Four hats of a teacher on an educational trip with students
Academic engagement for a teacher is not just a transaction of information exchange, it is much deeper than this. Having debuted in the academic world three years ago, I think good teachers play three primary roles towards their students — the first one of course is of a teacher and a mentor. However, as well-wishers of our students, we also play the role of a parent, and personally, I also look forward to becoming friends with them. A classroom definitely provides an opportunity to wear these three hats which further elevates the teaching experience for the teacher and the learning experience for the students.
Had it not been our educational trip to Bangalore with a bunch of Strategic Design and Management (SDM) students last year in December 2019, I would have never experienced the other versions of these hats. This educational trip was obviously a new context with new dimensions — a metro city rather than a classroom, a week-long trip than a day-long engagement in school, and a mindset of exploring not just the relevant information on SDM but also the city and its culture. The first three hats were definitely active in the trip, but the change of context led to a change of their powers too. The teacher’s hat wanted to maximize the learning experience for the students, but the parent’s hat was the most critical and the heaviest of all as the safety of each and every student was the topmost priority in the trip. The most challenging part was deciding the bandwidth of flexibility to be offered, in other words, choosing to play a role of a strict father or a cool mother (or maybe the other way round), I decided to be somewhere in between.
While the most critical hat was that of a parent, the most important hat of a teacher, but the hat I valued the most in this trip was that of a friend. This hat allowed me to share my breakfast and lunch table with my students, it made me feel younger, got me to hear their stories, and helped me understand them even better.
One more hat that I wore on this trip was that of a tour guide or we can also call it physical google assistant. The first and the foremost task of this hat was to wake up everyone in the morning, scheduling the day, co-ordinating with the industry representative, co-ordinating with the bus driver, and answering this question in a bus ride (multiple times in a day), “Sirrrrr!!!, when will we reach”, with Bangalore traffic, I guess this is self-explanatory.
One person who deserves a special mention for sharing the weight of these hats equally with me is Prof. Isha Patel. Isha was very instrumental in setting up important meetings including the visit to Ather Energy and she helped curate the visits too. Since Isha had a background in Strategic Management, we have very constructive conversations on the subject during the trip.
The most touching event on this trip for me was visiting my alma-mater — IISc Bangalore, meeting my Professors, and introducing my students to my Professors. Prof. Amaresh Chakrabarti’s quote “I am happy to see my grand-students”, sums up the feeling.
This trip was undoubtedly very productive and informative for students and also for me. Students returned with very positive views about the opportunities for Strategic Designers in Corporates (such as Philips, 3M) and Design studios (such as Pensaar Design, Hyphen Design). What can be better for the students than seeing the walls of the design studio filled in with post-it notes, user journey maps, and service blueprints, something they had learned in their courses.
Lastly, I will take this opportunity to thank each and every person on this trip for making this a very memorable trip.
Hats off to this great bunch!!!
- Shamit Shrivastav
