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One of my first experiences on field was teaching diploma students basic conversational English. These students only had tamil education up till that point, with some not even finishing grade 10. While I went into it feeling a little hesitant, I was allowed to work with the material freely and there was no compulsion to stick to a strict schedule or format. This freedom allowed me to take ownership of my classes and tailor the material to my students. I remember spending hours researching, making flashcards, creating worksheets, games and so on.

I was very nervous when we had mock interviews for the students at the end of 6 months but it was all worth it when all of them were able to clear the interviews, with some specifically choosing to converse only in English even outside of class! The look of happiness and confidence on their faces post these interviews is something I always carry with me and go back to when I feel a little lost or down.

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When we test for conceptual understanding, we get an opportunity to unearth misconceptions. When we unearth misconceptions, we can remediate as needed. When we remediate as needed, children everywhere will learn with understanding.

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In the last month of teaching of the 2024-25 academic year, we had our first classroom learning circle led by our students where I was a facilitator. We talked about caste, economics, politics and money. It was beautiful to witness how much insights and wisdom the students showed while sharing in the learning circle. This image is a drawing given to me by a student as a memory art and it has become a great motivation for me to become more of a student- centric teacher with student-led classrooms!

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It was a rainy July Tuesday in 2016 when I first met my minions. I had landed in Ahmedabad with a 5-week rigourous TFI training and a 5 page day-1 lesson plan. Our journey began with me plucking them from the window railings of our classroom and them modeling the power of vulnerability. From what started as me planning to teach them, evolved into a relationship where they taught me to get-up after each failed lesson, and try again. They held fort when I brokedown, they showered me with love when I was learning to love myself.

My minions, now have graduated 10th grade and a few of them want to be teachers in their community. If 'full circle' had a face, it would be them.

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Pediatric therapy on wheels at Project ViThai..It’s a van fitted with therapy equipment’s inside delivery therapy to children with delayed development…Every day counts!!!

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Pediatric therapy on wheels at Project ViThai..It’s a van fitted with therapy equipment’s inside delivery therapy to children with delayed development…Every day counts!!!

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Awareness Awareness Awareness is the key…

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As a first time teacher I was very stressed about my students not being able to read. But my mentor always said to wait and work on creating interest in students for learning before teaching decoding. So I used to read aloud everyday for first 5 mins. This was no marks no evaluation phase in my class. And then i asked this one student if he'd like to learn to read, everyday. He said no for 1 year and would run away for some school chores. One day he came and said teach me how to write my name. I did. First letter of his name was प.

Next day he brought some pamphlet from community. He came running and he pointed each प, read it aloud(some 8 times) and looked at me and smiled(proudly). Since then I became aware of need to create interest and wait till a student asks. And the joy we both shared in having learned - his first letter and my first lesson as a teacher - to listen, try to trigger interest and wait. This student now reads at grade level. It's been 7 years. But this student never learned it in regular sequence which was my assumption about literacy. In his first year of learning literacy and my second year of teaching - He learned his name, then his friends, family, village etc. and then we started formal decoding lessons. Every word and letter now held an association with someone he knew. Learning was personal for him so he asked a lot of questions. Questions like is स like सीता दीदी? He taught me one of the ways to teach. Our shared smile knew no bounds for same reason - we both had our first learning of something and we KNEW what.

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A moment captured during a community event brings a smile every time I look at it. Children with their parents from the community had participated in fun games that tested their learning too. It was also a space to create awareness for parents about FLN.

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This photo act as a resourcing for me when ever I am down & out. Gratitude to Kishan for writing this 🙏🏿

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We had gone to observe a classroom where our program was being implemented, and we saw students doing a writing task. A few wrote words like “nudaals” and “samsa” because that’s how they pronounce them.

They were writing what they knew, the way they knew it. And it reminded me how important it is to teach from where children are, by guiding them gently toward what’s right.

That moment stayed with me. It made me think harder about what it means to truly do right by children, not just in what we teach, but how we help them get there.

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After two intense days of training in Meghalaya for our level-based learning project, we visited a few classrooms to better understand the ground reality. In one of them, I saw a teacher using some of the same engagement strategies we had used during the training, things like thumbs up/thumbs down and ice cream sticks.

These were small tools we had used to engage teachers during the session, and here she was already using them with her students. That moment felt unexpectedly full circle. It quietly stayed with me.

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What’s one moment from the field that stayed with you and why?

What changed for you because of this experience?

Share a photo or image that tells your story.

What does foundational learning look or feel like to you?