March 2011

Volume 5, Issue 3 Inspiring Teachers

Driving educational change through excellence in teaching

TheProfessor.in – launched
It’s a pleasure to announce
that the services related to
colleges have been launched
This month: under the new name and
When teachers website – TheProfessor.in -
promote active
pedagogy – to bring focus to this
Binay segment. New features like
Pattanayak..….2
ask the expert, faculty of the
Book Review- month are added.
Sushma Bhalkikar
…………….. ..3 We are eagerly looking for
feedback on the site and
services.
The newsletter has an article
and book review by new
contributors –Binay Pattanayak We sincerely hope more
from UNICEF and Sushma
Bhalkikar from GMR
Varalakshmi Foundation.
Two more books on active
pedagogy in STEM disciplines
have been mentioned as
part of a discussion between
Ohio State University and
India.
authors will be motivated to
send articles.
Our regular fare of links and
humour continues. So have
a good read!

Book Group on Reflecting on the first quarter Careers with TheProfessor.in

Scientific
Teaching…….6 1. Experienced faculty in
• 10000 Women Entrepreneurs is a
Interesting links …4 certificate program sponsored by Goldman professional colleges as trainers

Sachs and delivered in India by ISB. A for our programs. Should be well

three-month course that concluded on Jan versed with subject, internet and

11th, was attended by Dr Uma. The concept MS Office.

and business plan of Teacher’s Academy 2. Marketing professionals

won the best plan award too. experienced in education domain

• Office space has been taken in Somajiguda, for business development.

Hyderabad and there are career 3. Internet savvy with good language

opportunities (see box). skills for Executive Assistant. Will

• Addressed first year students and faculty at be responsible for administration

Aditya Institute of Technology and and documentation.

Management, Tekkali, 28th Feb Interested may read the website and

• Addressed students at SVGroup of send profile along with 200 words on

Institutions, at Chevella – 19th Feb why they want to join TheProfessor.

To info@inspiring-teachers.com
 Inspiring Teachers Page 2 of 6

When teachers promote active pedagogy

The Right of Children to learn and advocates connection, we do not have
teaching learning processes many examples where
Free and Compulsory
that are based on the child’s teachers have taken a lead to
Education Act emphasises on
previous learning design appropriate strategies
the importance of child
experiences, learning for their children. Here is an
friendly and child centred
interests, learning styles example that clearly indicates
processes in and around
and learning processes. The how concerned teachers have
schools to make RTE a reality
concerned teacher/s has an attempted to put their ideas
of every child. In this context
important role to and learning into practice to
it refers to the
understand these and address the needs of every
recommendations of National
design appropriate child they work with.
Curriculum Framework,
strategies for every child in
2005 which recognises every
the school. In this
child’s unique potential to
Binay Pattanayak - Education Specialist, UNICEF, New Delhi
Binay has been working bring change in their own learning-centred approach.
for 23 years for children, In this context, the story of
their basic rights, schools and materials, and to They realized that children
the development of Active
Quality in school themselves create and show a generally learn much more
education through child- Schools in Latur district of
friendly schools & better model that could through ‘activities’, and began
Maharashtra stands out as a
systems, Right to convince their authorities. to design learning experiences
Education Act, Multi rare and inspiring example
Lingual Education, They began to experiment with which allowed children to
of bottom-up change in
Community based different ways of approaching actively participate in and
School Management, education. This was not a
and Teacher Education the existing curriculum, enjoy the learning process,
programme designed by
Prior to UNICEF, he textbooks, pedagogy and based on their daily
worked for the Sarva experts at the top and
Shiksha Abhiyan as learning assessment system. experiences and interests.
obediently executed by
Chief Consultant They began to discuss and They began to adapt and
(Pedagogy) on behalf teachers. This model arose
the Technical Support conceptualize a new system of enrich the existing state
organically, when in 1998 a
Group (SSA - MHRD) at pedagogy for their schools in materials as per their needs
national level. He small team of interested
provided technical the form of a pilot project that and dreams, and went several
teachers from Latur got a
support to Ministry and centred on improving the steps ahead by designing
States, for nearly a chance to visit various
decade, in the area of teaching learning processes. more systematically graded
innovative educational
quality improvement in self-learning cards, learning
SSA & DPEP, Teacher experiments in different Gradually, through their
Education, RTE, MLE guides, learning assessment
parts of India. Inspired by sustained efforts and growing
and Child friendly papers and other guide books
Schools. He was the innovative learner- confidence, these teachers
for better classroom
actively involved in the centred classrooms that they were able to bring about a shift
large scale Learning transaction.
saw, these teachers started from the traditional teacher-
Enhancement
Programmes in States. dreaming how they could centred classrooms to a Continued on page 4
 Page 3 of 6
Book Review – Sushma Bhalkikar, GMR Varalakshmi Foundation
I have a friend whose 24/7
mission is to see that her 11
year old son gets cent
percent marks in all
subjects, plays all sports
viz., football, volleyball,
cricket, get accolades for
participating in dramatics,
debating, elocution etc.
She has been thinking of
putting him into coaching
classes for cricket and chess
in addition to his tuitions. I
gifted her copy of “Don’t
Sprint the Marathon” by Dr
V Raghunathan. And now
she’s re-thinking!‘I took the
statement “Athletes forcing
their pace unnaturally
through long runs are
known to have cardiac
arrests mid course. It’s the
same with kids who are
driven to run a sprint
under acute pressure from
parents for performance”,
seriously’, she says.
Is life a race? “Well, it
needn’t be. Ideally , it
shouldn’t be and isn’t. But
then to treat life not as a
race but a wonderful day
out on an adventure trek,
though idealistically
compelling, is unlikely to
cut ice with most parents,
particularly in India where
Inspiring Teachers
competition among children a good career. But children
in practically any sphere of need time to play and indulge
life tends to be intense”, says themselves in activities where
Dr Raghunathan. So, they can purely have fun, which
considering that life is a race, don’t necessarily have to be
is it realistic that humans can played in a competitive spirit to
run it at the speed of a win or lose. They need time to
sprint? Shouldn’t we explore the world and discover
prepare our children to run a themselves as there is more to
Caption describing picture
marathon than a sprint? life than getting a good rank, or graphic.
Should we not try to winning a medal, having
optimize life rather than excellent career et al.
maximize on ‘speed’? While
It is in this scenario that This is a good read for
we channel all energy in
DrRaghunathan’s book “Don’t
all because of its simple
developing their academic style of writing yet the
Sprint the Marathon” comes as
performance and
depth of addressing
an enlightening experience, for critical aspects in terms
performance in formal sports
parents, for teachers and those of learning, instilling
and hobbies, how many
interested in education! It values, parenting,
parents are thinking of schooling etc. In the
makes for easy reading and is
making their children race of life, personal or
absolutely apt in the current professional, it is
holistic, well balanced, well
context as it talks about important to understand
socialized and good human
parenting and instilling good and realize the
beings and citizens? importance of long term
values in children rather than
goals and look at the
It’s true that most of us want putting them through so much larger picture than work
our children to excel in pressure to perform at for short term gains
studies and are willing to unrealistically high standards. which may not be
sustainable. It is
send them to the best “Competing with self is
imperative and crucial to
schools, put them through a synonymous with striving for prepare our children to
number of tutorials etc. In excellence”, says Dr run the race of life as a
the process, consciously or Raghunathan. “Marathon” also marathon rather than a
subconsciously, we are talks about developing the
sprint. And if you would
like to know how to do
pushing them without really ability of an individual to handle
that, just go to a nearby
trying to assess their failures and to learn from them. bookstore and buy a
capabilities and interests. Everyone likes to be successful, copy of “Don’t Sprint
The intention is definitely but as parents, we seldom teach the Marathon”!
not to undermine the our children to handle failures.
importance of education and Continued on page 5
 Inspiring Teachers Page 4 of 6

When teachers promote active pedagogy – Cont’d

A look at the daily becomes a facilitator, Improved learning
activities in the school clarifying doubts, helping performances of students
reveals a very inspiring with the hard spots and of Active Schools
learning environment. providing direct and convinced educational
Right from cleaning the indirect inputs. Children authorities to apply the
campus, keeping the develop scrap books from pedagogical principles of
Picture Caption Contest garden green and locally available material, these schools in other
organizing the classroom engage in self-learning schools. After a year of
to attending a very eclectic and learn also from toys, experimenting in these
Send a funny but
morning assembly that their environment and initial 15 schools, the
intelligent caption for
the above picture before includes prayer and from books other than project was expanded to a
15th March to pledge, songs and stories their school books. There total of 117 schools across
info@inspiring- and also the day’s news, are games – educational Latur district. Ten years
teachers.com children in Active Schools and also for pure fun, later, the project has
are never short of joyous question-answer sessions, grown so well and its
activity. There are boards feedback and suggestion success has spread so
to be updated, self- time… and the day ends much that the State
attendance sheets to be with another assembly, government of
filled, weekly exhibitions with introspection and Maharashtra is now
to be held and self- retrospection. gearing up to scale up this
grooming to attend to! This new approach to model and to carry over
Is your brain aging? Card-based activity teaching has proved much the spirit of Active Schools
Say 'silk' five times. happens in small groups more effective than the across all the primary
Now spell 'silk.' What do
where each child gets a traditional methods of government schools in the
cows drink?
chance for creative classroom transaction. state.
What do you put in a
expression. The teacher
toaster?
Interesting Links
If a red house is made • Bill Gates writes about importance of identifying good teachers and transferring their skills
from red bricks and a
blue house is made and also of need for measurement.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
from blue dyn/content/article/2011/02/27/AR2011022702876.html?Hpid=news-col-blog
bricks and a pink house
• A site for people looking for conferences: http://www.conferencealerts.com/
is made from pink bricks
and a black house is • Jack’s page on basic physics and optics www.kw.igs.net
made
• Lovely resource for writing - www.phrases.org.uk
from black bricks, what
is a green house made • The need for measurements and systems: Http://www.thestreet.com/story/11007678/1/a-
from?
charter-schools-successful-system-innovators.html
Answers on next page • Preparing students for post secondary careers -www.newarkadvocate.com
 Page 5 of 6
…Marathon (Continued from page 3)
Probably that’s the reason
we come across heart-
wrenching news every
now and then about some
child committing suicide
for not getting through a
certain exam or facing
rejection. As Dr
Raghunathan rightly puts
it, that “while a child’s
self-esteem develops with
early successes, can it
really be developed
without also teaching a
child to cope with real or
perceived failures?”
Children spend the best
part of their day at school.
So the teacher plays
significant role in shaping
the personality of
children. Guru
devobhava, teacher is
equal to God! How very
true. But “Most of our
schools are ineffective
because they usually
attempt to teach, while
they should be helping
children to learn,”says Dr
Raghunathan. Its crucial
for teachers to make
children curious for
knowledge, encourage
them to ask questions and
motivate them to achieve
excellence. It’s a sad truth
Inspiring Teachers
that examinations are a
part and parcel of every
child’s life (and a
nightmare!). While we
cannot do away with
exams, as parents and
teachers, the best we
could do is to stop
‘evaluating’ a child based
on the results.
The author gives us
examples of so many
ordinary people who have
done extraordinary things
in life. Most of them have
not gone to the best of
schools, are not rank
holders or excel in any
way academically, but that the same rigor and
did not stop them from
achieving accolades and
coming out as true
winners in the race of life!
Read about Raghunathan
at
http://www.linkedin.com/in
/raghunathan
Scientific Teaching
We expect undergraduate
students to get excited in
the subject and also have
competencies for rigorous
study. However, in most
universities teaching is
not rewarded along the
same lines as research and Science Education Group.
is therefore on a lower
priority. Also many
scientists are not aware of
modern pedagogic
findings and are not
trained in the use of
effective methods to
generate deeper learning
in students.
This book is an effort to
improve undergraduate
education in STEM
disciplines– with specific
examples in life sciences.
The title also suggests that Jo Handelsman, Sarah
Miller and Christine Pfund
teaching is also scientific
like the research the
professors conduct and
discipline must be
applied. See note on
next page
Answers to brain
teasers on previous
page.
Water.
Bread.
Glass.
If you said milk, toast
and green bricks, your
brain must be aging!
This was another book
referred in the discussion
between OSU and India
 OSU –India Discussion Group: Scientific Teaching – Jo Handelsman
Teacher’s Academy et al on the book Scientific Judith Ridgeway Assistant
A bunch of professors and
Teaching. While issues Director, Center for Life
research students from
like syllabus and Sciences Education and Anil
Hyderabad Ohio State University and
assessment in affiliated Kumar Challa were the
Vivekananda Degree and
colleges in India are initiators of this book group.
PHONE: PG College and Shadan
97011 41118 different from those in Jonathan Hall, Zenap
Institute of P.G.Studies
OSU, reluctance of Benderlioglu,Ran Furman,
E-MAIL: got together on five
students to work for Wei Liu,Conor Flynn,
info@inspiring-teachers.com Wednesdays over a video
deeper learning echoed on Alexandra Permar from OSU,
conference facility at
both sides. Avanti Rao, Aparna,Vidya
Osmania University to
Using Mindmaps, Jonnalagadda, Vanitha,
discuss and debate about
handling diversity in Pratap Rudra,Uma Garimella,
active learning methods in
classrooms and Usha, Anju from Hyderabad
a biology class. The
assessment were some of and Ramakrishnan Sitaraman
discussions were centered
the key topics. from Delhi participated.
About Teacher’s Academy…
Started more than three raiser for faculty and TA- faculty to be featured
years ago, already 1500 ship training for students every month. Share
teacher members on-line, going overseas are some of articles, useful links,
See us at: 40 colleges and many the new offerings. teaching resources and
www.inspiring-teachers.com schools touched by the Continuous support and tips for effective teaching
training. multiple initiatives will be with a growing
Student awareness included for holistic and community of our teacher
sessions on active learning sustainable change. mailing list.
for employability, curtain Now you can suggest Uma Garimella