The Teacher Foundation | Official Blog: November 2010

Helping teachers network with peers to learn!

Teachers from Government-run schools in Karnataka come together once every month under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Karnataka to share their practices with each other and network with peers. Schools are grouped together as clusters and these cluster-level monthly meetings help government teachers share and learn. The Teacher Foundation in Mangalore took these Cluster-level Monthly Meetings to a new level this time, organizing "Afternoons with TTF" in two School Clusters in Mangalore, in association with SSA, Mangalore on 27 November 2010.

Shades of our Schools @ Badagekaar Cluster
Shades of our Schools is a docu-film, commissioned by The Teacher Foundation with the support of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumabi, which explores the teacher-student interactions in our classrooms. 29 teachers from Badagekaar Cluster participated in the screening of the film, followed by a discussion on 27 November 2010. Vishnu Naik, Facilitator, TTF led the discussion and the screening of the film. "Teachers need to be patient with children. I want to focus on the work of each child and to be soft spoken towards children after watching this film!" said Bhagyamma, a teacher from the Badagekaar Cluster. "I had an opportunity to see children with different attitudes. After watching the film, I am thinking of ways in which I can actively involve children in my classroom!" said Padma, another teacher.

Misconceptions in Learning @ Babbukatte Cluster
Misconceptions in Learning is an interactive session built around a set of videos developed by Wipro, Educational Initiative and India Today, exploring how and why children develop wrong mental models. 20 teachers from Babbukatte Cluster participated in the session. Sojo Varughese, Sr. Centre Coordinator, TTF Mangalore led the session. "As a teacher I need to focus more on understanding how learning happens! That is what I realized today, during the session on Misconceptions in Learning! " said Rustin D'souza, a teacher from Babbukatte Cluster.

Posted by Indrani Anchan, Coordinator, Government Projects, Mangalore

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Making classrooms buzz with excitement!

Teachers are expected to play a greater role in maintaining the equation of making learning fun and meaningful. But the question is, how do they do it? How do we motivate children to learn? How can we convert our classroom into a place where there is a lot of excitement and buzz happening in connection with learning?

29 teachers from Government Schools in Bantwal Taluk, Mangalore discovered how to make their classrooms buzz with excitement and meaningful learning when they attended the one-day workshop, Buzzing Classrooms, organized by The Teacher Foundation on 20 November 2010. Buzzing Classrooms is one of the workshops from TTF's Livewire Classrooms Series, a collection of workshops for teacher training, which can be chosen based on the needs and requirement of the school.

Buzzing Classrooms, organized as a part of Contemporary Classroom Workshop Series initiative by the TTF Government Team, was held at GHPS Salethur in Bantwal Taluk. Pradeep Kumar S P, Teacher Trainer and Coordinator - Government Project, TTF Bangalore led the workshop.

"After this workshop I realized how to make my class excited. I learnt the use of different activities to make my students enthusiastic to learn, at the same time how to bring a lot of clarity in my subject.", a teacher wrote in her feedback about the workshop. "I learned about making the classroom more attractive for the children by implementing these activities or strategies. Through patience and hardwork, I want to strive to implement these strategies in my classroom.," another teacher said.

Posted by Indrani Anchan, Coordinator, Government Projects, Mangalore

Visit our Facebook Page for more photographs on Buzzing Classrooms and other events!

For more information on organizing a Livewire Classrooms workshop in your school, please feel free to contact us. Click here to contact us online! [Please mention "Livewire Classrooms" in the subject line]

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Training teachers to promote caring schools!

89 teachers from leading schools in Hyderabad participated in the two-day Quality Circle Time Workshop organized by The Teacher Foundation at Meridian School, Hyderabad on 15 November 2010 and 16 November 2010. The two-day session led by Jenny Mosley, the reputed UK-based education consultant and best selling author, was a thrilling as well as great learning experience.

How do we maintain a positive atmosphere in our school, based on a sense of community and shared values? How do we have a high degree of consensus about the standards of behaviour among staff, pupils and parent? How do we deal with 'bad' behaviour? How do we work as a team to develop whole school approaches to promote good behaviour in our school? How do we promote mutual respect, self-discipline and social responsibility among our students and staff? How can we effectively communicate with our parents? Jenny Mosley's Quality Circle Time Model helps schools find answers to these and many more questions that schools have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. The Teacher Foundation trains Indian teachers to use Quality Circle Time Model and helps to make our schools caring places. The QCT workshop in Hyderabad with Jenny Mosley, who has pioneered the Whole School Quality Circle Time Model in thousands of schools in the UK and world over, was another giant leap in that direction.

The two-day session on QCT in Hyderabad began with Maya Menon, Founder Director of The Teacher Foundation briefing the participating educators about QCT and how it can bring in positive differences in teaching and learning that will influence the learner behaviour and learning styles. Jenny took over with her apt examples and practical logic, helping teachers experience how they can enable pupils of all ages, at their own level, to reflect on aspects of their lives and how to help them learn to listen to others, to be tolerant of other viewpoints and to respect fellow learners. One of the participating teachers said, “I could never imagine that a teacher can bring in such levels of energetic enthusiasm in classrooms and technically plant positive behaviours among the learners”.

Children of Grade III and VIII joined as participants and Jenny conducted 'Circle Time' with them, exemplifying how effectively learners can gain multiple skills and multiple values through QCT. The workshop concluded on 16 November 2010 with a presentation by Prakash Nedungadi, Director Development-The Teacher Foundation, on the 'Range of Services' The Teacher Foundation offers to schools. The participating educators expressed that they found a great value in the workshop and some of the schools have promised to work towards implementing QCT in their schools.

Posted by Rama Devi Mavuri, Centre Coordinator, TTF Hyderabad

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MatheMagic - Lets Create Magic with Maths!

The Teacher Foundation, Bangalore is organizing MatheMagic in Hyderabad. This course is being led by Erica Brouns, a guest faculty member at TTF.

Erica is a visiting International Consultant for the Mathagondapalli Education Centre that runs the Mathagondapalli Model School for underprivileged children from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. She has a degree in Physics and Math, a Certificate in Education and a 'big booming personality’! Erica has taught in UK, Europe, Africa and South Asia. She has also taught Mathematics to International Baccalaureate students (Stds.11 & 12).

She likes sharing her ideas with other teachers and has conducted many workshops for Indian teachers through The Teacher Foundation. Erica has a sound understanding of International and Indian curricula.

MatheMagic: photograph from one of Erica's
workshops in Bangalore

The MatheMagic workshop is based on the premise that school education must support a better connection between daily life and the curriculum and use exploration as the means for conceptual understanding.

Teachers will explore teaching strategies that enhance children’s liking for and a deeper connection of the real life relevance of Mathematics. Inculcating a love for the subject and eliminating fear goes a long way in achieving sound numeracy skills. Erica’s workshop will enable maths teachers to experience for themselves how, using various easily found materials, helps students to understand the concepts better and apply and remember what they have learnt.

There is much agreement in the work of researchers that active learning has a positive and lasting impact on children’s learning in pre-school and the early years of primary school. Active learning is an appropriate way for children to develop vital skills and knowledge and a positive attitude to learning.

These workshops are an attempt to help teachers understand the building blocks necessary for a child to develop true Math sense and sensibility. They will discover through hands-on experience how to nurture mathematical beliefs. These beliefs influence their thinking about, performance, wonder, creativity, and understanding in their classrooms for the early learners.

For: Maths teachers of 5th - 8th grades

Venue: Manthan International School, Madhapur, Hyderabad

Dates: 3 and 4 December 2010 (From 9 am-4 pm)

We look forward to having your teachers benefit from this workshop. Since seats are limited we look forward to receiving your speedy confirmation.

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Day One with the New CIDTT Batch

Day One with the New CIDTT Batch
Our topic for the day was Learners and Learning....

We explored a whole range of principles that go into designing a learning program - the focus being on "How learning actually happens"

The workshop was fun..... by the end of it we realized that we 'retain' more when the 'joy' of learning in built into the design...

The points made were very hands on for example the glove activity....see the pictures to get a 'feel' (pun intended) of the experience we had while we discovered so many profound details about design...awesome!!

Jisaw - the Big Picture
Colour Coded Groups working on Jigsaw puzzles.....can Professional development be enjoyable?
A glimpse into the session on Brain Based Learning....to drive home the fact that 'the brain processes parts and the whole' it also 'searches for meaning' and 'meaning is made through patterning'

Cross-posted from TTF's Global Teachers

Posted by Fathima Chinoy, Bangalore

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Teachers are the key to meaningful learning!

"Some teachers behave like police! Some students behave like police! Meaningful learning cannot happen when either of them are behaving like police!!" said Mr. Melvin Braggs, Head Master of St. Thomas Higher Primary School, Mangalore, during the discussion after the screening of Shades of Our Schools, a docu-film commissioned by The Teacher Foundation. Shades of our Schools, a docu-film on how teachers and students interact and how teaching and learning happen in our schools, was screened during the Principals' Seminar organized by TTF Mangalore Centre for the Heads and principals of Government-aided Schools in Mangalore, on 11 November 2010, at 2.30 pm. 35 heads and principals participated in the Seminar led by Mr. Vijay Kumar, Sr. Coordinator (Training and Support), TTF, Bangalore.

Shades of our Schools screened, during the Principals' Seminar in Mangalore

"If you want to create a classroom environment, where children enjoy learning and teachers enjoy teaching, what kind of teaching do we need?" - The Seminar started with a discussion based on this question. The participants came up with their ideas on how teaching and learning must happen in classrooms to make learning meaningful. The whole group was unanimous about "the idea of an ideal classroom" - they wanted a classroom where teachers are friendly with children and where all the children get an equal opportunity to participate fearlessly in learning.

Heads of Government-aided Schools in Mangalore during the discussion

"In whichever language it is, in whatever corners of the world it is, irrespective of what kind of schools they are running, if teachers can build confidence in children, they will learn! How does a teacher plan lessons? How does a teacher deliver her lessons? Learning depends on these two factors! There is no difference between a city school or a village school - meaningful learning depends on teachers" said Ms. Celin D'souza, Principal of Holy Family English Medium School, Surathkal during the discussion after the screening of Shades of our Schools. All the participants were of the opinion that teachers are the key to meaningful learning and to make that happen schools need to focus on further equipping its teachers through training and support.

Posted by Sojo Varughese, Sr. Centre Coordinator, TTF Mangalore

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Actioning a Positive Cultural Change in Schools

The Context: Problem of Schooling Culture in India

The schools in 21st century India are still primarily concerned with teaching and completing syllabus. Many of our children are unable to speak spontaneously and/or listen; they are unable to take turns to share ideas or to contribute effectively in a group situation. All these are basic requirements for being well-adjusted future citizens of this world.

Schools need to actively nurture the ‘human’ side of student growth and development. But it’s easier said than done - for many reasons. One reason is that we are a class-ridden society, with many biases that get perpetuated by our schools. Another reason is that teachers themselves have been subjected to such interactions while they were students. It is this reality that they replicate, wittingly or unwittingly. Unfortunately, no concerted attempt has been made nationwide to actually improve the culture of interpersonal communication that takes place in our schools even though the National Curriculam Framework 2005 makes detailed references to a policy of inclusion, nurturing an enabling environment and good behaviour through a policy of participatory management. Most educational reforms in India so far have been restricted to developing literacy, numeracy competencies or physical infrastructure development.

This clearly suggests that the the quality of personal interactions taking place in the school amongst teachers and between teachers and students needs to become gentler and more positive in order to transform the way teachers teach and transact lessons in the classrooms.

Safe and Sensitive Schools- A pilot project in collaboration with WIPRO

TTF is working with teachers and other adults in schools on the Whole School Quality Circle Time Approach, currently implemented in 15 Schools in Bangalore & Mysore in Government, Lower-rung, Middle-rung and Upper-end Private schools...

The Project supports the schools to actively nurture staff self esteem and students’ self esteem and put into place clear listening systems which can eventually contribute to a Whole School Behaviour Policy that is inclusive, positive, caring and assertive for students and staff so that all experience success in school - the gifted, the average and the special needs individuals.

The Objective
Making the selected schools safe and sensitive through embedding policies, spaces and interactions that are positive, constructive, nurturing and collaborative for all – students and staff alike.

TTF’s idea is two-fold:

To contextualise and adapt the Whole School Quality Circle Time model developed by Jenny Mosley, the well-known teacher trainer, drama therapist and author from the UK and effectively use it in selected schools (both private and government, both primary and secondary levels). The model is highly flexible and can be adapted to various linguistic, socio-cultural and geographical contexts. It requires no additional expense for the school, apart from the investment on its teachers and school leader for being trained effectively for 3-5 days and thereafter being periodically supported and monitored across a suitable period of time. This is the intervention component.
TTF explores and meticulously record if and how teachers change the nature of their personal interactions with students – once they have been trained and supported to deliberately adopt an ethos of respect and warmth in their interactions with students. This is the action research component.

What’s Quality Circle Time?

Circle Time as a structured group process teaches young people how to understand themselves and relate to others. The circle time method involves the teacher in a weekly half-hour meeting where all the participants including the teacher, sit in a circle and take an equal responsibility for solving issues the group members have themselves highlighted. The structures and techniques within Circle Time teach individuals to communicate more clearly, directly and honestly with each other strengthening their skills of speaking, listening, looking, thinking and concentrating . By learning to express their feelings in a clear way, they learn to develop positive relationships.

The strategies involved for children include cooperative games, pair work, rounds, drama techniques, puppet play - each strategy appropriate to the emotional and intellectual level of the group. Through cooperative activities and discussion, circle time ensures that each child experiences success and, used on a regular weekly basis, it promotes a feeling of equal value and group identity.

The Teacher Foundation has already piloted the Circle Time approach to fostering the social and emotional aspects of student development in several schools and hundreds of teachers across India – and we have found the response has been always very positive, owing to its intrinsically humane person-centred approach. The idea requires no additional infra-structural costs – it works equally well in a small rural school as well as an up-market urban school. The focus is on enhancing the personal skills and attitudes of teachers and other adults in the education system. It places the raising of morale and self-esteem of teachers, as a primary strategy for successful implementation in schools.

Posted by Maya Menon, Director, The Teacher Foundation

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