Mentor Magazine March 2016 Vol. 9 Issue10

CONTENT

Mentor, March 2016 Volume 9, Issue 10

Mentor Thoughts

05 Sultan Speaks

Learning from life...

12 Cover Story

KVS envisions itself as a world class organization...

31 The Habit of WinningBook Review

Worth a read…

34 Post Scriptum

Pedagogy

06 Art based therapy

An insight into instructional methods of arts based forms and evaluation techniques…

09 OmniDel

The ‘OmniDEL’ technique may perhaps be a solution to classroom engagement issues, since it has the power to heighten, involvement of the learners…

School Leadership

Innovation

28 18 Mentoring Fostering autonomy When there is autonomy in our classrooms, we tend to nurture happy and satisfied children...

21 On Stability

Perspectives

School Governance

25 Enhancing the

An effort has been made in this article to capture the essence of perspectives and dimensions of new age Parenting and Teaching...

effectiveness of Parent Education Parental engagement is a critical factor associated with children’s positive educational attainment...

Lack of teacher stability can negatively affect professional development...

Impact…

Publisher and Owner Mr. Syed Sultan Ahmed Editor-in-Chief Dr. Vidya Shetty

Gitanjali Sarangan

EDUCATORS

Content Team Ms. Kalpa Kartik Ms. Yashika Begwani

Dr. Nandeesh V. Hiremath

Designed by Mr. Harpreet Singh

IN THE SPOTLIGHT Geeta Karunakaran

Amrita Burman

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DID YOU KNOW? Much has been spoken about women empowerment and women’s education in India, in the recent past. While these terms go hand in hand with some significant women like Indira Gandhi or Sarojini Naidu, little has been written or spoken about Savitribai Phule, one of the significant personalities for women education in India.

Born to a poor family in 1831 and daughter to a farmer from Satara, Maharashtra, Savitribai Phule was married to Jyotiba Phule, another significant social reformer, at the age of nine. She was taught and trained by her husband to teach and eventually founded the first ever school for girls in Bhide Wada, Pune in 1848 and also became the first ever woman teacher. She was also a significant leader to fight for the rights of equal rights to education for the oppressed class or Dalits during the British rule and has been described as ‘one of the first-generation modern Indian feminists’. The University of Pune was named after her in the year 2014 and replaced by Savitribai Phule Pune University to honour her in the field of education and for her contribution. She was also a pioneer for poetry in Marathi and her first poetry composition ‘Kavya Phule’ was published in 1854.

Below is an excerpt from one of her poems translated in English.

Go, get education Be self-reliant, be industrious Work, gather wisdom and riches, All gets lost without knowledge We become animal without wisdom, Sit idle no more, go, get education End misery of the oppressed and forsaken, You’ve got a golden chance to learn So learn and break chains of caste.

Throw away the Brahman’s scriptures fast - Savitribai Phule

ries or to us sto Do write uld add o c tes that r anecdo to all ou thought d @ n fo a in e t valu il us a can ma nd se r o t e lives. You .n , agazine mentorm rs to “The Editor” e tt le r u 175, ,# e in yo n zi a Mag MENTOR Lower Palace ss, ro C d n 2 luru - 03. s, Benga 899 Orchard 7 3 37 9 8 Ph: +91 9 Source Internet

March 2016

SULTAN SPEAKS

LEARNING FROM LIFE Years ago when I stared my career as a student of engineering, I was aware of the fact that I did not have the domain knowledge of the education space and that made me very conscious. I have over the years made a very conscious effort to learn and grow as an individual.

What I have always believed that I need to have, is a lot of depth and understanding of the issues that I am working on. My vision of my work was very clear, to create experiences for children that will help them Learn for Life. I have always strived to bring an element of excitement and joy in the learning process. I truly believe that if there is no joy, there is no learning.

This clarity of vision posed a very important question to me – What do I learn and Where? In the effort of finding an answer to this question LIFE has taken me on the most amazing journey of learning. Since I was not very clear of where the right learning comes from, I chose and still choose to expose myself to as many facets of life as I can.

In the initial phase of this journey I chose to travel down the known path of doing programs and courses. I equipped myself with skills that seemed obvious to me in my journey of being an educator. I learnt skills like counseling, hypnosis, NLP and then went on to expose myself to different philosophies of education ranging from Montessori to Waldorf to Progressive. When I look back now, this learning exposure helped me grow immensely as a person and as an educator; but my biggest learning came from some very unassuming quarters.

My biggest teacher of life has been, my travel. It is difficult to describe how much my travel has impacted me as a person and how much I have learnt from it. For starters this world is so big and so varied that one lifetime is not enough to even get a glimpse of its vastness’. This vastness humbles you and no matter what you have achieved

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you realise it is so insignificant in the overall context. History teaches survival, culture teaches humanity, food teaches innovation, clothing teaches art and the list goes on. I resolved that I will spend atleast one month outside India ten years ago and I am more than excited every year to go back to the ‘school of travel’.

In addition to my travel, my other teachers have been my bike rides, my drives, my theatre, my film making, my events, my research and the varied stuff that I keep dabbling in. The people in my life have been amazing teachers too, not only the obvious college professors or the literate ones that I spent time with, at work. Bigger lessons of my life have come in from simple unassuming people who never intended to teach or influence, but their simple acts and deeds left an impact for a lifetime.

I learn from life, as Life is the mother of Learning!

My other teachers have been my bike rides, my drives, my theatre, my film making, my events, my research and the varied stuff that I keep dabbling in

Mr. Syed Sultan Ahmed, MD, EduMedia India Pvt. Ltd. sultan@edumedia.in

PEDAGOGY

ART BASED THERAPY Dr. Gitanjali Sarangan, Executive Director at Snehdhara Foundation, Bengaluru, firmly believes that children and the youth need space to develop and discover themselves. Her initiative Arts Based Therapy for children with special needs has been recognized and has made marked changes in children’s speech, expression, cognitive and social abilities. The below piece shared with MENTOR, has excerpts from the paper presented by Dr. Gitanjali Sarangan. This paper was presented at the National Conference on Models of Best Practices in Empowerment of persons with disabilities, by National Institute for empowerment of persons with multiple disabilities in collaboration with Rehabilitation Council of India (New Delhi ), Inter University Centre for Disability Studies (IUCDS) and School of Behavioural Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University , Kottayam, Kerala ; Oct 2015.

The integration of holistic and innovative practices in the existing treatment protocols is an opportunity for improving existing services.

This paper outlines the use of Arts based therapy (ABT) as an intervention in working with a heterogeneous group of six children with special needs (ADHD, ASDs, Learning Difficulties, Speech Impairment and Down’s syndrome) in an inclusive environment along with children who do not have special needs.

ABT is the evidence-based use of multiple art forms that includes music, drama, dance, play, fine arts, imagination and story-telling to accomplish individualized goals and in order to establish a therapeutic relationship. The aim was to see progress in motor, language and cognition domains of CWSN when complemented with a group of neurotypical children.

Introduction The population type for this study was a heterogeneous group of children with special needs. It included children in the Autistic Spectrum, Down’s syndrome, ADHD, Speech Impairment and LD’s. The children were between 3.5 years to 7 years. Most of them have had early interventions and have been undergoing speech, occupational, cognitive and physiotherapy. The assessment domains of the group identified for intervention using ABT were motor, language and cognition.

The group had receptive language and their expressive language was minimal. The inclusive environment had neurotypical

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children in the age group of 4years to 7 ea.

This environment was not fixed and had varied through the project.

Hypothesis ABT can significantly improve the perceptual learning, associative memory, language articulation, fine and gross motor skills of the selected children with cognitive, language and motor disabilities thereby holistically preparing them for inclusion.

Review of Literature CWSN tends to communicate at an early intentional or pre-intentional level. They may adopt atypical, idiosyncratic, non-verbal or augmentative (assisted) methods

Children at the centre using art based therapy

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of interacting with the world around them (Coupe-O’Kane and Goldbart, 1998) This paves the way for multi-modal arts therapies to assume a forefront responsibility in this task. The effective use of the art forms are being studied carefully and being advocated across the globe by various figures, including neuropsychologists and scientists. ‘Years of neuroimaging have now given us a plausible or putative mechanism by which arts training could now influence cognition, including attention and IQ’ (Posner reported at a symposium by Mehta 2009, for original, see Posner 2005) Art based therapy that encompasses music, drama, play and visual art is a form of expressive therapy. Experiencing art, both passively and actively can improve brain function, motor and cognitive performance.

Children with special needs have an ability to think visually - “in pictures.” That ability can be put to good use in processing memories, recording images and visual information, and expressing ideas through drawing or other artistic media.

are significantly enhanced.

Dance/ Movement Therapy has been a successful intervention in the treatment of autistic children.

Methods The ABT sessions were planned with the use of the various arts media in alignment with the individual therapeutic goals as well as the collective goals of the inclusive group.

The action research phase of 35 sessions was designed as if it were a single ABT session with the three parts -artistic communion, focussed creation and closure. This meant that the project was in three parts of 12 sessions, following the flow of a ABT session design. The three parts were group dynamics and interactions (artistic communion), therapeutic goal/s (focussed creation) and improvisations (closure).

Each of the art forms used helped in bothaddressing the need of the group better and also addressing the skills in the various

Music and visual art help to improve skills in areas such as communication, social skills, sensory issues, cognition and motor skills. It is a natural “reinforcer” for desired responses.

Music helps those with sensory aversions to certain sounds to cope with sound sensitivities and in auditory processing.

Self expression through visual art making is a powerful and safe way of allowing the children to express their feelings in relation to their disability.

A growing body of research supports the clinical effectiveness of play therapy for children with self-concept issues, behavioural adjustment, social skills, emotional adjustment, intelligence and anxiety/fear. Play was regarded as beneficial in improving both receptive and expressive language skills in children with speech difficulties.

Dance therapy uses simple movements to help children form appropriate brain connections. The vestibular, proprioceptive, visual, motor, sensory and auditory systems

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Research findings represented graphically

domains. The EPR based sessions and the drumming sessions were most enjoyed by the children. Improvisations and techniques in the visual arts media served as a great tool to enhance fine motor skills. Voice and stories helped to work on the cognitive ability of the group. The structured play sessions addressed parameters in the social dynamics domain with ease. Observation formats, standard validated tests and the ABT assessment tools were used as data collection methods.

a heterogeneous population of CWSN in an inclusive environment. The idea behind the inclusion was that increased social interaction enhances acceptance of persons with disabilities, facilitates their social skill development, and promotes positive community attitudes toward disabilities.

Both ‘normal’ children and children with special needs can learn from each other, leading to acceptance of one other.

However, the inclusion model presented a few challenges.

Results The sessions were conducted, tests were administered, progress was tracked and graphs were plotted with June being the baseline. A marked progressive trend was seen across motor, language and cognition domains (holistic development). Marked similarity in the growth pattern of the group across the standard validated tests and the evaluation tools (observation formats and ABT tools) was observed. The first two graphs clearly indicate that the use of new and innovative techniques and tools showed an immediate growth pattern. Sustaining the progressive trend further would require repetitive and improvised usage of the techniques.

• Aggressive and self stimulating behaviour by the special children were imitated by the others.

• Interfacing with the parents to address their resistance and issues of their children in an inclusive set up was a clear challenge.

• It is also unrealistic to think that only inclusive programs will lead to intimate friendships between regular class students and their peers with needs.

Some children also need additional one-one interventions and smaller class settings for developing social skills.

Art based therapy that encompasses music, drama, play and visual art is a form of expressive therapy. Experiencing art both passively and actively can improve brain function, motor and cognitive performance By virtue of the fact that this research project involved a variety of new techniques to help the children, one had to come up with a different set of measurement criterion to monitor the progress of the children. While most of the new measurement tools showed substantial improvement in the children, further validation came from the fact that the standard tools showed very similar growth patterns as compared to the new measurement criteria used. Out of this study group, 4 children are in regular schools.

Discussion The research project was conducted with

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The findings that emerged at the end of the research project were in alignment with the literature review reported earlier. It validated the fact that arts based forms are a very effective medium of self-expression.

The most important outcome of this project was the development of skills, self image and confidence of these children. It opened new windows into the inner world of the child and gave an insight into the inherent potential of these children.

ABT can be used to give children a natural and safe environment for self-expression and experience learning along with fostering a sense of independence. One needs to look at instructional methods of arts based forms and evaluation techniques that focus on both qualitative and quantitative aspects of learnings and experiences of daily life for CWSN. It is becoming clear how important all the art forms are in brain development.

Since we know that there is a link between the arts, math and science and expression, we need to consider these aspects in future curriculum development for children.

gitanjali@snehadharafoundation.org

March 2016

OMNIDEL Dr. Neeta Dang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Education and B.Ed., Loreto College, Kolkata and has been teaching for the past twenty years. She believes that it is high time that the lamp of humanism is lit, by one and all to tide over smoothly in achieving all the aims that we have set for ourselves and the society.

This very idea is the bedrock of the immense work that happens at KarmYog Foundation, a learning solutions foundation based in Kolkata. In this piece to MENTOR, Dr. Dang shares excerpts of the OmniDel technique which may be helpful in engaging the whole class. The technique is one amidst the monumental activities, goals and aspirations that form the basis of this organisation.

It is, a fact, that children are passing out of primary schools but not, all of them, are capable of numeracy and literacy skills.

Is it because education and training are not resulting in a change at all? For, the last few decades, enough attention has been paid on practical training of learning in topics taught in schools, wherever, possible. Then, why are the outcomes not so pleasing? Ample amount of research and data is available on the lack of learning, knowledge, learning techniques and attaining mastery. The current scenario in classes is that education and learning do not tend to be permanent. Students deal with matter, however, they are not wholly involved in it - they are expected to achieve

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when they have been exposed to learning only at the mental level - without involving the other aspects of their personality.

Consequently, learning becomes a tedious process. Remembering taught matter, thus becomes impossible. In the absence of involvement of all parts of our personality in any instructional process, the knowledge acquiring process itself, becomes, difficult.

This writing is an attempt to share a model of learning and development called the ‘OmniDEL’ method - the innovation by a very modern, dynamic, progressive thinker and practitioner – Shri Sourabh J. Sarkar.

Shri Sarkar’s ideas on education have the capability of permeating any domain of

work and seem to be the way forward and an answer to all our problems in education and serve as an inspiration to many, on thoughts and practices concerning education. The message of the thought behind developing this and many other such techniques is that KarmYog is only a map and we ourselves, are its territory. It is to familiarise us with the idea that the greatest satisfaction that one can experience, is when one engages in ‘seva’, or selfless service without an expectation of a reward or benefit.

The ‘OmniDEL’ technique may perhaps be a solution to classroom engagement issues since it has the power to heighten, involvement of the learners and has also the potential to keep the learner constantly engaged, in the process The ‘OmniDEL’ technique may perhaps be a solution to classroom engagement issues, since it has the power to heighten, involvement of the learners and also has the potential to keep the learner constantly engaged, in the process.

The highlights of the technique include engaging the learner in all the personality dimensions, simultaneously, using multimedia, technology and devices. It takes into consideration the processes from jagaran (wakeup) till a habit is inculcated without neglecting the triachic blend of wisdom(prajna), skilfulness(kaushal) and dedication(sadhana). This methodology enables each individual to attain excellence coupled with the power to enable learners become adaptable, creative beings, harnessing a capability in them to flash their strengths and weaknesses.

The main ideas included in OmniDEL are that the learner needs to be involved omni-dimensionally, that is, the physical, pranic (energy), mental and spiritual aspects need to be all engaged, simultaneously, in the process of education. Secondly, all the devices, media and technology need to be integrated in the process. Third, the

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individual in this technique experiences a high, which enables one to sustain oneself through the learning acquisition process.

The working of this methodology therefore, requires the introduction of activities involving the – head, heart and hand in the process of acquisition of learning. The involvement of all these aspects of an individual in any knowledge acquiring process, aids learning and fosters development.

A further insight into the display of this technique can be found from the areas of enrichment in which ‘OmniDEL’ is being utilised. So far, the training of music has enchanted individuals for many years, only to find at the end of it, that one may not be fit for a concert performance, or, for a, career in it. While this technique is used, the learner finds himself/herself in sync and in harmony with the knowledge that is being shared with him, since all his senses and all aspects of his personality are channelized into this one aspect being taught. This

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training has led to the development of a step-wise movement towards the goal of music, thereby resulting in the learner being fully involved and engaged in the learning process. The programming of instruction, enables a learner to receive feedback on one’s performance and proceed, accordingly.

Another example of the usage of ‘OmniDEL’ is in the training of our stewards, drivers, to become better individuals, again with the involvement of all the four aspects of one’s being. Several leading business houses, by adopting this technique, have justified its, use. The philosophy is not to amass wealth and other material goods, rather to build a synergy through which we can help learners learn more effectively. The highlighting feature of the ‘OmniDEL Green Village’ project thus, is that an actual attempt has been made for inclusion, in all respects. This model of growth, in society, has become an icon for others and has brought accolades to the educationalist.

The main ideas included in OmniDEL are that the learner needs to be involved omni-dimensionally, that is, the physical, pranic (energy), mental and spiritual aspects need to be all engaged, simultaneously...

We need new ideas in the teaching space to engage learners and having used this model personally, I feel it is workable and very effective. I would not hesitate to write, that throughout the modern times in education we have tried to make education learner-centred. The ‘OmniDEL’ technique in this century gives us a suitable and new solution, fulfilling the learner-centric goal of education. The hallmark of the ‘OmniDEL’ strategy is that the differences in the pupils are made visible easily, and if a change, does not happen because of learning, then, also it is, noticeable. Consequently, there is no question of being misguided or not being able to decipher one’s capability for a particular occupation. Since, all aspects

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of an individual are involved in the process of education there, is no doubt, that the learners would be engaged throughout the transaction of the curriculum.

As an individual, who has used ‘OmniDEL’ both at the undergraduate and with the teacher-trainees, albeit on rare occasions, I can, without doubt vouch for its lasting, impact. I have witnessed it, creating a huge impact in terms of encoding, retention and retrieval of subject matter. Need we ask for more? I’m hugely, confident that with the technique’s proper usage and with a true understanding of it, the scenario of education can only, become better.

Personally, I can see light at the end of the tunnel!

Reference State Plan of Action for Children (2014-2018), Department of Child Development and Women Development & Social Welfare, Government of West Bengal, 2014.

Wood Kay, Education The Basics, Routledge, London & New York, 2015.

Bagjola canal banks turn into green oasis. (n.d.).

Retrieved from http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?e id=31812&articlexml=Bagjola-canal-banks-turn-intogreen-oasis-28112015002018

neeta_dang@yahoo.com

COVER STORY

A LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE Shri. S Ajayakumar, Principal Kendriya Vidyalaya Pattom, began his long-standing association with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan way back in 1992 when he joined KVS as a Post Graduate teacher in Mathematics. Later, he was selected as the Principal. He was one of the youngest Principals at that time (July 2003) at KV Vishakhapatnam. Further, he continued his illustrious career as Principal in various Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country before finally becoming the Principal at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram. In the below piece to MENTOR, Sri. Ajayakumar, shares his experiences as Principal, KV Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram and gives the readers, glimpses into the institution.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Pattom was established

by Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (an autonomous body under MHRD) in the year 1964. Situated at the heart of Thiruvananthapuram, it stands as a solitary splendour of peace and tranquillity-a haven of learning and knowledge.

HISTORY and VISION The Vidyalaya had a humble beginning with 137 students and a single section from VI to IX standards.. The growth of the Vidyalaya, from this modest beginning to its present stature, as one among the best schools in the country, has been phenomenal.KVS envisions itself as a world class organization in school education,committed to continuously empower teachers to actualize inside out, build synergy in students and enable them to fulfil futuristic societal, national and global needs and aspirations.

We aspire to create global citizens with Indian ethos, who are more creative and more productive and are brave enough to face the challenges of the future.

TheVidyalaya strives to provide a context of learning that enhances professionalism, humanism, social responsibility and develop world citizens who will take pride in their culture and heritage and celebrate diversity with sense and sensibility.

OBJECTIVES The Kendriya Vidyalayas have been set up

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with following features: • They primarily cater to the educational needs of the wards of transferable central and state government employees • All KVs are co-educational.

• Common curriculum and bi-lingual medium of instruction, i.e. English and Hindi, are followed in all KVs. • All KVs are affiliated to the CBSE board • Teaching three languages- English, Hindi and Sanskrit (from class VI to VIII ) is compulsory. In Class IX and X, either Hindi or Sanskrit can be offered.

• No tuition fee is charged for all students upto class VIII, for girls upto class XII, SC/ST students, children of defence personnel killed or disabled during the wars of 1962, 1965 and 1971 against China and Pakistan.

• In a nutshell, Kendriya Vidyalayas aim to

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serve the nation by building generations imbibed with human values, the social and cultural ethos of the country with a sense of ‘Indianness’. Furthermore, by including the disadvantaged groups among its stakeholders, it promotes social equality.

We seek to empower our students with the 21st century skills of leadership and entrepreneurship skills to assume positions of creative and concerned leaderships and at the same time reconcile excellence with humanity and equity.

The aim of KV Pattom , as ever, has been to provide holistic education and equip the students with adequate life skills The Principal as mentor In the Kendriya Vidyalayas, the Principal is at the apex of the pyramidal structure of management at the school level where he must plan, organize and control all the activities. He is accompanied by two Vice Principals and two Headmasters, who help in the administration process alongside.

Further, the responsibilities are delegated to various departments and then disseminated down the line, so that each member feels equally responsible for their role in the institution. For example, an individual teacher is given autonomy to explore and practice innovative methods and practices to reach the desired outcome

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creating a supportive learning environment with freedom to explore different learning experiences.

“The school is a platform for multifarious scholastic and non-scholastic activities.

Organizing and conducting programmes and events occupies a lion’s share of time. Apart from scheduled classroom observations, I visit all classrooms once a day to interact with students. If I could reallocate my time I would spend more time with the primary section students as I strongly feel that a good foundation laid during the formative years of development will pave path to achieve higher goals in life.

As the Principal, I need to keep the staff and the students motivated and also ensure that all the plans are executed in a time –bound manner,” says Mr. Ajay, while keeping the teachers and the staff engaged and motivated.

Selection and recruitment process of permanent staff is conducted by KVS according to the norms put forward by the Government of India. However, the selection and recruitment of staff, for arising vacancies in the academic year, is conducted at the Vidyalaya level by the management committee through open interviews. Selected candidates, undergo a capacity-building workshop organized at the Vidyalaya level to familiarize and hone teaching skills. Participatory learning environment with greater responsibility

given to individuals along with a shared vision has created an enriching instructional climate. Individual differences are resolved through open discussions. All staff members are given opportunities for higher learning.

“Workshops, short programmes, lectures by experts, INTEL programmes,are means by which we enrich professional development.

Professional Development days are mainly utilised to connect with parents and also for advocacy programmes.”, adds the proud Principal.

A positive-discipline approach is used to correct, rather than punish the students.

Effective discipline practices ensure the safety and dignity of students and staff, preserve the integrity of the learning environment, analyse the causes of a student’s misbehaviour in order to reinforce long-term positive behavioural skills. The school system aims at developing selfdiscipline in students and creating a harmonious environment where effective learning and teaching can take place. A monitoring system comprising teachers, parents and students maintains discipline and takes measures to reinforce positive behaviour and teach self-discipline.

Vibrant team spirit and strong work ethics, make the work culture at school, highly dynamic and progressive. An open and honest relationship between various stakeholders which is based on mutual trust and confidence aided by open

communication has helped in building a healthy school environment.

CURRICULUM The aim of KV Pattom, as ever, has been to provide holistic education and equip the students with adequate life skills along with the academic curriculum adopted from guidelines set by the CBSE board. Club activities along with assorted competitions under CCA are an integral part of the curriculum, which gives the students a myriad of different experiences.

As many as fifteen clubs function in the Vidyalaya, including science and social science exhibitions and innovative projects, which aid students to imbibe values and develop respect for multi-lingual and multi-cultural diverse art forms. The school counsellor along with the sessions by experts offers guidance and work as a support function to the existing staff. Periodic medical check-ups by the school medical team keep the students and the staff, healthy and fit.

Parent involvement and participation in school events like sports day, celebration of grandparents’ day, forges close ties between the two communities and helps foster a positive parent-child relationship.

INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES The Vidyalaya has about fifty well-furnished class rooms with a provision for technologyaided learning. The well-ventilated and spacious class rooms have adequate furniture and comfortable arrangements which ensure conducive atmosphere for teaching –learning.

The resource room in the primary section is a hub of activities for the tiny-tots to learn, whereas the computer laboratories with internet, help students to log into educational portals, collect information and interact with educationists.

The children’s park and the adventure park, are equipped with the latest safe play materials and expert coaches give training in various games, sports and martial arts. The premises have separate courts

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for basketball, badminton, volleyball and football and also a cricket field and a skating rink available for players.

The Vidyalaya has a state of the art library, wherein a collection of reference books along with the integration of technology makes it a knowledge hub of education without boundaries.

INITIATIVES Following are some of the initiatives that the school has taken in addition to the regular academic goals that follow: Face a Book (FaB) Challenge is a summer reading programme to promote reading habits and develop literary skills of the students followed by continuous and yearlong activities to evaluate its effectiveness.

A FaB Challenger reads a Book, writes a review and prepares a scrap book titled as “My Little Book on ‘title’” , record a oneminute video (Book Talk) and thereafter present it in the school assembly followed by a reward.

Library Junction (www.libraryjunction.net) is an open online academic social network launched by the Library in 2010. It is an online collaborative learning platform where the members can ask questions (ask), express views and ideas (blogs, ideas), discuss issues related to different subject areas (forum), share information (photos, videos, links, files), do projects together (groups, wikis, events), communicate with other people (chat, comment) and know the world better.

The project received the Innovation and Experimentation Awards instituted by NCERT and KVS in 2010-2011.

Gift a Book and Get a Friend, an initiative run by the Library exposes students to society at large and other learning systems in particular and helps foster friendship through books and reading. A nearby school that does not have adequate reading facilities is adopted.

Books collected are then donated to the adopted school.

Community Work continues with charity activities. Students and staff respond positively to reach out to the poor and

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needy, mentally and terminally-ill patients, old-age homes and orphanages. Charitable endeavours not only offer financial aid but also companionship to the deprived.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, reveals a blend of culture, sports and arts and creates learning opportunities for every student to grow physically, mentally and spiritually Math Clinic is an innovative project introduced by Mr. Ajay, the current Principal.

It is an initiative to learn Mathematics in a joyful way and is meant to help students who fear Mathematics and are facing difficulties in learning the subject. A math clinic run by senior students who act as doctors and nurses is open during the school time. This stressfree play way method makes the learning of Mathematics fundamentals, a pleasant experience. Junior students who are weak in the subject visit the Clinic where they are diagnosed and treated accordingly.

The paraphernalia associated with a clinic are also placed in the background and the ‘doctors and nurses’ too don the professional apparel. Thus, altogether the ambience of a ‘clinic’ is created. Here the whole process of doctor-patient interaction, ‘diagnosis’ and ‘treatment’ become part

of play-acting and it helps the students overcome and forget the apathy towards Mathematics. It is envisaged that “over a period of time, Mathematics would no more be a nightmare to my students, and would in fact become their favourite subject,” says Principal Mr. Ajay with an affirmation.

An open and honest relationship between various stakeholders which is based on mutual trust and confidence aided by open communication has helped in building a healthy school environment Open Maths Lab Yet another innovative project that is being led by Mr. Ajay is ‘Open Maths Lab’.

While having successfully implemented the project in some of the previous schools, Mr. Ajay envisions this as a means to inculcate interest and generate curiosity in the students. The project involves presenting 3-D mathematical models with a brief about the dimensions and formulae of area, volume etc. This acts like a mathematical park as well, where the students can walk in casually, observe and think.

ACTIVITIES Carefully structured year plan of the Vidyalaya on the guidelines by the Sangathan, reveals a blend of culture, sports and arts and creates learning opportunities for every student to grow holistically.

YOGA, a part of the curriculum, teaches exercises for the physical and mental wellbeing which help in moulding healthy

lifestyle habits.

Exposure to cultural programmes by SPICMACAY, film and documentary screenings, adolescence programmes and creative workshops, offer the best practices for healthy development.

All activities are conducted with the objective to achieve full potential and mould responsible citizens who find fulfilment in service and volunteer activities.

Integration of technology with the learning Well-equipped smart class rooms enrich learning experiences with ICT. KVS has given adequate training to all its teachers through regular in-service training and updated technological knowhow through workshops.

Fee portal, transparency and connectivity through Sala Darpan are salient features of KVS. The school library seamlessly integrates technology to harness the power of Web 2.0 tools to deliver resources and services and to reach out to the young learners at their own space and time.

Some key features are: • Library Blog http://librarykvpattom. wordpress.com which acts as a comprehensive web portal to loads of academic resources.

• E-Magazine (LibZine) • Online portal for Home works and Assignments • E-Reading Hub with Kindle E-Readers • My Dear Book: Exclusive blog for Students’ Book reviews Communicating with the public The school maintains an informative and frequently updated website and a library blog which provides information with photographs and videos about all school related activities. The school also uses the Short Message Service(SMS) to contact parents with important information.

Electronic display at the entrance gives immediate access to the latest information regarding the school activities.

Overcoming challenges The reputation of the school attracts a surge for admissions and the huge student population from diverse circumstances with

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March 2016

different abilities which can sometimes be a challenge for an effective teaching-learning process. Focused workshops, training programmes and mentoring sessions, equip teachers with skills to clear the hurdles and bring the performance to expected levels.

Regular teachers are selected through stringent tests and are trained to perform well continuously. However, in case of a vacancy, sourcing teachers who can meet the expected standards of KVS is a challenge sometimes. In-house sessions, short-time training sessions, subjectcommittee meetings and monitoring overcome the issue.

Achievements and Alumini The school has been recognized as one of the upcoming schools while winning the Innovation and Experimentation Award

by NCERT in 2010-11 and has also won accolades and been recognised at the national level. Generations of students have travelled beyond the boundaries of the school into the open world from the portals of this institution. The galaxy includes professionals, educationists, civil servants and service personnel above all individuals with humane qualities. The kindle of knowledge, refinement of spirits along with the values and in a nutshell, the spirit and essence of this Vidyalaya, continue to sustain them in facing life’s challenges with

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greater confidence.

Concluding thoughts: “I was much impressed by a comment on the cover page of a book “Excellence in School Education III - Transformational Leadership” Edited by Harish Choudhary . I quote, “If Lord Brahma was ever compelled to delegate the power of writing the destiny of individuals, it could only have been to school teachers, nobody else. That is the quality of school teachers we have to produce” (S.K.Sharma).

Another book I am currently reading is on Multiple Intelligences. Teachers have long recognized that different students learn in different ways. Working on a daily basis with children who have been diagnosed with learning problems, I’m attracted to the educational theory which holds that an individual is a blend of unique characteristics with each one having their own share of strengths as well as weaknesses.

Started as a humble enterprise with 137 students in 1964 the Vidyalaya has grown in strength and stature over the past five decades. It is a success story characterized by an unending quest for knowledge and a no- compromise attitude towards quality and excellence.”

ajaykvprincipal@gmail.com

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

FOSTERING AUTONOMY With a rich experience of over 25 years in the education sector, Mrs. Amrita Burman, Deputy Director, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions, Varanasi, has served as a teacher, a Principal and a Director. She has been part of several international seminars and workshops including the 19th Annual International Creativity Conference at Klien Kariba South, Africa and has also been a consultant editor for Pearson Learning Solutions and for Sunbeam Eduserve Private Limited.

She heads the group which has six Sunbeam Schools in Varanasi, a women’s college with a philanthropic endeavour and has also been instrumental in developing Sunbeam’s successful curriculum. In this informative piece to MENTOR, Mrs. Amrita Burman shares her perspective on how autonomy in schools for the teacher and the learner can manifest itself into a self-motivated learning environment.

Autonomy in teaching and learning, is the ability to take charge of one’s learning.

When we have autonomy of learning in a classroom, i.e. students have the right to decide what to learn, how to learn, how to assess understanding and remediation thereof and the teacher is an evolved educator having the wherewithal to take charge of such a class and having the management’s backing to do so, not being restricted by the quantification of syllabus, the learners become self-activated makers of meaning or in other words, active agents of their own learning process. They are not one of those, who embrace things merely as they happen; they are the ones who, by their own will and desire, cause things to happen.

What is the purpose of education?

The answer is simple- the main purpose of education is to build certain skills for life, be it the skill of questioning and enquiry or creativity, it may also be analytical skills or observation skills, whatever skill it may be, it finally aims at an individual being independent in all walks of life.

Now the question arises, that if this be the purpose of education then is this really happening in our schools and other institutions of education and if not, then why not?

Whether it is the government through policies or the regulatory bodies through

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the government policy implementation or the school Principals who have a tendency to control what is being taught in our classrooms, I think there is a tendency of those in power to not give authority to the learner for enquiry and self-assessment.

We will talk of autonomy at three levels which may perhaps be considered as the three most important pillars of the teachinglearning process: • the child • the teacher and • the curriculum Given the diverse levels of aptitude and thoughts floating in the classrooms, children do not get enough freedom to discuss issues

March 2016

and ideas related to any topic that may have been taught, considering the rules of teaching and the time frame have been defined too stringently. This is where the teachers look for autonomy, to teach at their pace, as they are the best judges to ascertain whether the children are learning while also understanding and internalising what they have learnt, or does the teacher have to alter her pace or style of teaching and devote more time to the chapter since students have not mastered it as yet. The teachers also cannot experiment with different ways of teaching since, the curricula to be taught has to be completed within a fixed period of time, whereas for teaching well and to reach out to each child the teacher requires a lot of time in hand to experiment with new methods. Think of a class where a teacher and a child both have the freedom to teach and learn what they want, in whichever way they want and have no restriction of time for completion and assessment and the teacher and children together take these important decisions. With an intrinsic motivation to learn, I am sure children would be able to grasp more and also feel more in charge of their own learning and teachers too would feel more responsible towards what they teach. The struggle children face while understanding the subject matter would perhaps be removed and while giving more space to the teacher, there would be more learning at a mutually decided pace. This is bound to bring freshness to the learning-teaching process and help in developing a great bond between the child and the teacher. Does any emotional bonding happen in the present situation? Can this occur in a restrained environment? Is there any joy in learning? Well, we all know the answer.

It would be great for a child to be in a class wherein the teacher encourages and accepts a student’s autonomy and initiatives.

The teacher not only gives a task but explains what is expected from each child and then allows student responses to influence the shape

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and content of the class thereafter. The teacher also establishes prior knowledge before developing a concept and encourages student inquiry and peer learning through open ended questions.

Moreover, the teacher challenges students to evaluate their initial views and beliefs and allows some wait-time after posing questions. In a nutshell, the teacher’s role in this classroom, thus evolves, from being an “imparter of knowledge” to that of a coach or a consultant. Well, all these occurrences in a classroom are signals of learning by understanding in an autonomous classroom.

Man by nature, requires freedom and it is only through this autonomy that happiness and satisfaction arises.

Man by nature needs freedom and it is only through this autonomy that happiness and satisfaction arises In assessment too, when teachers have the freedom to choose the ways and forms of assessment along with interactions with the children, the joy of being assessed along with the results of the assessment would be much higher and would make a stronger connect with the children. Another important aspect of assessment, for which time is required is remediation. Although much is talked about, with regards to remedial teaching, it seems like a distant dream, primarily because of its poor execution and implementation.

Remediation should be internalised and this is likely if one encourages, self-assessment.

Self-assessment is an important aspect of assessment, since it extends more control to the learner himself, thereby making children feel more responsible for their learning.

When a learner assesses himself/herself, s/ he feels responsible for the learning that occurs. Self-assessment encourages learners to check their own progress and enables them to become more responsible for the direction and the course that their learning takes. A critical aspect of self-assessment, is that students become autonomous in their learning.

Another important aspect of autonomy in learning for the child and the teacher is the curriculum, which must be so designed, that it is more child-centric. The human tendency, especially in a large class, is to exercise control over the students rather than giving autonomy since it may sometimes be challenging, to cater to diverse thoughts.

Hence, teacher training and designing curriculum become important aspects to address the problem. Designing the curriculum to give enough room for children to learn for themselves again, has the challenge of how much to hand-hold the student and when to leave the child for him to learn for himself and how to reach an answer or discover knowledge as these are important skills which are learnt over time by children through trained teachers.

Let’s not view students as “blank slates” onto which information is etched by the teacher. Let’s view them as thinkers with emerging theories about the world When there is too much control and discipline from the Principal, then the whole school begins to think in the same direction, thereby discouraging divergentthinking and resulting in teachers feeling stifled. Here, the role of the school Principal comes into play and s/he can really be a guiding light. Although the Principal must serve as a leader, s/he must encourage independence of thought and freedom of action amongst teachers, making the environment more diverse and accepting

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and giving them autonomy. These teachers, who have been given the freedom to take their own decisions grow up to become leaders of tomorrow for the institution, with a keen sense of giving autonomy in the workplace for others.

When there is autonomy in our classrooms, we tend to nurture happy and satisfied children who have learnt to learn and grown up to be contented mentally healthy children, with sound knowledge and leadership qualities, as they have taken charge and responsibility for their own learning.

Let us not view students as “blank slates” onto which information is etched by the teacher. Let us look at them, as thinkers with emerging theories about the world.

Once the students become more reflective in their own learning, they set realistic targets for themselves and can identify different learning strategies and became more responsible for their learning. This will also lead to realistic achievement targets wherein students’ own predictions of results, will be closer to the actual performance resulting in less of disillusionment and depression, once the results are out.

To see a difference in our children and to create more responsible citizens for tomorrow, the first step has to be taken in our classrooms. The policy makers, curriculum designers and the teachers have to realise that controlling thoughts and curricula leads to suffocation, creating dissatisfied leaders for tomorrow, adding no value to the nation at all and it is finally the independence that we give to our children that helps them blossom!

aburman@sunbeamschools.com

March 2016

ON STABILITY

A passionate educationist, an able administrator and a progressive Principal Dr.Hepzyba Gunaseelan, the Principal of Gateway the Complete School (GTCS), Shollinganallur, Chennai, has over 20 years of rich experience in the education industry and has embarked on a journey giving wings to the dreams of young minds, providing them with a blend of facilities, thereby preparing them to face the world with confidence and soar higher in life.

Dr. Gunaseelan believes, that staff stability created by Professional Development Training Programs and staff well-being programs would lead to quality based school stability and a higher achievement rate and shares her thoughts on this concept in the below article to MENTOR. Teacher and staff stability is perhaps, the single biggest factor influencing gains in achievement.

Research indicates that students from under privileged backgrounds tend to show a lower rate of performance since they have teachers who are inexperienced, uncertified, poorly educated and under-performing. Although, the effects teachers have on students are well documented in many research papers, the system wide impact of lack of stability amongst teaching staff will take a toll on the health of the school (including faculty, staff, students and the larger community)—is often overlooked. Lack of teacher stability can negatively affect professional development, class size, scheduling, curriculum planning and a variety of other factors, adding a significant degree of chaos and complexity to schoolwide operations and potentially harming student learning across classrooms and teachers.

Just as professionals in medicine, architecture and law have opportunities to learn through participating in internships and learning best practices, exemplary teacher preparation programs within the school must be fostered. A long term staff professional development plan needs to be in place in every school.

Survey of teachers to gauge prior knowledge about professional development topics and their skilfulness towards their respective

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subjects are vital bench marks. As a principal, while you would probably have a sense of this from teacher observation and their class interactions, however, as a good administrator, getting their reflective feedback is imperative as well. However, the correct approach here is to take some time to figure out what your teachers themselves want to improve upon. When you work on areas of their interest, they are more likely to be engaged, making the work more productive -- just like the case with students.

The effectiveness of a teacher is valued

believe that they have worked for so long, in establishing their own ways and methods which they do not intend to change. However, it is important to be open to discussions with a willingness to find out and to learn continuously and provide answers for teachers too.

according to the kinds of experiences students encounter throughout their learning process. From an administrator’s purview and a student’s perspective, here are some of the characteristics that could be determined to judge a teacher and her/ his quality of teaching: Creative A teacher’s creativity plays a vital role in establishing idealism in his/her teaching methods thereby affecting his/her students’ performance positively.

A creative teacher would always try different ways of instructional strategies to provide useful information in an interesting scheme. This will definitely depend on their students’ levels and interests, however, adding creative methods to teaching adds freshness and facilitates new responses.

Resourceful Students expect teachers to be walking encyclopaedias since, they are believed to have acquired a wide knowledge for everything. The ideal teacher in their views should be able to answer any question that comes to their minds. In that sense, teachers do have adequate information in their fields and subjects and should always search for new ideas related to their teaching. It is not considered a positive point, if teachers refuse to renew their strategies and methods.

As Cherland (1989) states, some teachers

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Caring Caring teachers become very popular and loved among students. Since it is an essential ingredient, reflecting how a teacher values the humanity of their students, in turn students too feel comfortable having such a teacher.

This reciprocal mutual respect translates into a cohesive environment with ease since the students start relating to teachers as their guides, feeling even more closer to them.

They can discuss their personal problems and private concerns freely and expect a special treatment which gives them a sense of belongingness.

Understanding An ideal teacher is also expected to understand students’ needs and work towards making efforts to appreciate their circumstances and reasons behind their actions or even their faults sometimes.

The administration must provide the time and create space for teachers to discuss and reflect on how they are incorporating the given area of development into their classroom practice Patience A teacher is regarded as a parent who has huge amount of patience for their students.

They will need that patience in their daily interactions with their peers and their challenges. If teachers are short tempered, aggressive or rude, it would stem negativity which may lead to some kind of reluctance to act freely and naturally with them and would therefore create a huge barrier between them.

Disciplinarian Monitoring students is not an easy task

March 2016

added to the bucket list of teachers.

Applying appropriate class management techniques for suitable situations is a significant tip. Dealing with a variety of personalities may sometimes get perplexing and requires great skill and knowledge in the field of psychology, particularly of children and adolescents. Failing to do so, may result in chaos in the classroom and hence result in the loss of time and energy.

Well-qualified Teachers’ qualifications provide them with enough confidence regarding their subjectknowledge, putting them in a position of trust and conviction among their students.

That would also formulate positive students’ beliefs towards their teachers and the quality of education they would receive.

Motivated/motivating Motivation is an essential factor for both teachers and students. The teacher should be motivated enough to teach properly and deal with students accordingly. The same enthusiasm should be transmitted to students through various methods and procedures that teachers use.

Well-dressed Appearance plays a vital role in connecting with students. It distinguishes the teachers’ personalities and tends to set an image.

Additionally, students may regard the way a teacher dresses as an inspiring dynamic for their own styles and looks. The teacher therefore becomes a role model for them, whom they follow and try to imitate.

Reliability Is one quality that we as teachers want to implant in our students and this depends on the teachers’ approach and the rapport that he/she shares with their students.

Respectful Students look up to their teachers and consider them as equivalent to their parents and close relatives. The reason behind this is the fact that the students spend a decent chunk of their time under the guidance of teachers and respect them just as much.

The teachers must therefore inculcate a mutual respect among students as well.

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Flexible Flexibility is a major issue among students which affects their views about their teachers. They suppose that the extent to which a teacher is flexible, designates how good that teacher would be with them.

If the teacher is flexible, he/she will be moderately lenient with the students and will give room for some discussion or be open to different points of view. This would enhance the rapport between the teacher and the student.

Committed A teacher needs to commit himself/herself to the teaching profession. This would comprise taking the responsibility of their job and working on developing the aspects that regulate around it. Their presence and engagement is vital to enhance it and improve the quality of their own teaching methods and techniques.

Lack of teacher stability can negatively affect professional development, class size, scheduling, curriculum planning and a variety of other factors, adding a significant degree of chaos and complexity to schoolwide operations and potentially harming student learning across classrooms and teachers Good communicator Communication is a vital aspect between students and teachers. It represents the core element in the teaching and learning processes. If communication is clear and productive between them, then positive results are likely to follow. Teachers need to communicate their instructions and deliver the information clearly, both verbally and non-verbally, so that students would react logically and rationally.

Punctual Since teachers serve as role models for their students, an ideal teacher should stick to being on time, so that his/her students would follow the same path. They need to be taught and must demonstrate punctuality, with regards to their assignments and other duties similarly.

Problem solver Students are at a delicate age, wherein they may suffer from some personal, social, and educational problems. They expect their teacher to have the abilities to solve their problems and suggest suitable solutions.

If the teacher succeeds in doing so, then the students will consider him/her an ideal teacher.

Intelligent Intelligence is a quality that matters a lot to students. They consider it a crucial part of the whole educational process. In their views, an ideal teacher is an intelligent human being who can make them intelligent beings as well. They also assume that their ongoing learning route is supposed to enhance their skills and advance their level of cleverness.

Vocal The way the teacher speaks and the clarity of his/her speech are important components towards information delivery.

An ideal teacher is supposed to have clarity in speech and tone so that he/she may enable students to grasp information at a deeper level.

Similarly, it is important to allow teachers that have skills or experience, to run smaller group sessions and help their peers. It provides leadership opportunities for teachers and helps in developing a sense of ownership over the school improvement process thereby empowering the school staff. Also, sometimes teachers are more open to listening to someone in a similar position, or a senior colleague rather than simply following directives from an administrator.

The main pitfall with Professional Development is the absence of a follow up session. After a session is conducted, it may easily be forgotten due to lack of attention given to its implementation and effort taken in incorporating the same.

The administration must provide the time and create space for teachers to discuss and reflect on how they are incorporating the given area of development into their classroom practice.

A sustainable professional development plan and a democratic learning school community would lead to higher Stability of School Staff leading to a more stable student learner.

In the classroom, we often have stronger students helping their struggling peers.

Exceptional Things that Great Teachers Do 1

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A great teacher is a CONTINUOUS LEARNER A great teacher EVOLVES A great teacher is PROACTIVE A great teacher NETWORKS A great teacher INSPIRES A great teacher DISCIPLINES A great teacher INNOVATES A great teacher is CLEAR VOICES

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principalgtcs@gatewaytheschool.in

March 2016

SCHOOL GOVERNANCE

ENHANCING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PARENT EDUCATION “In my role as a teacher and a parent, it was not until I began talking to parents from different backgrounds that I was forced to examine my own deeply seated assumptions about parental involvement in their child’s education.

My perspective holds strong that children who do not succeed in school have parents who do not get involved in school activities or support school goals at home,” says Ms Geeta Karunakaran, the founder Principal of Paul George Global School, Delhi. In this article to MENTOR, Ms. Geeta shares her thoughts and views on how important it is for parents to be active participants in schools. Ms. Karunakaran has had teaching experience for 22 years and has also served as a professional trainer.

Entering primary school is an important childhood milestone, marking the beginning of a child’s formal education. ‘Parent engagement’ means, being positively involved and active in your child’s learning.

Effective parent and family engagement in education is not just participation in school meetings and school organised activities, but it is actively engaging with your child’s learning, both at home and at school. When schools and families work together, children do better and stay in school longer. Parent engagements are also important because it is associated with improvements across a range of indicators like better education outcomes, enhanced engagement with school work, more regular school attendance, better behaviour, and increased social skills.

One of the most effective ways parents and families can help children to do better at school is to make sure, they go to school every day. School attendance has a major influence on educational outcomes. The first institution of a child where he learns is his home. A child spends most of his time with his parents and learns from his parents and the environment provided to him by his parents at home. In school, the parent’s personal experience with education probably is most important and every parent’s concern being ‘is my child getting proper education to compete and thrive in our world?’ Most

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parents have an opinion on what is right and even more vocalized, what is wrong with the school system.

What complicates this thought further is the fact that most of us were educated by teachers who engaged in 20th century pedagogy and methodology and since we are now almost halfway through the second decade of the 21st century, we need to get parents up there by educating them about the education of their children. For example: a teacher cannot be judged by the amount of homework assigned, quiet and complicated kids are not necessarily signs of students engaged in learning, the teacher’s content expertise should no longer be the controlling or limiting factor in a student’s education, all learning is not limited to the classroom and perhaps we also do not need rows of desks to ensure attention.

When schools take steps to motivate parental involvement, they support parents’ effectiveness in helping their children learn My institutional view of non-participating parents remains based on a model that states “Those who need to come, don’t come.” More often than not, a parent’s own school experience may create obstacles

in involvement. I once heard a parent say, “They expect me to go to school so they can tell me that my kid is an underperformer.

They have been telling me that for past three years, so why should I go and hear it again?”

This father’s experiences created mistrust and prevented him from participating more fully in his son’s education.

Parents who have dropped out of school do not feel confident in school settings.

The need to support their families or care for siblings at home, these parents’ limited schooling makes it difficult for them to help their children with homework beyond the pre-school. For some parents, this situation is compounded by language barriers and lack of written literacy skills. Time constraints are also a primary obstacle for parents whose work doesn’t allow them the autonomy and flexibility of professional positions. Parents who don’t speak fluent English often feel inadequate in school contexts.

Today, educators are doing many things that are not in the education experiences of parents and sometimes teachers too.

Parents need to be educated about these new dynamics. Age may produce wisdom, but relevance needs to be worked on every day. And there is a need to work hard to keep parents in the loop of what is happening in the school.

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The following may help to become an effective parent.

Being a good role model. Children learn a great deal about how to act by watching their parents. Children, especially young ones, think their parents are more or less infallible. They see their parents as being supremely intelligent and powerful- basically incapable of making bad decisions. Do your best to live up to this idealized image.

Before you lash out or blow your top in front of your child, think about the example you’re setting. Embody the traits you wish to cultivate in your child: respect, friendliness, honesty, kindness, tolerance, and many more. Do things for other people without expecting a reward. Above all, treat your children the way you expect other people to treat you.

Schools can also use parent expertise to contribute ‘intellectually’ to the development of the lessons Children also look for role models at school, among their friends, and in the media. Some of these things you can control, others, and you cannot. Know that, though your child may have multiple role models, you have a unique privilege in that you are a nearconstant presence in his or her life. Make the most of the privilege.

March 2016

Making communication a priority. Though your children should obey you, you can’t expect them to do everything you demand simply because you, as a parent, “say so.”

Children want and deserve explanations as much as adults do. Parents who (at the very least) attempt to calmly reason with their children give them a chance to see why certain rules and restrictions are good for them. Make your expectations clear. If there is a problem, describe it to your child, express your feeling about it, and invite your child to discuss solutions with you. Be sure your child understands the consequences of his or her actions.

Being flexible and willing to adjust your parenting style. If you frequently feel “let down” by your child’s behaviour, honestly assess your expectations. Are you expecting reasonable things from your child? Is your child capable of doing these things?

Conversely, is your child more capable than you expect him or her to be-in other words, is s/he not being challenged? Don’t be afraid to change your parenting goals, provided you keep your values consistent and sensitively explain your motives to your child.

As your child ages, she changes. Over time, you will have to change your parenting style-sometimes gradually, sometimes abruptly. Be ready and willing to face this change-just because your child isn’t always a cute little baby doesn’t mean s/he is less deserving of love and respect.

self-esteem and can lead to resentment.

Instead, strive to nurture and encourage, even when you are disciplining your something new. Make sure he or she knows that, although you want and expect better, your love is available, no matter what.

In our continually changing society the opportunity for schools to contribute to the well- being of children and families is being increasingly recognised. When schools take steps to motivate parental involvement, they support parents’ effectiveness in helping their children learn. Similarly, when school systems attempt to promote teacher and Principal contributions to effective parental involvement, they support schools’ effectiveness in educating children. Parental engagement is a critical factor associated with children’s positive educational attainment. Schools can also use parent expertise to contribute ‘intellectually’ to the development of the lessons.

Parents who have dropped out of school do not feel confident in school settings Too often, the social, economic, cultural practices of parents are represented as serious problems rather than valued knowledge. Instead of operating on the assumption that absence translates into non-caring, schools must focus on ways to draw parents into the schools, which would perhaps aid the schools functioning too.

Showing that your love is unconditional. As an effective parent, you are responsible for guiding your child with a loving, corrective influence. Just as you are imperfect, so is your child.

How you acknowledge this imperfection and express your corrective guidance makes all the difference in the world. When you have to confront your child about a mistake, avoid excessive blaming, criticizing, or faultfinding, which undermine

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geetakarunakaran1@gmail.com

INNOVATION

MENTORING PERSPECTIVES Dr. Nandeesh V. Hiremath is a multi-skilled and techno-management professional with over 24 years of experience in teaching, training, consultancy, research and higher education administration and Management. He is currently involved at Indus Business Academy (IBA), Bengaluru in Teaching (HRM, General management and Entrepreneurship Development. Prior to joining IBA, Dr. Nandeesh has held various senior academic leadership positions at Bengaluru as a professor, Principal and Director of various academic institutions.

He has attended, presented and published over fifty research papers in many National and nternational Conferences /Seminars/ Symposia and journals and is proactively associated with professional bodies like NHRD, NIPM, QCFI, ISTD, BMA. In this paper for MENTOR, Dr. Nandeesh, highlights new-age perspectives to mentoring, teaching and parenting.

Introduction When we quickly glance through the history of mankind, we learn that ‘Gurukula system of Education’ practiced in ancient India, has been one of the most holistic development model involving three essential elements viz., student, parent and teacher. There was an element of ‘equity’ between the rich and poor, ‘equality’ to the intelligent and average learner, but the opportunity for achieving ‘excellence’ was provided to all disciples / learners (‘Shishya’). Simply stated, the son of a king (=current day wealthy parents) and son of an average citizen (=current day common middle class family) would go through the same process of “learning”.

Tripartite relationship: Students – Parents – Teachers Any society requires a pool of human resource, which is primarily provided by a model of tripartite relationship between the students (learners), parents and teachers – which we refer to as the formal system of education. Every one of them has specific role, designated responsibility and a definite purpose, so as to produce a responsible citizen (Refer Diagram 1) by working in close coordination and mutually beneficial manner.

However, we can observe that the students are advised to chase the marks, obviously by parents (as they could not get the

But, as the human civilization progressed, we seem to have lost the link of this “holistic mentoring”, which used to give us a humble human being, trained professional and ethical practitioner to the society not just an educated disciple. It may not be inappropriate if we say that in the name of modernization, we have unfortunately lost the system-based parenting and valuebased teaching.

An effort has been made in this article to capture the essence of perspectives and dimensions of new age parenting and teaching.

Diagram 1

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March 2016

opportunities or fulfil their ambitions) and teachers also push them for this sole goal of securing highest percentage of marks in schools, college or university. The only aim is to get a high-paying job, but the at the cost of happiness and fulfilment of life.

Who is responsible for this phenomenon?

We can say it is the ‘system of current day education’, which is competitive and demanding.

thedisconnect between the three-way interaction, which should have happened ‘with society’ but not happening in reality.

It may not be inappropriate if we say that in the name of modernization, we have unfortunately lost the systembased parenting and value-based teaching

Hence, the relationship between the students-parents-teachers has become materialistic, but not holistic. Therefore, there is a need for mentoring the parents and teachers, much before we do it for students!

Role of an Effective ‘Mentor’ Given the context of the above discussion, it is imperative that both parents and teachers should take the role of a ‘Mentor’ with multiple roles and responsibilities (refer Diagram 3).

Current scenario of Triangular relationship When we move further ahead to today’s scenario, we can see that the relationship has become a two-way functional relationship Table 2(Diag 1) indicates the difference between the expected and current roles of individual stakeholders, with the changing times.

However, most of the times we can see

Mentoring is a relationship between two people – the “mentor” and the “mentee.”

As a mentor, you pass on valuable skills, knowledge and insights to your mentee to help them develop their career.

Pair of relationship (both ways)

Mentoring can help the mentee feel more confident and self-supporting. Mentees can

Expected role

Current roles

a) Student and Parent

- Parents should be nurturing, while student shall be open to get moulded - Learners to decide their goals in life

- Parents have become financiers and caretakers, while students live in their own worlds - Most often, children’s goals are that of parents unfulfilled aspirations "

b) Student and Teacher

- Student should be a knowledge-seeker and teacher should be an enabler and facilitator - Focus to be on overall development of personality of learner "

- Student has become machine of scoring marks, while teacher has turned out to be a catalyst for it - Focus has been shifted externally to social demands and high-paying jobs, at the cost of values "

c) Teacher and Parent

- There has to be a coordinated relationship between parents and teachers - The interactions have to be at all times OR at frequent intervals"

- It has become a segmented relationship between parents and teachers - The interaction between parents and teachers is limited to PTA (Parent Teacher Academic) meetings, but not personality development dimensions"

Table 1: Expected and current roles of students, parents and teachers 29

Diagram 3: Multiple roles of a Mentor also develop a clearer sense of what they want in their careers and their personal lives.

They will develop greater self-awareness and see the world, and themselves, as others do.

In other words, for the new age in which we live today, parents and teachers are expected to identify, assess, evaluate and support the development of the ‘right talent’ present in the ward / student.

More importantly, in addition to a talent the identification of ‘winning attitude’ and inculcating of ‘values’ for achieving success in life is equally essential.

Mentoring is a special and personalized relationship between the ‘mentor’ and a ‘mentee’, which is based on mutual trust, respect and continuous learning philosophy in both ways.

The details of an effective Mentor are summarised below: • In a broad sense, a mentor is someone who takes a special interest in helping another, develop into a successful professional.

• In science and engineering, a good mentor seeks to help a student optimize an educational experience, to assist the

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student’s socialization into a disciplinary culture and to aid the student in finding suitable employment.

• A fundamental difference between a mentor and an advisor is that mentoring is more than advising; mentoring is a personal as well as a professional relationship. An advisor might or might not be a mentor, depending on the quality of the relationship.

• An effective mentoring relationship is characterized by mutual trust, understating and empathy.

• The goal of a mentoring relationship is to advance the educational and personal growth of students.

• A good mentor is a good listener.

• Everyone benefits from having multiple mentors of diverse talents, ages and personalities.

• A successful mentor is prepared to be with population-diversity issues, including those peculiar to ethnicity, culture, sex and disability.

As a mentor, you pass on valuable skills, knowledge and insights to your mentee to help them develop their career Top 10 Qualities of a Good Mentor A good mentor possesses the following qualities: 1. Willingness to share skills, knowledge, and expertise.

2. Demonstrates a positive attitude and acts as a positive role model.

3. Takes a personal interest in the mentoring relationship.

4. Exhibits enthusiasm in the growth, personally or studies or professionally.

5. Values ongoing learning and growth in the personal andprofessional aspects 6. Provides guidance and constructive feedback.

7. Respected by colleagues and others in all spheres of society 8. Sets and meets ongoing personal and professional goals.

9. Values the opinions and initiatives of others.

10. Motivates others by setting a good example.

March 2016

New Age Parenting After having understood the qualities of a ‘mentor’ and the beneficial ‘personalized relationship’ with the mentee (refer Diagram 4 on mentoring compass), let us know few fundamental principles of “New Age Parenting”. These are only indicative, not an exhaustive list.

• The role of parents is significantly important in contributing for the development of physical, psychological, emotional, intellectual and social dimensions of the child’s personality.

• You must know that children learn more by ‘imitation’, not by instruction. So, it is important to become better role models of a good behaviour.

• Dear parents remember, your children need your time and love, not just your facilities and finances.

• Let them work towards meeting / achieving their and your needs, not the unlimited greed.

• Never try imposing your partially fulfilled or unfulfilled ambitions onto your children, without ascertaining their interest in it.

• Teach your children how to manage failures and disappointments, in addition to getting the success; because their training to handle failures equips them to handle career and life in a better way.

• Help them to understand and appreciate

Diagram 4: Mentoring compass

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the twin-rules of life (i.e., simplicity and practicality) and power of discipline, not just materialistic possessiveness.

• Avoid 3Cs (Comparison, Criticism and Complaints): Please stop comparing your children with children of your friends / neighbours and colleagues, as they are unique creatures with some special talent – just spot and nurture it right.

• Give them money for pocket expenses, but also teach them how to earn-spendmanage the money wisely • Teach them how to respect elders at home and teachers in schools /colleges.

• Forget their ignorance and forgive their mistakes, while they are still learning.

Guide and mentor them.

• You may give them mobiles, laptops, tabs, iPods etc to your children, but are you monitoring and ensuring “whether they are properly used?” …parents and teachers of today’s completive era have to understand that they should focus on teaching the ‘attitude-values’...

New Age Teaching The relationship between a teacher as a ‘mentor’ and the student as a ‘mentee’ is somewhat unique, as the students spend almost 60-70% of their active time of the day with their teachers. Now, let us know few essential principles of “New Age Teaching”, which may be useful, to the fraternity of teachers and education administrators.

• Let them know their depth of roots decides the height of their growth in study, career and life. Let them not forget the roots underground, when the branches spread out above the ground • Teach the students not just to score marks in Board / College / University examinations, but also how to achieve happiness and success in life, along with others.

• Teach students the difference between the teacher and the life: “The teacher teaches a lesson, then gives the exam; while life makes you give an exam first, then teaches a lesson”.

• Dear teachers remember, today’s students are rich and intelligent in knowledge, but poor in values like honesty, integrity, loyalty, learnability etc – make them understand the worth of the values in the long race of life.

• They should always know that ATTITUDE decides altitude paradigm, which is most relevant and significant, which has to be understood and practiced by them at all times.

• It is good to be effective communicators, but it is excellent to be empathetic listeners.

• Let them know that low self-esteem, self-pity, nagging, pessimism do not have place in the competitive dealings of life today • Help them to practice a good firm handshake, a smile - not a plastic one - and eye-to eye contact will do a lot good than just the words in creating far higher confidence in the mind of the others.

• Teach them to be assertive, not just aggressive.

• Remember the golden rule of their motivation: ‘Praise them in public and criticize them in private’.

• Mentor your mentees to celebrate success and also enjoy the happiness along the way, but not at the end of tunnel.

Conclusion In short, it can be summarized that the

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parents and teachers of today’s competitive era have to understand that they should focus on teaching the ‘attitude-values’ than just giving the ‘knowledge-skills’ to the current-day younger generation, consisting of our children and students.

This can be successfully achieved by only becoming effective and enabling ‘mentors’, where the parents and teachers shall also continuously evolve and perpetually learn in the process of creating ‘responsible citizens’ and ‘ethical leaders’, than just high-paid employees.

Success has one simple formula: “Do your best, and people may like it”

drnandeeshvh@gmail.com

March 2016

BOOK REVIEW

THE HABIT OF WINNING Mr.Ramaswamy is an IT professional with an interest in reading, blogging, finance and investments. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Kozhikode University, an MBA from Calcutta University and PGSM from IIM Bangalore. He is the author of the blog ‘Grow Together’ where he addresses personal growth and individual development. In this contribution to MENTOR, he shares his perspective on Prakash Iyer’s bestseller, The Habit of Winning.

For all of you who felt that there was no self-development book with an Indian perspective, here comes ‘The Habit of Winning’ written by Prakash Iyer.

Relevant to its context, easy to read and complemented by examples the book is a quick and easy read. All the key points are illustrated with stories that add a punch to the points being addressed. While there are anecdotes from various countries throughout the book, it is the stories from India that help in making an instant connect. The anecdote of ‘Breaking the Dahi Handi’, for example, beautifully illustrates the concept of team work. Being an avid cricket enthusiast, Mr. Iyer brings out stories from the cricket field to illustrate some of his points. Irfan Pathan’s example illustrates how one could handle pressure, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble‘s examples on the other hand, illustrate the value of perseverance and then the remarkable story of Navjot Sidhu illustrates personal transformation. Iyer then talks about a boxer and his boxing track story to explain how one could overcome personal setbacks.

Having worked with Pepsico in India, Iyer brings up interesting experiences from that pool and the reader gets a brief peek into the legendary competition between Pepsico and its rival Coca Cola!!

The book is well-structured with eleven logical groups. Starting with the importance of goal setting, the book takes the reader through various personal characteristics

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including self-belief, perseverance, the mindset of a winner, the importance of giving and the qualities of a leader. The next group focuses on the winning bias, a set of action items that define a winner.

From there, the author seamlessly moves on to highlighting the importance of teams and the next group explains how one could find the right balance. The book ends by inviting the reader to act upon the lessons that one may have learned in life thereby shedding some light on qualities leadership.

Any book that seeks to influence and motivate the reader should have a structure, should partner with you in your growth journey and should have significant illustrations and anecdotes. As far as these characteristics are concerned, this book eminently fits the bill. In my opinion, this book is very relevant to the current state of the country. India has moved on to a growth trajectory and in the coming years, the country will need leaders who can see the larger picture. India has been the birthplace of significant set of motivational and leadership literature. However, with changing times and to meet modern day leadership needs, we need motivational and leadership literature that simplifies, illustrates and elaborates the traditional lessons with modern, contemporary examples. That is where books like ‘The Habit of Winning’ play a significant role.

Go ahead and read it. It is worth your time.

You will be a better person and perhaps a better leader once you complete the book!

ramaswamy.vk@gmail.com

POST SCRIPTUM

IMPACT Dr. Vidya Shetty, Editor-in-chief MENTOR There is a lot of enthusiasm for technology in the classroom today and the first advertisement of the launch of a new school has the school claiming classrooms that are smart board facilitated and with technology aided learning. Some even go a step forward and talk about only technology and nothing on staffing and teachers….enigmatic!

True, that we need to harness student’s enthusiasm for technology inside the classroom. As teachers it is crucial that we connect the young learners to virtual learning opportunities in Google or more beyond.

However, how many schools can claim that they have adequate resources within the classroom, reliable high speed internet connection, webcam, microphone and others to support the learning in the classroom and with least possible intervention from a teacher. Are our teachers well prepared to handle all these resources and use them to the highest potential and maximum within the limited timeframe in the classroom? How do we implement and ensure impact of technology supports better learning?

Technology is everywhere, entwined in almost every part of our lives. Look at the world around us, right from a baby that is born playing games on the computer or listening to music to the use of google for anything and everything by a high schooler; technology has dominated our lives. It affects how we shop, socialize, connect, play and most importantly learn. With their great and increasing presence in our lives it only makes sense to have technology in the classroom.

A teacher today is challenged when it comes to using different teaching tools within the classroom to engage her young learners.

Gone are the days when the blackboard and charts and the text books were the only teaching aids that she could use in the classroom. Our training programmes and education degrees do not cater to a

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subject called ICT in learning and hence a teacher is left by her own to needle through the layers of teaching technology available in plenty today.

A number of initiatives have also used ICT to re-engage significantly disaffected learners A pedagogy backed by an understanding of how ICT can personalise and enrich learning has resulted in test outcomes improving beyond expectation in disadvantaged areas. However, think of these situations too in the classroom: • Teacher using the smart board and ERP for marking attendance and does not even connect with the child eye to eye but goes by the voice and in the home-room period whose objective is to connect with each child • S/he seldom moves from the computer desk and is conscious of just the mouse that needs to be clicked and the screen flipped from one to another • Uses the voice over in the classroom and preserves his/her voice through the day and engages in other correction work in the class • Spends all his/her time in very less teaching and preparation for the class and is found busy in preparing ppts with a lot of slapped text • Refuses to move between other teaching tools in the classroom and is glued to the screen and forgets all other interpersonal skills

vidya@edumedia.in