British educator and activist Kayti Denham inspires his students to learn about the world and the interconnectedness of all things. Kayti is a true multitasking, taking on the roles of the creative action and service (CAS) Coordinator, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Coordinator, World Conference Coordinator of Youth, as well as an English teacher of 'secondary school.
Kayti, what is your background and how you did it lead to teaching?
My mother was a teacher, so I decided early in life that I will not be a teacher! But a lot of things I did led me to teaching.
I arrived in Bali on a honeymoon and fell in love; My love affair with Bali lasted longer than the marriage. I went to Australia for a year, returned to Bali and then to England, India, and returned to Australia where I finally landed in Byron Bay. I was working with a youth program that I really enjoyed, and I studied permaculture and worked in the media. I also worked in the industry of the music video in Sydney while my partner at the time was working in East Timor during the transition to independence.
I am qualified to teach English as a second language and has come to East Timor, live with our two children for a year and a half. I liked it, but there were limits and was offered a job in Bali, so the kids and I moved here.
What is your definition of education
Education enables the development of thought by considering things from different aspects ?; to look at the motivations behind the actions, then watch the reaction and the effect of the motivation for logical, responsible answers in a number of situations. These skills allow us to negotiate properly with language.
What is your personal goal in teaching?
I wanted to be the teacher I always wanted. Teaching is not a job; it is a passion. I want to give my students the opportunity to love and understand the art of learning for the rest of their lives.
This is not to make learning fun. I want it to be enjoyable, interesting and engaging. I think that education can not afford to challenge more. I'm not sure of the value created when learning is proposed as "fun". I think young people are smarter than that.
Learning is to develop a healthy curiosity and after the research, development and use of the imagination. I want to support my students to push the limits laid down, to be inquisitive and apply their creativity.
How old is the most crucial in education?
The most important moment in the education of the student is the transition from primary to secondary education. Suddenly there is real work and pressure involved and there is a risk that we lose the magic of learning in the results of search.
What is your proudest moment as an educator?
When my daughter decided to be a teacher too! She graduated last year from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.
Like a student proud moment: Bamboo Chiappa speech to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in 2009. In 13 years, she, along with other Sunrise School students, addressed the public meeting of the delegates and gave him a standing ovation.
What other education programs are you involved in? In my research, I have found you to be involved in so much, I have to break it down for me!
I coordinate the Networking GINBali Global Issues Conference for school students. I believe in bringing global education issues in the classroom, such as human rights, animal rights and marine conservation, clean food and the issues we need to address our future survival as a species.
Thereabout four years, both Molly and Chloe students answered their experience watching Rob Dyer attended a world conference networking Singapore Youth issues by creating an in Bali. At that first conference, Isobel and Melati launched Bye Bye Plastic bags, and last year Children Cut Palm Oil formed. It's amazing what children can take away from the conference and feel empowered to follow then with the action.
Tell me about the importance of teaching life skills to prepare students for their future.
I think every school should have a garden where we can all learn about our responsibility to ourselves and our communities to have clean food, water and air. I do not think - even if not everyone agrees with me - that we must be proactive in creating a better world. But not everyone becomes the same; we can be proactive through our passion, so if it is music, science, or dancing, web design, cuisine and architecture, it does not matter -. it has its role to play
I think I started to be "active" as a teenager, but I was angry and not effective. Education has changed so much, and part of what I do now, as an English teacher, as the program is taught about conflict, and examine the different causes or reasons for this, and efforts to reduce or aggravate it. Last week, my students listened Marvin Gaye, Edwin Starr and Jimi Hendrix to begin an exploration of how one can begin against the arts.
What are your future projects?
I look forward to working with other educators who lead students to seek durable solutions to a conference in June and in September I will encourage our new Year 12s group to visit the village Dayak from West Kalimantan to Tembak or to discover the Leuser ecosystem in northern Sumatra. Then we have the GINBali conference in September, which will be located in central Borneo and will be an extraordinary opportunity to work on some important issues in their geographic heart. And because I really trying to take my own advice, I push my own limits to go on an adventure driving and camping in Africa.
Thank you, Kayti. To get in touch, email kaytype@gmail.com