Around the World with Ms. Math: Dr. (Mrs.) Erin N. Nagarvala School

My past two days have been spent at a school here in Pune called the Dr. (Mrs.) Erin N. Nagarvala School, and it has been phenomenal in many ways. First, we got to meet and spend much time with an exceptional Indian woman, Ms. Jasmin Dalal, the school's principal, as well as her family. The school is actually two, both a day school and a boarding school, and Ms. Dalal lives on the grounds of the boarding school with her father and twin sons. One of her sons, Mikael, picked us up each day to drive us to school. Upon learning that he's only been driving less than a month, we were nervous at first, but he successfully navigated the chaotic traffic to deliver us safely each day. Her other son, Armando, along with Mikael plays music and attend a local university here in Pune. Ms. Dalal's father was a charming old man who looks after the business and financial needs of the school. These are pictures of their house on the grounds of the boarding school.

Beyond just getting to know this lovely family, the school's generosity, hospitality, and warmth was sincerely moving. Not only were the students enamored with us to the point they wanted autographs, but the teachers welcomed us into their classrooms and spent an extensive amount of time talking with us and exchanging questions. The students had prepared cards, and we were formally welcomed at the primary school assembly of the Day School yesterday. Today, I was again welcomed at the secondary school assembly of the Boarding School, and we were ceremoniously welcomed with flowers and the bindi at the primary school assembly. The second standard (grade) class had also prepared a little song and dance that they performed for us as well. It was adorable, and if I can get the video to upload, I will surely post it here!!

In addition to everything, I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in on the many lessons with the various teachers. At the Day School on Tuesday, I was able to sit in on eight full classes (35 minutes each!!) to simply observe. I got to see the same teacher teach three different lessons, which was fun. Today at the boarding school, I saw four classes, two each from two teachers. I also spent a lot more time talking with various teachers from the school.

I think I should describe the school day a little before I go on... Each school day begins with an assembly in which students recite a prayer, a pledge, sing a song (which I assume is the national anthem, but I forgot to ask), and share a word about character. Then, there are three 35 minute class periods. There is no built in transition time, because the students stay put, and the teachers move from class to class. Then, there is a snack break, followed by three more 35 minute periods, a lunch break, and the final three 35 minute periods. The schedule each day is different as far as what courses there are and in what order (something I also observed earlier this summer in Costa Rican schools).

The instruction is very different, but also very similar. For one, lecture-based, teacher directed instruction is the norm, but is a necessity as each class has about 60 students in it with only one teacher. Despite this, the conceptual nature of the lectures stood out to me. One other element that really stood out was that students NEVER write or take notes while the teacher is talking, in fact, they are reprimanded if they do so. The teacher lectures, describes, writes on the board, asks questions, etc. and the students listen and answer (often in chorus, or they are called on individually and stand to speak). Only after that does the teacher say, "Now write. Fast." and the students copy what's been written on the board. This was the case in every lesson I observed.

The teachers teach directly from textbooks provided by the Maharashtra state government, and all exercises come from there. A typical lesson includes a lecture from the teacher, 1-3 exercises from the textbook completed by the teacher on the board, then exercises completed by the students on their own. This means the teachers have little prep work, and it also accommodates their moving from class to class. However, the teachers do put their own spin on the lectures, whether it is using the walls of the class to demonstrate intersecting planes, or hand motions for vocabulary like lines and rays, or taking time for revisions (review) when they see students have forgotten things they should know.

And. There are NO calculators. Ever. The students do everything by hand, but are taught ways of computing that are efficient and simplify the processes. For example, when solving an equation such as 26 = 6.5 x H, they first changed 6.5 from a "decimal number" to a "decimal fraction," making it 26 = 65/10 x H. Then, at the step of (10 x 26) / 65 = H, they performed cancellations (dividing out common factors) to compute the answer as 4. They said there are "two fives in 10, and thirteen fives in 65" and there are "two thirteens in 26, and one thirteen in 13" to get the solution of H = 4. This sort of computation was commonplace, and students had mastered their knowledge of factors, much higher than the 1-12 times tables we learn in the States.

I know this post has been long, and perhaps uninteresting, but one major observation I have made is that as different as education is here, so too is it the same. We've talked so much about contrasts and contradictions as a group, and the stark differences and surprising similarities in teaching and learning are one. I think I have much to take back to my own classroom from these observations, whether it is as simple as sharing vocabulary variations or as complex using calculators less often to employ computation strategies in order to promote numeracy (I'm clearly not concerned about literacy from the structure of that last sentence).

There are so many more things I have observed that I want to share, but perhaps that will require a second post. I'll close with some of the vocabulary variations I noted in my classroom observations:

1. For fractions, like 2/3, we say "two-thirds" or "two over three." Here, they read a fraction as "two upon three" or "AB upon BC."

2. simplify a numeric expression = solve the number

3. exponents = indices

4. math problem = sum ("do the next two sums in your textbook" regardless if it is a mathematical sum)

5. width = breadth

6. trapezoid = trapezium

7. z = zed

8. review = revise

9. Pythagorean Theorem = Theorem of Pythagoras

10. vertical angles = vertically opposite angles

More pictures...

Gifts we received from the school. The top is a paper lantern decorated with tribal art from a tribe indigenous to Maharashtra, the state in which we are staying.