CLEP – 2

WIBINAR ONLINE TRAINING CLASSES

MATERIAL
04-05-2020 to 22-05-2020
 Reading Materials for Session 1
04-05-2020

Objectives
• Move forward to the next level of training programme
• Redesign our learning from face-to-face to online interactions
• Recollect our reflective learnings from CLEP
• Understand the need for a change in curriculum
• Adapt to transformations in the current primary educational scenario

REVISITING LEARNINGS FROM CLEP

The trainings done through the Comprehensive Learning Enhancement Program,
constituting the first phase of teacher-training sessions for the teachers of Andhra
Pradesh. It involved moving towards a paradigm shift in primary education and aimed at
making all students of Andhra Pradesh access global standards of education.

Topics Covered
Welcoming English Medium Instruction

Let’s get started

English- the global
gateway English for
empowerment English
as a cultural bridge
Unlearn, learn and
relearn

Knowing our English

Proficiency level
checkpoint Listening to
the language
Conversational skills

Read to
comprehend
Writing to express
Addressing Common Challenges
Identifying challenges of EMI
Increasing exposure to the
language The sounds of English
Knowing words and their
forms Importance of
updating oneself

Revisiting the Structure of English

Verb forms and subject-verb
agreement Prepositions
Articles and adjectives
Instructions and
questions Spellings

Learning from the Best

Practices English outside the
classroom Teaching Maths
lessons in English Teaching
EVS lessons in English
Teaching English lessons

Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

Demonstrations, Reflection and Continuous Assessments

ADAPTING TO THE CHANGE IN CURRICULUM

Introduction:

• Schools across the nation have begun revising instructional programs in an effort
to meet society’s demands for the 2lst century.
• Determining what these needs are, how to address them, and how to revise
established curriculum are huge and responsible tasks.
• Designing the curriculum which would also upgrade the established instructional
program and improve classroom instruction.
• Curriculum change is social, cultural and glocal.
According to Tomlinson (2000) “For many teachers, curriculum has become a prescribed
set of academic standards, instructional pacing has become a race against a clock to cover
the standards, and the sole goal of teaching has been reduced to raising student test
scores on a single test.”
Curriculum can be defined as the selection and structure of the Goals, Content, Sequence,
Procedures, Assessment of a program or a course.
Syllabus can be defined as the planned structure outlining of Specific objectives,
Requirements, Readings, Assessments, Scheduled assignments of a particular course.

Andhra Pradesh is a state that has become a model for the rest of India in terms of English
Medium Instruction for the primary school children from I-VI in all government schools.
Though children from all sections of society have been brought to schools, the
greatest challenge is that the field of education in Andhra Pradesh faces is how to provide
quality education to all. On the basis of NEP (National Educational Policy) infrastructure
development and teacher training programmes were widely carried out. Along with this
there were attempts to make the curriculum child centred, activity based and process
oriented, thereby making it contemporary. This leads to the realization that knowledge
has to be constructed in the class rooms. Thus, activities have been initiated that posit the
child at the centre of the educational process.
Changes occur every minute in all fields of life. The latest findings and practical
experiences in pedagogy and Educational Psychology have enabled the development of
learning materials and the transaction of learning experiences in a better way. These are
aimed at the overall improvement of learners. ‘It must be ensured that children who have
different socio-economic backgrounds and different physical, psychological and cognitive
abilities can learn and achieve success at school to overcome the limitations that develop
from differences in gender, cast, language and physical disabilities, policies and projects
will not alone serve; instead there is a need to select and design suitable teaching methods
and learning objectives right from childhood’ (NCF).
Thus, as pointed out by NCF, the perspective should be to adopt minute as well as
scientific strategies to provide desired outcome to children from all sections of society.
This can be achieved only if curriculum revisions are carried out periodically and the system
is always is kept active. The existing curriculum is revised on the basis of this vision by
imbibing the experiences, findings and research of those who constantly intervene in the
field of education. The scientific approach of proceeding from ‘what is good’ to ‘what is
better’ is adopted here.
Several innovative ideas were presented in the field of education during the last
five years. With the implementation of Right to Education Act -2009, quality education has
eventually become the right of the child. The curriculum for schools has to be raised to an
international education standard to implement such a right based comprehensive school
development vision. During curriculum revision it is essential to consider the rules
concerning curriculum and assessment in the RTE.
Whenever a text book is revised it must be totally different in design, structure and
intention. The basic premises on which the new curriculum and the text books were
developed include the following:
a. Children’s literature:
The new text books give great importance to children’s literature. Authentic pieces
of children’s literature, adapted versions of well-known stories and stories developed by
text book writers are included. These stories and songs/poems that can be sung in chorus
are the main texts. Based on their reading learners are asked to engage in certain language
activities so as to apply their knowledge of English. The meaning making process of the
texts given has to be done in such a way that every learner gets a chance to listen, speak,
read and write in the target language.
b. Pictures as Texts:
The illustrations used in the text books are treated as texts. The multi-coloured
pictures will generate interest to the students. Teachers are expected to use these
pictures for meaningful interaction with the learners. Reading comprehension can also be
tested using these pictures.
c. Interaction Questions:
Questions for interactions for learners are given, mainly to serve five purposes:
• to read pictures,
• to elicit the text,
• to connect the text with the learner’s own experiences,
• to predict what is going to happen next,
• to promote critical thinking.
 Teachers are expected to ask more interaction questions for meaningful
communication with the learners.
d. Multimedia:
Short films, cartoons, stories, concepts in Telugu, English, Mathematics and EVS are
shown to learners to give comprehensive and nearer to realistic experiences in the class
room.
e. Games and activities:
Games and activities are introduced in the text books to make the students to
understand the concepts clearly and make them participative in the class room
transactions. Working and playing in small groups promote interest, interaction,
togetherness and team spirit among learners.
f. Grammar in Context:
The knowledge of grammar is essential for the learners when they write in English.
Language elements are used in meaningful contexts. The new text books are designed in
such way to help the learners to apply their knowledge of grammar in real life situations
when they speak or write.
g. Workbooks:
Workbooks are introduced in a revolutionary way to help the students to reinforce
their learning, to practice the content and also to reduce the burden of notebooks. They
also act as assessment tools for teachers.
h. Need Based Vocabulary:
Developing concept maps and word webs of related words have been included in
the new textbooks instead teaching them directly.
g. Teacher’s Handbook:
A handbook for teachers is provided to assist the teacher to transact in English
Medium easily in their classroom without any fear, ambiguity and boost their confidence.
h. Projects:
Lively and simple projects that can be undertaken by young learners easily are given
in the textbooks. Undertaking such projects with the guidance of teachers will create
interest and enhance the confidence of the learners. Students classify and analyse the
information in groups and these promotes language skills and team spirit.
i. Assessment:
 Learner assessment is a continuous process and an integral part of learning.
Teachers must assess the learners at each stage of learning process by informal
interactions, reading of the text, associating pictures with the text, language activities and
interactive questions etc.
A child is born with natural abilities to learn from its surroundings. The formal
education the child gets from school should open up possibilities to look at the world from
a new prospective to understand, interact and evaluate it. The child must be able to
confront problematic situations through problem solving.
Curriculum should be…
➢ Activity based
➢ Process related
➢ Environment based
➢ Suitable to achieve learning objectives.

Strategies to adapt the new curriculum

Teachers should understand that
• An important form of professional development that promotes buy-in
between stakeholders
• Builds understanding of key features of learning and teaching, and improves
student learning
• Select an instructional model that guides the adaptation of materials and
that also guides teaching
• Target lessons for deep enhancement where students can make
sense of phenomena, data, or ideas
• Follow a backward design approach to adaptation with teams of teachers
working in small collaborative groups.
There is a need to attend to students' various readiness levels through our
instructional decisions, the adaptation of materials and effective classroom
management strategies.

Role of teachers in Adapting to the new curriculum

• Teachers’ voices and involvement are essential for developing and adapting
curricula and adjusting learning experiences and formative assessments to
create educational success (Owings & Kaplan, 2001).
• Appropriate curricula allow teachers to create lessons that empower
students to be successful learners. (Tomlinson, 2000).
• Effective learning occurs when teachers “learn to view curriculum as a
decision making process in which their own creativity and talents can be
used” (Nieto, 2002)
• As explained, teachers demonstrate the ability to make professional
decisions about curriculum in the process of constructing, deconstructing,
and reconstructing curriculum.
• This process is never to “tear down”, but to expose weaknesses, discover
ways to address weaknesses, and then, through critical analysis, make
decisions about the best ways to fill the weakness. - Ladson- Billings
(2006)
Methods of instruction in the new curriculum
▪ instruction should build on students’ knowledge and experiences as well as
present opportunities for students to make connections between school and
community- based knowledge sources.
• create learning environments where instruction does not consist of drills,
but projects, dramatic presentations, storytelling, and encouraging
teachers to seize teachable moments when students have real purpose
for learning.

References
• Glatthorm, A.(l987). Curriculum renewal. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• Jelinek, J. (Ed.). (l978). Improving the human condition: A curriculur
response to critical responses. Washington, D.C.: Association of
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
• Nieto, S. (2002). Language, culture and teaching: Critical
Perspectives for a new century. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• Tanner, D. & Tanner, L. (l995). Curriculum development:
Theory into practice (3rd ed.). Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall
Publishers.
• Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Towards a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy.
American Education Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491.

• Tomlinson, C.A. (Sept. 2000). Reconcilable differences? Standards –based

teaching and differentiation. Educational Leadership. 7-11.
 DAY 2……05-05-2020

TEACHER MOTIVATION - ‘WHAT MAKES A GOOD

TEACHER?’

Motivation is not completely a new term. What is interesting about it is that it is

commonly assumed to be a good thing that goes in influencing individual's behaviour
and performance at work.

Teacher motivation naturally has to do with teachers' attitude to work. It has to do

with teachers desire to participate in the pedagogical processes within the school
environment. It has to do with teachers' interest in student discipline and control
particularly in the classroom. Therefore, it could underlie their involvement or non-
involvement in academic and non-academic activities, which operate in schools. The
teacher, is the one that translates educational philosophy and objective into
knowledge and skill and transfers them to students in the classroom. Classroom
climate is important in teacher motivation. If a teacher experiences the classroom as
a safe, healthy, happy place with supportive resources and facilities for teaching for
optimal learning, he/she tends to participate more than expected in the process of
management, administration, and the overall improvement of the school.

The teacher commands and emits the image of one who improves knowledge and the
physical conditions of the classroom through orderliness, discipline and control. He
makes diagnosis of student's feelings and attitudes inferred by their behaviour and
response in the classroom environment. Hence Lash and Kirkpatrick (1990)
concluded that in the absence of school programmes the major responsibility of
working with children in the school rests with the teacher. Likewise, Maehr and
Midgley (1991) affirm that what takes place in the classroom, even though the
classroom itself is not an island, is critical. Therefore, depending on the degree of
congruence with classroom practices and school environment, teachers teaching
activities may dilute or enhance students' performance.

Effectiveness is the "what of change" while improvement is the "how of change"

(Stoll and Fink 1996). Teacher motivation, therefore, is anything done to make
teachers happy, satisfied, dedicated and committed in such a way that they bring out
their best in their places of work so that both students, parents and the society will
greatly benefit from their services.
Teachers have both intrinsic and extrinsic needs. A teacher who is intrinsically
motivated may be observed to undertake a task for its own sake, for the satisfaction
it provides or for the feeling of accomplishment and self-actualization. On the other
hand, an extrinsically motivated teacher may perform the activity/duty in order to
obtain some reward such as salary. Extrinsic motivation plays an important part in
people's life. It is pre-eminent in influencing a person's behaviour.

Teaching is the noblest profession. It helps child to gain knowledge about various
subjects and domains, but also helps him recognize his strengths and weaknesses
to become a better human being.
A good teacher can make a world of difference in students’ life, impacting
everything from their classroom learning to their long-term success. A good teacher
values each and every individual’s ideas and opinions, who makes students feel safe
to express their feelings and learn to respect and listen to others. This teacher
creates a welcoming learning environment for all students.
Now here are some excerpts from the works of the famous teachers of all
times.
“Children are like tiny flowers: they are varied and need care,
but each is beautiful alone and glorious when seen in the
community of peers.” - Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852)

In 1837, Friedrich Froebel founded his own school and called it “Kindergarten”, or the
children’s garden. He believed about the importance of early education because
learning begins when consciousness erupts, education must also. Froebel labelled
his approach to education as “self-activity as the child is to be led by his own
interests and to freely explore them and the teacher’s role, therefore was to be a
guide rather than a lecture.”
“One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the
happiness of the child.” -Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

Though Maria Montessori was an Italian Physician, she was best known as an
educator, for the philosophy of education that bears her name as ‘Montessori
method’. It emphasises on the development of a child’s own initiative and natural
abilities especially through practical play-way method or activity-based method.
 “The true teachers are those who help us think for ourselves”.

Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan (1888-1975)

Dr. Sarvepalli Radha Krishnan is an inspirer for educators and teachers. He firmly
believed that a good teacher can guide his students to highest success in life. He
further says, ‘Teachers should be the best minds in the country’.

“Your best teacher your last mistake” – Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (1931-
2015)

Abdul Kalam states that ‘Great teachers emanate out of knowledge, passion and
compassion’. He envisioned the important role of the teachers in building the nation,
as they are the back bone of any country, the pillar upon which all aspirations are
converted into realities. Learning needs freedom to think and freedom to imagine
and both have to be facilitated by the teacher.
“Knowledge is like fire, which must first be kindled by some
external agent, but will afterward always propagate itself” –
Savithri Bai Phule (1831-1897)

Savithri Bai quoted in her poem, ‘Go, and Get education, which encouraged the
lower castes and women, to educate themselves so as to free themselves of
oppression’.
“When a doctor makes a mistake, a person goes six feet below
the ground.

When a judge makes a mistake, a person is hung six feet above

the ground.

But when a teacher makes a mistake, the entire batch of students

is destroyed.

Don’t ever look down on the teachers…” – Sudha Murthy (1950-)

Sudha Murthy advised school teachers, ‘Don’t lie to kids, they may be smarter than
you but
you have experience and patience. You should remember you are paid for the last
candidate and not the first candidate. You should make children love you first then
they will love your subject’.
“You may wear the tattered and torn shirt but buy a good
book.” Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu (1848-1919)

As a teacher Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu had proved that the best teacher can
reform the society and encouraged girl child education. As a part of it, he installed
schools for girls and chid widows.
“Independence of women is only possible through
education.” - Unnava Lakshmi Bai (1882-1956)

Lakshmi Bai along with her husband Unnava Lakshminarayana believed in educating
girls and destitute widows. They started Sarada Nikethan a shelter for their
upliftment.

You have to be your own teacher. No teacher and no

follower – Jiddu Krishna Murthy(1895-1986)

Jiddu Krishna Murthy said that a teacher can be an example, by the way of his life,
by his conduct, attitude and outlook. He can influence and inspire the student. He
must guide the student towards a better and nobler life.
Basing on the above excerpts, we can come to an understanding that a
good teacher is one who learns from his/her students, who can learn with them, and
for them. One who has no bias, no fixed point of view, opens eyes to see and explore
life and learning itself is called a good teacher. The teacher also must be honest in his
/ her own value to work, from there, on helping the students to build their own self-
esteems. Good teachers must be symbol of love and kindness. They are someone
who will do everything in their power to make
every child feel loved and successful in some way because all children learn
differently and are their own unique individuals. They derive absolute satisfaction
from seeing their pupils contribute to making life more meaningful to fellow human
beings.
A good teacher needs to be knowledgeable, resourceful, communicative,
adaptable, tactful, hardworking, confident, tolerant, credible, honest, humble,
impartial, patient, open- minded, friendly, amicable, helpful, affable, approachable,
practical, cooperative, optimistic, voracious, vivacious, sociable, generous,
thoughtful, agreeable, benevolent, enthusiastic and level-headed. ‘Good teaching is
keeping oneself in the shoes of one’s students.’

Do we identify any of the good qualities in the case study of a teacher given
below? Srinivas, a school assistant in Mathematics, in ZPHS, Pullacheruvu, the
boarded Mandal of Prakasam dt., part of Nallamala forest range. He is one amongst
the best teachers of Prakasam dt. His students are from the tribal community. He has
been striving to change the fate of the children by providing them good education.
Though he has been working in the school since 2013, he has not availed any leave
so far. He is delivering his services by extending his working hours from 8.30 am to
6.00 pm while conducting study hours. He not only teaches Mathematics but also
guides 8th class students to attend NMMS competitive examination to get scholarship
for their higher studies. Every year more than 15 students are benefited from this
initiative. So, to facilitate those students in a better way, he prepares material for that
exam in Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. He would equally concentrate on
tenth class students to gain 10 points and some of them even got admission in IIIT.
He is amicable, empathetic and hard working. Though he has many good qualities of
a teacher, he never applied for the best teacher award.

Write at least 3 exemplary qualities

identified. 1.
2.
3.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEACHER? QUALITIES OF A GOOD TEACHER

Responsible Genuineness Resourcefulness
Patience Determination Warmth
Kindness Creativity Passion
Forgiveness Conscientious Leadership
Empathy Adaptability Intuitiveness

‘Knowing oneself and each other’

1. I am a teacher because……………………………………………………………….
2. The things I enjoy about being a teacher ……………………………………………..
3. The things I don’t enjoy about being a teacher …………………………………………
4. My three main qualities as a teacher are ……………………………………………...
5. I think the main role of a teacher is to ……………………………………………
6. I like learners who ………………………………………………………………
7. My learners think I am…………………………………………………………………....
8. At the end of a class I usually feel
………………………………………………………………………………………
9. I think teaching is a/an ............................................... profession
10 If I weren’t a Teacher, I would like to be a/an ……………………………………..

Studies of effective teachers have tended to reveal that they

◗ show enthusiasm
◗ have well-managed classrooms
◗ provide students with the maximum opportunity to learn
◗ maintain an academic focus
◗ have high, rather than low, expectations of what students can achieve
◗ involve all students in the lesson
◗ use strategies to keep students on task, motivated and productive
◗ impose structure on the content to be covered
◗ present new material in a step-by-step manner
◗ employ direct (explicit) teaching procedures when necessary
◗ use clear instructions and explanations
◗ use a variety of teaching styles, methods and resources
◗ frequently demonstrate appropriate task-approach strategies
◗ monitor closely what students are doing throughout a lesson
◗ adjust instruction to individual needs, and re-teach content where necessary
◗ provide frequent feedback to students
◗ use high rates of questioning to involve students and to check for understanding
◗ differentiate their questions according to students’ ability
◗ spend significant amounts of time in interactive whole-class teaching; but also use
group work and partner activities when appropriate.

Take a moment, think and choose the qualities listed above which you think you possess.
 COMPREHENSIVE LEARNING ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM – II

Reading Material

Session 3
PREPARING TLM FOR THE CLASSROOM

&

PICTURES AND STORIES AS TRIGGERS FOR INTERACTION 06.05.2020

Part I

PREPARING TLM FOR THE CLASSROOM

During this session you will

• Gain a basic theoretical understanding of the role and purpose of
TLM
• Receive practical strategies to incorporate TLM – planning and
review
• Adapt teacher’s role as a facilitator
• Raise awareness on classroom management

TLM is a commonly used acronym for Teaching-Learning Materials. The term is

used to denote a collection of resources, aids, objects, realia and models. They are
prepared by the teacher, the learner or an external source which is customized for the
learning experience. TLM is often used in an activity-based approach to teaching.
They provide a realistic experience in learning abstract concepts through tasks and
activities. Activity-based learning incorporates a variety of resources and aids that
promote student interaction to learn new concepts.

TLMs are designed based on concepts and learning outcomes that are to be
achieved through a task/activity. Students gain an in-depth understanding of abstract
concepts and also gain a skill/practical knowledge that is related to the concept.
They promote student achievement through explorative experiences, reinforcement
of practical knowledge and by providing supplementary learning processes.
Fig.1. Types of TLM

There is a wide variety of TLM available today that meet the requirements of
different subjects. While a few are mentioned above, technology plays a vital role in
building the list into a far more extensive one. Given the variety of options available
for teachers it is important to understand the science behind how the teacher can
make the most out of a TLM.

Edgar Dale, an American educator developed the ‘Cone of

Experience’ which is also called as the ‘learning pyramid’. The cone is a visual
representation of learning experience. According to Dale, real and concrete
experiences are necessary to provide the right foundation for permanent learning.
 Fig.2. The Cone of Experience

The cone serves as a tool for educators to identify the importance of creating
meaningful learning experiences and choosing the right TLM that promotes active
participation. It presents 3 modes of learning.

(i) Symbolic experience: Learning through abstraction

This engagement involves reading or hearing symbols/signs that

represent a word/concept. e.g. a mathematical theorem, grammar
rules, scientific formulae etc.

(ii) Iconic experience: Learning through observation

This engagement involves interpreting information through

observation e.g. images, recordings, designs, pictures/films, demos
and sequences.

(iii) Direct and purposeful experience - Learning by doing

This engagement comprises of three different experiences that

establish maximized learning –

• Dramatized experiences (role plays, tableau,

pantomime, puppet show etc.),
• contrived experiences (models, specimens,
simulations, objects etc.) and
 • direct, purposeful experiences (experiments,
designing/creating, project work etc.). TLMs planned
based on direct and purposeful experience are
collaborative, interactive and realistic.

The cone helps teachers to reflect on their TLM before including it into the
plan. The teacher can examine the resource/aid using the following questions

• Does the resource/aid provide a realistic experience that can

applied outside the classroom context?
• Are there enough opportunities for practice and reinforcement?
• Does the resource encourage experiential learning and critical
thinking?
• How far can concepts be ‘personalized’?

CRITERIA AND CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE TLM

• Planned with a purpose to achieve the learning outcomes of the

lesson
• Provides an opportunity for students to experience cause and
effect in concepts
• Gives a realistic experience of a real world setting
• Is accessible, visible and usable by all students
• Are informative, educative and interesting
• Are age appropriate and supported with a task
• Is easy, safe and convenient to handle
PLANNING AND REFLECTION: TLM BLUEPRINT - WH – STRATEGY

Subject: Activity/Task :
What? Specify the TLM. Elaborate on how you plan to use it
(Roadmap to in the classroom
use)
Why? Learning outcomes
(Purpose of
the TLM)
When/where? Which stage or part of the lesson plan do you want to
use the TLM and why
How? Specify time and student engagement : whole
group/small group/pair/individual activity

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT – CREATING A SAFE SPACE FOR LEARNING

• Give clear and simple instructions

• Sign-post material to students with a demo
• Plan and fix classroom rules for use and interaction
• Identify student leaders for ensuring that the rules are followed

ROLE OF THE TEACHER

• Model the TLM and facilitate the session

• Monitor how students interact and support each other
• Identify students who might need more opportunities
• Build rapport through praise, acknowledgement and feedback

WRAPPING UP THE ACTIVITY AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK

• Encourage student groups to ask questions to each other. Provide

support as and when required
• Check for understanding through CCQ
• Appreciate student effort, nominate active participants
• Highlight on what went well in the activity and areas that can be
improved
 Works Consulted

• Combs, A.W. (1982). Affective education or none at all. Educational

Leadership, 39(7), 494-497.
• Patterson, C.H. (1973). Humanistic Education. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
• Rogers, C.R. (1969). Freedom to Learn. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
• Rogers, C.R. & Freiberg, H.J. (1994). Freedom to Learn (3rd
Ed). Columbus, OH: Merrill/Macmillan.
 Part II

PICTURES AND STORIES AS TRIGGERS FOR INTERACTION

LEARNING OUTCOMES

During this session you will

• Gain a basic theoretical understanding of how pictures and

stories can improve learning experiences
• Receive practical strategies to incorporate pictures and stories
while planning: Purpose
• Identify interaction patterns between content and the learner

LEARNING THEORY OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

DUAL CODE THEORY – ALLAN PAiVIO

According to this theory there two kinds of cognitive systems one specialized
for the representation and processing of nonverbal objects/events (i.e., imagery),
and the other specialized for dealing with language.
Adding visuals to a verbal description can make the presented ideas more
concrete, and provides two ways of understanding the presented ideas.

Dual coding is about more than just adding pictures. Instead, the visuals
should be meaningful, and students should have enough time to integrate the two
representations

CONNECTIONISM – EDWARD THORNDIKE

The learning theory of Thorndike represents the original S-R

framework of behavioral psychology: Learning is the result of
associations forming between stimuli and responses.

A stimulus (pictures & stories) is something that causes a reaction, while a response
is the reaction (student learning) to a stimulus. The connection between the two is
called an S-R bond, or stimulus-response
bond. A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong to the
same action sequence

CRITERIA FOR PICTURES AND STORIES

• Aim: Pictures and stories have to align with the learning outcome
• Purpose: They must have a task planned e.g.: Matching exercise,
fills ups, small group discussion etc.
• Utility: Related to the theme and topic. Purely informative purposes

SUGGESTED INTERACTIVE ENGAGEMENTS

• Whole class
• Group
• Small group
• Think-pair-share
• Individual
 Pictures and stories can be effectively used as triggers for teaching complex
ideas through an interactive approach. Adapting pictures and stories according to
the concepts handled increases a student's willingness to communicate and
express thoughts and feelings. It encourages active participation, critical thinking
and interpersonal skills in students.

Sample Activity
Story as a trigger in teaching mathematics: -
A group of school children were taken on a field trip to a zoo. They saw tigers, lions,
bears, elephants, monkeys, pythons, crocodiles, giraffes, zebras and many other
animals. They also saw colourful parrots peacocks, mynahs and cranes. The
children had enjoyed themselves in the zoo.
While returning in the bus, Ravi said that had seen five lions and two crocodiles
however, rani replied that there were six lions and four crocodiles. Latha joined the
conversation along with Joseph and said that she had seen ten peacocks and four
cranes. Joseph replied that he had seen only two pythons, two mynahs, two
elephants, two bears and a lion. Finally all the twenty students got into the bus and
were given 40 chocolate bars to divide among themselves.

With this story teacher can ask as many questions as possible to teach additions,
subtraction, multiplication and division.

Works Consulted

• Paivio, A. (1971). Imagery and Verbal Processes. New York: Holt,

Rinehart & Winston.
• Paivio, A. (1986). Mental Representations. New York: Oxford University
Press
• Thorndike, E. (1913). Educational Psychology: The Psychology of
Learning. New York: Teachers College Press.
• Thorndike, E. (1921). The Teacher’s Word Book. New York: Teachers
College.
•
 Reading Material for Session 4
UNDERSTANDING YOUNG LEARNERS

Objectives:

By the end of the session, participants will be able to

• Understand Multiple Intelligences of their learners
• Identify the different styles of learning and approaches to engage with young
learners
• Discuss the implications of the child’s experiential orbit in the process of
learning

Introduction:
Brainstorm the following two questions.
1. Do you feel children are blank slates when they come to school? Why?
2. Is the teacher going to teach everything? Explain.

Young learners like to discover things. They like to make sense of the world around
them through engaging and motivating activities. Where they have to discover
themselves through their imagination rather than being told. Young learners get
bored easily. So, concrete activities of not more than 10 minutes, which are
interesting are preferable. Teachers should be good role-models in all aspects as
children tend to imitate them. An ideal classroom should be colourful and spacious for
children to move, enjoy and work in groups in a stress-free atmosphere loaded with
appreciation and fun.

Let us know about Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence for better
understanding the young learners.
 Gardner claims that all human beings have multiple intelligences. These
multiple intelligences can be nurtured and strengthened or ignored and weakened.
After his research, he has proposed that there are 8 types of intelligences:
Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence: Well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds,
meanings and rhythms of words.

Mathematical-Logical Intelligence: The ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and the
capacity to recognize logical or numerical patterns.

Musical Intelligence: The ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and quality of a
sound.

Visual-Spatial Intelligence: The capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize

accurately and abstractly.

Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence: The ability to control one's body movements and to handle
objects skilfully.

Interpersonal Intelligence: The capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods,
motivations and desires of others.

Intrapersonal Intelligence: The capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings,
values, beliefs and thinking processes.
Naturalist Intelligence: The ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and other
objects in nature.

While all people possess some level of each intelligence, most will experience
more dominant intelligences which impact the way they learn and interact with the
world around them.

Conventionally we focus on linguistic and logical mathematical intelligence, but we

neglect budding artists, architects, musicians, naturalists, designers, dancers,
therapists, entrepreneurs etc. in our schools who can be identified and encouraged by
the teacher in the classroom. Instead of neglecting learners by labelling them as
‘under achievers’, teachers should reinforce them. The theme of multiple
intelligence proposes a major transformation in the way our schools are run.
Teachers are expected to make their classes lively with wide variety of ways using
music, dance, art, cooperative learning activities, role-plays, field-trips etc.
Considering multiple intelligences of the learners, It is better we distinguish the
learners according to their styles of learning as – Auditory, Visual, Kinaesthetic
and Tactile.

Characteristic Features of each Learning Style:

Auditory:

• Love music, rhymes and often remember words

• Easily follow spoken directions. If they don’t understand they ask,
“tell me again”.
• Like to read aloud even when they are alone.
• Enjoy ‘talking books’ and ‘talking toys.’
• Learn from hearing words spoken and from oral expressions.
• Get benefited from hearing audiotapes, classroom discussions and teacher
talks.

Visual:
• Learn alone with a book.
• Learn when the sense of sight is engaged.
• Learn through demonstrations.
 • Gather information from reading assignments.
• Keep on watching whatever teacher writes.
• Observe Black Board Work.
• Like drawing and paintings.
• Read a story and retell with the smallest details.
• Often ask ‘show me again’ for getting clarifications.
• Understand well if they read.

Kinaesthetic:
• Learn best through movement and motion.
• Often ask ‘Let me hold it ‘
• Learn best by getting involved physically in the classroom activities.
• Remember information well when learning takes place through activities , field
trips, role-playing, etc.
• They prefer a combination of stimuli for example an audio tape combined with
an activity will help them understand new material.
• They have trouble sitting still.

Tactile:
• Learn through touch and feel.
• prefer hands on experience.
• Learn more through experiments.
• Interested in art and crafts.
• Prefer handling and building models.
• Physical involvement in class-related activity may help them understand new
information.

Teaching strategies to help them

learn: Auditory:

• Encourage activities like Spell Bee etc.

 • Rhymes and Songs are good for auditory learners.
• Use recorded material to involve the students.
• Give oral instructions for all classroom, tasks, tests and home assignments.
• Give oral explanations for all charts, graphs, diagrams and pictures etc…
• Hold small group discussions and problem-solving activities.
• Provide opportunities to ask questions and share ideas during transaction.
• Encourage speaking.

Visual:
• Provide written instructions and directions
• Use visual reading material (like graphs, charts, pictures).
• Create vivid descriptions of ideas/concept.
• Showing images, pictures and cartoons using digital and virtual classrooms.

Kinaesthetic:
• Perform activities that encourage learning by doing and interacting with others.
• Allow their participation in classroom activities, role play, skits stimulations.
• Arrange field trips to PHC, engineering colleges, factories etc.
• Use energizers like passing the ball, clapping with names animals etc.
• Assign responsibilities and make them move.

Tactile :
• Let them manipulate and assemble objects, materials, models.
• Encourage drawing, underlining and highlighting in class notes as well as
in assigned reading.
• Encourage taking notes during talks and discussion.
• Let them conduct puppet shows.
• Let them make models, art material etc.
• Allow completing classroom assignments and project in groups.
• Use language game like building blocks, teaching cards, snap-words,
match manipulation etc.
Learning styles can be stretched by practicing various learning strategies that develop
content knowledge, language proficiency, self-confidence, learner autonomy and
lead to joyful learning. So, our classroom activities should cater to the needs of all
the students with different intelligences and learning styles. If activities are confined
to the learning styles of a few students in the class, others will be deprived of
learning opportunities.
 DAY 5….08-05-2020
Teaching Methodologies for Primary Classroom

Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
• Understand and critically engage with the concept of literacy and effective
teaching methods to develop literacy in the primary classroom
• Reflect upon educational philosophy to make conscious choice of pedagogical
strategies
• Critically engage with their classroom contexts and generate teaching
methods which are context- specific

Literacy

Literacy in the most simplistic terms is often understood as the ability to read and
write. However, in a deeper sense it can be defined as social action through language
use that develops us as agents inside a larger culture. Literacy is not an end in itself,
but is a means to most other learning and social and economic empowerment.

Emergent literacy is the overall process through which young children learn to read
and write in a natural, self‐discovery manner that begins at birth and can continue
through the preschool years and into the early elementary years with proper support.
Children then continue learning these skills by being taught in a conventional
manner. Literacy itself encompasses the skills of speaking, listening, reading, and
writing.

If young children are immersed in literacy rich environments, they will naturally and
effortlessly pick up written language, even as they do oral language. However, such
emergent literacy which can be seen in western countries which are immersed in
literate environments is rare to find in our Indian context. Even in middle-class Indian
contexts, books and book reading and sharing are not familiar cultural routines. Oral
traditions of story-telling are strong in several societies and families in our country.
These potentially help children build strong narrative and expressive skills; as well as
to relate aesthetically and pleasurably to literature and language art forms. However,
they still fall short of introducing children to literate worlds, unless they include texts or
pictures. Children in India typically do not learn literacy through the emergent route
found in western world.

Today, evidence from multiple sources suggest that children require a fair amount of
explicit and systematic support and inputs in order to become fluent readers and
writers, suggesting that nurture, more than nature plays a determining hand in
successful literacy learning.

Redefining literacy in Indian context

We need to re-define literacy and re-imagine its possibilities in the Indian context as
our children come from a very rich oral tradition exposed in their home environment.
In the new scenario, we would want young children to be able to see that print has
meaning, that it can be used for communication, for expression, to achieve certain
ends in the world. We would like them to notice that there are different genres of texts;
different elements to a story; and different styles of writing as they learn to read and
write. We need to develop reading and writing from the oral competencies of our
children instead of rejecting what they are bringing with them. Thus, literacy need to
be seen as building upon oral language skills of learners rather than just
as a process of encoding and decoding of the script (with or without meaning). The
aesthetic potential of language and literature should also be explored.

Ways to deal with challenges faced in primary classrooms while developing

literacy

We often have students of diverse background and many are first generation school
goers, for whom the transition from the oral cultures at home to the print culture of
school can be a big challenge. Marginalized children are often not able to connect
their ‘worlds’ with the ‘words’ in ways their middle class peers are able to. They do
not come with familiarity with print concepts or ‘print awareness’ which their more
privileged counterparts have picked up through their everyday interactions at home
and in their social worlds during their early childhood years. Here are some ways in
which you can address these challenges:

• Don’t feel guilty or shy to use the mother tongue or regional dialects in the
classroom as it allows young children from diverse backgrounds to function
with competence, rather than with a sense of failure in the classroom. They
are also more likely to see learning more meaningful and relevant if they are
able to connect it with their own lives.

• Interpret the curriculum flexibly; make space for exploration and discovery for
your children; children are not ‘tabula rasa’ (empty slate) instead view them as
active participants in the learning process

• Do not adhere to standard language use; encourage children to express in any

language variety they are used to at home; in other words do not devalue
children’s home language and culture. Encourage them to share their stories
and experiences of living in the community; give importance to the oral
language of children in teaching them to read and write such as phonological
awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and so on. Oral language
can help to connect literacy with children’s own lives, aspirations and
motivation.

• Introduce key words of a text and develop vocabulary of children to support

their reading and writing

• Multilingual classrooms can become a rich environment to create sensitive

children with broader world views and ideas; multilinguality is a strength and
use it as a resource and do not see it as a hurdle

• Give more importance to child’s lived experience instead of the textbook; bring
in child’s voice in the classroom

• Try to create the ‘conditions of learning’ such as immersion, demonstration,

engagement, expectations, responsibility, approximation, use, response

Approaches to literacy development

• Phonics-Based approaches
The idea of teaching letter-sound correspondences (phonics) is phonics based
approach to literacy. There are two kinds of approaches to phonics instruction:

- Synthetic phonics moves from letter sounds to words;

- Analytic phonics, whole words are first presented and then analysed
into their components letters and letter-sounds

So the phonics approaches, view the primary task of literacy classrooms to be the
teaching of “bottom-up” skills—letter-sounds and words built from these.

• Whole Language

The Whole Language approach suggests that reading is a parallel language system
like speaking, such that exposure to, and immersion in, a rich language environment
is sufficient for children to acquire the written code of the language. Children are
viewed as meaning- makers from their very first attempts to read, which implied that
comprehension should be placed front-and-centre in literacy instruction. The Whole
Language movement caught the imagination of progressive educators in the West,
and more recently, in India. This is called top-down approach (meaning based).

• Balanced/Comprehensive Approaches

Adopting a balanced/comprehensive approach is to mix the phonic approach and

whole language approach paying attention to both meaning-making and helping
children to master the code (script).

Explicit and systematic methods of instruction in phonic approaches were found to

be more effective than incidental learning through immersion, or implicit methods of
instruction.

Balanced approach should include five “components” of reading that need to be

taught simultaneously –

• phonological awareness
• phonics
• fluency
• vocabulary
• comprehension

This approach further recommends that the teacher needs to focus on helping
students gain “local knowledge,” which includes phonics, syntax, and semantics;
“global knowledge,” which includes an understanding of the texts and reader
response; and “affective knowledge” which includes building a positive attitude to
reading and a desire to read.

The model also specifies a variety of pedagogical techniques, such as reading aloud,
shared reading, modelled writing, interactive writing, that strike a balance between
techniques that are mostly teacher-centered (reading aloud to children), to those that
are mostly student-centered (independent reading) (see below)
Instructional Frameworks Used in a Balanced/Comprehensive Literacy Program
Reading aloud The teacher reads aloud
every day from material
that are at students’
listening level but above
their reading level.
Flodeted writing The teacher demonstrates
the act of writing by
thinking aloud as he/she
composes a text in front
of students.
Shared reading’ Reading a ext that is
above the reading level of
the students. The teacher
reads aloud at a speed
that allows the student(s)
to join in. Either a
big book is read or all
students have a copy of
the reading material.
Shared writing
A whole-class or small-
group activity in which
the teacher and students
share the composing
process. By recording
what the class wants to
say, the teacher reinforces
concepts of print.
To help students’ Big/small
listening skills. reading books
comprehension and
vocabulary. Helps In
building a literacy-rich
environment and students
can retell simple narrative
stories.
To allow students to Large writing
hear the thinking that board, pens
accompanies the process
of writing, such as topic
choice, how to start the
piece, looking for a better
word, revising, and editing.
To build upon children’s Big books,
interests and to increase charts,
their enjoyment and anthologies,
appreciation of stories, magazines,
poems, rhymes, and chants. stories.
To help students learn Large writing
about the writing process board. pens
through structured
conversations. The content
of the message can be a
daily message, response
to literature, lists, and so
forth.
EARLY LANGUAGE & LITERACY - A Posi t
Guided reading The teacher reads (short To support and encourage Little books,
selections) with a small the development of short stories.
group of students. Each strategies for independent magazines,
student has a copy reading. newspaper

of the text and reads articles.

independently (oially or
silently) as the teacher
observes, coaches,
prompts, and evaluates
their performance. The
teacher encourages
students to think critically
about the text and
discusses it with the
student.
Guided writing The teacher works with To provide focused writing Small books
the whole class or a small
group with similar needs instruction to a small group
and coaches as they write
a composition. of students in order to
lead them to independent
Independent Students read with 95/100 writing.
reading percent accuracy, and they
choose their own books To provide opportunities to Class libraries,
and take responsibility apply reading strategies, trade books,
develop Ruency, and build book clubs
for working through the confidence as readers, and
challenges of the text.
to work independently
The teacher’s role is to to improve reading
observe, acknowledge, and achievement.
respond.
Independent
writing Writing that studenU
initiate through daily
To encourage student Paper, pens
journaling, writing
assignment, or notes to to experiment Cth and
classmates, teachers, and/ explore the uses of written
or parents. It provides language.
students with the
opportunity to pract1ce
their writing sl‹ilb.
Some takeaways for developing literacy in your primary classroom

a. Children can benefit from reading and writing activities such as storytelling,
free and guided conversations and activities like language games, rhymes and
riddles for vocabulary development and verbal expression, activities for sound
and visual association, phonemic awareness within a print-rich environment.
Activity corners such as dolls’ corners, picture-book corners and blocks and
manipulative play corners for planned free-play opportunities can provide a
foundation for book bonding, critical thinking, developing an interest in
learning, as well as in persevering with the tasks at hand, which are crucial for
school success.

b. The focus of instruction in the classroom needs to be on reading with

comprehension and critical thinking, not just decoding. There are a variety of
activities which can be utilized to foster reading with comprehension, including
reading aloud, discussions with and amongst children and activities for
meaning-making.

c. Print-rich environments should be provided to children through libraries set up

in each classroom. Mini-libraries can be extended to communities as well, so
parents/family members of the children can borrow books to take home.
These libraries may have pictorial books and those with very little text, which
can be ‘read’ to children by parents with limited literacy skills. It is critical to
establish real-life connections for children to demonstrate the link between
what is learned in school to their lives outside the school.

Parents and community

You need to work with parents and communities about the objectives of your
programme and discuss ways in which they can support children. This is even more
important for parents from marginalized backgrounds, who may not be literate.
Compiling folk stories, songs, riddles and rhymes with help of parents/grandparents
and community members and converting these into texts for children in their home
language and from their cultural contexts can be an effective way to help bridge the
home-school language gap.

Principles of Good Literacy/Language

Pedagogy Principle 1: Oral language must be

linked to literacy:
Literacy instruction is intimately linked to, and builds on children’s knowledge of oral
language(s). Oral language use in the classroom helps young learners to build
connections between home and school. Literacy should not be taught in a
discontinuous manner from oral language. It helps children to build awareness of
phonological and structural aspects of a language and connect meaningfully with
reading and writing activities in the classroom.

Principle 2: Emphasis on Writing: The capacity to acquire oral language may be

innate; however, there is no evidence that the capacity to acquire written languages is
innate. Drawing and writing should be a means for children to express themselves.
We need to provide planned and systematic opportunities for children to acquire the
written symbol system.

Principle 3: Develop multilingual capabilities: In a multi-lingual society like ours we

cannot separate “first language” from “second language” literacy; rather, we should
adopt a multilingual approach to our teaching in order to address specific needs of
our students
 Principle 4: Focus on a balanced/ comprehensive approach of instruction
Your approach should incorporate attention to processes that build comprehension,
vocabulary, fluency, word recognition, letter knowledge, and phonological
awareness. In addition, it must build appreciation for literature, and an ability to write
in a variety of genres and for a variety of purposes (mix bottom-up and top-down
approaches)

Principle 5: Literacy instruction should be seen as a socio-culturally and

socio-politically embedded set of practices:
Literacy is not an “autonomous skill”, but is a socio-culturally and socio-politically
embedded set of practices

• Literacy is not just about code-breaking or meaning-making. Students should

also be empowered to act as text users and as text critics.
• Literacy pedagogy must move beyond relations internal to the text. Word-
World relationships must be considered.
• Different communities socialize their children into different ways of taking from
texts, leading some to succeed, and others to fail, with school literacies.
• We should give access to the codes of power to children from disadvantaged
communities by teaching them explicitly.

Principle 6: Use a Gradual Release of Responsibility Model of literacy

pedagogy:

In elementary education settings, it may be wise to use a Gradual Release of

Responsibility (GRR) model of literacy pedagogy that follows an “I do We do-You do”
approach (to the extent possible). This will require incorporating a variety of
instructional routines for teaching literacy, such as, Read Aloud/ Modelled Writing,
Shared Reading/Writing, Guided Reading/Writers’ Workshop, Independent
Reading/Writing

Explicit modelling helps children performing at varied levels; it creates a conducive

social environment in the classroom by enabling a conscious inclusion of literacy
tasks in pairs and small groups

Principle 7: Good literature should be an important part of classroom

pedagogy: Children should be exposed to good literature from lower classes.
Ensuring easy access to high- quality, age - and – grade - appropriate children’s
literature in classrooms through book corners or classroom libraries is an essential
component of literacy instruction from the earliest grades. A variety of children’s
books (poems, picture books, storybooks, non-fiction) in home and school languages
of the child should be regularly used in the classroom. Reading Aloud is a wonderful
way to enable conversations in the classroom.

Teaching philosophy and pedagogical methods

Despite their academic findings taking place more than half of a century ago, the
influence of educational researchers Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky can be found in
school classrooms around the world today. Let's look at how the theories provided by
Piaget and Vygotsky are commonly used in classroom teaching and learning.
Piaget’s Constructivism (active learning)

Piaget (1985) developed cognitive developmental theory called constructivism which

proposes that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore
their world. Piaget (1970) observed that in infancy and early childhood, a child’s
understanding is different from an adult’s understanding. His theory on cognitive
development focused on adaptation. Adaptation is the building up of schemas
through direct interaction with the environment. Schemas are psychological
structures that are organized ways of making sense of experience (Berk, 2009).
Constructivism justifies students being active learners instead of passive receivers.
People construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world through
experiencing. It develops advanced skills such as critical thinking, analysis
evaluation and creation. It promotes diverse viewpoints. It encourages students to
reflect evaluate their work and identify intermediary skills to acquire based on their
needs. It involves process of questioning, exploring and reflecting.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory (peer learning/collaborative learning)

Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory focuses on culture, the values, beliefs, customs
and skills of a social group and how it is transmitted to the next generation (Vygotsky,
1978). Vygotsky asserted the importance of individual zones of proximal
development (Z.P.D.) in collective interrelated zones. A zone of proximal
development is a range of tasks too difficult for the child to do alone but possible with
the help of adults and more skilled peers (Berk, 2009). Thus, we can view this
thinking as a collaborative setting in which collective zones of proximal development
exist.

Teaching methodologies for primary classrooms based on the

above theories: Assisted Discovery

Vygotskian classrooms accept individual differences and provide opportunities for
children’s
active participation through assisted discovery (Vygotsky, 1978). Teachers guide
children’s learning, tailoring their interventions to each child’s zone of proximal
development. Assisted discovery is also fostered by peer collaboration. Vygotsky
advocated the value of literacy activities once a child begins formal schooling. As
children talk about literature, mathematics, science and social studies, their teachers
inform, correct and ask them to explain. As a result, children reflect on their own
thought processes and shift to a higher level of cognitive activity in which they think
about how to symbolize ideas in socially useful ways (Berk, 2009). Gradually, they
will refine their ability to do so.

Reciprocal Teaching
While reciprocal teaching is a Vygotskian method of teaching often used to improve
reading comprehension. In reciprocal teaching, a teacher and a small group of
students, for example two to four students, form a collaborative group and take turns
leading dialogues on the content of a text passage. Within the dialogues, group
members apply four cognitive strategies: questioning; summarizing; clarifying and
predicting. The four cognitive strategies can take the following direction: the dialogue
teacher, who is usually at first the teacher, begins by asking questions about the
content of the text passage. Students offer answers, raise additional questions, and
in case of disagreement re-read the original text. Next, the leader summarizes the
passage, and children discuss the summary and clarify unfamiliar ideas. Finally, the
leader encourages students to predict upcoming content based on clues in the
passage. Reciprocal teaching creates a zone of proximal development in which
children gradually learn to scaffold one another’s progress and assume more
responsibility for comprehending text passages (Berk,
2009). Also, by collaborating with others, children forge group expectations for high
level thinking and acquire skills vital for learning and success in daily life.

Discovery Learning

This is based on Piaget’s theory of constructivism. It is sensitive to children’s

readiness to learn; and it accepts individual differences. Through discovery learning,
instead of providing ready-made knowledge verbally, teachers provide a rich variety
of activities designed to promote exploration and discovery. Some examples of
discovery learning activities may include art, puzzles, games, natural science tasks
etc. Teachers carefully select and arrange materials so children who often vary
widely in developmental progress can construct more developed understandings.

Teachers observe their students by watching and listening to them, and by

introducing experiences that permit them to practice newly discovered schemas that
challenge their incorrect ways of viewing the world and by not trying to hasten
development by imposing new skills upon children before children indicate interest or
readiness, teachers can avoid educating children to superficially accept adult
formulas rather than true understanding (Berk, 2009).

Rather than only planning activities for the class as a whole, it is common for
teachers to plan and integrate small group and individual centred learning activities
too. Teachers evaluate student progress in relation to the child’s previous
development, rather than on the basis of normative standards, or average
performance of same-age peers. By questioning,
prompting and suggesting strategies, a teacher can keep a student within his/her
zone of proximal development, and at a manageable level of difficulty. Project based
learning can also be used to promote discovery learning where students work in
groups on a topic/problem and discover solutions and arrive at their own
understanding.

Scaffolding & Guided Participation

Scaffolding, that is, a Vygotskian process of adjusting the support that we offer as
teachers during a teaching session to fit the child’s current level of performance
(Vygotsky, 1978). We can use direct instruction or simplify a task into smaller units,
and offer strategies, and reasons for using them. Scaffolding can be used effectively
as a teaching and learning tool for children who are working on different tasks. A
broader concept than scaffolding is guided participation (Rogoff, 1990) which
involves the sharing of learning between an expert (teacher) and less expert
participants (students), without specifying the precise features of communication.
Adult cognitive support through teaching in small steps and offering strategies
encourages children’s mature thinking. Furthermore, adult emotional support by
offering encouragement, and transferring responsibility to the child fosters greater
children’s effort.

Pictures and stories as triggers for interaction

A picture is worth a thousand words through which a complex idea can be conveyed.
As the world is changing day by day, so are the methods of instructions change.
Visual aids like pictures and images can be used to promote positive learning
experiences. Effective teachers use pictures as triggers to improve student’s
retention of the reading materials. These picture triggers act as supporting elements
for our memory system. Pictures can be used to enhance student learning and to
develop imagination and creativity. Pictures can provide more details than words.
Stories are useful for teaching and presenting more complex and abstract concepts
in an interesting way. Stories play a vital role in the growth and development of
children. They develop listening skills and vocabulary comprehension. Stories create
mental images through description. They also encourage creative thinking, creative
writing and verbal proficiency. Stories promote a feeling of relaxation and active
participation.

Storytelling: A powerful tool for primary classrooms

Teaching with storytelling is built with constructivist learning principles. Barbara C.

Palmer says that story telling is a student-centered learning process. It helps in
developing language and literacy. Story telling is which interactive process that
facilitates imagination, creative thinking language ability and co-operative learning.
Learners actively construct their current knowledge base. Social interaction on
meaningful tasks enhances learning. Story telling offers limitless opportunities for
developing a more authentic awareness and respect for children with diverse
languages and cultural backgrounds.

Children love to hear good stories. Without the use of books, telling stories takes on a
different dimension. It offers a new way of looking at stories and allows us to act and
use our voice effectively. It connects children with history, families, and each other. It
is an ancient form of communication. For millennia, people have passed on
traditions, legends, and historic events through the telling of stories. True storytelling
does not make use of books; like the ancients, it is intended to convey an idea simply
through the spoken word.

Storytelling has many benefits for young learners:

• Language Skills
As young children listen to a storyteller, they’re hearing variations in speech and
words presented in a compelling and fascinating way. Older children can expand their
vocabulary and learn skills that may serve them well if they decide to act in plays
later. Storytelling also presents certain literary devices in a demonstrative and
memorable way. Children will see and hear the building of plot, characterization,
climax, conflict, conclusion, etc. Perhaps rhyme or poetic prose will be used to tell the
story, allowing children to hear the way the language sounds and how that can add to
the story. Memory without books or illustrations, children have to remember key
points of the plot and character names. This is an excellent exercise in memorization
skills and it also may help guide children when they wish to write a story of their own.

• New Worlds
Storytelling opens children’s minds to other cultures and life philosophies; it develops
the inner world of imagination and creative thinking. Children tap into their
imaginative minds and provide their own imagery. Storytelling is also a way to bring
history alive and inspire further exploration of historical events.
You can tell personal stories and encourage children to also collect stories of their
infancy from their parents and retell them in the class. Stories about life in the past, in
other cultures, or animals make good stories. Telling things from a unique point of
view will get children to think about what life is like for others, which is a good
precursor for developing empathy.
Conclusion
Having discussed a number of teaching methodologies for primary classroom, you
must have noticed that none of these methods consider students as empty slates or
empty vessels who need to be filled with 'knowledge' instead we believe that children
bring a lot of ideas, experiences and abilities to the classroom and are co-
participants in the meaning-making and learning process. We discussed some
pedagogical techniques such as read aloud, direct instruction, modelled writing
which are teacher centered however, we also explored a number of learner-centered
methodologies such as reciprocal teaching, discovery learning, project based
learning, storytelling that place the learner at the heart of the learning process and
knowledge construction and also encourage collaborative learning.

As teachers we know best what works and doesn't work. We need to continue to
experiment and explore various methods in our classrooms and adopt a mixed
approach based on our specific classroom contexts. That will be your own method
which we call ‘post-method’!

References

Berk, L. E. (2009). Child Education. Boston: Pearson International

Leichsenring, A. (2013). The Influence of Piaget and Vygotsky on Everyday

Elementary Classroom Teaching and Learning. Education Articles
http://www.edarticle.com/

Yilmaz, K. (2008). Constructivism: Its Theoretical Underpinnings, Variations, and

Implications for Classroom Instruction. In Educational Horizons, Vol. 86, No. 3, pp.
161-172 URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/42923724 Accessed: 04-05-2020 20:14
UTC

Early Language and Literacy in India, A position Paper, 2016

https://www.careindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ELL-English-2.pdf
 DAY 6…..11-05-2020
Pedagogical aspects of teaching English Skill based language teaching

Objectives

By the end of the module you will be able to:

-understand skill-based language teaching and ways to strengthen LSRW

-identify skills and sub-skills needed for your children

- integrate the sub-skills to adopt an integrated approach to teaching English

Skill based language teaching

Explicitly teaching listening (L), speaking (S), reading (R) and writing (W) skills the
four macro skills to students enables us to develop their language skills in a holistic
manner. Skill- based instruction ensures that a good amount of instructional time is
dedicated to teaching students how to read, think, write, and speak in all subject
areas. Through explicit teaching, students develop the ability to read complex texts
and express sophisticated ideas on their own. Skill-based instruction will move
students toward independence and teach them how to think at high levels, solve
problems, and perform on various academic tasks with great success.

Throughout primary and secondary education, courses are designed around

content--that is, classes are developed based on the information we want students to
know. What our students learn in history, for example, is quite different from what
they learn in a life science class. The content is different. Each class has its own set
of facts, vocabulary, and concepts that students must learn in a short period of time.
But what skills are students learning in these classes? They are expected to know a
wealth of information, but what are they able to do as a result of taking the class?
Skill-based instruction moves students toward independence as they learn how to
make meaning on their own.

Skill-based instruction is about planning, implementing, and assessing literacy skills.

In a skill- based classroom, a good amount of instructional time is dedicated to
practicing, assessing, and reflecting on skills. As students practice skills, they are
reading non-fiction texts, discussing ideas, and summarizing essential information.
They are learning how to think critically, analyze ideas, and speak and write with
insight and sophistication. The focus in the classroom is on
developing students’ into independent readers and thinkers so that they are
prepared for the rigors of secondary and college education. Content knowledge is
critical, and using reading, writing, listening and speaking skills to access that
knowledge helps students learn it and retain it.

If we teach literacy skills and truly focus our efforts on helping students read, write,
and think in all subject areas, then our students will learn the content and be able to
make new meaning through original analysis, evaluation, synthesis, and application.
Strong skill-based instruction relies on four main elements.

1. explicit teaching
2. clear objectives
3. strategic scaffolds for learning
4. skill practice, practice, practice

Now we will discuss the four language skills LSRW in greater detail. Listening and
Reading are called receptive skills and Speaking and Writing are called productive
skills.

RECEPTIVE SKILLS

a. Listening

The act of listening means “to pay attention to somebody/something that you can
hear” (Hornby, 2005). This implies the idea of understanding the message you hear
so that you can respond to it and interact with the person you hear. It is “perhaps the
most challenging of the skills to master in a second language” because “spoken
language is different from written text. In English, speakers may miss a subject or
verb, or may break off their sentence in the middle, or hesitate to think about what he
is going to say next or include words, phrases, or ideas that are not strictly
necessary.” According to Penny Ur (1996), it is important to work on the
development of listening comprehension, since “students should learn to function
successfully in real-life listening situations.”

Harmer (2007) mentions two different kinds of listening. On one hand, Extensive
Listening “refers to listening which the students often do for pleasure or some other
reason. The audio material they consume in this way – often on CDs in their cars, on
MP3 players, DVDs, videos or on the internet–should consist of texts that they can
enjoy listening to because they more or
less understand them without the intervention of a teacher or course materials to
help them.” This kind of listening is very important from the motivational point of
view, because it “increases dramatically when students make their own choices
about what they are going to listen to” On the other hand, Intensive Listening is the
one in which “students listen specifically in order to study the way in which English is
spoken. It usually takes place in classrooms or language laboratories, and typically
occurs when teachers are present to guide students through any listening difficulties,
and point them to areas of interest.”

HOW TO DEVELOP LISTENING SKILLS

In order to develop listening skills, Hadfield (2008) mentions different kinds of

activities and strategies: One of them is Listening with a purpose, which is important
because learners “can adapt the way they listen to their aims” paying more attention
to the information they need to extract from the listening text. Another aspect that
Hadfield mentions is Listening for gist. When the teacher uses this strategy, he/she
sets “a question or task which” is given to the “learners before they listen so that they
know what information they are listening for.” The third aspect mentioned by Hadfield
is Listening for specific details which means that to listen with a clear purpose in
mind means that learners develop the ability to filter out everything they do not need
to know.

b. READING

Hornby (2005) states that a person reads when he/she looks at and understands
“the meaning of written or printed words or symbols.”

Harmer (2007) states that there are two types of reading: extensive and intensive
reading. The first term refers to the reading that students often do for pleasure. This
is better when students have the opportunity to choose what they want to read. As
extensive reading is very important, teachers need to have a programme which
includes materials, guidance, tasks and libraries. On the other hand, intensive
reading is the detailed focus of reading text, complemented with study activities,
such as, uses of grammar and vocabulary. this kind of reading, teachers have to
motivate students to read intensively, engaging them with the topics and tasks.
There are further roles teachers need to adopt when asking students to read
intensively: organizer, observer and feedback organizer. Besides, when reading
intensively, it is necessary that teachers find some accommodation between the
desire of having students with a development of understanding a general message
without considering every detail and the students‟ natural
desire to understand the meaning of every single detail or word. If students and
teachers want to get the maximum benefit from reading, learners need to be in
involved in both.

HOW TO DEVELOP READING SKILLS

To develop reading skills, teachers play a crucial role. They should help students to
focus their reading in such a way that they read for meaning instead of getting
involved in individual words or unimportant details thereby losing the main meaning
of a text. Also, teachers need to help them to read in diverse ways and use sub-skills
that will help them to improve and understand what are they reading efficiently.
According to Harmer (2007) to understand reading texts students need to do some
activities or use some strategies. First, students need to be able to scan the text,
which means reading quickly while looking for specific information. On the other hand,
students also need to be able to skim, which is used to quickly identify the general
idea of a text, readers are focused briefly on a few words per line, headings or the
first and last sentence in a paragraph.

Hadfield (2008) says that reading for a gist is another strategy that implies reading
with a purpose in mind. Also, reading for detail is considered as a strategy.
Sometimes, students need to read carefully, because it is necessary to pay attention
to all the sentences to get the meaning of the whole text. Hadfield (2008) also talks
about sub skills.

• Activating Background knowledge

helps learners to understand a text by discussing the topic before reading.

Brainstorming and Mind-Mapping are useful techniques to do this. The first one
means to think quickly of anything related to the topic and the second one tries to
order the ideas, for example in separate categories. These two activities help to
activate vocabulary learners already have.

• Predicting

Predicting can be done by looking at titles, pictures or words from the text. Students
can make mini-predictions throughout the whole reading.

• Using Linkers

The last sub-skill is Using Linkers. Linkers are words that act as signals that show the
structure of a text and help to understand when a new piece of information is
coming. The use of these sub skills can be very helpful in the development of
reading skills.
PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
c. WRITING

Richards & Renandya (2002) mention that writing is the most difficult skill for second
language (L2) learners, since they need to generate ideas, organize them and
translate these ideas into readable text which can be very difficult for students.
Harmer (2007) mentions some important aspects that are considered in writing such
as handwriting. Spelling is also a main issue in writing and in literacy. One of the
reasons why spelling is difficult for students of English is that the correspondence
between the sound of a word and the way it is spelt is not always obvious. A single
sound may have many different spellings and the same spelling may have many
different sounds. A third aspect is ‘Layout and Punctuation’ which are essential in
writing. They are different in writing communities and, frequently, non-transferable
from one community or language to another. In fact, to success in writing, in teachers‟
own language or another language, it is necessary for students to be aware of layout
and punctuation rules, in order to produce the written message as clearly as they
can.

HOW TO DEVELOP WRITING SKILLS

Many authors agree that there are some issues that help in the development of
writing. One of those issues is Genre, which according to Harmer (2007), represents
the norms of different kinds of writing. It helps to recognize an advertisement, poetry
format and formal letter. A good way to teach genre is when teachers show models of
what they want learners to write and then, using these techniques, students try to do
their own work. In relation to this, Hadfield (2008) says that if teachers are teaching
how to write a particular type of text, they can give students activities to practice
accuracy, give guidance in what to say or how to say it or allow students to write
freely.

Another aspect of writing is ‘Cooperative Work’. Although many students write on

their own, it is much better to use the cooperative writing in classes, because group
writing allows giving more detailed and constructive feedback. To write in groups,
whether as part of a long or short process, is very motivating for students to develop
this skill. (Harmer, 2007)

Writing is a journey of self-discovery and self-discovery promotes effective learning.

Students feel more motivated when teacher gives imaginative writing tasks, because
they feel engaged and try to do their best in producing a variety of correct and
appropriate language than they might for more routine assignments. As writing is an
important ability, it is necessary to build a writing habit in students. Doing this,
students will recognize writing as a normal part of classroom practice and they come
to writing assignments with much enthusiasm. To achieve
the writing habit, it is necessary to give the students interesting and enjoyable tasks
to do. According to Hadfield (2008), another way of helping students to organize and
express their ideas is to focus on the writing process that consists of dividing the
writing activity in many stages, each of which practices an important sub-skill in this
process.

d. SPEAKING

Hornby (2005) defines Speaking as the act of talking to or having a conversation

with somebody. According to Hadfield (2008), this presents the necessity of
interaction among people, which is not only “putting a message together” but also
the response that the listener can give to the speaker. However, this interaction
presents a difficulty for learner of English as a second language, since they need to
think of something to say and feel confident enough to try to express it. Then, they
have to use what they have learned in terms of vocabulary and grammar to produce
a message that other people can understand.
HOW TO DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS

Hadfield (2008) proposes that teacher can help students to develop their speaking
skills by giving them ideas such as asking them to read a text concerning the topic that
is being discussed so that students can learn some vocabulary about it. This is also
helpful because it “and can get students thinking around the topic and stimulate
ideas.” He also proposes teacher to provide students with what to say by giving them
some role cards with an outline or suggestions of what they can say. Moreover, he
proposes that tasks should be precise, with a clear goal for students to reach so that
students have a clear idea of the outcome of their work. In order to help student to
develop their confidence for speaking, Hadfield (2008) proposes, for example, allow
the students to practice in pairs what they want to say so that they will feel more
confident to say it in front of the whole class. To help learners developing fluency,
the most useful tool is asking them to speak, presenting different – and interesting –
topics or communicational situations for them to express themselves as many times
as possible. Another important aspect to consider in the development of speaking
skills is the feedback that the teacher gives to students. He/she should avoid
“interrupting learners to correct them while they are speaking” because this could
mean “that they will not get the chance to develop fluency.” (Hadfield, 2008)
INTEGRATED-SKILLS APPROACH

WHAT TO INTEGRATE?

As Peregoy & Boyle (2001) state in Chen (2007), “in natural, day-to-day experience,
oral and written languages are not kept separate and isolated from one another.
Instead, they often occur together, integrated in specific communication events.”
Moreover, Chen (2007) considers that during “the language learning process,
listening, speaking, reading, and writing should be treated as integrated,
interdependent, and inseparable elements of language.” Peregoy & Boyle (2001)
conclude in Chen (2007) that the teacher should incorporate opportunities
throughout the reading for students to develop their own learning by responding
verbally as they read, write, and learn in English, because it is the integrated use of
oral and written language for functional and meaningful purposes that best promotes
the full development of second language proficiency. They suggest that reading and
writing as well as speaking and listening should be integral parts of all language
classroom activities because all these processes interact with one another. Teachers
should provide opportunities and resources for students to engage in authentic
speech and literacy activities. Hungyo and Kijai (2009) explain that the “term
integrated means language learning where all four skills take place at the same time
and with teacher, learner, and setting as playing their roles in the learning.”

According to Brown (2001, quoted in Hungyo & Kijai, 2009), the Integrated Skill
Approach “is a whole language approach where if a course deals with reading
skills, then, it will also deal with listening, speaking, and writing skills.” This approach
is considered as one in which “the English language is taught not just for academic
but also for communication purpose.” In other words, it considers the
communicational goal that every language course should achieve by exposing
learners “to the richness and complexity of the language” (Hall, 2006, quoted in
Hungyo & Kijai, 2009).
HOW TO INTEGRATE?

Hungyo & Kijai (2009) state that the “activities used by teachers in the integrated
approach are real-life activities and situations and thus create an interactive learning
environment.” In other words, when using the Integrated-skill Approach, teachers
face their students with communicative situations that have to as real as possible so
that students realize the importance of learning the foreign language. Oxford (2001)
states that there are two types of integrated- skill instruction which are Content-
Based Language Instruction/Learning (CBLL) and Task- Based Language
Instruction/Teaching (TBLT): In Content-Based Instruction, students practice
all the language skills in a highly integrated, communicative fashion while
learning contents such as science, mathematics, and social studies. Content-
based Language Instruction is valuable at all levels of proficiency, but the nature
of the content might differ by proficiency level. For beginners, the content often
involves basic social and interpersonal communication skills, but past the
beginning level, the content can become increasingly academic and complex.

In Task-Based Instruction, students ‟ basic pair work and group work are often
used to increase student interaction and collaboration. For instance, students
work together to write and edit a class newspaper, develop a television
commercial, enact scenes from a play, or take part in other joint tasks. More
structured cooperative learning formats can also be used in task-based
instruction. Task-based instruction is relevant to all levels of language
proficiency, but the nature of the task varies from one level to the other.
According to Harmer (2007), productive work should not always be imitative.
Students are greatly helped by being exposed to examples of writing and
speaking which show certain conventions for them to draw upon. Harmer (2007)
also states that skill integration is a major factor in lesson planning. Weaving
threads of different skills and topics is a major art of teachers who plan for a
sequence of lessons. Skill integration also happens when students are involved
in project work, which may well involve researching (through reading or
listening), speaking (e. g .in discussions or when giving a presentation) and
writing (e.g submitting a report).

CONCLUSION

In this module we discussed skill-based language teaching and the macro skills
LSRW. These macro skills can be divided into micro skills or sub-skills. Take a
look at the handout on ‘Graded activities for the Four Macro Skills’ attached with
this material. Explicit teaching of skills allows us to develop strong language
abilities of our students. We recommend an integrated approach to teaching of
skills.

References
http://manuu.ac.in/DDE-SelfLearnmaterial/BEDD116DST_July4.pdf

https://www.literacyta.com/skill-based-instruction
 DAY ..7…..12-05-2050
Promoting Social Awareness and Values

Introduction
Education is necessarily a process of inculcating values to equip the learner
lead a life – a kind of life that is satisfying to the individual in accordance
with the cherished values and ideals of the society. Philosophers, spiritual
leaders and educationists of our country, all in various ways, have
emphasized the role of education for ‘character development’, ‘bringing out
the latent potentialities and inherent qualities’ and developing an ‘integrated
personality’ for the well-being of the individual and the society at large.
Whatever term we may use, the importance of developing values has long
been embedded in the age-old traditions of India’s civilizational and cultural
heritage, spanning over the centuries. The diverse and rich cultural heritage
that we are so fortunate to inherit in our country is in many ways symbolic of
the foundation and wellspring of values from which we draw our values
nourishment. Life of individuals and communities and that of our saints,
sages and philosophers are examples of values like self-discipline, survival
in the absence of material resources, simplicity, handling conflicts without
violence, exploring simple but revolutionary ideas as a mark of superior
conduct and living.
Education and Social Awareness
The concerns for value education are reflected in our key policy documents
from time to time. After independence the National Commission of Secondary
Education (1952-53) was a significant landmark in emphasizing character
building as the defining goal of education. “The supreme end of the
educative process should be the training of the character and personality of
students in such a way thatthey will be able to realize their full potentialities
and contribute to the well-being of the community.”
Social awareness is the ability to comprehend and appropriately react to
both problems of Society and interpersonal struggles.
It helps to interpret the emotions of the people accurately with whom
you interact. In short it is emotional intelligence and empathy.
Theoretically, Social Awareness is actually the interworking of multiple
concepts at once- a) Social sensibility b) Social insight c) Social
Communication.
Social intelligence is the ability to motivate others into cooperative
behaviors.It is important in both personal and professional life.
Professionalism = Collaboration, Communication and Social responsibility.
Trust, loyalty and getting along with other individuals and communities. It
helps to prevent violence, drug abuse and prejudice. It promotes
interpersonal skills, understanding, literacy and values.
Strategies to improve social awareness and responsibility among
children
1) Challenge your children to understand everyday situations i.e. terms of
language, body language and facial expression.
2) Encourage your children to participate in group physical, mental and social
activities.
3) Be a Role Model and show compassion and empathy to others irrespective of
caste, creed, region etc.
Always promote interpersonal understanding, literacy and values.
Teachers can easily promote Social Awareness and Responsibility through
the following basic ground rules:
- Respect yourself and others.
- Do not monopolize discussion.
- Do not interrupt one another.
- One person at a time.
- Speak from your own experience, do notgeneralize.
- Arrive on time.
- Respect all ideas and protect all property.
- Be organized and prepared, do your very best.
- Critique ideas, not people. Listen to others and participate in discussions.
- Cooperate with your group, stay on task - do your assignments.
- Maintain personal hygiene. (and public sanitation)
Understanding Social Awareness
Education has to be considered as a catalyst to promote the value of social
responsibility and social consciousness among students. This involves
gradual growth of consciousness from the self to the other and knowledge of
the self as a member of a family, neighbourhood, village, town, city,
community, nation and global society. At each stage there is enlargement of
awareness of loyalties to each of the above. The sense of responsibility and
obligation towards one’s family, neighbourhood, society, nation etc.
needs to be cultivated in students’ right from the beginning. Training of
students to discharge the duties to be responsible citizens need to be given
importance with utmost earnest otherwise students grow up with the
obsession of rights to neglect the duties and responsibilities. Without this
they relate to the society and the nation only what they can get out of it
rather than what they can contribute to.
What are Values?
Values regulate and guide human behaviour and action in our day to daily
life. Values are embedded in every word we select and speak, what we
wear, ways in which we interact, our perceptions and interpretation of others
reactions in what we are say and so on.
Values are formed on the basis of interests, choices, needs, desires and
preferences. These comprise the nuclei of value formation. Values have a
selective or directional quality. When preferences acquire certain
definiteness, intensity and stability, these become the criteria for judgement,
choices, action and grounds for decision-making in behaviour. Value thus is
considered to be an enduring belief upon which human beings act by
preferences.
Diversity
India is a multilingual, multicultural and multi religious country. In the age of
increasing intermingling of communities and cultures, it is important that
diversity within the Indian society is appreciated based on universal
principles. Universality and diversity may seem to be incompatible but both
have to co-exist in a democratic and diverse society like ours where values
of democracy prevail at the same time values of differences are also fully
recognized and respected.
Inclusivity
A healthy happy society is one in which all its members feel included and do
not feel that they are excluded from the processes of the society because of
their colour, culture, caste, religion, gender or community. Young learners
must be made to understand that their own life and long-term peace,
prosperity and happiness is endangered if societies are not build on
inclusivity. This principle of inclusion must be part of the day-to-day
practices of the school. Efforts should be made to ensure that every member
of the school, every child, every worker, everyteacher feels included and not
excluded because of certain disparities or because of certain economic,
social and cultural background. The need to ensure gender equality and
gender equity within the society in particular by respecting the role and
contribution of women in societies raises the whole question as to how
gender is treated in
curricular, teaching and administrative processes within the schools. There
is a need to examine and ensure that gender biases and gender stereo-
typing is not part of the institutional ethos and climate.
Health
Health is important for the physical development of any individual. Earlier
health used to mean the absence of a disease but today it has taken on a
more comprehensive meaning because of the interrelationships between
physical health and mental, social, emotional and spiritual dimensions. Health
is a critical input for the overall development of the child as well as retention,
learning and performance of the child in the school. Although there are
social, cultural, economic and life style factors like income, poverty,
employment, occupation, social support, the type of work etc. affecting
health. Amongst all factors, life style factors can be relatively under control.
Environment
Making children sensitive to the environment and the need for its protection
is an immediate social concern. The reckless exploitation of environment,
depletion of ozone layer, global warming, industrial pollution, deforestation,
soil erosion, nuclear fallout due to over population new technological
choices, living styles etc. witnessed during the last century has led to
environmental degradation. It is imperative to nurture the values of care and
concern for the physical and natural environment, use of environmental
resources in a rationale and constructive way, realize the interdependence
between human being and the environment and so on for living in tune and
harmony with nature. Individual’s health can no longer maintained without
concern for the preservation and sustainability of the environment.
Examples of Teaching-Learning Activities for integration
Some examples of teaching-learning activities have been suggested below
for integration into the subject context. The teacher is the best judge where
to use them.
➢ Asking children to demonstrate as to how many ways one can show
respect to the elders at home and school.- how do we show respect when
we ask for things, listen and talk. (Environmental Studies/Language)
➢ Asking children to express the meaning of the word cooperation' in
different ways (Language)
 ➢ Using puppets to demonstrate how puppets resolve conflicts peacefully
through the usage of proper words and gestures (EVS/Language)
➢ Imagine a peaceful world and how would it look like? (Social Science)
➢ Children are asked to describe how anger destroys peace? (Social
Science/Language)
➢ Asking students to play the role of different objects like trees, broom, garbage
dump, showing their existence and worth which are valuable to all of us.
(EVS/Language)
➢ Asking students to describe a story, poem, quotation after showing some
pictures on chart. The story besides being original may carry some
social/moral message (Language)
➢ Asking students to write an original story on tolerance, sensitivity to others
etc. collecting newspaper chippings, magazines, articles on different
themes/creating a wall magazine (Language)
➢ Asking students to solve a problem as a team, utilize resources within the
team using improvisation to help weak students(EVS/Social Sciences)
➢ Showing an object e.g. flower, asking students to write few lines, a poem or
a song, comparing the qualities of a flower or other objects with a good
human being (Language)
Teacher and Classroom level Practices
• Modeling the desirable attitudes and behaviour like, patient listening, flexibility,
being kind and caring, acknowledging one’s mistakes, respect for dignity of the
child, being constantly aware of its impact on students.
• Developing a set of rules and democratising practices for classroom in
consultation with the students and displaying them like, wait for your turn to speak,
listen to others carefully, expresses freely etc.
• Creating non-threatening atmosphere in the classroom and maintaining positive
communication and relationships with students and colleagues.
• Be knowledgeable and appreciative of the cultural diversity, constitutional values
and upholding democratic structures and processes that stabilize peace within the
country.
• Sharing focus of values education with students at opportune time.
• Developing a folder including news items, photographs, episodes from
biographies
/autobiographies, relevant pictures, anecdotes, sayings, humorous stories,
etc. to be used as pedagogical tool for upholding the related value concerns
of the subject and topic.
Sample Topics for Discussion in the Classroom:
1. One’s Strengths and Weaknesses
2. Every profession is important
3. Ban on plastic usage
4. Social equality
5. Gender bias
6. Cleanliness and hygienic conditions
7. Sensibility towards Senior citizens
8. Good touch and bad touch
9. NCC, Scouts and Guides
10. Planting trees

References
http://www.ncert.nic.in/departments/nie/depfe/Final.pdf
 DAY…8… 13-05-2020
Dealing with multi-graded
classrooms
Objectives

By the end of this session participants will be able to

• Identify the strategies of dealing with a multi-graded classroom
• Customize various techniques that help them in their own contexts
• Modify lesson plans to suit a multi-graded classroom

Multigrade teaching – teaching classes of students not only of different ages

and abilities but also at different grade levels. Multigrade teaching is not always easy, but
doing it well means that you are educating children who otherwise would not be able to go to school
and therefore helping them gain the knowledge and skills they need for a morepromising future.

Managing a Multigrade Classroom

Multigrade teaching is all about classroom organization, student management, and,

ultimately, the successful transmission of grade- specific curricula. It is your responsibility as a
multigrade teacher to plan and organize your classroom to get the best results from the
space and resources available to you.

Adapting the Curriculum and Lesson Plans

Revisiting and redesigning the national curriculum to suit multigrade situations, according to
the number of classes to be combined together, is essential for teaching the required
curriculum content in a phased and continuous manner and for making it appropriate to the
cultural and socio-economic context of your school. To do this, you may find these
suggestions useful:

➢ select common themes from one subject suitable for all the grades in your
multigrade classroom
➢ develop a flexible timetable for all the grades throughout the session on this theme
➢ develop daily lesson plans for each unit related to this theme with the help of
textbooks and reference material as per the curriculum
➢ select activities linked to the curriculum that are to be conducted in the class
 ➢ develop relevant worksheets for individual or group practice ¾relate concepts from
the curriculum to examples from your students’ daily lives
➢ prepare quizzes to assess your students’ mastery of the curriculum content
➢ nurture talent in the school by organizing related co-curricular activities such as
music, creative arts, games, and physical education

In a multigrade classroom the curriculum is best delivered in an integrated sequence of

learning activities. To begin, you can concentrate on a theme, not individual subjects or grade
levels. This becomes the focus for all learning activities for the whole class. You can add to the
effectiveness of the integrated unit by linking it to as many different learning areas as
possible. You will need to take time to become thoroughly familiar with the content materials for
each theme. Work with students interested in a particular topic to explore this as it facilitates
their, and your, learning. It is also important that you
are systematic in planning lessons and developing teaching and learning materials relevant to
each of the curriculum units.

As a multigrade teacher, you are the key to planning, designing, and managing a range of
both grade-appropriate and mixed-grade activities for children to keep them engaged in
learning. Your efficiency and effectiveness rest on creating a classroom conducive to
learning by developing exciting and stimulating activities ranging from group work to
independent study. You play a central role in managing the classroom in the following ways:

• planning the use of the classroom “space”, especially flexible seating arrangements
for both you and your students
• planning and carrying out multiple lessons at the same time
• designing activities for students to keep them involved
• creating, arranging, and using teaching and learning materials
• establishing norms of behaviour expected of students to keep them learning

Understanding the Current Context and Creating a Future Vision

In order to realise these functions effectively, you need to focus on many levels of
classroom management. This starts with an assessment of what your classroom looks like
now and your vision of how you want it to look in the future.

Whenyoufirstgetassignedtoaschoolwhichhas–orshouldhave–multigradeteaching,it is
essential to take time to gain a clear understanding of the context of your
multigrade classroom. You can start by asking yourself the following questions:

Where is your school located? How far do your students travel to get to school?

What grades are you teaching? What age and ability range is in your classroom? How might
you best work with and take advantage of a wide range of ages and abilities?

What kinds of family background do your students come from? What is their economic
status?

What language do your students speak at home? How well do they understand and speak
the national language? What might you do to ensure they learn what they need to learn in the
language you use in the classroom?

Sample Lesson Plan

Subject: Science Topic: Classifying living things
Grade: 3-4
By the end of this lesson, you will have:

• collected and displayed real items in a

logical way in your classroom to
Learnin support your students’ learning about
Materials and notes
g grouping living things
outcome • used model building as a way of
recording what your students know
about different plants and animals
 Tell your students that they will be
developing a display to show non-living and
living things around them. Explain that it
would not be right to display
real animals and plants. They should not
damage or kill anything living. Instead, rather Give pupils several days to
like detectives, they should hunt for clues and bring in things for the display.
evidence of any living thing – e.g. feathers,
droppings, leaves and seeds. Seven characteristics of living
Activity1: things:
Choose six things from the display – three
Collecting living and three non-living – and display them Nutrition
evidence on another table. Gather your students round Reproduction
of life the table and ask them which of the six things
Growth
around us are living and how they know this. By careful
Respiration
questioning and discussion you should be
Whole class
able to draw up a list of the seven Sensitivity
characteristics of living things. You might
want to include this list of characteristics as Movement

part of the display.

Excretion

Finally, you could ask students to categorise

the living things into further sub-groups:
animals, plants and so on. Ask them to think
about what defines each group and where
each item sits in the display.

Activity2: Before this activity, ask your

Scientists group things by similarities and
students to bring in scrap
Building differences in the basic patterns of their
materials and collect some
models structure or form.
yourself. Scrap materials might
of plants One way to find out what your pupils observe
include: tin, cardboard, string,
Small about patterns in plants is by asking them to tape, straws, plastic bottles,
groups make models. fabric, paper, netting, wire.
according to
Organize the scrap materials so that each
grade or
group has a selection to use. Write the
ability level
following instructions on the chalkboard:
Talk about what a plant looks like

Then make models of the plants from the

scrap materials

If higher grades or more able students finish

first, work with them to develop a lexicon (a
small dictionary) to show which words the
students knew to describe the parts of plants
that they were familiar with (you might find it
helpful to put up these words round your
classroom and encourage the students to use
them when talking about their models).

More advanced terms for older pupils

Simple terms

Tap root, Side root Bark

Root

Vein
Stem

Petal, Anther, Pollen, Ovule Fleshy, Dry, Case

Leaf Bud
Radicle (baby root)

Flower Fruit Seed

(baby shoot)

Plumule

Developing Teaching and Learning Materials

One of the challenging but also enjoyable tasks of being a multigrade teacher is the chance to
prepare a wide range of teaching and learning materials for the grade levels and subjects you
teach. To keep this organized, each set of grade-level materials can be placed in a folder
including specific content to be taught and guidelines on how to teach it in the most
effective way.

Ten Strategies

These experiences in multigrade teaching help to reinforce the major lessons discussed above
which should be useful to you, as a multigrade teacher, in ensuring the best quality learning for
your students. These lessons include:

1. As a multigrade teacher, you should try first to understand the diversity and
complexity of your students – by gender, age, family and socio-
economic background, language, ability, and special education needs – and see
this diversity not as a problem to be solved but as an opportunity to be used to
produce better learning.
2. Given this diversity, you need to personalize your teaching (and eventually your
assessment methods) to respond to the different backgrounds and learning
styles/needs of each of your students. This includes identifying early on children who
are at risk of failing and giving them the extra attention they need to make sure they
succeed and stay in school.
3. You need to make your classroom “child-friendly”, especially for new
students coming directly from their families to the school; this means not only
teaching what needs to be taught but also ensuring that the classroom is healthy,
welcoming, inclusive and protective of children of all different backgrounds and
abilities and that your teaching is sensitive and responsive to the needs of both boys
and girls and promotes student participation in the classroom.
4. If it has not already been done, you will need to adapt the standard national
curriculum to both the local culture and context and to your multigrade situation.
This may require breaking down the curriculum into themes that can be taught
across grades while ensuring that students in each grade level learn what the system
expects them to learn.
5. In implementing this adapted curriculum, you should try to be creative in your
management of the multigrade classroom, arranging whole grades, mixed
grades, large and small groups, pairs and space for individual work. This requires
special attention to establishing routines for students to work and study
independently through activity-based learning.
6. You need to be flexible in your use of time, moving from one kind of group
to another and balancing the attention you give to strong students acting as peer
tutors and weaker students needing extra attention.
7. You should try to be innovative in the development and reproduction of
teaching and learning materials - use locally available resources and make
them relevant to the local context and culture. As far as possible, you need to bring
teaching closer to local conditions and available resources. The involvement of
students from higher grades in designing workbooks is always helpful in making
the curriculum more relevant to the local culture.
8. Where required and possible, you should use the students’ mother tongue
for instruction, ensuring initial literacy in that language (e.g. by Grade 3) and
then, where appropriate, helping students transfer the literacy skills in that
language to the national language(s).
9. Since you are often working in remote and isolated places, you should take
advantage of whatever resources there are around you to help you in your
work – your principal/ head teacher, parents and the local community, and other
schools relatively close to your school which can form a cluster and share useful
experiences, materials and lesson plans.
10. You must try to master the other skills needed to help a small, remote,
often poor (and poorly-supported) school succeed. Multigrade teaching is a
challenge in itself, but working with your teaching colleagues to make your small
school “work” requires other skills as well: making do with limited resources and
trying to raise more; carrying out a school self-assessment of its achievements and
its needs and developing a school improvement plan; mobilizing support from
impoverished and often disempowered and disinterested parents; and gaining the
support of local community leaders – all of these are skills useful in schools with
multigrade classrooms.
 DAY…9…..14-05-2020

Teacher Self-Reflection through Diaries

Dr. Ipshita H Sasmal
Ambedkar University Delhi

Introduction

Reflective diary is an effective tool for teachers' professional growth. Used as part of

the activities of pre-service and in-service teaching practice, it is a tool for descriptive,

reflective and / or critical recording of professional experiences lived by the teacher in

classroom situations. The reflective diary helps organize the activity of guided

analysis of pedagogical practice experiences aimed at: identifying students’ and

teachers’ needs, interests, motivation, the degree of mastery of past acquisitions and

their effectiveness in practical teaching situations. The analysis, processing and

interpretation of such a structured reflective diary is focused on the following areas:

characterizing the school climate factors where the teacher is teaching, analyzing the

relationship between the teacher and student, identifying the strengths and

weaknesses in terms of classroom management, the activities, tasks ad materials for

teaching, teacher talk in the classroom, various pedagogic decisions taken by the

teacher, methodology of teaching, process of achieving the learning outcomes and

assessment practices.

What is Reflection?

Reflection can be defined as, ‘a disciplined enquiry into the motives, methods,

materials and consequences of educational practice. It enables practitioners to

1
thoughtfully examine conditions and attitudes which impede or enhance student

achievement’ (Norton, 1994, quoted in Taggart and Wilson, 2005).

2
Therefore, in the professional contexts of training, teaching or school leadership,

reflection refers to the act of thinking constructively about your own profession

practice, with a view to improving it wherever possible. As teacher educators,

teachers or school leaders, you may keep employing the same techniques and

approaches repeatedly. However, we must realize that every training, teaching and

leadership context is unique, and all individuals respond differently according to their

existing knowledge and experiences. It is important to routinely evaluate the

effectiveness of your practice and consider whether it can be improved to ensure that

you constantly maximize your and your student’s opportunity for learning. Reflection

may appear to be a time-consuming addition to your workload. However, it is time

very well spent, not only because it becomes more automatic in time, but also

because the impact can be transformative – both in terms of your professional

development, and the effectiveness of your teaching or leadership.

Reflective Diaries

Reflective diaries can be used in many different forms depending on the purpose.

They can be in the form of a public blog or a handwritten book, they can be written

everyday, once a month or whenever something significant happens, and they can be

structured in different ways (Moon, 2003). The diaries are a writing tool for you that

can help you in the reflection process and promote metacognitive skills (thinking

about your learning) by providing you with a medium to write down your thoughts

(Walker, 2006). Careful prompt design stimulates you to actively reflect upon the

learning content and your own learning behavior, therefore facilitating the use of

3
metacognitive strategies and their integration (Fabriz et al., 2014; Jarvis, 2001). In

this way, reflective diaries can promote your professional development and support

self-regulated learning. In addition to promoting personal learning, reflective diaries

can also be used for probing your thoughts and experiences deeply, which is an

important part in order to understand your teaching in more depth

4
and make informed decisions to improve your teaching (Lohmann, 2008). Reflective

diaries provide information about the teacher’s thoughts and reflections on situations.

Two important advantages of reflective diaries are: “First, they allow to observe

learning and teaching over time. Second, learning can be investigated with ecological

validity because teachers complete the diaries in their natural learning environment.”

Reflection as a Tool for Professional Development

Reflection encourages teachers to explore their own contexts and construct their own

knowledge and understanding of what takes place in their classrooms. In self-directed

learning teachers assume responsibility for setting goals for self-development and for

managing and controlling their own learning. Richards & Farrell, 2005 discuss various

activities that teachers can engage in to develop themselves professionally. These

activities can aid self-learning and enhance teachers’ professional development.

Individual One-to-one Group Based Institutional

Self monitoring Peer-coaching Case studies Workshops

Journal Peer-observation Action research Action research

Writing/Diary

Writing

Critical Incidents Critical friendships Journal writing Teacher

suppor

t groups

5
Teaching Portfolios Action research Teacher

suppor

t groups

6
Action research Team teaching

Many of these activities which are in the form of one-to-one, group based or

institutional need not be excluded from self-learning.

Reflective Diaries Bring Out Teacher Knowledge and Beliefs

“The single factor which seems to have the greatest power to carry forward our

understanding of the teachers’ role is the phenomenon of teachers’ knowledge”

(Elbaz, 1981:45)

Much of teacher’s knowledge and belief systems are ‘tacit’ or hidden and hence could

not be brought out openly. Influenced by the philosophical (constructivism, humanism

etc.) ideas reflection was found to be the tool for understanding the knowledge,

beliefs and decisions of teachers.

Teachers’ knowledge can be observed through the following ways:

“Knowing-in-Action” and “Reflection-in-Action”

According to Schon (1983:39):

“…practitioners often find themselves in situations that are highly complex and fraught

with uncertainty, instability, uniqueness and value conflict. They cannot simply apply

research based theory to problem solving because problems do not present

themselves as given. They have to identify the problem by making sense of situations

that are ill-defined, messy, and full of uncertainties….. (and) the problem may be

7
unique, so that they cannot solve it by applying established theory or technique.

8
On the basis of the above argument Schon proposes that professionals show

“knowing-in action” which means that their skillful practice reveals a kind of knowing

that does not stem from prior intellectual operations. According to Schon, “knowing-in-

action” is intuitive and automatic and professions often engage in reflection based on

“knowing-in-action”. This reflection is of two types:

• Reflection-on-action: reflection on what they have done/experienced (to prepare

for future events)

• Reflection-in-action: Reflection during the action when faced with unanticipated,

problematic and unique situations.

“Action” is the teaching situation for teachers. They can reflect on their classroom

teaching after the class is over. They can also reflect on their teaching while they are

in the class and take more informed decisions. Thus these two types of reflection are

very important while writing diary entries.

Critical reflection

Much of the literature on reflection indicates that the concept is equated with just

writing about practical situations and recording and thinking about what happened in

or outside class. But teachers must also explore the pedagogic relevance of critical

reflection. In critical reflection teachers explore future possibilities, make decisions,

build theories and put them to practice. Critical reflection helps teachers to become

thinkers and knowledge creators. Diary writing is an important tool through which

critical reflection can be learnt and practiced. Teachers need to think, reflect and
9
discuss about case studies and critical incidents which can bring out the

projective

10
aspect of reflection which accounts for how teachers contemplate future possibilities,

build theories and put them to practice. The projective aspect of reflection focuses on

how teachers can translate their thinking into ‘changed practices’ for their future

teaching.

Frameworks for Reflection and Diary Writing

We have already discussed the importance of diary writing as a tool for reflection.

Now we will look at some models of reflection which will give some suggested steps

for reflection:

1. First level of thoughts and beliefs are uncovered

2. These move to another deeper level through further reflection and asking questions

3. ‘Breakthrough connections’ are made

4. These ideas and thoughts are evaluated against current

experience/values/assumptions (and also other people’s opinions/experiences,

literature)

5. Old assumptions are reframed as desired theory of practice.

6. Changed practices

Through these steps teachers can develop their own ‘theory of practice’ through

discussions and/or experimentation in their classrooms.

Before making diary entries reflection can be also done in small groups with other

teachers who are ‘critical friends’ (non-judgmental and supportive

colleagues/professional friends). In these discussions each teacher presents a ‘critical

11
incident’ from their practice experience for reflection in two stages: a reflective

awareness stage and a linking with practice stage (Action). The final aim of the

groups is to develop some changed practices as a result of reflections.

12
So these steps can be kept in mind in the process of reflection. In the diary writing

process teachers can do the following:

• Reflect

• Note reflections in the diary

• Plan actions and note it in their diary

• Try out their plans in class

This process can be repeated. In class reflections can also be recorded in diaries.

Types of Diary Writing

The diary entries can be made using different formats. The following methods can be

used to make diary entries:

13
1. Making a grid

Teachers can make their own grid in their diaries and note their reflections.

Example:

Date:

Class:

Chapter/Content/Tasks Method of teaching Classroom Learning Outcomes

(type of questions Interaction and Assessment

asked, discussions,
pair work, group an
work, presentations,
project work, role d student
plays etc.)
responses

2. Diary entries can be written like long essays or paragraphs in a free writing style.

The teacher puts down all her thoughts randomly without trying to focus on the

writing style or accuracy.

Example:

14
15
3. Question prompts can be used to reflect and write diary entries

These can include different types of questions to engage the teacher to think deeply

about various issues in the classroom

Example:

Using these different formats teachers can put down their reflections, notes,

observations, plans and so on in their diaries. These entries can help teachers to read

these later after many years and understand their development as a teacher.

Teachers can also share their diaries with others in the form of online blogs, Vlogs,

social media or publish their stories in the form of a book later. These stories can help

many other teachers to get inspiration and continue to innovate in their local contexts.
10
Conclusion

Diaries are an important tool for reflection for teachers. It helps to develop their

professional practice and think deeply about their beliefs and knowledge. It helps

teachers to make better decisions in the classroom through reflection-in-action and

reflection-on-action. It also helps teachers to become critical thinkers by asking many

questions about their classes and about their teaching. Diary writing can be done on a

daily, weekly or even monthly cycle. Through diaries teachers can record their notes

and observations on their teaching, find out the solution to a problem or think deeply

about social and political issues around them. Teachers can focus on any area which

they find has any connection with their teaching. Here is a list of some areas of teaching

which teachers can reflect on while writing their reflective diaries:

• Learners and the role of learners

• Learning

• Teaching and the role of the teacher

• Learning to teach

• Discipline

• Content

• Curriculum

• Assessment

• methodology

• Classroom environment

• Socio-cultural and political environment

• Self
• The family/ community/natural environment
10
10
 DAY…10….15-05-2020

Comprehensive Learning Enhancement Program – 2 Webinar-10

Reading Material

Total Physical Response in Learning (TPR)

Background

Total Physical Response (TPR) is a language teaching method built around the
coordination of speech and action; it attempts to teach language through physical
(motor) activity. Developed by James Asher, a professor of psychology at San Jose
State University, California, it draws on several traditions, including developmental
psychology, learning theory, and humanistic pedagogy, as well as on language teaching
procedures proposed by Harold and Dorothy Palmer in 1925. Let us briefly consider
these precedents to Total Physical Response.

Total Physical Response is linked to the "Trace theory” of memory in psychology, which
holds that the more often or the more intensively a memory connection is traced, the
stronger the memory association will be and the more likely it will be recalled. Retracing
can be done verbally (e.g., by rote repetition) and/or in association with motor activity.
Combined tracing activities, such as verbal rehearsal accompanied by motor activity,
hence increase the probability of suc- cessful recall.

In a developmental sense, Asher sees successful adult second language learning as a

parallel process to child’s first language acquisition. He claims that speech directed to
young children consists primarily of commands, which children respond physically
before they begin to produce verbal responses. Asher feels adults should recapitulate
the processes by which children acquire their mother tongue.

Asher shares with the school of humanistic psychology a concern for the role of
affective (emotional) factors in language learning. A method that is undemanding in
terms of linguistic production and that involves game like movements reduces learner
stress, he believes, and creates a positive mood in the learner, which facilitates
learning.

10
The emphasis on comprehension and the use of physical actions to teach a foreign
language at an introductory level has a long tradition in language teaching. Asher's
emphasis on developing comprehension skills before the learner is taught to speak links
him to a movement in foreign language teaching sometimes referred to as the
Comprehension Approach (Winitz 1981). This refers to several different comprehension-
based language teaching proposals, which share the belief that (a) comprehension
abilities precede productive skills in learning a language; (b) the teaching of speaking
should be delayed until comprehension skills are established;
(c) skills acquired through listening transfer to other skills; (d) teaching
should emphasize meaning rather than form; and (e) teaching should
minimize learner stress.

Theory of learning

Asher's language learning theories are reminiscent of the views of other behavioral
psychologists. For instance Asher sees a stimulus-response view as providing the
learning theory underlying language teaching pedagogy. In addition, Asher has
elaborated an account of what he feels facilitates or inhibits foreign language learning.
For this dimension of his learning theory, he draws on three rather influential learning
hypotheses:

1. There exists a specific innate bio-program for language learning,

which defines an optimal path for first and second language
development.

2. Brain lateralization defines different learning functions in the left- and

right- brain hemispheres.

3. Stress (an affective filter) intervenes between the act of learning and
what is to be learned; the lower the stress, the greater the learning.

Let us consider how Asher views each of these in turn.

1. The Bio-Program

Asher's Total Physical Response is a "Natural Method" in as much as Asher sees first
and second language learning as parallel processes. Second language teaching

10
and learning should reflect the naturalistic processes of first language learning. Asher
sees three processes as central,

(a) Children develop listening competence before they develop the ability to
speak. At the early stages of first language acquisition they can understand
complex utterances that they cannot spontaneously produce or imitate.
Asher speculates that during this period of listening, the learner may be
making a mental "blueprint" of the language that will make it possible to
produce spoken language later.

(b) Children's ability in listening comprehension is acquired because

children are required to respond physically to spoken language in the form
of parental commands.

(c) Once a foundation in listening comprehension has been established,

speech evolves naturally and effortlessly out of it. As we noted earlier,
these principles are held by proponents of a number of other method
proposals and are referred to collectively as a Comprehension Approach.

Parallel to the processes of first language learning, the foreign language learner should
first internalize a "cognitive map" of the target language through listening exercises.
Listening should be accompanied by physical movement. Speech and other productive
skills should come later. The speech-production mechanisms will begin to function
spontaneously when the basic foundations of language are established through
listening training. Asher bases these assumptions on his belief in the existence in the
human brain of a bio-program for language, which defines an optimal order for first and
second language learning.

A reasonable hypothesis is that the brain and nervous system are biologically
programmed to acquire language in a particular sequence and in a particular mode. The
sequence is listening before speaking and the mode is to synchronize language with the
individual's body.

2. Brain lateralization

Asher sees Total Physical Response as directed to right-brain learning, whereas most
second language teaching methods are directed to left-brain learning. Asher refers to
neurological studies of the brains of cats and studies of an epileptic boy whose corpus
callosum (a part in brain) was surgically divided. Asher interprets these as
demonstrating that the brain is divided into hemispheres according to function, with
language activities centralized in the right hemisphere. Drawing on work by Jean Piaget,
Asher holds that the child language learner acquires language

10
through motor movement - a right-hemisphere activity. Right-hemisphere activities must
occur before the left hemisphere can process language for production. Similarly, the
adult should proceed to language mastery through right-hemisphere motor activities,
while the left hemisphere watches and learns. When a sufficient amount of right-
hemisphere learning has taken place, the left hemisphere will be triggered to produce
language and to initiate other, more abstract language processes.

3. Reduction of Stress

An important condition for successful language learning is the absence of stress. First
language acquisition takes place in a stress-free environment, according to Asher,
whereas the adult language learning environment often causes considerable stress and
anxiety. The key to stress-free learning is to tap into the natural bio- program for
language development and thus to recapture the relaxed and pleasurable experiences
that accompany first language learning. By focusing on meaning interpreted through
movement, rather than on language forms studied in the abstract, the learner is said to
be liberated from self-conscious and stressful situations and is able to devote full energy
to learning.

The Design of the Approach

Objectives

The general objective of Total Physical Response is to teach oral proficiency at a

beginning level. Comprehension is a means to an end, and the ultimate aim is to teach
basic speaking skills. A TPR course aims to produce learners who are capable of an
uninhibited communication that is intelligible to a native speaker. Specific instructional
objectives are not elaborated, for these will depend on the particular needs of the
learners. Whatever goals are set, however, must be attainable through the use of
action-based drills in the imperative form.

The syllabus

The type of syllabus Asher uses can be inferred from an analysis of the exercise types
employed in TPR classes. This analysis reveals the use of a sentence-based syllabus,
with grammatical and lexical criteria being primary in selecting teaching items. Unlike
methods that operate from a grammar-based or structural view of the core elements of
language, Total Physical Response requires initial attention to

10
meaning rather than to the form of items. Grammar is thus taught inductively.
Grammatical features and vocabulary items are selected not according to their
frequency of need or use in target language situations, but according to the situations in
which they can be used in the classroom and the ease with which they can be learned.

The criterion for including a vocabulary item or grammatical feature at a particular point
in training is ease of assimilation by students. If an item is not learned rapidly, this
means that the students are not ready for that item. Withdraw it and try again at a future
time in the training program.

Asher also suggests that a fixed number of items be introduced at a time, to facilitate
ease of differentiation and assimilation. "In an hour, it is possible for students to
assimilate 12 to 36 new lexical items depending upon the size of the group and the
stage of training". Asher sees a need for attention to both the global meaning of
language as well as to the finer details of its organization.

The movement of the body seems to be a powerful mediator for the understanding,
organization and storage of macro-details of linguistic input. Language can be
internalized in chunks, but alternative strategies must be developed for fine-tuning to
macro-details.

A course designed around Total Physical Response principles, however, would not be
expected to follow a TPR syllabus exclusively.

TPR should not be looked at as the only strategy of learning. Even if the imperative is
the major or minor format of training, variety is critical for maintaining continued student
interest. The imperative is a powerful facilitator of learning, but it should be used in
combination with many other techniques. The optimal combination will vary from
instructor to instructor and class to class.

Types of learning and teaching activities

Imperative drills are the major classroom activity in Total Physical Response. They are
typically used to elicit physical actions and activity on the part of the learners.
Conversational dialogues are delayed until after about 120 hours of instruction. Asher's
rationale for this is that "everyday conversations are highly abstract and disconnected;
therefore to understand them requires a rather advanced internalization of the target
language". Other classroom activities include role plays and slide presentations. Role
plays center on everyday situations, such as at the restaurant, supermarket, or fuel
station. The slide presentations are used to provide

10
a visual center for teacher narration, which is followed by commands, and for questions
to students, such as "Which person in the picture is the salesperson?". Reading and
writing activities may also be employed to further consolidate structures and vocabulary,
and as follow-ups to oral imperative drills.

Learner roles

Learners in Total Physical Response have the primary roles of listener and performer.
They listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher.
Learners are required to respond both individually and collectively. Learners have little
influence over the content of learning, since content is determined by the teacher, who
must follow the imperative-based format for lessons. Learners are also expected to
recognize and respond to novel combinations of previously taught items:

Novel utterances are recombinations of constituents you have used directly in training.
For instance, you directed students with 'Walk to the table!' and 'Sit on the chair!'. These
are familiar to students since they have practiced responding to them. Now, will a
student understand if you surprise the individual with an unfamiliar utterance that you
created by recombining familiar elements (e.g. 'Sit on the table!').

Learners are also required to produce novel combinations of their own. Learners
monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encouraged to speak when they feel
ready to speak - that is, when a sufficient basis in the language has been internalized.

Teacher roles

The teacher plays an active and direct role in Total Physical Response. "The instructor
is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors". It is the teacher who
decides what to teach, who models and presents the new materials, and who selects
supporting materials for classroom use. The teacher is encouraged to be well prepared
and well organized so that the lesson flows smoothly and predictably. Asher
recommends detailed lesson plans: “It is wise to write out the exact utterances you will
be using and especially the novel commands because the action is so fast-moving there
is usually not time for you to create spontaneously". Classroom interaction and turn
taking is teacher rather than learner directed. Even when learners interact with other
learners it is usually the teacher who initiates the interaction:

10
Example - Teacher: Rani, pick up the box of chocolates and hand it to Venu and
ask Venu to read the price.

Asher stresses, however, that the teacher's role is not so much to teach but to provide
opportunities for learning. The teacher has the responsibility of providing the best kind
of exposure to language so that the learner can internalize the basic rules of the target
language. Thus the teacher controls the language input the learners receive, providing
the raw material for the "cognitive map" that the learners will construct in their own
minds. The teacher should also allow speaking abilities to develop in learners at the
learners' own natural pace.

In giving feedback to learners, the teacher should follow the example of parents giving
feedback to their children. At first, parents correct very little, but as the child grows older,
parents are said to tolerate fewer mistakes in speech. Similarly teachers should refrain
from too much correction in the early stages and should not interrupt to correct errors,
since this will inhibit learners. As time goes on, however, more teacher intervention is
expected, as the learners' speech becomes "fine tuned."

Asher cautions teachers about preconceptions that he feels could hinder the successful
implementation of TPR principles. First, he cautions against the "illusion of simplicity,"
where the teacher underestimates the difficulties involved in learning a foreign
language. This results in progressing at too fast a pace and failing to provide a gradual
transition from one teaching stage to another. The teacher should also avoid having too
narrow a tolerance for errors in speaking.

Teachers may begin with a great tolerance for student speech errors, but as training
progresses, the tolerance can reduce. Remember that as students progress in their
training, more and more attention units are freed to process feedback from the
instructor. In the beginning, almost no attention units are available to hear the
instructor's attempts to correct distortions in speech. All attention is directed to
producing utterances. Therefore the student cannot attend efficiently to the instructor's
corrections.

The role of instructional materials

There is generally no basic text in a Total Physical Response course. Materials and
realia play an increasing role, however, in later learning stages. For absolute beginners,
lessons may not require the use of materials, since the teacher's voice, actions, and
gestures may be a sufficient basis for classroom activities. Later the teacher may use
common classroom objects, such as books, pens, cups, furniture.

10
As the course develops, the teacher will need to make or collect supporting materials to
support teaching points. These may include pictures, realia, slides, and word charts.
Asher has developed TPR student kits that focus on specific situations, such as the
home, the supermarket, the beach etc. Students may use the kits to construct scenes
(e.g., "Put the stove in the kitchen").

Limitations

A careful analysis of the TPR method and its processes reveal some of the potential
weaknesses inherent in the approach. Firstly, from a purely practical point of view, it is
highly unlikely that even the most skilled and inventive teacher could sustain a lesson
stage involving commands and physical responses for more than a few minutes before
the activity becomes repetitious for the learners. Secondly, it is fairly difficult to give
instructions without using imperatives, so the language input is basically restricted to
this single form. Thirdly, it is quite difficult to see how this approach could extend
beyond beginner level. Fourthly, the relevance of some of the language used in TPR
activities to real-world learner needs is questionable. Finally, moving from the listening
and responding stage to oral production might be workable in a small group of learners
but it can be challenging when applied to larger groups.

Conclusion

Total Physical Response is in a sense a revival and extension of Palmer and Palmer's
English Through Actions, updated with references to more recent psychological
theories. It has enjoyed some popularity because of its support by those who
emphasize the role of comprehension in second language acquisition. Krashen (1981),
for example, regards provision of comprehensible input and reduction of stress as keys
to successful language acquisition, and he sees performing physical actions in the
target language as a means of making input comprehensible and minimizing stress. The
experimental support for the effectiveness of Total Physical Response is sketchy (as it
is for most methods) and typically deals with only the very beginning stages of learning.
Proponents of Communicative Language Teaching would question the relevance to
real-world learner needs of the TPR syllabus and the utterances and sentences used
within it. Asher himself stresses that Total Physical Response should be used in
association with other methods and techniques.

Therefore, Short TPR activities, used judiciously and integrated with other activities can
be both highly motivating and linguistically purposeful. Careful

10
choice of useful and communicative language at beginner level can make TPR activities
entirely valid. Many learners respond well to kinesthetic activities and they can genuinely
serve as a memory aid. A lot of classroom warmers and games are based, consciously or
unconsciously, on TPR principles. Indeed, practitioners of TPR typically follow Asher’s
recommendation, suggesting that for many teachers TPR represents a useful set of
techniques and is compatible with other approaches to teaching.

Adopted from the following sources:

• https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/total-physical-response-tpr
• http://www.onestopenglish.com/methodology/teaching-articles/teaching-
approaches/teaching-approaches-total-physical-
response/146503.article
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334135321_Using_Total_Physi
c
al_Response_TPR_Method_on_Young_Learners_English_Language_T
eachi ng
• http://www2.vobs.at/ludescher/total_physical_response.htm

10
 DAY …11….18-05-2020

COMPREHENSIVE LEARNING ENHANCEMENT

PROGRAM II

READING MATERIAL

SESSION 11

21st CENTURY SKILLS FOR GLOBAL LEARNERS

SESSION OBJECTIVES

• Gain awareness on the importance of 21st century skills

for learners
• Explore the scope of the 5 skills required to integrate
into the curriculum
• Reflect on the role of the teacher in promoting 21st
century skills in the classroom

The model of educational systems around the world have a common challenge to address
which is – how do we equip and empower children with new skills and knowledge to
succeed? what are the skills that educators need to embed into the curriculum?

Jaime Casap, Googles’ Educational evangelist in his address at ISTE 2016,

stated, “Don't ask kids what they want to be when they grow up but what problems
do they want to solve. This changes the conversation from who do I want to work for,
to what do I need to learn to be able to do that.” He had raised a few vital questions
that need to be asked to learners of today, which are,

10
 • What knowledge, skills and abilities do you need to solve that
problem?
• Who is focused on that problem and what are they doing?
• What classes can you take? Online? Offline?
• Who can you collaborate with?
• What research is out there?
• What publications, newsletters and communities should you
subscribe to?
• What books should you read? What videos and documentaries
should you watch?
• Who should you follow and pay attention to? On Twitter? On
LinkedIn?
• What blogs and perspectives should you read?
• Which university is the expert on this problem? What are they
doing? How can you contribute to resolving that problem today?

He further added that, ‘When we ask students what problem they want to solve, we
are asking them to define their focus and interests (purpose), to determine the way
the problem should be solved (autonomy) and to understand what they need to learn
and the skills they need to build (mastery).’

We live in a knowledge--‐based economy and it is important for educators to

reflect on how best can learning experiences be used outside the classroom
context. Educators need to explore ways to raise awareness on the current context
that exists in the world and empower their students to be a global learning. The
skills needed for global participation is beyond academic success at school.

The United Nations compiled 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

which were adopted by the United Nations Member States in 2015. The objective of
this initiative was to find solutions and find an

10
end to poverty and inequality through peaceful and healthy societies by 2030. The
organization has actively advocated that the SDGs cannot be achieved without the
realization of child rights. As world leaders work to deliver on the 2030 promise,
children around the globe are standing up to secure their right to good health,
quality education, a clean planet and more. They being the leaders of tomorrow, the
ability to protect the future for us all depends on what we do to secure their rights
today (https://www.unicef.org/sdgs). Global learners have a crucial role to play as the
goals have an enormous scope to change lives and the living conditions around the
world. Educators need to facilitate beyond textual knowledge in order to promote a
global dimension in learning.

10
 The sustainable development goals can be used by educators

• To map and link foundational concepts that are part of the

curriculum

• Make learning a lot more relevant to the present day context

• Create projects, student collaborations and

school engagements

• Raise awareness on contexts from around the world that

is beyond India
The most important skills needed by global learners are,

• Critical thinking and problem solving skills

• Leadership

• Interpersonal

• Intrapersonal

• Digital literacy

CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Critical thinking is an umbrella term that refers to a number of sub skills. These sub
skills are related to the ability to think critically and objectively about an issue or a
subject. When an individual practices critical thinking, knowledge is not passively
received instead is explored. Any new information received is questioned, analyzed,
tested and validated from the right source. Eales Reynolds et. al. state that in order
to develop this skill one needs to be,

10
 • Open--‐minded to the ideas and views of others

• Able to make (positive and negative) judgments

• Able to discriminate between sources of evidence

and recognize their authority and authenticity

• Self--‐confident enough to explore and question

the evidence/literature and its implications

• Able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of your

own thought processes and argument development

• Honest in facing your own biases/prejudices

• Flexible in considering alternatives and opinions

• Willing to reconsider and revise views where honest

reflection suggests that change is warranted

• Able to re--‐present your thinking and argument in an

improved form

LEADERSHIP

In education the scope for leadership roles extends to developing collaborative working in
children. Opportunities to lead provide ample exposure to developing key traits that are
essential for collaborative pursuits such as discipline, co-existence, valuing opinions, helping
and assisting people and co-operation. On an individual level the following aspects are
developed,
• Self esteem and confidence
• Responsibility

10
 • Accountability
• Self reliance
• Communication
• Planning
• Decision making

Educational institutions can provide opportunities for leadership in students across different
age groups. Leadership roles can be delegated in both curricular and extra curricular
engagements (Woyach, 1993)

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

These skills reflect on the ability of individuals to communicate effectively and build
healthy relationships with others. Interpersonal skills are also called ‘people skills’.
Effective interpersonal skills enable individuals to function effectively in different kinds of
social situations (Dowling 2001) . Some examples of sub-skills related to inter-personal skills
are as follows,

• Active listening
• Teamwork
• Responsibility
• Dependability
• Leadership
• Motivation
• Flexibility
• Patience
• Empathy

10
INTRAPERSONAL SKILLS

These skills reflect on an individual’s ability to self regulate behavior and emotions.
Individuals with strong intrapersonal skills are self aware. They can identify their strength
and weakness in different contexts (Dowling 2001). Some examples of sub-skills related to
inter-personal skills are as follows,

• self-confidence
• self- resilience
• self-discipline
• persistence
• openness to new ideas
• the ability to overcome distractions
• time management

DIGITAL LITERACY

Digital literacy prepares young learners with skills they need to engage
in technology both safely and responsibly. Technology can empower and
educate students through tools and resources they need to thrive in an ever--
changing digital world. Digital literacy is also known as virtual learning and
e--learning has the potential to improve lifelong learning. Teaching digital
literacy in primary is all about understanding the needs towards different
types of skills and technological knowledge in order to think critically,
evaluate work and engage with a global community (Hayes, 2006).

10
EMBEDDING THE 21ST CENTURY SKILLS INTO THE CURRICULUM

ACTIVITIES

/TASKS

LEARNING

OUTCOMES

2--‐3
TOPIC/
CONCEPT
SKILLS

Implicit instruction on the skills highlighted can be nurtured through opportunities

provided in the classroom. All 5 skills exist in pockets with different levels of importance
given to them. Teachers can plan appropriate ways through which students get an
opportunity to develop these skills.
The following template presents a sample lesson that integrates these skills into the
learning process,

Skills Digital literacy , Critical thinking

Topic Water Pollution – SDG 14
Learning To analyze the concept of water cycle
outcomes To explore the causes of water
pollution
Activities/tasks Students are made to locate and a view video on
water pollution.
Experiment: Based on the video they are given a
sorting exercise
Critical thinking: Teacher involves the students to
conduct an experiment using different objects.
They make a note of their observations

10
Video:

Observation Sheet:

10
Experiment:

Works Consulted

Dowling, M. (2001). Young children’s personal, social and emotional

development. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

EALES-­ REYNOLDS, L. E. S. L. Y.-­ J. A. N. E. (2017). Critical thinking skills

for education students. LOS ANGELES: SAGE PUBLICATIONS.

Woyach, R. B. (1993). Preparing for leadership: a young adults guide to

leadership skills in a global age. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Hayes, M., & Whitebread, D. (2006). Ict in the early years.

Maidenhead: Open University Press.

10
 DAY..12…19-05-2020
COMPREHENSIVE LEARNING ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM II READING MATERIAL

SESSION 12

PHONICS FOR PRIMARY LEARNERS

SESSION OBJECTIVES

• Gain an understanding of phonics and phonological awareness

• Reflect on an interdisciplinary approach
• Explore strategies to integrate phonics instruction into
different subjects – Interdisciplinary approach

Phonics is the relationship between the letters of a language and the sound
associated to them. It is a methodology often used in language instruction to raise
awareness in reading and writing skills. It is also known as the ‘learning--‐to--‐read’
method used in primary schools. Phonics instruction provides exposure to linking
sounds (phonemes) and the symbols (alphabet--‐graphemes) that represent them.

English has 44 different sounds (19 vowel sounds and 25 consonant sounds);
these sounds are called Phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound. Each
phoneme can be represented by one or more alphabet (letters). A letter (A, B, C etc.)
or a group of letters (words) that represent a sound are called Graphemes. If a
phoneme is represented by 2 letters it is called a digraph (‘oo’ in spoon), if a
phoneme is represented by 3 letters it is called a trigraph – air.

10
 Phoneme Can be heard --‐ --‐
and voiced
Grapheme -‐ Can be --‐
heard,
voiced and
seen
Letters -‐ --‐ Can be
seen

Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of sounds in letters.

When a word is transcribed, there is a direct specification towards how its
pronounced. The chart below displays the symbols of all the 44 sounds that exist
in the English language (Blumenfeld, 2015).

In English the right pronunciation to a word can be identified only through its

phonetic transcription and not through its spelling, e.g.: some words may share
similarities in the spelling however they

10
are pronounced differently --‐ Good --‐ /ɡʊd/, Food --‐ /fuːd/. The phonetic chart will be
extremely useful to decode pronunciation for teachers, however for learners at the
primary level, sounds are presented without the use of the alphabet and the suitable
word.

TEACHING PHONICS TO YOUNG LEARNERS

The learning outcome for phonics instruction in the primary level is to familiarize the
sounds of the language. ‘The goal of teaching phonics to develop student’s ability
to read connected text independently’ (Adams, 1990). The ability for a learner to
recognize phonemes and use sounds (dog – ‘d’+’o’+’g’: 3 sounds) into meaningful
words is called phonological awareness. It creates the foundation to develop
language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Phonological awareness is
made up of a group of skills. The most sophisticated— and latest to develop—is
called phonemic awareness. This skill lets young learners to map individual sounds
in a word. It also involves the ability to add, subtract, or substitute new sounds in
words.

Phonemic awareness helps a child to separate a word by its sound and

spelling. Experts say that phonemic awareness is a crucial factor for learning in
young learners. Learners with a high phonemic awareness are able to speak and
read information more effectively(Blevins,1998). This aptitude has to be developed
through modelling, practise and training.

10
 PHONOLOGICAL
AWARENESS
Words in a Teaching learners to identify different words in a sentence
sentence
Syllables Introduce what a syllable is (beats in a word). All syllables must contain
a vowel or vowel--‐like sound in them. We break words into syllables to
help us with our reading and writing

Onset--‐Rime The "onset" is the initial phonological unit of any word (e.g. c in cat)
and the term "rime" refers to the string of letters that follow, usually a
vowel and final consonants (e.g. at in cat). Not all words have onsets.
Similar to teaching beginning readers about rhyme, teaching children
about onset and rime helps them recognize common chunks within
words. This can help students decode new words when reading and
spell words when writing.

Rhyme--‐ Young children first develop an awareness of the phonological patterns

alliteration that occur at the end of rhyming words before moving on to awareness
of bigger chunks within words, such as identifying independent words
and syllables within compound words.

Phonemic Phonemic awareness is the understanding that words are made up of

awareness phonemes or individual units of sound that influence the meaning of
the word. For example, the word “sun” is made up of four individual
phonemes:
/s/ /u/ /n/. If you change one of these notice how the meaning of the
word changes. When /s/ is replaced by /r/ you have “run”, a verb
meaning to move really quickly using ones legs. This is very different
than “sun”.

10
The chart below presents phonemes through pictures and words of common use.

The process that initiates identifying new vocabulary is identified through 3

phases that promote phonological awareness, namely

• Decoding: when learners are able to match the sound

to a letter
• Blending: when learners combine 2--‐3 letters to
produce a sound
• Encoding: writing the spelling of the word

THE THEORETICAL APPROACH APPLIED TO THE CLASSROOM

The alphabetic principle is the understanding that there are systematic and
predictable relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Phonics
instruction helps children learn the relationships between the letters of the written
language and the sounds of spoken language. In young learners, the reading and
writing skill is dependent on their understanding of the alphabetic principle. The
principle helps learners explore that letters and letter patterns represent the sounds
of spoken language. When young learners

10
 understand that there are predictable relationships between sounds and letters, it
allows them to experiment these relationships through both familiar and unfamiliar
words. This initiates fluency and accuracy in the long term (Nancy E, 2005).
Some points to base classroom instruction are as follows,

• Teach letter--‐sound relationships explicitly and in isolation.

• Provide opportunities for children to practice letter-
-‐sound relationships in daily lessons.
• Provide practice opportunities that include new sound--‐letter
relationships, as well as cumulatively reviewing previously
taught relationships.
• Give children opportunities early and often to apply their
expanding knowledge of sound--‐letter relationships to the
reading of phonetically spelled words that are familiar in
meaning

INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO RAISING PHONOLOGICAL

AWARENESS

Promoting phonological awareness is extremely important for beginner level

learners. Teachers can create subject--‐based contexts as hooks to retain information.
Anderson et al. in Becoming a Nation of Readers have opined that optimal resources
and materials used for instructions need to ensure that it meets the following criteria
(Blevins,1998),

• Comprehensible: Vocabulary must be understandable and

relevant to the context
• Instructive: The majority of words must be decodable based on
the sound-spellings previously taught
• Interesting: The context and the text must be engaging enough
for students to want them to revisit them again

10
While planning a lesson the following steps can be adopted –
Step 1. Blocking Vocabulary list: While planning a lesson, create a blocking
vocabulary list related to the concepts and themes handled. Blocking vocabulary are
a group of words (2--‐3) that the teacher filters from the lesson that may need to be
explained in class. These words are required to complete any set of tasks planned --‐
fill ups, match the following etc. While micro--‐planning for each period allot 2--‐3
words from the list accordingly.
Step 2. Research: Once the list of vocabulary is prepared, it is important for the
teacher to ensure she has the correct meaning of the words to the given context.
Ensure that MPF – meaning, pronunciation and form is researched from a
proper resource eg. Oxford dictionary, Cambridge, Merriam Webster, Collins,
etc. A thesaurus may be used to list down similar words.
Step 3. Plan: Create a suitable activity/task that is related to the lesson. Choose the
most effective TLM that can create a meaningful learning experience. Encourage
learners to use the new words while asking questions, explaining concepts,
answering to fellow classmates.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPOSURE:

1. Rhymes, songs, poems

2. Matching pictures to words
3. Matching ‘picture word’ pairs to related picture word pairs: mind
maps, concept maps
4. Worksheets and written tasks
5. Language tasks: fill ups, match the following, question answers

Development of language skills depend on the opportunities given in the

classroom. The internet community can be explored to

10
identify and execute interesting engagements for practise in the classroom. Over a
period of time as students begin to get comfortable to use new vocabulary they can
be guided to use a dictionary for spellings and examples.

Online resources for phonics instruction:

https://elt.oup.com/student/oxfordphonicsworld/?cc=global&selLan guage=en
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk
https://www.britishcouncil.org.bd/en/teach/apps/phonics--‐stories--‐ schools

Works Consulted

Blevins, W., Cherrington, J., & Tarlow, E. (2000). Phonics ready

readers. New York: Scholastic.

Blumenfeld, S. L. (2014). Alpha-­ phonics: a primer for beginning

readers. Boise, ID: The Paradigm Company.

Jurenka, N. E. A. (2005). Teaching phonemic awareness through

childrens literature and experiences. Westport, CT: Teacher Idea
Press.

10
 DAY..13…20-05-2020

COMPREHENSIVE LEARNING ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM II READING

MATERIAL

SESSION 13

ICT IN THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM

SESSION OBJECTIVES

• To explore the scope of ICT integrated instruction

• To gain a basic understanding ICT competencies and
policies through ICT--‐CFT
• To explore teaching strategies, tech tools and
classroom management

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education is the use of

technological resources, tools and environments to deliver, support, enhance, and
optimize learning experiences. Research shows that ICT provides a variety of
opportunities for teachers to create interactive, collaborative and experiential
learning experiences. Learners are observed to be a lot more engaged in the
learning process through active participation.
Several studies have proved that integrating ICT into the curriculum results in
positive impact on students’ achievements.
• The results specifically showed that the students who are
continuously exposed to technology through education have
better concept knowledge, presentation skills, innovative
capabilities
• Students are motivated to participate in the learning experience
• Students are less anxious and stressed about the outcome/result
10
 • Students are more engaged in the learning
process. (Beauchamp, 2015).

WHY USE ICT?

We live in a knowledge based economy where there is a growing demand for

individuals to have digital literacy. The responsibility to create skilled and resourceful
citizens largely lies with educational institutions and systems. Some of the
advantages of technology integrated classroom environments is listed below,

Features of ICT

• SPEED: Technology can offer faster and time saving means

to transact meaning in the classroom. Many activities which
would otherwise take away a lot of time in the traditional
classroom can be completed a lot more efficiently in a
lesser time.
• AUTOMATION: Teachers can benefit greatly by the
automatic processes that are embedded in a device which
would otherwise require individual attention and time.
• CAPACITY: Technology offers a number of modes through
which vast data can be saved, retrieved, modified and
shared
• RANGE: There is ample opportunity (textual, aural or visual)
that has to be tapped in terms of the variety of tools and
resources that technology has to offer
• PROVISIONALITY: Users can benefit greatly by
collaborating and working on different projects irrespective
of where they are and what time they work on an
engagement (adapted from Beauchamp, 2017)

10
INTEGRATING ICT INSTRUCTION INTO THE CURRICULUM

Successful integration of ICT program into the classroom requires ‘rethinking

the role of teachers in planning and applying ICT to enhance and transform
learning. Education systems need to regularly update and reform teacher
preparation and professional development accordingly, ensuring that all teachers
can harness technology for education’ (ICT--‐CFT, 2015).

The UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT--‐ CFT) seeks
to help countries develop comprehensive national teacher ICT competency
policies and standards and integrate these in overarching ICT in education plans.
This framework is used by countries around the world, the UNESCO ICT--‐CFT
‘highlights the role that technology can play in supporting six major education focus
areas across three phases of knowledge acquisition’, as illustrated in the chart
below:

10
ICT SETUP

An ICT setup in a primary classroom typically includes the following resources and tools,

• Computers
• Tablets
• Computer network
• Printers
• Scanners
• Video and dvd players
• Digital cameras
• Video recorders
• Interactive white boards

(Elston,2007) AFFORDANCES OF

INTEGRATING ICT

• Explore, evaluate and share knowledge

• Facilitate universal access to education
• Bridge learning divides
• Support the development of teachers
• Enhance the quality and relevance of learning
• Strengthen inclusion and
• Improve educational administration and governance.

10
WAYS TO INTEGRATE ICT INTO THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM

TEACHING MEANIN
STRATEGY G
Representatio Use of technological tools to represent and
n clarify
meaning through an image, audio or video files
Retrieval Use of technological tools to recall information
learned previously.
Construction Use of technological tools to create an artefact
or
File
Interactive Use of technological tools to encourage
teaching exchange
of ideas, expressing opinions etc.

10
SUGGESTED ICT TOOLS

10
CREATING A SAFE SPACE ONLINE

1. Create rules for interaction online

2. Download child friendly versions of applications and software

3. Create a timetable
4. Supervise students at all times
5. Involve parents and spread awareness on the importance of
keeping children safe

10
Works Consulted

Beauchamp, Gary. (2017). Computing and Ict in the primary school:

from pedagogy to practice. New York: Routledge.

BEAUCHAMP, G. A. R. Y. (2015). Ict In The Primary School: from

pedagogy to practice.UK: TAYLOR & FRANCIS.

Elston, C. (2007). Using Ict in the primary school. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Paul Chapman Pub.

ICT Competency Framework for Teachers. (2019, July 24). Retrieved from
https://en.unesco.org/themes/ict--‐education/competency--‐ framework--‐teachers

10
 DAY ..14..21-05-2020
Comprehensive Learning Enhancement Program – 2 Webinar-14

Reading Material

Assessment & Evaluation in Learning

The significance of Assessment

Assessment is a very important element of curriculum design because this is where

teachers and students get to see if all their hard work has paid off. Can students
demonstrate mastery in terms of the knowledge and skills they need to learn? Where
are the gaps and where are the points of strength? Assessment, in a constructively
aligned curriculum, must reflect the learning outcomes listed in the curriculum, and must
draw in both the knowledge and the practical and intellectual skills and competencies
that students have been taught and that they have practiced in classes.

Assessment & Evaluation

Assessment is a process of collecting, reviewing and using data for the purpose of
improvement in the current performance. It provides feedback on performance and
areas of improvement. It is process oriented. It is based on observation and feedback. It
is formative in nature.

Evaluation is an act of passing judgement on the basis of set of standards. It

determines the extent to which objectives are achieved. It is product oriented. It is
based on the level of quality as per set standard. It is summative in nature

Formative & Summative Assessment

An assessment is formative in nature when the teachers use it to check the progress of
their students, to see how far they have mastered knowledge/ability/skill and then use
this information to modify their future teaching plans. Such assessment can also be
basis for feedback to students.

10
 Informal tests, quizzes, simple observation of performance and study of student
portfolios etc. can be used in formative assessment. Students themselves can be
encouraged to carry out self-assessment in order to monitor their own progress.

Summative assessment is used at the end of a lesson, term, semester or year in order
to measure the level of achievement of the learners. As it sums up what the students
have achieved, it looks back and indicates what the students have learnt, usually
measured formally against clearly defined standards. Formal tests are usually used for
this purpose.

Reflection:

Do you use it in your classroom? Where/When?

What is formative assessment?

Do you use it in your classroom? Where/When?

Which of the above types of assessment do you use frequently?

Assessment for learning: Assessment for learning is an approach, integrated into

teaching and learning, which creates feedback for students and teachers in order to
improve learning and guide their next steps

The purpose of assessment as a part of learning:

Before teaching

• To discover the needs, interests, and previous experiences of students

• To find out what students already know and can do
• To determine a particular approach or
strategy During teaching

• To assess students' understanding and progress

• To identify successes or difficulties and confidence levels
• To assess students' abilities to verbalize their understanding and
insights

10
 • To assess students' abilities to work together while sharing ideas and
completing tasks
After teaching

• To find out what the students have learned

• To determine the quality of students' learning
• To gauge the effectiveness of the activities and approach in relation
to the objectives and goals for language
• To reflect on teaching practice.
(Adapted from the book ‘Teaching the Language Arts’ by Cathy Collins Block,
1997)

Assessment tools

There are various tools can be used for classroom assessment. The following are most
commonly used to assess language ability:

1. Tests
2. Alternative assessment
• Observation (structured & unstructured)
• Interview
• Assignments
• Projects
• Group Discussions
• Experiments
3. Teacher Assessment
4. Continuous assessment
5. Self-assessment
6. Portfolios
Reflection:

• Try to think of the tools you’re already using in your classrooms

• Identify the tools you think can be used in the primary classrooms

10
 • Think of any tools specific to English or EVS or Maths classes

Continuous Comprehensive evaluation (CCE)

In all systems of education there is a common curriculum, a fixed syllabus and a

prescribed text book. This is common for the whole class (in a particular state, or even
the whole country), and it is meant for the average child at that level. This cannot be
avoided, but we need to be aware of it. All our students do not learn in the same way;
one student likes definitions while another may like examples. A textbook cannot be
written to cater to the various needs of different students in many classes and schools.
Also, individual understandings and interpretations cannot be taken into account in a
textbook. The syllabus is pre-determined; it assumes that all children learn everything in
the same way and at the same pace.

Children, however, do not learn everything at the same time or at the same speed.
They learn the same things in different ways and often excel in different subjects.

• Some children like to see things to remember them.

• Some children prefer to repeat it for themselves.
• Some children learn through examples.
• Some children are good with languages.
•Some are good with mathematics and some with sciences.
They learn mathematical concepts quickly, but may need help
with reading and writing.
As teachers, we know our students individually, and we modify our teaching to suit their
varied ways of learning and their different capabilities. The teacher is the bridge
between the common text book and the forty or fifty individual students in every class.
We take what is in the text book and when needed, we modify it to suit our students.
We do this by evaluating our students as they work.

10
This is an ongoing valuation, used only to monitor progress. It is called ‘pedagogic
evaluation’.

We often give our students work to do. While they do it, we go around the class and see
what they are doing. As we walk around, we can easily find out who has understood the
concept, who has problems etc. If we find the most of the class has not understood
something, we may decide to teach that concept or idea to the whole class again. If only
one or two children have not understood, we may decide to teach them separately.
Sometimes we may make a mental note of these problems and take it up for teaching in
a later class. This is one kind of observation. But our work does not stop there. As we
walk around the class, we also know which child is finding it difficult to write, or who is
disturbing the others. We know who bullies whom, and who is withdrawn and shy or has
same problem with studies. This understanding and awareness that we have of our
students is similar to the ways in which a parent or caregiver knows and understands
their children. The difference is that, as teachers, we teach many concepts; very often,
we teach more than one subject. We also teach more than one class or section. We,
therefore, need to record the information in some way so that we can remember it and
also use it systematically to help our students learn better.

This understanding of our students, (continuous and ongoing, and also

comprehensive) and its recording by us, to help us teach them better, is the essence of
Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). It includes information about their
strengths and weaknesses, their behavior and habits, and their relationships with other
students. This is a ‘pedagogic evaluation’ and its purpose is to monitor learning and
improve our teaching.

Difference between continuous and comprehensive evaluation

The two terms that begin with the letter ’C’ in CCE refer to two different aspects of
education. The first ‘C’ stands for’ Continuous’ which refers to all scholastic or academic
evaluation done by teachers of their students. This is about what the

10
students are expected to study and whether they have managed to do that. If they have
not, it does not mean we hold it against them. We try and find out what they have been
able to achieve, what their problems are etc.

The second ‘C’ stands for ‘Comprehensive’. It includes features like personality,
attitude, motivation etc. Thus, if we watch a child pushing another in class, or bullying a
classmate, then that evaluation will be a part of comprehensive evaluation. What they
do during lunch or in the playground is also comprehensive evaluation. Co-curricular
activities and students’ performance in them are also recorded under comprehensive
evaluation.

The question that we ask at this point is: If all this is CCE, who does it, how can it be
done, and should there be experts to do CCE? The answers are very simple. No
outsider (who does not teach the students) can do CCE. It is totally managed by
teachers.

Features of CCE

CCE is not used to provide information about whether a student has achieved the
learning objectives or has passed tests and examinations. That is available in final
examination marks and report cards. Teachers can provide information about students
that no one else can. We are the only ones who can state, ‘My student could not do
something last month, but can do it a little better now ‘. We are the only people who can
identify the shy or bold child in our class. Only we, as teachers in the classroom who
teach students everyday will know the individual strengths and weaknesses of our
students.

Sometimes we make mental notes of what these students can and cannot do.
Sometimes we write them in a dairy and so not to forget them. These notes that we
make and use later are a very important part of CCE. We also use this information to
help us teach better. We can decide whether to re-teach something, give more practice
or to move to the next unit. We can also use it to help us decide what should go into a
teacher.-managed test.

10
The objectives for a unit, or lesson, are stated at the beginning of the book and that is
what we teach. But all of us, as teachers, know that all the children in our class do not
learn everything at the same time, at the same speed, or in the same way.

This is because individual ability varies, and children can learn and pickup what we
teach them, only according to their abilities. Sometimes when we give a test, the
principal of the school ask us how students have done. We may then look at the mark
list, calculate the average, and say that on the whole, they have learnt the lesson. This
is not CCE. Thus, system-oriented tests can never be the main source for CCE. Thus,
CCE is an evaluation by an individual (the teacher) of each and every student as an
individual in the class.

Recording and reporting information

There are many ways in which information can be recorded by teachers. We can keep
a diary, or we can write down little notes about what happened in the class. It could be
about

• what students have learnt, or have a problem with

• their handwriting or concentration
• their behavior in the classroom or in the play ground.

This is the information that we write down for ourselves. Sometimes we may want to
share some of it with parents. In this sense, we are reporting information to parents, but
not in a report card, and certainly not officially. If there is a parent- teacher meeting, we
may share the information so that a parent is aware and if needed, can do something
about it. We may have a child with learning difficulties and we may share this with the
parent.

Feedback in CCE

Providing feedback is a very important part of CCE. Feedback is an essential part of

any effective teaching/learning process. It helps students understand the

10
subject being studied and gives them clear guidance on how to improve their
learning. Academic feedback is more strongly and consistently related to
achievement than any other teaching behavior. This relationship is consistent
regardless of grade, socioeconomic status, race, or school setting. Feedback can
improve a student's confidence, self-awareness and enthusiasm for learning.
Effective feedback can not only enhance learning but also improve assessment
performance.

10