The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Quality education still elusive

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Quality education still elusive

A note on teacher's day....

The mediocre teacher tells,
The good teacher explains,
The superior teacher demonstrates,
but....The Great Teacher Inspires....


"Happy Teacher's Day" 

Anna's Movement and Students

Anna...Anna...Anna

some says he is Gandhi of 21st century some shows disrespect and questions his credibility. some support his movement on the other hand some criticise him too..... so what exactly is Anna and his movement? but the truth remains that it is the only mass movement witnessed by our generation. the only non-political movement that has gained such a huge public support.Usually students and educated mass don't want to get involved in such movement but it is happening for the first time(as far as i know) that students and educated middle class is supporting any movement with such a great enthusiasm. One of my friends has quoted on facebook that the people who are gathering to support Anna are just like any other political crowd that is brought on the power of money and other favours and they allege that the people supporting Anna don't know anything about Jan Lokpal bill... we cant completely deny this fact that some may be but today most of the people know the highlights of Jan Lokpal. even my students knows it well... not just in delhi but protest against curruption has spread to the whole country and even in a small town like Lalkuan students are participating in candle march.... they talk about Lokpal and most importantly for the first time in so many years of my teaching experience students are actually interested in what is happening in the country...they want to know about Lokpal....so its a high time that we can do something for the betterment of our Nation, society and our future because this is not going to happen again.... its Now or Never

HOW TO USE YOUR VOICE AS AN EFFECTIVE TEACHING TOOL?

One of the most effective tools you have as a teacher is your voice. Think back to your favorite school teachers – what was it about them that won your heart? Chances are, they knew how to catch your attention, make the subject interesting and inspire you to learn. You can do the same for your students, too. Start each day with a cheerful greeting or a bit of news or trivia that will grab their attention. Why not ask them a thought-provoking question to wake up their brains? What you communicate to your class early on sets the tone for the day ahead.
There are many ways you can use your voice as an effective teaching tool. Consider the following:- 

Expression -In the classroom, what you say and how you say it is important. Use an expressive, sincere voice to encourage a student that struggles with new concepts. Quietly affirm someone who has little support or encouragement at home. When the class (or a student) is overly-excited, a calm, steady voice can help diffuse the situation.
Express pride in children and groups when they are cooperative and helpful. When special events are on the schedule, share your anticipation through the tone of your voice. Your facial expressions, tone of voice and pitch automatically come into play as you speak. Be expressive as you teach and never hesitate to inject true emotion into your voice. This helps the children learn to be expressive, too.

Volume -There’s just something about a whisper young children can’t ignore! It signals intrigue, mystery, secrets and more. Place a finger to your lips to signal for quiet, and then speak in a whisper to introduce the next activity. Whisper, “I’ve got a brand new story you’ll love. Let’s tiptoe over and find our places very quietly.” Be sure to vary the circumstance and occasions for using whispers. If you whisper every story time, it will soon lose its appeal and intrigue.
The rise and fall of volume helps maintain interest for all students and can be especially effective for older children. During a history lesson, quote a couple characters, using different voices and volumes to peak interest. When posing class questions, making announcements and giving assignments, a bit louder volume is in order. You want everyone to hear you clearly. On the other hand, yelling is never in order! It shows the teacher has lost control of the situation and also feeds the frenzy you are trying to dispel.

Inflection -The dictionary defines inflection as “any change in tone or pitch of the voice … a modulation to signal a question by a rising inflection.” Inflection of the voice adds interest to what you say and can actually change the meaning of what you say.
For instance, consider the word “really.” In a flat monotone, the word sounds like dull and robotic. With a slight inflection, the word takes on real meaning. For instance, when the rise in pitch comes at the end of the word, it asks the question, “Really?” With a higher pitch at the beginning of the word and a drop at the end of the word, one affirms the question with Really!”

Most of us use inflection without even thinking about it. It’s one of those skills we learned as a child by listening and imitating the way those around us spoke.
Inflection is also one of the most effective tools you’ll use as a teacher. Variation of tone and pitch is a vital part of the communication process, and without it, what we say can be misunderstood. For instance, the following sentence without inflection (in a flat monotone with no change of pitch) actually means the opposite of what it states:
“I am so excited about your good grades. ”

Would your child actually believe you were happy and pleased excited if you said those words in a monotone voice? Now try the same sentence with inflection – the way you would normally say it if you saw straight A’s on a report card. “I am so excited about your good grades!” Say it again a couple times and notice the natural inflection in your voice.

As a teacher, you have the ability to change the atmosphere in your room with your voice. A whisper is an unexpected change in volume level that will catch students’ attention – and hold it – for brief periods of time. Using a monotone voice will certainly do the same!
Inflection, however, is the one tool you must wield daily to keep your classes interesting. If you’re reading aloud, explaining a new concept, sharing information or making announcements, inflection helps maintain interest in what you are saying.

The human voice is truly an amazing gift. Every time you stand before your students and speak, 15 parts of your body are actively working! The generators of sound include your lungs, rib cage, diaphragm and related muscles. As they move air upwards in the chest, the vibrators of sound – the larynx and vocal cords – begin to quiver.

The resonators of sound are the oral mouth, throat and nasal cavity. These determine the quality of your speech. Finally, the articulators of sound are the jaw, lips, teeth, gum ridge, hard and soft palates and the tongue. These work to help you pronounce words distinctly. And you thought all you had to do was open your mouth and teach!

Remember, the ability to speak and teach is truly a gift. By using your voice as an effective teaching tool, you can impress the hearts and lives of your students. Who knows? You may be the one favorite teacher they’ll remember for years to come!

What is the best method of teaching to use?

One of the first things a teacher must do when considering how to teach students is to acknowledge that each student does not learn in the same way. This means that if the teacher chooses just one style of teaching (direct instruction, collaborative learning, inquiry learning, etc.), the students will not be maximizing their learning potential. Obviously, a teacher can not reach every student on the same level during one lesson, but implementing a variety of learning styles throughout the course allows all the students will have the chance to learn in at least one way that matches their learning style.

Much of the material used to educate students at grade levels beyond primary school is largely text and lecture based, which have significant limitations. While reading is a very important learning mode, not all students learn effectively from reading. Some students respond better to visual and audio stimuli of lecture but often get lost in the material or lose interest in the presentation. In this type of a learning environment, students have limited opportunity to ask questions or may be uncomfortable asking a question in front of the class. It is well known that many questions go unasked.

How do students learn best?

Before we answer this question, ask yourself, "How do I learn best?" For example, do you learn better when someone tells you exactly how to do something, or do you learn better by doing it yourself? Many people are right in the middle of those two scenarios. This has led many educators to believe that the best way to learn is by having students construct their own knowledge instead of having someone construct it for them. This belief is explained by the Constructivist Learning Theory. This theory states that learning is an active process of creating meaning from different experiences. In other words, students will learn best by by trying to make sense of something on their own with the teacher as a guide to help them along the way.

Since all sensory input is organized by the person receiving the stimuli, it cannot always be directly transferred from the teacher to the student. This means that a teacher cannot "pour" information into a student's brain and always expect them to process it and apply it correctly later. For example, think of a time when you were taught something in a lecture-type class. Then contrast that against a time when you had to prepare to teach someone else something. You will probably agree that you learned the material better when you were preparing to teach the material. This is because you constructed the knowledge for yourself.

Below is a list of different methods of learning. The percentages listed represent the average amount of information that is retained through that particular learning method. Note what method produces the highest retention rate.

1. Lecture = 5%
2. Reading = 10%
3. Audiovisual = 20%
4. Demonstration = 30%
5. Discussion Group = 50%
6. Practice by doing = 75%
7. Teach others / immediate use of learning = 90%

It should also be recognized that a person's prior knowledge may help or hurt the construction of meaning. People's prior knowledge comes from their past experiences, culture, and their environment. Generally prior knowledge is good, but sometimes misconceptions and wrong information can be a hindrance. Sometimes time must be spent correcting prior knowledge before new learning can occur.

Suggestions for Teaching with the Constructivist Learning Theory

• Encourage and accept student autonomy and initiative.
• Try to use raw data and primary sources, in addition to manipulative, interactive, and physical materials.
• When assigning tasks to the students, use cognitive terminology such as "classify," "analyze," "predict," and "create."
• Build off and use student responses when making "on-the-spot" decisions about teacher behaviors, instructional strategies, activities, and content to be taught.
• Search out students' understanding and prior experiences about a concept before teaching it to them.
• Encourage communication between the teacher and the students and also between the students.
• Encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, open-ended questions, and encourage them to ask questions to each other.
• Ask follow up questions and seek elaboration after a student's initial response.
• Put students in situations that might challenge their previous conceptions and that will create contradictions that will encourage discussion.
• Make sure to wait long enough after posing a question so that the students have time to think about their answers and be able to respond thoughtfully.
• Provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new.

"Recommendations of Yashpal Committee"

We have come to the conclusion that the problem of the load on school children does not arise only from over-enthusiastic curriculum designers, or poorly equipped teachers, or school administrators, or book publishers, or district, state or central educational authorities. Yes, what all these groups, agencies and administrators do can exacerbate or alleviate the problem. But, there is a deeper malaise in our society, which impacts our young children. If we continue to value a few elite qualifications far more than real competence for doing useful things in life, and if the economic distance, between those who can manage to cross some academic hurdles and those who can't, continues to widen, we will probably continue to spend our effort in designing hurdles instead of opportunities for children to learn with joy. As the body of the Report analyses, a major problem is connected with the notions of 'knowledge explosion' and the' catching up' syndrome. We believe that these problems cannot be fully addressed through easily manageable administrative actions. They need wider discussions because they are centrally connected with images of our civilization self-esteem and societal goals. Such a wide discussion can come about through publication of this Report, and through a set of seminars, meetings and media discussions. Academics, thinkers, need to pour over this basic problem.
The question of medium of instruction, particularly in early life, will not be fully resolved till the time our dominant and externally connected sections of society continue to give more importance to elementary graces in a foreign language, than to intimate connections with the 'vernacular' knowledge which our children gain during every week of their growing up before they go to school. It is because of this reason that we have restrained ourselves from repeating the recommendation that mother tongue alone should be the medium of instruction at the primary stage.

1. A number of organizations and departments organize competitions at district, state and national level for students in various fields such as school subjects, exhibitions, essay writing, elocution, etc. Perhaps the spirit behind these activities is to recognize and reward the talent in diverse fields. But, unfortunately this tends to produce somewhat unhealthy singling out of people for their brief moment of glory. Competitions where individual achievement is rewarded need to be discouraged since they deprive children of joyful learning. However, group activities and group achievements must be encouraged and rewarded to give a boost to cooperative learning in schools.

2. (a) The process of curriculum-framing and preparation of textbooks of decentralized so as to increase teachers' involvement in these tasks. Decentralization should mean greater autonomy, within state- level apparatus, to district-level boards or other relevant authority, and to heads of schools and classroom teachers to develop curricular materials on their own, best suited to the needs of local environment. All the schools be encouraged to innovate in all aspects of curriculum, including choice of textbooks and other materials.

(b) Voluntary organizations with a specific commitment to pedagogical innovations within the formal or non-formal system be provided greater freedom and support in development of curriculum, textbooks and teacher training. A suitable and adequate mechanism be evolved for wider dissemination of the experiences of such organizations.

(c) We endorse the idea of setting up education committees at village, block and district level to undertake planning and supervision of schools under their jurisdiction.

(d) Sufficient contingency amount (not less than 10 per cent of the total salary bill of the school) be placed at the disposal of heads of schools for purchase, repair and replacement of pedagogical equipment.

3. The culture of writing textbooks be changed so as to involve a much large number of teachers in the preparation of textbooks. The scientists and experts in various disciplines may be associated with the preparation of textbooks as consultants and not as writers of the books. Initiative in this regard should rest with groups of enlightened and innovative teachers who should be provided training in book writing.

4. At least three parallel systems of school education (syllabus, textbooks and examination) are running concurrently in different states. In each state majority of schools are affiliated to the State Board of Education while a few are affiliated to either CBSE or Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE). The schools affiliated to CBSE in the states other than Delhi enjoy the prestige of being elite schools. The CBSE curriculum becomes a trend-setter for the State Boards leading to heavier curriculum for majority of children. Therefore, the committee recommends that jurisdiction of CBSE be restricted to Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas and all other schools be affiliated to the respective State Boards.

5. (a) Appropriate legislative and administrative measures be adopted to regulate the opening and functioning of early childhood education institutions (pre-schools). Norms regarding accommodation, staff, apparatuses, play material be laid down for the recognition of these schools. It should be ensured that these institutions do not perpetrate violence on young children by inflicting a heavy dose of 'over-education' in the form of formal teaching of Reading, Writing and Numbers. The practice of holding tests and interviews for admission to nursery class be abolished.

(b) Norms for granting recognition to private schools be made more stringent. This will prove conducive for improving the quality of learning on the one hand and arrest growing commercialization on the other. The norms, thus developed, be made uniformly applicable to all schools including the state-run institutions.

6. There is no jurisdiction for torturing the young children by compelling them to carry very heavy bags of books everyday to schools. Textbooks should be treated as school property and thus, there should be no need for children to purchase the books individually and carry them daily to homes. A separate time-table for the assignment of home work and for the use of textbooks and notebooks be prepared by the school and be made known to the children in advance.

7. The nature and character of homework needs a radical change. In the primary classes, children should not be given by homework, save for extension of explorations in the home environment. In the upper primary and secondary classes, homework, where necessary, should be non-textual, and textbooks, when needed for work at home should be made available on a rotation basis.

8. The existing norm for teacher-pupil ratio (i.e. 1:40) should be enforced and all attempt should be made to reduce this to 1:30, at least in the primary classes, as a basis for future educational planning.

9. Greater use of the electronic media be made for the creation of a child-centered social ethos in the country. A regular television programme addressed to students, teachers and parents and possibly called 'Shiksha Darshan' be launched, along the lines of the 'Krishi Darshan' programme.

10.(a) Inadequate programme of teacher preparation leads to unsatisfactory quality of learning in schools. The B.Ed. programme should offer the possibility of specialization in secondary or elementary or nursery education. The duration of the programme should either be one year after graduation or three-four years after higher secondary. The content of the programme should be restructured to ensure its relevance to the changing needs of school education and to make it more practicum-centred. The emphasis in these programmes should be on enabling the trainees to acquire the ability for self learning and independent thinking. Pre-service teacher education programme, being a professional course, has to be a rigorous, thorough and intensive programme. Therefore, B.Ed. degree courses by correspondence be derecognised.

(b) The continuing education of teachers must be institutionalised. The organisation of inservice education programmes and other activities aimed at professional growth of teachers be systematically designed and conducted imaginatively.

11. The public examinations taken at the end of Class X and XII be reviewed with a view to ensure replacement of thew prevailing text- based and 'quiz type' questioning by the concept-based questioning. This single reform is sufficient to improve the quality of learning and save the children from the tyranny of memorisation.

12. (a) A project team with a number of sub-groups be set up in each state to examine the syllabi and textbooks for all school classes. The sub-groups be required to decide the following:
i) The minimum number of topics required to be taught.
ii) The minimum number of concepts to be introduced within each topic.
iii) The total time needed for teaching this minimum number of concepts comfortably by a teacher in the total working days realistically available in a year.

(b) Mathematics curriculum for primary classes in all parts of the country be reviewed with a view to slowing down the pace at which children are required to learn basic mathematical, concepts, and broadening the scope of primary mathematics to include areas other than number work (e.g. space and shape-related concepts and problem solving). The tendency embedded in the syllabi and textbooks of primary mathematics to accelerate children's mathematical skills by teaching them mechanical rules at the expense of understanding and intelligent application ought to be discouraged in future syllabi and texts.

(c) Language textbooks should adequately reflect the spoken idiom. An attempt should be made in future textbooks to give adequate representation to children's life experiences, imaginary stories and poems, and stories reflecting the lives of ordinary people in different parts of the country. Pedantic language and excessive didacticism ought to be avoided.

(d) Science syllabi and textbooks in the primary classes should provide greater room and necessity for experimentation than they do at present. In place of didacticism in areas like health and sanitation, the texts should emphasize analytical reflection on real-life situations. A great deal of trivial materials included in primary- level science texts should be dropped.

(e) The syllabi of natural sciences throughout the secondary and senior secondary classes be revised in a manner so as to ensure that most of the topics included are actively linked to experiments or activities that can be performed by children and teachers.

(f) Besides imparting knowledge of history and geography, the social sciences curriculum for Classes VI-VIII and IX-X should convey the philosophy and methodology of the functions of our socio-political and economic system enable the students to analyse, understand and reflect on the problems and the priorities of socioeconomic development. The repetitions nature of history syllabus should be changed. The history of ancient times should be introduced for systematic study in secondary classes OX and X). The history syllabus lot classes VI-VIII should focus on the freedom struggle and post-independence developments. The civics, as it is taught today, puts a great load on children's capacity to memorise Therefore, it may be dropped in its present form and be replaced by contemporary studies'. The study of geography be related to contemporary reality.

The Hindu : Education : Revamp of teacher education mooted

The Hindu : Education : Revamp of teacher education mooted