Virtual Training Program with APSWREIS

The month of May is usually spent in training sessions and working on professional development before the new academic year begins. However, due to the nationwide lockdown, many education departments and schools needed to change their plans. The Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (APSWREIS) was one such government department that had to figure out how they would induct over 409 newly recruited teachers to begin their new positions in the society’s 189 residential schools. They came up with the idea of a ‘Virtual Training Program’ and decided to collaborate with organisations and institutions that could facilitate the training sessions for them. 

Mantra4Change happened to be one of those organisations they had approached and we were more than excited to participate in this unique initiative. We had conducted teacher professional development sessions for many years as part of our programs, however, we had never conducted these sessions virtually. Ready to take up this challenge and support the society in their efforts to ensure continued learning, we began brainstorming and planning. And on May 13th, we conducted the orientation session as part of a two week training program with 409 teachers of the society. Over the course of the ten days, the teachers engaged with learning materials curated on Shikshalokam’s Bodh app, exploring multiple topics like teaching strategies, teaching-learning materials, lesson planning, digital literacy among a few. At the end of each day, they would gather together in subject based ‘Learning circles’ to discuss their insights and reflect on their learnings with the help of a facilitator from Mantra4Change. 

The response from the teachers was overwhelming. They engaged actively with all the resources and participated enthusiastically in each of the learning circles. You can read all about the experience below.

“A good learning space” 

I had a fantastic experience working with Team Mantra4Change. Each day started with some energizing activities to create enthusiasm, which lasted throughout the day. The content we explored using the Bodh app was just excellent. They strengthen our knowledge as well as abilities. The digital literacy courses were simply superb. 

The expert sessions hosted for a few days were fantastic. They were all like encyclopedias with so many ideas. The words of these experts were also so motivating. 

Our Mantra4Change Facilitator was always patient and created such a good learning space during the ‘learning circles.’ She would ask such thought-provoking questions that helped us think out of the box and encouraged us during this journey. 

I want to thank the team at Mantra4Change for all the efforts. –

– P.Venkatarathnamma, TGT, Social Studies

“Helping us do better” 

I feel blessed to have been part of this induction program. I want to thank everyone at Mantra4Change for creating a good experience for me as a teacher. 

Every day, from the beginning to end, there were so many fun activities, interactions with experts, learnings from projects, and, last but not least, the learning circles were all so good. 

The teaching strategies, lesson plans, teaching-learning materials, assessments, research, and practice, as well as digital learning content, were great to recall our knowledge and help us do better.

I am pleased to have been part of this experience. 

– Chandravathi Lakkamraju, TGT, Social Studies 

“Co-facilitating a group of 36 amazing teachers” 

Teaching is something I have always enjoyed and education has been a space that was always interesting. I’ve always believed it to be a complex challenge that as a society we must have the absolute necessity to solve. 

The nationwide lockdown introduced me to a bunch of ‘cool’ changemakers trying to solve the problem of quality and equity in education, Mantra4Change. Over two weeks, I had the beautiful opportunity of co-facilitating ‘learning circles’ for a group of 36 teachers as part of an initiative by Mantra4Change. Through multiple ‘Zoom’ calls, we had fun discussing classroom strategies, shared best practices across different classrooms and most importantly learnt together! 

My experiences in these interactions can be described as-  

“What I was looking forward to was  ‘absolutely pure enthusiasm from all the teachers’

What felt was secretly nice ‘being called ‘madam’ by so many teachers’

What I would love to see is ‘teachers using these strategies’

What made my journey easy was the ‘extensive support from the Mantra fam’

And finally 

My key take-away is to ‘always be open to unlearning and learning cause that’s where real beauty lies’

– Srividya , Intern, Mantra4Change 

“Beginning my journey at Mantra with a bang” 

A total of 409 teachers (from APSWREIS), 24 facilitators (teachers + Mantra Team), 10 hours of learning circle with experts from different domains. What happens when they come together? A foundation of a better-prepared classroom (offline/online) is built. Yes, this was possible when the educators from different organizations came together to create such opportunities to provide better education to our future generation.

It was my first day at Mantra when I was asked if I would facilitate a learning circle for teachers. Given that I have always enjoyed doing this, I became part of this without knowing who these teachers were or how I would do justice with this role. But little did I know that it would be my best LC experience so far. Facilitators at Mantra were allotted subject wise groups, and I happened to be in one of the most interesting subjects – Social Science. A group of 33 members, teachers, and senior teachers, eager to learn, open to making mistakes, teach each other, question and challenge each other, give and take feedback; made the last ten days not only just easy but also a learning platform for each one of us. We never realized how we always lost track of our time; one hour was never enough.

The expert session was another highlight that was planned for teachers, but personally, I had many take away from them, be it Veena Ma’am, Bala Sir, Purna Ma’am, or our young Science star Shekhar.

My experience with these teachers gave me some life lessons, one being – if there’s a hunger for learning, there is no stopping ever. Though we started as strangers, the group accepted us from the beginning and acted like curious children when it came to learning. They are added to my extended family now, the last LC with them was extremely emotional and I wasn’t sure if I deserve such love and warmth from them.

Beginning my journey at Mantra with 14 energetic facilitators was the best induction I could

have ever asked. I have high hopes for these teachers that when they start their own classes (offline/online), they would be the teachers that their students would need them to be, and it would be a sustainable practice. Another hope I have is, we would create similar

learning spaces for them or for other educators again until then keep learning and sharing.

– Shalini, Team Mantra4Change 

“Highlight of my month” 

Over the last two weeks, the clock would strike at 3 pm, and my computer screen would come alive with the faces of 44 strangers patiently awaiting my instructions. For a former teacher, having the attention of the room was not a strange experience; however, this time around, everything felt very different…

It all began with a text message from a colleague who told me about an opportunity to facilitate ‘learning circles’ for newly recruited teachers of the Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (APSWREIS). Our Bangalore based NGO Mantra4Change and partner organization Shikshalokam were initiating a one of its kind ‘Virtual Induction’ program in collaboration with the society.

The collaboration seemed like an exciting and unique experience for the organization as well as for me. During these difficult times, as the world combats a pandemic, the impact on the education system has been unprecedented, and this initiative appeared to be an innovative solution towards ensuring quality education prevails despite the challenges. 

As much as I wanted to dive in and explore how this ‘virtual training’ would be conducted, my apprehensions overcame my excitement. The reasons were mainly two. One, I left teaching and the classroom over a year ago to venture into the world of communications. Two, I had never facilitated professional/ technical spaces for adults. While battling these concerns in my head, I stumbled upon a drawing on my cupboard door. “Magic is outside of your comfort zone,”  it said, and at that moment, I decided that I would sign up and look at it as an opportunity to learn something new. 

What a magical experience it has been! The ‘Virtual Induction’ began on May 13th with a day of orientation for 409 newly recruited teachers of APSWREIS. They were a diverse group of individuals, some with multiple years of teaching experience, and others who were fresh out of college. And amidst them were the 44 strangers who over two weeks became the most significant sources of motivation for me amidst this global lockdown. I was assigned as the facilitator for ‘Group 1’, a group of English teachers from across multiple districts. 

As part of the program, all twelve of the Mantra4Change facilitators were also assigned to a teacher currently working at an APSWREIS school. I was matched with the wonderful Bhaskar Rao, sir, an English teacher with more than 25 years of work experience in the society (That’s more work experience than my lifetime!). I was initially intimidated, but as soon as we got on the first call to introduce ourselves, I was left in awe. Despite his many years of experience, he was excited at the prospect of learning together and exploring this new opportunity. This spirit lasted across the ten days of the induction. We were also assigned a ‘DPMU Champion’ Anand Sir,  who helped us with all the ‘technical aspects’ of managing the virtual calls and using the Shikshalokam app. 

The first ‘Learning Circle’ began on Day 2 of the induction program, where everyone joined in via a ‘ZOOM’ call hosted by the DPMU champion. I was somewhat nervous even though Bhaskar, sir, and I had spent the hour before discussing how we would facilitate the space. We had a plan prepared by my wonderful colleagues, and all we needed to do was execute it as we felt necessary. It seems rather simple, doesn’t it? 

The session started, introductions were made, and before I knew it, the clock struck 4 pm, and I was forced to interrupt at a riveting discussion in the interest of time. The teachers of Group 1 were some of the most passionate and enthusiastic teachers I had ever interacted with. Each one of them engaged with the conversations and shared their knowledge and experiences with the utmost excitement. 

The fantastic spirit and openness to learning continued to inspire me to do my best as a facilitator every day. The teachers were so diligent in submitting the activities assigned for the day on the Bodh app. Their conduct during the ‘learning circles’ was truly admirable in terms of how they respected everyone’s views and actively engaged each session, often forcing me to extend the designated LC hour by a few hours. 

At each session, the teachers had so many ideas to share and would provide such incredible insights into the different concepts they were learning during the day. These concepts included teaching strategies, teaching-learning materials, assessments, lesson planning, and digital literacy. The group would ensure to clarify concerns and questions related to these topics during the LC, and soon a community of teachers was built. 

The community that was built through the LC space was one of the biggest highlights of the experience. It was just beautiful to see how they sought feedback from each other and answered one another’s questions and concerns. The willingness to learn and the excitement to take these learnings back into their classrooms was so reassuring to me. During one of our nine LCs, one of the teachers mentioned how they were calling each other outside the LC space, too, discussing the concepts they learnt during the day. They never complained about how the topics were irrelevant to them but instead pushed us, the facilitators, to support them in ensuring they can implement the learnings. 

I have been working in the development sector for over three years now and in my experience, the biggest catalyst for change is the mindset of individuals in the system. When I signed up for this opportunity, I was apprehensive about the mindsets of the teachers; I would be interacting with, and based on my experiences, believed I would stumble upon some challenges. However, I was fortunate to interact with public school teachers who genuinely want the best for their students and are willing to take the necessary steps to do so. These are teachers redefining the narrative of government school teachers in our country. And I am so grateful for the opportunity to have interacted with them and have played a small part in enabling them towards becoming even better educators. 

– Elizaba, Team Mantra4Change