Getting students to manage their classsrooms

Education is about many things to many people. At Chrysalis we never have enough about emphasising the need for creating, first of all, an emotionally safe environment for children to express, question, learn and thrive. While most agree to this, it is our deep rooted beliefs about the role of a teacher, the relationship between the teacher and the student that determine our eventual behaviour when we deal with 30-40 6 year olds in a noisy classroom. I've been there, and they can give us hell. So, I was in for a surprise, when in a Grade 1 'ThinkRoom' of our of our partner schools, I saw the kids engage in a casual conversation at the start of class. There was a festival the following day and they were evidently excited.

"Neevu banni madam, address kodtini," said a child. ("Come home madam, I will give you the address.") A few others caught on too. "Will you come to my home too?," asked another. I smiled, in the realisation that it was evidence of what we have always been striving to do with our teachers. The kids were clearly comfortable enough to say what was on their mind without fear or hesitation. The teacher couldn't stop blushing but also reminded them all about the pandemic, and wondered if they should meet for a short while online, although the school was closed (even virtually, that is) the following day.

It wasn't just this conversation. One can argue that such young children may be keen to please their teacher. There was more to it. Once the discussion proceeded to the lesson of the day, there were lots of questions posed by the teacher. We tell our teachers that 'teacher talk-time' may at times be a good measure of student engagement during a class. And the kids that day were all eager to answer. Given it was happening online, it was going to be even more difficult, what with muting, unmuting, echoing, even eating being thrown into the existing chaos of managing a class of young learners. The teacher was following some kind of a routine to call out names, and the student she was picking was not just left to her whims. The children knew this too, and didn't lose a chance to remind her if she missed this ritual. "Use Whose Turn madam," I could hear a child say.

Despite all this though, there were times when a bunch of them would all answer at once. They were kids after all, and the enthusiasm was palpable. For a few seconds, there would be a cacophony caused by the voice of multiple students, background sounds mixed with various echoes caused by technology. While I frowned, at times, I noticed that the teacher, to my pleasant surprise, remained unfazed. She would wait a few seconds for the voices to die down, and then calmly remind her students that they had all agreed to abide by some rules, and that it was 'their rules'. Further, she'd also tell them why it was important to follow rules. I could see that she was being calm, yet expressing her displeasure in an assertive manner. She was not only trying to 'enforce' rules but also trying to cultivate in children the willingness to understand and abide by them of their own volition.

No doubt, this was a teacher who had learnt to treat her students not as 'kids' but as adults with agency. And they were responding accordingly, despite being all of 6. A large part of the order and relatively smooth conduct of the proceedings could be attributed to how the teacher treated her kids, and how she eventually was making them take responsibility for their own learning. It was a proud moment for me. While it was doubtless the open-mindedness and hard work of the teacher that had led to this, I couldn't help but feel proud that may be, we had contributed to bringing about this change in some way, however miniscule. Reason enough to keep going, I suppose.