Rashmi：I decided to come to Tianjin, because I wanted to be a part of the Wellington College family. Since I was in China Taiwan for a decade, culturally also Tianjin seemed to be a seamless transition for me and my young daughters. I’m excited about what the future will bring!

Rashmi：Landing into the field of teaching a decade ago was a leap of faith but staying in it was simply because I love spending time with students. I love facilitating and watching the process of learning. As I spent more time in the classroom, I found myself thinking of more and more creative ways of teaching. It’s the joy of witnessing the ‘Aha!’ moment in my classroom over and over again that has built my passion for teaching.

Rashmi：Even in my early years of teaching, the desire to professionally develop myself was strong. I remember reading an article about the importance of early childhood education and how it affects the future of the world. I read some startling statistics about how children who received a well-rounded education in their early years, naturally grew up to be more discerning individuals resulting in a rise in income levels and a fall in crime rate. The benefits of a good early childhood education are numerous, but it is this article that started it all for me.

Rashmi：The student population of each class at a private high school that I was teaching in was 40. At the time, we were only two English teachers who taught all classes between Year 7 and Year 12. This made marking and keeping track of student work extremely difficult. 

It was then I played around with Google Classroom and researched how it could benefit the students and us teachers. I initially started by migrating all student work, materials and assignments to Google Classroom only for Year 7. I noticed that it was much easier to stay on track, mark work and meet deadlines. The students also took active interest in familiarizing themselves with this new technology that would soon become an inextricable part of their learning. Students were able to express themselves in ways they had never done before through videos and pictures. It was an exciting time!

I presented this idea to the upper management and fortunately, they were on-board with it. Soon, Google Classroom was implemented school-wide where it continues to be used effectively.

Rashmi：I would prioritise focusing on building a strong rapport with my students and colleagues this year. Additionally, I would like to make family engagement a top priority because to form a strong learning community, student learning must be supported at home too. Finally, making learning enjoyable and fun is another vital aspect I will concentrate on.

Rashmi：I would encourage parents of young children to communicate with teachers to stay informed about their child’s progress and how best they can aide it. Parents should extend learning by reinforcing routines established at school and by asking more open-ended questions to their child about their learning.