Mission 10X

Mission 10X

     It all started two weeks back when I was told by the HOD that I had to go for the training programme Mission10X. The first reaction was, OMG, apprehension was  whether I would be able to withstand the intense training, I say intense for it was to last for 5 days from 9.00am to 5.00pm. For so many years I have not sat on the other side of the dais in the classroom. The fear of sitting for 5 days gripped me. It was just difficult to imagine listening to some trainers from mission10X. The only optimism was that it was a WIPRO initiative and that was the only thing that made me curious. As it turned out to be it was a wonderful experience being part of this training programme. The programme was divided into different  modules, one for the high impact teaching skills and another for the teaching approach. It takes into account the multiple roles the  teacher has to play. If a teacher can make an impact in the classroom by his appearance and expression, the effectiveness multiplies. The strength of the teacher is the faith and bond that exists between him and his students. This in fact makes his job as someone who has to deliver, imbibe knowledge, easier. But the question remains how to make an impact while teaching.      

    The  module was taken by Prof. Muthukumar Swami. He was brilliant professional.  His communication skills, the ability to capture the audience was amazing. Right from the beginning he was very comfortable with the teachers senior to him and some junior  as well. He was very good at making all of us extremely relaxed and interested in the training. Since the training involved less lecturing and more activity like presentation, doing some kind of group work, we could retain our interest. The presentations we gave, four such, two minutes each were shot and then were analysed on the basis of verbal. vocal, visual skills on one to one basis. It is at this point I came to know about the way in which we can analyze our presentation. The analysis and tips given by Prof. Muthu in the first presentation helped us in improving every time we stood in front of camera for the recording.  

   The next part was  understanding the learner centric approach. I was a good teacher in my own right before the programme but in this training I  got an insight in to the teaching from the student’s point of view. Every teacher does his best to complete the syllabus but question is whether the students have understood this or not.  Use of various techniques to improve the learning ability, their participation was given prime importance. It was amazing to see how he took us from the comfort zone of teacher centric teaching to learner centric zone. His entire sesson was strewn with experiences from real life. I later had a discussion with him, he was consultant to various IT companies for recruitment, training students and he had a degree in psychology,  MBA. A thorough  professional and a nice fellow ready to share his wisdom. Prof. Muthukumar was a man you would be privileged to train under.

    Last two days we had the privilege of having Dr. Sujata  Jagannath, Banglore. She belongs to the core group of mission10x team. She was basically an electronics engineer having 10 experience of teaching. In this field as a trainer she joined out of sheer interest. The session covered actually implementing the learner centric teaching approach. Preparing a session plan that properly elaborates in specfic details, the roles, the teacher or learner will be in, the teaching aid and the methodology and the outcome from the learner's perspective. Her knowledge of the field, clarity of thought was highly impressive. The way in which she analysed different session plans, first inviting appreciation and then suggestion and finally explaining her views showcasing in minute details the possible areas of improvement, gave us the glimpses of her intellect that must have precipitated after deep study and thought.

    Right from the first session that she conducted, with an innovative approach to introduction that associated a person's name with a dish starting from first letter. As it turned out to be, all of started having a lot of fun in calling the dish associated rather than the name. She was a lady with a huge smile that she could maintain even when some unruly elements in us succumbed to the temptation of  use of mobiles, chat during the session. The manner, in which she firmly but very politely tried to control these unwanted and unwarranted practices by us, epitomizes the procedure to respond, not react, in awkward situations. When a friend participant said to me that she embodies an affectionate elder sister, I just felt to have been revealed to the correct description of the lady who was very kind and sincere to all of us. Her every action presented to us how we should be to our students, an approach full of kindness and affection. That she could transcend the barriers of professionalism and knowledge, showed us the way.

  In all it was a fantastic experience. The focus was how we can deliver through teaching the intelligence that a  student must possess to become employable. I am sure we had a lot in this training to study, learn, implement and above all it has given us a path to walk upon to improve teaching-learning process. It gave us a direction as to how we should orient our methods and innovate to facilitate not the transfer of knowledge but the learning process where the student learns, teacher facilitates.

 Thank you WIPRO.