Month: October 2013

Models to brighten your class

Manognya Reddy
Read up about this simple idea to bring your geography classes alive. The models that are described in the article can be easily made with readily available materials and resources.

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Incy Wincy spider

Geetha Iyer
Are spiders to be feared and disliked? Do we stop to think of the service that they perform quietly for us? Why is the spider painted as being villainous? Read up this interesting article to find out how spiders can be the best of pest management experts as well as other facts about this often invisible creature.

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The play of imagination

Prof. Nandini Dutta
Learning can be of various types — classical learning , growth learning, e-learning etc. But the best way to help a child learn is to get him to use his imagination and the learning process helps him to use his mind by analysis, reasoning and problem -solving rather than ‘what has to be learnt’. Basically, the teaching has to be imaginative and the teacher needs to be successful in building the imagination of the child. If this happens, then the bond between the teacher and the student strengthens. There is more of give and take and this appeals to the intellect of the child.

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Light effects

Yasmin Jayathirtha
Continuing our series on reactions, this time the author talks about the reactions of photography, both to show the effect of light on chemicals and to capture images in an interesting art form.

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Real projects for the real world

Sameera Sood

When teachers assign projects to children, they need to go beyond the ordinary and give meaningful projects to encourage exploration and application. Projects must help children attain a deeper understanding and develop skills such as communication, collaboration and personal responsibility. This article outlines what a good project is and how teachers must go about assessing the project.

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Mirrors and Mindsets

Every now and then, it pays to take a good hard look at ourselves, our actions and interactions to enable us to get answers to even routine things. The act of reflection is always pushed to the background in order to ‘do’ things. While doing is good, thinking about doing helps us to take that one step forward. This issue of the magazine argues for reflection to become a part of our everyday tasks.

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The mathematics of art

Monica Kochar
Art is an excellent medium to curb the fear of math. This article focuses on geometry and art and helps students with multiple facets of math— from knowledge of shapes to skills in using geometrical properties and construction of shapes.

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Can reflective practice be taught?

Rohit Dhankar

Can reflective practice be taught to student teachers? How can this be done? One way would be to ensure that teacher educators are also reflective practitioners who have a clear idea of reflective practice. Another pre-requisite would be to have a curriculum and pedagogy that is suitable to develop reflection and mastery over the practice.

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Observing really what is

Kamala Mukunda As a teacher, I value the kind of reflection that perhaps any human being would benefit from. It has to do with how we understand our own actions and attitudes. It’s quite easy to evaluate other people and systems; we can all come up with excellent analyses of the flaws in another teacher, or a student, or another school, or the government education department! But turning the whole thing inward, on oneself, is a very different cup of tea. What does it feel like to encounter one’s own ‘flaws’? My instinctive answer to that question usually runs along these lines: Of course I know I’m not perfect. I know my own strengths and weaknesses. I’m really bad at this, and I’m not so good at that. But on closer reflection, these admissions sound a bit insincere. To tell the truth, I see myself only dimly, behind a haze of justifications and excuses. I’m rarely that accommodating of the faults of other people! Especially as we gain experience in the teaching profession, we tend to become more and more sure of ourselves. The hesitation and tentativeness of youth gradually (sometimes rapidly!) recede, replaced by a sense of being assured and knowledgeable. Of course this is a move for the better; we do need to be confident, act decisively and not be paralyzed by self-doubt. But the other side of this coin is a deep reluctance to re-look, to re-examine the assumptions behind what we do, to backtrack, to acknowledge a mistake. I read somewhere that CEOs and heads of organizations find it all the more difficult to reflect on their actions, because being in that position means they have a lot more to lose by admitting that they have made a mistake. And because of this, and the power they wield, the potential damage to the organization is very high if a mistake is made. This is quite similar to the role of a teacher, as CEO of his or her particular group of students! The teacher has significant authority and power in that situation. So, it is critical that she give time to reflect upon what she is doing and why. What are some of the things a teacher could reflect upon? The list is long, ranging from a quick interaction with a student or colleague that didn’t go so well, to long-term habits of relationship. I could ask myself questions like this: Do I make the other person uncomfortable? Did I allow

Read More »

Observing really what is

Kamala Mukunda As a teacher, I value the kind of reflection that perhaps any human being would benefit from. It has to do with how we understand our own actions and attitudes. It’s quite easy to evaluate other people and systems; we can all come up with excellent analyses of the flaws in another teacher, or a student, or another school, or the government education department! But turning the whole thing inward, on oneself, is a very different cup of tea. What does it feel like to encounter one’s own ‘flaws’? My instinctive answer to that question usually runs along these lines: Of course I know I’m not perfect. I know my own strengths and weaknesses. I’m really bad at this, and I’m not so good at that. But on closer reflection, these admissions sound a bit insincere. To tell the truth, I see myself only dimly, behind a haze of justifications and excuses. I’m rarely that accommodating of the faults of other people! Especially as we gain experience in the teaching profession, we tend to become more and more sure of ourselves. The hesitation and tentativeness of youth gradually (sometimes rapidly!) recede, replaced by a sense of being assured and knowledgeable. Of course this is a move for the better; we do need to be confident, act decisively and not be paralyzed by self-doubt. But the other side of this coin is a deep reluctance to re-look, to re-examine the assumptions behind what we do, to backtrack, to acknowledge a mistake. I read somewhere that CEOs and heads of organizations find it all the more difficult to reflect on their actions, because being in that position means they have a lot more to lose by admitting that they have made a mistake. And because of this, and the power they wield, the potential damage to the organization is very high if a mistake is made. This is quite similar to the role of a teacher, as CEO of his or her particular group of students! The teacher has significant authority and power in that situation. So, it is critical that she give time to reflect upon what she is doing and why. What are some of the things a teacher could reflect upon? The list is long, ranging from a quick interaction with a student or colleague that didn’t go so well, to long-term habits of relationship. I could ask myself questions like this: Do I make the other person uncomfortable? Did I allow

Read More »