Do 3H Work...

What is 'good' work ? How do we expect kids to identify good work ? The short answer is, we don't. No where in our schooling do we openly and explicitly tell children how to identify good in their own work, or in the work of others. What we do instead is give them a number (actually a ratio of numbers) that we call, marks. And from this single number, we expect students to infer what is good/bad work and also better themselves. Really, does anyone think this will work.

I have decided to teach children (Age 8-10) how to identify good work. And it is not that difficult a thing to learn.  The answer is -  Do 3H work ! If your work has the three 'H's then it is surely a good work. The three H's are - Hand, Head and Heart.

Your work should show that you have used your Hand well. That is, your presentation is neat and your hand-writing is good. And don't smudge your mistakes but nicely cross them. If you watch out for these few things, that means you have used your Hand in your work.

You should use your Head as well. Think before your write. Write exactly what you think. Children sometimes ramble or write too less. So thinking what to write before you start writing is worth it. And it shows if you have used your Head in your writing. There are better words, new ideas and freshness in your writing when you use your Head.

Lastly, the work should be done with Heart in it. As one class IV boy put it eloquently, "Do work with your heart and soul in it", no kidding ! Work done without heart is - 'time pass'. And it shows, if you have done the work with heart or not. Surprisingly, I found that children are good at identifying if the work was done with Heart in it, or was it a causal work.

So if your work has above three H's then it is a good work. I now routinely ask children to look at their own and other's work. And they guess if it is 3H work or not. Mind you, they are very critical, even of themselves. And 3H work gets a round of applause in my class.

The mantra is - Do 3H work !

Education formula, revisited

What happens in most schools is "we teach+they learn". Though as I said before, there is lot more focus on "we teach" than on "they learn". The assumption is, if we do these rigorously then it will lead to better education. Hence "education = we teach + they learn". Most of the education edifice is designed to mandate this. However, after looking at what actually goes on in the classroom (and outside it), I think this formula is plain wrong.

The right formula should be "education = we coach + they want to learn". Coaching is not same as teaching. And learning is not same as 'want to learn'.

Consider "they want to learn" part. We take it for granted that good teaching will lead to good learning. Well, only if they want to learn. We hardly follow any formal methods which promote this "want". In fact, there is no thought given to promote "want of learning". On the contrary, schools do their best to destroy urge to learn through homework, exams, punishments, rewards or by simply boring them 8 hours a day for 10 years. If you pause to reflect, school is hardly a place where you would get an urge to learn. Thus we need see how to transform a class-room where urge to learn is created.

Consider "we coach" part. When someone wants to learn then the correct model is not to "teach" but to "coach". 'Teaching' evokes a taste as in case of  "let me teach you a lesson'. Coaching and mentoring, on the other hand, requires different approach and methods in the class. A teacher should act more like a sports-teacher - training and practicing. This is not what teachers do or are trained to do. So in order to be a coach and mentor a teacher will have to shift his/her mindset in first place.

We have invested enormous time, effort, money and thought in the "education = we teach + they learn" empire. It's not leading to education, much less getting the best from each child. It will not be easy to shift the focus to "education = we coach + they want to learn". However, unless this shift happens, schools will remain places where students get degrees and not an education.

The education formula

It is common to think that Education is about teaching and learning. That is to say that "education = we teach + they learn". Naturally, much of the schooling is geared to make this formula work. There is grand edifice for making teachers teach (BEds/CTET etc) and another empire to make children learn (SSC/CBSE/Grades etc).

Even with this view of the education, lot more attention is paid to "we teach" part than is paid to "they learn" part. We evaluate teachers, enforce portions, mandate teacher-training workshops and  tests etc. There is a lot of talk about how to teach better. The question - "Are you a good teacher ?"  is like a hanging sword.

This has created a mind-set that "bad education" implies "bad teaching". If only we can improve teaching, the education of child will improve. This belief is confirmed every time we run into a bad teacher. 'My child is not learning because of bad teachers' - is commonly held view. This is no doubt true, but only half so.

We have neglected the "they learn" part of the equation, to the extent that students (and parents) don't realize that learning is also a responsibility. Yes, we do make exams, attendance and notes mandatory to ensures that the work is done. However work-is-done isn't same as learning is done. So we are kidding ourselves that, by making rules we will force children to learn.

If you were to believe in the formula  "education = we teach + they learn" we need to accept that for a good education there has to be both, 50/50. That means we should see what is happening to "they learn" part. If the students are not learning, then parents and students themselves have some responsibility. Is that accepted ?  Unless we look at both parts of education, it is unlikely that we will improve it.

PS : In the next post, I will suggest that this formula "education = we teach + they learn" is not quite correct either.