teachers would attend each.
3-4 graders – social studies
5-6 graders – social studies
8-9 graders – geography
11th grade – science
When there was a double class (2 grades together) they were brought together for my demonstration – they normally meet separately.

(I did not teach 10th or 12th graders because they were getting ready for state tests. The 7th grade felt cheated so I stopped by and visited one of their classes for a 20 minute chat right before I left on Tuesday.)

2. Address the faculty at a specially called meeting. Topic: Effective Teaching – specifically, they wanted me to present a quick overview of Backward Design – a way to approach organizing curriculum.

So, Sunday evening, Kannu and I sat down and worked on my lessons. I needed her help to create some drawings I could use the next day. Those of you who know me well, know that I can’t draw a toothpick – much less a camel. Kannu was a big help. Although I actually did the drawings on the board, I had her drawings to use as a guide. As always, the students laugh when they see how bad I am – it is a good icebreaker.

Oh I had fun! The 3/4 class was the biggest challenge. I’ve taught 6 – 12 but never 3 and 4. I got a copy of their textbook – the 4th graders studied the regions of India. Their school year ends in late March, so they have completed most of it. I decided to do a review. I drew an open suitcase on the board and listed 5 places in India that tourists were going to visit. We had to figure out what they should pack. So we started in Goa (beach). In went a swim suit, flip flops, sunglasses, lotion, a water bottle, light cotton clothes, and a fishing pole. We talked about fitting the fishing pole in the suitcase but then moved on to the next location – the dense forests of the northern plateau. We added a long sleeve shirt, some hiking boots, some jeans, an axe – and then a student, very seriously suggested, that we should add a safety kit – what if someone got hurt with the axe? We put it in. Then we came to Rajasthan and needed to add an umbrella, raincoat and hat because we came in the monsoons. Then we went to the desert so added binoculars to find the oases, a turban for protection from the sun and wind, the water bottle – but it was when I said we had to add a camel so we could get across the desert that the giggling began. How would we fit a camel in the suitcase? Really!!! I told them I couldn’t draw one – so Arpi got up and did it! I think they were amazed. He is an authoritarian principal – don’t mess with him. It was charming to watch him draw the camel. We finally ended up at the Himalayas and they added in a fur hat, gloves, heavy jacket, ice pick and so on – and there was NO WAY it would all fit. The regions of India are just too varied – the point of the lesson.

The children were just darling. They, apparently, rarely get to draw in regular classes (they have art classes in a beautiful art room) and they got to draw everything that went into the suitcase. Much, much fun.

5/6 grades – we did a short comic book of the geography of the Ganga (Ganges) River. They drew 8 boxes in their notebook and I taught about the river – started in a glacier (they were so surprised to find out glaciers were blue inside), moved down from the Himalayas, flowed across India, discussed alluvial soil that was deposited on the fields when it flooded and finally, at the end, the creation of deltas in the Bay of Bengal. They asked lots of questions. They knew what glaciers were – a river of ice – but, clearly didn’t know how they formed, why they moved, how they moved, and what they did when they moved. Same with deltas. I enjoyed it – pure geography. When I walked around the room their pictures were great. We concluded with a list of the ways that the Ganga was a gift to India – again, a point of the lesson.

8/9 – this was a double class (2 sessions) because I needed that long to teach latitude and longitude. Both Kavita and Arpi believed that the children knew the definitions of each and could recognize that latitude went across the globe and longitude up and down – but they didn’t understand how they were determined, why, and how they could be used to find any place on earth. I had done these lessons at the Ashram school so this class was easy. We started out with a basic map and moved up to the globe. Fun, easy, enjoyable and I think they learned what I wanted.

11 Science – this was the challenge. I am crappy in science – don’t have much interest and am thankful that my 2 children didn’t inherit my genes re: science! I told Arpi that I could not teach any science curriculum so instead did a lesson about organizing information. I told the students I was not a science teacher so was going to use social studies instead BUT would then show them how to use the same model when dealing with topics related to science. I had them compare and contrast what they knew about India and America, then added a 3rd country, China, into the mix. Once we had done that, I had them use the same model (a diagram) to analyze: stars/planets/asteroids or cats/dogs/chimps. We ran out of time but what I liked was how deeply involved they were in their group discussions.

Again, the point of my instruction was not to teach the students the topics but to show the teachers other ways to approach teaching a lesson.

The faculty meeting:
This was a challenge. Arpi wanted me to be hard hitting. I suggested a more cooperative model. I started out by stating my personal belief that every child has the right to learn to the best of his or her ability. But then I identified challenges I faced when teaching: 1) addressing the needs of students with different abilities; 2) finding the time to seriously plan lessons when teaching more than one course at a time; 3) afraid to ask questions – especially when I was a new teacher – for fear others would think I was incompetent; and, 4) not always knowing what to do when students wouldn’t learn. I saw heads nodding as I went over each. Then I went over the Backward Design concept (start with what you want students to know, create the final assessment, create the sequence of lessons, then create the individual lessons) – and I handed out a copy of a curriculum I did about the Ganga (Ganges) river.

They asked interesting questions and seemed interested. Who actually knows? But I know the problems Arpi and Kavita are facing. Today (this is Feb 15) back at the Ashram, I was working with a new teacher. She starts a new unit on Monday and had no idea what the topic was – this is Friday. Clearly she is not doing any advance planning. She told me she dictates notes to the class each day. The challenge is to get them to even consider planning – not in their usual M.O.

On Tuesday morning, before my last 2 classes, Arpi asked me to address the school at their regular morning assembly. On a beautiful Rajasthan morning I took the microphone after 2 students had given their thoughts for the day (a phrase each, followed by applause from the students). My favorite was “The harder you work, the luckier you are.” I thought that was charming so repeated it and told them that they were lucky when they had options – and studying hard would give them that, etc. – all of a 45 second speech.

We got in the taxi a few hours later (our taxi driver had stayed in one of the guest houses so he could drive us back to the Ashram) with Arpi. He asked the driver to stop at his office–beautifully redecorated, by the way. He had a gift for me – a watercolor of a scene in Rajasthan. I was so touched – and loved the painting. I signed the official school visitor book – again, I was honored.

As I left, still echoing in my ears was the constant refrain from every child I passed while visiting the school, “good morning, ma’am”. What an amazing visit. Yes, I missed the wedding – but I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.

The ride home was as interesting as the way to Rajasthan - but I am looking forward to getting back - and giving almost every piece of clothing I have here to the wonderful dhobi. Ah, the thought of clean clothes and deodorant!