“Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration motivated by passion, generated by vision, produced by a conviction, ignited by a purpose.” — Myles Munroe

The “Leader in Me” Workshop is a whole-school transformation model and process developed in partnership with educators and aims to empower students with the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. It is founded on the ideas and methods of personal, interpersonal, and organisational effectiveness, as well as the compelling idea that every child has special talents and the capacity to lead. In this programme, the curriculum, teaching, learning, and assessment are all closely correlated.

‘Leader In Me’ Workshop

Dr. Kannan Gireesh, a renowned psychiatrist and the founder and CEO of Live Life Education Private Limited, conducted an intensive hands-on training session and workshop for the teachers on May 12 and 13, 2023, with the goal of challenging preconceived notions about leadership. He placed emphasis on fostering a value-based educational system that transforms children’s lives and gives them the tools they need to lead.

The primary objective of the training session was to depict how introducing ‘Leader in Me’ within the school curriculum can help students learn to become self-reliant, take initiative, plan ahead, set and track goals, do their homework, prioritize their time, manage their emotions, be considerate of others, express their viewpoint persuasively, resolve conflicts, find creative solutions, value differences, and live a balanced life. Through this process, teachers can assist students in gaining the knowledge, abilities, and self-assurance necessary to live fulfilling lives and succeed in school and beyond. For two days, SAI International organised training workshops for teachers, with each workshop emphasising a crucial core value and result related to the “Leader In Me” Programme.

On the very first day the teachers were introduced to intriguing topics such as, how to break barriers, how to unlock the potential, how to bring in a habitual change within & how to sustain the transformation. We relooked at the roots of effectiveness; the maturity Continuum, & understood about the 7 Habits talking about Private Victory & Public Victory. These 7 habits aim at transforming an individual in the best possible way & the process to achieve that starts in the formative years of the kid.

On the second day the session was on Habit 3,4 & 5 – Put the first things first, think win-win & seek first to understand & then be understood. The workshop spoke about Carrying your own weather, about the Highly effective practices and about Proactive & Reactive Language. Teachers learnt to distinguish between the Circle of concern & Circle of Influence. They also understood practical examples based on Habit 6 & 7 – To synergise & to sharpen the saw. The teachers indulged in a couple of informative activities denoting the significance of inculcating seven habits in daily school hours. To commemorate life skills and build leadership in students, they watched a fun filled video of world leaders.

There was an extensive hands-on learning on how to implement the same in the classroom teaching. The purpose of the program was to equip teachers to enable students discover & build the Leaders in them so that they can:

• Create a culture of trust and engagement
• Empower students to lead their own lives, and make a difference with others
• Provide students tools to better achieve goals
• Develop student voice
• Encourage students to be unapologetically themselves

Certainly, a new way to define leadership, this workshop has helped teachers and educators see leadership in a different light. Many people equate leadership with a formal position of authority. But if we see in terms of the ‘Leader In me’ program, anyone can be a leader by intentionally leading one’s own life (leading self) and working well with and encouraging the greatness in others—whether family, friends, neighbours, or colleagues (leading others).

Workshop on Interactive Multisensory Phonics 

International Synthetic Phonics Trainer, Ms. Saswati Nanda Satapathy, conducted an intriguing multisensory phonetics workshop from May 8-20, 2023 at SAI Angan. This workshop was extremely instrumental in making the teachers introspect the basics of teaching from a different perspective. Ms. Saswati introduced amidst teachers, the various methods and strategies to weave storytelling into classroom teaching and learning so as to make learning a joyous affair for young learners. The teachers learnt to create a repertoire of stories for all concepts and how to choose, adapt and own a story.

A multi-sensory instruction approach in the early grades to improve phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension skills. Multi-sensory instruction combines listening, speaking, reading, and a tactile or kinaesthetic activity. 

Phonics instruction lends itself to multi-sensory teaching techniques, because these techniques can be used to focus children’s attention on the sequence of letters in printed words. As such, including manipulatives, gestures, and speaking and auditory cues increases students’ acquisition of phonics skills. An added benefit is that multisensory techniques are quite motivating and engaging to many children.

Multi-sensory activities provide needed scaffolding to beginning and struggling readers and include visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile activities to enhance learning and memory. It was indeed a great workshop for teachers to employ the multi-sensory techniques to fix errors and then practice without the scaffold.

Curating Leaders Amidst Teachers