Dr. Isaac Devakumar’s Teaching Portfolio

1. YOUR STORY
Please tell us why you deserve to win the Global Teacher Prize. Share your story about being a teacher, your background, why you chose to dedicate your career to teaching and why you believe you have made an outstanding contribution to the profession.
Please include specific examples of the challenges you have faced, your innovation in the classroom, your classroom results, and your impact in the community. Finally, if you had to choose one achievement that you feel makes you worthy of winning Global Teacher Prize, what would it be?

My name is Dr. ISAAC DEVAKUMAR, from India, and have been currently teaching Mathematics for the age group 14 to 18 years at CBC International School, Hefei, China. I have been teaching in China since 2015, and have got 25 years of teaching experience from India and China. I come from a middle-class family and did my elementary education in a Corporation Elementary School and continued my studies in high schools and colleges in our hometown. I studied in a Christian high school where my father was a science teacher. When I was studying in grade-7, I took a science lesson taught by my father. At the end of the lesson, my father instructed his students to bring their unused clothes and notebooks to the classroom to assist poor students. This example of kindness and thoughtfulness inspired me and led me to become a teacher. After I graduated high school, I began studying mathematics at a local college in my hometown Erode. Meanwhile, I was focusing on acquiring teaching skills and following my father’s example of helping the less fortunate. In my final year of college, I decided to put these skills and desires into practice, and my goal then was to teach poor students within my modest home. So, I printed handbills and went door by door to the slums to begin a class for less fortunate and dropped-out students of our town. Initially, with 6 students, I began my class in my tiny tile-roofed house. Most of them were from poor backgrounds, and their poverty backgrounds meant that they lacked self-confidence and moral support. Some of them had been forced to drop out of school and were devoid of education opportunities. The rest of them were child laborers working with their parents for daily wages. Their parents were coolies or doing labor work such as building construction or in textiles or were street cleaners. I started my class in my small tile-roofed room with a 3’ x 2’ black painted blackboard on the wall and our home’s mats on the floor for students. When it rained and the roof leaked, I placed vessels among the students to catch the raindrops and continued to teach. I did not have teaching aids or materials at first, so I improvised and created teaching aids such as protractors, set squares, rulers, and a compass from cardboard and blocks of wood. I used my waste shirt clothes as a duster. When the power went out at home, as it regularly did, I trimmed a small hurricane lamp filled with kerosene and dipped threads, and set to work learning Mathematics, science, and English. Although we didn’t fit into my small home, I didn’t have enough money to rent an appropriate facility. Since my father was the only income-earning person in my family and he had to take care of his six children, he was unable to help me financially, so renting an additional building was beyond our means. So, I applied for a part-time job in a private school in our town and began teaching before-school hours. Eventually, I rented a room for my tuition classes and taught the poor free of cost, and collected nominal fees from afforded students. A few students were able to pay for their tuition, and the fees were used to offset the expenses of those poor students’ education. I named my Tuition center after my father to honor his inspiration to me. I graduated and began teaching full-time at the same school where I was a part-time teacher. To upgrade my studies, I enrolled for B.Ed. Special Education through distance education. During this time, my mother died and I reflected on what I valued most in life and determined that I needed to renew my efforts to help those less fortunate than me. I continued working during weekends and wanted to expand my reach beyond the few I could teach in my tuition center and to the poor students. I approached several local TV stations in our town and subsequently partnered with them to create educational content aimed at helping those youths with poor backgrounds. I began offering these classes in Mathematics and quickly saw success, and brought in other teachers to expand the offerings to include other subjects. I am proud that thousands of students have benefited from these online programs, which didn’t exist until I created them. In my 25 years of teaching experience in India and China, I have produced hundreds of less fortunate, underprivileged, and students from financially poor family backgrounds as teachers, engineers, doctors, managers, government officers, businessmen, and lawyers. This is the achievement that I feel makes me worthy of winning the Global Teacher Prize.

2. CONTEXT AND CHALLENGES (optional)
Please tell us about the context in which you teach and any particular challenges that your school or students face.
(For instance, the personal, health, learning, family, or social and environmental obstacles that your students have to overcome.)

I encounter many challenges as I have been teaching Chinese students from diverse backgrounds. One of the challenges I face in our school is the language barrier. Teaching in English to Chinese students is one of the biggest challenges. The second challenge I face is bringing diversity to a homogeneous society. The third challenge is miscommunication and the fourth is health problems. Moreover, Chinese students navigate complex and unfamiliar systems, often without a clear understanding of their choices. Their parents struggle to articulate their desires and expectations. As a teacher counselor, I have been providing the required guidance to prospective students and their parents to achieve their goals which are helpful to them to make good decisions in their educational pursuits. Chinese students sometimes struggle in the area of critical thinking and independent learning. Critical thinking is separate from simply memorizing; it is about the application and asking unique questions. I have introduced many programs in the schools where I am teaching so that students might come out of these barriers and make their learning easier. Some of the programs I have introduced are Critical and Lateral Thinking Club, Talk to Heart, Math Club, Cultural Club, and many more programs through which students can develop their various learning skills. Currently, I am focusing on 17 Sustainable Development Goals provided by UNESCO and training my students on 21st-century skills in order to achieve SDGs. I have been teaching and training my students with many strategies to develop their skills and overcome these challenges. These strategies are very helpful to my students to develop their skills, meeting their academic expectations, and achieve their goals.

3. YOUR TEACHING APPROACH (optional)
Please tell us about your teaching approach. (For example, are there tried and tested models of practice that you have used which are effective, replicable and scaleable?)

My teaching approach is “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn”. I am always concerned and respectful of students and students’ learning. I pay more attention to the student’s behavior and attitudes as well. I use different strategies to make my class a positive environment. I use the PBL (Project Based Learning) method to develop their lifelong learning skills. I use the following strategies such as visualization, cooperative learning, Inquiry-based instruction, teaching with technology in the classroom, behavior management, and professional development. I do formative and summative assessments during the course. I make clear goals and intellectual challenges by setting high standards for students. I create learning tasks appropriate to the student’s level of understanding. I never forget to assign homework assignments for practice. I encourage and appreciate students for their good performance and award them grades according to their performance. For the first time in China, I introduced Indian Vedic Mathematics to solve math problems in an easy and faster way. This easy and faster method is very useful for my students in math calculations, especially in preparation for the A-Level and AP Exams. As a result, students learn problem-solving skills and score good grades in the exams. My teaching approach is mainly centered on developing students’ critical thinking and leadership skills. One of my favorite methods of teaching subjects is teaching with prank videos. I teach lessons with prank videos to make the class lively and fun to teach course content. As most international websites are blocked in China, I pay more attention to Blended learning and try to provide as many learning and practice materials as I can.

4. INNOVATION (optional)
Tell us about any creative, unusual or otherwise extraordinary teaching practices you have introduced in your lessons that you believe has made a difference to your students’ education or even helped them overcome any particular challenges they may face. (For example, innovative instructional practices such as introducing technology into the classroom, redesigning how you teach the curriculum, working with other organisations, evidence on fostering wider softer skills and personal attributes in young people which support their development for the future labour force and society etc.)

I teach students many innovative strategies and activities to make their learning easier, more joyful, and more valuable. I always train my students to think out of the box and innovate in and out of the classroom, and develop different life skills, thereby inculcating innovation and creativity. With my 25 years of teaching experience and 34 years of spiritual experience, I provide my students with holistic education where I seek to address the emotional, social, ethical, and academic needs of students in an integrated learning format. Here are some of the innovative methods and effective instructional practices and student learning outcomes in my classroom: Teaching with JAVA Codes and QR Codes, teaching with hands-on equations, Blended learning, Inclusive education, PBL method, teaching with advanced Vedic math techniques, teaching with activities, Inquiry-Based Learning, teaching with classroom technology, Jigsaws technique, cooperative learning, teaching Danielson’s method, teaching STEM, teaching with games, student-centered teaching, teaching with songs and dance, teaching with skits, teaching with videos, 3D videos, prank videos, and teaching 21st-century skills and working on 17 SDGs provided by UNESCO. As I have been a soft skill trainer since 1997, I teach and train my students on various soft skills and personal attributes for the students’ development for the future labor force society. I create simulations that help my students better understand the subject contents and make my students participate in the science exhibitions in order to exhibit their creativity through the models. I connect with schools from other countries to figure out the solutions to world problems. These innovations encourage students to research, collaborate, explore, and use all the tools to uncover something new. Moreover, it brings a highly positive impact on students’ learning. I redesign the curriculum according to students’ levels of learning. I also work with other organizations to find solutions for prevailing world problems.

5. CLASSROOM ACHIEVEMENT (optional)
Please highlight some of the measurable outcomes that are the result of your teaching practices. (Give specific examples of how your teaching has produced excellent results in terms of student outcomes. This could be through examination or test results which illustrate student progress. It may be through improvement in inspection results/special recognition such as awards for your school, class or students. It may be the number of students who have gone to university/college and graduated, or improved student behaviour or attendance. Please include numbers/scores showing the impact you have had on individuals/groups of students).

Successfully implemented a series of activity-based learning programs, resulting in increased students’ interest and involvement by 90% in regular lessons. Developed advanced Vedic math short-cut techniques for the first time in China and made Mathematics easier for my students to score higher grades in the exams. Increased students’ tests & exam results from 40% to 80% through my innovative, creative, and effective teaching strategies. Made 80% of my students attain excellent results. Trained students for international competitions and contests such as The Mathematics League, Beaver Computing Challenge, Math Kangaroo and etc., resulting in 90% of my students ranking in the top 25% of contestants. Motivated, encouraged, and trained my students to participate in local, national, and international level competitions and contests resulting in my students winning many prizes, honors, awards, and gold and silver medals. Increased the number of students enrolled in universities/colleges by 90% every year. Planned and implemented various programs such as the student exchange program, Creative Lateral Thinking Club, Talk to Heart Program, Math Club, Cultural club, various community services, sports, cultural events and etc., resulting in the schools’ winning awards and honors. Developed, implemented, and executed the following: Teaching with JAVA Codes and QR Codes, teaching with hands-on equations, Blended learning, Inclusive education, PBL method, and teaching with classroom technology resulting in increased student participation and learning by 90%. Attained ‘The Excellent Teaching Awards of the years 2016 & 2017’ continuously from the Chinese Government and more than 40 awards and honors from various organizations in India for my excellence in teaching and community services. Implemented behavioral programs that enriched the student learning experience and improved their behavior and attitude through moral instructions and soft skill training resulting in 95% of my students’ improvement in their behavior and attitude. Assisted hundred of my students in their employment placements.

6. ABOVE AND BEYOND – COMMUNITY IMPACT (optional)
Please tell us about what you do “above and beyond” the requirements of your role to ensure your students get the education you feel they deserve.
In addition please tell us about work that you do in the community that is separate to your work as a teacher. (For example: community fundraising, volunteering roles, participation in community awards, talks, seminars, membership of local organisations, written contributions in media, working with others to tackle specific problems in the community) (For example: creating special programmes outside of school hours, providing special one-to-one tuition, reaching out to the family and community for their support, providing guidance in other aspects of your students’ lives to help them focus on their education. It could also include: community fundraising, volunteering roles, participation in community awards, talks, seminars; membership of local organisations, written contributions in media, working with others to tackle specific problems in the community)

I plan, create and implement lots of special programs outside of school hours such as Creative Lateral Thinking Club, Math Club, Cultural Club, Talk to Heart program and etc., in order to develop students’ academic performance and to develop various skills. I provide special one-to-one and group tuitions to needy students after school hours and during weekends to provide them with a comfortable learning environment, strengthen their academic weaknesses, and improve their understanding. I believe that when families and communities work together with schools, students do better in school. So, I provide counseling and guidance to the parents and community through open houses, parent-teacher meetings, counseling programs for higher studies, and career development and make plans to achieve students’ academic and career goals. As I believe that community service and volunteerism enable students to acquire life skills, as well as provide them an opportunity to render their service to needy people, I have been organizing and conducting many community service and volunteer service projects such as visiting senior citizens’ homes, controlling traffic and etc., resulting the students gain real-world experience and many life skills. 

In order to promote unity between India and China, I have hosted presentations on satellite television about the formation of good relationships that are to be developed between these two countries due to the meeting between the Prime Minister of India and the President of China. As a result of my television presentations, 200,000 people from India applied for Chinese visas to visit China.

I have also been a member of many local and international organizations since 1996, such as the Lions Club, Rotary Club, The  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and etc., Apart from my teaching profession, being a member of many organizations, I have been doing lots of community services, charity work, and volunteer services personally and by joining with organizations which I am a member of, such as fundraising, visiting Childrens’ home, voluntary donations, visiting hospitals, orphanages and etc., Also I do many volunteer services through local television programs. I have been participating in community awards, talks, and seminars as well. I have also been working with some NGOs to tackle problems in the community.  

7. DEVELOPING GLOBAL CITIZENS (optional)
Explain your approach to embedding global citizenship in your classroom and how you define the success of your work in this area.
Please give specific examples about how you give young people a sense of responsibility that extends beyond their country’s borders as well as the life and work skills that will prepare them for a 21st-century world where they will potentially live, work and socialize with people from many different nationalities, cultures, and religions. (Examples could be through connecting with other classrooms around the world, field trips, making use of technology to reach out beyond your community and country, arranging work placements or other introductions to the world of work; and promoting student exchange programmes.)

Here are some of my innovative and effective instructional practices that enable the students to become global citizens: I connect my classes with classrooms from other countries through the Zoom app to have mutual learning about different cultures, religions, heritage, languages, traditions and etc., I have started a Cultural Club through which I teach world cultures to prepare my students for a 21st-century world where they will potentially live, work and socialize with people from many different nationalities. I have created a website; http://reachthehigh.com/ for my students in order to arrange work placements locally and abroad. I make use of technology such as Zoom App, Ding Talk, WeChat, and various websites to reach out beyond our community and country. I have been promoting Students Exchange Programs in the schools wherever I work resulting in students getting different life experiences in another country, expanding language skills, and gaining knowledge about different cultures, religions, educational systems and etc., I take my class on field trips to the universities, concerts, fashion shows and the virtual field trips. I always incorporate lessons on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provided by UNESCO that are to be achieved by 2030. We have been working together on 17 SDGs such as The Hunger Project, planting, water and sanitation, well-being, peacebuilding, and more to contribute to the wider world community.  I teach students different cultures through music, song, and dance as well.  Moreover, I teach students different languages, cultures, traditions and etc., in order to make them global citizens.

8. IMPROVING THE TEACHING PROFESSION (optional)
Share how you are contributing to the improvement of the teaching profession. How are you helping to raise the bar of teaching, sharing best practices with your colleagues and helping them overcome the challenges they face in your school or in their school? (For example, through teaching or mentoring teachers at your school, other schools or teacher training college; contributing to public debates on the teaching profession, whether through speaking engagements, writing articles, blogs, media participation, social media campaigns, events or conferences; or other examples of practice that have elevated the status of teaching in your country.)

Since 1996, I have been contributing to the improvement of the teaching profession. I started a Teacher’s Training Institution in my hometown Erode in India by name IDK Educational Institution, affiliated to BSS, the NDA Promoted by the Government of India, through which I have been offering many teachers-education-courses such as a Diploma in Primary Education, Diploma in Elementary Education, and Diploma in Montessori and Child Education, and arranging job opportunities for my students in the schools by introducing them to the school administrators and through my website: http://reachthehigh.com/ that I have created. As a result, hundreds of students have graduated and got teaching jobs in schools. So far I have produced around 3000 teachers over the past 14 years. I have also been mentoring my colleagues to help them enhance their teaching strategies for effective classroom teaching and providing them required guidance to overcome the challenges they face with the school and students. I have been providing professional teacher training to school teachers online and offline (whenever I go back to India) on “how to be an effective teacher”. Moreover, I have been training B.Ed., College students in order to make them effective teachers. As I have been a professional television anchor and an educator as well, I have conducted hundreds of awareness programs, speeches, debates on the teaching profession, and interviews with job providers on local TV channels and public programs in order to inspire viewers to become teachers. I have undergone several teacher professional development training from various organizations, experts, College Board, and AISL (Asia International Schools Limited) in order to enhance my own teaching quality.  To share my best practices and to encourage teachers around me to try new innovative things in their classrooms, I have opened up my classroom to many teachers from inside and outside of our school to observe my teaching and discuss their observations with me afterward. I have also been posting many YouTube videos on teacher training.

9. RECOGNITION OF YOUR TEACHING (optional)
Please give specific examples of recognition for your work from pupils, colleagues, head-teachers or other members of the community. (This could be through local/national teaching awards; recognition in local/national press or academic publications; references or testimonials from high achieving students, peers, principals; active senior level membership of an external organisation or board that furthers an element of education).

 I have won more than 40 awards and honors from various organizations in India, China, and America for my excellence in teaching, my contribution to education, international achievements, and outstanding community services. They are as follows: “Certificate of Honor” in 1997 & 2000. In 2004, the “Iswaryam Excellence Award and The Best Teacher Award of the year 2004.  In 2005, the “Gold Star Award”,  “Saathanai Semmal Award” and “The Best Achiever Award”. In 2006, “The Best Teacher Award”. In 2007, “Saathanai Sirpi Award” and “Rajiv Gandhi Award”. In 2008, ”Erode Ramanujam Award”. In 2009,  “MGR Award”. In2010, “Arignar Anna Award”, “Indira Gandhi Award” and  “Srinivasa Ramanujam Award”. In 2011 “Seva Ratna Award”. In 2013, “The Best Citizen Award”. In 2014, “The Best Community Server Award”.  In 2016  & 2017, “The Excellent Teaching Awards” from the Government of China for the excellence in classroom teaching. In 2016, The Honors from the  Deputy Superintend of Police, Erode District, Tamilnadu, Ex. Municipal Counselor, Erode Municipality, Tamilnadu, CSI Saint Paul’s Church, Krishnampalayam, Erode, Tamilnadu, The Social Welfare Association, Krishnampalayam Colony, Erode, Tamilnadu. In 2018, A Honorary Doctorate Award from the University of South America. In 2019, “Global Teacher Role model award”. In 2020, “The lifetime achievement golden peacock award”, and in 2021, “The Pride of Nation Pratibha Samman Award”. In addition, many articles about my achievements have been published in several newspapers, e-newspapers, various websites, weekly and monthly magazines, posters, and social media such as “Amma Magazine” Vigadan Monthly”, “Om Sakthi Monthly”, Dhinamalar Tamil Newspaper, Dhinathanthi Tamil newspaper, Chronicles English Newspaper, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Baidu.com, Youtube and FM radio.

10. CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION (optional)
Please demonstrate how you have shown a commitment to sustainable education by integrating climate change and environmental topics into the curriculum. (Please tell us: How are you fostering students’ understanding of the causes, effects and solutions to climate change? Have you helped your students understand their own impact on the environment? Have you introduced any innovative teaching methods and programs that empower students to take action on climate change, engage with environmental organizations, and advocate and raise awareness on the importance of reducing carbon footprint and promoting sustainable l iving? What difference did these actions make? Have you also promoted sustainable practices within your own school and the wider community?)

Climate change is a global problem that affects every living thing on Earth. I teach my students about climate change and the current scenarios. I always teach my students the facts about climate change, what’s going on around us due to climate change, the science behind the greenhouse effect, and how global warming affects the Earth and etc., I also teach my students about climate change through many games that would help save the planet. I teach about reusing household items, reducing the amount of Carbon dioxide in the air and etc., Then and there I conduct small competitions, such as speaking competitions, writing competitions, debates, and role play in the class on the topic of climate change. I also talk in my classes about various famous personalities who regularly campaign for the right actions to be taken for a better future. Above all, I teach my students the Sustainable Development Goals in my curriculum. Even though this content is added to my regular lessons, I teach my students about climate change at least once a week so that linking learning to SDGs allows students to see how the ideas apply to the real world around them. Moreover, in our school I follow Beijing, air quality guidelines and procedures for particle pollution. Our school Harrow Beijing carries out continuous air quality monitoring inside our buildings and we refer several times a day to figures published by the US Embassy, Beijing for outdoor levels of particle pollution. This information is circulated via email several times a day. Decisions made to adapt or cancel outdoor activities are based on the latest AQIUS guidance and WHO guidelines and are clearly set out in our school procedures, which are regularly reviewed. I teach my students about the Air Quality Index, who needs to be concerned, and air quality procedures.

11. USE OF THE PRIZE FUNDS
If you were to win the Prize, how do you plan to spend the money in the short term and over the next 10 years? The money would be yours to spend as you wish, however please share any projects that you are passionate about e.g. teaching, school or community related projects that would benefit from the additional funding and worldwide recognition the Prize would bring.

As I believe illiteracy is the root cause of all the problems in people’s lives, I will donate 50% of my prize money to our Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ekal Vidhyalaya Educational project and join hands with that project to provide quality and value-based education to the poor, rural, dropped-out, and underprivileged and girl children of our country India to eradicate illiteracy and making a powerful future generation. I will spend the remaining prize money to expand my “IDK Educational Institution” to provide vocational training and skill training to the people of India to eradicate unemployment and poverty. I will spend a part of the prize money to accomplish UNESCO’s 17 SDGs in our country which will result in India will become a poverty-free and 100% literacy country by 2030. If required I will apply for more funds from the government or funding organizations to support my projects through which I will enhance my projects to a higher level. I will also strive to develop higher education in order to produce intellectual minds in our country.