MY PROFESSIONAL GROWTH IS LIKE GROWTH OF A PLANT
INTRODUCTION
Teaching
and learning is not a single event rather it is a life long process. Everyone involve
intentionally or unintentionally in teaching and learning process in the
journey of life. It also takes place formally or informally through our actions
and interaction with others. There are different factors which compel human to behave
or imitate others. For example, the teachers’ influence is one of the important
factors which leave an everlasting effect on students’ life. Wideen (1988)
stated that teachers are model of living, learning and growing which reflect among
students while dealing with the world. My professional life is also started
with a teacher’s influence and is continue with formal and informal learning
which is like a growth of a plant. Therefore, I have named it as “my
professional growth is like a plant growth”. For me, school is like ‘a garden
of knowledge’ where knowledge is been created and shared with each other. The plants
with different sizes and colors are like the students with different
intelligences. The fruit bearing trees are like teachers who prepare students
as useful citizens for the society.
I
was born to an agrarian family not my choice in 1979. My family valued the
education more than anything else. Therefore, I was enrolled in a school in
1985. I successfully completed my lower secondary classes without a career
direction. After completion of class eighth in 1994, I joined a new garden to
grow and nurture with useful nutrients and become a fruit bearing tree for the
society in Hunza[1]. The
garden was full of different plants, which were grooming with different paces,
whereas, fruit bearing trees were preparing tasty fruits and shading people in
sunny days. I was a new plant in the garden with a lot of hopes and aspirations
of my life.
It
was my third day in the school, one of my teachers asked the students to write
a brief description about their previous day’s activities. I had a pink rough
notebook to write the classroom tasks; I had completed the given task and
submitted to the teacher with other fellows. I was unaware with the purpose of
this task that why the teacher wanted such tasks in a science class. The teacher
was checking our task, meanwhile, the teacher asked students by taking a notebook
in his hand and said “whose notebook is this”? I hold-up my head and saw the
notebook, I was afraid because it was my notebook. Hardly, I opened my mouth
and said like an innocent child, it is my sir. The teacher said “this guy has
scientific thinking”. I feel that these remarks were changed my life towards my
career. I do not know what special thing I had written in my description but these
remarks made me confident. I got enough encouragement because teachers’ encouragement
for students is like a plant receives useful nutrients to rapid growth.
Afterward, I saw him in my daily imaginations. Therefore, I decided to be a
teacher like him in my life. As most of the teachers are inspired by their
teachers and join the career (Huberman, 1989, Bashiruddin, 2002). Moreover, I
started imitating like him in my spoken language and actions. I realized that a
teacher can change the life of students as (Wideen, 1988) stated that beginning
teachers enter the profession because they want to work with people to make a
difference in lives of their students. Finally, I decided to be a permanent
member of the garden in the form of a fruit bearing tree to share some tasteful
fruits.
After
my graduation in 2000, I immediately joined a school as a teacher to fulfill my
ambition of life. As beginning teachers want to share their enthusiasm of
learning they developed during their school time (Wideen, 1988). Although, I had
insufficient nutrition to grow a complete tree and share some tasteful fruits
but my thirst for teaching pushed me to join the career. I thought teaching and
learning is an easy task that anyone can perform without any professional
experiences but in reality it was against my perception. I perceived teaching
is just transferring of knowledge into empty vessels. I considered students as
blank slates and it was teacher’s job to draw a shape for students’ personality.
However, I taught as I had been taught in my school such as lecture method and
copy method. I found that students were not taking interest in my classes. I
spent maximum time on motivating students towards the lesson by using harsh
words and physical punishment. Gradually,
I became frustrated because I could not achieve what I wanted from students and
decided to quit the job as soon as possible. It is similar as Phillai (2005)
states that “if ample amount of nutrients are not
provided, the plant will lose its color and eventually die.” The experienced
teachers were not helping me to learn something about teaching and learning. (Feiman-Nemser
as cited in Zillahuma, 2008) suggested beginning teachers need a mentor to take
advice from headteacher and experienced teachers. In 2001, I was searching for an
appropriate job, meanwhile; some female guests visited our school along with
Shafa[2]. They
were near to enter my classroom, I intelligently taught the students to say
good morning madam. However, Shafa alone entered in my classroom and students said
‘good morning madam’. He replied very politely that I am not a female therefore
you can say good morning sir. He took ten minutes in the classroom and I was surprised
while observing the motivation level of my students with him. This moment gave
me a ‘food for thought’ and created an amalgamated situation in my mind. I started
reflecting on my practices to find the differences between my ways of teaching
with Shafa. I did not see any major difference but my sixth sense was depicting
me that there is something wrong with my way of teaching. I decided to meet
with Shafa and discussed my classroom management problems. He appreciated my
enthusiasm towards profession and suggested me to attend a training program at
PDCN[3].
He also suggested me to go through some formal course such as B.Ed[4], M.Ed[5] and
advance diploma courses as (Earley & Bubb, 2004) states that continuous
professional development encompasses all formal and informal learning that
enable individual to improve their own practices. I realized that the plant was
missing some nutrients in becoming a fruit bearing tree and share some tasteful
fruits yet.
The
plant started receiving some useful nutrients in growing a fruit bearing tree. In
2001, I was nominated to attend a formal training on visiting teaching program at
PDCN. This course provided me a useful flavor to change my behavior that
students are not empty vessels. The students have multiple intelligences and
the role of a teacher is to facilitate the students and build on their previous
knowledge. Furthermore, the course acted as a means to enhance my reflective
practices in teaching. When I applied my learning from the course in my
classroom, I saw a positive change in students’ behavior. First time, I felt a
need to attend any formal professional development course to justify the
experiments “in term of students’ learning” (Feiman-Nemser, 1983).
In
2004, I got a chance to go through the B.Ed. course from NDIE[6] in
Karachi
In
2007, I was nominated by the organization to enroll in a leadership and
management course (ADE,ELM[7]) from
AKU-IED[8]. This intensive training helped me to enhance
my insights about school leadership and management. My continuous professional
development is not reached at the end here as (Earley & Bubb, 2004) sated
that continuous professional development is an ongoing process, including
development and training opportunities throughout career. My internal relation
with profession forces me to explore deeper understanding about teaching,
teacher education and educational leadership and management. Now, I am involved
with M.Ed. program at AKU-IED to nourish myself with various professional
skills and become like a fruit bearing tree and share some tasty fruits for the
entire society.
Bashiruddin,
A. (2002). Seasons of my learning. In J. Edge (Ed.), Continuing professional
development. Some of our perspectives (pp.
104-114). Kent
Earley, P. & Bubb, S. (2004). Leading and managing continuing professional development.
Feiman-Nemser,
S. (1983). Learning to teach. In L. Shulman & G. Sykes (Eds.), Handbook of
teaching and policy (pp.
150-170) New York
in the developing world.
Pakistan
[1] A Place
[2] Head of
professional development center
[3]
Professional development center
[4]
Bachelors of education
[5] Masters
of education
[6] Notre
Dame Institute for Educational Development
[7] Advance
Diploma in Education, Educational Leadership and Management
[8] Aga Khan
University Institute for Educational Development
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