TEACHERS’ ORIENTATION AT SOPHIA, BANGALORE

Dr. Jose Parappully, Director of Sumedha Centre, was invited to conduct a two-day
Teachers’ Orientation programme on 27 and 28 May at Sophia High School, Bangalore.

There were about 130 teachers along with the Principals of the three sections of the school.

On the first day the focus was on “Education with the Heart.” Dr. Parappully explored with the teachers two aspects of Educating with the Heart – Self-Awareness and Empathic Responsiveness.

Through psychological input and experiential exercises and personal evaluations, teachers were helped to gained greater insight into themselves and learn the impact of their personalities on their relationship with the students and their effectiveness as teachers. Dr. Parappully used especially insights from Self-Determination Theory and Self Psychology, songs and videos to do this.

The second day was a “Retreat.” The focus was on Meditative Prayer as a tool for enhancing personal and professional effectiveness. 

Dr. Parappully presented three different forms of simple meditative prayer and provided opportunities for the participants to engage in them.

The feedback indicated that the teachers profited immensely from the two days’ programme. “An amazing programme” was the way the spokesperson for the teachers described it. “It provided us profound thoughts to ponder on and exercises that we can use for ourselves and in the classroom. Above all, it helped us understand ourselves as persons.”

Teachers were especially appreciative of the “Retreat.” It was the first time they observed, they were able to spend four hours in silence and solitude and were able appreciate its value. “We also learned to pray in a very different way than we were used to,” several of the teachers said.