Teacher Collaboration at Aga Khan Academy

For my Master's course this week, we are reflecting on professional development through collaboration and professional learning communities. We are asked to write a blog post about "a topic related to improving student learning and, preferably, also be related to issues and initiatives you’ve been discussing within your own school community." I thought, why not reflect on the collaborative practices at our school and how it impacts student learning.

At our school collaboration happens at multiple levels:

* At the beginning of every odd term, we have INSET days where the entire school meets and talks about broad things like the mission of the school and how it is seen in the classrooms. We also participate in creating and self-evaluating our policy documents.
* After school, every Tuesday, the entire junior school meets to discuss the junior school curriculum, assessments and teaching and learning practices. Different members of staff take PD sessions some times.
* After school, every Thursday, all classroom teachers meet together to plan their units and to discuss various other things, depending on the need. 
* One lesson per week, the curriculum coordinator meets with different groups of teachers (Grade level teachers and single subject teachers) to plan their units with them. They brainstorm assessments, learning engagements, resources, field trips, guest speakers, etc.
* Classroom teachers of the same grade meet for 3-4 lessons per week to finalise their planners and discuss student performance

So far, these routines are working out well. My only concern is that many teachers are exhausted by the end of the day and I am wondering weather we must revisit the Tuesday and Thursday timings and maybe try to meet early in the mooring instead. This will need a lot of planning along with the heads of school and logistics teams. 

We have also recently begun implementing PLCs. We currently have 3 smaller groups of teachers: Grade teachers from grades 1 to 3, grade teachers from grade 4 to 6 and single subject teachers. These groups are led by a 'team leader' and they meet once a fortnight to discuss agenda points (sometimes suggested by coordinator and head of school). Currently they have begun visit each other's classrooms in order to learn from each other. 

My goal for the upcoming term is to improve the structure and functioning of these PLCs so that we all benefit from each other. I am looking forward to reading the course materials provided by the university this week to gain insights and to better plan this kind of professional development for the teachers.

How can you see 'Learn-Lead-LIVE' in my classroom?

A good PYP teacher places emphasis on the different aspects of the PYP: The IB Learner Profile, concepts, attitudes, skills, knowledge and action. But, apart from this, it is also essential to focus on little mantras of life which make us better individuals. Every adult lives their life with certain values and principles and I think teachers have an onus on themselves to instill these values in their students. This only happens when they have a personal connection with each student in their classroom. Students are excellent observers and what’s better than the teachers modelling these values to them. This is one of the reasons why PYP schools have the concept of homeroom teaching where one teacher is responsible for the teaching and learning of majority of the subject disciplines.

Given below are few examples of such mantras which are basically strategies and approaches to improve student behavior. In many ways, some of these could be termed as unconventional, but they’ve worked wonderfully with me.

“Life is not a competition”

If my students are reading this right now, I’m sure they’re saying, “That’s what Ms Archana keeps saying all the time!!” Yes, I do keep saying it very frequently and it’s also permanently written on the classroom board.

It could be due to pressure from peers or parents that many students get into a desperate attempt to be better than others at everything they do: whether it’s coming up with a cleverest answer to the teacher’s question, or finishing the math sums before anyone else. Sometimes, it’s also for petty things like who reaches the dining hall first for lunch or who makes the teacher laugh the most!

Right from the beginning of this year, I’ve been reiterating the fact that life isn’t a competition at all. We all are different and hence special. I really feel it has made the students calmer and more focused. It has also made them more secure about themselves and hence kept the class more united and strong. However, I always tell them that there is but one person you must always compete with: yourself!

“Laugh WITH others, not AT others”

I totally believe that every student in the classroom needs to feel confident about themselves in order to learn. Many a times there are students in the class who struggle with either learning a concept or developing a skill and one of the biggest hindrances that these students face is being laughed at by their peers. These kinds of instances can totally diminish a student’s belief in themselves.

Repeating this sentence time and again and making it one of the essential agreements has really helped in raising the motivation levels of the students. They have a sense of contentment along with the courage to make mistakes as it is almost certain that nobody will laugh at their flaws.

“Happiness is most important”

One hears a lot of people talk about the ‘intelligence quotient’ and ‘emotional quotient’. I think ‘happiness quotient’ needs to be added in this list of ‘quotients’ and quite honestly, I’m quite sure that it will surpass the others in terms of being most important and essential in one’s life. The reason being that being happy is the basic necessity for all that we do. Moreover, as many psychologists say, being happy is in one’s own control.

This notion has a lot of significance in a student’s life; they need to happy in order to develop themselves. Being happy raises a student’s positivity and the desire to learn. On the other side, if a student lacks the ‘happiness quotient’, whatever efforts a teacher puts in goes in vain. Hence, in my opinion, being happy is a student’s most basic need in the classroom and it is one parameter you will ALWAYS find whenever you walk into 5K.

“The only rule is that there are no rules”

“No rules!!!!” yelled the students when I first spoke these words in the classroom.

Having or not having rules and consequences is a highly debatable topic. Some say we need consequences to bring about discipline and this is contradicted by many others. A year ago, I would have probably been in the former group of people.

Last year, I was introduced to this concept by Mr John Puddefoot, our previous Head of academy. I then tried to implement it in my own classroom and the results have been outstanding!! In many ways, this approach is rather simple and nonprocedural – no ‘if’s and ‘then’s. No system of ‘if you don’t do your homework, then…’ or ‘if you don’t wear the right uniform then…’ or ‘if you quarrel with your peers, then…’ The only thing the teacher needs to do is to have high expectations from the students at all times. As Mr John would say ‘students (and adults) need to do the right thing because it is right, not because of fear of consequences’.

I wouldn’t say that I saw immediate results, but gradually I could sense my students becoming more responsible for their own learning. They began to realize that intrinsic motivation is more effective_ than extrinsic motivation. This also linked well with the ethical aspect of the academy and the AK strand of ‘Ethics’ to be specific.

“Each of you is a leader”

Very often teachers have ‘duties’ and ‘responsibilities’ (like board monitor, line leader, cleanliness monitor and so on) in the class which they think enhances leadership skills in the students. I practised the same for a very long time and I thought it’s working. Sometime back though, I asked myself: when the student already knows the area in which he is expected to take action and perform predefined duties, how is it authentic leadership?

Currently our class has no leaders as such. I always tell the students that each one is a leader. Each student is expected to be analytical about their surroundings and be reflective about their practices. I always tell them that if there is a need for something to be done, a good leader will do it before anyone asks them to even volunteer. Practising this has definitely transformed each student into a better leader. Additionally, some excellent, homegrown leaders have emerged from the class, and they who have taken up different responsibilities in the school. I’m hoping these leadership skills will stay with them throughout their lives.

“Learn-Lead-LIVE”

Finally, these three words sum up Grade 5K. We learn by gaining knowledge and developing our skills in order to lead ourselves towards a better life.