Teaching Unchained | June 2011

In this Issue

EDITORIAL

i Warming Up: Back to School Activities 02

ii De-constructing CCE: Part 1 – Life Skills 03

iii Hole in the Wall: Sugata Mitra 04

iv Whose Child is this? 05

Edward de Bono 06

vi 9 going on 10 at TTF! 09

vii Coming Up at TTF! 11

Dear Teacher

Greetings and welcome to another edition of Teaching Unchained!

It’s the start of another school year and before you know it, you’re caught up with all the action of the academic session. So this is a good time to reflect on the previous year, put down your priorities and list out your targets. Warming Up is a segment which gives you opportunities to connect with your children and form a fond partnership for the months ahead.

The introduction of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) by the CBSE has reinforced the urgency to move away from traditional assessment patterns and look at developing additional skills in children. One aspect of this is Life Skills Education, a relatively unexplored area in Indian education. In Part 1 of a continuing series called De-constructing CCE, we examine the meaning of the term “Life Skills” and understand its main components.

Another dimension of Life Skills is to lay importance on the thought process of the learner and de-emphasize rote memorization. In Know your Gurus, we profile Edward de Bono, the creator of “lateral thinking” and “parallel thinking” which has been used with astounding success from four year old children to renowned companies like IBM, British Airways and Du Pont.

In this issue, we have brought in the concept of “Photocopy Resources” for the teacher to make it convenient and easier to use some of the activity ideas that are featured. We also want to hear from you. Bright Idea and Speak Up are two new forums to enable this endeavour.

Finally, TTF completed nine years this June. Maya Menon, the Founder Director of TTF, shares her thoughts on the impact of TTF and the directions that she sees the Foundation taking in the future.

We look forward to your feedback, suggestions and queries. Do write in to [email protected]

Cheers!

Editor

Volume 9, Issue 2 April–June 2011

2 Teaching Unchained April–June 2011

Come June and it’s that time of the year again when the smell of new books, sparking black shoes and smartly pressed uniforms bring home the fact that it’s the start of another academic session.

So what can we do to channelize the enthusiasm and energy that comes with the onset of new-sprung hopes of teachers and students alike! Here are a set of activities that you can try out in your classroom to set the ball rolling and usher in more cheer for the fresh school year.

Ice BreakersIce Breaking games are always fun to play with your new batch of students. It helps to melt away the initial hesitation that is bound to exist with your children as they try to “figure you out”. It also allows you to set the tone for the days and the months to come.

Play the Adjective Game, where every child introduces himself/herself with an adjective beginning with the same alphabet as their name. Have each child write out his/her adjective name on a card and put it up on the display board.

Another game which children really enjoy is the Birthday Train Game. In this game, every child calls out his/her birthday. When the whole class is done, give children about five minutes where they need to arrange themselves in a train in the order of their birthdays. Follow this up with a Birthday Train chart which can be put up in class.

For the Teacher: Photocopy ResourcePhotocopy and enlarge the picture below. Add wagons for each month of the year with the birthdays of your students. Hang the train in class.

Rules for the ClassAs a Class Teacher, you will want to set down certain ground rules for the children. Children always follow the rules that they frame themselves. So instead of ‘telling’ your children the rules that they are ‘expected’ to obey, have them come with their own.

Give it a unique name such as The Five Pointed Star or Fabulous Five. Children can brainstorm and discuss these rules in groups. This allows children to feel involved in the whole process of discipline and also gain your trust.

My Good Deed for the Day!Teachers wear multiple hats. A large part of our responsibility is to inculcate good values in our children and make them better people. So in a way, every teacher is a Value Education teacher who carries with him/her the onus of making children reflect on their behaviour and attitude.

Most of the time, the school diary is used to write down the assigned homework or to send notes to the parents. Encourage children to write down one good deed that they did for the day in their diary. It will set them thinking on their day and even prompt them to reach out and help others!

Setting Goals and Targets Very often, goal setting gets lost along the way as we get bogged down by deadlines, rush to complete the syllabus and revise for the exams. So it’s not a bad idea to set concise goals at the beginning of the year which are realistic and achievable.

Think about areas which did not go according to plan such as children who required additional help or who exhibited behaviourial concerns. Introspect on what went wrong and how similar issues can be tackled better.

School TriviaEngage your children in some interesting snippets of information about the school. This exercise can be in the form of a game. Each day someone shares something about the school; it could even be as trivial as the school address and telephone number, the motto, the name of the first principal, finding out the complete name of a person with many initials and so on. At the end of the day, this is a great way of sharing information and involving children in the life of the school.

1 Warming Up!Back to School Activities

Teaching Unchained April–June 2011 3

The recent reforms of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation introduced by the CBSE lead to a holistic evaluation of children. The underlying rationale of the new scheme is that assessment should move away from rote memorization dressed up in the form of a single shot examination towards a balance between knowledge, physical fitness, mental agility and the emotional quotient.

These objectives underscore the fact that holistic evaluation cannot come about through external means, if justice has to be done, then it is through internal assessment by the all the teachers in the school. The unveiling of “Life Skills” as a key component to the new form of comprehensive evaluation is a recognition of the essential skills that children need to possess for a futuristic society that is competitive and stressful.

What are Life Skills?

The World Health Organization defines Life Skills as “abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”.

It is now widely accepted at a global level that Life Skills must be taught in schools to prepare and protect children from a variety of challenges such as stress, drug and alcohol abuse as well as to promote their positive development. Life Skills education is a response to the need to reform traditional education systems, which appear to be out of step with the realities of modern social and economic life.

Identification of Life Skills

There are ten Life Skills identified by WHO which have been co-opted by CBSE.

There are ten Life Skills identified by WHO which have beenco-opted by CBSE.

decision-making and problem-solving;

creative thinking and critical thinking;

communication and interpersonal skills;

self-awareness and empathy;

coping with emotions and coping with stress.

Teaching Life Skills

Studies have shown that Life Skills can be assessed for children in the age group of 10 to 18 years. Early adolescence (10 to 14 years) is singled out as a critical moment of opportunity for building skills and positive habits, since at that age children develop their self-image and an ability to think abstractly to solve problems.

The CBSE makes the following recommendations on the teaching of Life Skills:

Life Skills could be taught as an independent discipline in the content areas identified by the Board

It could be integrated as well in the teaching of other

disciplines of learning

Students could be assigned simple studies and projects based on Life Skills

Special lectures could be organized to sensitize the students on Life Skills

Cooperation and participation of parents could be sought in developing right attitudes to life

Facilitating Life Skills

The role of the school in creating the right environment for the dissemination of Life Skills cannot be understated. Life Skills cannot be treated with a one-off, compartmentalized approach by the school community. It is an active and continuous pursuit by every member of the school. Life Skills can be effectively taught if:

teachers and staff should model such behaviour

there is a supportive classroom environment

it is a whole school initiative

there is a child friendly environment

In our next issue, we will look at the assessment component and examine the different methods and techniques used in assessing Life Skills. You can learn more about Life Skills in the CCE Corner of the official CBSE website www.cbse.nic.in

2 De-constructing CCE Part 1 - Life Skills


1999, January 26. My friend, Vivek, built a computer sunk into a wall near my office at that time, in Kalkaji, New Delhi. The screen was visible from the other side of the wall. A touch pad was built into the wall as well. Children came running out of the nearest slum and were at the wall, as though pasted with glue. A few hours later, a visibly surprised Vivek said the children were surfing.

A few days later, the media arrived and this little experiment got the entire world’s attention. I think every newspaper and every TV channel on earth has reported what the media called “The Hole In The Wall”.

But how does this magical computer literacy happen? It took five years, a lot of travel and a lot of money to find out. There were great surprises and great disappointments on the way. But, in the end, Nature’s lessons were simple, direct, and, in retrospect, obvious.

After the heady rush of the Kalkaji experiment, it was time for some scientific introspection. Within six months, the children of the neighbourhood had learned all the mouse operations, could open and close programs, surf the Internet and download games, music and video. When asked they said they had taught themselves. They were describing the computer in their own terms, often coining words to describe what they saw on screen. The hourglass symbol was “damru” (Shiva’s drum), the mouse cursor, “sui” (needle) or “teer” (arrow).

We repeated the experiment twice, once in the city of Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh (Mr. Digvijay Singh, the then Chief Minister, was interested) and once more in a village called Madantusi in Uttar Pradesh. The Madantusi experiment was the first time we got external funding. Dr. Urvashi Sahni, principal of a school in Lucknow and a keen educationist, raised the money from her friends in the USA. Both experiments showed the same results as in Kalkaji. The children seemed to learn to use the computer without any assistance. Language did not seem to matter. Neither did education. Had we stumbled on to something universal about children and computers?

India is a good laboratory for finding out if any child in the world would respond the same way to a hole in the wall computer. We have all the diversity of children that the world has. Economic, social, genetic, cultural, physical. You name it, we have it. India is also a good laboratory for finding out if computers can survive outdoors, built into walls and buildings. We have all the weather conditions the world has. The research design was simple.

We would install computers in 22 locations across India, chosen for their diversity of human and climatic conditions. We would then choose 15 random children as a focus group and measure their progress over 9 months. We would then compare them with other children who do not have exposure to computers and see if we can get to an explanation for the “hole in the wall” effect.

26 locations, with 100 computers standing in remote villages, our field observers began testing. Focus groups were tested for nine months and the results compared with control groups and other frequent users. An estimated 40,000 children use these computers. They have all made themselves computer literate. The average icon test scores stand at 40% in nine months. We have our proof of self-regulated learning. And this time we know that it will happen anywhere in the world, to any child, in any climate.

I decided to call this method, Minimally Invasive Education (MIE). The rest of the world continues to call it The Hole In The Wall. Alas.

3 The Hole in the Wall

Sugata Mitra with a group of children outside Hole in the Wall kiosks


In the meanwhile, the government of India gifted five kiosks to the government of Cambodia. These were the first ones we built outside the country. The Cambodian children were absolutely delighted. There were enormous crowds at every kiosk. The results – identical to those in India.

Usually, new educational technology is piloted in affluent, urban schools. Such schools already have good students and teachers. By piloting new technology in such environments we may conclude that technology is not useful to school education.

It is in remote areas, at the “bottom of the pyramid”, that alternative learning methods may improve the quality of education in schools that are remote from urban centres. The hole in the wall strongly supports that point of view.

Minimally Invasive Education through public internet kiosks for children should, no matter who or where they are, form an integral part of primary education in the 21st century. It has the potential to not only close the “digital divide” rapidly, but also to unlock the creative potential for self-development of children that eminent educationists have sought to do for over a century.

Excerpts from “Hole in the Wall” by Sugata Mitra. Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is also Chief Scientist, Emeritus, at NIIT and since his famous Hole in the Wall experiments has been one of the most invited keynote speakers on education in the world. You can see his talk on the Hole in the Wall at www.ted.com.

WHOSE CHILD

IS THIS?Author Unknown

“Whose child is this?” I asked one daySeeing a little one out at play“Mine”, said the parent with a tender smile“Mine to keep a little whileTo bathe his hands and comb his hairTo tell him what he is to wearTo prepare him that he may always be goodAnd each day do the things he should”

“Whose child is this?” I asked againAs the door opened and someone came in“Mine”, said the teacher with the same tender smile“Mine, to keep just for a little whileTo teach him how to be gentle and kindTo train and direct his dear little mindTo help him live by every ruleAnd get the best he can from school”

“Whose child is this?” I ask once moreJust as the little one entered the door“Ours” said the parent and the teacher as they smiledAnd each took the hand of the little child“Ours to love and train togetherOurs this blessed task forever.”


Edward de Bono

What is it like to be a consultant to international giants such as IBM, Du Pont, Prudential, AT&T and British Airways; to be invited by heads of countries to devise solutions to international conflicts; to lecture at more than 52 countries; to have authored 82 books which have been translated into more than 41 languages? Well, one thing is sure, Edward de Bono is bound to have a really busy schedule!

Edward de Bono is an inventor, a physician and an author who is sought after by schools, multinational corporations, and government think tanks alike. As the creator of “lateral thinking”, de Bono’s theories and books have changed the way we think and forced us to reexamine traditional methods of problem solving.


the students who talk will realize that they are affecting others

Blue Hat (summing up what has been learned)

the teacher understood that there should be time for students to talkstudents realized that just to “have some fun”, they are jeopardizing other people’s learning students learned that speaking whenever you want show a lack of self-discipline and that not everything that goes through our minds is worth sharing

For the Teacher: Photocopy ResourcePhotocopy and enlarge the picture below. Colour it according to the Six Thinking Hats colour code. Stick the coloured hats on flashcards and use it during your session.

Bright Idea!

Team up with the Art Teacher to make coloured hats for Six Thinking Hats sessions. You can use old newspapers, magazine etc using the papier mache technique. Children will enjoy ‘wearing’ their hats during sessions and this will actually help them model the technique.

According to de Bono, thinking is a deliberate activity and people can be trained to think. In this path breaking bool, Six Thinking Hats, he put forward the idea that any problem can be looked at from a variety of angles and thus help all the individuals concerned with it rather than take the conventional ‘either-or’ approach. It thus provides groups with means to think together more effectively and to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way.

De Bono identifies six states in which the brain can be sensitized to think. In each of these states, the brain identifies and brings into focus certain aspects of the issues being considered. The metaphor of colour is used for each state. When discussing a problem, people are encouraged to “wear different hats” and consider the the problem from all angles.

Information (White) - considering purely what information is available and the factsEmotions (Red) - instinctive gut reaction or statements of emotional feeling (but not any justification)Bad points judgment (Black) - logic applied to identifying flaws or barriersGood points judgment (Yellow) - logic applied to identifying benefits, seeking harmonyCreativity (Green) - statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought goesThinking (Blue) - thinking about thinking

The strategy of the Six Thinking Hats can be used by teachers to effectively deal with classroom issues and improve student thinking. For example, a common problem that all teachers face is students talking while the lesson is being taught. Orient children to the Six Think Hats and discuss the problem.

Problem Talking in class when the lesson is going on

White Hat (state the facts)students are talking when lesson is going onother students are getting distractedstudents do not what to do after the lesson has been taughtstudents get confused and do not follow instructions

Red Hat (emotions)teacher gets irritatedother children get annoyed/confusedchildren who are talking enjoy themselves

Black Hat (negative aspects)time is wastedtension as the teacher gets angrylearning time is compromised

Yellow Hat (good aspects)it is fun to talk when the teacher is teachingsometimes students who don’t get to speak/afraid to speak do so when the teacher is teaching

Green Hat (creative aspects)the teacher can realize that students need time to talk


About Edward de BonoEdward de Bono was born on 19 May 1933 in Malta. He studied at St Edward’s College in Malta and gained a medical degree from the University of Malta. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Christ Church, Oxford where he gained an M.A. degree in psychology and physiology whilst being a keen sportsman; rowing and playing polo for Oxford. He also has a Ph.D. degree and a D.Phil. degree in Medicine from Cambridge University, a D.Des. degree (Doctor of Design) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and an LL.D. degree from the University of Dundee.

Read what de Bono has to say about thinking as a skill and setting up a Thinking Club.

There are tennis courts for tennis, golf courses for golf and ski slopes for skiing. If thinking really is a skill where do we get to practice it? There are puzzles, crossword puzzles, detective stories and board games but these only cover a tiny part of thinking. Many people who are good thinkers and who enjoy thinking do not like solving puzzles or playing games – they prefer thinking that is broad and effective and has more to do with wisdom that with cleverness. We are forced to use our thinking when buying a house or changing a job. It would not be much good if we only practiced swimming when we were about to drown.

Thinking only when we are forced to provides neither practice nor enjoyment. Thinking becomes like medicine: something we only use when we are in trouble. A thinking club is a place for the practice and enjoyment of thinking as a skill. There are no right answers to be reached and no tests.

A thinking club is for those who want to enjoy thinking and for those who want to develop their skill at thinking. Thinking is no different from any other skill or hobby – if you want to get enjoyment from it you need to put in some effort. Walking along the road will not make you a better tennis player or a better skier. You need deliberate practice in a place that is set up for it.


Looking back I feel somehow 2002 fast-forwarded to 2011! Makes me pause and wonder, how did the years fly by so quickly? And is TTF as relevant today as it was 9 years ago ?

We began almost at the beginning of a new century and now we are into the second decade of this millenium. Much has changed in the school education space in India and yet paradoxically little has changed !

TTF at 2002: The journey begins...

Maya Menon


So what’s changed ? Flashback ! Schools a decade ago – used to be secure, trusting places. Now they are more guarded, less open with each other – and perhaps justifiably so! With the mushrooming of schools, they have got competitive with each other. They have borne the brunt of teacher and student turnover and that hasn’t laid the right foundation for friendly partnerships with other schools.

Yes, I do feel a tinge of nostalgia about schools back in 2002 – working at an easier pace, quite comfortable allowing their teachers to mingle with teachers from other schools in sustained training sessions and workshops. There was so much sharing, learning and growing. Fast forward to 2011, most city schools are suspicious of schools poaching their teachers. So they feel better about investing more on technology rather than teaching quality. Technology serves the external trappings that project a progressive image, without having to do any internal soul-searching and churn to evolve as authentic contemporary institutions of learning.So what role does TTF play amidst this tension? We are there right in the middle of it, attempting to manage it and leverage it for fresh impetus and growth. T.S Eliot’s lines from The Four Quartets

automatically comes to mind.

“What we call the beginning is often the endAnd to make an end is to make a beginning.The end is where we start from.….Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,Every poem an epitaph.……We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time”

(Note: ‘End’ means both ‘finish’ and ‘goal’)

TTF’s aim is to energise, and enable educators and to that end we will continue to explore and strive towards into our 10th year ….

TTF today: The years have passed and the enthusiasm continues


11 July

English EncountersAn intensive 60 hour language programme designed to enhance fluency in English among practicing teachers.Fee: Rs. 3500

27 & 28 July

If you can’t say it, you can’t write it!A two day course by Gina Menon for primary teachers who want to enable their students to write fluently. Fee Rs. 2000

6 & 7 August

Essential Pieces: The Jigsaw of a Successful SchoolA two day workshop for young, energetic leaders of schools. The workshop explores the essential components of a successful school and provides inputs for the 4Cs – Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and CelebrationFee: Rs. 2000

1, 2 & 3 September

Get Comfortable with CCEA three day workshop designed to deconstruct the meaning of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation introduced by the CBSE and equip teachers with the required skills to assess students in a holistic manner.Fee: Rs. 2500

30 September & 1 October

Subject Enrichment for Mathematics, Science and Social Studies TeachersTwo day subject modules to stimulate teachers and provide new skills to improve delivery in the classroom.Fee: Rs. 1500

15 October

Talk Now: Enhancing Speaking Skills of LearnersA one day workshop for primary teachers aimed to developing speaking skills in students. Fee: Rs. 1500

For more details, please contact Meera Jayamohan Email: [email protected]: (080) 41231140, 41131930 Mobile: (91) (0) 72596-91293

Bright Idea! allows you to share tips and strategies that can be used by other teachers to facilitate better learning. Write in to [email protected]. We will post them on our Facebook page and feature them in our newsmagazine.

Speak Up! is a platform where you can raise critical questions, share opinions and discuss common issues that touch all of us at school. Write in with your comments and queries to [email protected]

In this edition, we ask:What are some of the challenges that you are facing in implementing the CBSE Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation in your school?


#1/24, Hanumanthappa LayputOff Ulsoor Road, Bangalore 560042

+91-80-41231149, 4113 1930

Email: [email protected]

TU Editor: Indira Subramanian

Membership of The Teacher Foundation entitles schools and individual teachers to several benefits right through the year (including vacation time):

Free membership to The TNet - The Teacher Network

Use of computer and internet facilities (10.00am - 6.00pm) on all days (Mondays to Saturdays).

Use of Reference books, periodicals, journals on education at the foundation.

Free quarterly teachers’ news magazine - Teaching Unchained, to communicate examples of educational practices in our country, what’s latest on the international education front, showcase origi-nal research done by educators and novel classroom experiences of teachers.

10% discount on all Storehouse items, books and resources.

20% discount on general workshops, seminars and conferences.

Free participation at ‘Afternoons with TTF’ - the talks, guest lectures, discussions and video-viewings on a variety of educational issues.

EVERY TEACHER MORE ENABLED; MORE INSPIRED

Teaching Unchained | June 2011

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Transcript of Teaching Unchained | June 2011