Teacher 10 on 10

Teachers expect their students to score 10/10. But are the teachers themselves 10/10? If they are not 'perfect', how can they become 10/10? This was the theme of Ghumakkad's workshop for 200+ teachers of St Mary's Educational Society in Hyderabad on 1st June 2017. Part of an annual two-day orientation program for all teachers, it was a great learning experience. Held at the compact campus of Sancta Maria International School, it caught the eye of Ghumakkad's lens as well.

 The open-air theatre does not guzzle power for ACs.

Ghumakkad as 'teacher's teacher' had many such opportunities in recent past. One criticism against college education is that it is distanced from reality. You can browse a one day workshop titled 'Bringing Realism into Classroom'-- conducted separately for Management and Engineering faculty members. Similarly, how to make 'Classroom a Fun Place' --you can get few practical ideas from Ghumakkad.

Teacher 10/10? 

We all remember our teachers. Or, at least one such teacher who made an impact on our life and how we learnt things. What was one distinguishing quality of such teachers? An on-line query on social media led to 200+ responses in 24 hours. Summary of desired quality/attribute in a teacher who could be called 10/10 follows. We validated these qualities with 200+ teachers present in the workshop. It was a perfect correlation. We thus felt satisfied with our methodology.

We categorised the desired qualities into six groups. Next challenge for us the teachers-- is how to develop each of these qualities? We shared some personal experiences on each of the six attributes/qualities. Am sure teachers will find it useful- both at college as well as senior school levels. More suggestions are welcome.

Summary of points discussed in the workshop are given below.

 Ghumakkad first thanked all his teachers as well as students for all the learnings in his life. Some of the organisations/institutions where Ghumakkad has taught are represented below.

 A live query was made to all the teachers present in the workshop. Their responses are summarised in the slide below.

 Summary of teachers' responses matched perfectly with on-line crowd sourcing done a day earlier! Whether you are a teacher or not, does your response match with the six groups of attributes which every teacher should have?

 Having identified the attribute how to develop it in a teacher? Few practical suggestions from Ghumakkad follow.

Universities and colleges have lofty visions and catchy tag lines. But as a teacher are you able to walk the talk?

To conclude, the diagram below says it all. Teachers must know the difference between teaching and learning. When the two merge magic happens!

As someone said..

We hope it has helped fellow teachers in soul searching. Please do not hesitate in reaching Ghumakkad for further help, if any.

Ghumakkad's session was followed by a very interesting session titled 'What Leaders should NOT do?' Taken by renowned management professional Prof Abhiram Krishna, it charged up the audience. Pictures.

Mr Reddy Chairman of the Society presented a memento to me. It was a framed painting done by a school child. Very thoughtful indeed.

As we say it's a small world. After the session, one of the faculty members came forward to introduce herself. She comes from a Naval family. Delightful meeting Miss Jyotsna.

While I was taking few pictures after my session, Prof Mathew caught me in the act. Picture below courtsey him.

Ghumakkad wishes to thank the organisers for a wonderful workshop and for the opportunity.

Thanks for browsing

   -   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 1st June 2017  
       hbindia@gmail.com 

BITS of Success

_________________ BITS of Success: Our next Book _____________________

In a world besieged with Facebook, LinkedIn, smartphones, WhatsApp, Kindle, iPad and the like—who reads a book? Even the cranky toddlers of today are given an iPad by their mothers to remain busy! Then, why write a book when print media is threatened with oblivion? We still chose to do it—for two reasons. Firstly our alma mater BITS Pilani celebrates its Golden Jubilee this year (1964-2014) and secondly we wanted to showcase BITS alumni achievers of this period. Further brainstorming led us to ‘BITS50@50’ signifying 50 achievers from BITS during last 50 years. Setting the target was the simpler part.

The real challenge was to identify and select 50 achievers to be included in the book. Read the book to know how was the selection done. But as it turned out, majority of the achievers took the challenging path of entrepreneurship. They all had the proverbial ‘fire in their belly’ and toiled to realise their dreams.

This book is about passion, about dreaming and about the ability to realise the dreams. It is about building teams and succeeding against all odds. It is about falling down and bouncing back. It is about humility. It is also about making a difference in the lives of others. It chronicles the inspiring stories of 50 achievers. It includes the frustrations encountered by the individuals. The achievers also share how they achieved or could not achieve the balance between their work and personal lives. But one thing which was common in all the stories—all the achievers credited BITS for being where they are. 

We were pained to exclude many other achievers for want of timely information and/or space. Few other achievers did not want to be in print/limelight. Besides the 50 achievers who are featured in this book, there are countless other BITS alumni who deserve to be showcased. 

Perhaps, the authors of the next volume during Diamond Jubilee of BITS (1964-2024) can include many more of such achievers.

We chose the social media/crowd sourcing seeking suggestions for title of the book and for selecting the best title. Within just three days of posting, more than 50 suggestions were made which were assessed on-line by more than 500 BITSians. The title ‘BITS of Success’ was an outright winner. It was suggested by Jatin Chuglani an alumnus of BITS Hyderabad campus. We thank Jatin for his creativity and spontaneity.

We are grateful to Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor BITS Pilani and Chairman Aditya Birla Group of Industries and Dr K Kasturirangan Former Chairman ISRO and Member Planning Commission for writing the Forewords.

A project of this magnitude could not have been completed without active support of so many people. We have acknowledged them in the book. Omissions if any, may please be excused.

Here is the back cover:

-         

The book will be of interest to Entrepreneurs, Business professionals, Students, Faculty, Educational Institutions, Researchers, Start-ups and anybody having a question 'How do I succeed?' Of course for BITSian readers, the book will result in reactions like 'Look he was my wingie at BITS!'

The book has been published by the Universities Press Hyderabad and has an ISBN Number: 978-81-7371-914-1. It is an initiative of BITSAA Hyderabad.

If you are coming to BITSAA Global Meet (BGM-14), you will get a free copy. If not then you may order it on-line using the link http://universitiespress.com/display.asp?categoryID=0&isbn=978-81-7371-914-1 

We wish to thank our families for believing us every time when we said ‘just coming’ and took another two hours thereafter! Here is the team in action:

Who are these crazy authors-cum-editors? 

Well, all three are BITS alumni and all of them live in Hyderabad.

Anu- an IT professional, Agile Computing expert; 

Kinnera- former Dean ASCI Hyderabad and a social activist and lastly 

Harsh- former Commodore Indian Navy, Adjunct Professor in a B-school, volunteer wellness coach and a learning-lensman! His previous books include 'Virtual Leadership'.

We would like to mention that we have pledged the royalty from this book to BITS Alumni Association Hyderabad.

Hope you enjoy reading the book as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Postscript: Those who would like a sneak-peak at the book may like to browse the next part of this picture story at http://ghumakkadhb.blogspot.in/2014/01/bits-of-success-is-released.html 

We would welcome your feedback at bitsofsuccess@gmail.com.

   - Ghumakkad Harsh with Kinnera and Anu 

Secunderabad

December 2013 

____________________ End of BITS of Success ______________________