After all the fun and dance on republic day, there come the EXAMS. Yup students have their 4th Unit test from next monday. So final touches to syllabus and notes in Workbooks and notebooks is going on!
Best thing about exams is revision and focused approach on getting all the kids to 100% level. As lots of formative exams gives you time to work on the students who need to catchup with the rest of students. So you can revise a topic for few minutes and then give an assessment. While other students are doing that, you can focus heavily on a small group of students. Also the urgency and intensity in the classroom during exam time helps the cause. Students are more vigilant and attentive as One thing every student knows that good marks in exams have great results in school and at home too :) incentive system!
For me exam time is helpful for sure.Practically it gives you lots of time to plan and arrange new activities as you are not busy in teaching during these days. I mean the work load is less.
Also it gives you a quantitative measurement of student's learning which is also a very important factor. It also helps students who were absent while you finished with few topics. The complete revision and teaching the same thing in different way helps the students in getting a deeper understanding of the topic. Also you can provide lots of extension to higher order students as they know the usual stuff already.
Overall the intensity,environment and urgency in class during exams can be cashed in many different ways!!
Trust me,When a student gets good marks because he studied hard and put that extra effort, the beaming smile of happiness on his face cannot be discounted with anything. I know marks are not very important but for that little kid its an achievement, success of his hard work.I seriously feel relating hard work to success, The basic idea of developing I CAN, I want in a student should be the primary goal of every teacher. Once the kid is invested in studies,he or she behaves likes a clay which can be then molded into a learning and growing young mind.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
'Bhangra' by kids on Republic day!
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Kids gave a scintillating performance on republic day celebrations at school.I am so very proud of them:)
Not able to post everyday, just gets too hectic. But i am working on first chapter of my TFI experience. Hopefully will post it very soon!
Kids gave a scintillating performance on republic day celebrations at school.I am so very proud of them:)
Not able to post everyday, just gets too hectic. But i am working on first chapter of my TFI experience. Hopefully will post it very soon!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Republic day function
Just a quick update.. As part of celebrations of republic day at our school, my students will be representing the state of PUNJAB. So now the big task.
Teach the kids Bhangra (folk dance of Punjab) in next 6 days! Its gonna be interesting, tiring and loads of fun for sure..Lets see how it goes..
Teach the kids Bhangra (folk dance of Punjab) in next 6 days! Its gonna be interesting, tiring and loads of fun for sure..Lets see how it goes..
Monday, January 18, 2010
Dental Check UP
Today my students had their dental checkup! So they were curious and a little apprehensive at the same time. A kid asked me innocently,"Bhaiya, doctor will break my teeth naa and i was like why you saying this?...He replied, Bhaiya i know my teeth are not good.. i eat chocolates :)...So i gave them a demo of what will happen in that mobile dental checkup van. Also used the opportunity to reinforce all the good habits and things they should do everyday to take proper care of their teeth.
finally students confidently got their teeth checked and were also asking answering and questioning the doctors!
Pic of the Day:
I have requested the doctors to come in my classroom tomorrow and interact with kids. To give a head start to the process of Role Models in the classroom. So here is an invite to everyone out there. If you belong to any (decent:)) profession to which my students can connect, Please get in touch with me. My students will love to interact with you and ask many questions!
finally students confidently got their teeth checked and were also asking answering and questioning the doctors!
Pic of the Day:
I have requested the doctors to come in my classroom tomorrow and interact with kids. To give a head start to the process of Role Models in the classroom. So here is an invite to everyone out there. If you belong to any (decent:)) profession to which my students can connect, Please get in touch with me. My students will love to interact with you and ask many questions!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Valley view High school
Yes the name sound like a school in a picturesque place...surrounded by a valley. But it aint! Fact is,it doesnt matter..if you can create a right environment and a right ecosystem which fosters learning, it doesnt matter whether the school is in Posh area or in the interiors of a poor community.
I mean how much we read online or in a bold article in a supplement of a daily newspaper or on a blog, like the one i am writing, the reality strikes when you,yourself be a part of the solution to the existing issues. When you go out and explore on your own. Thats what i did,saw,learn and experience at Valley View school.
So Let me introduce the super school to you all:
This is how our school looks like..
Valley view was founded by a Mrs Kulkarni AKA Madam Miss, our lovely principal. This was back in 1994-95. She was done teaching in all these convent schools and thats when the seed of entrepreneurship..starting you own school, where you can do what you want to do, apply your strategies and use your tremendous experience to ignite the young minds was sown.
But interesting thing is THE PLACE where she started the school. It was like a jungle back then,not a safe place, suburbs where the immigrants from other states occupied the land. The place is still well known for criminal activities goes on there.
She started the school with 8 students and today we have around 1200 students in our school.90% of them come from a low-income background. Most of the parents are uneducated and those who are, are the products of VALLEY view only.
Just to give an example, 4-5 teachers in the our school are the alma matter only. The girls who studied in one room school in a local community 14 years back are the class teachers in the very same school. That's what i call a success story!
Cheers to Valley view high school!
I mean how much we read online or in a bold article in a supplement of a daily newspaper or on a blog, like the one i am writing, the reality strikes when you,yourself be a part of the solution to the existing issues. When you go out and explore on your own. Thats what i did,saw,learn and experience at Valley View school.
So Let me introduce the super school to you all:
This is how our school looks like..
Valley view was founded by a Mrs Kulkarni AKA Madam Miss, our lovely principal. This was back in 1994-95. She was done teaching in all these convent schools and thats when the seed of entrepreneurship..starting you own school, where you can do what you want to do, apply your strategies and use your tremendous experience to ignite the young minds was sown.
But interesting thing is THE PLACE where she started the school. It was like a jungle back then,not a safe place, suburbs where the immigrants from other states occupied the land. The place is still well known for criminal activities goes on there.
She started the school with 8 students and today we have around 1200 students in our school.90% of them come from a low-income background. Most of the parents are uneducated and those who are, are the products of VALLEY view only.
Just to give an example, 4-5 teachers in the our school are the alma matter only. The girls who studied in one room school in a local community 14 years back are the class teachers in the very same school. That's what i call a success story!
Cheers to Valley view high school!
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The Mini library!
So today I would like to share one important part of our classroom which is still not utilized properly.
A mini-library : Yes, our lovely principal really liked the idea of having mini-libraries in the classroom itself. So that we can have a good collection of story books and invest students in reading.
But i would like to admit that i have not been able to utilize this mini-library in a proper way. But hopefully as the new story books are coming, It will be used to a greater extent now. Also if you like to donate old story books or even buy some new ones for my students, you are more than welcome. Thanks in advance!
A mini-library : Yes, our lovely principal really liked the idea of having mini-libraries in the classroom itself. So that we can have a good collection of story books and invest students in reading.
But i would like to admit that i have not been able to utilize this mini-library in a proper way. But hopefully as the new story books are coming, It will be used to a greater extent now. Also if you like to donate old story books or even buy some new ones for my students, you are more than welcome. Thanks in advance!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Highlight of the day!
Firstly students nailed the 'Time' Assessment. 40 students scored 100% marks on two tested objectives:
1. Student will be able to (SWBAT) read the time (in the multiple of 5s)on a clock.
2. Swbat represent the time on the clock.
So after that it was time for some very good news. I told them about WALT DISNEY approving the 2nd phase of the project. So as a gift, I will be buying 50 new stories books for them. Also gave students new english copies as their story writing notebooks.
So hopefully and surely now they will try their best to write small small stories.
THE BIG GOAL IS TO CREATE A STORY BOOK titled 'The stories of Superstars'.
So will be working on a very specific plan of how to take the students to that level. Scaffolded objectives,proper sequencing, Lots of brainstorming sessions, comprehension, Integration of grammar objectives and most importantly a structured way to track, measure and provide feedback on weekly basis. Fingers crossed!
Picture of the DAY:
Students had a great time while playing musical chair!!
1. Student will be able to (SWBAT) read the time (in the multiple of 5s)on a clock.
2. Swbat represent the time on the clock.
So after that it was time for some very good news. I told them about WALT DISNEY approving the 2nd phase of the project. So as a gift, I will be buying 50 new stories books for them. Also gave students new english copies as their story writing notebooks.
So hopefully and surely now they will try their best to write small small stories.
THE BIG GOAL IS TO CREATE A STORY BOOK titled 'The stories of Superstars'.
So will be working on a very specific plan of how to take the students to that level. Scaffolded objectives,proper sequencing, Lots of brainstorming sessions, comprehension, Integration of grammar objectives and most importantly a structured way to track, measure and provide feedback on weekly basis. Fingers crossed!
Picture of the DAY:
Students had a great time while playing musical chair!!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Teaching Time- Student's Clock!
Was teaching time today,so after few foundational concepts, i took the students to the ground and we made our very own Student's clock.
The whole idea was to apply the Socratic Teaching and let the students observe and connect to concepts in practical way.
Students enjoyed the session.
Observation: Students love the practical involvement in the lessons, but one should give clear instructions and also do the fundamental concepts before initiating such an activity.
Learning: Given the fact the weather was HOT, Students were feeling the heat and did loose the interest in b/w as they were thirsty. So a refresher break or doing in two groups simultaneously by asking other staff member for the help!
Proposal for 2nd phase of Design for giving project!
Received a mail from the Walt Disney people and they have approved my proposal with regards to second phase of Design for Giving! So My school will be getting Rs 5000/- to do activities around the theme of our project 'Cleanliness and Hygiene'. Stories books are coming!!!!
Link to the proposal!
Link to the proposal!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Joy for Giving!
As we celebrated Joy for Giving week in India during October. Riverside school in Ahemdabad, organised a Design for Giving contest. The objective of the contest was to stimulate young idealistic minds to think of social issues/problem and then work out a solution to address the same.
To go to DFG website please click here
My students did a project named "Parivartan" with a focus on spreading awareness regarding Cleanliness and Hygiene.
Link to a small and simple final presentation.
The project got selected in Top 100 entries out of 1300 in total. Given the fact this competition was for 5 to 10 grade, for me and my second grades this achievement meant alot!
6 Teach for India fellows schools stood in top 100!
To go to DFG website please click here
My students did a project named "Parivartan" with a focus on spreading awareness regarding Cleanliness and Hygiene.
Link to a small and simple final presentation.
The project got selected in Top 100 entries out of 1300 in total. Given the fact this competition was for 5 to 10 grade, for me and my second grades this achievement meant alot!
6 Teach for India fellows schools stood in top 100!
Story writing session...
Me and students discussed about various aspects of a Story. From characters to a plot to a beginning, middle and ending, Title and the moral. Students gave lot of inputs about their fav. characters and what all they want to write about...
The focus was mainly on how to give a structure approach to the story writing. So basically a step by step approach was designed:
1. Decide on few main characters (ideal number 4 to 5)
2. Brainstorming Phase: Then think what all the characters can do and think of various situations. If you can do this with 1 or 2 more students,even better. Team work! share ideas...
3. Then Start with the rough draft and create the initial part. Build the characters.
4. Then Bring in the twist or the main problem/issue..so words like "suddenly" and "Then" will come into picture. Middle part
5.How to solve that problem, what all did the main characters did and words like 'finally' will come into picture. Ending part.
Then revise it, fix the grammatical and spellings by checking from other sources too. Also draw some pictures as we see in our story books.
Think of Name (Title) of the story and Moral-what you learned from the story. (if anything)
Investment/Hook for the kids : Till now you just read other people stories if you can do this we can have 48 stories of our own and we can make a book of our class, the stories of superstars!
P.S: Will share the stories kids wrote in next couple of days.
The focus was mainly on how to give a structure approach to the story writing. So basically a step by step approach was designed:
1. Decide on few main characters (ideal number 4 to 5)
2. Brainstorming Phase: Then think what all the characters can do and think of various situations. If you can do this with 1 or 2 more students,even better. Team work! share ideas...
3. Then Start with the rough draft and create the initial part. Build the characters.
4. Then Bring in the twist or the main problem/issue..so words like "suddenly" and "Then" will come into picture. Middle part
5.How to solve that problem, what all did the main characters did and words like 'finally' will come into picture. Ending part.
Then revise it, fix the grammatical and spellings by checking from other sources too. Also draw some pictures as we see in our story books.
Think of Name (Title) of the story and Moral-what you learned from the story. (if anything)
Investment/Hook for the kids : Till now you just read other people stories if you can do this we can have 48 stories of our own and we can make a book of our class, the stories of superstars!
P.S: Will share the stories kids wrote in next couple of days.
My classroom!
A spontaneous,unplanned shots of classroom! Just thought of having some fun with students during Christmas festive spirit..Then it went on integrating Listening comprehension, Vocab words, expressions, classroom management and most importantly a real good time...smile on the little faces says it all...
Saturday, January 9, 2010
The Journey begins...
Finally the journey of penning down my experience of being a teacher...friend...Team leader...helper....facilitator.......and most importantly a 'Bhaiya' to my 48 sweet little young angelic devils...
Promise to myself...to write and share more....
Smile works...
Promise to myself...to write and share more....
Smile works...
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