Learning Through A Pandemic with Gahmya Drummond-Bey | Cocktails & Convos
This is an interview you NEED to listen to if you're a parent, you have children going back to school during a pandemic, or you're a human being. Gahmya Drummond-Bey is an author, a two-time TEDx speaker, a global curriculum designer and the founder and CEO of Evolved Teacher. She has also taught through THREE pandemics. As if that's not enough, Gahmya is also a total ray of sunshine and listening to all of her crazy stories about thinking outside the box and breaking the rules in education gave us so much energy and made us feel so good! We're basically ready to fly to Malaysia to send all of our kids to school with Gahmya. So listen in and be inspired, and keep scrolling for our top takeaways!
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KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Upon graduating university, Gahmya decided to join the Peace Corps and volunteer. She was sent to Turkmenistan to provide healthcare but ended up being forced into teaching kids English without having any background in education and that began her journey as an educator.
Instead of going back to the US to go to school and learn how to be an educator, she decided to travel around the world and learn how to be an educator within the countries that are known to be the best in education.
Gahmya went out on faith and gave herself a year to see where this journey would take her. If she was willing to go all-in to medical school (and go broke in the process), then why not go all-in and doctor her education?
Luckily, Gahmya did very well in her first few months of teaching in South Korea. She became quite popular and suddenly was known as a celebrity educator.
Gahmya’s previous experience teaching with nothing (literally a stick in the sand) and working with no materials (laminating with tape) helped her become creative with her approach to learning. Her ability to think outside of the box lead her to develop curricula and she now travels all over the world to help design learning programs for kids.
Gahmya’s whole purpose is to help families connect deeply with their kids and to show that education is a fun, exciting experience.
What Gahmya has noticed from teaching all over the world is that kids can do way more than we think they can. We are often the ones holding them back by telling them what we think they can do, what we think is possible, and by setting our own boundaries for them.
There are extreme pros and extreme cons to education in every country.
One thing Gahmya likes to tell parents when they’re considering schools is to focus on the teacher rather than the school. If you want your kid to have an amazing learning experience, find a great teacher.
By breaking all the rules set out in the curriculum, Gahmya became such an asset to the parents of her students. She was so loved by all the moms that the school couldn’t fire her for going rogue! In fact, they actually followed Gahmya over to a different school and even offered to pay the school so that she could teach their kids. They were willing to do anything for a teacher that would positively impact their kids’ lives.
Gahmya has shifted her time from teaching in the classroom to designing learning programs and training educators across the globe in order to reach more teachers and students.
When Gahmya makes her own books for her students, she includes diversity and inclusion. It’s important that whoever she is teaching is reflected into the learning.
COVID-19 is the THIRD pandemic that Gahmya has taught through. The first one was the H1N1 pandemic during her very first year of teaching in 2009 in South Korea. The second one was MERS in 2015. It was important for Gahmya to put a lot of energy into the mindset of her students to make sure they felt happy and comfortable because they were receiving a lot of fear-based conversations at home.
As an American, Gahmya found that her first two years teaching in Asia brought about a great deal of unlearning of who she thought she was supposed to be. This experience shifted her as a person. She was not only a teacher, but she was meant to be the school mom which created a bond between her and her students and their moms.
Now more than ever we need to let teachers be humans and not just drive a curriculum out of a book. We need to give them the permission to really connect with the kids and practise compassion.
Gahmya’s advice for moms is to not be afraid to take control of your kids’ education and suggest (or demand) a shift in the schools and the curricula.
There are pandemics taking place every day all over the world. This is the one that pushed us all collectively together, and a powerful lesson for 2020 is to start taking care of one another more.
MORE ABOUT Gahmya Drummond-Bey:
Gahmya Drummond-Bey is the founder and CEO of Evolved Teacher. Although she is most excited teaching in a classroom setting, she is also an author, a 2 time TEDx speaker, and a global curriculum designer. Gahmya’s singular passion is pushing humanity forward by providing access to impactful and transformative education.
Follow Gahmya on Instagram @evolvedteacher. And make sure you send her a DM if you want her to host a seminar or workshop for you.
For access to Gahmya’s materials, check out kidYOUnivesity for an amazing selection of courses and books!