Teachering - it's the real thing

 [First published in My Kolkata on June 12, 2024.  Read it Online ]

[This piece is close to my heart and based on over four decades of practical classroom teaching, observation and working with teachers across the country.]

“Hey Teacher, leave them kids alone / All in all you’re just another brick in the wall” sang Pink Floyd.

“If you wanted the sky, I would write across the sky in letters… / To Sir, with love.”sang Lulu in the movie.

I’m sure we have all met both types of teachers.  But this piece is on what makes teachers tick.

I was watching a shared video of students of a Kolkata school on an exchange program in Australia. Delightful, made even more so by the brief appearance of an accompanying teacher stepping up on stage and doing a namaste. This got me thinking about teaching and “teachering” - a phrase I invented to explain the myriad things that teachers do other than transact a syllabus. As schools reopen after the vacation, teachers are invited to attend orientation programs at their schools. Some participants will be up front and centre - the ‘enthu-cutlets’ - some will sit diligently with notebooks and pens - the reporters - and a few will enjoy a little siesta left over from the summer vacation - the sleeper cells. But all will be thinking about getting back into the classroom and weaving their magic. That magic!

In the late 80s, I was fixing a computer before conducting a class and I asked myself a rhetorical question, “How come we can fix computers, and do so many other things?” The late Dr Ranjan Ray, a mentor to me, overheard and responded, “That’s why you’re a teacher! Teachers can do everything.”  Later, at a workshop conducted at the USIS, someone chose the adjective “Versatile” to describe herself. The facilitator, Dr Guy Blackburn, said, “I’m going to remember that … but it’s more important YOU remember that.” And thus started my theory of Teachering versus Teaching - the use of Multiple Intelligences in the curriculum. 

Hammers Hammer.

And washing machines wash. A lot of people, like tools, do what they are specialised in, only. Teachers are expected to be the Swiss Knives of the profession. Other than the alleged humdrum of the syllabus, there’s a vast set of experiences out there called The Curriculum which attracts the multi-skilled, versatile, polymath teacher. Here’s a brief walk-through.

The Teacher as Artist 

A week before the new kids are going to enter the classroom, little Ms Perfect is on her hands and knees, painting posters, cutting flowers, pasting numbers on cards, mutilating old calendars, cleaning old clocks  .. all to create a learning environment that is enticing and appealing to the most reluctant children. Somewhere in the middle of the year, the teacher will be casting an art director’s  critical eye over the Environment Exhibition or something similar. As Annual Day looms near the same people can be seen designing props for the stage, or costumes for the kids who will perform. And backstage there are those teachers with amazing grip over calligraphy, writing certificates in embellished text at the drop of a pen cap.

The Teacher as Event Manager

Venue? Check. Menu? Check. List of Attendees? Check.  Parent Permissions? Check. Tickets?  Check. And the class is off for the picnic or educational field trip or fun by any other name. The Event Manager is the class teacher.  This extends to Student Exchange Programs across the country and the world.  And locally, the Annual Inter School Fests.  No problemo. Letters to schools, contacting sponsors and artistes, designing rules and regulations, structuring the programme, juggling finances, handing out responsibilities - all in a day’s work. Then being the strict disciplinarian as the event unfolds, managing anxious parents and blossoming inter school  romances, dealing with tears of failure and of joy as results are declared. All part of teachering. 

The Teacher as Producer, Director, Actor, Playwright, Musician

The creative side of the Annual play is handled by teachers too.  Designing the stage show, writing the script, playing the music,  doing the makeup, directing the actors, yelling instructions from the wings - it’s par for the course. A few get carried away and pop onto stage to correct a posture during the performance.  And on Children’s Day, the production to entertain the kids has to be the highlight of the profession. The otherwise staid and proper Ms Butterwontmelt is suddenly the loony, Ms Hangingloose, raising laughs across the hall.  Only till the next morning!  Many teachers go on to become professional performers as well - friends of mine are musicians by night, teachers by day.

The Teacher as Emergency First Responder

From a bleeding finger - those compasses at work - to a broken hand on the playing field, the First Aider is usually a passing teacher. If they can’t actually handle the blood they will at least contact parents, arrange for hospitals, and lecture the bleeding casualty on the dangers of playing in the corridors! I’ve met almost no one who says, “It’s not my job” in an emergency.

The Teacher as Sports Person and Instructor

The highlight of the sports calendar is the Staff v Students match - Football, Cricket, Basketball, Badminton or Hopscotch!  The whole school turns out to cheer the teachers on.  And off the field, the watching teachers will give solid advice to those on the field. 

Preparing for Sports day will see and hear many a teacher bark instructions on marching, running, jumping and standing in line, in terms that would make an army sergeant blush. 

Off the field and on stage, there are debates,quizzes and intellectual activity that makes one wonder, like Oliver Goldsmith, how “one small head could carry all he knew”. 

The Teacher as Intrepid Traveller

The three things I miss about teaching are May-June, October and December.  Holidays!  That’s when teachers become intrepid travellers and photographers.  Dates being available in the school diary, tickets are booked well in advance.  They have vacation, will travel. And some will come back to regale the classroom with stories of their exploits, several years after they actually went.

The Teacher as Everything Else

The story doesn’t end there.  Because of their versatility, some teachers are called in as stop-gap arrangements for anything and everything.  To substitute an absent teacher the best of them will create impactful classes in subjects they have no clue about.  Or, failing that, will substitute with quizzes, lessons on social behaviour, manners, etiquette, or anything else. Some teachers teach unconsciously - by their dress sense, matching clothing, bearing, and some are a little more “in your face” as it were.  I remember the much beloved Ms Peterson who caught me illustrating a textbook. In dramatic style, she removed her rings and matching bangles, removed my spectacles, drew herself up to her full 5 foot 2 inches and smacked the living daylights out of me. It was an honour to be recognised with the four-finger salute. Legends abound in most schools about those teachers that were part of the ethos of the school, and some who were part of the furniture. 

And you thought all they did was teach? Teachering with its all-pervasive ingenuity, creativity and total involvement is a real thing. It’s a lot more complicated than Parenting, believe me.