Mrs. K Sujatha, the principal of Sri Jayendra Saraswathy Vidyalaya School,
Coimbatore talks to us about her passion for teaching and the importance of introducing new technologies and methodologies.
With 33 years of experience in the field of education, I willingly took teaching as a profession as it is my passion. I can strongly state that teaching is nothing but a form of learning. Having taught children from different streams, it has been a journey filled with wonder, satisfaction, and above all, the passion for constantly transforming classrooms into an innovative learning space. The latter is quite a challenge or rather a daunting task every teacher confronts multiple times in one’s career.
The pandemic proved to be a game-changer for teaching. As a principal, checking for all grades and bringing lessons alive for students in their respective homes through the use of online platforms proved to be a
challenge. However, as the saying goes, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, the online mode of education definitely came with numerous benefits. For middle-aged teachers like me who were only skilled in the basics of technology but not very adept at it, it was a struggle indeed.
Understanding that the pedagogical approaches needed to be updated to suit the changing times, I introduced gamification as one of the teaching methodologies. Along with children, I explored games like Kahoot, Quizlet, and Jamboard online. Apart from these, reading material from Smithsonian, Tribune, and Kami was provided to students. To smoothly shift the dynamics of learning and equip the teachers with the latest technological trends, we provided training and workshops to the teachers to equip them, the sessions being organized and conducted by a range of experts from educators to corporates.
They instilled in teachers the confidence to handle the classes both online and offline. Adapting to that medium had definitely been challenging. However, now that we are back to offline classes, a new opportunity awaits the use of gamification again. This calls for a blended learning approach where students and teachers actively participate to rediscover the joys of learning on a collective scale, an approach that has been implemented in our school. From my experience in teaching, I can conclude that it is with every challenge that new learning and teaching practices develop.
Currently, the need of the hour is to implement 21 st century skills, tapping the unique potential and fostering creativity and critical thinking, providing an opportunity to think out of the box and explore in art integrated
leading and experiential learning. I feel very happy that I have won the hearts of many children as a teacher and principal in my journey.
Happy Teacher’s Day.
