Reflecting 2020

It's the time for reflection on 2020. Instead of going through the typical retro format, I like to attempt to answer the following powerful questions. 

What is the most important lesson you learned this year?

Ability to live with less. Life needs just sufficient food and a place to live. Everything else is optional for reasonable good living. 

What challenges did you overcome?

Adapt to remote working. Improved Communication. I am now open to sharing more details with colleagues and strangers. My perspective on WFH changed a lot, and I no longer feel guilty about working from home or taking a break during work hours. 

Too many calls (mostly video calls) drained me physically. I started questioning the need for my participation more diligently and delegated as many as possible to either peer or my team. 

Deadline wise delivery is a thing of the past. We encounter people's availability changing daily. So continuous planning and adapting to the changes has become a core part of leadership roles.

I am a bit more organized compared to the last year due to the scarcity of many resources. 

We entangle with a lot of chores. The priority and the need for these chores are highly magnified being at home. I yet to find a cleaner handle on this. 

What new skills did you acquire?

Learn to educate kids: Volunteer as an assistant teacher for a local nonprofit school on educating kids with foreign languages.

What did you do for your career growth?

Leading a team with multiple workstreams in this ever-changing crisis is a fabulous experience. Remote working broke many logistical barriers with senior management, and I could gain insights on my strength and opportunities for embarking on technical leadership. 

How did you have fun?

Spending time with the kids on their remote education and playing with them in the evening hours has been a fantastic experience. I also took post-lunch breaks every now and a while and went out for a walk. 

Lucky to gift me with excellent homemade food and sound sleep of more than 8 hours a day. 

On many weekends, we either hiked or walked and had brunch picnics in the parks. We also enjoyed the drive-in movie shows from the Township.

What were the most useful resources you had?

Zoom

What did you leave unfinished?

My spouse sacrificed a lot to enable kids remote learning as she could not get on with their next level in career roadmap. 

My kids missed New York City rides.

What was the best compliment you received?

Unattributed feedback from my direct reports called me - an empathetic, inclusive, strong technology leader. I am proud of standing by my core values, especially during this pandemic year. 

If you were to talk about this year like a story, how would you write it?

2020 is a showcase of war-like uncertainty in a milder way. 

How do you describe this year in 3 to 5 keywords?

2020 reminded us of our mortal nature. Expecting the change anytime on anything and positively adapting to it is the real insurance one can have for a promising future. 

What advice would you give your last-year self?

Too many short term ambitious goals go meaningless in a spectrum of broad timeframe. Try to focus on skills and long term goals. 

We do so many things unconsciously that are nothing more than entertainment. With little awareness, I can try and even efficiently overcome the urge to fall back on old bad habits. 

Right outputs happen only with the right inputs. Intentions may influence a starting point, but only perseverance will take you to the end. 

Volunteer Teaching - Part I

This pandemic year has seen many twists and turns in most of our lives. On the positive side, I am volunteering as an assistant teacher at the local language school. I just completed my first trimester, and reflecting on the last three months is satisfying as well as enriching. 

I am always passionate about education. Teaching goes back a few generations in my family history. Several of my friends & relatives are in the teaching profession. My very first job was also as a teacher at a prominent Technology Training School. Another forced reason being, my kids are enrolled in the same school, and the principal requested additional help due to all-out remote learning. I got an opportunity to teach the Tamil language to 3-graders. 

First of all, I have to admit, remote learning for kids is an uphill task. The school teachers are, especially in lower grades, are doing an excellent job. Managing and coaching with so many limitations in an ever-changing environment is not only commendable but also needs innovation, resilience, and courage.  

Kids are way advanced in adapting the technology, the culture, and the nuances of remote learning. Teaching has become truly two-way, and teachers also learn every day. I am surprised to see that kids have a great understanding of current affairs, politics, climate, and sports. 

We have a Saturday class of 90 minutes. Setting up the mood of the classroom with cheering after a week-long engagement has been an extreme ordeal. Nevertheless, closing the classroom is bliss for everyone. 

Remote learning requires teachers to prepare more in advance, have razor-sharp focus during the class, and above all, maintain balanced, composed patience all along. For a naive teacher like me, teaching 20 students is like teaching a student 20 times. Even though the curriculum is simple, I have to run through it a couple of times to make sure I can explain all ancillary questions that may arise.  

 

We used Google Meet for better integration with Google Classroom. However, it felt way inferior to Zoom in terms of stability, performance, and clarity. 

Distractions are contagious. Bringing back the class attention from the side conversations, subject deviations, and the demotivated students has to be achieved as micro-goals with utmost care and patience. For example, allowing students to take a bathroom break on their own is far better than making students ask for permission. The moment one student breaks the attention, the entire class follows this suit. 

No matter, whatever you teach, some students test out the teacher's patience by displaying indifference. That's where one has to step up and try a creative diversion so that the entire class is not discouraged. 

There are sometimes wifi issues, external noise, household interruptions, bathroom breaks, and snaking during the class. But they are in no way cause any critical damages. 

Evaluating the students on their participation has been another challenge. Some extrovert students continue to seek out attention, but many others wait for the time may miss out on the chance. A teacher has to keep track of individual personalities for an unbiased evaluation. 

Over-communication on digital channels (WhatsApp Group, Google classroom, email list, etc.) is another must to ensure everyone gets reminders on homework, projects, test schedules, and any other expectations.

I tried, explored, and tested a few techniques and continue to learn every week. 

Expressing the thoughts does not just go with only voice, but it will take so many clues from the body language (nonverbal communication). Albeit, Zoom and Google Meet are improving the experience day by day; the following limitations still need to be distilled out.

• Making sure participants are involved totally. Can you color code and categorize the image based on movement or retina focus? 
• The number of people displayed on the screen is limited. Most phones can display only 4 participants at a time, and tablets may show a maximum of ten people. Tough?.  
• It is not easy to guess who will talk next - Can easily invent something like instant messages now "typing" clue. 
• How to respect fruitful side-conversations? Develop something better than a breakout room. 
• Convey the body language. Nonverbal learning. A long way to go. 

We are certainly going to innovate and move towards better solutions. Instead of migrating towards better schools, the affluent will certainly prefer full-time online schools with part-time tutors. We might see the big corporates think out globalizing K-12 education. 

Probably a full VR approach might work out well too.  

Note: I will follow up with another extensive reflection on this journey at the end of the school year.