M:ON:DAY- Are You Ready?
Countless educational conferences are carried out each year and most of them aren’t cheap. Pricey tickets, accommodation and taking time away from work, make choosing the absolutely best conference a must- because despite the logistics, conferences can be extremely useful (even life-changing) for educators.
TME continues to bring snacks to the table! Roots Millennium Institute of Professional Development-MIPDE brought together literacy specialists from all over Pakistan at the largest Teacher Development Conference (TDC), based on an immensely real theme, “M:ON:DAY- AM I READY?”. Throwing in ideas, questions, challenges, and opportunities for collaborations, these specialists made every minute worthwhile.
The conference played out in an informal, self-steering interactive session where the speakers took the lead on topics, ideas, and actions. A whopping 1000 teachers and organizers, were over the moon and highly motivated to take the new learning initiatives and training ahead to their classrooms. This year’s conference pulled in leading national and international speakers including Mr. Abbas Husain; Director Teachers Development Centre, Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy; a renowned Nuclear Physicist, Umair Jaliawala; CEO to the School of Leadership, Syed Talat Hussain; a Geostrategic Analysit, Uzma Yousuf; Country Director CAIE, Shazia Khawar; Regional Director, Society South Asia, British Council, Saman Imtiaz; Head of Study UK and IES British Council, Dr. Rizwan Taj; Head of Psychiatry PIMS, along with representatives from Microsoft Pakistan who motivated and injected new ideas into the conference delegates comprising of the CEO of Roots Millennium Education, Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq TI, Chief Operating Officer Anna Faisal, Directors, Head Mistress’, Branch Heads, Academic Coordinators and the entire teaching faculty.
The glorious Dr. Arif Alvi, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was invited as the worthy Chief Guest on this promising day who heightened the eclectic responsibility of teachers in an era where everything is interrelated. A lot of emphasis was put on the fact that it has become urgent to transform our schools from centers of teaching and learning to hubs of innovation, creativity, and excellence. The honorable President appreciated TME’s commitment to the outstanding development of students who, alongside academics, are seen on the forefront in all international and national mega events.
Mr. Abbas Hussain, the founder of SPELT (Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers), facilitated the conference and spoke to the delegates about the concept of open and closed space in classrooms. He also enlightened the audience on how effective and enthusiastic teaching converts all kinds of areas into learning spaces that work on nurturing young minds and fostering quicker learning. He drew attention to the point that the ideal and intrinsically motivated teachers open new doors of knowledge which help intelligence transition from one phase to another productive one.
The phenomenal Umair Jaliawala blew away the audience with his motivational talk. He urged the teachers to build positive classrooms that don’t insulate learning spaces from young and impressionable students. In between the constructing of activities and the mesmerizing stories he told, he left everyone in the room starstruck.
Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy talked about the 21st century skills that students need to survive and succeed in the world to come keeping in mind that it will be one that is equipped entirely with digital technicalities. His message of creating safe spaces for such an environment hit a soft spot in the audience.
Pakistani journalist, foreign policy commentator and television personality, Mr. Talat Hussain made an elaborate speech about the impact of social media on mental health of young minds. With the internet becoming a necessity in every home and office, a ridiculously large number of today’s youth spend most of their time online. Mr. Hussain also highlighted that this was the roots cause of problems like depression and cyber bullying.
While addressing this session of the Teachers Development Conference, the CEO of the prestigious education system, TME and Founder MIPD, Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq, put forth the underlying objective of the conference. His parley revolved around creating collaborative thinking on key subjects like education in order to generate thought provoking discussions on contemporary approaches. He rehearsed that the institution’s support of the legendary history of teaching, learning, and knowledge creation is the reason the conference was brought to life. From the beginning, the vision of the Teacher Development Conferences has been to bring teachers into direct contact with leading scholars, academia, and educational thinkers in a stimulating environment so that they take back new ideas and energy for their classrooms when they leave.
The Teacher’s Development Conference, 2018 was to serve the purpose of presenting world class learning opportunities to the teachers making a part of TME. These educators were given a platform not only to express themselves as educators, but also to discover the hidden potential in each one of them, leading to the discovery of their true selves.
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