An elementary teacher at Taktse shared with me that the only question she was ever asked as a student was: Do you understand? There was no choice in the answer. It was "Yes". If she said "No", she was talked down to, made to feel not smart enough and ridiculed either directly or subtly.
This, she explained, was the big difference between the traditional Indian education she and almost all the other teachers at Taktse experienced and what Taktse strives for. At Taktse students are challenged with deeper level questions and are expected to generate their own questions in return. It is also the heart of the struggle for the teachers, because their model of secondary education was so different from the experience they are trying to create for their students. They do not have a first hand experience to draw upon.
I am seeing that this plays into their style of behavior management and approaching students as uniquely different. Irrespective of age or grade, each student comes with a different set of skills yet we as educators want to get them all to the same end point. This is the developmental principal of equifinality. It is something ALL educators encounter everyday, irrespective of culture: how to differentiate, accommodate and modify appropriately for each student behaviorally and academically.
Do they have the equivalent of special education? I am loving reading about your experiences. I miss you as an office neighbor but what you are doing is so exciting. Pam
ReplyDeleteNo special education. No social worker and no school counselor. Teachers rely on each other to figure out behavior issues but their experience is limited. I am impressed with what they have in place and hope to help them with some of their more challenging students. Do you want to spend a few weeks in India? :) I think they could use you Pam!
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