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