The Magic Of An Abundance Mindset Teacher!

It’s always a privilege to witness great teachers at work! The ways they find to make a lesson out of anything around them is the quality of a true teacher. They show us how the smallest attempts can make the biggest difference! We got the opportunity to witness one such teacher in action at one of the government schools we work with, Tapendra Sir, from Kashiram School No 1 in Khekra.

Not only did he amaze us with his presence of mind, but also showed us how limitations can only push a teacher towards creativity and exploration.

Subtracting Problems & Adding Solutions!

After sitting through a couple of maths classes in various schools, we sensed that students were struggling with the application of place value, especially if asked to add two numbers with distinct digit places.

For example, if the students were instructed to add the numbers 300 and 700, they would do just fine. But as soon as the addition became a little more complicated than that, like adding 3000 to 400, most students ended up answering 7000 instead of 3400.

As we wondered what was the best way to solve this problem of understanding, we decided to go to an expert! Having taught mathematics for a really long time, we were hoping to find a solution to our problem with Tapendra Sir. Once he heard the concern we had, he showed us a fascinating way in which he teaches place value in his own class.

The Entire School Can Be A Resource!

Tapendra Sir took out a pack of iron tablet boxes that are given to every school as a health supplement for children.

He showed us how he uses these iron tablet leaf to teach different place values. For teaching ‘ones’ place value, he would just cut the pack into 10 separate tablets and to teach ‘tens’ place value he would use the whole leaf with ten tablets. This for us was such great learning, not only in terms of the methodology but also in terms of the ideation!

Here’s a video of Tapendra Sir’s class showing you just that!

Earlier, when we came across this issue with the students, we were thinking of bringing matchsticks or other reasonable resources to make the learning interesting and effective. But never did it cross our minds to use something that was already available in the school!

When Challenges Become Opportunities For Innovative Ideas

Using a leaf of iron tablets was indeed an out-of-the-box idea. When we saw this idea being implemented, we were super impressed with the teacher’s alertness and intention, to use any available resource in the most productive manner.

We also realized how sometimes the solutions that we seek are right in front of us, but invisible to our minds. But with the right intention and an open mind, innovation can be at our fingertips, wherever we are, whatever we are doing! And when a teacher shows such initiative while teaching, it’s not too far when the students are going to do the same, and we cannot wait to see how these small initiatives pave the path of every student’s learning journey.

When Teachers Turn Miracle Workers!

This amazing story from our Teacher Collective initiative is yet another example of how our teachers have an immense capability of thinking optimally.

Especially in government schools, where the accessibility to necessary resources can sometimes be scarce, teachers like Tapendra Sir lead the way. Teachers like him show us that whatever be the circumstances if a teacher makes up their mind to teach their students, new pathways are always around the corner. And when this happens, there is nothing in this whole wide world that can stop the students from learning and growing!

And while all of this unfolds, Team Tarkeybein is lucky to tag along on this exciting roller coaster ride!

If you resonate with our work, want to implement this model in your community, want to support this initiative, or just want to drop in some encouraging words, we invite you to write to us at tarkeybein@gmail.com :)