Tag: learning

Education, school, skills

An open letter to parents-1

A Learning Leader

Dear parents,

The school has come to your home, but learning doesn’t have to limit itself to sitting in front of computer/laptops or mobile phones.

Lock down has brought in a new definition to Schooling and learning at home. While schools have come to home in order to ensure that your child doesn’t miss on anything in academics.

A school offers so much more than mere core subject teaching. Your child is inspired and motivated to be creative in writing, public speaking, presentation, games, sports, leadership, and whatnot?

As school is a place for holistic education.How do we compensate while being at home, learning of core subjects continues via online video apps such as zoom, teams etc., yet Parents need to ensure that their child’s creativity keeps flourishing.

Encourage your child to read more, write more and let them write from heart!

Their writings don’t have to be structured or perfect but it should be meaningful to them. You will be surprised by their work , what they produce with little bit of freedom.

Here is one example of how your child can express herself .

More in upcoming letters!

Thanks,

A teacher and parent !

Learning in Lock-down

By: Khushi Verma

She is a Grade 8 student,

and is exploring her writing skills .

Here are her thoughts on learning as a poem.

We learn different things everyday ,
From Alphabets to Engineering ,
We learn how to use things from pencil to hammer,
We learn a new thing everyday,

By learning people start to invent new stuff ,
By the new stuff people from all over the world learn ,
And we would be well known as ,
Isaac Newton who found Gravity ,
Charles Babbage who made the first computer,

Some people learn how to help people learn ,
Some people learn and understand how to construct ,
People like me learn how to learn to play sports like badminton ,
All people in the world in the world learn everything of their choice ,

By learning we are able to choose what our dream is ,
If our ancestors didn’t start learning,
 we would not be this much intelligent ,
Learning new things is amusing ,
And it is very important .
Learning at home has to be creative in all aspects.

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about me, Education, leadership, skills

Steps to Success

A Learning Leader

In the times of Covid-19 when our plans have been disrupted by an unforeseen situation, we all need to uplift each other to keep our morale high. Here is a dose of motivation to all of us!

Dictionary

Word: SUCCESS

success/səkˈsɛs/noun

Meaning: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose

A quick Google search comes up with the definition of success as an accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Your individual definition of what success is? may vary, but many would define it as being fulfilled, happy, safe, healthy, and loved. It is the ability to reach your goals in life, whatever those goals may be.

The journey to success is different for everybody. For some it happens overnight, for other it takes years or decades. For some it comes early in life, others achieve it towards their older years but trust me no matter, how much the grass looks greener from other side, its never an easy journey to what we perceive as success .

Well of-course, who doesn’t want to be successful, we all wish to find the mantra of success and to know the steps of being successful,

The first step towards the goal is to Start, as it has been rightly said that

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great!

Once you start, the next steps are…

  1. Try.
  2. Try again
  3. Try one more time
  4. Try differently
  5. Try it again tomorrow
  6. Try and ask for help
  7. Try to find someone who has done it
  8. Try to find, fix what is not working
  9. Try to expand what is not working
  10. Just Keep trying until you succeed.

Don’t be harsh on not completing things on time, sometimes things take more than expected time.

So Dear friends

Ditch the negativity ,

Make a plan,

and Stay focused!

Be an eternal optimist, because positive vibes attracts positivity!

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Education, leadership, school, skills, Uncategorized

Approaches to Schooling:

A Learning Leader

Approaches in schooling,

What can be inculcated,

once the schools reopen?

As the pandemic Covid 19 has given us all the reasons to pause from running the hamster’s wheel and ponder upon what can we improvise upon in our education system? The National Education Policy 2020 has come at the right time, where the schooling approaches can be put in place slowly as we move into the New normal schooling and education in India. Its the time, we can rethink on our teaching methodology, techniques, classrooms management and overall schooling approaches. Changes which begin at small scale and transit through the system are adapted well.

Early childhood Education is being provided through multiple approaches around the world. It might not be practical to shift the whole pedagogy to a different one in Indian Formal schooling system, its definitely viable to pick up best practices from each one, induce one by one in our present pedagogy, not bringing drastic changes but slowly moving towards the improvement.

Here, I will discuss in brief the approaches and philosophies to schooling around the world used in Early childhood Education along with their prominent features.

Preschool Philosophies

  • Montessori 
  • Waldorf 
  • Reggio Emilia
  • High School 
  • Bank Street
  • Creative Curriculum
  • Kindergarten

Montessori

This approach, developed by Maria Montessori in Rome in the early 1900s, is child-centered, with teachers serving as guides. In the Montessori school, play is a child’s work. While there is a focus on academics, the distinguishing feature is that children learn at their own pace. There are special Montessori toys called manipulative that are self-corrective.

Features of Montessori

  • Learning takes place at its own pace
  • Don’t organise the room to specific age
  • Children learn by example
  • Same teacher for all preschool years
  • Mixed age aspect
  • how children learn to work quietly and independently at a task.

Waldorf

If you find a Waldorf school, you can trust that it is true to the Waldorf philosophy, since each school and all of its teachers must be Waldorf certified. This play-based approach is characterized by a predictable structure, providing children with a dependable routine, such as certain days of the week for set activities like baking or gardening, as well as mixed-age classrooms with the same teacher for multiple years.

Features of Waldorf

  • “There is an emphasis on creative learning, reading, singing, acting … It’s great for kids who want that predictability.
  • Home Like Setting-warm and Friendly
  • Natural and Wooden toys
  •  Against traditional grading systems and exclusion of media in the curriculum
  • Does not involve academics 

Reggio Emilia

There are many Reggio Emilia-inspired schools based on the approach developed in the 1940s in the town of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy. After World War II, the community, along with schoolteacher Loris Malaguzzi, came together to develop schools that would help children become better citizens. “The overall philosophy is that kids are really encouraged to explore. The teachers are there to help them explore,”

Features of Reggio

  • Project based approach and curriculum
  • Find it out together approach
  • Child oriented but teacher framed
  • Documentation is an important part
  • Taking photos, making  videos and writing observations

Other Approaches:

There are these few approaches which are popular in certain areas and are a proportionate mix of academic and non academic approaches as well as some features from above. They were introduced to cater different people at different times.

  • High scope – community based program
  • Bank street- Play based learning 
  • Creative curriculum- written formal learning programs by for profit organisations

As, a school teacher or leader we may choose, what fits in our need or circumstances, but its always good to know what does exist in our field around the world.

Education, leadership, school

National Education Policy 2020

A Learning Leader

India’s

New

Education

Policy

2020

:Key points

A full version of National Education Policy 2020NEP 2020

Indian Union Cabinet approved the National Education Policy 2020, on Wednesday 29 July 2020, paving way for transformation reforms in school and higher education sector in the country after a long spell of 34 years. The draft of the NEP was panel headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief Kasturirangan and it was submitted to the Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal when he took charge last year. The new NEP replaces the one formulated in 1986.

The new National Education Policy is set to usher in a slew of changes, ranging from reduction in school curriculum to discontinuation of M Phil and so much more. It aims to create an education system that contributes directly to transforming the country, providing high-quality education to all, and making India a global knowledge superpower.

What all we need to know at this stage, as an Educator or school leader in India?

School Education

  1. Foundational Stage (age 3-8 years): learning based on play and active discovery
  2. Preparatory Stage (8-11 years): Building on play and discovery; begin the transition to structured learning
  3. Middle Stage (11-14 years): Learning concepts in subjects; begin navigating to adolescence
  4. Secondary Stage (14-18 years): Preparing for livelihood and higher education; transition to young adulthood.

In this reformed pattern:

  • 3 years of Preschool and rest of the 12 years to maintain continuity in schooling
  • Learning will be in the form of discovery method and experiential learning till Grade 5.
  • Up to grade 5, regional language or mother tongue may be used as a medium of instruction.
  • Subject Introduction and Exploration will be introduced from Grade 6th to 8th
  • Secondary Stage will comprise four years of multidisciplinary study and will build subject depth, critical thinking, attention to life aspirations with flexibility for student to choose for example one may opt for Bakery with Math.
  • Preschool Education will be universalized.
  • A proper curriculum will be made by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) for Preschool education and teachers will be provided regulated training.
  • School curriculum to be reduced to core concepts and there will integration of vocational education from class 6, under new National Education Policy.
  • The new policy seeks to expand access to higher education for 50% of high school students by 2035, and achieve universal adult literacy before that date.
  • The Policy aims to ensure that every student in Grade 5 and beyond must achieve foundational literacy and numeracy .
  • Teacher to be facilitator- capacity building, a robust curricular framework, learning material – both online and offline, learning outcomes and their measurement indices, assessment techniques, tracking of learning progress, etc. will be designed.
  • Coding will be introduced right from the 6th Grade.
  • Technology will be extensively used for delivering the curriculum.
  • There will not be rigid separation between streams such as Arts, Science, music etc. Curricular and Co- curricular will be taught in the same manner
  • There will be reduction in syllabus because of this it will be easier to focus on the Core Concepts.
  • Students will have 10 bag less days in a year from grade 6th on wards which will be like a mini internship and will be considered part of assessment.
  • Traditional report cards with only 2 dimensions like marks, attendance will be changed to a holistic assessment including:
    • Self Assessment- To increase self awareness and make the students more accountable.
    • Peer Assessment- To imbibe a sense of social obligation and belonging.
    • Teacher Assessment- As it has been done traditionally.
    • The overall assessment will be done with help of Artificial Intelligence which will be a blueprint of child’s learning journey of the all schooling years.

Higher Education

  • If one wishes to drop out and then continue again after a fixed time. An academic credit will be given for every course Taking a break after completing one year then resuming is acceptable under this policy.
  • Like schools, colleges will be multidisciplinary & one can take up subjects of choice along with their majors without losing academic credibility .
  • Common norms to be in place for private and public higher education institutions under Central government’s new Education Policy. “As on date, we have different norms for deemed universities, central universities, for different individual standalone institutions. New Education Policy says that for reasons of quality, norms will be same for all and not as per ownership,” said Amit Khare, Higher Education Secretary.
    • UG Program – 3-4 years
    • PG Program – 1-2 years
    • Integrated Bachelor’s + Master’s – 5 years
    • M Phill discontinued
  • All higher education institutions, except legal and medical colleges, to be governed by single regulator.
  • Common entrance exams to be held for admission to universities and higher education institutions, as per Center’s new Education Policy.

The NEP 2020 aims to increase public spending on education to nearly 6% of gross domestic product from around 4% now, while also capping fees charged by educational institutions.

The National Education Policy provides a broad direction and is not mandatory to follow. Since education is a concurrent subject (both the Center and the state governments can make laws on it), the reforms proposed can only be implemented collaboratively by the Center and the states. This will not happen immediately. The incumbent government has set a target of 2040 to implement the entire policy. Sufficient funding is also crucial; as we have seen in the past that 1968 NEP was hamstrung by a shortage of funds.

All in all its definitely a positive change and we all have to wish for a fast and effective implementation.

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Education, leadership, skills

Learnability

A Learning Leader

The most essential skill in today’s time is learnability which is the ability to acquire knowledge efficiently and effectively and use it in a meaningful way over and over again.

We as leaders need to bring up learners who are ready to

LEARN UNLEARN RELEARN

The internet and its increasingly wide accessibility, with the high penetration rates of 4G ,5G networks and smart phones in the country, has resulted in knowledge no longer offering the competitive advantage that it once did. It is no longer a differentiator.

Knowledge has become an increasingly ubiquitous commodity, as every information is available a touch away, learnability is increasingly replacing the knowledge in every context, which once was the single most important trait that the younger student need to be inculcated in. In today’s context knowledge is a perishable commodity, what one learns today will be obsolete by a new discovery made tomorrow.

In such a fast pacing era, training children in critical thinking ought to take precedence over spoon feeding them information.

The current education philosophy was designed hundred of years ago for the purpose of retaining knowledge and information. At schools, we feed children information,we expect them to remember that information and test for accuracy at exams. In real, we actually expect our children to become walking encyclopedia memorizing tons of facts and figures. It might have worked in the past because the information once learned was valid over a long period of time but today the older generation is already struggling with the accelerated changes that happen overnight.

While knowledge and the ability to retain that knowledge is by no means completely redundant yet – but the difference between a great career and a mediocre one is often determined by learnability and the skills possessed by the person -not by his knowledge.

In the rapidly changing world, what defines our success is not what we know, but rather, our ability to learn what we don’t know. Being knowledgeable does not imply learnability but the reverse certainly holds true. One could make a child knowledgeable in a chosen field by feeding her a ton of relevant information; but she may not know how to acquire a new knowledge independently.

Give a man a fish and you him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a life time.

This is the high time, we need to look for an education methodology that gives importance to developing creative abilities and skills for practical life over drilling in knowledge. our educational philosophy should priorities learnability, creativity and skill development.

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