Story Books – Creating Learning Activities

Arvind Venkatadri, Head of Library Programmes at Akshara Foundation, spoke on creating learning activities for children using story books. He discussed the effective use of library and how to attain the MLLS (minimal levels of learning) using books from library.

 

He also spoke about using mind maps to attain MLLS and using group levels of learning, how we can arrive at a logic for structuring student learning. He said we can use story books to teach various subjects in the class. When students are presented with information in an appropriate way, they can get general knowledge and a better understanding from the stories. But, as teachers we need to decide - what to teach from which book? What are the activities that you can make children do? What questions do you ask? How do you ensure learning?

 

Using books for instruction is valuable, but cannot be successful without planning. When deciding on the books, the first thing we need to see is whether the book is grade appropriate. Then we need to ask the right and leading questions related to it from general to particular and then particular to general. Teachers can include many activities like role plays, brainstorming etc.

 

Thus story books can be a treasure trove for various learning activities!