Mentor Magazine February 2017 Volume 10 Issue 9 by Mentor Magazine

CONTENTs

February 2017 | Volume 10 Issue 09

Mentor Thoughts

COVER STORY

Sultan Speaks Page - 05

Energize Education

The Innovative Life Skills Pedagogy Page - 32

School Cinema- A successful life skills intervention

Pedagogy

Re-engineering Education Page - 06

Application of VUCA in education...

The Magic of a Piece of Chalk Page - 10 Redefining roles as educators...

School Governance

Quality Primary Education Page - 14

An Alternate Model for Child Centered Play Way Approach...

20 The Approachable Teacher Building a strong team...

School Leadership

Towards Sustainable School Leadership Page - 26

Encouraging Teacher Coordinators as Future School Leaders...

Innovation

Go Digital Page - 29

Ensuring that students are equipped with the right skills to use technology!

26 29

Publisher & Owner: Syed Sultan Ahmed Editor-in-Chief: Kalpa Kartik Associate Editor: Yashika Begwani Designed by: Uday S Production: Praveen U.M., Sathish C., Guna V. Printed by: Manoj Printed at: Elegant Printing Works, # 74, South End Road, Basavangudi, Bengaluru - 560 004. Published at: # 175, 2nd Cross, Lower Palace Orchards, Bengaluru - 560 003, India. Ph: +91 9019111110 NOTICE: As an author/contributor you are responsible for the authenticity of the information you provide in your article. The publishers do not accept liability for error or omissions contained in this publication. By submitting letters/emails or other publication materials to Mentor Magazine you agree they are the property of Mentor Magazine. All communication to Mentor Magazine must be made in writing. No other sort of communication will be accepted. All decisions regarding publishing of an article is the prerogative of the publisher and editorial team of Mentor Magazine. Mentor Magazine is owned and published by EduMedia Publications Pvt. Ltd. for and on behalf of Mr. Syed Sultan Ahmed. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts and forums in Bengaluru City. Source for a few pictures - Internet

A Venture of

SULTAN SPEAKS

ENERGIZE EDUCATION – INFUSE YOUTH!

Two decades ago, I started my career in Bangalore, as an engineering student who was keen on working with schools. My first work stint was that of a Debate Teacher in Sri Kumarans Children’s Home. It was an amazing experience for me and I learned a lot, for I loved working with schools and students. The more I enjoyed the role, the more I realized that I managed to influence students and infuse in them a love for public speaking and communication. The experience of working in a school completely transformed me as a person. I grew by leaps and bounds picking up innumerable life lessons! Today when I look back at my eventful life, I can very safely point to my work experience in college as life changing. I have spent my life thereafter, working with schools, adding value to the education system and doing my bit to make things better for students. One is at the prime of health, energy, confidence and excitement between the age of 18-25. The so called ‘youth’ this time, has the potential to change the world. History is proof that the youth have been responsible for some of the biggest changes that have occurred over millennia.

Even the experienced ones that bring about change, had the seeds of change sown in their minds and hearts while they were young. Somehow in India, we as a society do not recognize this potential in the youth and expect very little from college students. We are happy ‘relegating’ them to be ‘just students’. I use the word ‘relegating’ very responsibly as we have such low expectations from our students, we just expect them to study and do well in academics. However, youth in most parts of the world work while studying. Somehow in India as a society, we do not encourage our college students to work. I started my career as a college student and over the years I have had the privilege of working with thousands of college students in innumerable cities across South Asia. I have always been inspired by their energy and enthusiasm. The college students who have worked as part of my Krayon team over the years have helped us create some of the biggest children’s events like Horlicks Wizkids, Dell Champs, NSE Funancial Quest, Spellbee and many more. Working with college students has taught me that they can

be very responsible if we trust them and give them the freedom to express. I have never been let down by any college student that has worked for me throughout my career. College students can relate to school students a lot better and can be effective change makers if we create a proper system to engage them with school students. Schools across India find it difficult to source specialist teachers/faculty for skill-based programs like art, music, dance, drama, sports and so on. Some schools use their alumnae effectively to support their programs but most schools do not look beyond experience. Youth can and always have played a great role in making a difference to the learning of students! Do you have a plan to engage with college students to improve your school?

Mr. Syed Sultan Ahmed, Managing Director, LXL Ideas sultan@lxl.in

PEDAGOGY

RE-ENGINEERING EDUCATION Mr. Ian Faria

With over 38 years of total work experience, Mr. Ian Faria brings a plethora of skills and capabilities to the education table. He started his career in the merchant navy, where he quickly rose up the leadership ladder to be a certified Chief Officer. As a community leader he has been President of the Karnataka Goan Association, the Catholic Club, the Catholic Association of Bangalore and St. Joseph’s Old Boys Association. Through Toastmasters, he has been determined to improve the communication skills for Indian leaders and has also been awarded the Presidential Citation in 2006 for the same. This has helped transform the mindset of the many leaders he works with, in some of the best multinational companies in India. He is currently a Board Member of East West School, Bengaluru and was a founding member of the Society at Xavier’s Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship XIME, Bengaluru.

VUCA is a word that has been doing its rounds in the corporate world. It originated in the American Army in the 90’s, but is now a term used often to describe a world that is in constant churn. The acronym VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. How does VUCA have a bearing on education? Well, it has a direct bearing. One of the key purposes of education is to prepare students for a job. That preparation is a long process and takes years to achieve. It begins at the foundation stage, in school and is later reinforced in college. However, the world is far from constant or stagnant. The world as we know it, is going through its own flips and cartwheels. It is no longer the linear growth world that we could predict and plan for. It is fluctuating and disruptive; chaotic and totally unpredictable. We need a

completely new understanding of this world before we can predict and prepare students for it.

Machines are increasingly taking over the world. The sad news is that education is not even taking these signals seriously

Can this really be done? Yes, but we will need to look at education afresh. Ideally it has to be seen from two different fronts: The Situation:A rapidly changing world. Capabilities:Advances in brain studies. Six out of the top ten jobs today were not even around a decade ago. What jobs will be in great demand? Genetic Engineering

In this article for MENTOR, Mr. Faria shares a fresh concept used by organizations and highlights its manifestation in the education space.

www.lxl.in

February 2017

and Genetically Modified Foods; Boutique Medical Treatments; Customized Medicines; Home Delivered Services; Neighbourhood Conveniences and Borderless Business. Then there is Artificial Intelligence; Stem Cell Therapies; 3D Printing; Machine Learning and Self Healing Systems. Things are changing too fast for us to comprehend them. It is extremely difficult to predict what the next big thing could be or what will be redundant soon.

changes to business through Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics.

Have we got any proof that things are really changing? Companies that did not keep pace with the changing scenario lost market share and became almost insignificant. Market Leaders like Yahoo and Nokia are almost insignificant in today’s world. Companies like Ola and Flipkart were not expected to survive. Nothing is as predictable as it used to be. This is an unpredictable pattern that we will have to contend with. Some companies will make meteoric rises to the top and many will fade into insignificance. This creates a huge gap of uncertainty for the corporate world. How can we plan for such a volatile world? What adds to the challenge of this VUCA world is the rapid

Let us look at a very recent example. WIPRO had announced that they would be making 3000 maintenance engineers redundant. They were going to rely on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to replace these engineers. The predicted savings for the company in the first year alone is a whopping 390 crores. However, there is bad news for technology and engineering folks. Companies like TCS and Infosys are also doing something similar. Even the CISCOS and the DELLS of the world are contemplating similar kind of moves. Machines are increasingly taking over the world. The sad news is that education is not even taking these signals seriously. Complacency and maintaining

Collaboration is the way forward, and networking and synergy are not merely words or concepts

the status quo – are operating attributes from the past. These are redundant and dangerous in a world that is chaotic and constantly disrupting itself. We will need to pull up our socks, and work collaboratively with the corporate world to jointly estimate where we are heading. We have to seriously adopt new paradigms in education. Some of the models that could be significant for us could be determined by predictions from the futurists. Unfortunately, even the experts will not be able to make their predictions with any level of certainty. For education - this is confusing. How can we train our students for a world where even the industry and corporate experts are in a quandary? We may have to use predictive modelling to determine what may be required and how students will need to learn things differently. Now let us move to another area of interest for educators – Capabilities. Capabilities – Advances in Brain Studies Till about the middle of 2015, I had only been able to source about 40 good books that lay people could read, on the subject of the human brain. However, in the last year alone, I have been able to procure more than 110 books on the brain. It is apparent that with the large funding being allocated across the globe for brain studies, there will be many more books hitting the stands in the year 2017. We can expect a plethora of books that will keep us busy and a tad bit confused. But this could also a blessing in disguise for us. For the first time in history, we are able to understand the brain in myriad new ways. Mindfulness is no longer just a part of spirituality. Mindfulness is the new mind mantra in the management world. Another

www.lxl.in

of our teaching methodology? Points 1 and 2 above are standard requirements that academia are used to. However, it should now be looked at from the point of view of a VUCA world.

way of understanding this is - working memory which is lucidly explained in a book - the New IQ - by Ross and Tracy Alloway. The sooner we are able to understand the power that is inherent in the human brain, and how the triune mind system works, the better we will be able to train the minds of the students we are shaping for tomorrowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world. Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it strange that we are still educating students for a world that no longer exists? Yes, while some basic knowledge, especially with language, math and basic science is more or less the same, we should be aware that knowledge in higher science and technology is exploding at a rate that we have not yet seen and are yet to fully comprehend. Experts say that even in the short phase between joining and leaving college what is being taught could already have lost significance or relevance. Is it possible for education to keep pace with industry, Science and Technology? It has to do so if it wants to retain its importance and its impact. Here are some questions for the academia to ponder: What are the basic knowledge and skills that students need at the school level?

Can we build this a little further and augment it with some of the new mind-expanding techniques that are constantly being discovered? Can we move to a more rounded off and holistic approach to learning? Can we polish up essential people and communication skills, while building a framework of math, science and technology and psychology? What knowledge/skills can be added or topped up at the college level? Can this also be dynamic so that it aligns with a changing world? Could confidence and the ability to communicate effectively and impactfully, be an essential part

How can we make a collaborative partnership between industry and technology leaders and academia? This is essential if education has to be relevant by the time a student moves from campus to the corporate world. This would be a win-win situation for education and for the industry as well. Novel thoughts like this will eventually narrow the educationâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;industry gap. Both sides need to see this as a joint challenge rather than wanting to push the buck on to the other. Collaboration is the way forward, and networking and synergy are not merely words or concepts. In a highly disruptive world, it is these solid collaborations that will help the world adapt/adopt and improve more nimbly. The U.S. Education System is much more nimble than our system in India. The elective subjects allowed for the hybrid degrees and certifications are limited only by the imagination. Students can choose and even design their own educational

February 2017

requirements. In India, we are too structured and strict. This is not an asset, but a liability in a world where change is the only constant. Can we get our law makers to start looking at what tomorrow’s world requires rather than look back and bicker over who did what and who was right/ wrong? We can no longer learn much from history, because history is now being created at break-neck speed. When are we going to learn how to keep ourselves on our toes? When are we going to crack and eliminate the thought leadership straightjacket? We need to be able to innovate and create technology rather than wait to see what works and try to imitate and replicate it. How can we move from assessing students on their memory capability for information retention to assessing students on their ability for problem solving and innovation? Our assessment system is geared towards mapping the ability to rattle out information as though this is some form of memory challenge. What is really required for our students is to get a thorough knowledge of how things work or how we can work to improve or adapt them when required. The reason why we in India have not been

able to establish ourselves as thought leaders, could well be this systemic issue, of having to memorize things, rather than to understand the machinations of the process. Could we therefore nurture mindset to question and challenge? Could we get students to do their own research before the class is conducted? Could we get them to think more disruptively? This could help them become more creative and innovative. It could also help them become more adaptive to a disruptive world. We are living in a high tech and high touch world. Let us always remember that our advantage lies in intelligence and is more or less surrendered to the computation/memory capabilities of intelligent, selflearning machines. However, our strength lies in the domain of emotions and how we read and respond to it. From an industry perspective, there is a lot of focus on online and cyber learning. This is great, but like most companies who use this, we are seeing clearly where it has an edge, and where there are constraints. It is now up to us to see how this potent mix will work to everyone’s advantage. Blended learning is also making huge headway, and these are

innovations that will hold us in good stead as we approach the disruptive business scenarios that could stealthily be lurking just around the next corner. Last but not least, are we as educators doing at least a little to keep ourselves updated to the latest in the world? Innovation and upgradation should be the norm, and not a one-of activity. Let us lead by example. What have we done in the last few months/years to keep abreast with the happenings in the technology or service worlds? We are leaders and the best way to teach is surely by example. Let us always remember this. So let us recap this... • We need to embrace nimbleness and the ability to jump further than we would have dared to jump before. • We need to be constantly aware of where our best thrust exists, and know how to exploit it quickly. • We should be collaborative and interactive when we plan curriculum and courseware for today’s students who will be productive in tomorrow’s world. • We should upgrade our own knowledge banks regularly.

ianfaria@gmail.com

THE MAGIC OF A PIECE OF CHALK Mr Rajaram Sharma

Prof. Rajaram S. Sharma heads the Central Institute of Educational Technology of the National Council of Education Research and Training. He leads initiatives in exploring appropriate applications of ICT in education. He is closely associated with the implementation of the National Policy of ICT in school education, particularly the development of a National Repository of Open Education Resources and a curriculum which aims at enabling teachers and students in meaningfully using ICT to enhance their capacities to learn. His career in education spans over twenty-five years, where he has been a teacher, teacher trainer, and researcher, exploring active methods of learning, helping children become independent learners, enhancing teacher competency and capacity for innovation, and helping school systems explore appropriate ICT to reach out and bridge divides. He champions the Creative Commons and free and open source software applications. In this article for MENTOR Prof. Sharma decodes how the chalk has often symbolized teaching and learning and what it means today.

The role of a teacher has not changed and will not change. Carried away by cosmetic changes in the world, the teacher in us need not dream of becoming super women and men. Nor need we be intimidated by the face in the mirror, fall in our own esteem and declare ourselves incompetent. Of course, things are constantly changing around us, ever so rapidly. Societal expectations, parental aspirations, student goals, everything is changing. The very educational canvas is in a constant state of flux. But the situation rather than becoming one of panic should be one of euphoria. If at all, it is easier to be a teacher today. With umpteen teaching assistants available, all that is needed is for us to rediscover our professional selves, right size our efforts, right orient priorities and we are sure to be merrily gliding over the most turbulent of waters. Learning- Then and Now The concept of a school is about two to three hundred years old. Various models existed earlier, but shared the common principle of apprenticeship. It has always been our belief that learning is best achieved when a youngster is taken under the wings, guided through the routines, inspired to set higher and higher goals for oneself and encouraged to attain them. The morphing of an unsure child into a young self-assured

adult, confident of his (with due apologies to the persons of other genders, for convenience, this article refers to teachers in the feminine and students in the masculine) competence and the ability to take on the world has always remained the primary purpose of education. A leap in imagination that the process of learning can be scaled up - many people can be simultaneously apprenticed to one teacher - led to the concept of a school. The need was felt for a structured programme, enabling one or more teachers to attend to their pupils. This has resulted in a rather complex technology called schooling. Structured curricula stratified into subjects, age wise stratification of children, stratification of the time available - annual plans and time tables, and to top it all a stratified performance card have emerged as integral components of this vehicle.

Originally conceived as a teaching aid,(the text book)has morphed itself into a cancerous monster taking over every aspect of schooling

The costs that we pay for achieving this apparently welloiled technology, which churns out millions of branded children

www.lxl.in

February 2017 has been debated and does not deserve further space here. If it were not for a general growing discontent with this model, you would not bother to read this or similar arguments in education. A very old English poem, succinctly sums up what we have achieved. For want of a nail the shoe was lost, For want of a shoe the horse was lost, For want of a horse the knight was lost, For want of a knight the battle was lost, For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. All for the want of a horseshoe nail. For those of you who are more visually inclined, do look up an animation by RSA Animate based on a talk by Kenneth Robinson. How have we reacted to the model as well as our discontentment with it? Smaller reactions in the form of withdrawing children and home schooling them, creating smaller classes, embracing alternate curricula etc. have been attempted. Relatively larger initiatives of adopting assistive technologies to support the

beleaguered teacher have also been attempted. Ranging from the textbook, teacher training, teaching aids and the recent technological gadgets, have attempted to help the teacher and the students to easily swallow the bitter pill. Changing the wheels, replacing the upholstery and sprucing the exteriors with a brand-new coat of paint may not make the rickety old car perform any better. Perhaps fitting a new engine under the bonnet may help. Presumably the old chassis is not very rusted. What is being pointed out is that all the possible changes we attempt will amount to tinkering because it primarily accepts the model that school as a construct â&#x20AC;&#x201C; some people can teach many

people at a time and achieve the same levels of efficiency as that of the original apprenticeship models. While I leave it to you to work out the possibilities and the details of the solution, I am sure, many of you have already rolled up your sleeves â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Do you have an alternative, you ask! The answer is NO. Given the demand that millions of children be educated in the best possible manner with the least possible expense and effort is really a huge challenge, and human kind is yet to come up with a viable alternative. Our best shot would be to consider how to make the existing school, completely aware of its inadequacies, more effective. For our argument, however, let us distinguish between education and schooling. Education is what accrues to an individual following a life time of investment in learning. Naturally, it can never be deemed completed. For a teacher or parent therefore, to claim that she is educating a child is rather presumptous. At best they are passing on a passion for learning, the technological know-how of learning, and a minimum foundation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the alphabet and the number, which will help the learner access information, act on it and build

www.lxl.in

for oneself a fund of knowledge, relevant and adequate for their pursuit.

oneself squarely belongs to the individual, at best we can only enable that process.

The Road Ahead This helps redefine our role as a teacher and in fact, shed some baggage. In the earnest hope that we would improve the technology called schooling, we have added components, patching up a crack here, plugging a hole there. So much so, that we actually have a very large number of extraneous components which may not be as important. For example, educating a child is certainly not our business. The right and the responsibility to educate

Let us examine a few other such baggages and see if we can shed them. The textbook is one of the most contradictory of innovations in schooling. Originally conceived as a teaching aid it has morphed itself into a cancerous monster taking over every aspect of schooling, even the teacher. Rather than being a master craftsperson whose wizardy inspires learners, teachers are being reduced to arbiters of a textbook, reading from it, annotating it, shackled by it. As a close friend bemoaned,

â&#x20AC;&#x153;No more do I teach English, I only teach the English textbookâ&#x20AC;?. To read, comprehend and act upon the text, the diagrams, the activities and the questions in the textbook is the responsibility of the student. To learn from it, perhaps before the class takes it up, and participate in unravelling the topic is a privilege you can afford for the student. Position it thus and enjoy the adventure, leading your army in exploring what the text hinted to, what the library expounds on, what the activities and projects can build on. We will not only feel like Archimedes jumping out of the tub, shouting Eureka! Or Newton assuaging the bump on his head from the apple that fell. The joy of learning is what you experienced, it is what you share with your fellow explorers. You have the unique seat from which you may behold the brightening of each face in the class, the glint in their eyes assuring you that each of them is well on their way to be a better learner. Show the textbook its due place. Keep it with the student. Reclaim your rightful place. Become the master of your classroom. Information and Communication Technologies, in fact is at best a proxy for all the trivial gadgetry that has appeared on the classroom scene. As short lived

www.lxl.in

February 2017

as they are, they have had their toll on the teacher. The debate of which gadget is better than the other has become so noisy that a meaningful stance on the issue is difficult. Many a competing argument can be put forth for introducing one or the other device. Fortunately asking a rather basic question can help unravel the issue. Does the use of a particular ICT deliver the teacher from the issues that come in the way of performing her core activities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; continuing to learn and enabling the learner. Any ICT which expects investment of time and effort on an extraneous objective, say colouring or formatting a presentation slide, is clearly adding to the burden without a commensurate dividend.

that they are eminently qualified to be the bottled genie, waiting to be unleashed. They await the smart teacher to uncork it. Discover your password. The magic in the classroom lies between the fingers of the teacher. The humble chalk represents that power Identifying the unessential components and offloading them will certainly make the vehicle leaner; focussing on

the core competencies and demanding the right assistance from all possible technologies, will certainly re-establish the teacher in her rightful place as the driver. All that is needed is for us to rediscover our professional selves, right size our efforts and rightly orient our priorities. The magic in the classroom lies between the fingers of the teacher. The humble chalk represents that power. The way she wields it can make all the technologies dance to her tune and the Pied Piper shall merrily wind her way through, guiding her students to fashion their own destinies, reassured of a job well done.

While drawing the curtains on ICT would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, it is every teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s right, rather responsibility to engage with it, critically examine it for its worth, reject it if need be and claim the technology as an able assistant. In fact, it is the beauty of every technology beginning with the chalk and the board to the most modern technological device

rajaramsharma@gmail.com

SCHOOL GOVERNANCE

QUALITY PRIMARY EDUCATION Ms. Malavika Kapur

Prof. Malavika Kapur is a Visiting Professor at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bengaluru and former Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Psychology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru. She has fifteen books and over 100 publications to her credit. She is a Fellow of the Indian Association of Clinical Psychologists, the Indian Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and the British Psychological Society. She has been a consultant for organizations such as the WHO, UGC, NCERT, NIPCCD, ICMR and ICSSR.

Education is dynamic and has evolved in India, especially in the last few years. India has had a rich history of eminent scholars who have added to the knowledge repository in the form of Vedic or mythological literature, scientific enquiry and mathematical theorems. Since its conception, education has developed with various meanings and with each passing year, it is structured furthermore, to aid this development. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India formulated National Policy of Education in 1986 to 1992 that helped lay foundations of a robust education system in India. However, there have been major socio-economic and political changes since then and the existing policies need to be relooked at. The Ministry came up with a few changes, inputs

and recommendations under the Draft National Education Policy 2016, to keep up with the dynamic and changing context of education. Few Recommendations Instead of a new policy, a transformational document must be considered to provide the framework to translate policy into reality based on experience at the grassroot level: â&#x20AC;˘ Apart from highlighting the flaws of the current education systems at preschool, primary, elementary, high school and higher education, the policy fails to highlight even the marginally successful efforts of movements such as Sarvashiksha Abhiyan or other groups, though at smaller scales. The necessary conceptualisation of this has

She has been on the Advisory Group of the ICD Revision of Child Psychiatric Disorders at the WHO Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division, Geneva from March 2010. Her main contribution is her work of developing integrated models of mental health service delivery for children and adolescents. In this article for MENTOR, Ms. Kapur shares her perspectives and inputs for the National Education Policy Draft, 2016.

www.lxl.in

February 2017

been highlighted more than adequately in the previous National Policy documents and the Yashpal Committee Report (2009). • Need for assessment is highlighted at all the levels but looking at assessment as an end in itself, continues to persist. The question is, after assessment, what should be the next step? Assessment should be the means to an end, namely remediation. The enormous amount of money, time and effort that is spent on assessment does not benefit children in the school. • The issue of ‘life skills’ is distinctly different while enhancing occupational skills and employability is an equally laudable aim. Life skills promote overall psychosocial development while occupational skills especially for school leavers is a different issue altogether which needs lot of research, employment and placement network. • ICT is seen as a panacea. In the absence of quality education, ICT would only magnify the anomalies in the school system. • The obvious and blatant flaw

in the policy is overlooking the child-centred play way methodology. In the present education policy document ,this basic understanding of bridging overall child development and educational practices is absent. The whole burden is laid at the door of NCERT. What we are looking at, is the change of mindset of the teachers and educators of all levels, preschool to higher education.

Teachers beating children is a common sight in government schools. They believe that children need to be disciplined and corporal punishment is the only way to do it

• The time has come to examine how existing policies can be translated into providing childcentred activities replacing teacher centred unidirectional rote learning, rather than proposing new policies. • The RTE concept has several gaps. It is focused more on getting children

into schools. This appears ideal on paper. More than simply getting children into schools it should focus on closing the achievement gap. Children from underprivileged backgrounds have already lost out on competencies like numeracy and literacy and non-cognitive skills because of stressful family backgrounds where there is financial strain. Just getting these children into classrooms is meaningless. It is important to develop and implement a summer programme that will enable some closure of achievement gap so that they can at least catch up somewhere along with their peers. This sort of summer program for RTE children creates playbased strategies to improve literacy, communication and non-cognitive skills like selfregulation. • Within the RTE discourse itself there were gaps initially when they failed to include children with disabilities. After advocacy from parents and organizations, children with disabilities were also included. This again remains only on paper. If we want to teach all children the value of diversity, inclusion and justice, this also has to translate into action. • Prof Yashpal’s dictum of “Learning from Children What to Teach Them” is completely lost. All these years we were not lacking in good policy documents but in our inability to implement changes. The present document only continues to promote the faults of the earlier documents instead of using the perfectly satisfactory documents to examine why these policies have failed to reach the grassroots level of the education system.

www.lxl.in

Background Though India has very progressive policies for children’s education, these have not been successfully translated into action at the grassroots level. All the well-meaning efforts at the national level are paved with good intentions, idealism and elitist educational approaches to quality education but these have not been successfully translated into action in most of the government schools. In an extensive review at the National level of pioneering around 50 studies on promoting education in Indian government schools, it was found that the focus essentially was on reading, writing and maths using better

teaching technologies and dependent on teachers. Overall psycho-social development of the children was not considered important. Self-sustainable child centred efforts have not been attempted at the grass root level. There are many drawbacks with the present day education system. By attending to these deficiencies one may move forward to provide quality education. Some of the major problems are: • Very little effort is made to evaluate and validate theories and practices at the grassroot level. • The methods of instruction are laid down in a `top-down’

manner from the centres of excellence rather than being put together at the grassroot level.

Childcentred and developmentally appropriate teaching or learning aspects are alien to most of the teachers

• Though teachers may be well versed in the theories of good teaching practices, such as ‘joyful learning’, they do not follow it in their day-to-day teaching practices. • The burden of teaching rests entirely on the already overburdened teachers. • The barriers between the teachers, the taught and the community remain strong and unyielding. • Basic concepts of child development across physical, intellectual, language, emotional, social, sexual and moral development and their understanding is totally lacking amongst the teachers. Their firm commitment is to teach in the traditional way with only the teaching aid

www.lxl.in

February 2017 of a stick. Teachers beating children is a common sight in government schools. They believe that children need to be disciplined and corporal punishment is the only way to do it. • Child-centred and developmentally appropriate teaching or learning aspects are alien to most of the teachers. • The reality that promotion of the psycho-social development of disadvantaged children is possible has not been convincingly demonstrated to the teachers so that they are willing to adopt them. • Special needs of the children as they relate to caste, class, and ethnic groups have not been acknowledged by teachers. This prevents them from capitalizing on the inherent potential of children. • The need to relate and empathize with children and to understand their families is not deemed to be necessary. At the national level, the various indicators of the school system are better than before. Yet a very large number of children do not learn enough to realize their full potential. Free and compulsory education, as

promulgated by the Right to Education Bill, and the provision of equitable or quality education still remains a distant dream for many children. The provision of quality education requires a radical paradigm shift in the way education is imparted to children at the grassroot level. A large number of micro level studies focusing on the learning potential characterization and child-friendly practices are needed before we can reach out to the large majority of children at the macro level.

Though teachers may be well versed in the theories of good teaching practices, such as `joyful learning’, they do not follow it in their day-to-day teaching practices

All the children in India will be in the schools according to the Right to Education Act. Research by multiple sources such as National Council of Educational Research and Training, Annual Status of Education Report and The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund have indicated that at the grassroots

levels, the aim of providing quality education to all has not succeeded. The quality of higher education rests on the quality of foundation at the primary school level. Hence, the need for childcentred play method which the preferred practice in the best- known education systems as well supported by empirical research in Developmental Psychology in the western nations. Despite the adulation of the ancient Indian educational practices, it must be brought to the notice, that historically education in India has been the prerogative of the elite by caste, class and economic status. Today, there is a dramatic shift of focus to mass education and rightly so in a democratic country. The same teacher centric and rote memorised methodology followed for times immemorial, for a selected few, cannot achieve quality education to all. Unless childcentred play methodology becomes operational at least for 50% of the school hours, there is no hope for the future of education for all the children in our country, across caste, class, gender and ethnicity and religion.

malavikakapur@gmail.com

COVER STORY

THE APPROACHABLE TEACHER Mr. Trilok Singh Bist

A visionary educationist with 25 years of experience in teaching and in school administration, Mr. Trilok Singh Bist is the Principal of Jodhamal Public School, Jammu since April 2012. He has recently been awarded the prestigious International School Award by the British Council for outstanding development of international learning in the curriculum, Meritorious Services Award by IAYP and the Best Principal in the J&K and Himachal Regions by SOF and British Council, for the fourth year in a row from 2012-2015. As a Principal in Jodhamal Public School, he has been working as the Chief Executive Officer of the School and shares his experiences with MENTOR while he has been running the school efficiently with his meticulous planning. Take us through your early life. Childhood, growing up, and education during your school life. I’ve been a very bright child academically. I think education during our times was way simpler with lesser burden to carry back home. We had the evenings free for play and that helped in preparing us for life. Our teachers were also very focused. Today, teaching has become commercialized and teachers also tend to focus more on tutoring and coaching classes. Children are forced to attend tuition classes. Students today need holistic development which teachers are unable to offer. Furthermore, with so much information available at hand today, that children are confused as to what they must do. In this sense also , there is no guidance that comes from teachers. In our times, the teacher-student bonding was phenomenal. That bonding or teachers remembering students’ names years later also, gave a very personalized touch and made it more convenient for us to relate

to the world around us while we were guided well. Today the teacher-student relationship has become very commercial and involves a give and take relationship. Nothing extends beyond classrooms since there are various means to learn and to attend to. As Principals, it becomes our responsibility to be able to incorporate this basic feeling among teachers and I feel in the years of my service here at Jodhamal, I have been able to achieve that!

Your personal experience as a parent/ educator I remember when my son wanted to pursue football seriously, there were a few oppositions saying he must finish engineering and concentrate on academics. But I have always believed in holistic development and pursuing one’s dreams and today’s kids need that support and space. So, we let him continue his passion for football and we were proud parents to see wonderful results in the form of winning international championships and trophies. We now have a

www.lxl.in

February 2017 Tell us about a recent book you read or a recent film that inspired you and your key learning as a school leader from it. To Sir with Love, by E.R. Braithwaite was a book I loved wherein an African teacher won the hearts of American students with the effortless and unique ways in which he conducted himself. It touched upon sensitive issues of racism in the society. I admire the film and its treatment. It was very inspiring and I felt it is so important for us to adapt, and to accept diversity! football champion in our house! As educators, as parents and guides it is our duty to ensure that we provide active support and freedom to the children so that they may follow their passion. Challenges faced at work. Balancing work and family life Fortunately for me, the entire family is affiliated to the school. My kids were in my school and my wife also works here, so I have never had an issue on that front! Leadership What are the challenges you face as a leader/Principal? The initial challenge while I came into Jodhamal, was being accepted. I had come from Dehradun and the members here were not prepared to welcome an outsider. I had been imported and was an outsider. Initial acceptance was a challenge and it took time for me to get a structure in place. But we were good to go within the first few months. Leadership is about acceptance and about building a strong team that has great ideas. Again, someone in the team might have a better idea than me, at such points we have open discussions and if an idea is mutually agreed upon, we work around it!

What according to you is the purpose of education? Open the minds of students. Open doors and windows of the student’s mind and help him/her use logic and wit to tackle the situation. In today’s world, it is very important to learn the skill of being street smart. Students need to be able to think and apply their thoughts in real life situations to succeed in life.

Teachers need to mould their ways of teaching, they need to be more adaptive to sustain in the education space

How do you constantly keep the learning curve going for yourself? Leadership has taken various forms- inspirational, autocratic, democratic and so on. But I feel there cannot be only one correct form of leadership. It has to be a blend of all. What works in today’s scenario best would be situational leadership- one that can tackle with different situations and react to the situation accordingly! I ensure that I update myself constantly by regularly attending workshops, conferences. I have also been a regular speaker for various Principal summits. I have led an inclusive education project in Dubai all of which I feel have added to my learning curve.

www.lxl.in

Governance What are the key highlights of the advice you would give to your teachers/ staff at the beginning of each session? I want the teachers to be effective teachers. Effectiveness in teaching does not come with academic success only. There has to be a strong teacher-student bonding. A bond between the teacher and taught is important. They need to connect at a deeper level for complete learning to happen. And that bond is the most effective tool to ensure that learning will occur. There is again a difference between friendliness and being over friendly. It is important to connect with students but again the line must not be crossed.

The teacher should be caring and warm. The children should be waiting for the teacher to walk into the classroom with a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;look forward toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; attitude for the teacher and that is when you feel a bond has been created! We need to invest a huge amount on our teachers. It seems to be a big concern today. What teachers have learnt needs to be unlearned and relearned according to the 21st century. We have a few staff development programs for their leadership and training. They need to go out there interact with other members of the community which only helps them grow. Teachers need to mould their ways of teaching, they need to be more adaptive to sustain in the education space. This is the

kind of adaptiveness we need today! How would you groom teachers/ staff to become leaders of tomorrow? I ensure that the teachers also keep updating themselves. They keep reading and I keep discussing with them. I ensure they are on their toes and keep updating themselves with fresh skills. What did they pick up from a film or a book? We keep having workshops around the year and we look at about 8-10 workshops a year. Teachers are asked to attend, to learn and continue learning, only then would they be able to match up to the smart students of today, who can find information at just their fingertips.

Effectiveness in teaching does not come with academic success only. There has to be a strong teacher-student bonding.

It is important to have a good blend of technology and personal guidance for the students. Only chalk talk does not work and neither will complete technology

www.lxl.in

February 2017

dependence help. It has to be a classic blend of both wherein the teacher can also learn and accommodate the child’s needs while guiding the child with their experience. The teacher needs to filter information and pass it on to the students. What are the activities that students engage in? What is their relevance/ importance in their development? There are workshops, seminars, discussions, debates and digital classes for the students throughout the year. Some of the activities that the students indulge in are:

Association – We introduced the learning by doing concept via our association with the British Council. Jodhamal students regularly organize Street Plays & Nukkad Nataks for social awareness on Women Empowerment, Water Conservation and other relevant issues. • Story Telling Methodology (Pre Primary to Class VIII)- To add innovative practices using the inter disciplinary approach, to know the methods of preparing the props and the teaching aids and to make

teaching learning a more interesting affair. • Digital Education – Each teacher is trained to use the digital boards and modules to make their lessons more interesting. • The play way method is used to teach students. • Developing MUN Culture and the Youth Parliament to enhance a child’s outlook. The activities help the students develop a passion and eventually lead to holistic development.

• International Award for Young People – Is the experiential learning platform for kids, wherein the Jodhamal student goes to the adopted village Ismailpur Kothe (Bishnah Tehsil) of Jammu District, interacting and working neck to neck with their counterparts in the society. Our students are also contributing to create awareness among the people for conservation of water, energy, heath and birth control. • International Studies

www.lxl.in

Innovation How has the teaching learning process changed from your times to now or a decade ago to now? How do you/ the school meet the current needs of students considering the area Jammu is very disturbed? We have all kinds of facilities at Jodhamal and ensure that students are nurtured with care. Smart classes have been introduced long back and are used religiously. Our school is the only school with an international award by British

Council for having successfully mentored around 8-10 schools in Jammu to make them better. We have adopted 3 government schools and 8 teachers go to these schools on Saturdays to share knowledge, best practices etc. This is a public-private partnership among schools. In that respect we are really looking at a very bright scenario. What is the one thing that you would like to/are trying to introduce in the school blending with the latest trends so that

students may be prepared for challenges of tomorrow? We have introduced storytelling and various creative forms of presentation from the initial classes itself. Students come up with unique ideas and concepts for presentation. Also, I feel it is very important to foster creativity. We are killing the childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s creativity by telling him/her this is right and this is wrong. As a principal, I really look forward to bringing this change and give freedom to children to express themselves freely. Creativity and imagination of the child must be catered to more closely by educators for I feel that it is extremely important.

Today the teacher-student relationship has become very commercial and involves a give and take relationship

Pedagogy Your experiences of working with RTE students and inclusiveness?

www.lxl.in

February 2017 I have not done so in Jammu yet but in the past while I was in Dehradun, I remember going to villages and interacting with different students. The students there are really enthusiastic and most of them are extremely bright. My management was very cooperative and I could give admission to 10 students who were below the poverty line. There are a few things in life that really matter. I still hear from some of these students who are doing well in their careers and remember me occasionally. It is such a satisfying feeling! What are the key values that a school/ institute must instill in students? Being good human beingsStudents nowadays have become extremely carefree with no respect and values. this must change. Values and traditions- A school must leave no stone unturned to ensure the correct values are passed on to students. Building life skills- You can catch a fish or give a fish to someone. If you teach them how to catch a fish they will never starve. So, picking up the skills is more important than getting the result/ rewards. What is that one strong belief you have and what is the message you would like to give to fellow educators/ institutions in the making? Love your children. For any teacher, this is of utmost importance. I am still a teacher and take economics lessons for grades 11 and 12. It is important to connect with students and teaching is the best way that it can be done. Just love your students and learn how to adapt and learn continuously.

tête-à-tête

QUICK

MENTOR in conversation with Mr. Trilok Singh Bist I would describe education as…. A tool that makes students better human beings.

Your biggest learning from life has been… Honesty. Be honest and sincere in your work and things will work out

You’ve been both a teacher and a principal, which one do you enjoy more and why? Being a teacher always. I am still a teacher and shall continue to be so. The love and affection you get as a teacher is never the same in case of a principal What are the 3 qualities that schools can/should look at nurturing in students for them to be prepared for tomorrow? • Skill Development • Value - Based Education • Holistic education What are the 3 key qualities that educators/teachers must have/must build to connect with students today? • Put your ego aside • Be ready to come down to the level of students • Be warm and approachable Give us one technological advancement in recent times that you think has changed the way in which children learn. Why is it important? Virtual Reality. I feel that promotes imagination and thought along with creativity. What is that one quality that will make students stand out tomorrow? Originality and creative thought. Divergent thinking must be nurtured.

principaljodhamal@gmail.com

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP Ms. Indira Subramanian

Ms. Indira Subramanian has been in the education space for more than 15 years. This experience includes teaching, curriculum development and designing of educational materials for children. She is the author of Landmark, a series of integrated Social Science textbooks for Class 6, 7 and 8 published by Oxford University Press. She has also authored the Teacher Manuals of the Social Science series - Time, Space and People for Class 6, 7 and 8 published by Oxford University Press. She is currently Head of Content Development at The Teacher Foundation, Bengaluru where she is responsible for the conceptualization and design of training material and its delivery. She has been the Project Head of the Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers (CIDTT) and she also oversees Teach Now, an online alternative teacher preparation and development programme recognised by the Department of Education in Washington DC and Arizona, USA. She brings a sound understanding of classroom practice and school research to her work and in this article for MENTOR, Ms. Subramanian shares how teacher coordinators could be encouraged to become future school leaders.

The landscape of educational leadership has witnessed the germination of many popular terms such as “moral leadership”, “transformational leadership”, “instructional leadership” and more recently, “inclusive leadership”. In each of these dimensions, the role of the school head is instrumental in catalysing the various aspects that play a role in teaching-learning and student achievement.

A school coordinator is often relegated to an administrative liaison fulfilling largely bureaucratic tasks necessitated by the large numbers

Recent scholarship and research has made a convincing stake for the world’s current status to be described as a knowledge society. Knowledge economies are described as being driven by “creativity and ingenuity”. In fact, knowledge societies are regarded as “force of growth and prosperity” but also of “increasing social instablity” and “mounting insecurity” and schools have to prepare young people for both. (Teaching in a Knowledge Society, Hargreaves,A: 2003)

When examined in the Indian context, with our nation’s great complexities, diversities and sheer magnitude of numbers, effective leadership in a knowledge society/economy requires tremendous energy, courage and the ability to innovate. It therefore does not come as much of a surprise that there are few school heads who can galvanise schools into being centres of high quality learning for all children, thereby reinforcing Collins and Porras’ prescient claim that “all leaders, however charismatic or visionary, eventually die”. (Built to Last: Successful habits of Visionary Companies, Collins,J and Porras,G: 2002) This makes a strong case for investment in a cohort of well trained, rigourously mentored and reflective practioners, who can lead schools with a sense of intent and purpose. These future leaders are not born; neither will they emerge merely from the ranks of experienced teachers. It is more likely that they will be forged through concerted and focussed attempts at providing real life leadership experiences and in embedding a culture of sustainable leadership in schools. Various attempts to build levels of leadership through designations such as “coordinators”, “level heads”, “section leaders” and the like have fallen woefully short of this desired intention.

www.lxl.in

February 2017 So, perhaps, here are some ways to begin this process:

In the current milieu, a school coordinator is often relegated to an administrative liaison fulfilling largely bureaucratic tasks necessitated by the large numbers that make it impossible for any direct interaction between teachers and the senior leadership team. Therefore, at the very onset, the coordinator is not visualised as a future/emergent school leader who requires competencies to be developed and honed at best, or requires some basic introduction into the nature of their responsibilities at least. Most coordinators who go on to assume school headship positions tend to “stumble” into leadership and by and large learn on the job. (Now, imagine if the same were to be the case for a surgeon, an architect or a pilot!)

How can we therefore groom school coordinators as a part of a movement towards “sustainable educational leadership”? A good place to begin would be to understand the term itself, stated as “the capacity of a system to engage in the complexities of continuous improvement consistent with deep values of human purpose” (Fullan, M: Leadership & Sustainability: System Thinkers in Action, 2005). Much like its counterpart in the environment and in the corporate world, it is seen as one which “preserves deep learning for all that spreads and lasts in ways that do no harm to and indeed create positive benefit for others around us, now and in the future.” (Hargreaves, A and Fink, D: Sustainable Leadership: 2005).

Instituting a Culture of Coaching: Research tells us that Coaching plays a significant role in acquiring, honing and mastering new skills, behaviours or tasks. One of the far-reaching consequences of coaching especially for emerging leaders is that it provides structured opportunities for them to practise and engage with the demands of school leadership through a constructive dialogic process and feedback. It also helps in shaping a shared and collective belief system about whole school culture, policies and processes through conversations which is often not given its importance it deserves. Co-constructing Belief and Value Systems: How often have we come across schools where leadership transition is greeted with a nostalgic memory about an older core team that remained faithful to the “school culture” but which has now been diluted with the new order? One of the reasons for this is that the core team often does not tend to coopt and invest in the emergent generation through a shared

www.lxl.in

and co-constructed belief and value system that is integral for sustainable school leadership. Focussing on the Essential Functions of Leadership: Leithwood et al suggest that effective leadership is about direction and influence, and stability and change have a synergetic relationship (Leithwood et al, Successful School Leadership What It Is and How It Influences Pupil Learning: 2006). It is worth thinking about how School Coordinators can adopt more leadership functions involving setting of direction and influence rather than just undertaking

managerial functions involving implementation and compliance.

School coordinators can adopt more leadership functions involving setting of direction and influence rather than just undertaking managerial functions

Understanding the Purpose of Schools: In order to truly prepare an

emergent leader for the top job, it is vital for us to establish the fundamental purpose of schools – and that is as a place for learning. Every single act in schools needs to be consciously evaluated in terms of its impact on learning and this needs to be internalized at every level, especially for young and emerging leaders. It is too easy to get carried away by “trappings and appearances” of school leadership and lose sight of the overall core reason why schools exist. There is a large body of scholarship and research available not just on leadership but on educational leadership, all of which attest to myriad attributes, traits and functions of successful leaders. But common to of this is the recognition that leaders are change agents who must carry out their functions with enthusiasm, empathy and hope. As Hargreaves compellingly points out, “professional learning... is an individual obligation as well as an institutional right” (Hargreaves, A: 2003). And unless there is an investment in building, mentoring and developing leadership, we cannot hope for the change revolution that we are in dire need for! indira@teacherfoundation.org

INNOVATION

GO DIGITAL Mr. Anand Achyut

Mr. Anand Achyut is Founder and CEO at Wonderslate Technologies, Bengaluru. He is passionate about the practical applications of technology in the field of education. He started his corporate life in Novell and moved on to become the Global Head for IT in another organization. With over 20 years of experience in building enterprise applications, e-procurement systems, distributed computing, software security, information risk management, data analytics and architecting bespoke client applications, he started Mithri Technologies, running successfully till date. In this article for MENTOR, he discusses how educators ensure that students are equipped with the right skills to use technology.

We are living in exciting times where lot of innovations are happening and its application is fast entering the digital education setup. Going digital is the trend across the fields not just in education. It is therefore important for the students to be equipped with right skills to handle and benefit from this. In this article we will explore in detail, the skills required by students to effectively use and benefit from technology. The skills required can be broadly classified into four groups. • Better learning using digital technology • Knowledge based skills • Security skills • Etiquette in digital space Now let us delve deeper into them… Better learning using digital technology The basic aim of any digital education platform is to support and empower better learning.

Learning your course material is not restricted to classroom or the textbooks anymore. There are lot of online resources like Khan’s academy, Coursera where subject matter can be learnt by watching videos and attempting the quizzes/tests given. Learning the subject from multiple sources will help the student get a deeper understanding of the subject. There are online tools which the student can use to create their own quizzes or buy tests on a given topic. These will help in practising the lesson they have learnt and improve in retention when required. Some of these tools provide analytics which will help the student to know how they are performing and where they can improve. Some of the technologies that will become part of our learning experience in near future are • Digital smart textbooks. • Augmented reality. • Analytics and Adaptive learning. • 3D printing. • Real time gamification and collaboration Knowledge based skills Knowledge based skills are the ones in which one learns to use technology used in the real world. These skills form a basic requirement for any kind of job that involves technology, to research or build new things. Some of these skills are Basic

programming

skills

www.lxl.in

-Programming is no more restricted to engineering students. There is a growing understanding that knowing how to program is essential, especially for the younger generations. Learning facts is less and less relevant in a world where Google can satisfy just about any question in a matter of milliseconds; it is skills that will enable children to succeed, and those set of skills must include programming. Here are some of the reasons. - Programming is a basic literacy in the digital age. - Programming can change the world. - You have an idea for the next big innovation? Great. You can bring it to life.

Collaboration tools Collaborating with others is one of the most effective ways to get work done and think outside the box, whether you are a teacher or a student. The online collaboration tools will enable students to communicate and collaborate fast and easily. Some of the popular online collaboration tools are Google drive, Podio, Titanpad etc.

Internet Search - Students need to know how to do a proper internet search, using search terms and modifiers. This skill is essential for school, work and life in general. The little time spent in educating oneself in learning this skill, will save a lot of time in doing any research or when looking for a specific information.

Security Skills While the digital/online platform is a great place to learn, it comes with its own set of challenges. By learning few tricks and following certain rules, students can successfully face these challenges.

When interacting on online forums like e-mail, chats or discussion forum there is a certain etiquette that needs to be followed.

• Use a password manager

to create unique, random passwords and to end the insecure practice of using the same login credentials in multiple places. A password manager will keep track of online accounts, audit your passwords and store secure notes. • Install antivirus and firewall applications. • Do not open the attachments you receive online from the people you do not know. • Do not post any personal information online – like your address, email address or mobile number. • Think carefully before posting pictures or videos of yourself. Once you have put a picture of yourself online most people can see it and may be able to download it, and hence it is not just yours anymore. • Keep your privacy settings as high as possible • Never give out your passwords • Do not befriend people you do not know • Do not meet up with people you have met online. Speak to your parent/teacher about it.

Office Suite Skills - Students need to know how to create, edit, and modify documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Businesses still use MS Office for most part, but iWorks, OpenOffice / LibreOffice, and Google Docs are all getting more popular. They all work similarly and hence the learning curve when switching is not that big. Self learning of technology and where to go for help - Knowing how to search through the help menu on a software or hardware, where to go to find user forums for help, and where to find the manual for technology is a huge skill that many may not know.

www.lxl.in

February 2017

• Remember that not everyone online is who they say they are • If you see something online that makes you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or worried: leave the website, turn off your computer if you want to and tell a trusted adult immediately. Online Etiquette When interacting on online forums like e-mail, chats or discussion forum there is a certain etiquette that needs to be followed. This not only keeps the cordial interactions happening but also avoids unnecessary issues that can arise. • Be respectful. While it is easier to say hurtful or disrespectful things without standing faceto-face with someone, it is important to remember that your classmates and teachers are real people who are affected by the words you say and write. It is essential to keep in mind the feelings and opinions of others, even if they differ from your own. If you would not say so to someone’s face, do not say it online either.

• Be aware of strong language, all caps, and exclamation points. It is easy for written text to be misread and misunderstood. Have you ever sent a text message with good intent but your recipient thought you were being rude? If so, then you have experienced this firsthand. By being cognizant of strong language, you can identify potential confusions before sending messages. Tip: Read everything out loud before you send it. • Be careful with humor and sarcasm. Certainly you should not avoid being funny. We love to see your personality shine through in online classes. Many of our teachers are exceptionally funny too. But like mentioned in Rule #2, make sure that it is clear you are being funny and not being rude. Emoticons and smileys can be helpful when conveying humor or sarcasm so that it is read correctly. Just remember to keep the smiley faces away from academic papers.

• Yes, grammar and spelling matter. While texting, ‘textspeak can b gr8 4 ur friends.’ In an educational setting (even online) however, keep it formal. Your written communication should be professional and reflect proper writing style. Save written shortcuts and less than stellar grammar for Snapchat if you must, but follow grammar rules for school. • Cite your sources. Whenever you are sharing an idea that originated from someone else (even if it is not word for word), it is a good practice to cite that source. This applies to discussion forums too. If you read a great thought in your text, share it, but be sure you let your audience know where you saw it first. • Do not post or share (even privately) inappropriate material. Enough said there. Nothing is truly private online. • Be forgiving. Remember that not everyone will know these rules before posting. Try to be understanding of others when they struggle with written communication. It is very different than simply talking to a person face-to-face. Some references that can be useful in learning these skills: To learn programming https://code.org/ https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teach-kidscoding-resources-parents-matt-davis Search tips and tricks https://support.google.com/websearch/ answer/134479?hl=en h t t p : / / w w w. l i f e h a c k . o r g / a r t i c l e s / technology/20-tips-use-google-searchefficiently.html Online Etiquette https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/7rules-to-teach-kids-online-etiquette http://achievevirtual.org/7-rules-for-onlineetiquette/ Online Security https://staysafeonline.org/stop-think-connect/ tips-and-advice http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/0/21259413

achyutanand@wonderslate.com

MENTOR THOUGHTS

THE INNOVATIVE LIFE SKILLS PEDAGOGY Ms. Prachi Misra

Ms. Prachi Misra is a researcher at LXL Ideas Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore. She holds a Masters degree in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Honors in Political Science from Lady Sri Ram College, University of Delhi. Ms. Misra has worked on various research based policy advocacy projects focused on the gender dynamics of livelihood, life-skills education, climate change and agricultural economy. Her primary research interest and prior publications revolve around issues involving feminist perspectives of life skills education, environment, religion and popular culture. She was also an editorial columnist for The Lucknow Tribune and Head Editor for Scintilla Magazine initiated by Medical Students Association of India (2015-16). As an education management consultant, she has worked with multiple non-profit organizations on establishing monitoring and evaluation systems for life-skills training modules. This article (the second in the trilogy) for MENTOR explores life skills pedagogy through the powerful medium of cinema highlighting School Cinema as a successful and innovative intervention.

Why an Innovative Pedagogy? How fast are we able to recollect the story when a popular film is mentioned? Is this recollection as prompt when a specific school topic is stated? How many lectures do we remember from our school days? Research in the K-12 education domain (pedagogy) reveals that more than 60% of the human population comprises of visual learners. A typical quality of these learners is the ability to process and interpret information for a longer period upon exposure to images, illustrations and motion pictures. Another unique attribute of visual learners is the ability to think in pictures, thus excelling in comprehension and articulation. However, despite the dominance of visual learners, the pedagogy of classroom instruction is predominantly auditory. The conventional instructional teaching methods are not conducive for impactful life skills based education. The traditional ‘moral science’ or ‘value education’ classes are primarily lecture based and therefore, not engaging for the students. Hence, innovation in pedagogy is essential to increase student learning outcomes. Teaching life skills as generic skills in relation to everyday life

could form the foundation of life skills education for the promotion of mental well-being, and healthy interaction and behaviour. More problem specific skills, such as assertively dealing with peer pressures etc. could be built on this foundation. There are research indications that teaching skills in this way, as part of broad-based life skills programmes, is an effective approach for primary prevention education (Errecart et al., 1991; Perry and Kelder, 1992; Caplan et al., 1992 in Kumar et al.,2015) Non-linguistic representations in the form of visuals have a lasting impact on the learner. In the past decade, cinema has emerged as a nuanced medium of communication, used for myriad purposes. Research in this domain indicates that use of media on a day to day basis eventually leads to influencing children’s perceptions (Chawla 2005; Gahlaut 2005). Since films are a great medium to express and communicate thoughts and feelings across all age groups, life skills pedagogy can effectively utilize the impact of this medium. Various studies have indicated that stories which have memorable characters, clever plots, and universal themes help to lay the foundation for a lifetime of pleasurable and successful reading encounters (Lamme, 1987; Newman, 1985).

February 2017

What is School Cinema? School Cinema uses the visual mode of imparting life skills education through a film-based learning curriculum for children, parents and educators. The films module is supported by interactive workbooks that further reinstate the life skills, values and attitudes. Content of the workbooks is developed in accordance with the formative and summative CCE assessment guidelines (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) with an aim to evaluate the students’ thinking, emotional and social skills along with values and attitudes. Extensive research is conducted for the School Cinema module development. Surveys are used as the primary tool to arrive at topics, issues and challenges faced by children. This information is collected from children, parents, teachers, counselors and other stakeholders. Focused group discussions are held with groups of children, parents, teachers and counsellors to map prevalent issues that need to be addressed through lifeskills sessions. Post analysis, the most relevant and common issues or topics are shortlisted.

Thus, each grade has a distinct module with ten movies for students, one film for teachers and one film for parents. The films deal with values, life skills, self-development, environment, social skills, adolescent education, citizenship and national integration. Since films are a great medium to express and communicate thoughts and feelings across all age groups, life skills pedagogy can effectively utilize the impact of this medium.

Distinctive Experience of Making a School Cinema Film A case study involving in depth interviews was conducted by LXL Ideas to outline the distinctive features of School Cinema. Selected via purposive sampling, primary respondents in this study were 4 filmmakers of School Cinema movies. During the interviews, filmmakers unanimously agreed upon a sense of responsibility experienced by them in the process of making films

for School Cinema. Unlike commercial cinema, this process was focused at connecting with the consumers of the films through the value and message leading to stimulation of thought, ideas and discussion. Kenny Basumatary, director of ‘Myna and Asterix’ (film for class 6 on learning the value of money) and ‘Fight It Right’ (film for class 10 on anger management) said, “Not only I had a great time, but also learned quite a lot from the scripting stage itself. Discussing ideas and particular lines of dialogues further enhanced my understanding of several concepts. The TV episodes I direct are disposable watchand-forget entertainment, but the School Cinema films are influential for thousands of young minds. I owed it to the team to deliver a product I could be proud of - a film that would inform and be entertaining at the same time.” Both the films have been featured and awarded in International Film Festivals like Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, Seattle Children’s Film Festival. Kate Chaillat’s film, ‘Too Cool for School’ addresses the issue of peer pressure in the class 8

module. “I had a story in mind which spoke to my younger teenage self. School Cinema gave me the opportunity to make that happen. The hero in my story Ben, internalizes the pressure he feels to the point that he thinks his head is growing bigger. As a teenager one tends to be locked in one’s own perceptions of self, making it harder to see how others may be feeling. It was important for me to show in this way that peer pressure is as much about the group of peers as it is about the individuals’ perception of that pressure”, says Kate while discussing the approach adopted to convey the message through the film. Reminiscing on how this was different from working on any other film project Kate said, “School Cinema makes films with a purpose and an audience in mind which is a challenge in itself, but they also give you the freedom to explore creative ways to put your ideas into the film. Before making this film for I had never felt like making a

film with children and teenagers. Creating a film for school cinema was a collaborative experience. Compared to making a short film it was interesting to be able to bounce back ideas with the creative team.” School Cinema’s teacher and parent films have been awarded and recognized in the film fraternity across the globe. Supavitra Babul, director of teachers’ film ‘I Say, Bhallaji!’ states that working with School Cinema has revived a certain patience and helped her follow discipline of the script in an allnew grammar. “There was a huge experiential difference in terms of pace of work, temperament, objectives and processes. It was more disciplined and focused. I was motivated towards making a film for School Cinema since I have been a part of feature films for children earlier and feel that films in the form of edutainment are more effective than pure academics”, says Supavitra.

Scope for innovation in life skills pedagogy is immense as this domain has garnered attention in past decade. Leveraging on visual mode of cinema ensures effective learning outcomes for students in the long run. School Cinema’s unique process is a groundbreaking intervention in existing pedagogical tools. Modules like these can be scaled up and further improvised and integrated for not just life skills education but also in the core subjects’ classroom instruction. Next article in the pedagogy series will further discuss this aspect, elaborating on the teachers’ response to the module. References Ghasemian, A., & Kumar, G. V. (2015). The Effectiveness of Imparting and Reviewing Life Skills Education in Iran and Indian Educational System: Opportunities and Challenges. International Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry, 3(2), 130-138. Giddings, L. R. (1991). Literature‐based reading instruction: An analysis. Literacy Research and Instruction, 31(2), 18-30.

Way Forward

To subscribe or to contribute articles please contact MENTOR MAGAZINE # 175, 2nd Cross, Lower Palace Orchards, Bengaluru - 560 003 Email: info@lxl.in Website: www.lxl.in Phone: +91 90191 11110

NO. OF COPIES

2 YEARS (24 ISSUES + 6 COMPLIMENTARY)

3 YEARS (36 ISSUES +9 COMPLIMENTARY)

Rs. 1000/-

Rs. 1500/-

Rs. 1750/-

Rs. 2500/-

Rs. 4000/-

Rs. 5500/-

*Prices inclusive of postage charges To download subscription form - www.lxl.in

prachi@lxl.in