NEWS

My name is Dr. ISAAC DEVAKUMAR, an Indian Mathematics cum Science teacher working for the International Department of Great Wall High School, Baoding, Hebei Province, China. I have been teaching AP Calculus, AP Statistics, and AP Physics to 10^th, 11^th and 12^th graders. I am hailing from the city Erode, Tamilnadu, India. I have pursued 11 educational degrees including a Ph.D., in Mathematics from the USA. I have got 25 years of teaching experience in many schools, colleges and universities around the world. 

My teaching approach is that "If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn". My teaching approach is mainly focused on developing students' critical thinking and leadership skills in order to serve the community. 

I use many innovative strategies in my classes in order to make my students' learning easier, joyful and valuable. I use music and songs in my teaching to make the learning more fun. I always train my students in such a way that they think out-of-box in and out of the classroom and to develop different life skills, thereby inculcating innovation and creativity. I provide my students holistic education where I seek to address the emotional, social, ethical, and academic needs of students in an integrated learning format. I teach subjects with JAVA Codes, hands-on equations, blended learning method, Inclusive education, PBL method, advanced Vedic Math techniques, Inquiry-Based Learning method, STEM, and games. I connect my students with schools from other countries to have collaboration and to figure out the solutions to world problems. These strategies encourage students to research, explore, and use all the tools to uncover something new. Moreover, it brings a high positive impact on students' learning. I redesign the curriculum according to students' levels of learning.

Apart from my teaching profession, I have been doing lots of community services, charity work and volunteer services personally and joining with students.

So far, I have won more than 40 awards and honors from various organizations in India, China, and the USA for my excellence in teaching, contribution to education, international achievements, and outstanding community services. Some of them are as follows: "Certificate of Honor" in 1997 & 2000. In 2004, the “Iswaryam Excellence Award and The Best Teacher Award of the year 2004.  In 2005, the “Gold Star Award”,  "Saathanai Semmal Award" and "The Best Achiever Award". In 2006, "The Best Teacher Award". In 2007, "Saathanai Sirpi Award" and “Rajiv Gandhi Award”. In 2008, ''Erode Ramanujam Award". In 2009,  "MGR Award". In2010, "Arignar Anna Award", "Indira Gandhi Award" and  "Srinivasa Ramanujam Award". In 2011 “Seva Ratna Award”. In 2013, “The Best Citizen Award”. In 2014, "The Best Community Server Award".  In 2016  & 2017, "The Excellent Teaching Awards" from the Government of China for the excellence in classroom teaching. In 2016, The Honors from the Deputy Superintend of Police, Erode District, Tamilnadu, Ex. Municipal Counselor, Erode Municipality, Tamilnadu, CSI Saint Paul’s Church, Erode, Tamilnadu and The Social Welfare Association, Erode, Tamilnadu. In 2018, a Honorary Doctorate Award from the University of South America. In 2019, "Global Teacher Role model award". In 2020, "Lifetime achievement golden peacock award", and in 2021, "Pride of Nation Pratibha Samman Award". In addition, many articles about my achievements have been published in several newspapers, e-newspapers, various websites, weekly and monthly magazines, posters, and social medias. Moreover, my extraordinary educational work has been recognized by high achieving students, colleagues, head-teachers, Principals, community, active senior-level memberships of Trusts, cine-actors, Education Minister, Schools, Colleges, Universities, Churches, Television Channels, Principals, District Collectors, Doctors, Teachers, Government Officials, Chief Police Officers, Judges, NGOs, Trusts, voluntary organisations, and individuals.

The 2020 COVID -19 pandemic brought a real challenge for both teachers and students. It made a great impact on teachers' pedagogy as well. As I had to teach students virtually during the pandemic, I used the software called Ding Talk to teach subjects online. The Ding Talk software provides a good platform for effective teaching, blended learning, and collaborative interactions. I redesigned the course curriculum according to students' level of understanding in such a way that the materials are easier and helpful. I didn't teach much content in a single class, instead, I broke up the contents into several parts and taught them so that students might grasp them easily. Then and there I conducted virtual tests in order to assess the students' academic performance and to provide them guidance for improvement.

As I believe that when students are happier, they really work hard. I taught subjects with fun, creativity, and with innovative strategies so that students could enjoy the lessons joyfully. I believe that learning through only textbooks would not help students gain real-world experience. So, I always pay more attention to activity-based learning, community and voluntary services that will enable students to develop various life skills. During the pandemic, I encouraged my students to render their voluntary service to the needy people of their community such as helping them with their household things, providing cooking tips for healthy food, controlling traffic and etc., I also encouraged my students to take part in virtual competitions. 

I express my heartiest thanks to Asia awards powered by RULA Awards for recognising my teaching work and community service, and offering me this world’s prestigious award.