Mentoring Teachers

It is always exciting for me to attend classes of other teachers. I used to that to get inspired, to learn from colleagues - and now to evaluate them.

Today I started my day by giving a workshop for 20 teachers during the first hour of the day and right after the long weekend break for standardization of assessments as well as on holistic MYP classes. For the rest of the day, I visited/evaluated three teachers' classes( PE with Beth (USA), Arts with Barbara (USA) and Humanities with Mr. Gosh (INDIA). As usual I enjoyed my two Psychology classes, I did "Mix-Pair-Share mixed with Find Someone Who". I played 5 different types of music from hip-hop to alternative to disco music while doing kinesthetic peer note-taking activities. Then when I went home , a colleague called and came to work with me at home on an online MYP course - Mr. Samuel (INDIA) and a pre-evaluation conference with Mr. Santhosh (INDIA). I mentor teachers on holistic and interdisciplinary learning across all subjects. It is actually fulfilling and satisfying.

It was amazing how Mr. Gosh (INDIA) incorporated everything we discussed in our pre-conference. He had the board ready with the ESL corner plus an ESL sheet, a powerpoint presentation , a worksheet actvity , a prepared homework that incorporates the Areas of Interaction and the IB Learner profiles. The physical environment was prepared as well as the activities. I felt that the social environment could still be enhanced though as well as the time-management - but the transition between lessons was good. It is inspiring to see teachers work towards improvement and being open to new ideas. This is similar to Mr. Chettri's (INDIA) music class. The physical environment was prepared and the activities were varied, hands-on, kinesthetic and the lesson wrapped up at the end of the class. He left grateful for new ideas even if he was a veteran teacher who travels the world with his students- he remained humble and grateful to a young female Asian in a patriarchal culture.

At the end of the day, it is the teaching part that fulfills me the most, but the wonderful thing with "teaching" teachers is that the inspiration to work better and to improve oneself is high as we share the same profession. It was so motivating that I worked in my own classes twice as I would after going to their classes.