Welcome June

Welcome June 

Time is running a marathon and how!!! With Jovial June setting in, 2017 has been half-way through already. Everyone is either in the mid-way towards achieving their targets or almost achieved. But!!! There are a few bunches who is feeling the excitement of a New Beginning. Confused Yet???

Yes!!! Amongst all those lucky people are the Teachers like us who are all excited to welcome our students… or how I love to call them – My BabiesJ. We have always talked about Calendar Year (Jan – Dec) or Financial Year (April – Mar) but seldom do we discuss an Academic Year (June – May). We all have lived our lives according to Academic Year in our schooling years and then branched out in own lives. But a Teacher’s life is always about an “Academic Year” or I may call it as “Marvel Year”. June marks with welcoming our children each year and we – the Teachers are all set and equipped to receive them. Each year we look forward to new class with new faces, different sounds, new pattern of expressions and many loving little ones. What a wonder it is!!

It is rightly quoted by a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of school of analytical psychology, sir Carl Jung, that, “An understanding heart is everything in a teacher.”  Though she meets 20 different human expressions each year, a teacher is someone who never fails to identify the beauty of each heart and uniqueness of each little soul. She’s the one who thinks about her children, breathes the time spent with them and sleeps over her planning for the next day. In my past 11 years of being an educator myself, I have observed a remarkable change in a teacher’s persona. A 21^st Century teacher has evolved herself from only being a teacher to a ‘thinker who teaches and touches’. Today’s teacher is the one who connects to a human heart through her tender smile and lets her teaching flow automatically.

Teaching-learning in 21^st century and further is evolving more towards creating human connections by deepening emotional attachments. In his Harvard Business Review article, “Three Ways Leaders Make Emotional Connections”, Scott Edinger suggests three ways leaders can forge emotional connections:

·  Give people your undivided attention. When talking to someone, don't be simultaneously checking emails, surfing the internet, or reading a memo.

·  Be aware that emotions are contagious. "Whether positive or negative, your emotional state has a significant influence on those you work with, especially when you are the boss."

·  Develop your sense of extraversion. "If you're a leader, you simply must develop the ability to reach out to others, engage them in discussion, and actively provide feedback. You're the one who has to be out in front, taking the lead in developing these relationships."

So at the onset of anew ‘Marvel Year’, with a heart full of pride, let us promise to evolve ourselves to Teachers who are Leaders and commit towards nurturing Tomorrow’s Leaders.

From one Educator’s Heart to every Educators' Hearts J

Janki Patel