Read With a Teacher: A journey of reading together

Read With a Teacher: A journey of reading together

Murari Jha and Chandan Jha

While reading NCF 2005, I found a very interesting phrase “No system of education can rise above the quality of its teachers”. This has been resonating with me and it has deeply influenced my thinking. I constantly think what can be done to improve the quality of teaching and learning?

At the institutional level, we have pre-service and in-service teacher training programs. But, the kind of crisis we see in the field of teaching can be largely associated with the shortcomings in the functioning of these institutions. (NEP,2021)

In my personal experience, I have realized that reading educational literature has created a greater impact on me compared to any institutional intervention. However, I acknowledge the role of great mentors in my life and they have deeply influenced me.

Cutting across the subject domain, I have seen people appreciate the habit of book reading. At least this is a domain where people are not divided even on political and ideological lines. They may differ on which book to read but most people don’t differ on the idea of reading. The habit of reading brings a significant change in our disposition and sometimes it reflects in our behavior too. It may take some time, but sooner or later it reflects. It also satisfies the need of the people who come from the behavioral school of thought ( Vyvhar me kya Parivartan Aaya Hai ?)

Different groups and clubs promote reading…However, I find there is a significant shortage of any such incentives for reading educational literature. I also feel that educational literature has the least number of readers. On the contrary, the primary readers of educational literature…Teachers! They are approximately 10 million in India. Which is more than the total population of most of the European countries. Most teachers believe, their role is to teach not to read. But it only comes when we see the act of reading and teaching separately. One is implicit in the other. Reading reflects in teaching. The greater the reading the better the teaching. In my empirical observation, this creates a greater impact on teaching than any In-Service Teacher Training Program. There are a couple of reasons why I insist reading brings greater impact on teachers;

1. They do it voluntarily and willingly
2. Reading brings a sustained engagement with ideas. They get aware of the nuances of the field they are engaged in
3. Reading is a tool of reflection. When we read, we understand by relating it to our context, and thus in this process, our mind constantly engage in the process of reflection.
4. When we read, we know…There’s a lot that needs to be learned and thus we become a learner
5. A teacher who reads becomes a teacher who learns.
6. Reading also connects teachers to a larger network of teachers and they become aware of the kind of work teachers are doing across the globe. Thus, they are no more the professionals who work in the isolation.
7. Many people believe…It’s therapeutic. It is!

We can add more items to the list. However, one reason is enough for a reader to get hooked to the idea of reading. Often reader has his/her logic and it needs not be spelled.

Interestingly, we are running an All-India campaign to promote reading…100 days of reading campaign! I am sure the purpose is to inculcate the joy of reading in students. I remember a saying in this context… “We give what we have”. We can only transfer the joy of reading to our students when we demonstrate it.

 In this background, comes the idea of ReadWithATeacher. In the last 6 months, we have read 12 books. Most of those books are related to educational literature. The challenge is to take it to teachers. We have come up with another breakthrough idea…School Presents ReadWithATeacher! Now in each episode, a school or an institution would present the episode and the principal of the school would speak about the value of reading and how he/she promotes this value in his/her school. We also know when the principal of the school values something, teachers start valuing it. And the moment teachers reflect certain values in their disposition students easily catch it. Ultimately, we will be able to take it to the classrooms. And perhaps the biggest gift we can give to our students when they leave school is the habit of reading. Since we failed to inculcate this habit…We have a large population who can read but they don’t read and there’s not much difference between the people who can’t read and the people who can read but they don’t read.