A conference for principals and administrators on Academic Leadership- Teachers Transforming Children was organized at IIT Madras from 6th to 8th May 2016. It explored the role of a school leader and teacher as a transformational one, with the inputs of leaders and practitioners from across the spectrum of education and business. The speakers addressed topics ranging from: Getting your Teachers Ready for the Future, Conscious Classroom Management Strategies as well as, Contextualising and Sustaining Professional Learning Communities. Pooja Goyal, engineer from IIT Delhi, and MBA from INSEAD, France, spoke about the need for innovative approaches to invigorate the current Indian school environment. Rick Smith, international education consultant, shared effective classroom management and instructional strategies that were consistently praised for both their motivational and practical value. He opined that teachers who teach with belief and authority, as opposed to apology, tend to be more successful. Ashraf Vishram, Masters in Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment from the Institute of Education (University College, London) spoke on Contextualizing and Sustaining Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). In the second session, Lata Dyaram, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras provided deeper insights on conquering adaptive challenges. The session threw light on how academic leaders must provide opportunities for people to confront uncertainties, overriding their discomfort, even as they regulate values and perspectives to better develop solutions for the complex times of today.. Dr. Sandhya Shekhar, alumnus of IIM Bangalore and IIT Madras enlightened the participants with The 3S Framework for holistic education. This session provided a simple but powerful framework for education by anchoring it with the pre-requisites of being better prepared for life. The third plenary called upon the audience for questions and comments to fuel discussion around establishing a culture of performance. Steering the conversation and filtering questions coming in via cue cards and in person; picking up on tough, yet strategic talking points led to a dynamic discussion. The panelists included Dr. Harish Chaudhry, B.Tech from IIT, Kanpur, PGDBM from IIM Bangalore, PhD from IIT Delhi and a known name amongst school leaders; Ms. Revathi Srinivasan, Director - Education for the Raymond Group and Principal of Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School, Thane. The first day of the conference ended with Focus Group Discussions. The entire lot of participants was divided into 12 groups. Lively audience participation continued throughout, creating an atmosphere that fostered debate and discussion. This provided the participants an opportunity to interact with peers and learn from each others experiences. The second day of the conference started with a plenary session outlining the implementation, analysis and continuous improvement of transformational changes. This session tackled the issues often encountered in the implementation of innovative formal learning it takes a lot of effort to redefine the way we teach. Sandeep Srivastava, a prolific writer on technology and education, highlighted thoughts and strategies for making ALL teachers effective. The session answered the five fundamental questions on K-12 education: How real are we in pursuing a teacher-centric world of education - in terms of their role set 200 years ago? And how unreal are we in (almost) totally neglecting the possibility of children 'helping themselves', if truly enabled? What's the minimum set of enabling context for students to be role model learners (today and for life)? Should we dream again - build school 3.0 - where EVERY student excels? Is the epoch-making wave of technology largely useless for K-12? Madhav Rao, Masters in English and in Education from the Central Institute of Education, Delhi, provided a broad overview of the role of school leaders in creating and sustaining positive cultures for student improvement. After the Plenary session, the participants moved to the different round table sessions, giving participants an opportunity to meet and interact with the speakers in a less formal environment and also discuss the concerns of their schools. The concerns covered pertained to Approaches to Pedagogy, Understanding the Child, Parental Involvement, DataDriven Approach and Teacher Empowerment. These sessions designed around interaction provided an excellent opportunity for participants to share their experiences and concerns in a semi-structured way. The last day was used to create an action plan. The experts with varied experiences presented a sample action plan for the participants, which helped to record the learning of the conference in a structured format. Together, they arrived at fascinating insights into current priority areas in their respective schools and were able to sketch a road map for their schools.The participants on the basis of this sample action plan presented their priority areas and crafted an action plan for themselves. The conference reiterated my belief in the methodology being used in our School. Our members of the staff work as facilitators. The zing and passion in our work is reflected in our relationship with our children. The role of the teacher has to move from an expert to an enabler. The teacher in this so called artificial world has to practice a strategy of drop from my head to the heart. Teachers should aim to become reflective practitioners and lifelong leaders. As very rightly said," Take pride in the school". There is no better marketing strategy. I cannot agree more. Ms. Tania Joshi, Principal.
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