On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Brainfeed took the opportunity to recognize the efforts of twenty exceptional women leaders in the field of education. We featured them in our cover story “Women Edupreneurs” of March 2023 edition of the Brainfeed Magazine. These women leaders focused and strived for creating a positive ecosystem at their workplace that helped other women in contributing to their fullest and ushering in the much needed change. Each one of these women educational entrepreneurs shared what it took them to successfully complete their entrepreneurial journey during which they have explored and found new identities for themselves and other women working with them.
“Most people chase success at work, thinking that will make them happy. The truth is that happiness at work will make one successful,” said by Alexander K Jerulf. One of the key elements of happiness at work is ‘momentous’. The satisfaction that an employee gets by contributing to the organization’s overall success cannot be explained. A happy workplace leads to a healthier workforce. Happiness is the degree to which a person evaluates the overall quality of his present life-as-a-whole. Happiness and satisfaction are two concepts related to optimal levels of teachers functioning.
It is important to note that efficiency and effectiveness is important in any educational system in order to assist the teacher carry out his or her responsibilities in a professional manner. However, proper service delivery cannot be achieved from the teacher when the work environment is not safe. Safety at work provides confidence and boosts willingness to work.
It is important that teacher’s redressal committee be established. The teacher needs to be trained on work safety ethics and be informed and trained on how to be security conscious in their work environment and the safety of the teacher is not limited to physical harm alone but also includes emotional well-being. It is important that classrooms are safe, happy and welcoming spaces.
Motivate children at school through Whale Done response
Taken from the book titled Whale Done by Ken Blanchard, the ‘Whale Done’ response empowers one to build positive relationships – teacher and pupils, parents and children or in fact any relationship. A beautiful line in the book says ‘Praise progress, it’s a moving target’. Here is the ‘Whale Done’ response:
Praise rather than criticise. Be specific about what they did right. Share your positive feelings about what they did and encourage them to keep up the good work.
Boundaries of healthy classroom: Children need boundary lines within which they can operate and this applies to both classroom and home settings. Children need to feel secure and cared for and boundaries help achieve this. In the classroom, boundaries can be established in different ways. In the lower classes, the teacher— with a little help from the students—can make a ‘traffic light’ for the class.
The Green light rules are the areas where children have freedom. For instance, the teacher could give them freedom to create a story, or an art piece or ask questions and share ideas and opinions. In middle school and high school the students can be involved in the making of class agreements. Example: We are responsible and agree for our discipline & time.
Children are happy when they can experience, explore, observe, communicate – in other words, when they are fully engaged in the process of learning. It is also important to remember that children learn differently.
A happy and a safe work place ensures better productivity and coordination. Students and teachers are happy when they can experience, explore, observe and communicate
