The monthly newsletter from EI
Issue 70 | February 2011 | www.ei-india.com
This Month’s Issue Innovative Teaching......... 01 How to Become............... 02 Annual Exhibition - Lotus. 03 The Effectiveness of......... 04 The Importance of Team....05 The Future of Assessme... 06 Teacher's Bite .................. 07 Sharing Thoughts ............ 07 Events .............................. 08
The Future of Assessments
Humourous Bite .............. 08
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Editor’s Note Hello Readers! With the World Cup Cricket only days away, the build up has begun and teams and supporters are showing the nervousness that is pretty much standard for everybody just before a massive event like this. As cricket lover, I hope Indians win the cup and bring back the moments of the 1984 World Cup. This issue covers about 'Future of Assessment' seminars, lots of events from different schools, Interview of Ms. Nirmala Rebello, Principal, Sharada Vidya Mandir, Panaji etc. Do check the Akanksha Ad. It has wonderful opportunities for teachers, Vice Principals and Principals. The ASSET WEEK and ASSET Photo contest results will be published in the next issue of ASSETScope, so do check. Happy Reading
Bindu Pillai
Innovative Teaching – Comic Books in the Classroom Today the focus in education is on enhanced student learning. Therefore all curriculum materials and teaching techniques are receiving careful review. Just as education begins to emphasize standards and achievement, an innovative method of teaching reading and writing is catching steam. Recognizing that capturing the attention of young readers is an essential component of effective teaching practices, many teachers are turning to comic books as a tool to reach struggling readers as well as students who are new learners of the English language. Though the initial reaction to the suggested process is that educators are simply lowering their educational standards and reinforcing lazy reading habits, it is easy to see why comic books have the potential to help readers. And if they help young readers become more fluent readers, then educators believe that critics should put away their negative pre-conceived notions and give comics a try. Teaching Reading Because comic books are laid out in frames, it is very easy for readers to track a story. In fact, it is also easy for those readers to both jump ahead and back as a story
develops. In addition, the fact that each frame contains some text and a picture makes it much easier for readers to grasp and contextualize a story. Ultimately, the limited text in each frame is beneficial to those for whom reading is a challenge. Therefore comics are very appealing to those readers who are intimidated by and/or frustrated with long text passages. The pictures in the frames of course also add many visual cues to the storyline helping students better understand the critical literary points of the story. Those who advocate the use of comic books state succinctly: “The goal of any good teacher is to educate, even if the method seems unconventional.” Therefore if comics improve reading skills they should become a part of a teacher’s reading tool kit. Again, proponents of the comic book movement insist that teachers should not simply drop a comic book upon a student’s desk with a demand that he or she read it. The concept is to use the comic book as a tool to teach reaching strategies in much the same manner that youngsters are taught with picture books.
How to Become a Reflective Teacher
The road to becoming a reflective teacher doesn’t have to consist of drastic twists and turns. Rather, it’s a gradual incline which allows you to pause and glance back at where you’ve been while continuing to surge ahead with a clear view of where you’re going. Becoming a reflective teacher means being open-minded to suggestions, perspectives, changes, and making adaptations. It’s about becoming a better professional and a better person by learning from errors and making corrections. It means to grow wise in one’s classroom and campus environment and being willing to share this knowledge with peers. What Does It Mean to Be Reflective? There are some days when the last thing we want to do is think about our day at work. The sooner we forget, the better, or so it seems. But as teachers, sometimes these are the best opportunities to consider what went wrong and what could be corrected. So let’s reflect on what it means to be a reflective teacher. A reflective teacher should: • Consider multiple perspectives • Recognize strengths and weaknesses • Be open-minded • Take time to be insightful about a student, a lesson, a skill, a teaching technique, or a new program Ideas and Suggestions for Becoming a Reflective Teacher One idea for reflecting on lessons is to leave a notes space on your lesson plans. At the end of the day or the end of the week, make note of what went well, what didn’t work, or add any additional ideas that came to mind on the spur of the moment.
You can use colourful sticky notes or a red pen to make notations, punch holes the plans for the week, and then store them in a three-ring binder. With each new year reflect on the old lesson plans. Granted, every teacher knows no group of students is ever the same from one year to the next, and as hard as we might try, the curriculum is never exactly the same year after year, but adjustments can be made to accommodate new groups and new activities. The Importance of Perspective A second opportunity is to reflect with students at the end of a lesson. Ask students to share what they enjoyed most about the learning experience and what they would do differently. Ask what they remember from the lesson and what helped them to remember. As mentioned with lesson plans, every new group of students has different needs and come to your classroom with different experiences. If you can figure out how they enjoy learning then you can adjust your lessons to keep their interest and advance their knowledge. As instructors, as teachers, we must do what best meets the needs of our students. Colleagues are also a great help when it comes to becoming a reflective teacher. Ask if you might observe their classroom or if they might stop by to observe you in yours. Perhaps you feel you have issues with your lesson cycle or classroom management. Whatever the case, mention your concerns to your colleague so that they might be aware of what to watch for while you teach. If you are visiting other classrooms, take notes on what you see. Ideas pop up without warning and you’d hate to miss latching on to a good one. Afterwards, take time to discuss your findings. Listen to their criticism and try to offer constructive criticism for them to use. Reflective teaching is about discovery. Build upon what you’ve learned.
Advt.
Annual Exhibition - Lotus Valley International School, Noida The Primary Wing of Lotus Valley celebrated its annual exhibition ‘Aakriti’ on 30th October. Mr.Irfan Khan, renowned cartoonist, NDTV, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Children from classes I-V exhibited their hard work and talent through various themes that included life-sized models, aesthetic artwork, presentations, skits and plays, a sound and light show, drills, dance, song and music, all extremely wellcoordinated with the various club activities attended by them at school. The highlights of the exhibition included a life-sized project on ‘Mother Dairy’, which dealt with all information related to milk, its sources, processing, myths and facts, delicious recipes, milk related allergies, substitutes of milk and a best out of waste section which showcased articles made from empty milk cartons and packets. ‘Incredible India’ had the students take the guests down memory lane wherein they
showed ancient India, India in the pre-independence era, free India and India marching ahead in the 21st century. Children did their bit to create awareness about the importance of conserving natural resources. They came up with excellent ideas to reduce, reuse and recycle and displayed 3-D models showing alternative sources of energy. ‘Transport’ highlighted the Air Traffic Control, sea navigation and Delhi Metro, which were depicted with the help of models and line performances. Tricky corners and puzzles, theatre down the ages which included acts like miming, Charlie Chaplin acts, a street play on the recently held Commonwealth Games; a light and sound show exploring the universe, breathtaking artwork, an army drill and many more, floored the guests. All in all, it was a spectacular show and an enriching learning experience for all.
The Effectiveness of Cooperative Learning Co operative learning is one of the most widespread and fruitful areas of theory, research, and practice in education. It is the instructional use of small groups so that students work together to maximize their own and each other's learning. Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals. Within cooperative activities individuals seek outcomes that are beneficial to themselves and beneficial to all other group members. Cooperative learning is very significant in the schooling system. Over the last decade, cooperative learning has emerged as the leading new approach to classroom instruction. Cooperative learning is defined as a method that consists of instructional techniques that require positive interdependence between learners to make learning occur. Cooperative efforts result in participants striving for mutual benefit so that all group members gain from each other's efforts, recognizing that all group members share a common fate, knowing that one's performance is mutually caused by oneself and one's colleagues, and feeling proud and jointly celebrating when a group member is recognized for achievement. In cooperative learning situations there is a positive interdependence among students’ goal attainments
which they perceive that they can reach, if and only if the other students in the learning group also reach their goals. Thus a team member's success in creating a multi-media presentation on saving the environment, for example, depends on both individual effort and the efforts of other group members who contribute needed knowledge, skills, and resources. No one group member will possess all the information, skills, or resources necessary for the highest possible quality presentation. The importance of cooperative learning is that the students’ learning goals may be structured to promote cooperative, competitive, or individualistic efforts. In contrast to cooperative situations, competitive situations are ones in which students work against each other to achieve a goal that only one or a few can attain. In competition there is a negative interdependence among goal achievements they perceive that they can obtain their goals if and only if the other students in the class fail to obtain their goals. In individualistic learning situations, students work alone to accomplish goals unrelated to those of classmates and are evaluated on a criterion-referenced basis. Students' goal achievements are independent; students perceive that the
achievement of their learning goals is unrelated to what other students do. Placing students in groups and telling them to work together does not always result in cooperation because not all groups are cooperative. Sitting in groups, for example, can result in competition at close quarters or individualistic effort with talking. Mastering the essential components of cooperation allows teachers to: take existing lessons, curricula, and courses and structure them cooperatively as well as tailor cooperative learning lessons to meet the unique instructional circumstances and needs of the curricula, subject areas, and students. Cooperative learning produces greater student achievement than traditional learning methodologies. The role of the teacher is very important in cooperative learning. To have effective cooperative learning, teachers must know their students well. Grouping of students can be a difficult process and must be decided with care. Therefore teachers must consider the different learning skills, personalities, and even gender when arranging cooperative groups. Much time is devoted to prepare the lesson for cooperative learning. Teachers who set up a good cooperative lesson teach children to teach themselves and each other in turn. With traditional teaching methodologies, students sit in pre-arranged rows. The class size may be as large as 30
students or more. Cooperative learning works best when group sizes are smaller. The ideal co-operative learning classroom has about 15 to 20 students. Students are usually grouped in clusters of 3 to 5. The larger the group size, the more difficult it is to organize tasks, manage different skills, and reach a consensus. Because the ideal class size is hard to obtain there will be groups with more members than others. Within each group students should be properly spaced to maintain eye-to-eye contact, share materials without bumping elbows, and communicate without disturbing other groups. Students working in cooperative groups do not always sit in one place. They usually move around the room to gather information. Barriers should be minimized to facilitate movement. Different groups should be spaced far enough to avoid conflict, provide enough room for the teacher to aid students and to monitor group action and behaviour. The group configurations must allow the groups to take instruction from the teacher. This means they must be able to hear and see the teacher’s instructions from their workstations. Students do not always work in cooperative groups. Even the teachers may want students to work individually on some projects so the class set up should be flexible enough for students to work separately when necessary. Ms. Munira Ahmed, Head of Secondary Section, MSB Educational Institute, Bangalore
The Importance of Team Work
With the increasing use of social networking, instant messaging and online communication, students are becoming connected to more and more people. However, students seem to be interacting face to face with their peers less often and some key communication and teamwork skills are being left behind and are not taught effectively. Despite the growth of online communication, direct communication will always be important and necessary. Those people with these communication skills will be at an advantage as opposed to those who can’t quite get along with their peers. There are projects students can work on, in teams, jobs students can complete together and a huge range of games that involve productive teamwork skills that students can play to be successful. To teach teamwork to students however you also need to highlight to them the importance of teamwork and also what skills they will need to communicate effectively and how to work well in a team. Here are some vital skills you can highlight and discuss with your students. Listening: The most important skill for students to learn is to be able to listen actively, enabling other students to speak without being interrupted so that all students know what is being discussed and where the conversation is heading. A simple way of assisting the students with this is to give the group a toy or object, only one person can speak at a time and it is the person holding the object. Speaking: Of course people do need to speak in groups, to give their own
ideas and give feedback to other people’s ideas. Lots of students have no trouble talking to their friends, but to work effectively in a group, students have to learn how to talk effectively to the whole group. When speaking, students need to express their ideas clearly and get to the point so that they are easily understood. People can tune out if someone is talking for long about one thing or jumping from one idea to another and younger children have a shorter attention span than adults. Confidence: Not so much a skill as much as a state of mind but it’s a state of mind students can practise and learn. To participate in teamwork, students need confidence, they need to express their ideas confidently and accept other students’ negative feedback without being too offended to continue. Building a student’s confidence can be a long elusive process but the more group work your students partake in and the more they learn how to listen and speak effectively, their confidence towards working in teams will improve. There are many other skills you can discuss to teach teamwork to students, including respect, leadership and assignment of roles and responsibilities. You can go into these in more detail with your students when the fundamentals of listening, speaking and confidence have been discussed and practised. An excellent way of introducing students to teamwork and to help them practise their abilities is through classroom games, either team games or individual games that require them to interact with each other. Games are a great engaging way for students to practise communication and teamwork.
The Future of Assessments
Principals taking live Detailed Assessment test on mobiles.
Are students well prepared for future challenges? Can they analyse, reason and communicate effectively? Do they have the capacity to continue learning throughout life? Assessment of student achievement is changing, largely because today's students face a world that will demand new knowledge and abilities. In the global economy of the 21st century, students will need to understand the basics, but also to think critically, to analyze, and to make inferences. Helping students develop these skills will require changes in assessment at the school and classroom level, as well as introducing new approaches to large-scale, high-stakes as well as low stakes assessment. Assessment is changing for many reasons. Changes in the skills and knowledge needed for success, in our understanding of how students learn, and in the relationship between assessment and instruction are changing our learning goals for students and schools. Consequently, we must change our assessment strategies to tie assessment design and content to new outcomes and purposes for assessment. With this in mind, EI is organising a series of seminars throughout the country to brainstorm about the Future of Assessments. The first in the series of seminars was held in Ahmedabad on 22nd January followed by Bangalore on 29th January 2011. The seminar at Ahmedabad was held at Cambay Grand and in Bangalore it was held at Hotel Matthan. The seminars began with Mr. Sudhir Ghodke, Director EI, welcoming all the guests which was followed by a round of introduction from the attendees. The first session was conducted by Mr. Sridhar Rajagopalan, MD EI, where he talked about what the future of assessment holds for everyone and how eventually Assessment would no longer be just ‘Assessment of learning’ OR ‘Assessment for learning’. Assessment would eventually BE learning and vice versa.
Mr. Sridhar Rajagopalan’s session was followed by a session on Detailed Assessment which was conducted by Mr. Vinay Chousalkar, AVP Detailed Assessment. In this session the Principals actually took a live test on the mobiles and also received their results within 45 minutes. Mr. Sudhir Ghodke introduced the Mindspark program to the schools. The Principals actually got to do a session on Mindspark, using Tablet PCs! The schools which had issues regarding space problems for setting up Mindspark Labs found a very powerful tool to overcome the problem. Lots of Principals expressed the desire to purchase Tablet computers for their schools. The seminar focused on translating different perspectives into practice. Further, the summit showed the road ahead by mapping out a clear action plan and the HOW of implementing assessments for learning improvement.
Teacher’s Bite Ms. Nirmala Rebello, Principal, Sharada Mandir School, Miramar, Panaji
Q:
Who has most influenced you to become an educator and how did they influence you?
My mother was a wonderful, caring, elegant teacher who made a great impact on her students. Like all ‘born’ teachers, she brought home the same ‘teacher’ qualities – and so the seeds were sown and nurtured in me.
Q:
What is your approach to classroom management and student discipline?
Students are my favourite people, so I enjoy my time with them. We try to cultivate together an atmosphere conducive to learning. I believe that a teacher’s personality plays a pivotal role in classroom management. The right blend of respect, humour, caring and authority, and lessons that are interesting and interactive, are effective tools in managing a class of lively, enthusiastic and sometimes boisterous youngsters. Students discipline is a challenging aspect of education, particularly in the context of the taboo on corporal
punishment, and its broad definition. In our school, we have a code of conduct and a positive discipline module, which balances punishment like demerit cards and detention with incentives like merit cards/certificates and bonus games periods. While it is far from perfect, it does form a basis to enforce discipline, as a means to facilitate learning – for we believe that discipline is not an end in itself.
Q:
What are your views regarding the importance of teacher training and development in educating students?
Given the information overload brought about by technology, teacher training and development are indispensable. It should be the endeavour of a teacher to be an intelligent facilitator, rather than just a vehicle to transmit information, which today is available to students in a variety of packages!
Q:
What are your views about ASSET?
There is no doubt that ASSET has added value to our daily lessons. It has helped our students to be curious about the ‘Whys’ and the ‘Hows’ and the AQAD is interesting and often challenging. Our teachers too have found the ASSET test questions helpful in dealing with common misconceptions, particularly in Maths and Science. In fact, the phrase ‘Asset-type question’ is commonly used by us to denote questions that encourage students to think, analyse and apply their knowledge.
Sharing Thoughts... Ms. Manila Carvalho, Vice Principal, Delhi Public School, Bangalore (East)
master the nuances of teaching. No education program can be a success without the education and constant motivation of teachers through various ongoing workshops. So teachers must be provided with the best possible professional preparation as well as continuous knowledge and technique up gradation. Teaching today has become a complex affair. In this age of science and technology, education cannot afford to remain static; therefore training teachers must be given high priority. Teachers must not just depend on the ‘chalk and talk method’ but also be trained to use the latest in technology. Apart from that there has been a marked improvement in diagnostic tests that are available to pinpoint the areas in a child’s understanding of concepts and subject matter. The destiny of India is being shaped in her classrooms and so it can safely be added that the destiny of these classrooms is being shaped in the department of education and teacher education. No doubt teaching is an inborn talent, but it is also an art that can be acquired through teacher training which helps them to
We at DPS (East) have been conducting the ASSET exam every year to improve our teaching-learning experience. ASSET enables us to analyze the weak and strong areas of our children and work on remedial actions. The analytic questions measures whether child has really understood the concept or not. It is an eye-opener for parents and teachers.
Events
Snake Awareness and Demonstration Program A snake awareness program was held on 9th January, 2011 at our school, Sharada Mandir School, Miramar, Panaji. It was basically held to make the students and teachers aware of how snakes should be treated by us. The talk was based on the snakes found in and around Goa.We were told which snakes were venomous, and which were nonvenomous, which of them were harmful, and where exactly one would find them (i.e. in the bushes, trees, in the sand etc.). At the end we were given some safety tips as well as the contact numbers of the people who had conducted the session, to be contacted, in case of an emergency. We were also shown some of the non-venomous snakes and we were most excited to touch the Indian Rock Python. By Twishi Saran and Sapna Nayak, ASSET Ambassadors, Sharda Mandir School, Panaji
Multiple Intelligences Activity Exhibition Our school had organized an event called MI - ACT Multiple Intelligences Activity Exhibition, It is an exhibition where the display is mainly teacher created materials (not teaching aids) which are created during the course of the year by the teachers to teach a particular concept in an effective / enjoyable way. Students responses of these activities are also part of the exhibition. There were many different stalls (rooms) which had different subjects like English, French, Math, etc. In each stall the most impressive projects done for that subject throughout the year were displayed. It also acts as an open house where parents / anybody gets to know what actually happens at GEAR, the how
of the teaching learning process and what makes the cubs look forward to school time. At the end of this event, many students performed plays for the parents and then they waited eagerly for the Science Award announcement. The science award is basically a small scholarship given to the most promising scientist of the school for that year. There are several nominees, one from each class. The award winner also gets to talk to the nobel prize laureate Dr. Eric Cornell via video chat wherever he is in the world. A baskeball match and a scholastic book fair was also organized on that day.
By Shailesh Sridhar, ASSET Ambassador, GEAR Innovative International School, Bangalore
Humourous Bite Teacher: Tomorrow there will be a lecture on the ‘Sun’. Everyone must attend it. Raju: No ma'm! I will not be able to attend it. Teacher: Why? Raju: My mother will not allow me to go so far!!!
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