Everything I do has a direct impact on the lives of my students. My work demands that I think about each and every decision I make, and consider the consequences of those decisions. It was reflection that helped me realise the factors that affect student learning. It was reflection that helped me understand why certain students weren’t growing at the same pace as others when I was teaching ‘Reading Comprehension’ in my classroom. And it was reflection that drove me to have multiple conversations with parents, Students, and community members - and realise that the time Students spend outside the classroom with no learning was way higher, and this needed to be channelised into something productive. The reason reflection is important is because it helps you connect with yourself at a deeper and more intense level. Reflection is a highly integral part of the work I do with Teach For India.

Angelina Das

(2017 Fellow, Mumbai, Varsha Nagar School

A lot of my team's work involves measuring and reporting Teach For India's progress. We want to be open not just within the organization, but with our external ecosystem as well. With this in mind, we made the important decision to start a quarterly reporting process. Now, once every three months, we share our highlights and challenges with our entire community. Our CPO then hosts a webinar that anyone can join to ask questions and engage in discussion - it's like an earnings call with shareholders; truly capturing the spirit of clarity and openness. As we garner knowledge from various spheres, for us, integrity always stands for honesty in every way; be it celebrating our successes or learning from our failures.

Angelina Das

(2017 Fellow, Mumbai, Varsha Nagar School

In the Teach For India class, it is possible to do everything. Didis and Bhaiyas motivate us to aim high and have faith that everything is possible. When Nitika Didi did a live demo session with us, I called the MCD regarding a broken road problem and followed up with them but even after following up for 3 months, nothing happened. I lost my faith and I believed it’s impossible but when didi motivated me to never give up, I followed up with them again and my problem was addressed. After this, a chain reaction started and my friends started working on the same lines. They believed that change is possible and because of this four more projects have been completed. Change is possible only when we believe in it. At Teach For India, everyone works towards creating a sustainable change in society. It is very important that we believe in ourselves and in a sense of possibility so that we start working towards making the dream of a better world, a reality.

Aatrey

(Student, Delhi, Grade 7, Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya)

Excellence is an aspirational value that’s endlessly exciting because it involves a perpetual quest of setting the bar higher in the depth and scale of our work. In my current capacity, I am working to build Kids Education Revolution into a collective of schools and organisations working to reimagine education. Excellence in this context is defined my capacity to collaborate, learn, and grow along with the needs of others, and by the quality and frequency of connections that I spark between the work of educators across organisations. I find this quest to be exhilarating because ultimately when our work is the mission of shaping lives and influencing the future of our country, excellence is not a choice; it’s the standard.

Aaran Patel

(Associate, Kids Education Revolution)

There is a famous quote which says "No matter what the question is, love is always the answer." Most of the children that we work with struggle with basic necessities like clean rooms, three meals a day, and a caregiving adult in their lives. To all of our children, our classrooms are safe places where nobody abuses or exploits them and all of them feel valued and respected. During my fellowship years, the approach that helped me teach a lot of my kids was one of love, where I tried to understand them, learn from them, and listen to them.

Anand Gopakumar

(Alumni)