How to think of everyone as a teacher, including yourself

When you think of the ‘teachers’ in your life, who comes to mind? Ashiya Kumari believes that we’re surrounded by many teachers, and she’s not just thinking of those in the classroom. In this edifying Talk, Ashiya shares how she found her inner-teacher by taking on a leadership role at school and stresses how crucial it is to honor the efforts of school teachers. But she asks us to consider: what would happen if we approached everyone we met as if they were a teacher?

When I was 9 years old, I thought that
a teacher is a titleholder.

A person who stands in front of the class

and teaches while the students
are listening.

I studied in a low income private
school for 5 years

there I saw many of my friends are
disinterested in their studies.

Some of them would not pay
attention in the class

while some of them would
be absent for days.

I observed that this used to create a lot
of pressure and stress on the teachers.

And it made me question:

How challenging is it to be the
only person responsible

in the room for the learning
of 40 students?

It made me question: Why do students need
to rely on that one teacher?

When will the students realize that
there's a teacher in them?

I wanted to do something about this.

So, I decided that whenever and however
possible, I would try to help my teacher.

So everyday, I would help her with
taking the class attendance,

writing the daily agenda on the board.

And during practice time,

I would try and help a group of students
who were struggling with their worksheets.

And when my teacher would be absent,

I would get on a call, and ask her things
that I can help her with.

Then, as discussed, I'd monitor the class,
give them vocabulary words to learn,

some math problems to solve,
and sometimes even homework.

Over time, more classmates
helped me with this.

Slowly, we started taking ownership of
our own learning in the classroom.

This continued for some time.
But I wanted to do something more!

Many of my friends needed help with
reading and comprehension.

Me and my friend Pinky were really
passionate about reading,

so we started a reading club.

In our club, we had students from
4th, 5th and 6th grade

and many of them had a low reading level.

We slowly started giving them books with
more pictures and less words.

And once they were able
to read those books,

we tried to increase the difficulty level
by giving them books with more words.

We also discussed things like
character, their traits,

the main events and the
central idea of the story.

After some sessions our class teacher
tested them and they showed an improvement!

We even saw one of our friends grow
by 1.5 reading levels in just one month!

Eventually,

we also got some opportunities to
conduct reading circles with elder people.

After these experiences,

I felt really proud of the fact that for
that brief moment, I was the teacher,

irrespective of my age and
which class I was in.

I have a question for all of you:

Are there things that you
are passionate about?

I am sure that it’s a yes,
because I have many passions.

Some of my passions include cooking,
knitting, gardening and sketching.

I owe all these passions to different
teachers that I have had in my life.

Teachers like Mr. Farhan, he is one of the
gardeners in our school

and he helps me learn cool things
about permaculture.

These days I am learning a new form
of gardening known as "aquaponics."

Or my Mother, who taught me how to cook

and be independent in the times
when she is not around.

You may have noticed that
neither of them

were the titleholders of a teacher.

But in their own ways,
they were teachers.

Think about it. Do you have such
teachers in your life?

I'm sure that you do!

In my community,

people do different types of things and
I can learn so many things from them.

Such as organization from the garbage
collector, cleanliness from the sweepers,

mathematics from the carpenters,
cooking from the housewives

and how to run a business
from shopkeepers.

But do we ever try and think of
the things that we can learn from them?

No, we think because of their age,
gender, and the kind of work they do,

they can't teach us anything.

But in fact, they can teach us a lot
of different things.

I believe that everyone is a teacher.

You are a teacher, I am a teacher.

It don't matter what age we are, what
gender we are, or what work we do.

I believe that if we start seeing
everyone around us as teachers,

one day we will achieve that
perfect ratio 1 is to 1.

Thank you.