“Simply put, Mumbai was an amazing experience! Within one week, the Mumbai conference encapsulated what it means to be Teach For All and part of a movement to end global education inequality. When I reflect on the conference, a whole kaleidoscope of thoughts, images and emotions swirl through me that reflect the variety and intensity of the activities and schedule that included (not 1, not 2, but 3!) in-depth visits to the communities that Teach For India serves. In no particular order, here are two reflections that occupy my mind: Transformational teaching (or even effective teaching, for that matter) can happen anywhere in the world, in even the most impoverished and trying conditions. I sat in a run-down classroom in Northern Mumbai observing a Teach For India fellow lead her class in a math lesson, and I was so captivated by how engaged both the teacher and the children were in the learning that I effectively “forgot” where I was. Despite the very humble environs, my instinctive, and very powerful, reaction while observing was that I would be more than happy if my son attended this class, even though

it looked nothing like classrooms in the United States. It would not be until much later that I was even able to analyze and deconstruct my observations to begin explaining my reaction. Even now, I have some difficulty in fully articulating what made that classroom visit so moving, but I feel fully confident that Teach For All has the right thought leadership and resources to replicate and expand what I witnessed on a global scale.

Mumbai helped me achieve a greater connectedness with the ENTIRE Teach For All network community; that community not only includes my fellow staff members, who are spread across the globe and who I don’t see often, but Teach For India’s amazing staff and fellows, partner CEOs, and incredibly engaged investors and social entrepreneurs. Mixing all of the different constituents in each of the activities and discussions helped make me fully appreciate the size and scope of the community of people that are making global educational equality a reality. This is simply something that could never be fully realized from my cubicle in New York City.”

—AndrewHo,SeniorDirector, informAtiontecHnology,teAcHforAll

Reflections from Teach For All’s Staff

Theresa Wolde-Yohannes, from the Partner Engagement team and Hany Aziz, from the Finance team connect with Teach For India communities

A Teach For India fellow with her students

“Wow, what a week, what a rich and powerful experience. I am grateful to all of our colleagues, partners, and supporters for being so open, humble and courageous in sharing such personal reflections throughout the week. I wanted to share mine as well.

Teach For All’s “Mutual Responsibility” core value — I think perhaps this is the hardest Teach For All core value to truly live up to because it relates so centrally to how we treat other people and how we treat each other. To be ‘reactively’ mutually responsible (i.e. to take care of a person once it becomes clear that he or she needs a bit of taking care of) can sometimes be hard enough. But to be ‘proactively’ mutually responsible (i.e. to explicitly be kind and nice to each other in everything that we do so that people don’t need taking care of as often) is even harder. We simply must constantly strive towards this core value in the way we work, live and treat those around us. That is my commitment.

Personal transformation: I headed to Mumbai expecting to embark on a journey of personal transformation. Thanks to the incredible experiences in the communities, the ability of the Teach For India facilitators to create space and time for meaningful reflection, and the openness and generosity of my conference companions, I do feel like I walked along part of that journey. I went to India expecting to be transformed in some way - however big or small. I’m still the same person, but some of my beliefs, values and principles have been shaped in a wonderful way. These things were already within me, but sometimes they were so deep that I couldn’t see or understand them. In Mumbai, I was forced to reach inside myself to reflect upon them, and I hope this will make me stronger, more thoughtful and a better person to those around me.

Love: We talked about love quite a lot during our week in India, and there are mixed feelings about the way we use the word. I’m becoming more convinced that we should not be afraid to talk about love in our work. Our work is so hard and at the same time so important, an emotionally draining combination. It was courageous for several people to stand in front of the group and share reflections that were so emotional that it brought them to tears. That just doesn’t happen at conferences at most other organisations. We need to care so deeply for each other, be kind and gentle with each other and truly see each and every one of us as wonderful human beings who are so committed to this cause together. To me, that sounds quite a lot like love.”

—richAung,PArtnerengAgement Director,teAcHfirSt,teAcHforAll

Teach For All’s staff connects with children in Teach For India’s communities

Reflections from Teach For All’s Staff