The Monthly Newsletter
Issue 122 | January, 2016 | www.ei-india.com
ASSET Talent Scholars - Inspiring Students Asset Summer Studies Programme
ASSET Talent Search
Student’s Zone
COVER Story Activities: Teaching with the Newspaper The newspaper is the most widely used of the media as a teaching instrument in the classroom. Here are a few classroom activities for you to use newspapers in your classroom
Read a Map:
Arrange students into groups, and assign to each group one international story in the news. Have students explore Maps of the World and choose a map related to their Read and Write for Meaning: assigned story. Ask students to use Remove the headlines from a number the map to answer some or all of these questions: of news stories. Display the headline-less stories on a classroom 1. In which city did the story take bulletin board. Provide students with place? the headlines, and ask them to 2. Which country is that city in? match each headline to one of the 3. What is the capital of that stories. As students replace the missing headlines, ask them to point country? out the words in the headlines that 4. Which language is spoken there? helped them find the correct story. 5. Which continent is that country a Then distribute headlines from less part of? prominent stories and ask students to choose one and write a new story 6. Which countries or bodies of to go with it. When the stories have water, border the country on the been completed, provide each north, south, east, and west? student with the story that originally 7. What physical characteristics of accompanied the headline. Ask: How the country might have contributed close was your story to the original? to the events in the story? How effectively did the headline 8. What effect might the event or convey the meaning of the story? You might follow up this activity by series of events have on the physical characteristics of the country? asking students to write a headline for their favorite fairy tale.
Arrange in Sequence:
Play a Current Events Game:
Cut up some popular comic strips, provide each student with one complete strip, and ask students to put the comics back in the correct order. Or arrange students into groups, provide each group with several cut-up strips from the same comic, and ask them to separate the panels into strips and arrange the strips in the correct order. Then introduce older students to a series of stories about an ongoing news event, and ask them to arrange the stories in the order in which they appeared. Encourage them to use the stories to create a news time line.
Make a list of five categories that might be created using the newspaper, such as Countries, Weather Events, Mathematical Symbols, Movies, and Technology Terms. Ask students to search the newspaper for information related to each category and to write a question based on the information they find. (Remind students to make a note of the answers to their questions.) Arrange students into teams, and use the question-and-answer combinations to play a Jeopardy type of current events game.
Source: http://www.educationworld.com
WHAT IS THE ASSET SUMMER STUDIES PROGRAMME? “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire” - WB Yeats The ASSET Summer Studies Programme is an immersive 3-week residential programme for academically talented ASSET Talent Scholars of grades 7 and 8. In this programme, students will have an opportunity to pursue deep and exciting learning through courses designed to expose them to cutting-edge disciplinary and professional practices. Expert instructors will train students in the essence and methods of a discipline by getting them to work with both their hands and their minds, in the context of real-life applications. The programme aims to kindle the ‘fire of learning’ in students, and inspire them to pursue excellence and fulfil their potential through deep learning, and not focus on just succeeding in tests. Apart from pursuing one specialized course, students will also have rewarding interactions with instructors, peers and residential counsellors on campus, and engage in a host of carefully designed activities to develop their creativity and teamwork skills. Students will also have the opportunity to attend guest lectures and sessions on campus from experts working in different fields. Participating in the programme will also help students to prepare for higher education by providing them a glimpse of what they could expect in high quality undergraduate education in the world's best universities.
EXPECTED STUDENT BENEFITS Academically gifted students need to be provided world-class learning opportunities and challenges that meet their needs as early in life as possible. Often, academically gifted students are not challenged sufficiently or provided with learning opportunities that capture their interest, or provided with sufficient exposure to a variety of disciplines. Facilitators and instructors who are up to the task of mentoring such children are also hard to come by. When academically gifted students are not provided such opportunities and mentorship, they may lose interest in academic work or not develop their potential sufficiently.
The Benefits of Attending the ASSET Summer Studies Programme are1. Students go deep into one area and experience the excitement of deep learning. Students go deep into an area through project work, Socratic dialogue and other methods. Thus students start understanding what a particular discipline entails and will also be able to transfer the habits of deep learning into their schoolwork. 2. Students acquire the knowledge and awareness that enables informed career choices. Awareness of different disciplines, career paths, as well as qualities and skills needed to succeed in the real world are required to make informed choices. The programme kickstarts and catalyses this process. 3. Students develop creative confidence. Creativity here refers to being able to think in fresh and daring ways, and confidence refers to the belief in one’s ability to solve problems or further the boundaries of knowledge. The programme helps students to develop creative confidence and challenge themselves to reach their potential. 4. Students develop self-management habits required to succeed in any endeavour. Research such as that on the GRIT Scale (Angela Duckworth et al) indicates that qualities such as sticking with one area of study for a long time and persisting through failure are better predictors of even academic measures of success like the Grade Point Average (GPA), than other indicators. The academic work and facilitated self-reflection and feedback sessions help students reflect on their self-management habits and build effective habits. 5. Students develop into balanced multidimensional individuals. Every individual has physical, mental, social/emotional and spiritual dimensions. Balance here, refers to both an internal balance between these different dimensions, as well as an appreciation of multiple external perspectives. Balance also implies an appreciation of the interconnectedness of things. The academic work as well as the other activities and interactions on campus will help students develop their multiple facets in a balanced manner.
Courses Offered Courses are being designed by experts in the field, expert teachers and educationists working together. Individual courses will be facilitated by expert instructors from India and around the world. The courses currently under consideration are listed below. The final list of courses will be published by the end of January 2016. Details of courses as they are finalized will be published on www.ei-india.com/talentsearch. 1. The Science of Light, Colour and Visual Perception 2. The Essence of Engineering 3. Exploring the Way Life Works 4. History of Scientific Thought 5. Think Like a Mathematician 6. Journalistic Writing
Management ASSET Summer Studies Programme is offered by Educational Initiatives (EI), India’s leading learning and assessment company, and the creators of ASSET and Mindspark. The 2 key people managing the programme areVishnuteerth Agnihotri, Academic Director- Vishnu is a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras with 25 years of experience across diverse sectors. He has worked with EI for over 10 years and has headed the development of different product offerings like ASSET, Mindspark and Detailed Assesment. Vishnu has also been involved in many innovative educational research projects including assessments of student values and attitudes and assessments of teacher knowledge and skills. Pankhuri Nigam, Site DirectorPankhuri has been involved in the Duke TIP summer studies programmes in India for over 5 years. She has been the residential director for 2 years and site director for one year for the Duke TIP summer studies programme in India, as well as the Site Director for the Johns Hopkins CTY summer studies programme in 2015 in Seattle, USA. Pankhuri has a deep understanding of what is required to offer a high quality enriching and safe residential on-campus experience to young students.
For more information on the program, write to us at talentsearch@ei-india.com
STUDENT’s Zone ASSET Talent Scholar 2014-15 Interview of an ASSET Talent Scholar Surabhi Paraki Purnapramati School
Q.1 Apart from having a thirst for knowledge, what else excites your mind? Exams. Just the word sends a tingle of excitement through my spine. Whether they are competitive ones like Olympiads or diagnostic tests like Asset, or maybe even a normal school exam, they always excite me, no matter what. Q.2 If you were a time machine, what period in history would you go back to? And why? Well, there are many periods of history that I would like to go back to, but the one which really intrigued me was the time period of the Indus Valley civilization. I would like to go to that particular time so that I can know the exact reason behind the end of the civilization. Q.3 Do you idolize anyone? If yes, then who and why? My idols are both, Hellen Keller and J.K Rowling. I consider Helen Keller my Idol because, even though she was both blind and deaf, she achieved a lot of things. She has showed me the strength of willpower. I Idolize J.K Rowling because she excels in eloquence, which is my passion. I love to write fan fiction, stories, poems and loads of other creative things. I really think I have a lot to learn from her.
story of the cases, a psychic named Shawn solves in the most ingenious possible ways. Q.6 What other talents do you possess? I write a lot of poems, I’m pretty good at it too. I also sing pretty well. Q.7 If you could be someone else for a day, who would that be? If I had the chance, I would be in position of Emma Watson as UN women's global goodwill ambassador. Q.8 If you got a chance to travel the world, which places would you like to see? I would love to travel to Greece and Rome because of its historical and mythological Importance, Switzerland, France and Venice because of its scenic beauty and to Orlando just to see the Harry Potter world!
Q.4 What is your favourite book? Give reasons why?
Q.9 If you could make one rule in the world for everyone to follow, what would that be?
I don't have "A" favourite book, I have like twenty-five of them. If I really have to choose, I’d choose Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, partly because of the huge amount of suspense in it and partly because of the language used (It’s just brilliant!). I absolutely love it!
The rule would definitely be that the act of cutting trees will be severely penalized. We just have to prevent deforestation so that we can have a bright future ahead and a clean and safe earth for our future generation.
Q.5 What is your favourite TV show? My favourite TV show is ‘Psych’ which airs on Comedy Central. It is the
Q.10 What do you aspire to be, when you grow up? I would like to be either an author or an entrepreneur.
Bookpost
Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd. A-201, Baleshwar Square, Opp. ISKCON Temple, S.G. Highway, Ahmedabad-380015 Phone : 91-079-66211600 Fax : 91-079 66211700 Email : info@ei-india.com Website : www.ei-india.com
We would like to receive your feedback on the contents of ASSETScope and the activities of EI. Please send your comments / opinions / suggestions to bindu@ei-india.com, assetscope@ei-india.com or to the postal address mentioned on the left. This is a platform meant for you and it would be great to exchange ideas with you.