Posted in General

Changemakers, Assemble!

The story so far: The world was coming to an end or so it seemed.

A mist was settling uncomfortably and uncontrollably like someone’s grandmama being swallowed into the recesses of her own upholstered settee as she perches herself with a hot cuppa. Meanwhile, Newsreaders declared war on sanity; Oracles were pronouncing doomsday; Doctors and healthcare workers metamorphosed into the heroes we needed, not the ones we deserved, and politicians were doing what politicians do – exist! 

And then, of course, there were teachers. Those unblemished souls, the practitioners of propriety, the avengers of imbecility, the protectors of the holy grail of wisdom. Teachers, who, armed with a Spartan-like resolve prepared for the inevitable – Change!

And much do we love change. Change, the comb that life offers when a man is bald. Change, like doing the foxtrot on one foot. And so it was with teachers; dragged into nightmares down data street, seemingly forced into a straitjacket while being asked to thrive in territories unknown. Territories that were euphemistically, ironically and quite like the wolf in sheep’s clothing titled ‘TEAMS’! 

Forgive me, for I walk around in hot porridge. For teachers are not my protagonists. Teachers of English are! It is here that I must interject with a dose of desperate metafiction. I promise, henceforth, to offer you dumplings instead of flowers and strip the rest of this story of the excesses of a teacher of English who has hitherto been deprived of an audience.

Where were we? Yes, teachers of English. Those misunderstood guardians of grammar who were thrust into a world unknown; where students were mere initials trapped in a grey cell. Students, who could now, at the prompt of a solitary key, mute the very digital existence of the teacher quite like flies to wanton boys. 

The world was coming to an end. Our world was coming to an end. 

Learners lured by the trappings of social media, pay-per view movie sites, Netflix and online games were now finally moving on from a relationship that had long begun to sink into irrelevancy.

We had to reinvent ourselves. And fast. We were on the clock. We had to make English cool again!

So we did what we have always done when faced with insuperable odds: pedaled in yogurt for a while as we suffered from paralysis by analysis, deigned to discuss data (what sorcery is that?), and drank coffee – heavenly manna and our fountain of youth, nay, sanity. But just as the sun shone, without any alternative, the next day and the next, so did we, teachers of English decide that this could not possibly go on.

The last dregs of our bitterness coincided with the lockdown now in its full might. And then without warning, almost audaciously, the entire posse of teachers managed to deconstruct data. That was the first step. The second was to coerce every single learner to pass through the gates of Lexile tests. More data.

The third was to experiment with this new landscape – Microsoft Teams. And suddenly, before the sun rose and sank 7 times, our protagonists managed to navigate through every nook and corner that Teams had to offer – from One Note to Differentiation through the creation of multiple channels, assignments, Whiteboards and of course, background filters. We even learnt how to position our cameras strategically thereby hiding the bowl of nachos that graced our tables during collaborative meetings.

Once these basics were traversed, teachers started to push the frontier. Events were planned. Guests were invited and students were mobilized like never before. Mr. Frank Dullaghan indulged in a tête-à-tête on poetry, Academicians from far and wide engaged in intellectual discourse on the relevance of Shakespeare in a post-Covid world, interviews were conducted with multiple personalities. Podcasts, Vodcasts and an explosion of publications followed. Impressed? We were just warming up. 

We orchestrated online elocutions and plays. We managed to conduct the biggest Global Debate competition in the history of our school; conducted and participated in Webinars and still found the time to engage in professional development activities. 

We dabbled in the serious arts as well. New Reading Policies were conceptualized, old Academic Honesty policies were revisited and updated. Learners were prepared for International Benchmark tests and proved to be a real ASSET to the department wall of achievements. 

Once again, we had crossed the salt desert of uncertainty. Once again, we rose above mediocrity. Once again, we did not settle. Every single teacher, guardians of grammar, practitioners of propriety, with a Spartan-like resolve, endured this onslaught of change and rose from the ashes as change-makers. We were teachers no more. We are learners and proud! 

Fast forward one year. 

The story now: The world is still reeling. Only this time we are prepared. 

By Sheldon John Dias

Posted in General

Our Purpose

My conversations these days are interspersed by the words “…..life will never be the same again.” What I do know is that my life as a teacher will definitely not be the same again.  I keep hearing the term ‘the new normal’ and can’t help but wonder, when has life ever been normal for us, teachers?

As I sit to pen down a few thoughts about why we the teachers of English of GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai, felt the need to start this blog, I find myself going back a couple of years in time. It was the year 2014 when I had started a new phase in my career as a teacher. I had joined the school that I am currently teaching in and I had no clue what I was in for!!

As a teacher, my foray into technology, for the purpose of teaching, was limited to typing out question papers and when I was in the mood to be fancy, maybe a couple of worksheets. And here I was, where I was expected to carry a laptop into my classroom and actually use it while teaching. Needless to say, it was not a tool….. it was an aberration for me. I often asked myself in those days, why do I need technology to tell my students what I could and will anyway? How could a PowerPoint presentation be more effective in filling up my students’ minds with all the wonderful things that I wanted to tell them?

To cut a long story short, I hated technology. In many of my angry rants I would blurt out saying, “How can technology replace a teacher?” Till one fine day, a much younger colleague, in his ubiquitous calm manner said that technology can never replace a teacher. However, a teacher who uses technology might be able to replace a teacher who does not. His words made me stop in my tracks and as much as I would hate to admit, they weighed heavily on me. I began to ponder and introspect.

The more I thought about it, the less I liked myself. I realized that I had quintessentially become that very teacher that I myself detested in my student days. The words of George Bernard Shaw, “Those who can’t do, teach” began to mock me. Was I not that very same person who very proudly had said that I am privileged to be in one of the most powerful professions in the world? I am in the business of moulding minds for a better future. Moulding…. I reminded myself….. not filling up empty vessels with my knowledge, my experiences, my ideas and beliefs. I asked myself if I was really allowing my students to have their own  journey or was I merely handing them mine? I did not like the answers, and as much as I detest change, I knew it was time to address the elephant in the room. And thus started my tryst with technology. 

That was the beginning of my new normal. During the various professional development courses based on technology, I now began to listen with the intention to try it out. I did allow myself to fail but I did not allow myself to stop trying. After all these years I still fail ……miserably at times! I still do not allow myself to stop trying.

I can say now with complete conviction that the life of a teacher is in perpetual beta. In our line of work, we are constantly shaping and reshaping knowledge as it were. In this ever-shifting and ever-evolving world of education, a flexible and open-minded attitude and the willingness to learn is what defines us. The most dangerous people are the ones who think they know it all and who stop learning. Perpetual beta leads to perpetual innovation which leads to Kaizen – continuous improvement. 

And that brings me to the purpose behind this blog by the Department of English. Our objective is threefold: 

  • to help us reflect as a team on pedagogy and best practices 
  • to share our joys, trials and tribulations, mistakes and success
  • to build a network of like-minded teachers 

As an educator, I don’t think I am any less than a pioneer. We are constantly breaking the glass ceiling and exploring beyond the boundaries.

So dear pioneers, let us not be in competition with technology but let us partner with technology to evolve and empower not only ourselves but also those young minds that are entrusted to our care.  

In conclusion, I have to say that George Bernard Shaw must not have had teachers like us. If he did, he would have said, “Those who can do, do. Those who can do more….Teach!”

By Bipasha De

Head – Department of English

Posted in Data

Nightmare on Data Street

I nudge my colleague and draw her attention to the pitiful creature sitting in the corner of the staff room. “Look at her! Poor thing can’t wrap her head around it.” A now-familiar harassed expression floats across the newbie’s face – no doubt brought on by the recent mail from our Dean of Data.

She looks helplessly around the staff room, willing some gallant soul to swoop in and rescue her from the nightmare of numbers in front of her. We smirk but decide to go help her out because nothing screams Panic Attack quite like a teacher of English grappling with masses of numbers stretching on into a vast abyss. 

We saunter over, a heroic soundtrack playing in the background. “Need some help?” we ask. No princess in peril could have looked at her knight in shining armour with more ardent relief and joy than she does at us. 

“I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do with all this…!” she wails helplessly, gesturing vaguely at the screen in front of her. 

“Well, it’s not so tough once you begin to see patterns in the data. Imagine a student’s first encounter with Shakespearean English – how daunting that must have seemed – but they eventually start to understand, and so will you.”

“I’ll never be able to analyse it as easily as all of you. What on earth does data triangulation mean? And how in heaven’s name do I use students’ CAT4 scores to group them in class?”

“Listen,” I tell her… “We were as flummoxed as you not too long ago. This was me less than a year ago…”

(Cue a filmy nostalgic Bollywood soundtrack…..)

“Focus!” I sternly tell myself, as I stare helplessly at the ocean of numbers on the spreadsheet in front of me. 

“How could this be happening to me?!” I wail aloud, to no one in particular. Silence greets my dramatic outburst. My colleagues are all buried nose-deep in their respective laptops, studying the “data stories” in front of them. 

Stories! Ha! I snort humorlessly. Whose Machiavellian idea was it to subject a group of wordsmiths to the arduous task of deciphering numbers more cryptic than the Da Vinci code?! 

Why can’t someone just put the whole thing into words for us? “Based on John’s CAT4 scores, we can see that he has potential, but is not getting the marks he should be.” Now that’s something I can understand. Looking at column after column of random numbers is not my cup of tea. Anyone who can identify with even 50% of .. no! No more numbers.. I hereby renounce the use of numbers in my life! Where was I? Ah yes, if anyone relates to even half the desperation I feel, they have my sympathies. 

I give the numbers another scathing glance. We used to be friends, I muse silently as I give the horrid digits another accusatory glare. We had such a good rapport all through school. In fact, I still indulge in the odd sudoku puzzle and “challenge” myself to mathematical problems on occasion. So why oh why am I struggling with data analysis? I briefly recall my school days during which, believe it or not, I was my math teacher’s pet. 

A muffled groan escapes the lips of my long-suffering colleague, breaking me out of my blissful reverie and dumping me unceremoniously back into the present. I look pityingly at her, then back at my laptop. “I can do this!” I tell myself, feeling rejuvenated and ready to give it another go.

Once again, I find myself staring at the screen, but suddenly I have a breakthrough.. 
“If her Verbal SAS is 135, why are her Literature marks so low?” I  wonder aloud. Then it strikes me! I’m finally asking the right questions. By jove, I think I’m on to something. I feel like jumping up like Archimedes and shouting “Eureka!” Suddenly the numbers appear less menacing. 

ASSET, CAT4, AOLs, Term exams… words and letters that previously taunted me with their incomprehensibility now start to make sense. There is joy in my heart once again. And is that a bird singing? 

I look around at my colleagues and bask atop my intellectual high ground before I can practically see light bulbs flickering on one by one all around me. Noses are pulled away from laptops, cobwebs are dusted off clothes and tears are discreetly brushed off cheeks. 

The department of English is now armed with stories of a different kind. Move over, Shakespeare and Wordsworth; a new love affair has begun. 

Nah! Who am I kidding.. there’s no love here; merely tolerance and mutual respect. But it’ll have to do for now. 

I am still staring into the distance with a whimsical smile on my face when newbie’s voice and my colleague’s elbow in my ribs draw me back to the present moment. “Ehm yeah… so my point is that we were all lost when we first started to analyse data, but trust me, you’ll soon get the hang of it. To answer your earlier questions, data triangulation simply means looking at a student’s CAT4, ASSET and internal exam scores to see if there are any anomalies. CAT4 indicates their potential while ASSET is a diagnostic test which measures how well a student has understood grade-level concepts and gives detailed feedback on the same, to help them improve. So if those scores are high but they’re not doing too well on our internal tests and exams, then we need to get to the bottom of that and help to bridge the gap between their potential and their attainment.” 

A far-off expression seems to be flitting on the periphery of newbie’s features, so we leave her to ponder in silence while we walk back to our now-cold cups of coffee. 

I look around at my colleagues busily immersed in a variety of tasks, all involving some form of data interpretation, whether to inform class groups or to plan activities catering to different kinds of learners. A glimmer of pride warms my heart as I think of how far we’ve come on our journey to improve the learning experience.

Data analysis and interpretation is the need of the hour and we have every intention of being the heroes our students need us to be. Avengers, assemble! 

By Michelle Thomas