Positive discipline and financial literacy; a Teacherly story with Pranti Zaveri

Everybody loves a good story and nobody tells one better than a teacher. These are Teacherly Stories: for sharing authentic moments, shining a light on the human side of teaching, and celebrating the incredible teachers we know.

Pranti Zaveri is a grade two teacher and Teacherly Navigator from Dubai, UAE. Pranti has spear-headed initiatives such as the Life Skills Programme, which is a school-wide entrepreneurship programme for students and she is passionate about financial literacy at the earliest stages. She is an entrepreneur, NEASC team visitor and PYP Educator… and she just gave birth to a beautiful daughter, who was napping just long enough for us to have this interview.

How I got into teaching

I am an accidental teacher. I did my degree in sport science and biology and after finishing university in the UK, I came back to the UAE and got my first job in a school teaching swimming and PE. I absolutely enjoyed it. One of my lessons was held in a classroom and I fell in love with that part especially, so I decided to get my degree in teaching through the American University of Dubai. I got my masters in elementary education and that’s how everything changed for me. I have a very supportive family and husband. When I fall in love with something, I go over the top; that’s what happened when I started teaching. There was never a time limit on how much time I spent working. I’d spend hours in the classroom after school: researching new strategies, collaborating with other teachers, and finding new ways to teach.

I think a good classroom looks like chaos; it’s noise and kids moving around. That’s what I miss the most right now because I’m off with the baby. I miss the classroom, but at the same time I don’t want to miss her childhood either, so I’ve switched my research obsession to early-years education. Did you know babies can only see in black and white from 0–2 months? I’ve learned that it’s important for her to see high-contrast images to help develop her eyesight. I’ve also been researching Montessori schools to see what the differences are in their approach with Inquiry based learning. I am interested in researching how Montessori tools can be used in an inquiry based learning way and to foster creativity in my child.

My passion for research has always driven my interests, and it started with the professors I met during my masters degree. I take each child in my class as an opportunity to learn something new, and it’s a challenge but it’s what makes me love teaching. I like to implement new strategies and integrate new concepts in the classroom such as flexible seating, technology applications, games, current events. I always try my best to involve students in the learning process. This idea really helped me as a teacher when I was teaching money to second graders, and realized that kids understood the concept better with real world connections and especially connecting math with their personal business projects. Spending money wisely is an important skill that we learn later on in life and I wondered how we could make it feel relevant to them.

The life skills programme

My first teaching position was at Next Generation School in Dubai, teaching grade two. There I had the opportunity to create my own programme called the life skills programme, which was an entrepreneurship initiative for students. We created a school-wide currency and then the kids got to create their own business plans with products and services.

The programme was based on the philosophy of giving, saving, and spending. We learn too late in life how to spend money wisely, or how to save, so this programme was designed to improve financial literacy at the earliest stages. Each student had a classroom job and they were paid to do through a school-wide currency with a school bank account that they managed themselves. They were then asked to become entrepreneurs and create their own businesses. School can become rigid sometimes with the curriculums and standards that you have to follow, but I wanted our students to have space to grow outside of that. They all had to tap into their creativity and learn what they loved to do. It could be as simple as making bookmarks or paintings, but I remember one student who was interested in the environment made terrariums. We gave them opportunities to sell their products to each other with the school’s currency, and then we expanded to having parents days so that students could earn real money to reinvest in their businesses. We also wanted to teach them about social impact and how to give, so we encouraged them to donate the money they’d earned in school currency to charity. The school then converted it into real money and that way we were able to build a well in another country

I came up with the idea when I was teaching money to second graders, and realized the kids didn’t have any concept of what it really meant. Kids were unknowingly spending money in the school store or cafeteria and I wondered how we could make it feel relevant to them. What was beautiful about the programme was that it was school-wide. First graders were selling products to fourth-graders, and we watched how their learning translated into how they communicated about real money spending. It had a lot of student voice and choice and really gave them confidence. It also gave students an opportunity to pursue their passion from a young age. One of the kids from the program is a published author and has written several novels. One of her novels is selling on Amazon!

Positive discipline and building relationships with students

I’m trained in positive discipline, which is based out of the UK and was founded by Jane Nelson. In positive discipline there are no rewards or punishments. I don’t give dojo points or stickers to students who do well, and I don’t do time-outs or missed recesses for students who are misbehaving, because in real life that’s not what happens. Positive discipline mandates that you connect before you correct: you have to establish a relationship first. It’s not always easy. Some kids come from previous teachers who gave dojo points or stars, so it takes a while to change their mindset. As they bond with you, they learn that when they do well the reward is feeling good about themselves and being proud of their work, and that if they don’t they are hurting themselves and damaging their relationships, which is much closer to what happens in life.

Positive discipline offers many activities that you can do with your students to get to know them and build relationships. I love read-alouds because it’s easy to connect with a book and talk about it. You can do a presentation about yourself on the first day of school so that they know who their teacher is and what you like. You can have them bring in a mystery bag of things they love, or an artefact that they can share and discuss with the class. We do circle time where we sit and give each other compliments or say positive affirmations: “I am capable, I am unique, I am kind.” There are classroom meetings where we discuss the agenda and they have an opportunity to talk about any issues they’re having in school. We call it bugs and wishes; what is something that’s bugging them and what do they wish would happen instead?

I also do something called the cool-out space. It’s a space in the classroom where they can go if they feel angry, upset or stressed. We teach them that if someone speaks to another person in an angry way, it will make that person feel angry too. When you’re angry, you’re not able to think clearly, so you need space to cool out. There are activities in the cool-out space to help them relax. They can read a book, or there are sensory toys to play with and a couch to sit on if they just want to close their eyes.

One of my favourite beginning of the year activities is called “It’s a jungle.” You tell the class to choose between four animals: chameleon, eagle, lion or turtle. Then you group the children according to what they chose. The kids who choose lions are generally the stronger personalities, chameleons can be indecisive, turtles are quieter and the eagles are the kids who want a birds-eye view of everything. Listening to their discussions about why they chose their animal will help you learn more about their personalities in a quick and fun way.

Some of my “bugs and wishes” as a teacher

I wish teachers were more willing and able to collaborate. We should be collaborating within grade-levels and also vertically throughout the school. Lesson planning can also be challenging and tedious. I would much rather create the actual lesson than monotonously write out a plan for what I’m going to do on a piece of paper. I’d love to see schools give more ownership and freedom to teachers, and to use teacher voice in the planning processes to get us involved in what works and what doesn’t and share best practices.

I’m a Teacherly Navigator so I’ve created over 100 grade two lessons on Teacherly. It’s a great platform for collaboration and working. In a situation where some kids are in class and some aren’t, teachers are able to use the same lessons so they’re not doubling the work. It’s also so silly, but a lot of times you create and plan lessons but then they get lost, whether they’re on paper or stored in Google Drive. Teacherly lets you put everything in one place so you can access lessons two years down the line and use them again. Documenting what you’re doing in the classroom and your student’s learning is much easier too.

I don’t want to be an outstanding teacher but an inspiring one. Inspire the new generation to achieve what they dream!

If you want to check out Pranti’s lessons on Teacherly you can sign up for free today. If you’re already a part of the team, just type Pranti’s name into the search bar under “lesson templates” and all of her lessons will come up.

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