Shridhar Sethuram’s Post

Here is my educational philosophy. You can also find this under my featured. :)

“The way we teach depends on the way we think people know; we cannot amend our pedagogy until our epistemology is transformed.” - Parker Palmer We learn best by engaging with the material and interacting with others in a learning community. To know is to be able to do something constructive with that knowledge. This essential component is called Praxis. The teacher is a mediator between the student and the subject. A passionate guide who models relationship with a subject that persuades the pupil to also fall in love with that same content. This process is both organic and self-propagating. This is the essence of human Transformation.

My philosophy of teaching.

[GIVING THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT] Certain key moments defined my time as an undergraduate in university. One such moment was getting back an essay that I had written on Victorian Literature. I had gotten a C+. And I was not ok with that. What made it worse was the comment that my professor had left on my paper: You did not put in enough effort. Those words stung because it was far from the truth. I did the best I could at the time, with the amount of resources that I had. Yet, I didn’t confront my prof or call her out on her presumptions. Instead, I switched off, bore resentment and decided that I was just bad at Victorian Literature. Lo and behold, when I became a literature teacher, I had to teach Victorian literature. And I struggled. What that comment did make me realise though is the importance of teachers’ comments. This is why when I started teaching #undergraduates, I always give them the benefit of doubt. If they are not performing, I will check in with them to have a better picture. What problems are they facing? What obstacles do they need to overcome? It will be so easy to assume that they are lazy or unmotivated but what I’ve found out is that this is often not the case. As #youngadults, they are trying to balance so many different things at once while navigating the challenges of ‘adulting’ and burdens of the expectations that the world places on them. Most of us have been there. So why not give them the benefit of doubt? Have #conversations and help them instead of making quick judgements. And what can arise is a whole new level of #clarity and #understanding between both parties. How are you giving someone the benefit of doubt? #education #university #tertiaryeducation #teaching #dayinalifeofateacher #communications #assessment #learning #leadership

7 perspectives to transform your teaching:

* Letter to Teacher * A renowned father, wrote this letter to his son's teacher when his son joined school: “My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take him across continents. The adventure may probably include wars, tragedy and sorrow. To live his life will require faith, love and courage. So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know. Teach him – gently, if you can, that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just, that all men are not true. Teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader. Teach him if you can, that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar stolen. In school, teacher, teach him that it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win. Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and to be tough with tough people. Steer him away from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if you can – how to laugh when he is sad. Teach him that there is no shame in tears. Teach him that there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to scoff at cynics. Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tells him they are wrong. Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filter all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through. Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient and the patience to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, and in God. This is a tall order, teacher, but see what best you can do. He is such a nice little boy; he is my son.” My teachers taught me all this & still learning mode is on at Asian Institute of Management. Thank you Teachers! Celebrate your learning & Stay blessed forever.

On this Teacher day, I texted my Favuorite Professor and he replied this And it made me thinking “Is Teaching Really a Noble Profession Now?” In ancient times, Lord Krishna's teacher, Sandipani Muni, asked for a fee of 10,000 cows in exchange for teaching Krishna. But when Krishna's father, Nanda, couldn't afford it, Sandipani Muni accepted a mere 10 cows instead. Krishna's wisdom and greatness didn't come from the fee paid, but from the dedication and knowledge of his teacher. This story highlights the true value of teaching – not in material rewards, but in shaping minds and touching lives. Today, let's ask ourselves: 1. Are we teaching for the sake of imparting knowledge or for personal gain? 2. Do we prioritize our students' growth over our own interests? 3. Are we willing to adapt and learn alongside our students? Teaching is still a noble profession because it requires: - Selflessness - Patience - Empathy - Continuous learning - Passion for shaping minds Let's rekindle the spirit of Sandipani Muni and Krishna's story. Share your thoughts on what makes teaching a noble profession.

In teaching, there can certainly be multiple wrong approaches and multiple better approaches. It is the binary choice and anti-intellectual quest for balance (because educators are terminally nice) that gets us into trouble. There is clearly bad teaching. Not everyone’s opinion counts equally. There is also better teaching where the locus of control lies within the learner and where knowledge is a consequence of experience. The “pendulum” metaphor is bullshit and its swing is very small - rhetoric aside.

This week I completed my first year of academic teaching. As I transistioned some of my time from research to teaching, here are three things that I have learned: 1) Learning is a two way street. You cannot expect studnets to comprehensively learn what you aren't willing to comprehensively teach 2) If you put in no work, the students will criticise you. If you put in 100%, the students will also likely criticise you. This is ok, it's how we learn. But you should always be working with them and never against them. 3) If you can, lean on your colleagues when needed. If you're lucky like me, you'll find them to be supportive, kind and generous with their time/knowledge. Take from them and give back when needed. Here's to next year!

There is a lot of discussion in the world of education about the place of knowledge. I have been talking about this a lot lately in my curriculum work. Here are some thoughts so far. Check out my blog post https://wix.to/HYSwdkc #newblogpost