Resource person – Ms. Shayda Rana
The workshop began with the recapitulation of previous session, Ms. Shayda again focused on the two key words – KNOW and DO.
KNOW à KNOWLEDGE à CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING
Know means Knowledge, Knowledge of conceptual understanding by the teacher of what concepts she has to take.
DO à SKILL à PROCEDURAL ABILITY
Do means the skill which the teacher wants to develops in her students through the concepts she has chosen.
She then interpret ate and deliver it to her pupil. In classroom the teacher is transacting her knowledge to the students.
How does learning take place?
Humans in their process of learning make various patterns and then make relationship between them to remember and understand. The first pattern humans encounter in their life is the music (The divine music which they carry within them). It is the beat of their heart. If we listen to our heartbeat we will find that there has a pattern (rhythm) which is followed.
Ms Shayda then talks about the place where the teacher works i.e...CLASSROOM. Classroom is made up of four walls. It is like a box, but it is very important for each and every teacher to think out of the box. There is a talking wall in that box where the teacher stands and delivers. It has life in it.
Ms. Shayda inspired all the teachers to consider this box not as a classroom but to think it as an experimental field where continuous research takes place. Finding more innovative ideas and dealing with the differences and problems encountered while teaching learning process.
Ms. Shayda related teaching with the research but the only difference is that teachers do not document their work. Thus she inspired all the teachers to pen down their experiences and work upon to make a written document for assisting the new teachers to guide and enrich them. She emphasized on to connect learning with the real life situation.
What the teachers have to do is prescribed in the textbook. Textbook are the key to the syllabus to be covered in a particular class. Thus a teacher must identify and recognize the concepts included in the chapters given in the textbooks.
The three main problems faced by the teachers are completion of syllabus, time constrain and strength of the class.
We as teachers focus only on the syllabus (content). We only assess the content we seldom focus on the ability of the learning of the students. The questions asked by the teacher are only the recall of the lesson. We only deal with the remembering and understanding but we seldom take the applying, analysis and creativity part. The thing which needs to be developed is the art of studying the lesson.
Before planning, a teacher must study the lesson to be taught. She needs to identify the concepts included in the chapter and relate it to real life situations.
Why all the concepts must be related to the real life situation? It is necessary because learning is defined as the ability to do. Until and unless the child does thing himself he cannot learn.
Thus teacher not only have to be a teacher but needs to become a SMART teacher.
S->Specific, M->Measurable, A->Achievable, R->Realistic, T->Tangible
What is important is KSA. K->Knowledge, S->Skill, A->Attitude.
Participants were told about:
What is meant by concept map? It is a knowledge organizer in the form of a map which describes concepts. It also represents relationship between concepts and sub concepts.
Purpose of concept mapping: Identify concepts being taught and to know gaps and linkages of concepts.
How will it help? It will build conceptual understanding. It is an important tool for teaching learning and evaluating. It makes learning meaningful by bridging the gap between previous and new knowledge.
After this participants were told to do mind mapping. It can be of two types 1. Subject level and 2. Topic level. First individual planning was done in a descriptive pattern by the participants who were taking same class. Hierarchy pattern was made by the participants taking different classes but same subject.
After finding the similarities and differences in individual maps participants were told to prepare a common subject level concept map.
DAY 2:
In the beginning subject level concept maps made on the previous day were discussed.
Englishà It must be divided into four parts: Prose, Poetry, Grammar and vocabulary. Prose can be divided into fictional story, factual, dialogue form, mythological and autobiography. Fictional further can be sub divided into stories based on moral, scientific, theme based, fairy tale and drama or dialogue form.
Vocabulary must include the sight words related to chapter. Teacher must do the model reading for the children. While reading voice modulation, intonation, pause, emotion of the character must be kept in mind. After reading a paragraph, questions can be asked as to evaluate how much the children have comprehended. Related grammar portion can also be taken and for vocabulary meaning of the word, words with same meaning or words with same sound (rhyming words) can be asked.
Life skill integrated questions must be asked from the children as how you have managed the situation, what would have you done or how would you have behaved/reacted.
Life skill integrated in the concept or activities can be divided into 3:
1 Thinkingà Problem solvingà Critical thinkingà Creativity/Decision making
2 Socialà Communication skillà Team skillà Inter personal relationshipàConflict negotiation
3 Emotionalà Self awarenessà Managing angerà Managing stressà Managing empathy
Mathematics:
In class I all the preschool concepts must be revised. Sorting is the first skill that the child learns after this he compares the things(big/small), he then start seriating the things according to its size and make different patterns with objects available (sequencing). Then comes the spatial understanding (in/out, up/down, near/far).
After revising the pre number concepts the teacher should introduce the numbers, concept of zero and concept of ten must be given with the help of concrete objects.
EVS: Inter related topics can be clubbed together to save time.
Ms. Shayda emphasized that concept map should be self explanatory.
After discussing the subject concept map, participants were given a hand out to create a concept map for a particular lesson with the heading: concept identified, activities used, skill developed, life skill integrated in the concept, learning outcomes and formative assessment tools. Hand out of Bloom’s taxonomy was also given to teachers for the reference.
The workshop was ended with the quote: Children are not empty vessels; they are the lamps to be lit.
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