Exercise: A teacher gave out verbal instructions as to how to make a diagram. While some participants in a workshop drew a diagram of a house as the teacher instructed, there were others who struggled and came up with a different figure.
Lessons learnt: The exercise taught the participants in the workshop that there could be various perspectives. The teacher has to acknowledge all perspectives and simultaneously reach out to every student in the class. A lesson in effective communication.
Loreto College conducted a life skill training for teachers and counsellors of various schools and NGOs to enable them to deal with classroom situations and foster inclusive and safe spaces that support student development.
The five-day training of the trainers was on some core life skills like self awareness, critical thinking, creative thinking, stress management, problem solving, decision making, empathy, effective communication, coping with emotions and interpersonal relationship.
“These skills help navigate and thrive in various aspects of their lives. For a teacher to effectively impart life skill training to students, they have to be empowered themselves,” said Sister A. Nirmala, teacher- in-charge, Loreto College.
“The teacher has to integrate these skills while imparting the curriculum and day-to-day transaction,” said Sister Nirmala.
The five-day training, held from June 20, was attended by 47 teachers, counsellors and research scholars on the college campus.
The session was in collaboration with the Indian Association of Life Skill Education conducted by A. Radhakrishnan Nair and Gauri Hardikar.
“Life skills is an enabling education. It enables a person to perform to his maximum potential, to face the challenges and problems in day to day life, to withstand those problems so that they are develop a positive and adaptive behaviour and adjust to the environment,” said Nair, president, of the association.
In the training, the participants were given different situations to enhance their critical thinking, problem solving and other skills.
Hardikar, the vice-president of the association, said normally teaching is limited to knowledge which is used to take an examination.
“But when we teach life skills we are teaching them how to live life. If we have to do that we have to use things from daily life,” she said.
It included giving the group a situation where an individual has to decide whether they will allow a family member to take an Air India flight after the crash at Ahmedabad or a 18-year-old girl from an underprivileged home having to convince her parent to let her study instead of marrying.
“Teaching math and science is actually enhancing critical thinking skills but we don’t build that connection between learning math and science and applying those critical thinking skills. That gap is filled when I teach life skills and that is the application. These are transferable skills not limited to one situation,” she said.
The training gave them to reflect both about their strengths and weaknesses.
“I am unable to stand for myself,” one teacher said. “My body language should give an impression that I am soft spoken and not weak,” another one said. “I am not a good public speaker,” a third teacher said.
“Acknowledging and sharing one’s vulnerabilities would help one to understand the other person, the student, and be more empathetic. Unless one reflects a situation remains as an experience and does not become a learning,” Sister Nirmala said.
Sudipta Majumder, a participant who is a research scholar at Calcutta University, said that the session created self awareness.
“It helped me to understand things like effective communication through activities. Life skill training cannot be theoretical but has to be based on activities and experiences,” he said.