LESS IS MORE

LESS IS MORE

Mrs Rita Singh is a teacher who is very sorted and poised, much in control of her class and learners. I mean she is flexible yet firm, follows rules and yet she is fun loving, very agile & energetic yet calm.
How does she manage to nurture so many oxymorons?

A candid conversation with her reveals that she follows one principle very clearly – in her pedagogy, with her children and with her learning environments. LESS IS MORE!
She is a language teacher for primary grades and you will find her class joyfully embellished with relevant Teaching Learning Materials. You will find guidelines to learning poetry writing, story writing, creative writing and grammar building. She believes that WALLS MUST SPEAK to her children, the walls were meant to engage her children and not entertain the visitors or school management. As a result her classroom walls look meaningful and not crowded.

LESS IS MORE.
Using just one picture (Eg Harry Potter) she builds stories that take her children through Poetry writing, grammar rules, creative verse, essays, speech , declamation and even role play.
She believes that A picture speaks a thousand words. Using the same stimuli, she likes to draw upon different view points and expressions from her children. Instead of spending time focusing on too many Teaching aids, she says she chooses to spend her time listening to her children come up with out of box thoughts.

LESS IS MORE.
She believes that keeping too many Teaching aids in her classroom leads to clutter. And clutter can be very stressful for kids. Giving them too many choices can lead to stress and anxiety.
She also believes that making things simple, brings out the richness of thoughts in her children. That is because her children are focusing more on their responses than on the stimuli. LESS IS MORE.
She believes that this is the reason why her children are good at writing summaries and doing presentations. They often hit the nail on the head yet with a warm blow. Their answers & responses are laced with a degree of surety and calmness because all their answers have often been heard, discussed threadbare.

Her class of students recycle a lot of stuff – from water bottles to egg trays to books, notes and even the green board charts. Children can often be seen using the reverse side of the chart papers for a fresh concept building!
Mrs Singh does praise her children when they respond well. But along the line, she keeps the praise limited. She believes that too much praise can cripple her children. They become addicted to affirmations and cannot take dissent without feeling let down.

LESS IS MORE.
She feels that copiousness is detrimental to sustainability. And to live sustainably is very essential for children to learn. She encourages her children to celebrate their birthdays with 1 cake and a 100 jokes. She spends Monday mornings discussing about her students’ weekend water footprint rather than their visit to a mall. She encourages children to keep their rooms clutter free and their wishlist to include more about travel experiences than souvenirs bought.

Again, LESS IS MORE!
In today’s noisy world that is forever screaming about consumerism and always talking about needing more and never having enough, Mrs Singh is doing a stellar job in being a worthy role model to her class of 40. And what is it that they say? That a teachers influence extends to eternity, isn’t it?
More power to you Mrs Singh. May your tribe increase.
In ringing home a simple truth – LESS IS INDEED MORE.

Manjit Legha
Educator, Author & Blogger