K.M. KavithaDubai, UAE
Giving students a sheet to track their own progress
- Now
- Teacher at a British curriculum international school in Dubai, since 2014
- Before
- M.Com and an MBA majoring in finance
- Programme
- PgCTL, in progress, for her teaching qualification
- Next
- Hoping for a position of higher responsibility
Kavitha came to teaching from commerce and finance, covering business and social studies in Dubai without a formal teaching qualification behind her. She now applies learning theory deliberately and gives her students tracking sheets, so they can follow their own progress through a coursework year.
Finance degrees, a Dubai classroom.
K.M. Kavitha has taught in an international private school in Dubai, under the British curriculum, since 2014. Her own degrees are an M.Com and an MBA majoring in finance, and her subjects have included business, accounting, moral education and social studies. She is studying PgCTL to gain her teaching qualification, “as a part of KHDA requirement and self development to a higher standard in the field of teaching”. She joined along with colleagues, after they had researched the institutes available in the UAE.
Learning theory, used on purpose.
She counts the change in three areas so far, and the first is skill. “I am now very confident in handling students and taking lessons effectively,” she says. One example is classical conditioning theory: she motivates students by appreciating them, which she says results in “positive response of happy learners”. She was inspired by the way the mentors engaged her own group in training, and does the same with her classes in Zoom breakout rooms, giving learners the resources they need and using differentiated strategies.
Then there is the tracking sheet. “I have also applied the feedbacks on teaching effectiveness by providing students with tracking sheet,” she says, “which helps them in tracking their progress in learning and achieve good results in their coursework.” She also communicates with parents on a regular basis, to receive their feedback on the students’ wellbeing.
I am applying many learning theories and strategies now consciously in my classroom.
Appreciation, and weekends with family.
The second area is appreciation. It has come by email and in feedback from students, peers, parents and her school, for her use of technology and pedagogy, along with a certificate from Microsoft. The third area is home. Because she is able to work efficiently, she says, she can spend a good amount of time with her family at weekends, join wellbeing activities at school, and learn new skills like driving. She was still studying when she recorded this. Her school, she says, always provides good opportunities for teachers’ growth, and she is looking forward to a position of higher responsibility.
