See New and Think Creatively

LCE – Inauguration of Academic Year: 07Oct2022

See New and Think Creatively

After a period of anxious waiting we are finally here within the college of Education – Our waiting period is over; now we have to walk the road of education; and we start climbing uphill of education to master the history and mystery of education and to make it meaningful for the future. We have come here to become teachers but we would soon realize that we need to be professional students. We would come to feel that we have to think new and creative as the teaching profession is never static. Mastering the art of teaching is always an uphill task – In this process either we go up the hill and we slip down the hill but there is no static and stand still situation. We need to be convinced of this.

Whenever I come to Loyola College of Education, I am in a dilemma whether to address the students or the teachers, since here teaching and learning converge. The students are going to be teachers and the teachers are professional students. My address would be shuttling between a teacher and a student.

Education as continuous Learning:

In the words of Thiruvalluvar, water will flow from a well, in proportion to the depth to which it is dug. Similarly, knowledge and wisdom will flow from an individual in proportion to his/her learning. We can understand that learning in a continuous process. The more we learn, the more we gain knowledge. When we apply this knowledge, we gain experience culminating in wisdom. With wisdom, we expand our horizon of creative thinking and we imbibe comprehensive world view. And finally we attain the state of enlightenment.[1] All because of our continuous and constant learning, understanding, and gaining experience along with expertise.

All you need is curiosity. Curiosity ignites the minds and inspires one to learn more and more. And continuous learning is a paradigm shift that we encounter in education. It is a permanent process of acquiring new knowledge and skills that allow one to take up and perform new tasks, work on new environments, and to add new dimensions to the existing occupation. The ever changing scenario in education needs us to adapt to an ever changing environment, picking up skills and confidence needed to thrive under new, and often challenging, conditions.[2] It is said that no one enters the same river twice – As the water is continuously running forward, by the time you take another step a quantum of water has flown away and another quantum of water has flown in. We may see the situation as the same but the reality is constantly and continuously changing. To such a changing scenario you are preparing as teachers. By the time you leave the portals of this temple of learning, the importance and demand in education might have changed but you should not be outdated to start your profession as a teacher.

Enhancing continuous Learning:

In order to enhance the continuous learning process we need to look into various opportunities and possibilities. First, we need to know what is our strength and what is needed to make our teaching-learning pedagogy enriching.

  1. We should critically evaluate our present system. We are in a factory-situation where with a common syllabi, mass production of teachers are made. We need to look into the relevance of the prescribed syllabi. Very often the syllabi is outdated when compared to the present need and the expected future scenario. For example, our syllabi concentrates on two areas:

a. intellectual knowledge to know about the subject; and

b. skill training just to convey the content of the syllabi to the students and prepare them for exams.

What is needed is critical thinking for the students, case studies, debate over current issues etc. This way they are equipped to learn on their own and the teacher, instead of being a coach, becomes a mentor and a guide in their learning process.

  1. We need to address the disposition of our students who enter our portals. Today, the students or youngsters in general, i. Do not have self-esteem; and ii. They lack confidence. Many are intellectually capable but emotionally they are yet to get matured. Physically they might be adults but at emotional or feeling level they are still children. In this critical situation of adult-child growth status, they need to be handled gently. They are in the hands of the teachers like the clay in the hand of the potter. The teacher should know the talent, capacity, and capability of each student and should form them accordingly. One formula of education may not fit for all. Each student is unique and they need individual care. This is the area where mentoring and counselling come in a big way.
  2. The students need critical thinking of what is offered and they should have rich imagination about things they might still need. Teacher is the bridge between the past and the present of reality – Taking clue from the past of the student, teacher moulds them in the present, for their future mission for the society. This also would demand ongoing formation for the teachers.
  3. In addition to preparing them for a profession, the students should be formed for life of challenges, opportunities, obstacles, and successes. They need equilibrium of mind and accommodative heart, both leading to effective action to create a better world. When the question, ‘What do you want to be in life?’, we know the generic answers related to job or profession. But if a student is able to answer, ‘I want to be happy in life’, he/she has understood reality and life better. We may teach them skills of a profession, especially to be an excellent teacher, but what is most needed is that they should have the courage, confidence, and resilience to lead an inspiring life even amidst economic and emotional storms and hurricanes.

Our infrastructure should ensure overall wellbeing of our students. The holistic formation of intellectual acumen, combined with emotional maturity and readiness to plunge into action for justice and human dignity would make our educational formation unique. In the first place, our challenge is to offer continuous learning embedded into the traditional or university prescribed education. We need to create space for our students to create learning tools rather than prescribing contents to learn. They should have the freedom to develop critical thinking and research skills with regard to inter-related subjects and issues in the society and this would take them through their entire life. Teachers, as experts, should be able to add innovative tools to the classroom teaching which would help the students through the curriculum, providing them with challenges and soul-searching questions so that they could do the actual discovery and processing of finding the solution. This continuous learning will become a life-long learning, adding to their cumulative expertise and experience and in time they would be excellent teachers and much sought-after mentors.[3]

Role of the Teacher:

In this herculean and thankless mission, the role of teachers is tremendous. Do students today need teacher to learn anything? Perhaps, not. In the world of knowledge explosion, with too many possibilities to learn online, one may not need a teacher to learn anything. One can learn almost everything with the help of YouTube. In an emergency situation, one could even operate an aircraft flying in the sky; one could repair a sophisticated gadget, etc just with the help of online help and instruction. One does not need a teacher for gaining information or knowledge. But one need a teacher much for growing in wisdom and to get formed. The teacher is the source of inspiration to imbibe values for life that would add meaning to one’s existence and life. In order to form the students, the period of your stay here would be an incubation period where you are formed and prepared to be effective teachers later.

Efforts of Students:

But students have to play a role in their own formation. You are to become teachers – That is the product-form. But what is more important is the process. The process for forming you and moulding you as teachers to inspiration is very important. This formation comes from three sources:

  1. The teachers: They teach you not only what is in the book or syllabi but they impart to you their expertise and experience. They show the way and they would accompany you but you have to walk the distance of formation.
  2. Yourself: You find your hidden talents and grow in them. Grab any opportunity you get to showcase your talents and do not be shy of the crowd and shed off the stage fear. Feel that you are somebody and you have something great to offer to the society.
  3. The Society: The third source of your formation is the society. You need to be sensitive to have keen observation as well as listening to the needs of the hour. You are going to be the light of enlightenment to your students later who would come from all corners of the society that would vary in social strata and outlook, economic differences, religious variety etc.

Learn two things by all means, among the other, namely, confidence and resilience. You should have confidence in yourself that you could handle yourself and the situation you would face in the world now and later. Remember, smooth road does not make one an excellent driver; clear sky does not guarantee a safe pilot; and calm sea does not produce a skilful marine captain.  Challenges make you gain confidence in  yourself and you grow in courage as you are able to face problem and you are able to solve them.

Every now and then pause, reflect, and proceed – This process is very Ignatian and is called review and preview with embedded course corrrection. Recollect your dream you have come with today and check the progress you have made towards reaching that dream and do anything as way of course correction to proceed on the right track. In our life, destiny is what matters most. And the destiny originates from our love propelled by dream. You have come with love and passion to become a teacher. But at times the love and destiny collide – The situation in life might transport you to some other shore of life and profession. You need again courage to adapt yourself to the new situation. Now and then you need to pause and ask the question: I have chosen teaching but has teaching chosen me? When you are ready to learn something new and more relevant; and when you have the open mind to learn more, your love and destiny should synchronise.[4]

You should take constant efforts, never become lazy. A few years ago I was travelling in the southern part of Italy and I visited a cave where natural crystals grow from mineral rich water. I was surprised to hear that there is a type of lizard which has eyes but has lost its ability to see. The reason is that species of lizards did not need to use their eyes as the cave has been dark and they did not take effort also to see and over a period of time they have lost the faculty or ability of seeing. In life whatever we do not make use of, especially our intelligence, creativity, innovation etc we lose our ability and growth in these areas. You have heard practice makes perfect – Make use of all your talents and you would become great in due time.

Think differently:

You have the choice in life: whether to follow the safe and routine path taken by millions of people or to follow your impulse and take a road less travelled. Be adventurous in life and think critically. Let the questions ‘Why’ and ‘Why-Not’ enlighten you. For example, J. Murphy in his book The Power of your Subconscious Mind asks:

          There is a principle of truth but none of dishonesty.

          There is a principle of intelligence but none of dishonesty.

          There is a principle of harmony but none of discord.

          There is a principle of health but none of disease, and

          There is a principle of abundance but none of poverty.[5]

You need to supplement the inadequacy and that is your originality and creativity.

Source of Power and Energy:

You have all the power within – All you need is to be aware of it and to make use of it. It is your subconscious. This is a storehouse within you from which you can extract everything you need to live life gloriously, joyously, and abundantly. All you need is to pay attention to it:

Your subconscious speaks to you in intuitions, impulses, hunches, intimations, urges, an ideas. It is always telling you to rise, transcend, grow, advance, adventure, and move forward to greater heights. The urge to love, (and) to save the lives of others, comes from the depths of your subconscious.[6]

Listen to this inner voice and you would be on the right track. The subconscious also would assist you in achieving your goal. It is not hard work that matters but smart work:

Working harder does not lead you to better results. Use no willpower. Instead, visualize the end and the state of freedom it produces. You will find your intellect trying to get in the way, trying to find ways to solve the problem and impose those ways on your subconscious.[7]

Very often visualize your dream and see in your imagination how much your have gone forward in the direction of your dream and you would be propelled by the subconscious to do your best.

Your subconscious is your partner in your success. This success could be realized in three concrete steps:

Conclusion:

So, keep up your enthusiasm of today all through your life. Be curious which leads you to new vistas of learning. Believe in yourself that you have great potential and you could offer the best to the society. Have a dream with regard to your accomplishment as a teacher, visualize this dream often and grow in confidence. Do not give up on the face of challenges and obstacles and difficulties but keep up your interest. Make your subconscious your best friend and the subconscious would guide you through. Listen to your inner voice and you would be on the right track. Remember the education given to you is for the entire nation and the world. Your social responsibility would be to educate all you encounter in your life, with the focus on your students. You start with seeing everything new and think creatively. Do well and wish you all the best. May your expectations of today and your experiences of the future synchronize, resonate, and enrich yourselves and your teaching profession.

[1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/per-kural-thirukkural-sandhya-palani

[2] http://edu4.me/en/continuous-learning-a-new-paradigm-in-education/

[3] http://edu4.me/en/continuous-learning-a-new-paradigm-in-education/

[4] N. Sparks, Every Breath, Sphere, London, 2018, p.7.

[5] J. Murphy, The Power of your Subconscious, Amazing Roads, Mumbai, p.96.

[6] Ibid. p.106.

[7] Ibid. p.118.

[8] Ibid, p.149.