Compete with Magnanimity

We see mindless competition all around us. Struggling for extra marks,  endless tutorial classes, paying donation to get in better colleges. The competitive spirit is clear in an advertisement I saw recently. It said, 'Buy this Book - Give your child Unfair Advantage'. Do we even notice what we have come to be. So no doubt such competition is bad for children and everyone-else.

This has led to many progressive and experimental schools to shun the competition entirely. Competition, in any form, is suppressed. However, to compare and compete is very fundamental. Notice that people who are against competition in school also enjoy ICC and Wimbledon matches. Competition exists amongst children in worst form, whether schools sanction it or not. They fight for petty things and show-off their new goodies. Better shoes, more costly pen. On the other hand, where they should compete to excel, these children become complacent and sloppy. They don't know what it is to strive to deliver.

What we want is to promote good competition, where children push each other to excel - in their niche fields. And they know that they are not special outside the niche. Then they see their win in a larger perspective. And they are magnanimous about it. To be a winner is great, but to win and be magnanimous or humble about it is even greater.

Schools should promote - Competition with Magnanimity. I believe we should cultivate a philosophy where we compete to excel in both real and moral spheres.

Power of Ambiguity

I told the story of the Giving Tree at the assembly. In the story a tree keeps giving away its parts to a boy till only stump is left. Even then the tree is happy to offer the stump to the boy to rest. It's a famous and moving story.

Later in the day, I had a science class where I am doing 'life of plants' with kids age 10yrs. The topic of the morning Story was raised by some children. One boy said that it was a sad story. Many children agreed with him. Seeing that the story had made some impact on the kids, I decided to play on the ambiguity.

I asked, how-come the tree was happy then ? Shouldn't it be a happy story. Now some children agreed with me. So was it a sad story or a happy story ? Why did they think so ? One boy, who is otherwise difficult to deal with surprised me by saying that 'even though he is happy for the tree, the story is sad in many ways'. I could see the sophisticated ways in which kids were able to articulate.

The power of getting children to think lies in the ambiguity of the story. Depending on how deep you see the meaning (how much you empathise), you end up getting different views. It brings out the 'devil's advocate' in them for a good purpose. They are able to distinguish many levels at which the story can be read.

We should use ambiguous stories, such as this, more often in the class. Where, there is no clear answer. There are only interpretations depending on how you much you think about it.

Tight Transitions

Children are like insects. They like to follow a set pattern and schedule. In absence of a routine it takes long time for them to get-out of what they are doing. Children of age 9-11 yrs aren't good time-managers. They can't stop on a dead-line and they can't effectively use free time either.

At the beginning of my teaching my classes used to end and begin in a chaos. I expected children would plan and switch tasks on their own. But we lost focus and time at each transition.It seems that the event-horizon for children at this age is as short as 15-minutes. They can't really estimate and plan their work beyond that. Unless they foresee what is coming in due course, they tend to continue what they are doing or get scattered.

They needed visibility into the their future every 15 minutes, so that they can anticipate and plan the work. It took me some time to realize this.

I do a very controlled transition between the tasks, now a days. I say that - at the count of five we will start taking notes. I say - now you put the pencil down and listen. I say that - next 10 minutes I will talk. I say - I will take only 5 questions now. This creates the visibility into future for them. They wait for their turn and do their job. Even play-breaks between two periods are tightly transitioned like this.

I have found that it is not only important to divide the class-work in small tasks, but its also important to tell students in advance. It is one of the tools to keep the class under control. Tight transitions save time, increase focus and children enjoy more.