The Courage to Teach – A workshop, 2020

A workshop by Arvind Ranganathan for the second year B.Ed. Students of Bombay Teacher Training College (BTTC) at Colaba on 3rd March 2020. The topic was ‘The Courage to Teach’. Arvind conducted the workshop in a very interactive way and the students were very much engaged throughout.

Arvind raised many questions and the interaction made the students aware of how one’s understanding of oneself impacts the way one relates to the world as a teacher, as a human being. He asked them to explore ways in which educational institutions can deepen one’s understanding of oneself and hence lead to good teaching,

Through Q&A sessions amongst groups of students, Arvind made them look at their memories of childhood fears and anxieties, past influences, any overwhelming struggles, their special strengths in teachings, their approach to relationship with their students etc. These self-explorations brought alive issues of fear, vulnerability, polarisation, sharing, openness, sensitivity etc. He made the students aware of how Krishnamurti addresses the effects of conditioning on our daily living.

He discussed various aspects of designing learning spaces. He also spoke about paradoxes like Head-Heart, Facts-Feelings, Theory-Practice, Teaching–Learning and the importance of having the right balance in-between the opposites. The students formed groups and presented their concepts about learning spaces.