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Selfie covering miles to tell stories of Teacher-Student connect


Education has always been based on relationship between a teacher and child. A Guru-Shishya, where they sit together, interact, have dialogue, explore and learn. With altered ways making inroads due to technological innovations, the classroom now looks very different in the 21st century. While children are exposed to online self-learning content, on the other hand, they are also interacting with teachers staying far away, through online medium such as Skype. This has altered the teacher-student relationship as well. Unlike before when the relationship was an outcome of the teaching-learning process, now relationship building and have a personal connect with the children is the starting point.

In eVidyaloka, we see several instances of this relationship as we peep into our online classrooms, and its manifestation in various creative and heartwarming ways. One such is the "Selfie with my class" initiative.

While selfie is more a way for self gratification, I have come across with its unique interpretation in eVidyaloka. At eVidyaloka, volunteer teachers (VTs) felt pride in showcasing selfies, with their students sitting miles away. Not an easy thing to understand, but indeed an amazing thing to ponder on.

We started an initiative as an year ending activity, named it "Selfie with my Class". We requested our VTs to take selfie with their students and send across. What we got was a swell of emotion representing the deep connect between the VTs and their students.
                                                      



Now these are not just some creative media posts. These post are an outcome of more than 50,000 online sessions or instructional hours given by the VTs and taken by their beloved students over a span of one year. It is the teaching-learning process that connects them and the bond grows deeper as they start knowing each other beyond being just a teacher and a student.









The growth of this relationship is a journey that deserves celebration. I consider it in phases- 
  1. Acquainting
  2. Teaching
  3. Learning, and
  4. Mentoring.

Acquainting Phase:
Here the VT is just introduced to the students and more than the students the teacher is more apprehensive and jittered about that first session. Its a feeling of facing an unknown audience from a location that is already unreachable.
How will they respond?
How will I strike the conversation?
How will they react?
Will they be able to understand what I say?

Some questions that pricks their minds. But the moment they see the smiling and inquisitive faces, all these question dissolves into a feeling of responsibility towards these children and they are aquatinted with the children and their problems.

Teaching Phase
This is the phase of discovery-both students and teachers know each other, discover the take-aways from each other and build a relationship of give and take. Here the giving is in the form of teaching lessons from the curriculum by the teacher and taking is the gain of knowledge imparted by the students. This is the time when teacher finds his/her comfort zone and connecting to the children weekly twice becomes a habit.

Learning Phase
This is the most exciting and self enlightening phase for both the teachers and their students. Now that they have spent some time with each other and the rhythm of classes are set, both the VTs and their students have actually started learning. This is the time when they start relating to each other and build a connect. The mutual exchange of learning becomes the foundation of the next phase.

Mentoring Phase
Now the VT is not a teacher any more. He/she is a mentor and the students end up teaching them life lessons of perseverance, optimism and hope. Now the students just need a nudge from the VTs while they keep throwing surprises on their beloved teacher. The teaching-learning process here takes a leap from just the curriculum and chapters to emotional and social needs and learning.



The selfies with broad smiles and chirpy little faces is an outcome of a journey through all these phases. It speaks loud about responsibility of these mentors and the zeal to learn of the mentees, the love and respect they share with each other and the way to look forward to this connect every week. The teacher-student connect in these Selfies surely would require a redefinition of the very recently added word in english dictionaries!







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