Deepa KumaR

1. Deepa KumaR

2. ABOUT MYSELF��������������������������������������� � I am grateful to the Almighty for the lineage He bestowed on me. My grandfather, a widely travelled Sanskrit scholar, was a role model to all of us. He retired as Vice Chancellor, Kurukshetra University. We imbibed the values of self - dependence, dignity of labor along with values of learning from him. � My parents were not lagging far behind. My father, an able lawyer put aside his practice for the interest of his children�s education. My mother was employed with Miranda House as a Lecturer. We lived in Delhi during the academic terms thus getting the best of both, the rural and urban living. � I married young. My life as an Army Officer�s wife gave me the opportunity to travel widely in India and meet lot of interesting people. Joining a Unit School as a teacher was a stroke of luck disguised as a necessity. A few hours daily spent with young receptive minds and hearts kindled the desire to make it my profession. I seek continuous enhancement of my ability to do well in this field through interaction with knowledgeable academicians and other people in this field. My interest to read books on Child Psychology and Education has given a fair amount of knowledge on the subject. � I strongly believe a good educator has to be generous, considerable, compassionate, tolerant and insightful, in short have excellent qualities as a human being. It is my endeavor to continuously improve the human qualities of head and heart while pursuing my professional duties. I seek to evolve personally while contributing productively to the ambience around me.

3. Deepa, that�s the name identity that I got from my parents. And later on I started to be known as Deepa Kumar. That�s the change that women folk usually witness after marriage. With the blessings of my parents and of my elders I had the honor of becoming alumni of the prestigious Delhi University, then after followed the formal training and thereby earning a degree of becoming an educationist. Life is a journey and nothing remains the same. We all are subject to a compulsory change and so do our life situations. My life too moved on from being a young girl at the Delhi University to a woman with many responsibilities at her disposal. Life blessed me with a loving husband and then after with two wonderful children. My areas of interest too changed, or I would say that they evolved! I continued to seek interest in Dramatics, Music, Curriculum Development and Institutional Development. Today at this moment I look back to a life which was eventful and still continuing though. With an experience of more than 17 years in Teaching and administration, I still have a strong feeling that there�s still a lot that needs to be learnt and then passed on to the very people to whom it belongs to, i.e., my students!

4. AREAS OF EXPERTISE�������������������� � LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT Staff Management Team Building Staff Training and Development Performance and Appraisal Human Resource Business Planning and Strategic Planning Interviewing Quality Assurance Problem Solving Curriculum Development � COUNSELLING (STAFF, STUDENTS AND PARENTS) Mediating Listening Suggesting Validating Supporting � SKILLS Public Speaking (education focus) Critical thinking, work skills and creativity Drama and communication Copy writing and editing �

5. MY EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY���������������������.. � I strive to be an eclectic thinker in my facilitation of learning because I believe that an effective educator must be liberally educated. My educational philosophy is rooted in pragmatism with the belief that �we teach by what we do and not by what we say�. As a pragmatist, I stress problem solving in my teaching through application of critical thinking, and also believe in engaging students to a meaningful experience that they can transfer towards their self � actualization as professionals and citizens. My fundamental belief in education is that all children can learn, although at different paces. � More than two thousand years ago, Socrates cautioned his students that the unexamined life is not worth living. Such a statement demonstrates the basic tenet of my own philosophy of education. Education is the process in which the individual must routinely question the self knowledge. The goal of such a process is the creation of a total individual. Integral to my philosophy of education is the notion that each student is a unique individual and must be treated with respect. The students must be taught how to learn and how to think. Therefore education is a little more than a process in which the student learns how to learn. Such a process is set in motion if the facilitator treats the students as an extension of himself/herself. In this way the improvement of the student is necessarily the improvement of the facilitator. This explains why I am a part of teaching community since I too am a student in search of self-improvement. � My educational philosophy is based on my belief that it revolves around the understanding of an interplay between five significant systems: � Students Teachers Management Parents Community � �

6. Students � Every child is an active learner. Most children want to learn. They learn well when the topic introduced to them is made relevant to their lives and interesting to learn about. Often, children know how to learn. A positive self-esteem is a necessary pre-requisite for successful learning. Happy children are confident learners. Children learn in different stages. Every child learns at his or her own pace. Every child, like every adult, has his/her strengths and weaknesses. Children, like adults, make mistakes. Mistakes are natural. Children require psychological, physical and social space to make errors and learn from them. Children acquire knowledge and information through observation, experiments and exploration. Children learn by asking questions. As adults, we need to learn to listen to their questions and answer as informatively as possible. Imitation, of different kinds and different stages, is necessary for children to make sense of the world around them. Children learn more by interacting with each other than by sitting at desks for long hours. Learning is not a chore. It is a natural human disposition. Learning to learn is more important than acquiring information. Children acquire positive social skills quite naturally. They need opportunities to express and further develop such skills. Children know how to co-operate. They need opportunities in teams. Children learn in the context of positive child-child and adult-child relationships. Physical punishment or psychological abuse of children does not help us build positive relationships with children. � �

7. Teachers � Teachers are facilitators to help provide a positive learning environment. Teachers are also people and like all other people they also make mistakes. They need support so as not to repeat their mistakes. Often teachers teach the way they were taught. Teachers require technical training, support and guidance to create a progressive educational environment. An understanding about the fundamental principles of child psychology and education is central to the teacher�s training. Teachers require space to experiment and explore their teaching styles. Teachers need regular interaction with parents of their students. Teachers do not require policing. Teachers require respect as individuals and as professionals. Sometimes, teachers require assistance to construct alternatives for styles that may not be working for a particular class setting or with a specific child. Teachers require opportunity to evaluate themselves in all fairness and with professional support. �Parents � Parents almost always want the best for their children. Parents usually know the strengths and weaknesses of their child. They seek professional support from teachers and counselors to help them help their child overcome his or her limitations. Parents are usually amenable to new ideas, as long as they can visualize tangible benefits for their child in the long run.

8. Parents seek professional guidance/education from the educator, if the educator is willing and competent to provide it. Parents respond favorably when basic principles of child psychology and education are shared with them. Parents are usually quite co-operative. They expect simple, timely, relevant and meaningful communication from the school. To be a parent is often easy. To be a good father and a good mother is a lifetime process. � Management The management in school education is about relationships with and for the students and their families. If a management expects good standards, it must regularly provide technical training, support and guidance to it�s staff. The management is about positive, regular interface with parents. Management is about providing a facilitating environment for teachers to be able to implement the Educational Philosophy. Effective management is about the maintenance of high standards of performance and education. In order to provide the above, educators require technical training, support and guidance themselves. � Community � An educated, aware community is a receptive community. The community will understand the educational approach and will appreciate it only when it is made aware of the reasons why things are done differently. The community is a partner in the process of change. The community can, through greater awareness and education, make the difference in the world of education and thus make the educator accountable. � � � �

9. �To sum up, I view equity as the essence of the educational process, which is perfected by how one understands or is literate about the system that runs the state of affairs through Democratic principles. Therefore to be independent �One must be interdependent and learn to perceive the contradictions of his or her life in terms of educational, social philosophical and the psychological impact these aspects have in life� � � � � � �