Learning and Leading - September/October 2011

The Outstanding Teacher Award honors a teacher who has improved education through the effective use of technology.

Bijal Damani, Outstanding Teacher

Higher secondary teacher specializing in business education, S.N. Kansagra School, Rajkot, Gujarat, India

It’s hard to encapsulate the single project, idea, or characteristic that sets Damani apart. Colleagues boast about her focus on the whole child and teaching through project-based learning. Perhaps the best example of this is the Galaxy Bazaar, a project she started with her high school commerce students in 2005. That first year, 29 students organized and put on a huge bazaar at the school and made about 8,000 rupees (about $177 in today’s U.S. dollars) of profit, which they donated to charity. The project has grown substantially since then. Last year, the project earned 400,000 rupees ($8,888).

Students sell gifts and food and run a game zone where bazaar-goers can play laser tag and other games. Students work all year planning and organizing the event and even sign on sponsors. They create promotional materials, work with wholesalers, contact the media, and manage dozens of other behind-the-scenes tasks that not only make the event a success, but also teach students volumes about commerce. They donate the money to a charity that educates underprivileged children in the city.

Damani uses technology in every aspect of teaching. Her school website is packed with resources for both students and their parents. Her students create e-portfolios, use digital cameras to illustrate their perspectives of the world, and use Google Docs and Spreadsheets to share their mock investment portfolios.

What her nominator says: “The characteristic of an outstanding teacher is the ability to make the moment of learning exciting and creative, a moment never forgotten. This happens through the infusion of one’s own excitement and acquired knowledge into the process of learning. Ms. Damani is extremely creative and converts social networking media like Facebook into an educational and collaborative tool, helping and guiding the students on the correct usage.” —David Morris, India Council for Integral Education

What her colleagues say: “Gifted with an innovative mind, Bijal always looks for solutions and ways to draw out the best from her learners. Over the years, I’ve been a witness to many such practices. Her pioneering work in integrating ICT in the classroom began with the e-classroom. She has also successfully encouraged all her students to develop e-portfolios of their own, thus gifting them with the most crucial ICT skills needed by 21st century learners.” —Sujata Kini, English teacher, S. N. Kansagra School

What the judges say: “Her integration of project-based learning, her concern for each individual child, and her bringing together of social activism with entrepreneurship is very powerful.”

What she says: “Each child is a unique individual having various talents and skills. Teachers have to identify and tap the latent potential within each child. I believe in development of the ‘whole child’—the physical, intellectual, and spiritual.”