Dr. Rachna Shah, EdD in Mind, Brain & Teaching | Program Coordinator & Faculty at I Am A Teacher

In this episode, we discuss how Rachna transitioned from working as a clinical psychologist to teaching children with learning difficulties, what sparked her interest in pursuing a doctorate in education at Johns Hopkins, and the different ways her experiences in the EdD program have impacted the ways she understands teaching and her hopes for a more holistic approach to education in the future.

Hosted by Brooklyn Arroyo

To connect with Rachna and to learn more about her story, visit her page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.

Transcript

Brooklyn Arroyo

Hello I'm co-host Brooklyn Arroyo and this is 100 alumni voices podcast, stories that inspire, where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today we're joined by Rachna Shah, EdD in brain, mind and teaching, currently working as a program coordinator at I Am a Teacher. Welcome to The PHutures podcast. I'm really excited to work with you today.

Rachna Shah

Thank you, Brooklyn. I appreciate this opportunity and looking forward to it.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Of course. So, I know that we're in a pretty big time difference right now. Is it the night time for you?

Rachna Shah

Yes, it's around 11 pm in India, so.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Wow. Truly, this is probably one of the biggest time differences, so I'm really excited to be able to to widen our range at PHutures Podcast, but let's just jump right into what led you to go down the path of education and specifically, brain, mind and teaching?

Rachna Shah

So, I was actually working at a school for children with learning difficulties, and while I was working there, there was a lot to learn. I had switched my career. I was actually a clinical psychologist. I was working with, you know, the more extreme population in terms of drug addicts, schizophrenics, mood disorders, and I had conceived and during that time, I wanted to take a break and when my daughter was very little, I decided a friend of mine offered me to work with children with learning difficulties, and at that time I didn't know too much about the field. So, I got in and I thought I'll experiment, but I got really intrigued and I did a lot of courses in the interim and learned my way. Got a great opportunity. A school for children with learning disabilities was just about starting in in Mumbai, in India and I joined that organization. The first six years of the organization while I worked there was outstanding because there was constant growth and I was learning and working my way to figure out how to do different pedagogical skills in the classroom. At some point, after five to six years, I felt like I had reached my zenith. And I needed more because no, there was a lot that we were doing already in school and I there was some aspects that I wasn't able to kind of decipher. We were doing research. But research in India was not in education is not very big and I wanted I wanted to know more. And so that's when I came across the Johns Hopkins course in it, which is the first virtual program that I was witnessing. And I was really excited because it wasn't possible for me to leave home and be away from my family for three years. So, I saw this was this great opportunity to give me a global platform and also see best practices around the world. That's when I kind of enrolled and then a long story thereafter.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Yeah, the start of a big journey, I'm sure. So, working within education has its own challenges and can be really taxing and then working with students who had learning disabilities or special needs and and then you also stepped in from a space of clinical psychology. And what were some of the biggest differences and shift of mentality or did you have to prepare yourself in any way from stepping from the clinical psychology space into that new space?

Rachna Shah

Absolutely. I think there was a huge shift in terms of learning, which was extremely stimulating for me because I love understanding and learning all the time. So, the shift, the biggest shift for me was trusting these young shoots and seeing that the potential that they had. So, at the school that we had founded at that time we had started with the approach of strength-based, we followed a strength-based approach which was to look out for the strengths in these children and then work around them. And build, you know the areas of where they needed help and to kind of support that. For me, you know, working with children after a very long gap and that also in the field of education and understanding that there was curriculum and pedagogy and timelines and parents and different stakeholders and getting all those factors together while working with the child, it was very challenging because it felt like I had to wear several hats. It wasn't just the therapist hat like previously in a in a clinical psychologist role. But this was like the hat of a nurturer and the educator and the parent, and I was supporting, I was running a parent support group as well at that time. There was a lot of hats that I had to keep interchanging and it took a while for me to kind of understand the role of a teacher was so all encompassing. It was not specific in terms of like that of a clinical psychologist. On the other hand, trusting in the potential of the person, whether the adult or the child, was the same in both areas, just knowing that each one has potential and it's up to us to nurture that potential, either as a therapist or as an educator, was this similar ground.

Brooklyn Arroyo

And I think that you bring up a good point that sometimes gets overlooked by the general public, but teachers really do have this multiple capacity to help a child or a person, whoever they're teaching, because they have that mentorship hat and they have that nurturing hat like you're speaking on more than just teaching facts and and nurturing the the lessons that you're teaching. So how do you feel that within your EdD that helped support you in understanding the different facets of being a teacher and working within education?

Rachna Shah

So, I think that's why I chose mind, brain, and learning as my specialization because I was very intrigued by what goes on in the brain and how does the brain support learning. And I think that kind of was for me the biggest breakthrough in the program in terms of my aha moments where I was like, wow, just understanding that, you know, a child processes some information emotionally before, cognitively. That is astounding, right? And then and it made me realize why it was so important as a teacher then to first be build the relationship, the rapport, connect with the child at the deepest level before we get into teaching and the program kind of was modeling that for me through the program where I had a mentor as well, and so there was curriculum offered to me, but there was also a mentor and and she was more than a mentor to me who kind of held my hands so closely and it I wouldn't have done it without that. And it was also my first time in my education that I had received that kind of nurturance through a program. So, I saw the difference it made to my learning where it wasn't about passing the test. It wasn't about getting the degree, it was more about learning, about understanding, about connecting to this individual, going there with my doubts beyond the scope of the requirements, so to speak. But and that's when I realized that the program which I thought initially when I joined was a compromise because I thought since I cannot access it physically, I'm doing it virtually. This was also pre-pandemic, so it wasn't like a worldwide phenomenon then to do online programs. So, it felt like a compromise when I joined. But very soon into the program I realized that it was actually an asset because I could access the program online and work within my context, so I wasn't like in a bubble for three years and then come back and not knowing what to do. So, while I was working at the school, I was doing the program and then I would go back to the drawing board every week and ask this question and say hey, but in my context, this doesn't seem to apply or these are my challenges or this is the population and this is the mindset or these are the beliefs and then someone else appear who is doing the program from another part of the world had a different kind of set of challenges. So, I think that made me realize the interconnectedness of life, but also gave me the opportunity for action research in a way where I was actually implementing everything as I was studying it.

Brooklyn Arroyo

And it sounds like it would be such a good opportunity to network and widen your span of of connections with people all around you. I'm sure your cohort because it was virtual was able to connect you with people that you would have never connected with throughout the world and and you spoke a little bit on mentorship and and having those connections and how it influences how you understand the importance of mentorship within education now. And so, what have been some of your biggest moments of mentorship, whether the kind that you received or that you gave, that have really proven or shown this?

Rachna Shah

So, during the program I had several, several times when I wanted to throw in the towel; it was too much. It was exhausting because one I was working with different time zones. Also, I was in a full-time job and doing the program simultaneously, which and of course all the other responsibilities at home, family, child that were added to that baggage. So, it was the first time I wasn't just a student. I was playing multiple roles in my life too, and my mentor kind of pushed me to the edge several times and to the point of breakdowns where I think that was her process. It was a process that she was putting me through, but every time I felt I was going to fall off the ledge, she held me back and showed me she was there and that was transformative for me at so many levels beyond the course because I realized that that's what mentors do. They awaken you to your potential by pushing you to the end of your capacity when you feel like I can't go no more and then suddenly you find these new wings and you're like, wait, did I even have those wings? You know, so the mentor saw potential in me beyond what I saw in myself for sure. And it also made me aware I think working with her so closely made me aware of my own critical voice and how I needed to transform that, and not just through the course, but through so many aspects of my life where I had to nurture my compassionate voice more than my critical voice, and that proved to be a win for me in in so many ways.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Definitely yes. I think that for many, many people, me included, it's it can be hard to combat that inner critic and then those negative tendencies to be striving for perfection and then sometimes beat ourselves up when we fall short of what we think is perfection. And so, yeah, to be able to learn and grow in the way that it's OK for us to support ourselves and be positive in the work that we're doing is is a really important lesson to learn. So how do you think that has applied to the work you're doing now? And do you feel like, it is very not linear. It's I'm sure it's up and down all the time as everyone else, but do you feel that you've maintained that mindset of being forgiving of yourself and and constantly boundary pushing on what you're able to do?

Rachna Shah

Yes, I definitely think that's one thing I'm taking I've taken back and I continue to see it impact my life even today because life continues to throw these kind of roadblocks your way and just surviving and thriving actually, through those three years not knowing I would last, every time now that I kind of want to go down the negative pathways I remind myself of how the three years at Johns Hopkins has been for me and how I kind of made it through and just because the outside voice has changed. I mean has gone. My mentor is no longer with me, but I will be my own mentor today and I will be that voice to myself. And I realize that when you do this for yourself, you naturally do it for others. So, at my workplace, we kind of work with, it's a teacher training institute and we we're we're we're kind of training new people like novice teachers to become teachers and I've realized that and mentioning coaching is one of the biggest components of the program, and I find that it comes so naturally to me, where, you know, they all want to give up on themselves, the ones I'm mentoring today, and I often see a glimpse of what I was like when I was at Johns Hopkins in them. And it's it doesn't irk me or batter me in any way because I have so much faith and I think I can only have faith in them because I have faith in myself today and had I not gone through the process for myself, I don't think I could have done this naturally. I could have done it theoretically, so you can read stuff and you can mimic that, but it's today's just part of who I am. And another thing you know what's happened is I think my entire education life, I was just a comparative number to other people, right, where everything was on based on certain norms or certain averages that we got. But Johns Hopkins was the first time when it was my first time in education outside my city and our country. And I saw that I was not being compared to any other peer, but I had my own pathway and it was just me being my comparison now my yester self with my today and for me that itself has also been very transformational and impactful to me because the tendency to kind of look at others doesn't batter me today where I just know that I am on this path and I will continue learning and growing and I have to just keep becoming a better version of myself. I have to keep pushing myself to that boundary.

Brooklyn Arroyo

And I think that you mentioned how becoming that mentor and self-mentorship it will influence our ability to also mentor others around us just naturally. And that's really an important sentiment not just in education, but just as a people, you know, we grow and we learn and we share that with those around us and and that's really important for for everyone. And so, within the work that you're doing now, what have been the biggest surprises to to things that you possibly weren't prepared for within your EdD and you had to grow within the the fast-paced education system and in developing other people to be teachers?

Rachna Shah

So, I do think that the EdD prepared me a lot. One, being online was like the biggest advantage because as soon as we finished—not as soon, but very soon after we finished—the world was hit with the pandemic and a lot of things went online, and I think I was already prepared for that space in a big way. So, I found myself training other people to become comfortable with that space because I know that my journey had been also very through many tests at the start, right where I was very uncomfortable and I had to learn a lot of things. But when the world was hit with the pandemic, it was a piece of cake in terms of navigating the space one. In terms of challenges, I think you know being thrown in to deal with a lot of unexpected, unexpected movements in education has been like has it's happening a lot. I mean and continues to right like ChatGPT got launched now and before that there was the IB curriculum was new in India and there's a shift in the way we are assessing kids. But I do think that the foundational core principles that I've taken back from JHU has enabled me to always go back to my notes and say, hey I did this then and what what can I do differently now? So actually, through the program and even after the program, I spent a considerable amount of time writing down and journaling my learnings from the course beyond theory. And I think when I go back to that drawing board, it really helps me navigate every space I'm in today. So, I do believe that there was a time when I said never do a PhD, never do a doctorate in your life. But today I think if anyone wants to truly grow as a human being and I'm not talking about professionally. I'm just talking about human growth. One should take up the challenge of a of an EdD degree because it really pushes you to understand your potential.

Brooklyn Arroyo

And that is great advice truly, because something that can get lost is that you know, only people who have really high aspirations, academically or professionally, will do a PhD or an EdD, when in reality you grow most as a person in those programs. So, what if there is a next phase for you what would the next phase of your career look like and what are your hopes?

Rachna Shah

So right now, when I look at education, I also see this big shift happening in terms of do we need to do it as we've been doing it till today, right? Like do we need to instead of just refining this system today, can we overhaul the system? Can we transform it completely? Like we were we were sitting down and thinking about what education should look like without any preconceived notions of what it has been, and that's a thought that keeps coming back to me and more so in the recent past where I keep coming back and asking myself. Do I just need to do this better or do I need to do it completely differently? And I think that's a nagging question that's been with me for a while now and where I'm looking at is while I love doing what I do today, it also disturbs me that we are yet focusing on just the teacher and the classroom, and we're not talking about something more holistic where I don't see life skills happening in the classroom. I don't feel like children are getting the opportunity to do apprenticeships. I don't see them doing just basic skills, life skills to live or even finance or accounting, or even to even something as collaboration. Like I know we do a lot of it in Group work, but collaborating on a global platform with people across the world having opportunities which I saw a benefit to me when I did like I saw perspective come in when I did the EdD program right, which I thought I had perspective before I joined it. And when I joined it, I'm like, wait, I have I've been living in a bubble. So, while we're talking about all of this, I I don't see it. And does everyone need to be an academic rule? What about someone who's not academically inclined, and do we have a system for that? Do we have opportunities there? I know India is far back with that in terms of providing even opportunities. And some days I feel like I wanna just. I want to move into that and create something new and different and the learning comes from learning sake. It doesn't come because I need to finish my 10th grade or 12th grade or university but can I just learn because I want to learn? And can I have does it have to be a classroom? Or does it need to be the world? Can I use different spaces and platforms beyond the classroom for that? So, I don't know what that looks like concretely, but I know that's my, it's an inner nagging voice that I keep going back to. I keep idealizing. And then I keep rejecting it again, so I'm not sure where I will be, but.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Yeah. And I think that that's really truly inspirational to think about the possibilities of what education can look like. And and just how powerful it can be for each individual. Because I think that there's this very specific system setup that doesn't necessarily apply to everyone or works with everyone in in their way that they think in their home life and their lifestyle. And so being able to diversify the way we look at students that they're just not this cookie cutter one-dimensional character, but an individual with their own capacity to learn. And I think that's really, really important and and definitely a great aspiration for you to have. I think it's shared with a lot of people. So yeah, the final question of each podcast is the same and and for you, I'm really excited to hear what you have to say and that is what inspires you right now?

Rachna Shah

I think for me a lot has to do with children, like just knowing that I think they carry so much hope with them that we have a world that we are going to leave behind. And how do I want to leave this world behind for my child and for every child in the world?  And what can we do? What can I do to leave a better footprint here so that they will they will only build on that because I I truly believe we sit on the shoulders of our previous generations and we keep carrying that flame ahead. So, children, the youth, really inspire me to work. And I see that the new I see my own daughter and I see that generation they've come with so much to offer and so many conditions and mental models and patterns that I I took a lifetime or it's taken me years to get rid of they've already come with, you know, they don't even deal with all of that today. So, I feel like they've come with so much to offer, they have, I couldn't imagine myself at my daughter's age saying and doing the things she does, so it makes me very hopeful. It makes me. It inspires me to go to work and do more and more every day. Of course, I have to say that just to add that I have a mentor Daisaku Ikeda this president of the Soka Dhaka International and he has actually been my biggest inspiration because he kind of enabled me to understand why education was so important. So, he has done a lot in the field of education and talks about how we need to nurture youth and I think I draw a lot of inspiration from him to know that there is so much hope and so much that we have to give back to our children.

Brooklyn Arroyo

Definitely the the possibilities of tomorrow and the importance of education are are really inspiring and I've really enjoyed being able to hear all of your experiences today and I know that our audience will feel the same way. So, thank you for coming to the PHutures Podcast.

Rachna Shah

Thank you so much, Brooklyn. It was a pleasure.