Session on ‘Psychology of Colours’
June 5, 2020
The first session focusing on ‘Psychology of Colours to Transform our Life’ was conducted by Ms. Nidhi Jain, Head of Visual Arts Department. Colours reflect one’s personality and define the character trait of a person. She explained four colour personality types – red, yellow, green, blue and elaborately discussed and described the characteristics of every colour with the market brands, social sites and temperament of a person. She also talked about the blending of colours and unhealthy emotions. The session also witnessed the scientific and spiritual views of colours put forth by other teachers. The queries pertaining to the psychology of colours were well dealt by her.
The second session was conducted by School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi on the schedule of orientation for parents and the schedule for reopening of online school from Montessori to class XII. He also discussed the role and responsibility of the stakeholders along with the assessment, assignment, resource material in online and offline classes. The teachers were informed about the Google Classroom, new official email address and the feedback system for the parents. To lend the technical support to the parents for communication with the teachers, computer department was assigned the responsibility. He suggested few measures to deal with the pitfalls, criticisms cropping up due to situational issues during online classes. He emphasized to ensure effective communication with the parents and to focus on the qualitative content for the smooth transaction.
Sessions on Synchronization of Mind, Body and Spirit
June 4, 2020
Mr. Vinay Sharma, Physics teacher of Senior School conducted a session on ‘Meditation, Yoga and Pranayam’ to develop a connection between mind and body which in turn leads to a peaceful and stable life. He explained the importance of all three practices and their effects on mind and body. He also demonstrated the exercises ‘anulom-vilom’ and ‘kapalbhati’ along with the technique and the required time period. The demonstration was followed by the practice session of both the exercises by the teachers. The queries related to breathing techniques were clarified by him.
The second session by Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi witnessed the discussion on synchronization of mind, body and spirit. Citing examples from Mahabharata, he distinctly defined the thought process in terms of Science, Philosophy and Mythology. To understand the teaching learning process, one needs to train brain by strengthening neuropathways. Connecting to neuropathways, he referred to Bloom’s Taxonomy, PBL, Vision Statement of school and many more. One needs to identify his weaknesses, share knowledge to be productive and enhance abilities to become a better person. The session ended on a positive note of self-awareness and self-realisation.
Who Kidnapped Excellence? Session Taken by Head of English Department
June 3, 2020
Ms. Chitralekha Kulkarni, Head of English Department conducted the session based on the book ‘Who Kidnapped Excellence?’ by Harry Paul, John Britt and Ed Jent. She briefed all the teachers about the characters of the book stating two important questions for everyone to ponder about – What stops us from giving our best? What stops us from being our best?
Contrasting and comparing the five core team members or qualities of Excellence with the team members or qualities of Average, she step by step explained the importance and the role of every member of the team. The presentation was thorough, clear and actionable. The device of Personification for Excellence and Average added weight and relevance to the story as these kinds of characters exist in the society. The unskilled rules and the skilled ones suffer due to the callous attitude of the top authorities. The realization dawns in when the company gets a major setback because of these unskilled and poser people. The enriching session ended with a question answer session as the questions are the most effective method of eliciting knowledge.
What is the New Normal? Session by School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi
June 2, 2020
The session commenced with the discussion on the role of a teacher in context with the psychological side of the pandemic. With the help of a power point presentation, School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi explained at length the ‘New Normal’ addressing the concerns and the problems during the pandemic period. He stressed on identification of the emotional and academic needs of the students and consequently developing the connectedness with the students. To strengthen relationships and well-being of the students, he suggested conducting activities like asking students about tough moment and hopeful moment, new learning during lockdown etc. Further elaborating the role of a teacher as a facilitator, he urged to create readiness for learning by fostering sense of connectedness, sense of safety and encouraging sense of hope in students. As teachers are the best predictors, the way they are going to model will be followed by the students. So teachers should work with mindfulness to overcome various issues pertaining to different situations. The session ended with clarification of queries put forward by some teachers.
New Session 2020-2021 Begins for Teachers
June 1, 2020
The new session 2020-2021 commenced with the welcoming of the entire staff by Principal Mr Rajesh Awasthi on the virtual Zoom platform due to COVID-19 followed by the schedule for nine days. On an inspiring note, the Principal appreciated the efforts of the teachers for the smooth conduction of online classes of X, XI & XII for two months. As there is uncertainty regarding reopening of schools due to COVID-19, he discussed about the challenges teachers will have to face during online teaching and urged the teachers to equip themselves mentally for the challenges. The online time table would soon be shared with the teachers. He also appreciated the online attendance of students of classes X, XI & XII and parents on online PTM.
As the role of the teacher is very important and calls for accountability and commitment towards teaching learning process, the teacher should act as a facilitator for students on online mode to create independent learners so as to reach the top level of the Bloom’s Taxonomy. The Principal also informed that the school is going to have G-Suite platform of Google for teaching learning process and for the entire communication with parents, students and teachers. He suggested to send the resource material to the students two days in advance and to prepare audio/video /ppt with explanation addressing the learning of the students. To apprise the parents about the online classes, the introductory online PTM and Orientation programme for junior school parents would be conducted in a short period of time. He also informed about the Art Integration, AI and ICL to be incorporated into the syllabus as instructed by CBSE in the coming session. The session also witnessed the discussion on the planning of including school club activities, parents’ email in Google classroom and Business version of Whatsapp.
Thereafter the teachers had departmental meetings with their Department Heads to continue their planning for the forthcoming session.
‘UNBOX TINKERING – Atal Tinkering Lab Teachers’ Training Programme
December 14, 2019
A training programme for ATL teachers under the aegis of AIM, NITI AYOG and with collaboration of VASCSC was organised at Choithram School Manik Bagh, Indore from December 11 to 14, 2019. It was attended by 50 teachers of various private and government schools. The resource persons were Mr. Sudhir Kumar Sharma (Project officer), Harsh Bhatt (Programme officer Scientist ‘B’), Mohit Ahuja (Innovation Lab & Fablab incharge) from Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre, Ahmedabad.
The focus was on awareness of philosophy of ATL and latest technology tools. The training programme included a series of discussions and hands on sessions which allow interactive and open learning, and exchange of new ideas.
On day one, ‘Introduction to ATL program, Ideation activity and Design Thinking Activity’ was conducted in which teachers designed models with innovative ideas for solving various problems identified by them in their regions. Discussion on ATL safety and ATL calendar was also conducted. Day two started with a recap of previous day and was continued with introduction to algorithms, flowcharts and programming methods. Sensors and actuators were introduced. Operating system and hardware of Arduino was introduced using which teachers designed programs for LED blinking using braid board and circuits. Working of 3D printer was taught and 3D modelling software’s like Sketchup and Cura were introduced. Teachers designed 3D models. Various mechanical power tools were introduced with their usage.
Day three started with teachers discussing the problems they face while working with ATL and solutions were provided by mentors. Attendees were made to learn Raspberry Pi basics followed by discussion on hardware and software compatibility. Teachers were mentored for basic implementation of Raspberry Pi. Day four witnessed designing and showcasing the prototype for Hackathon using concepts taught on previous three days. ATL projects designed by students were showcased.
The four day training programme proved beneficial and enhanced the competencies of ATL lab teachers.
Workshop to Make Curriculum of Hindi Language More Interesting
December 7, 2019
Ms. Meeta Pandit , Ms. Mithlesh Shukla of Junior School along with Ms. Shilpa Khargonkar and Ms. Priyanka Shrivastava of Senior School attended a workshop at Sayaji Hotel on December 7, 2019 organised by Madhuban Publishers to make the curriculum of Hindi language more interesting. The resource person Dr. Manju Sharma, a national award recipient apprised the participants with innovative techniques to enhance Hindi language through audio-visual means and group discussion. She focused on all the language skills i.e. Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. Vocabulary Enrichment through writing skills i.e. Dialogue Writing, Picture Composition and Paragraph Writing was dealt in an exceptional manner by the resource person.
Capacity Building Workshop on Artificial Intelligence (CBSE)
December 6, 2019
Mrs. Madhurima Puranik (HOD Computer Science) and Mrs. Priyanka Narela, faculty Computer Science attended Capacity Building Workshop on Artificial Intelligence organized by CBSE and Intel at Choithram School, North Campus from December 3 to 5, 2019.
Day one was a session of awareness on Artificial Intelligence which started with the Kahoot Quiz and demonstration of two games for AI domains – Mystery Animal and Emoji Scavenger Hunt as well as Rock Paper and Scissor. Letter writing to future self and dream floor plans were designed. UN Sustainable Development Goals were discussed and a board game was played by designing tokens and dice.
Day two covered the AI Project cycle pertaining to research on the given theme and designing a future job advertisement. A balloon debate was organized on AI applications and AI Ethics.
Day three covered designing of system maps using loopy and designing graphs using Sketchy software. Different modeling techniques were done with rule based approach and learning based approach. Decision Trees were designed. Neural networks and hidden layer concept was explained using a human chain game.
Capacity Building Workshop For Teachers Teaching Mathematics
August 7, 2019
A Capacity Building Workshop was organised for class X teachers teaching Mathematics on August 6 and August 7, 2019 at Prestige Public School, Indore which was attended by Ms. AbedaRaotiwala, Math teacher of the school. Around 72 teachers in and around the city participated in the workshop. The workshop was structured into 7 learning sessions and conducted by the resource persons Mr. Vijay Malviya and Ms. Seema Dubey.
In the first session, Ms. Seema Dubey discussed the skills enhanced by teaching Math. The skills like logical thinking, estimation, problem solving, arithmetic calculation, creativity, spatial thinking were elaborately explained by the expert. The second session by Mr. Vijay Malviya was on Constructivism Theory about Learning. To make students learn the concept, an activity was conducted for the participants in groups and each group was named on the topics of Math like mensuration, algebraic, number system etc. Each group performed the activity based on the topic given.
The third session by Ms. Seema Dubey focused on the Planning of Objectives for Lesson Plan. The speaker guided to plan the objectives on the basis of SMART i.e. S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Attainable, R-Realistic, T-Time bound and suggested to include Bloom’s Taxonomy in the lesson plan. The importance of writing learning objectives, aligning objectives to assessment techniques and standards along with developing higher order thinking skills were discussed by the expert.
In the fourth session, Mr Vijay Malviya conducted a role play in groups to explain Gender Sensitivity. To gain hands-on experience, the resource person Ms. Seema Dubey conducted an activity like paper folding, model making for the participants in the fifth session. Though Math is the king of all subjects yet students have phobia for the same. In the sixth session, Ms. Seema Dubey focused on Challenge areas in Mathematics and Common Areas. The expert guided on the common errors committed by the students.
In the seventh session, Mr. Vijay Malviya enlightened on Teaching Diverse Learners in which he explained the theory of multiple intelligence, ways of getting feedback of learning-diagnostic test, vertical learning, cooperative learning and concept of mapping etc. Session eight by Mr. Vijay Malviya was based on the Assessment pattern of exam. The participants and the expert discussed the introduction of standard and basic Math level, blue prints and marks weightage for each unit.
Capacity Building Programme on Life Skills
August 5, 2019
Mrs. Anshu Chopra, HOD, Science Department of Senior School and Mrs.Kusum Wadhwa, English teacher of Junior School attended a workshop organized by CBSE, Ajmer on ‘Capacity Building Programme on Life Skills’ on August5,2019 at Vidya sagar School. The workshop aimed to hone the life skills teaching amongst the teachers. The resource persons Dr.D. C. Sharma, Principal, Vidyasagar School and Mr.Aashish Tiwari, Principal, Podar International School enlightened the participants about various ways and techniques of developing and enhancing life skills among students across all age groups. The teachers were guided to include different life skills like empathy, problem solving, critical thinking, creative thinking, interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, managing stress and emotions, coping with stress through various activities effectively. The discussion adequately had the tone set for a healthy interaction of inputs and views from the teachers.
Workshop on Innovative Pedagogy with Active Learning – English XII
August 2 and 3, 2019
A workshop for English teachers teaching class XII organized by COE Ajmer, was conducted at Choithram School North Campus, Nipania on August 2 and 3, 2019. The resource persons were Dr. Shampa Das, Principal, Ekayana Public School, Indore and Ms. Krishna Niyogi from Jabalpur. The two day workshop was attended by Ms. Chitralekha Kulkarni, HOD, English Department. The focus was on Active and Experiential Learning. Various teaching learning techniques and pedagogies were used to make the attendees aware of the right way of teaching the language skills – Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. In groups, the teachers wrote letters, articles, framed comprehension questions according to Bloom’s Taxonomy, designed posters, drafted invitations and classifieds, and discussed debatable topics. The content was then exchanged and assessed by the other group, sharing critical appreciation of the same. This gave the teachers an insight into what all points are to be kept in mind while evaluating an answer, all the same, what all points need to be told to the students to make them learn and score better.
Teaching Literature was taken up on day two with some interesting warm up activities. The handouts had crossword puzzles, rearranging the story in sequence, fill ups etc. The best part was the idea that one must explore the settings in which the story or poem had been written. That highlights the issues which were prevalent in those times and help children understand better. All the advertisements that were popular in the era when the poem ‘Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers’ was written, showed male dominance. Showing those ads before teaching the poem would surely help in ‘indepth’ study of the same. New marking scheme and different ways of conducting assessment of speaking and listening skills were also discussed. Though all the skills and activities were already known to the teachers, the workshop refreshed the teaching learning process.
‘Knowledge Sharing Meet’ for Teachers Teaching Accountancy
July 28, 2019
Sultan Chand & Sons, Delhi organised a ‘Knowledge Sharing Meet’ at Columbia Convent School, Indore on July 28, 2019.The resource persons Dr. G.S Grewal and Mr. R.K. Khosla structured the work shop into two sessions. Mr. VipinWagh and Ms. ShaliniSarafof Commerce department attended the workshop. After a brief introduction, the resource persons discussed and explained the following topics with the help of a power point presentation:
• Changes in the question paper design for 2019-2020 in Accountancy ( classes XI &XII)
• Cash Flow Statement- Treatment of proposed dividend.
• Not for Profit Organizations.
• Writing off Discount on issue of debentures
• Goodwill treatment
The experts also discussed MCQ’s and Accountancy projects for class XII with various examples. The session helped in motivating and guiding the teachers to hone their professional excellence.
Session on ‘Mysticism and Spirituality’ by Mrs. Reena Khurana, Principal, Golden International School
June 20, 2019
Mrs. Reena Khurana, Principal, Golden International School, Indore conducted an awakening session on ‘Mysticism and Spirituality’ for all staff members on June 20, 2019. The session commenced with the mythological references of ‘yagna’, ‘devas’, ‘asuras’, ‘siddhas’, ‘yogis’ followed by the 16 levels of ‘tapasya.’ The concept of kindling fire inside and outside by ‘devas’ and ‘asuras’ was well explained by her. To reach the highest level, various ways of doing ‘tapasya’ was explained in detail – Raaj yog, Kriya yog, Herbs, Tantric, Shaktipath, Mantra and Sacrifice. Mrs. Khurana also quoted instances from the lives of Ramkrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekanand to explain spirituality. The relation between Science and Spirituality was explained with reference to the theories of the great scientists. To handle students in school, she elaborated four major mind parts, viz., Intellect, Ego, Manas and Chitta and to understand these mind parts, one has to transform oneself in different ways. Man has an unlimited power inside but the need is to awaken that power with awareness leading to discovery and finally to creation. The enlightening session ended with the clarification of queries related to spiritual existence as ‘We all are spiritual beings having a human experience.’
Session on ‘Discipline and Behavioural Issues of Students’ by CCA Outdoor Teachers
June 19, 2019
Mr. Devendra Singh Raghuvanshi; HOD, Outdoor CCA Department along with his department faculty Mr. Durgesh Yadav and Ms. Neeta Pathak shared their observations related to discipline, behaviour and medical emergencies on ground and in the classroom. The teachers shared their experiences during Athletic Meet, Farewell, Teachers’ Day and other cultural events. The problems and solutions related to self-discipline, respect and counselling were dealt at length. They stressed on to have a collective effort in dealing with the discipline issues in school.
Session on ‘Discipline’ by Ms. Tanvi Kekre of Montessori Department
June 18, 2019
Ms. Tanvi Kekre of Montessori Department conducted a session on ‘Discipline’ for all staff members on June 18, 2019. The interactive session commenced with the differentiation between symptom and disease followed by identifying various ways to treat symptoms of discipline and avoid turning it into a disease. The speaker compared the ancient education (Gurukul system) with the present education system and shared a few activities to channelize the physical energy of the students. The emotional imbalance and behavioural problems along with the solutions were discussed in the session. The concept of ‘Dream Classroom’ was well expounded by her.
Mock Drill – Fire Safety Session For Teachers, Drivers and Conductors of the School
June 17, 2019
An informative fire awareness session was conducted by Mr. Kanchan Darkunde, fire fighter from Safety Enterprises, Indore on June 17, 2019 for teachers, drivers and conductors of the school. Defining fire as the combination of oxygen, heat and all sorts of combustible material, the resource person explained A, B, C types of fire extinguishers and their operation. He also suggested do’s and don’ts while using LPG, electric circuits and vehicles. To ensure safety and security of the students, various preventive measures like emergency exit, assembly points etc. were shared by the resource person to be followed during the fire breakout scenario. The mock drill of fire alarm, foam extinguishers and hydrant extinguishers was well explained by the fire fighter inviting teachers, drivers and conductors to demonstrate the same.
Session on ‘Effect of Meditation in Stressful Life’ by Mr. Vinay Sharma of Senior School
June 17, 2019
Mr. Vinay Sharma, Physics teacher of Senior School conducted a session on ‘Effect of Meditation in Stressful Life’ focusing on the causes and cure of stress. To live a stress-free life, the speaker suggested ignoring thoughts and establishing a mind-body connection. The session covered two types of meditation techniques viz. ‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ along with ways to achieve a calm and stable state. With the help of a video, the four stages of ‘Kundalini Meditation’ (which is very useful for working ladies) were explained by Mr. Vinay. The last leg of the session witnessed demonstration of ‘Gibberish meditation technique’ which can assist people to throw out all garbage from their mind.
Session on ‘Discipline and Student-Teacher Behaviour’ by School Vice Principal
June 11, 2019
Vice Principal Mr. S. K. Mishra conducted a session on certain issues pertaining to discipline and behaviour of students and teachers for staff members of Senior School on June 11, 2019. The session witnessed in-depth discussions on punishment, defaulters, use of language, discipline on ground and in class and PTM etc. Teachers shared their problems and suggested remedies to solve the issues.
Watching the Movie ‘Rough Book’
June 11, 2019
All staff members watched the movie ‘Rough Book’ on June 11, 2019. The story revolves around the present day education system in India with the protagonist Santoshi Kumari, a Physics teacher rebelling against the system. She tackles the system to set her own terms for her students. After watching the movie, School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi encouraged teachers to share their observations by asking thought-provoking questions. Various issues that the movie raised were discussed by the teachers. At the end, he asked teachers to relate different instances of transactional analysis; the three ego states – parent, teacher and child from the movie.
Session on Behavioural Issues of Students by School Counsellors
June 10, 2019
School Counsellors Ms. Abhilasha Purushothaman and Ms. Surbhi Shastri conducted a session with staff members of Senior School on June 10, 2019 pertaining to the problems of adolescents. Acting as facilitators, they encouraged teachers of grade IX to XII to share various behavioural problems of students of these classes with each other for common action. Teachers discussed what they deemed was ‘acceptable’ and what was ‘not acceptable’ student behaviour and urged everyone to take action at the particular instant rather than wait for someone else to intervene.
Session on ‘Technology’ by Ms. Madhurima Puranik of Senior School
June 8, 2019
Ms. Madhurima Puranik, HOD Computer Department conducted a session on ‘Technology’ for staff members of the Senior School on June 8, 2019. She explained the formatting of question paper, MS Excel sheet and google form. She clarified the queries of the teachers related to technical glitches faced by them.
Session on ‘Tongue Management’ by Brahmakumari Neela Didi
June 8, 2019
Brahmakumari Neela Didi in her session on ‘Tongue Management’ for all staff members on June 8, 2019 enumerated that if we are able to control our tongue we can control our life. Citing inspirational stories, she made everyone understand that a controlled tongue is a positive power. To manage our tongue, Didi suggested four basic paths viz. speak less, speak softly, speak in a sweet tone and speak appropriately. At the end, she advised for meditation exercise to connect with God as He is omni present to solve our problems.
Session on ‘Classroom Management’ by Mr. Vipin Wagh of Senior School
June 7, 2019
Mr. Vipin Wagh, Head of Commerce Department and part of the School Discipline Committee commenced the session on ‘Classroom Management’ for teachers of the Senior School on June 7, 2019 by showing a video. He questioned the teachers about their observations after seeing the video and what they felt the teacher in the video should have done to improve her classroom management. He set the ball rolling for the teachers to discuss openly the problems they faced in their respective classes. Through an interactive session, he explained the different strategies for better classroom control. Different kinds of behaviour-attention seeking, power seeking, off task and misbehaviour were also discussed.
Session on ‘Integrating UNSDG Within the Curriculum’ by Ms. Raminder Mac of Senior School
June 7, 2019
Ms. Raminder Mac , Dean – International Affairs conducted the session on ‘Integrating UNSDG Within the Curriculum’ for all staff members on June 7, 2019. The session began with the objective of introducing these goals by the UN followed by the need of incorporating these in the school curriculum. To integrate UNSDG within the curriculum, Ms. Mac suggested taking one goal and targeting the sub-goals with extensive research along with activities showing solutions, challenges and action. Around nine UN goals were explained at length covering different subjects. The activities like role play, street play, talk shows, panel discussion, letter writing, PPT, poems, campaigns, rallies etc. were suggested to achieve the target of UNSDG.
Session on ‘Communication Skills’ by Ms. Surya Nair of Junior School
June 6, 2019
Ms. Surya Nair of Junior School conducted the session on ‘Communication Skills’ for all the staff members on June 6, 2019. She commenced the session with pronunciation of common words pronounced wrongly followed by certain exercises like correcting errors. To improve vocabulary, she suggested reading books and magazines as well as watching cartoons, movies with subtitles, TV Shows and interviews. She emphasized on improving the accent and maintaining a diary to record happenings throughout the day. To improve speaking skills, she demonstrated two activities viz. Just a Minute (JAM Technique) wherein the teachers were called to speak continuously for 2 minutes on the topic given. The second activity pertaining to ‘Dictionary navigation’ was conducted in which teachers were called in pairs to look up for the word in dictionary addressed by her in a sentence. Various topics like punctuation, words and idioms were discussed along with the exercises based on silent letters and anagrams.
Session on ‘Teacher Effectiveness’ by School Principal
June 4, 2019
In his session on ‘Teacher Effectiveness’ on June 4, 2019 for all staff members, School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi enumerated why a teacher is regarded as a ‘knowledge giver’ and the two dimensions of a teacher’s personality viz. subjective and behavioural. The subjective domain comprises of the teaching style, teacher-student interactions, teaching outcomes while behavioural domain comprises teacher personality, behaviour, competencies, values and abilities. Subjective domain can easily be developed while Behavioural domain is intrinsic. Speaking on ‘Purposeful Communication’, Mr. Awasthi discussed on listening to learn, expressing to explore, establishing empathy and demonstrating credibility. He also stressed to enhance the quality of communication. The contents of ‘Inspired Thinking’ comprising of reasoning, problem solving, pattern recognition and decision making were also discussed. Quoting happiness as instrumental and cheerfulness as terminal, he discussed on ‘Happy Self.’ The key areas comprising of personal development, self-management, risk taking, courage, integrity, compassion, team work and many more were dealt at length. Under the ‘Work Talent’ area, he guided teachers to understand the profession with professional expertise thereby bringing unique and valued skills to job.
Session on SOLO Taxonomy by School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi
June 3, 2019
School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi commenced the session on June 3, 2019 for all staff members with discussion on Bloom’s Taxonomy wherein the various levels of taxonomy were discussed. This was followed by the introduction of John Gibbs’ SOLO Taxonomy (Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes) along with comparison of Bloom’s and Solo as both aim to make students independent learners. Mr. Awasthi dealt with the five levels of SOLO Taxonomy beginning with ‘Prestructural’ followed by ‘Unistructural’, ‘Multistructural’, ‘Relational’ and ending with ‘Extended Abstract’. Student definition and icons pertaining to these Solo stages were well explained with the help of examples. Highlighting SOLO Taxonomy as being student-centric, he elucidated how this taxonomy brings out the difference between surface and deep understanding, helping students understand where they are on that spectrum and what they need to do to progress. He also suggested that teachers should include the levels of this taxonomy while redesigning the lesson plans.
Enhancing Leadership Skills – Leadership Workshop For Incharges and HODs by School Principal Mr. Rajesh Awasthi
May 28 to May 31, 2019.
Commitment and Accountability
Mr. Awasthi stressed on the need to create a strong support system to bring in Commitment and Accountability in the teachers. The biggest enemy of commitment is fear. Leaders ought to follow a ‘No Hierarchy- Round Table’ approach and establish a rapport with the team. One should not be stingy in praising the efforts put in by anyone.
The Change Process
Discussion on John Kotter’s book ‘Our Iceberg is Melting’ highlighting the steps required to bring in a change followed by brainstorming sessions helped everyone identify himself/ herself with the different characters in the fable in different situations. The task of a leader is to identify the NoNo first and set him/her right (never avoid NoNo), and that would help in the progress of the change process. The school was taken up as a metaphor for ‘Iceberg’, and the cracks and caves for minor and major issues that the school is facing were identified. The issues related to four major areas viz. students, teachers, infrastructure and policies were listed out in groups.
Transaction Analysis
Mr. Awasthi advised the leaders to analyse the way they communicate. The five Ws and one H, the importance of expression, the three ego states were discussed. Examples were shared how a person behaved when he/she was in a particular ego state. The need to be in Adult mode while resolving a conflict is a must. The ‘Barriers in Communication’ and the ‘Thinking Errors’ were discussed, which one should be aware of, and avoid. One should be Assertive and work towards ‘Organizational Assertiveness’.
Enhancing Team Building
The leaders were divided into four teams and interesting tasks were given including games which required involvement from every member of the team. It was followed by discussion on the strategy, planning and execution of the same which could have given successful results. Mr. Awasthi also explained the importance of SWOT Analysis and Johari window, followed by a ‘Feedback Game’ where everyone had to give positive feedback to everyone. After the game was the sharing of blind spots of every member’s personality.
National Seminar on ICT Integration in Education and Learning Analytics
March 18, 2019
To encourage the mentors, scholars and practitioners to evolve strategies for the ICT-pedagogy integration as well as to analyse the learning progressions, a three day National Seminar was organised at RIE, Bhopal from March 15, 2019 to March 17, 2019. Ms. Navneet Bhatia of Junior School attended seminar. The seminar was structured into different sessions. The first day session began with the introducion of Chief Guest Prof. H. K. Senapaty, Director NCERT, New Delhi by Prof. N. Pradhan, Principal, RIE, Bhopal followed by brief about the importance of ICT. The eminent educationists from renowned institutions and universities shared their views on different learning patterns in the students.
Prof I.B. Chughtai dealt with the three levels of ICT integration involving Emerging to Applying, Applying to Infusing and Infusing to Transforming. Prof H.K. Senapaty highlighted the purpose of e-learning to identify the learning patterns in the students. Speaking on ‘Pedagogy Dominates Technology’, the speaker encouraged the teachers to shift from content mastery to competency mastery. He stressed on enhancing life skills to make children independent learners using their potential. For this, the teachers and educators need to make changes in TLP. Prof. D. N. Sansanwal addressed on ICT Integration in Education and explained at length the process of integrating ICT in admissions, teaching processes involving reasoning and thinking, diagnostics tests, remedial teaching, internal assessment and psychological testing. The resource person elaborated ICT Tutoring to simplify the concepts in Math, Physics, Chemistry, Accountancy and English. He encouraged developing Industrial Material – e content using different subjects.
The second day witnessed paper presentations by research scholars from different universities. The presentations included the following topics – Effectiveness of ICT Integration in Science Education at Secondary Level, Effectiveness of Multimedia Approach on Achievement in Science at Upper Primary Level, Use of ICT in Teaching Mathematics, Effectiveness of Mathematics Teaching Through Technology, Cloud Classroom Environment, Challenges in Teaching Science in Schools, Integrating ICT in Science Teaching and Learning, Teaching Biology in Higher Classes using ICT,Flip Classrooms etc. The e-resources like Geogebra, Logo and Robo Compass etc. were shared by the experts. To enhance learning in Science, Mathematics, Physics, Astrology and Zoology, the experts informed about the utility of PhET –Physics education Technology. PINDICS a self-assessment learning tool for teachers consisting of performance standards (PS), specific standards and performance indicators was also explained by the speakers.
Math Skill Meet
January 12, 2019
Ms. Raji Pillai and Ms. Jaya Makhija of Mathematics Department of Junior School attended Math Skill Meet organised by Macmillan Education at Hotel Sayaji on January 12, 2019. The meet was based on Singapore Approach to Mathematics Teaching which incorporates the Mastery Method allowing children to develop mathematical understanding without resorting to rote learning and solve non- routine Math problems without memorising procedures.
The resource person Mr. Syed F. Sattar, an educator with more than a decade of close involvement in school education focused on Jerome Bruner’s Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract (CPA) approach. In the concrete step students engage in hands on learning experiences using concrete objects such as chips, dice or paper clips which is followed by drawing pictorial representations of mathematical problems and abstract way using numbers and symbols. Mr. Syed explained how Jodo cubes can be used to explain various Math topics like area and perimeter. The concept of percentage was explained through an activity using rectangular strips. Questions based on reasoning using pictorial representation were also discussed. The session concluded with the briefing of digital features of CPA Math – A Singapore Approach.
Workshop on English Language Teaching (ELT)
January 05, 2019
Orient Blackswan Publication organised a workshop on English Language Teaching (ELT) at Advanced Academy, Indore on January 5, 2019 which was attended by Ms. Santosh Joshi, Ms. Parul Agrawal, Ms. Ruchi Chaturvedi and Ms. Misha Sachdev of the English Department. The resource person Dr. Deepesh Chandrasekharan, Executive Director, CLIL, Udupi, Karnataka emphasized to focus on fluency rather than accuracy and guided on teaching of punctuation and euphemism. Certain listening and spell check related activities were conducted to emphasise on listening skills and use of correct spelling.
Global Teachers’ Meet
December 31, 2019
Global Teachers’ Meet ‘MAHAKUMBH 2018’ Chapter II was organized on the theme ‘Happy School and Safe School’ at Indore Public School on December 29 & 30, 2018. With a strong belief in the idea of creating the World of Happy Children and the World for Happy Children, the founders Dr. Rajesh Sharma, Fr. Maria Stephen and Ms. Kala Mohan invited the guest speakers from different fields to share their expertise in the field of education. Educators from various institutions across the country witnessed the event of this magnitude for two days.
DAY 1
The inaugural session was conducted by Bishop Chacko who emphasized upon imparting values as happiness in the present generation lies in listening to ‘YES’ and so values are of prime importance. Mr. Gurvinder Singh and Dr. D.S. Ahluwalia were felicitated with Late Shri Sadhu Singh awards for their selfless contribution in creating a well-educated society.
Mr. G. Balasubramaniam, former Director CBSE, Academics, addressed the gathering on ‘Happiness’ which according to him means feeling good and is born out of sorrow. He defined happiness as a path and a process and not a product. Stating cultural diversity, literacy and good governance to be the indicators of happiness index, he mentioned the key role of a teacher to bring happiness in students with self-esteem and self-acceptance. He also recommended making the school zone as ‘Positive Energy Vibe Zone’ where teachers should have unconditional love, selfless service to generate wealth in terms of knowledge and health.
The second session was dealt at length by Ms. Anuradha Sinha, Education Consultant and Curriculum Designer on Emotional Intelligence (E.I.) who suggested using emotions to create a happy environment. Referring to Bhagwad Gita’s teachings in Goleman’s book on E.I. published in 1995, the speaker cited examples to show the advantages of E.I. in building rapport with children to develop a sense of achievement and self-esteem.
In the plenary session, teachers interacted subject wise in different groups to share their teaching methodologies and strategies. The sharing of ideas helped in the enhancement in teaching learning process. Ms. Jaya Chakraborty from Queen’s College presented her paper on ‘Creating a Foundation of Moral Education’ which dealt with the beauty of forgiveness and integrity into the classroom culture. Ms. Khushboo a aper presented on the topic ‘Teacher’s Engineering in the Classroom’ and explained Johari’s Window. Ms. Kala Mohan addressed on ‘Gratification and Delayed Gratification.’
The concluding session of the first day was conducted by Padamshri Ms. Janak Palta, Director, Jimmy McGilligan, Centre for Sustainable Environmental Development wherein Ms. Palta recommended to make use of library to update knowledge and stressed on ‘Think Globally and Act Locally.’ The mentors were advised to teach boys too on ‘Good Touch and Bad Touch.’
DAY 2
In the first session, Mr. Rajesh Awasthi, Principal, Choithram School, elaborated his views on philosophy of happiness. He emphasized to create an environment for happy learning and to provide the opportunity to students to grow on their own. Differentiating happiness and cheerfulness, he encouraged to inculcate cheerfulness among children. He further explained that teachers as a facilitator, should influence students’ life and not control their life and to be happy one should be free from fear, boredom and confusion.
The second session was conducted by Dr. A. Senthil Kumaran, Chief Confluencer & Co-Founder, who addressed on ‘Try to Rediscover Yourself’, followed by a movie ‘Mawa Cake.’ A video on learning from environment was also witnessed by the educators followed by the introduction of the four mantras for happy classroom:
1. Man – We all are unique and never alone.
2. Material – Develop learning material which is worthwhile.
3. Methods – Apply strategies to settle children
4. Environment – Making learning visible with art work.
The third session witnessed the paper presentation by the following experts:
1. Ms. Inderpal Kaur, Principal, Sanskruti School, Ashok Nagar presented her paper on ‘Happy school makes happy children.’
2. Ms. Jyoti Kamle, Student Psychologist, Bhopal gave presentation on ‘Internet Addiction’