Celebrating Safe and Sensitive Schools!

The already present festive atmosphere made it easier for me...Armed as a Lady Santa Claus with enthusiastic ideas,balloons,bag full of goodies to easily blend into their cheerful ambience! I got to meet the primary and middle school teachers first. A quick word of assurance from me that I would not overstep the 20-25mins given to me quickly helped dissipate the general look of apprhension on their faces. It was their last working day and they had a long day scheduled ahead of them-TTF interaction,snack time,a lenghty end of term staff meeting and understandingly they wanted to leave as early as possible!

Jenny's quote “life is too short to allow us to lose our vibrancy of spirit” allowed me to drive in the need for celebrations and set in the pace for the day. After very briefly sharing with them how children are constantly making emotional onslaughts on us on a daily basis and how as teachers we need to be really courageous to brave these onslaughts and how courage can only be fuelled by GM's/Moments of fun. I introduced the game of the day and likewise divided them into 2 groups and then asked each one of them to pair up with a member of another group, each pair was then given a balloon that was placed in between their foreheads and they were asked to burst them when the 'go'signal was given.

BANG,bang,bang....burst the balloons-the teachers participated with such fiery gusto that the entire auditorium was filled with good cheer...we shook hands,took photos,clapped for the winners and it really felt great when they showered profuse thanks on me saying that they had had a great time!The photographs attached speak volumes to this end!

They filed out each one of them individually picking up little tokens of appreciation from TTF's end (a bowl containing small 5 stars and a tray well arranged with TTF bookmarks)

The second session started after a very brief break of 5 mins. Another group of 45 teachers,same look of apprehension,same words of comfort and reassurance from my end..!.Then the game-unscrambling of Christmas Carols(pair work)-competitive edge-fun moments-winner(Sujata herself and her partner)singing aloud one of the Carols of their choice-Clapping-passing around the two bowls of chocolates and book mark from either end of the circular arrangement in which they were seated were briefly the sequence of events!

It was heartening to see teachers really relish taking such apparently small tokens of goodwill-constantly thanking them for making me feel good that they are accepting them and also for being so sportive-calming complaints that they too needed a fiesty game of balloons-a heartfelt thank you speech to TTF from the Principal herself and then the first group being called in to join and form a larger group for the staff meet and a FGD with TTF (designed as part of the staff meet itself) was how events unfolded thereon.

Posted by Rajasree Sen, Coordinator - Training and Teacher Support, TTF Bangalore

Read More...

TRC Inauguration: A milestone achieved

Early in 2010, having a Teacher Resource Centre was an exciting new idea for the management and teachers of our five schools, under Turning Schools Around Project.. Teacher Resource Centers are universally defined as a central locations which contain resource banks for teachers from various clusters of shools. In the goverment structure, Cluster Resouce Centres or the Block Resource Centres exist and sometimes run to help the teachers but such is not the case with the private sector.

To address this gap, it was decided that a resource centre for our group of five schools would be set up at Citizens' English High School. The school was chosen taking in to consideration the enthusiasm and vision shared by the management and the teachers alike. It was envisioned as a central space where teachers from all five schools could collaborate and work towards achieving their goals.


After months of planning, hard-work and gathering resources to make the TRC an enriching environment, it was finally inaugrated on the 13 th of January by the Director, TTF, Maya Menon. At the inaugration, Maya talked about how effective learning is important and what role can the teacher play in making this a reality. She also added how the TRC can be used as a space to encourage collaboration between the teachers and come up with new and better ways of teaching students.

Her address was followed by a few lines from Mr. Khan, the head of the school. He emphasised on the steps and struggles of setting up the TRC and also talked about his plans for making the TRC a vibrant place for educators from not only these five schools, but other neighbouring schools as well.


To add some fun to the proceedings, a treasure hunt and a quiz were organised. The treasure hunt required the participants to move around the TRC and find specific objects. This was followed by a quiz based on what they had observed in the TRC. The quiz was structured around the resources available in the TRC and the specific details about the TRC, which they should have noticed during the treasure hunt. The teachers enjoyed the games and were fairly competitive with each other.

The day was brought to an end with a vote of thanks by Padma Murthy, Project Head , Turning Schools Around. She thanked everybody involved in the endeavour to make the TRC a reality and hoped that the TRC would serve as the ground for creative and enriching teaching practices.

The inauguration ceremony was followed opportunities for teachers from the TSA schools to network with each other as well as teachers from neighbouring schools.

Posted by Noopur Midha, Coordinator - Training and Teacher Support, TTF Bangalore

Read More...

It's not what you throw, but what you save!

More than 37 teachers and school coordinators participated in the 'Afternoons With TTF', held on Thursday, January 20, 2011, at Amara Jyothi Public School, Bangalore. This was an interactive session with Poonam Bir Kasturi - an Industrial designer, mentor and teacher passionate about simple alternative practices in the cycle of production and consumption. She is a National Institute of Design graduate and founding faculty of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. Poonam designs and conducts workshops for people from varied backgrounds – students, designers, NGOs and the government. Her latest project Daily Dump is based on an open source platform, and provides a product-service system to promote home composting.

It started off with two teams sending five participants each to segregate their piles of materials spread on the floor. Each of them shared what they had done and why these categories were made- Team A made Bio degradeable and Non Bio degradeable, Team B based their piles on How long the materials would take to degrade.

The new book for children - The Magic Gamla Pot were distributed for reading. Teachers shared their views on whether the first (segregation) activity or the book would be more effective for their own class.

There was fun as volunteers came up to speak to the tree. Poonam had teachers reflect on their hesitation in communicating and verbalizing with the environment. This led to the topic, “I am part of this world – Not apart”. Discussion was in pairs as they spoke about one suggested activity for the students to relate to this topic. The suggestions varied from walk in the garden, visiting the dumping ground, to planting saplings (depending on the age group of the class).

Meanwhile, eco friendly products such as soapnut and natural detergents - our communities’ traditional knowhow which lead to less polluting lives were passed around. Simultaneously, the one rupee tomatoe ketchup packets (served with the samosas) as well as the paper plates with foil lining were denounced as damagingly non biodegradeable!

The practicality of having four dustbins in schools was discussed. Also, the influence of the home environment on the child's behavior was shared by some co ordinators. The participants did not accept any position without questioning and Poonam inspired by leading teachers towards searching and enquiring what is practiced, both at personal and professional levels!

The teachers enjoyed making cones for packaging commodities out of newspaper.

The downloadable film, “The Story of Stuff” gave the big picture which made the paticipants sit up and reflect on the role of advertisments / packaging materials / business houses / governments. There was some brainstorming on the role teachers and students could play to change the existing scenario.

Posted by Firoza Maneksha-Sinha, Sr. Centre Coordinator, TTF Bangalore Centre

Read More...

SASS Certification from TTF and Jenny Mosley Consultancies, UK.

The Teacher Foundation deeply believes that schools should be actively nurturing and enabling environments for its children. Currently working with 15 schools on the 'Safe and Sensitive Schools Project', TTF is helping heads, teachers and students opt for a gentler, more positive approach to interacting with each other. The Whole School Ecosystemic Model of Quality Circle Time developed by Jenny Mosley forms the backbone of the project.

The SASS project has reflected several instances that reaffirms our belief in the need for the schools to look beyond academic achievement and actively nurture the human side of student growth and development. In a way, the following comment by a teacher expresses the same, “QCT has helped to bring about a bonding between the students and teachers. It has improved thinking and listening skills in the students. It has proved to be a platform for various issues to be discussed that do not find place in our normal curriculum”.

Our efforts to help schools prioritise and uphold what is vital for their well being remains a dynamic and enthusiastic process. It gives us great pleasure to persevere in this endeavour and institutionalise the SASS Certification awarded jointly by The Teacher Foundation, and Jenny Mosley Consultancies, UK. The certificate is valid for a period of 2 years after which the school could need to request for re-accreditation – which will be a simple low-cost process.

This certification will ensure that schools in the SASS Project as well as schools who have been trained in QCT are able to :

• consolidate the benefits of the training and support they have received from TTF
• provide clear, visual evidence of enhanced practices that contribute to a safe and sensitive culture across the school.
• visualise in a tangible way the concept of a caring school

The certification will be offered at 3 levels – Gold, Silver and Bronze. While the Gold Status is of course the highest level of the Award, schools that initially satisfy the silver or bronze levels will be encouraged to aspire and work for the Gold Award. Schools that receive the Gold Status will be prominently mentioned on our websites (TTF as well as Jenny Mosley Consultancies, UK), and all other professional forums including our Official Blog, Facebook Page and T-Net E-groups. They will also be provided the opportunity to share their experiences and learnings at national-level conferences organised by TTF.

As a prerequisite to the certification the school needs to have gone through the following:

1. A basic 2 day training in the Whole School Ecosystemic Approach to Quality Circle Time for every adult member in the school.
2. School-based support for an academic session that includes for every class (Grades 1-10) a QCT demonstration by TTF facilitators, co-conducting of QCT sessions by TTF facilitator and the class teacher and observation of QCT conducted by the class teacher
3. Institutionalising and living the Golden Rules across the whole school – staff and students.
4. Active Practice of the QCT ethos in regular classes, lunch & break times, school corridors and all other school spaces, including school buses.

The Teacher Foundation will be ready for 'certification audits' of interested schools from June 2011. In order to certify as a safe and sensitive school, the school needs to satisfy the conditions and practices detailed out for Gold Standard SASS, Silver Standard SASS or Bronze Standard SASS.

TTF will offer its support and endeavour to help your school achieve the award. This award is poised to be a prestigious one very soon and we are pleased that the word has already spread to quite a few interested schools in various parts of the country.

TTF is deeply appreciative of the initiative and courage schools have demonstrated to embark on the journey to making their institutions safer and more sensitive.

Read More...

The TNet Heads' Seminar 2011 – Coming together to collaborate in a new decade !

At the beginning of a new year and turn of a decade,we at The Teacher Foundation are looking forward to the new year with renewed enthusiasm, to enable and inspire as many teachers as possible.

" The Teacher Foundation is at this cross road. We have experimented, tested out effective approaches and are now poised and ready to make the big impact! ” (Read more) 
- Maya Menon-Founder Director TTF

We believe that heads and principals of schools have a huge role to play in bringing about this significant shift in education. Education that develops positive attitudes for a more humane society and aptitudes for a skill oriented learning environment for students. Heads of schools have realized that ' a wave of change ' can be initiated and will continue, only if their teachers are more dynamic and ready to embrace new challenges in education. This progressive shift in attitude and Teaching learning methodology is waiting to happen in our classrooms!

The Teacher Foundation is hosting a Principals' meet to bring together heads of eminent schools to discuss / share our vision. This year we have an interesting potpourri of experiences planned out-some engrossing discussions,some 'shopping' in the TTF market place,an element of excitement and time to share thoughts with old friends. The seminar's theme is the 3M Approach to Managing Schools in 2011 and beyond !

The evening's agenda includes:

• A session on 3M Strategy.
• Through the looking glass :Collective insights to a contentious school issue
• The TTF market place- shopping around for ideas and inspirations.
• Summing up......

The TNet Heads' Seminar 2011

Bangalore
February 3, 2011
3:00 - 6:00 p.m
Venue Hamilton Room St Mark's Hotel St Marks Road Bangalore - 560001

Hyderabad
February 11, 2011
3.00 - 6.00 pm
Venue The Central Court Hotel, West minister Hall -A , Lakdikapool, Hyderabad

Hubli
February 12, 2011
2.30 - 5.30 pm
Venue Clarks Inn Hotel, Airport Road (Gokul Road), Hubli

Mangalore
February 15, 2011
2.00 - 5.00 pm
Venue Hotel Goldfinch, Bunts Hostel Road, Near Jyoti Circle,  Mangalore 575003

Read More...

Mapping concepts for effective learning

99 teachers from Delhi Public School (South) Bangalore are currently trained under Touchstone. 'Tools for Teaching 2' which was conducted there on January 8, 2010 is a half day workshop which focuses on graphic organizers as effective learning tools.

Helping students understand,retain and recollect large chunks of information has been a challenge for teachers.  'Tools for Teaching 2', a module from Touchstone holds great interest for teachers across all grades. It focuses on using advanced tools like concept mapping to help learners organize information.

Concept mapping can be a creative and liberating mode of teaching and learning, as there are no 'incorrect concept maps' and can be an effective means of assessment for the teacher to see how her students understand relationships between concepts. A novel way to move away from rote learning.The teachers were very receptive and shared their classroom experiences of teaching using visual representations. “ Visual representation in the form of a concept map makes stories easily readable.”, a teacher said after the workshop.

Posted by Lalitha Menon Chako, Coordinator - Teacher Training & Support, TTF Bangalore Centre

Read More...

Learning to Save!

TTF Bangalore Centre is organizing "Afternoons with TTF" titled 'It's not what you Throw but what you Save' on January 20, 2011. It is going to be an interactive session with teachers on how they can get their students to see the 3 Rs differently.

We have all learnt about ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ and practiced it in our own small ways. Is there more to it? Do students have the big picture for them to make important lifestyle changes? How do we tap into our communities’ traditional knowhow to lead less polluting lives? Finally, what monetary and non-monetary incentives accrue as we throw less and convert more waste into wealth.

Presenter - Poonam Bir Kasturi 

Poonam is an Industrial designer, mentor and teacher passionate about simple alternative practices in the cycle of production and consumption. She designs and conducts workshops for people from varied backgrounds – students, designers, NGOs and the government. Her latest project Daily Dump is based on an open source platform, and provides a product-service system to promote home composting. Poonam contributes to the magazine Recycle Now. She published ‘5 Disgustingly Cool Books for Kids’, a set of five books that encourages young children to question some of the choices in their daily lives, discover the connections between these choices and issues of ecology and sustainability.

Venue: Amara Jyothi Public School, Basavanapura Main Road, Devasandra, K.R.Puram, Bengaluru - 560 036. Phone - 080 - 64501555
Landmark : Basavanapura Main Road, Close to Krishna Theatre, KR Puram
Date : January 20, 2011
Timing : 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm.

We look forward to your school's participation in 'Afternoons With TTF'. The purpose of hosting these sessions is to encourage interaction between teachers from different schools and facilitate exchange of thoughts and ideas. Afternoons with TTF each month, focuses on a different theme. They enable focussed small group interactions. Our intention with these sessions is to make learning for teachers both informal and personal. There is no participation fee for Afternoons with TTF. They are open for teachers of Bangalore City Schools. Individual teachers can attend any 'Afternoons With T T F' of their choice.   We request you to confirm your participation to Ms. Padma at 9880395518 / Ms. Firoza Maneksha-Sinha at 080 – 41131930, 41231149 or 25593335.

Read More...

Touchstone magic in Mangalore!

"It's easy for us to continue teaching our students in the same monotonous method year after year. But I believe that to improve is to change and to be perfect is to change often! And what better way of changing than trying to follow the numerous techniques that have been taught to us during the Touchstone programme. We now know so many tools of teaching, how to organize black board work, the bulletin board... Ah, yes! the bulletin board! It's one simple thing, but because of Touchstone, my students are able to use it for learning. It has certainly been an eye-opener for me..."  said Aruna K P of Carmel School, Mangalore as she spoke during the graduation ceremony for teachers trained under Touchstone 2009 and 2010, about how Touchstone, the sustained teacher training programme designed and delivered by The Teacher Foundation, helped her to evolve as a teacher. 105 teachers from schools under Apostolic Carmel Educational Society, Lourdes Central School and Beary's Public School received their certificates on January 8, 2011, during the Graduation held at Carmel School, Mangalore.

It was a day of happiness and excitement, a day for teachers to reiterate their commitment to providing meaningful learning experiences for their students in the classroom. Maya Menon, Director of The Teacher Foundation spoke about how the participating schools can take forward what they have learned during Touchstone in their schools.

"True to its name, 'Touchstone', a stone used to identify precious metals, has indeed identified those innate, precious qualities in everyone of us teachers by raising our self-esteem which was manifested in our teacher portfolios, enhancing effectiveness in the classroom and exposing us to the contemporary classroom teaching methods." said Deepa, teacher from Lourdes Central School, Mangalore as she explained to the audience how she gained from Touchstone, as a person and as a professional. "Touchstone has helped me  to design more group activities and discussions which give opportunities  for improving communication skills, analytical ability, leadership and decision making ability. In my opinion, Touchstone is well conceived, designed to make it interesting, effective and very relevant to modern teaching." said Suguna Prabbhu, teacher from St. Agnes School, Mangalore.

"Touchstone helped us change our approach towards teaching and modified our teaching skills to cater to the needs of the students. We were able to focus on the overall development of students by focusing on multiple teaching techniques.In short, the class became more lively and vibrant!" said Sehnaz Fathima, Principal of Beary's Public School as she spoke about her experience of undergoing Touchstone.

Teachers sharing their experiences of Touchstone. 

The effort of The Teacher Foundation to train 105 teachers of schools under Apostolic Carmel Educational Society, Lourdes Central School and Beary's Public School was validated by a student survey conducted by Aruna K P, a teacher from Carmel School Mangalore, as a part of her Teacher Portfolio. She asked students how many of them liked pair work, small-group work and individual work, strategies she learned during Touchstone. Following is a chart of how students responded to the question.



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

Read More...

Unleashing creativity in Hubli!

TTF Hubli Centre organized Afternoons with TTF titled Unleash Your Creativity, on January 6, 2011. 28 teachers from 10 different schools were present and shared their views and ideas on creativity. The session had a video, group discussion, activities to bring out the creativity in oneself. Teachers talked about modelling creativity, how they should be ready to take risks and go out of the way to reach out to the learners by follwing the unconventional methods of teaching and make learning more interesting. One very important aspect which came out from the discussion was that planning was really really fundamental to productive creativity.

Teachers brainstormed how to make use of items from daily life in teaching and came up with using a calendar to teach social studies or even language. Another group explained how to teach shapes using a scarf. When asked to show concepts from science, maths or languages using simple things like bottle caps and icecream sticks, ribbons, plastic cups and even pebbles- they came up with some unique and colourful posters of shapes, solar system, water cycle.

Teachers thought that such workshops really helped them to gather ideas from and share with the teachers from other schools. Reflecting on their own experience in the workshop, teachers commented that they need to be creative first in order to foster creativity in their students and that it is a skill which can be developed with practice. One teacher said that we need to encourage students to think differently to make learning more effective. Overall, the teachers enjoyed the activity based productive afternoon and said that they are looking forward to more of such afternoons!

Posted by Roopali Katti, Centre Coordinator, TTF Hubli Centre 

Read More...

Breaking Patterns, Creating Change - a 2-day training in Theatre of the Oppressed

Here is yet another novel learning opportunity for the teachers of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad - Breaking Patterns, Creating Change, a 2-day training for teachers in Theatre of the Oppressed by Marc Weinblatt on January 29, 2011 and January 30, 2011. This workshop promises to be a life-changing, inspirational experience for participating members!

What is Theater of the Oppressed?
Developed by Augusto Boal, the Brazilian visionary, Theater of the Oppressed (TO) is a form of community-based education. It is also a tool for transformation – of the individual, as well as groups and communities. TO invites critical thinking and authentic communication. It is about analyzing rather than accepting, questioning rather than giving answers. It is also about “acting” rather than just talking.

Marc Weinblatt is the founder director of Mandala Center for Change, an international hub for the training and grassroots practice of TO. Marc regularly facilitates TO sessions working with diverse communities ranging from police and homeless youth to University professors! His work stems from his deep commitment to bringing a sense of spirit, humanity and social justice. These are qualities all of us as teachers need to urgently hone.

Venue: KENNEDY HIGH The Global School , Bachpally, Miyapur -Medchal Highway, Hyderabad-500 090
Date: January 29, 2011 and January 30, 2011
Timings: 9.30a.m- 4.30p.m

During these 2 days participants will be trained with a range of theatre exercises to explore sensitivity, compassion and understanding of human interactions. We have very limited seats and so we urge you to hurry and confirm your school's participation! Participation Fee: Rs. 2000/- per head.

Image from  MCFC Website

Read More...

On our times turning eleven !

1.1.11

A new decade beckons us and the 21^st century is finally out of its infancy ! Our times are tuning into their adolescence … and these 'wonder years', as it is for their human counterparts may be truly defining years for school education in India. While adolescence is often synonymous with awkwardness and rebellion, to me it is also a 'coming-of-age-time' – a time to assert one's own identity, a time when one's mentally and physically most energised, a time that's rich with promise and potential!

But let's park the decade issue for a bit and re-wind to the turn of the century, to 1996 specifically, when I chanced to read an article by James Ogily called: Future Studies and the Human Sciences. He suggested, and I quote: “….imagine what could happen if education became the cause of the opening decade of the new millenium much as civil rights and the Vietnam War preoccupied the 1960s or feminism and the environment motivated so many in the 1970s or greed obsessed the 1980s or globalism and information technology the 1990s. It could happen. Social agendas do change.”

For me that was inspiring to consider in 1996 ! And now as this century turns eleven – Ogilvy's 'futures thinking' seems quite prophetic. Never before has there been as much public and private opinion and enterprise in education. The debate and rhetoric over the Right to Education Act, the genuine national and state level deliberations over improving quality of teaching and teacher education, the many advocacy movements and experiments in education across the country are all evidence of an idea whose time has come! It's the idea of education as an agent for social transformation and social inclusion. However this 'education idea' has as yet, remained a fringe activity, a 'playful' dabbling in an undoubtedly worthwhile endeavour. When our aim is to reform education, dabbling is rather child-like and short-sighted at best. We need to get dead serious about educational reform, and this includes all schools – private and government. We must take into consideration the scale and scope of the challenge of Indian school education. Anything short of that does seem dabbling ! We therefore need to mature and evolve a far more rigorous approach, shift from ideation and experimentation and boldly go the whole hog – implementing ideas large scale with the clear objective of effecting measurable improvement in student learning. This will be a true coming-of-age for school education reform in India. The Teacher Foundation is at this cross road. We have experimented, tested out effective approaches and are now poised and ready to make the big impact!

Revisiting the point I was earlier making about our new decade.... An 'adolescent' decade could be just the right time to make the social agenda of educational reform, a reality. I say this, because such an endeavour requires courage, focus and a certain self-centredness, without being self-serving ! They have adult-like mental capacities - BUT they aren't fussy about the physical discomfort and handling existing messiness. They are willing to roll up their sleeves to clean up things, they aren't afraid to ask questions if they don't have a solution, nor are they unduly bothered about pushing the boundaries– that's exactly what we need in the decade unfolding...... a youthful and contemporary outlook.

Posted by Maya Menon, Director, The Teacher Foundation

Photographs from schools TTF worked with in 2010

Read More...