Workshops at Schools in Patiala

Monica Kochar spent two days at Sri Aurobindo international School, Patiala, Punjab. She has spent many years in schools as a Math teacher, and has given numbers a heart and abstract concepts a ground to stand upon. She holds workshops, conducts training sessions and writes books for both teachers and students to offer an integral approach to learning in general, and math in particular, so that the education becomes a way to deeper and wider growth, where fears are removed and fun in classes becomes official.

Day 1
Her first session was with teachers of math of grades 1–8 where she brought out her customary ‘creativity in math class’ activities toolbox. The teachers were happily singing, dramatizing, discussion math following which they worked on lesson planning using the activities. A special focus was on ensuring that the teachers understood the importance of svabhava [literally means ‘own-being’ or ‘own-becoming’; it is the intrinsic nature, essential nature or essence of living beings] when selecting activities for their lessons—svabhava of students, topic, activity and themselves. The teachers then chose to begin with ideas they felt most comfortable with. Teachers requested such sessions regularly. The session ended with goal-setting.

Day 2
The second day was with teachers of primary and middle grades, of all subjects, and the focus was on introspection on their own lives. The focus was for teachers to reflect if their life goals are in alignment with their actions. A lot of stress poured out of the teachers and the session naturally led to stress coping through meditation. Simple sitting, standing and walking meditations were practiced. A lot of teachers reported feeling relaxed after the meditation connecting to ‘calling peace’ (as given by the Mother) was facilitated. Some of the teachers reported: “Now I realize the importance of self-introspection”; “I must set aside 10 minutes a day for meditation”; “For the first time in my life I introspected and loved it”; “We must have such sessions regularly for refreshment.”

AURO-MIRRA CENTRE OF EDUCATION (AMCE)

Day 1
The first day was spent conducting a repeat of the sessions that were organized in SAIS. Focus was on connecting methods of teaching with svabhava of topics, students and teachers. Math teachers of grades 1–8 were the participants of these sessions.

Day 2
The focus of the session was to explore and find answers to the question: ‘What is an educator?’ I started with ‘teacher is a gardener’ and we discussed creating a learning environment using the understanding of physical–mental–vital–psychic as a framework. Teachers also checked their dominant intelligence using multiple intelligence checklists. This was connected to the fact that since there are many types of intelligences in every class, teaching must include multiple methods. Teachers in this school as elsewhere have already been using many methods. More were added to and then they worked on classroom implementation. Teachers also explored the place of ‘unconditional love’ in the classroom and the role of meditation in helping us accept circumstances through a simple meditation based on breathing.