Mangalore and Udupi Schools going the Phonics Way!!

TTF trained 16 pre-school teachers to deliver phonics lessons effectively, interestingly and interactively in an  intensive four-day workshop organized in Mangalore, from 21 May 2009 to 23 May 2009. Ms. Gina Menon, Deputy Head Teacher of Raynham Primary School, London, trained the teachers from different schools in and around Dakhina Kannada District. The workshop was held at Institute for Social Development, Paduva, Mangalore.

Gina demonstrating a Phonics Teaching Method to the participating teachers, as they learn to sound the phonemes.

Following were some of the ways in which TTF enabled teachers to address Phonics Instruction in their schools:

• The teachers observed and participated in demo lessons, adapted to the needs of Indian School System
• The teachers watched video examples of good practice to understand how effectively Phonics Lessons can be delivered to address the needs of different levels and types of learners
• The teachers made various low cost, no-cost teaching materials and aids to help them in their Phonics Teaching
• The teachers designed their own phonics lessons, demonstrated them and received peer-feedback and trainer-feedback to improve upon them
• The teachers experienced various ways of leaning through activities specifically designed for Indian Teachers

Teachers reflecting on and practicing what they have learned from the workshop.

Gina doing another demo round with the teachers.

Following is how the teachers felt about the workshop:

"I am cocksure that it will help me a lot as a teacher to upgrade my knowledge in Phonics.... I could clarify many doubts about Phonics and methods of teaching to read. I learnt how to use our creativity in our teaching. I am going to plan my lessons regularly, have activity based lessons, practice phonics before teaching. I am also going to prepare teaching materials, those which I have learnt here, especially the games charts. As I came in I thought you are going to teach us only about sounds. As the days passed by, I realized that this course is pretty good for all levels of teachers." - Sr. Meena Fernandes A C, Teacher, Carmel School, St. Ann's Mangalore.

"It is very useful when we teach in the classroom. I'll adapt every step in the classroom which were taught in the Phonics Workshop" - Ms. Sujatha Bandarkar, Teacher, MSRS English Medium School, Shiruva, Udupi

" This workshop was good or I can say very good. It is very beneficial because children learn sounds of the letters so that they can spell or build words easily. They can later on write on their own using these sounds." - Ms. Veena P Nayak, Teacher, Dr. N S A M English Medium School, Nitte.

"Of course, this is a useful course... I want to adapt all that I have learned here to put into practice in my classroom. While planning my lesson, I'll set apart time for each activity. -Sr. Judith Frank A C, Teacher, Carmel School, St. Ann's Mangalore.

"Whatever I have learned in this workshop, I'll implement them in our classroom. Before teaching, I will plan how to teach sounds through different activities, what material is needed, etc." - Ms. Sunitha Shetty, Teacher, Dr. N S A M English Medium School, Nitte.

"It is fantastic!! I am grateful to TTF for introducing this workshop in the right time. It would have been great if this could be done for all the teachers of our school. This workshop has given a lot of activities and resources which we can easily adapt into classroom. And, yes, obviously, I can adapt what I have learned here into my classroom." - Ms. Shashiprabha S, Teacher, Gurukula Public School, Koteshwar

 "I was really looking for this workshop for the last 2 years. Since all my teachers are here for the workshop, we'll present two or three model classes in our teacher group, observe each other and improve our practice. I'll make a plan to have lot of resources in my class as well as in other classrooms. - Mr. Ausustine K A, Principal, MSRS English Medium School, Shiruva, Udupi

Teachers during a sharing session

Gina helping teachers as they develop teaching materials

The teachers left the workshop venue confident that they are going the phonics way now on. The Indian-school friendly activities that Gina took them through, the amount of simulated planning and material preparation they did during the workshop helped them to understand that it is adaptable.

Posted by Sojo Varughese, Coordinator, TTF Mangalore

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“I learned for a year in a day”

Word Hunting: Teachers of Jnana Ganga Central School, Bellari. A snapshot of the Buzzing Classroom Livewire

“I learned for a year in a day” - this was the feedback of a teacher after the one-day Livewire Classroom Workshop ‘Buzzing Classrooms” organized by TTF at Jnana Ganga Central School, Bellare on 15 May 2009. 25 teachers, including the Principal of the School, Ms. Dechamma participated in what turned out to be a day of active learning for the Jnana Ganga Teachers. Sojo Varughese, Centre Coordinator, TTF, Mangalore and Arathi Patrame, Freelance Facilitator, TTF, Mangalore facilitated the workshop.

We are digging it: Teachers experiencing the excitement of collaborative learning during the workshop

In her concluding remarks after the workshop, the Principal said, ‘We know it is a challenge to introduce the concept of Buzzing Classroom in our classrooms in a day or two. However, I assure you that our teachers will try it out gradually so that a day will arrive when they internalize the concept and automatically incline towards making classrooms more activity oriented.

Here we are: The teachers making a presentation of their work during the workshop

What you read below is what teachers shared with us through the feedback form. [Names could not be included as the comments are from participant feedback form]

“We can introduce it in all the classes from LKG to X. I learend how to teach language through games.”

“One major learning for me today is how to make our classes interesting by changing the mode of teaching."

“It was one lively workshop.”

“I liked the way they taught us.”

"I used to think that I am a great teacher. But today, after doing what we did in the workshop, I know that there are many things I must learn to do in my class to be a great teacher."

Who was it?: Teachers engaged in an activity during the workshop

Buzzing Classroom Workshop basically focused on introducing teachers to the idea of making classrooms lively, employing collaborative and student participatory teaching techniques. It focused on how to begin a class, how to deliver the concept effectively and how to wrap up a class, making sure that every student learns and learns well.

Posted by Sojo Varughese, Coordinator, TTF Mangalore

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‘Touchstone makes the teachers Touchstones!’

”Touchstone makes the teachers touchstones, so that they can turn their students into gold.’ was the concluding remark made by Mr. Manmohan Nayik, Principal of SDM English Medium School, Ujire on the final day of  Touchstone, a course for contemporary teachers. SDM Schools, with 30 teachers, successfully completed Touchstone on 29 March 2009 and is now confident that they can make teaching – learning in their school more effective and purpose-driven. The programme was run in the school with the support of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Bombay.

‘Touchstone content should be made a part of the B Ed Curriculum.’ said Ms. Parimala, a teacher who has undergone the programme at SDM.

‘I am a computer teacher and I was struggiling with class control and I used to be very tiered by the end of the day. It was then, one of the facilitators after the classroom observation suggested that I form ground rules. I did that. And now I can confidently say that one of the best things I gained from Touchstone is regardning the formation of ground rules for every class.’ said Suma, the computer instructor at SDM Englih Medium School, who has undergone Touchstone.

Posted by Sojo Varughese, Coordinator, TTF Mangalore

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What was cooking so far?!

Many of you must have been wondering what’s been cooking with ‘Turning Schools Around’? All of us have been chopping, churning, stirring, sauting, grinding,mixing, frying…… at the same time trying our hand to get the ingredients right to keep it Spiced Up & GOING
Here’s a SCOOPFULL of what we have done!!!!

Measuring students learning levels in all 5 grades: Educational Initiatives conducted the first round of base-line tests in all the 5 schools to measure student learning levels. EI has submitted the analysis for 4 schools.

Research and Evaluation
The TTF Research Team comprising Meera Gopichandran and Ruchi Ghose have spent 5-6 complete days in each school as part of the initial data collection for our Action Research work. This was to gather baseline data for administering TTF’s School Improvement Framework. They observed the teaching learning process in class rooms; conducted interviews with teachers, parents, students and management. And have gathered relevant documentary evidence available.

The data collection, transcriptions of interviews and collation have been completed for 5 + 1 Control School. The preliminary analysis of data corresponding to each school including the control school is in the process of being completed. The team is analyzing the data in order to present individual reports to each school in the format provided by School Improvement Framework.

Orientation for School Heads
Orientation: TTF conducted an orientation for the heads of schools chosen for intervention for their pilot project, – Turning Schools Around- on 21st February at Ashraya International. It began with the welcome and screening of ‘T for Teachers’ – a film on TTF. The design of intervention and the scope of the programme for this project was presented. The heads were enthusiastic and offered their whole hearted support to TTF and their own teaching staff. This support from the heads towards the project was a welcome sign to move forward which paved way for a highly interactive session. The heads came out with a lot realistic ideas to support the plan. Their fears and inhibitions took a back seat.

Thinking Heads!!

Orientation for Teachers of the five Intervention Schools
TTF oriented 60 teachers of the five intervention schools on 28th, February2009 at Aashirvad. It began a little after noon with teachers registering and the welcome by TTF. The ice breaker activity got the participant mingle with teachers of the other schools present.

get going!

The TTF facilitators oriented the teachers about the project and the roles and responsibilities of the teachers. Teachers joined in the open discussion this was followed by a fun quiz on the project. Teachers were eager and are looking forward for the support they will get through this project to grow professionally.

1st Phase of Teacher Training
The first phase of training for teachers was conducted on the 16th, 17th and 18th of April,2009. The modules covered during this initial phase of training were ‘Vision and Team Building’, ‘ Teachers’ Personal Development’ and ‘ Getting Familiar with the TSA Work Plan’.

Enerrrrgised - ooooooohh aaahhhhhh!!!

Remedial Teaching
Brindavan Educational Trust will be involved in Remedial Teaching in all 5 intervention schools. . Brindavan Coordinators have done the preliminary visits to Intervention schools to understand their needs. They have interviewed students from grade 1-5 and examined sample note books and test papers.
Based on their visit & understanding, their approach for TSA has been detailed as follows:

1. The TTF staff intervening with the schools will have a series of awareness sessions. This would be an 8 sessions workshop of which 3 have already been conducted in the first week of April 2009.
2. The first session on 1st April,2009 was conducted by Jayashree A. Rajanahally. The objectives of these workshops were to create an awareness of Learning Difficulties and the importance of early intervention. She highlighted the fact that difficulties could be of various types and need to be tackled individually. She spoke about the causes of the learning difficulties and the personalised remedies that the child would need. The second session was on April 6th and the third on April 8th,2009.This was conducted by Reena Silva, on the difficulties the child faces in Oral Language and Reading.
3. The awareness would be helpful to the members, when they work with students and teachers of the intervention schools. The bottom one-third learners of these schools will be tracked and Brindavan Education Trust will be giving remedial classes. TTF will observe and support them in the first year and in turn enable teachers to conduct the remedial classes for meaningful learning.
4. Children showing signs of Learning Disabilities will be assessed by Brindavan and Remediation measures will be suggested by them .

Hope it’s left a taste!:-) we will continue the cooking & get back to you with the varieties we have tried!!!!

Posted by Padma Murthy, Project Head, TTF Bangalore

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About TSA

Supported by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation

‘Turning Schools Around’ is The Teacher Foundation’s proposed initiative that aims at Whole School Improvement for Lower-end Private English Medium Schools. The programme shall be for a period of 2 & half years and will actively involve Students, Teachers, Principal & the Management.

The objective of the programme is:

1. Overall 20% improvement in the learning levels against grade-level competencies for core subjects viz Math, Science, Social Science & Languages. This will should be measured annually over the baseline at the beginning of the intervention.
2. A 50%, improvement in learning levels of the weaker students who normally comprise the bottom one-third of the class.

‘Turning Schools Around’ will involve a 3 level intervention strategy

1. The School Level
TTF’s intervention would involve building capacity of the school – Leadership – providing training and support to the head & the school Management. The School will be oriented to use the School Improvement Framework to assess & use it for school development. TTF would also actively build the quality of leadership across the cluster of schools through regular networking and sharing and collaborating.

2. Teacher Level
TTF will be working with teachers from grades 1-5. The intervention in class & out of class would focus on improving the quality of teaching through building capabilities & confidence. The teachers will undergo formal training in workshops as well as provided school based support.

3. Student Level
TTF’s intervention with students of grade 1 – 5th will be limited to teaching the students actively and regularly in the first year to model effective classroom practices. This aims at setting the stage for teacher learning and improving teaching practice in the school. Additionally the students learning levels will be tracked on a quarterly basis to track the ongoing assessment of improvements of learning levels. The bottom one third of the learners will be provided remedial support by an external agency.

Posted by Padma Murthy, Project Head, TTF Bangalore

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The Beginning

How are the schools placed as we commence the project?

School building

Packed Classroom

Corridors & Classrooms

TF is working with five schools in Bangalore under the Turning Schools Around Project supported by MSDF. The schools [Princeton Public School, National English School, Shanthi Children's Home, Citizen English School and Willington English School] are located amidst bustling commercial cum residential parts of the city with a large working class population. Most schools do not have an independent building. They function from rented commercial places that typically have shops on the ground floor and classrooms in the floors above. A couple of schools do have their own building located within a compound but do not have any open spaces or common areas leave alone playgrounds for their students.

Some schools have their morning assembly on the road and some on the terrace of the school building. On the road, teachers position themselves in a manner so as to guard the students from the passing traffic.

Two schools have computer labs but it is only in one of the schools that the machines are in good condition and being used. None of the schools have a library. Although a couple of books are kept in the principal’s office.

the classrooms are quiet functional and are usually packed with students. In many classes, up to 6 students are seated on benches that could possibly seat 3 or four. As a result children have very little elbow room and have to move to the floor when they have to write.

Classroom observations show teachers reading out from textbooks, writing answers to questions from textbooks on the blackboard or dictating them. teacher questions are few and are usually answered en masse by the students. The questions usually have a ‘right answer’ which the student is expected to have memorized.

Teachers involve students in minding the classes in their absence. Some schools follow the system of ‘bench leaders’ Some schools involve students in conducting assemblies.

Posted by Padma Murthy, Project Head, TTF Bangalore

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