On Wednesday there was a open house at Reia's school. And unlike what I've experienced in India, this was not during the day. It was at night between 6.45 and 9 p.m. I thought that this was a great idea, since it meant that unlike India, we did not have to take a day off.
And after attending found that the timings was not the only great idea. The students have a total of 8 classes or subjects that they take. And these are rotated every day. The Open House too had 8 slots. And we got to follow our kids routine. Except that they do it for 45 minutes with a 5 minute break between classes. And a lunch break.
We had 10 minute classes with 5 minutes in between classes. Rushing between the classes gave us an idea of our kids schedules. And then the best part. In each class the teachers had a 10 minute session. For us parents. Where they talked about what they were doing, why, how, what they expected from the kids, what we could expect and any other questions that parents had.
What I loved most was the diversity of how each teacher handled their class. They seemed to have the independence to decide the format they wanted both for teaching as well as assessing. And they were at their creative best. Each of the 8 classes I went too had completely different methods for teaching as well as assessing. And each of them seemed effective, meaningful and completely fair.
It was very refreshing as each teacher took tremendous effort to convince the parents about what they were doing and how it would benefit the kids and thus make the parents happy. For want of a better analogy, it was almost as if they were marketing themselves and their classes.
Whilst there were many differences in each teachers style, there were 3 similarities. Passion. Pride. Love. All of the teachers without exception had passion for their subject. They took a great deal of pride in what they did. And most importantly they all loved kids, especially the kids in their classes.
Peter Drucker said, "Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach."
Seems like Wilton managed to find the ones who do know how to teach.
And after attending found that the timings was not the only great idea. The students have a total of 8 classes or subjects that they take. And these are rotated every day. The Open House too had 8 slots. And we got to follow our kids routine. Except that they do it for 45 minutes with a 5 minute break between classes. And a lunch break.
We had 10 minute classes with 5 minutes in between classes. Rushing between the classes gave us an idea of our kids schedules. And then the best part. In each class the teachers had a 10 minute session. For us parents. Where they talked about what they were doing, why, how, what they expected from the kids, what we could expect and any other questions that parents had.
What I loved most was the diversity of how each teacher handled their class. They seemed to have the independence to decide the format they wanted both for teaching as well as assessing. And they were at their creative best. Each of the 8 classes I went too had completely different methods for teaching as well as assessing. And each of them seemed effective, meaningful and completely fair.
It was very refreshing as each teacher took tremendous effort to convince the parents about what they were doing and how it would benefit the kids and thus make the parents happy. For want of a better analogy, it was almost as if they were marketing themselves and their classes.
Whilst there were many differences in each teachers style, there were 3 similarities. Passion. Pride. Love. All of the teachers without exception had passion for their subject. They took a great deal of pride in what they did. And most importantly they all loved kids, especially the kids in their classes.
Peter Drucker said, "Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the "naturals," the ones who somehow know how to teach."
Seems like Wilton managed to find the ones who do know how to teach.
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