Asha Alexander (The Kindergarten Starters, Dubai) is, without doubt, my favourite school principal. Five years ago, arriving at a school with the lowest fees in the group, it would have been easy for expectations and results to match.
Not for Asha.
From day 1, she has been steadfast in her belief that the children at her school would have the same and even better opportunities than any other children anywhere else. Nothing would be out of reach. And she continues to deliver.
Above all, Asha teaches other Principals that the digital journey is necessary and the rewards are real and significant. BUT, it is also clear that the journey is a hard one and it takes vision, courage, resilience, and an unshakable self-belief.
The risk, as always, is not in doing. Rather, the question is: What if we don't do it?
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Brown wooden desks and chairs staring at a white board in
orderly silence in class after class greeted me as I took over a Primary School
in the heart of Dubai five years ago. They were talking to me as I wandered through
the Kindergarten corridors telling me of how children were imprisoned by the
fetters of structure and released by the shrill alarm of the bell that
reverberated loudly down the corridors.
Then there poured out in thousands and thousands from every
single crevice in the building, children of every shape and size that would
have baffled the Pied Piper.
I went back to the office that day disturbed by what I had
seen. How could children still be learning in isolation behind desks in a city
that was embracing technology? It was not congruent to our times.
I had 5500 students and their families and an army of 228
teachers to contend with. This Pied Piper was not promised a bagful of gold
coins but was endowed with the belief that freedom is the right of every child-
freedom to move, to think, to opine, to play and in doing so to learn.
I addressed this concern with a handful of like-minded
individuals on the Leadership Team and then began a grueling journey of
transformation. First, I had to find a small band of teachers to shake
the others out of years of lethargy and automation. These people had to be
trained and become the catalysts of change. So for six months which seemed like
eternity to me, we gathered together a group of change agents and unleashed
chaos in the school.
I had watched several schools gingerly putting their toes in
the waters of technology, hovering at the brink, waiting for someone to push
them in. They have been standing there since. I jumped in with the school. When
school reopened for the new academic year there were no text books for the Core
Subjects. Instead we presented our carefully mapped objectives and Digital
Resources to help transact the curriculum- the handiwork of our Curriculum Head
and the Vice Principal.
Parents stared in dismay as the bookseller handed them only
notebooks and stationery and thronged my office to ask if the circulars I had
sent earlier were in earnestness. If you have ever taught in an Indian
Curriculum school with its reliance on textbook directed learning you would
know the size of my problem. Yet there we were, standing in front of thousands
of irate parents explaining the advantage of technology.
I had considered myself a fairly good communicator but that
day it dawned on me that I have the capacity to effect change in the minds of
people. I stood there for over three hours fielding questions, explaining
strategies and pedagogy until all of them left- exhausted but partially
convinced. It taught every Leadership member and teacher that if we stood
together we could make a change like no other. I learned that I had more
potential than I had ever dreamed of.
The plan was in motion and we would have to weather the
storm. Every day was one of hard work- upskilling teachers, searching for the
best possible resources and did I tell you that we didn’t have money? No. We
were catering to a segment of society who were among the more economically
challenged.
Hardship made us creative. We marched on doing what we had
to do- mentoring, coaching, supporting and celebrating every small success. I
heard many barbed comments and saw the look of contempt in eyes that saw us
marching to our doom. “Don’t jump on the Digital Bandwagon- Theirs is a crazy
curriculum- You have been given a long rope to hang yourself” were but some
that stuck with me and which I use to drive us on to success.
The first year was pure chaos as we stirred up and sullied
the crystal clear waters of textbook based learning. We learned and rectified
mistakes every day. Some teachers left convinced that this school had seen its
best days, some parents left convinced that now it was pure madness- we held
our course. Students learned and enjoyed the learning- rid of the burden of
textbooks and note taking they delved into the joys of exploration and
research. We stood by and watched with pride our first faltering step of our
journey.
Our success that year lay in the fact that we did two things
right- we based the integration of technology on a well mapped set of
objectives defining the appropriate use of technology in each lesson. Secondly,
we created a 90 minute block of Common Planning Time for each Grade every week
which we protected to share best practice, discuss student work and learn from
each other.
The second year was a bold step to invite the Bring Your Own
Device program. We realized that we were not equipped with enough computers at
school to drive this forward. We must have been doing something right because
Grade 5 (our oldest ones) began to roll in with devices. By the end of that
year we had an almost 90 % success with our BYOD program. We acquired better
resources, continuously reviewed and strengthened our curriculum, sent teachers
for Digital Training Workshops, learned from tech gurus and we realized we
hadn’t drowned- our heads were above the water! However, we had not yet been
picked up on the technology radar of our Group of schools.
Walking this path was lonely because there was no belief in
us but I couldn’t let that show. So, I celebrated each small accomplishment, opened
up opportunities for children to take part in inter-school competitions,
strengthened their belief that we were getting there and pushed as hard as I
could to move this juggernaut. But it wouldn’t budge. Or so I thought. There
was no perceptible movement in inspection ratings and we seemed to be running
on the spot.
The thing about change is that once begun it becomes
necessary for our appetites and I had whetted theirs. Every day there were
changes of all kinds- in learning environments, in resources, in organizational
structure, in relationships, in the very culture of our school. We ventured
from the safe harbours of our school environment and started participating in
every single digital learning opportunity. A small blip appeared on the technology
radar of our Group- Something was happening in that Primary School with five
thousand plus kids!
People who believed that technology was necessary to
learning began to give us a hand- they shared resources and we lapped it up. We
widened our network and searched beyond our shores and then the magic began.
Our brown desks disappeared, collaborative learning
environments emerged, our leadership team grew from 9 members to 39 members,
Digital learning coaches supported and mentored teachers, a Digital head
shouldered the vision and we began to gain momentum.
The BYOD program grew to encompass all of Grade 4 and 5
which numbered around 800 students and filtered down to Grade 3 as well.
Laptops with trolleys were wheeled into Grades 1 and 2. With devices in front
of every child, students were beginning to embed the use of digital technology,
learning to use the most appropriate tool at the most appropriate time to
facilitate understanding.
It had to happen. Our inspection ratings moved to a Good and
suddenly there was so much energy in the campus. The work of teachers and
students had been validated. It appeared like a weight had been lifted off
their shoulders and an ecosystem of innovation began to emerge.
Suddenly, the sky was the limit and teachers and students
started embracing coding and programming. Young ones made rapid strides in
Robotics. Spaces were created to encourage Design Thinking and Self Organized
Learning. Teachers who had stood teetering at the edge made a splash and the
school radiated joy.
Five years down the road, I can see the impact- confident
teachers, great learning outcomes, fantastic scores on the International
Benchmark Tests but most of all the readiness to embrace change. Parents walk
through our doors, sit in on lessons, evaluate learning and have become
partners to help us succeed. When they say- “your children are far ahead of
others” my mind nods in silent agreement.
This is not the end. It is but a brief snapshot at this
point I time. This Pied Piper did not drown the rats- she released to the skies
thousands of fledgling eagles whose nature it is to soar and I hope someday I
will see them wheeling way up above in the horizon empowered and enriched but
above all FREE.
Asha Alexander
Principal
The Kindergarten Starters, Dubai
