March 2011

Volume 5, Issue 3 Inspiring Teachers

This month:

When teachers

promote active

pedagogy –

Binay

Pattanayak..….2

Book Review-

Sushma Bhalkikar

…………….. ..3

Book Group on

Scientific

Teaching…….6

Interesting links …4

Driving educational change through excellence in teaching

It’s a pleasure to announce

that the services related to

colleges have been launched

under the new name and

website – TheProfessor.in -

to bring focus to this

segment. New features like

ask the expert, faculty of the

month are added.

We are eagerly looking for

TheProfessor.in – launched

Reflecting on the first quarter

• 10000 Women Entrepreneurs is a

certificate program sponsored by Goldman

Sachs and delivered in India by ISB. A

three-month course that concluded on Jan

11th, was attended by Dr Uma. The concept

and business plan of Teacher’s Academy

won the best plan award too.

• Office space has been taken in Somajiguda,

Hyderabad and there are career

opportunities (see box).

• Addressed first year students and faculty at

Aditya Institute of Technology and

Management, Tekkali, 28th Feb

• Addressed students at SVGroup of

Institutions, at Chevella – 19th Feb

feedback on the site and

services.

The newsletter has an article

and book review by new

contributors –Binay Pattanayak

from UNICEF and Sushma

Bhalkikar from GMR

Varalakshmi Foundation.

Two more books on active

pedagogy in STEM disciplines

have been mentioned as

part of a discussion between

Ohio State University and

India.

We sincerely hope more

authors will be motivated to

send articles.

Our regular fare of links and

humour continues. So have

a good read!

Careers with TheProfessor.in

1. Experienced faculty in

professional colleges as trainers

for our programs. Should be well

versed with subject, internet and

MS Office.

2. Marketing professionals

experienced in education domain

for business development.

3. Internet savvy with good language

skills for Executive Assistant. Will

be responsible for administration

and documentation.

Interested may read the website and

send profile along with 200 words on

why they want to join TheProfessor.

To info@inspiring-teachers.com

Inspiring Teachers Page 2 of 6

Binay has been working for 23 years for children, their basic rights, Quality in school education through child-friendly schools & systems, Right to Education Act, Multi Lingual Education, Community based School Management, and Teacher Education Prior to UNICEF, he worked for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan as Chief Consultant (Pedagogy) on behalf the Technical Support Group (SSA - MHRD) at national level. He provided technical support to Ministry and States, for nearly a decade, in the area of quality improvement in SSA & DPEP, Teacher Education, RTE, MLE and Child friendly Schools. He was actively involved in the large scale Learning Enhancement Programmes in States.

The Right of Children to

Free and Compulsory

Education Act emphasises on

the importance of child

friendly and child centred

processes in and around

schools to make RTE a reality

of every child. In this context

it refers to the

recommendations of National

Curriculum Framework,

2005 which recognises every

child’s unique potential to

When teachers promote active pedagogy

In this context, the story of

the development of Active

Schools in Latur district of

Maharashtra stands out as a

rare and inspiring example

of bottom-up change in

education. This was not a

programme designed by

experts at the top and

obediently executed by

teachers. This model arose

organically, when in 1998 a

small team of interested

teachers from Latur got a

chance to visit various

innovative educational

experiments in different

parts of India. Inspired by

the innovative learner-

centred classrooms that they

saw, these teachers started

dreaming how they could

learn and advocates

teaching learning processes

that are based on the child’s

previous learning

experiences, learning

interests, learning styles

and learning processes. The

concerned teacher/s has an

important role to

understand these and

design appropriate

strategies for every child in

the school. In this

connection, we do not have

many examples where

teachers have taken a lead to

design appropriate strategies

for their children. Here is an

example that clearly indicates

how concerned teachers have

attempted to put their ideas

and learning into practice to

address the needs of every

child they work with.

bring change in their own

schools and materials, and to

themselves create and show a

better model that could

convince their authorities.

They began to experiment with

different ways of approaching

the existing curriculum,

textbooks, pedagogy and

learning assessment system.

They began to discuss and

conceptualize a new system of

pedagogy for their schools in

the form of a pilot project that

centred on improving the

teaching learning processes.

Gradually, through their

sustained efforts and growing

confidence, these teachers

were able to bring about a shift

from the traditional teacher-

centred classrooms to a

learning-centred approach.

They realized that children

generally learn much more

through ‘activities’, and began

to design learning experiences

which allowed children to

actively participate in and

enjoy the learning process,

based on their daily

experiences and interests.

They began to adapt and

enrich the existing state

materials as per their needs

and dreams, and went several

steps ahead by designing

more systematically graded

self-learning cards, learning

guides, learning assessment

papers and other guide books

for better classroom

transaction.

Continued on page 4

Binay Pattanayak - Education Specialist, UNICEF, New Delhi

Inspiring TeachersPage 3 of 6

I have a friend whose 24/7

mission is to see that her 11

year old son gets cent

percent marks in all

subjects, plays all sports

viz., football, volleyball,

cricket, get accolades for

participating in dramatics,

debating, elocution etc.

She has been thinking of

putting him into coaching

classes for cricket and chess

in addition to his tuitions. I

gifted her copy of “Don’t

Sprint the Marathon” by Dr

V Raghunathan. And now

she’s re-thinking!‘I took the

statement “Athletes forcing

their pace unnaturally

through long runs are

known to have cardiac

arrests mid course. It’s the

same with kids who are

driven to run a sprint

under acute pressure from

parents for performance”,

seriously’, she says.

Is life a race? “Well, it

needn’t be. Ideally , it

shouldn’t be and isn’t. But

then to treat life not as a

race but a wonderful day

out on an adventure trek,

though idealistically

compelling, is unlikely to

cut ice with most parents,

particularly in India where

Book Review – Sushma Bhalkikar, GMR Varalakshmi Foundation

competition among children

in practically any sphere of

life tends to be intense”, says

Dr Raghunathan. So,

considering that life is a race,

is it realistic that humans can

run it at the speed of a

sprint? Shouldn’t we

prepare our children to run a

marathon than a sprint?

Should we not try to

optimize life rather than

maximize on ‘speed’? While

we channel all energy in

developing their academic

performance and

performance in formal sports

and hobbies, how many

parents are thinking of

making their children

holistic, well balanced, well

socialized and good human

beings and citizens?

It’s true that most of us want

our children to excel in

studies and are willing to

send them to the best

schools, put them through a

number of tutorials etc. In

the process, consciously or

subconsciously, we are

pushing them without really

trying to assess their

capabilities and interests.

The intention is definitely

not to undermine the

importance of education and

a good career. But children

need time to play and indulge

themselves in activities where

they can purely have fun, which

don’t necessarily have to be

played in a competitive spirit to

win or lose. They need time to

explore the world and discover

themselves as there is more to

life than getting a good rank,

winning a medal, having

excellent career et al.

It is in this scenario that

DrRaghunathan’s book “Don’t

Sprint the Marathon” comes as

an enlightening experience, for

parents, for teachers and those

interested in education! It

makes for easy reading and is

absolutely apt in the current

context as it talks about

parenting and instilling good

values in children rather than

putting them through so much

pressure to perform at

unrealistically high standards.

“Competing with self is

synonymous with striving for

excellence”, says Dr

Raghunathan. “Marathon” also

talks about developing the

ability of an individual to handle

failures and to learn from them.

Everyone likes to be successful,

but as parents, we seldom teach

our children to handle failures.

Continued on page 5

Caption describing picture

or graphic.

This is a good read for

all because of its simple

style of writing yet the

depth of addressing

critical aspects in terms

of learning, instilling

values, parenting,

schooling etc. In the

race of life, personal or

professional, it is

important to understand

and realize the

importance of long term

goals and look at the

larger picture than work

for short term gains

which may not be

sustainable. It is

imperative and crucial to

prepare our children to

run the race of life as a

marathon rather than a

sprint. And if you would

like to know how to do

that, just go to a nearby

bookstore and buy a

copy of “Don’t Sprint

the Marathon”!

Inspiring Teachers Page 4 of 6

Picture Caption Contest

Is your brain aging?

A look at the daily

activities in the school

reveals a very inspiring

learning environment.

Right from cleaning the

campus, keeping the

garden green and

organizing the classroom

to attending a very eclectic

morning assembly that

includes prayer and

pledge, songs and stories

and also the day’s news,

children in Active Schools

are never short of joyous

activity. There are boards

to be updated, self-

attendance sheets to be

filled, weekly exhibitions

to be held and self-

grooming to attend to!

Card-based activity

happens in small groups

where each child gets a

chance for creative

expression. The teacher

When teachers promote active pedagogy – Cont’d

• Bill Gates writes about importance of identifying good teachers and transferring their skills

and also of need for measurement.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-

dyn/content/article/2011/02/27/AR2011022702876.html?Hpid=news-col-blog

• A site for people looking for conferences: http://www.conferencealerts.com/

• Jack’s page on basic physics and optics www.kw.igs.net

• Lovely resource for writing - www.phrases.org.uk

• The need for measurements and systems: Http://www.thestreet.com/story/11007678/1/a-

charter-schools-successful-system-innovators.html

• Preparing students for post secondary careers -www.newarkadvocate.com

Interesting Links

Send a funny but

intelligent caption for

the above picture before

15th March to

info@inspiring-

teachers.com

Say 'silk' five times. Now spell 'silk.' What do cows drink? What do you put in a toaster? If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from? Answers on next page

becomes a facilitator,

clarifying doubts, helping

with the hard spots and

providing direct and

indirect inputs. Children

develop scrap books from

locally available material,

engage in self-learning

and learn also from toys,

their environment and

from books other than

their school books. There

are games – educational

and also for pure fun,

question-answer sessions,

feedback and suggestion

time… and the day ends

with another assembly,

with introspection and

retrospection.

This new approach to

teaching has proved much

more effective than the

traditional methods of

classroom transaction.

Improved learning

performances of students

of Active Schools

convinced educational

authorities to apply the

pedagogical principles of

these schools in other

schools. After a year of

experimenting in these

initial 15 schools, the

project was expanded to a

total of 117 schools across

Latur district. Ten years

later, the project has

grown so well and its

success has spread so

much that the State

government of

Maharashtra is now

gearing up to scale up this

model and to carry over

the spirit of Active Schools

across all the primary

government schools in the

state.

Inspiring TeachersPage 5 of 6

Probably that’s the reason

we come across heart-

wrenching news every

now and then about some

child committing suicide

for not getting through a

certain exam or facing

rejection. As Dr

Raghunathan rightly puts

it, that “while a child’s

self-esteem develops with

early successes, can it

really be developed

without also teaching a

child to cope with real or

perceived failures?”

Children spend the best

part of their day at school.

So the teacher plays

significant role in shaping

the personality of

children. Guru

devobhava, teacher is

equal to God! How very

true. But “Most of our

schools are ineffective

because they usually

attempt to teach, while

they should be helping

children to learn,”says Dr

Raghunathan. Its crucial

for teachers to make

children curious for

knowledge, encourage

them to ask questions and

motivate them to achieve

excellence. It’s a sad truth

…Marathon (Continued from page 3)

Answers to brain teasers on previous page. Water. Bread. Glass. If you said milk, toast and green bricks, your brain must be aging!

that examinations are a

part and parcel of every

child’s life (and a

nightmare!). While we

cannot do away with

exams, as parents and

teachers, the best we

could do is to stop

‘evaluating’ a child based

on the results.

The author gives us

examples of so many

ordinary people who have

done extraordinary things

in life. Most of them have

not gone to the best of

schools, are not rank

holders or excel in any

way academically, but that

did not stop them from

achieving accolades and

coming out as true

winners in the race of life!

Read about Raghunathan at http://www.linkedin.com/in/raghunathan

Scientific Teaching

We expect undergraduate

students to get excited in

the subject and also have

competencies for rigorous

study. However, in most

universities teaching is

not rewarded along the

same lines as research and

is therefore on a lower

priority. Also many

scientists are not aware of

modern pedagogic

findings and are not

trained in the use of

effective methods to

generate deeper learning

in students.

This book is an effort to

improve undergraduate

education in STEM

disciplines– with specific

examples in life sciences.

The title also suggests that

teaching is also scientific

like the research the

professors conduct and

the same rigor and

discipline must be

applied. See note on

next page

This was another book

referred in the discussion

between OSU and India

Science Education Group.

Jo Handelsman, Sarah Miller and Christine Pfund

A bunch of professors and

research students from

Ohio State University and

Vivekananda Degree and

PG College and Shadan

Institute of P.G.Studies

got together on five

Wednesdays over a video

conference facility at

Osmania University to

discuss and debate about

active learning methods in

a biology class. The

discussions were centered

OSU –India Discussion Group: Scientific Teaching – Jo Handelsman

et al

Started more than three

years ago, already 1500

teacher members on-line,

40 colleges and many

schools touched by the

training.

Student awareness

sessions on active learning

for employability, curtain

About Teacher’s Academy…

Teacher’s Academy

Hyderabad

PHONE:

97011 41118

E-MAIL: info@inspiring-teachers.com

See us at:

www.inspiring-teachers.com

Judith Ridgeway Assistant

Director, Center for Life

Sciences Education and Anil

Kumar Challa were the

initiators of this book group.

Jonathan Hall, Zenap

Benderlioglu,Ran Furman,

Wei Liu,Conor Flynn,

Alexandra Permar from OSU,

Avanti Rao, Aparna,Vidya

Jonnalagadda, Vanitha,

Pratap Rudra,Uma Garimella,

Usha, Anju from Hyderabad

and Ramakrishnan Sitaraman

from Delhi participated.

on the book Scientific

Teaching. While issues

like syllabus and

assessment in affiliated

colleges in India are

different from those in

OSU, reluctance of

students to work for

deeper learning echoed on

both sides.

Using Mindmaps,

handling diversity in

classrooms and

assessment were some of

the key topics.

raiser for faculty and TA-

ship training for students

going overseas are some of

the new offerings.

Continuous support and

multiple initiatives will be

included for holistic and

sustainable change.

Now you can suggest

faculty to be featured

every month. Share

articles, useful links,

teaching resources and

tips for effective teaching

with a growing

community of our teacher

mailing list.

Uma Garimella