kalpana's feedback on my lesson

1. The activity was introduced quite clearly and explained well to students.

2. Each student was asked specifically to contribute (my feedback from the last class was incorporated) and though the nature of contributions was mostly free style, it did serve to get them speaking out during the lesson.

3. The quality of discussion that ensued was good and some very relevant questions were asked especially by student 1 who was supportive throughout. (though I felt atudent 2 and 3 were trying very hard to emulate the image of a been there and done that type!!)

4. Fleshing out of student responses was done to some extent in the limited time that was available though some will have to follow in the context of the novel itself.

5. It would have been useful to take students through one chapter of the novel in class, highlighting to them how the aspects of a novel that were discussed manifest themselves. Reading independently may not always be fruitful, as you probably know by experience.

6. Alternately you could have taken them through one or two paras in the 1st chapter so as to explain how mood, atmosphere and style etc. is evident.

7. Words like dialect and ideolect, if not used in earlier classes, may need some explanation and examples.

8. A tip - discourage students from using simplistic sounding words like 'good' and 'nice' which are not precise and really do not tell you anything about the quality of the plot or character or situation.

9. A follow up class later to see how students' understanding of these terms has improved/ enhanced may help.

10. The class ended well with all the main points being reiterated again.

Thank you and it was good to have observed your class.

The class that Kalpana observed.

It was 11 C . AICE. AS Level Litt. I had written out the lesson plan. I wanted to incorporate a few of the things we had learned in our latest PPSE session like bridging and hugging and also use a GO and one of the tech tools Shuchi had introduced to us, namely concept mapping (CM).
I'm teaching Chinua Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah.
But I wanted to start with an intro to the novel. My lesson plan went through dfferent revisions and never came to a kind of fixity, but it was clear in my mind in its basics. Unfortunately I couldn't use the tech hub that day but I still used concept mapping on the board.
I'm putting in the finished lesson notes now.
Dr. A.V. Koshy
Lesson Notes
Class held on 26th October 2006.
Block F
Venue: The terrace
Time: 1.45-2.45
Subject: The novel
Content: Elements of the novel.
Activity: Had a discussion on what the elements of the novel are. Stressed how most of the elements are common to the drama and the short story. The discussion took about 20 minutes.
I used the Classification web as a GO from Suchitra Narayan’s buffet.
The answers I expected from the students were: The Plot & the story, Characterization and characters, Themes, Language, Style, vocabulary, wordplay, symbols, motifs, emblems, images, figures of speech, Background and foreground, hero, heroine, (protagonists),villain, (antagonists), flat and round characters, stock characters, prototypes, archetypes, stereotypes, static, evolving, complex, simple or one-dimensional, milieu, setting, mood, tone, voice, atmosphere, sub-texts, sub-plots, point of view, perspective etc.
It emerged yet again that students are generally confused about the difference between plot and story. Character and characterization.
I wanted to divide them into two groups – one group to find definitions and examples and read them out.
Another to make a cmap of the connections between the main elements using verbs for the links.
They were then supposed to read out what each group came up with to the other group
But since the tech hub was not available I changed my lesson. I made them all do the definitions through the discussion together.
I made them write down the elements of the novel on the classification web, with novel as the word in the centre, then four main branches and then sub-branches of three elements each.
Then I did concept mapping with them on the board. Linking the concepts by using verbs.
For example – “Atmosphere builds the novel”.
Interesting digressions were into the need
To know about the author and his life
To read criticsm.
The students came up with everything on my list except wordplay.
I summed up and asked them to come to the next class with the first chapter of the novel read.
Learning objective: Learning the elements of a novel.
Assessment opportunity: Whether understanding has happened to some measure, enough to start out with.
Aim: A kind of revision, an intro. and a bridge between prior learning and present need.
Final comment: My lesson plans have to become even more simple. Awaiting feedback.

fleetwood mac - sara - man, i love this song

Written by Stevie Nicks.

Wait a minute baby...
Stay with me awhile
Said you'd give me light
But you never told me 'bout the fire

Drowning in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
And now it's gone
It doesn't matter anymore
When you build your house
Call me home

And he was just like a great dark wing
Within the wings of a storm
I think I had met my match -- he was singing
And undoing
The laces
Undoing the laces

Drowning in the sea of love
Where everyone would love to drown
And now it's gone
It doesn't matter anymore
When you build your house
Then call me... home

Hold on
The night is coming
And the starling flew for days
I'd stay home at night all the time
I'd go anywhere, anywhere
Ask me and I'm there, because I care

Sara, you're the poet in my heart
Never change, never stop
And now it's gone
It doesn't matter what for
When you build your house
I'll come by

Chorus

All I ever wanted
Was to know that you were dreaming
(there's a heartbeat
And it never really died)

Shuchi Grover's feedback

Hi Koshy,

Here are my notes on your lesson which I observed. I don't believe we ever received the entire 12 lesson unit plan from you.

Regards,
Shuchi
------------------------------

------------------------------

Lesson observed on Tuesday, 5.9.06 Block F, 1 hour by Shuchi Grover

Teacher: A.V. Koshy

Std 11 AICE

Literature

The topic was a poem "The Spirit Is Too Blunt An Instrument" by Anne Stevenson

Setting:

5 students (3 girls G1, G2, G3 & 2 boys B1 & B2) sitting in a semicircle in front of the blackboard in the Tech Hub, with Koshy in the space in between.

Specific Observation Notes:

• Koshy introduces the lesson by writing "Carol Ann Tomlinson" on the board and saying that the aim of his lesson was to teach in a way that different kids would be able to understand the poem and that it would become "fuzzy --> clear" G1 responded "You've lost me already." and Koshy smiled and dropped that thread.
• Koshy gave a brief introduction to the poem saying that it was from the "Sceince" Poetry genre.
• The students by turn then read about 4 lines of the poem each.
• Then he asked the kids to split into 2 groups; B1 & B2 in one and the 3G's in another with a short explanation from Koshy that he was leveraging "Multiple intelliegences" and verbal/ling and spatial/visual capabilities of the students. The boys were asked to look up meanings of various words on the internet and list out adjectives, see how the words were being used in the poem. The girls were asked to use the internet to pull up images of the various parts of the human body that were being talked about in the poem. Both groups were to make presentations after 20 mins.
• The kids got to work.
• After 20 mins they made their presentations along with all-class discussions about their views. The discussions were awesome!
• The class was not too impressed with the poem and questioned the poet's objectives in writing such a poem.
• Koshy asked in the end if the poem had become fuzzy--? clear and one of the kids said that it was fuzzier then before which made Koshy smile. He clarified to the student that perhaps the intentions of the poet or the subtext of the poem may be fuzzy, but he believed that they all comprehended the poem at least. I agree with this assessment of his.

Analysis:

• I did not see any reason for the teacher to explain things like Differentiated Instruction and MI to kids. It is part of the teacher's strategy and not part of the lesson. Koshy stressed that he wanted the students to know.
• Koshy explained in his lesson plan as well as to me in person that this was a very bright class and that they were all very bright kids. I felt that perhaps differentiated instruction was then not a necessary strategy at all!
• That said, I think the lesson was very well thought out and executed. I found myself enjoying the lesson thoroughly
• The tie-ups with DI were evident and well-executed

More PPSE

What is the connection between multiple intelligences, multiple literacies and multidisciplinary integration?
Worth thnking about.
Hugging and bridging are good concepts to remember David P/Berkins?
Graphic organisers are many . There's even a meta-organizer floating about.Interesting.
Geethu gave us a nice handout on docuenting and making your own book.
End of the sessions. Tara asked me if I've chewed off more than I can handle. I always do. Something makes me live on the edge. On the verge of breakdown.
Kalpana observed my class. Observed is a peculiar word. Yet to receive the feedback.
Shuch has sent me some handsome feedback on my class demonstrating differentiated instruction.
I'm tickled pink because Shuch's from Harvard.

I am caught in the vicious trap of the jungle of urban work.

PPSE Update.

We had two days of a workshop held by Geetha Narayanan.
The concepts we dealt with were teacher/bricklayer and teacher/architect , not to forget teacher/archaeologist.
The new template we dealt with was "literacy as code," "ways of world making or sense making," "materials, tools and processes" and "vulnerabilities and deprivations."
GN is an architect. Cognitive architecture is what she aims for.
Now for the assignment.
A few other things I picked up that I need to look into - null curriculum
Jo-hari window
STAD
UDL

I learned the fishbowl exercise.

The need to post and get readers/hits.

So I am going to finally move this blog into the public sphere and showcase it as one worthy of reading bcause of the fine writng it contains.
I thought I will start by putting my essay on Bruner and constructivism in here, now that it's been corrected and I got an A for it. So here goes. Heavy, but worth reading:

Deconstructing Brunerian Constructivism

Intro: The Concept Of Significance
A major development in the twentieth century for the student of theory was the evolution of a few defining terms that were seen to be highly utilitarian in their ability to refer to many of the humanities and arts disciplines simultaneously, making multiple interfaces possible. These terms are the sign, signifier, signified, signification, referent and the text - in their fullest connotations. Readers of learning theories may notice that these important terms did not leave much of an impact on the discourse of Education. My effort in this essay will not be to ask why, but to connect these theoretical terms to learning theory and my practice, finally generalizing on the output. The obvious fear that comes to the surface, whenever theories that stem from Saussurean linguistics, structuralism, post-modernism, deconstruction and political empowerment are discussed in connection with learning, is the one about whether these are anarchic and subversive and will undermine the foundations of what child-centered education is supposed to be. Deconstructionists would laugh at the idea that education is supposed, a priori, to be this or that. It is true that polyphonic discourses deconstruct commonly held assumptions. But to believe that they are automatically against learning theories like Constructivism, which is the theory I want to examine, is misleading. Au contraire, to rigorously test the philosophical concepts that underpin a system, an institution or a philosophy is to do it a great benefit.
So, to frame my present effort, through which I hope to temporarily discover my philosophy or theory of learning, let me start by asking a few questions that seem relevant. To rephrase things in terms I am familiar with as a theorist, what will be my main signifier and what will it signify? What will be its referent? What is the text and what are the subtexts? My temporary answers, simply put, are: The learner – whether in singular or plural - is the signifier under consideration. No learner, no education. The signified, consequently, is learning. The referent of the process of signification which is naught but the process of learning is - a surprisingly DesCartesian finding - the interaction and interface between the learning self and the world from which it partially learns. The text, or education, is naturally the sum of these four parts. This self-sufficient and significant system has been, contaminated, at least for me, by three subtexts which area. the ideology of powerb, the theories of learning andc. the need, due to financial, political, social and economic constructs, for ‘entrepreneurial’ middlemen between the learners and actual learning.This impasse has to be faced now because it is a reality. My attempt will be to deconstruct the subtexts after discussing some of the salient principles outlined in Bruner's version of Constructivism, of which he is only one of the proponents.

Constructivism And Bruner.
This essay is constructivist in shape. That derives partly from choice and partly from the fact that the course which is eliciting it is also, to some extent, deliberately or unconsciously, constructivist. Concurrently, the metaphoric framework I have evolved is both constructivist and deconstructive in that my key words and concepts are typical signifiers that slide in and out of one another and overlap in phallogocentric jouissance that is a reflection of the amorphousness of words and the indeterminacy of concepts that resist, ideally, fixity. Constructivism, based primarily on what Piaget stressed, the concept of cognitive structures – i.e. ; schemas - , is a wide theory of learning that comprises several perspectives and includes thinkers as diverse as J. Bruner and the neo-Marxist Vygotsky. Bruner's contribution can be summed up in the following points.1. The signifier or the learner should be the active agent in the give and take of the signified; learning.2. In the process of signification or learning the learner is not a finished referent-product, but has a sign on him that reads 'under construction,' like a good website.3. He learns not only to construct ideas and hypotheses but also to make decisions based on models that have a cognitive structure embedded in them. He thereby arrives at meaning, and patterns experience towards a definite qualitative end result and, in a sense, constructs himself with help from the world (environment) as referent.4. He learns extrapolation and transcending of subject boundaries, both typical outcomes of constructivist endeavors.5. Facilitation has to bring about the learner’s ability to recognize first principles on his own initiative.6. It must lead to a profitable exchange of views (the Socratic dialogue and method of learning).7. The top-down approach of ‘delivering’ knowledge and information has to be jettisoned for simplification, taking into consideration age and level- appropriateness.8. The building blocks or spiral method is to be followed so that by the end of the project the learner can build the entire ‘project’ by himself.9. The facilitator has to motivate structure and sequence learning, besides planning the interval and ratio of interventions that negotiate the minefield of reward and punishment.10. The historical, social and cultural aspects of the signifier have to be taken into consideration to inculcate in him the "readiness" to learn.11. The learner needs order and organization so that spiral learning will take place, whereby the learner has the skill to build on what has been previously constructed.12. Facilitation leads to the ability and potential of the signifier to learn being maximized to the extent where inferences that go beyond the mastered level lead to facility with abstractions, filling in of gaps, and decoding and remixing of all the relevant aspects of textuality. Bruner doesn't take Skinner’s concept of reinforcement into consideration and seems to place little emphasis on the learner's past, emotions or physiological needs. These can be considered flaws; not just in his theory but in constructivism in general. It is too psychological in its orientation and seems to deal only with the mind, brain, intellectual prowess and mental processes, to the detriment of other aspects of the learner and learning, unlike in the more holistic approach of Gardner. However, I remain drawn to Bruner's theory, because I am more mind- oriented than heart or body-centered.
Constructivism as a theory of learning and its postulates like Brunerism have already proved themselves quite application-friendly in U.S. and Europe and the degree of difficulty experienced by educators in trying to implement them is moderate. The Indian context requires that it be tweaked for our circumstances. It is a user friendly theory because it deals primarily with patterning the process of learning into cognitive structures for best results and thus, in its crux, is aiming at the essential. Its implementation becomes difficult only if complicated by aiming too high.


Illustrating The Theory
Coming to current practice, I would like to illustrate, using the above twelve-point explanation I have given of Bruner’s form of Constructivism, several things that I have done that parallel almost exactly his theoretical viewpoints.
To ensure that the signifier in one particular learning situation I was in last year was involved in active give and take I made them engage in activities like
a. listening to “novel readings” by two accomplished readers,
b. participating in a video-viewing exercise (the film of the novel) followed by discussion and
c attempted movie-making of one section; along with the usual activities of
d. reading and
e. writing.
The results were, I admit, mixed. But the active give and take definitely occurred.
By the end of the year, exposed to the idea of reading a by-any- standards ‘long’ novel, the group of twenty-one I have taken as the case for presentation exemplified clearly the truth that in the effort to construct and situate themselves as mature readers they varied widely in terms of achievement. While six of them actually read the entire book, which was task- fulfillment at its best, two of them read the lengthy allotted portion. The other thirteen coped by reading some of the more relevant sections of the text, listening to five chapters being read out to them, having it reinforced for them visually through watching the movie and by trying to make a section of it as a film, using auditory aid in the form of literary readings and lastly by making use of a study guide available on the net. The results of the exams showed that those who had constructed themselves as mature readers scored the highest, the ones who had done the required work came second and the others lagged behind in spite of the active give and take of the sessions. The reason for this is obvious. While all these signifiers are ‘houses’ under construction, the ones who read the entire text by themselves were the ones who participated most in the process of signification, with least intervention from the outside, and hence they were able to collect and assemble the most number of building blocks for the project. They have almost reached the target of becoming the signified in whom learning has taken place. They were deeply engaged in the process of signification – or of making sense of the text for themselves, to put it in a more germane fashion.
This was seen in their writing that is gradually developing, - reflecting not only their growth in the discipline but also personal growth – suggesting that they are beginning to imbibe not just content but the pattern of the cognitive structure embedded in the efficacious practice of learning that the theory of constructivism is when applied. They have not yet gone on to extrapolation and beyond the textual paradigms, but recognition of first principles is beginning to take place. For instance, now the group under observation has begun to understand the generalities that go into the make-up of a good novel like story, plot, setting, themes and characters and next year, by the end of the present module in its totality, they will also be able to recognize the specificities and peculiarities of a novel’s tonality that makes it stand out in literary terms due to elements like aptness of dialogue, the pictorial quality, characterization, depth in treatment of themes etc. Gradually, the constructivist approach has begun to yield profitable exchanges of views and dialogues that are definitely Socratic in nature. My approach has taken age and level- appropriateness too much into consideration. As a result of pitching the standard too low and trying to transfer concepts and knowledge in too simple a fashion to meet even the supposedly lowest common denominator, instead of delivering learning from top-down, not as much ground was gained as might have otherwise been possible. In the attempt to motivate the group as facilitator, I was able to bring the power of collaboration into play by arranging for two fine readings of sections of the novel, especially one by an expert in the field that took into consideration things like the exact accent of the local dialect that was spoken by some of the characters in the novel. The content was divided into structured units for ingestion and the ratio and interval of interventions was planned appropriately with the stress being on reward and reinforcement – an element borrowed from Skinner – rather than punishment. This bred its own kind of chaos and slackness in the group but the philosophy was not sacrificed for a year. What was most interesting was the process of whole class reviews held in camera, so to speak, to gauge the measure of group and individual learning that had actually taken place. It was an innovative venture that the group had never gone through before and led to a lot of discussion and proactive results, especially in the updating of notebooks by some of the members. An interesting facet that emerged was that gender seemed to play a part in receptivity to constructivist techniques of facilitation. Hopefully in one more year, if this whole method is fine-tuned, the group which now shows much improvement in that nineteen of them seem to have become more focused, may eventually come to a stage where all twenty-one show enough acumen to go beyond the texts and prescribed syllabus to a place where making hypotheses, spiral development and maximizing of learning potential - leading to self-improvement which is the constructivist aim - all become possible.

Conclusion: Deconstructing Constructivism As A Means To Power
Several issues swam into focus in my attempt, of a very specific nature; therefore not addressed by constructivism directly. If the three or four areas that needed to be addressed urgently were reading, writing, student variability and lack of know-how regarding researching and thinking skills; perhaps it was because Bruner’s suggestion that the historical, social and cultural contexts also need to be taken seriously into consideration to bring about a solution that would actually create “readiness” in the group was ignored. However, to do so would have opened a Pandora’s Box, one which I would love to address next year. The predicament in doing so consists of the following question. What is the price tag on education for rich kids? Is advanced theory applied to learners in select Indian settings a modus operandi of the convoluted machinations of power, whereby the children of the rich get immunity from having to do what their less fortunate counterparts have no choice but to, while being assured that power will remain in their hands because of the superiority of the quality of education they get? Does the effective implementation of theories of learning like Bruner’s indirectly foster and maintain in a country like India a new caste system, more rigid than the old, in its raising up of a class of learners who are elite because of the training they can afford and who learn, beyond cognitive structures, the only lesson valued by the ‘strong’ of the world – how to increase in power and wealth and become rulers; an end for which the means is this kind of specialized learning?
If it is so, it is a case of the ‘constructivist’ text called education being falsely constructed, without recognizing the gaps and discontinuities in the arbitrary and perennially changing relationships between the signifier, the signified, the referent and the world. The gap becomes fatal if the system does not realize that textuality is closed and kinetic but just outside of it, un-quantified by any theory, there are large human factors that consist of much more than parents, business entrepreneurs, position, fame, assets, high finance, aristocracy, influence and .... expensive education! The ‘much more’ is signified primarily, for the present writer, by elements like the children themselves, elementary and high school teachers, learning support staff and counselors, the work- force that cleans an establishment daily and the non-teaching staff, to name just a few, and many other factors that are not quantified by most of the advanced, learned theories of learning. The factors include respect, equality and a developed awareness that the earth is part of a vast, beautiful, living web of life that always finds amusing the attempts of a few strands in it to consider themselves greater than the sum of the parts. In brief, theories of learning must be supported by a socially viable network like the one Aditi is certainly striving to be, communities of practice that take history and the world into consideration in such a manner that those in the echelons of power like the management and the parents and the facilitators in authority are sensitized to the adverse effects of a system that relies only on intellectual, aesthetic, scientific, technological, economic, bodily- kinetic or academic achievement. At the same time, this shouldn’t result in a loss of motivation in creating achievers in these fields. None of these achievements are essential life skills, if they stand in isolation.
To sum up, theories with constructivist goals seem to me pragmatically sound but not humanizing enough, if its application is only limited to international schools. Education’s general theoretical drift today is similarly constricted by such theories being boxed into narrow strips in vibrant democracies like India. Any theory of learning which ultimately doesn’t send the learner in the direction of truth, and that includes responsibility to all one’s fellow men; is, by inference, incomplete and needs deconstruction so that one may come up with a practice that creates in the signifier the innate drive to ask the age-old question: What is really "significant" enough to learn in the brief life each human being has on earth?
Bibliography attached in an earlier post.

farewell to three of my wonderful students

Artist: John Cale
Song: Hallelujah
Lyrics
I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don't really care for music, do ya?
It goes like thisThe fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

Your faith was strong, but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew ya
She tied you to a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah etc.

Baby I've been here before,
I know this roomI've walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya
I've seen your flag on the Marble Arch
Love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah etc.

There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me, do ya?
I remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah etc.

Maybe there's a God above,
all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who out drew ya
And it's not a cry you can hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah etc,
Hallelujah etc.

I know your dream

findings

1.teaching creatively and teaching for creativity
2.dimensions of learning
3.integrated curriculum
4.multiple intelligences
5.learning about, from and with technology
6.differentiated instruction
7.bloom's taxonomy
8.maslow's heirarchies
9.understanding by design

my tool box of theories is full

i can pick and choose

makes skills and attitudes clearer for me now....

plus learned a lot of things like what a project is etc...

last part of my essay

A Select Bibligraphy

Bruner, J.S. (1960) The Process of Education, Harvard University Press, U.S.A
Lye, John (1993) CONTEMPORARY LITERARY THEORY, Brock Review Volume 2 Number 1, pp. 90-106, USA . http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/2P70/contemporary_literary_theory.html. Last updated July 2001
Smith, M.K. (2002) 'Jerome S. Bruner and the process of education', the encyclopedia of informal education http://www.infed.org/thinkers/bruner.htm. Last updated:January 2005:
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc_data/constructivism.html
This is a gateway to much material on Constructivism
http://www.psy.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Bruner.htm
This site is a gateway to much material on Bruner.

finished

it's done - now for the bibliography and the formatting - yay!!!!

exactly below 2750 words.

Continuing

Constructivism as a theory of learning and its postulates like Brunerism have already proved themselves quite application friendly and the degree of difficulty experienced by educators in trying to implement them is moderate. It has been the same for me too, although theIndian context requires that it be tweaked for our circumstances.

The Essay - Part 2

Construcivism and Bruner.

This essay is constructivist in its shape. That derives partly from choice and partly from the fact that the course which is eliciting it is also , to some extent, deliberately or unconsciously, constructivist. Concurrently, the metaphoric framework I have evolved is deconstructive in that my key words and concepts are typical signifiers that slide in and out of one another and overlap in a phallogocentric jouissance that is a reflection of the amorphousness of words and the indeterminacy of concepts that resist, ideally, fixity. Constructivism, based primarily on what Piaget stressed, the concept of cognitive structures - schemas - , is a wide theory of learning that comprises several perspectives and includes thinkers as diverse as J. Bruner and the neo-Marxist Vygotsky. Bruner's contribution can be summed up in the following points.
1.The signifier or the learner should be the active agent in the give and take of the signified; learning.
2.In the process of singification the learner is not also a finished referent-product but has a sign on him that reads 'under construction' like any good website.
3. In the same process he learns not only to construct ideas and hypotheses but also to make decisions based on models that have a cognitive structure embedded in them. He thereby arrives at meaning and patterns experience towards a definite qualitative end result and , in a sense, constructs himself with help from the world(environment) as a referent.
4. This includes extrapolation and transcending of subject boundaries , both typical of constructivist endeavours.
5.Facilitation has to bring out about the ability to recognize first principles on the learner's own initiative.
6. It must lead to a profitable exchange of views ( the Socratic dialogue and method of learning)
7.The top-down approach of delivering knowledge and information has to be jettisoned for simplification, taking into consideration age and level appropriateness.
8.The building blocks method is to be followed so that by the end of the project the learner can build the entire house by himself.
9.The facilitator has to motivate, structure, sequence and plan the interval and ratio of interventions that negotiate the minefield of reward and punishment.
10. The historical, social and cultural aspect has to be taken into consideration to inculcate "readiness" to learn in the 'signifier' of learning.
11. The learner needs order and organisation so that spiral learning will take place. whereby the learner builds on what has been previously constructed.
12. Facilitation leads to the ability and potential of the signifier to learn being maximised to the extent where inferences that go beyond the level mastered leads to facility with abstractions and filling in of the gaps.

Bruner doesn't take reinforcement into consideration and seems to place little emphasis on the learner's past or emotions or physiological needs. These can be considered flaws; not just in his theory but in constructivism in general in that it is is too psychological in in its orientation and seems to deals only with mind, brain, intellect and mental prowess to the detriment of other aspects of the learner and learning , unlike in the more holistic approach of Gardner. However, I remain drawn to Bruner's theory partly because of the lack of empirical proof for some of Gardner's classifications and partly because I am more of a mind- oriented personality than a heart or body-centred personality.

Second attempt. - Intro: The concept of significance

The essay requires that I pick a theory first. This is difficult for me because I generally move with a complex, complicated, approach to theory - believing that one must have no theory to go by initially, then go on to take what is good from all the theories after being initiated into them , form one's own multi-faceted theory over time and transcend theory eventually after finding out the right balance between theory and practice. Another difficulty that presents itself to me is that I am, by nature, a strongly theory-oriented thinker/writer, and left to myself I would keep writing theory and leave out documenting the practical aspect totally, because the latter is what I'm good at.
(Leave out this first paragraph safely)

Of the given theorists , due to familiarity and inclination the ones that attract me the most are Dewey, Skinner, Piaget, Bruner, Vygotsky, Gardner and the brain-based learning theorists. This is not a value judgment. Since that's still too long a list and the brief is to choose primarily just one or two I would like to concentrate, perforce, on Bruner and constructivism, although I will be referring, if necessary, to the other theorists.

(Leave this paragraph out too)

A major development in the twentieth century for a student of theory in the transdisciplinary field of linguistics, stylistics, literature, criticism, art, anthropology, sociology, history, politics, philosophy and psychology was the evolution of a few defining terms that were seen to be highly utilitarian in their ability to refer to all the above mentioned disciplines simultaneously, making multiple interfaces possible. These terms are the sign, signifier, signified, signification, referent and the text - in their fullest connotations.

(First paragraph of essay)

These words or defining terms stand for key concepts that show a shift in perception that occurred in the twentieth century, bringing in a new paradigm in theory and practice in all the above mentioned fields. The shift was away from nineteenth century trends and open to twenty-first century changes which have had to take rapid breakthroughs in science and technology - resultantly in media -into consideration.

(Leave out the above paragraph)

As to what the terms stand for - to put it in a very simplistic way which subverts the very effort of the proponents of these terms to expand their frame of reference to include, if possible, all disciplines - the sign stands for anything with symbolic value, the signifier is usually its re-presentation and the signified is the interpreted or interpretative Meaning of the sign/ifier. The branches of learning which study these phenomena are called semiotics and hermeneutics. The how, why, when , where, who and what of Meaning's occurrence , also called semantics, is called signification or the signifying process and deals primarily with the relationship between the signifiers and how it generates meaning. The sign and the signifier always stand in relation to its referent - and studying the connections between such multi-pronged terms was the contribution of Structuralism which dealt with the relationship between elements rather than the understanding of the elements themselves. The final concept I have mentioned, that of the text, assumed staggering importance after Derrida's mercurial and controversial rise to prominence in the theoretical world, with his notion of textuality as perenially closed and kinetic; a chain of endless signifiers based on difference rather than identity and repetition, a notion that neatly yet radically does away with the concepts of the the signified and the referent.

Second paragraph - for the layman. Should I use it? - depends on final word count)

Naturally, with this kind of modernist theoretical grounding, theory in these disciplines moved towards post-structuralism, post-modernism, deconstruction, post-colonialism, post-feminism, post-Marxism, post- colonialism and decolonization, subaltern studies, minority and marginalized discourses being given voice etc. All this was made possible because the previous theorists had opened up whole schools of debate and their discourses dealt with subjectivity and relativization, making it difficult in the post- Nietzchean & Foucaultian ambience to come to conclusions on any "subject" without first rigorously testing whether one was thinking clearly. Theory had become meta-theoretical, a natural concomitant to its rising importance.

(Leave out the above paragraph)

As readers of learning theories may notice, these important terms did not, seemingly, leave much of an impact on the discourse of Education. My effort in this essay will not be to ask why but to connect these theoretical terms to learning theory and my practice, finally generalizing on the output. The obvious fear that comes to the surface whenever theories that stem from Saussurean linguistics, structuralism, post-modernism, deconstruction and political empowerment of the sort envisaged by Foucault are discussed in connection with learning and education is the one about whether these are anarchic and subversive and will undermine the very foundations of what education, especially child-centered education, is supposed to be. Deconstructionists will, of course, laugh at the idea that education is supposed, a priori, to be this or that . It is true that such discourses deconstruct commonly held assumptions. But to believe that they are automatically anti-constructivist is misleading. Au contraire, to rigorously test the philosophical concepts that underpin a system, an institution or a philosophy is to do it a great benefit. From this kind of scrutiny they have a chance to emerge positively cha(r/n)ged, unscathed or diminished.

So, to frame my present effort, through which I hope to temporarily discover my philosophy or theory of learning, let me start by asking a few questions that seem relevant to me. What is my main signifier and, to rephrase thnigs in terms I am familiar with as a theorist, what does it really signify? What is its referent? What is the text and what are the subtexts? My temporary answers, simply put, are: The learner is the signifier under consideration -whether in singular or plural. No learner, no education. The signified, consequently, is learning. And the referent of the process of signification which is naught but the process of learning is - a surprisingly DesCartesian finding- the interaction and interface between the self and the world. The text therefore will be, naturally, the sum of these four parts. This self-sufficient and significant system which might have been rampant once has been contaminated by bringing into it the three subtexts which are
a. the ideology of power
b, the theories of learning and
c. the need, due to financial, social and economic constructs, for (artificial?) middlemen between the learners and actual learning or education.
This impasse has to be faced now because it is a reality. My attempt will be to deconstruct these three subtexts using some of the salient principles outlined in Bruner's version of Constructivism , of which he is only one of the proponents.

apology in frostian/blakean terms

casw sessions make us wise
but, alas, a deadline doth me await
and i still have seven reports to write
yea, i still have seven more reports to write.....

think: a couplet

I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours- Hunter S. Thompson

when is it told then?
from five to nine?

A great poem by Miguel Hernandez

What does the wind of bitterness want
that it comes down the gully
and forces the windows
while I dress you in my arms?

To overthrow us, pull us down.

Overthrown, pulled down,
both our bloods receding.
What more does the wind want
more bitterly each moment?

To part us.

A day in the life of a poet like Tagore?
03/25/06
(edited Saturday, Mar 25, 2006 08:54)
purify your heart and find out
what the truth is and/or the truth is not
purify your heart and you shall see
God in fire ether earth wind(air) and sea
purify your heart and we can be
one as the two faces of the multiple High
purify your heart in the motives and intentions of all your dreams
purify your heart
so that all you are and say and do is more than what it seems
till you know you are your silence and not just your deeds
and your reacting and your refraining from evil purify
be good, dear heart
purify your single singular heart
and find it linked to the sacred(ness of the) heart and all the other hearts
in the expanding universal heartland(s) of the pure.

Anu's session

Teaching a chapter on stress that was both content-rich and content-heavy Anu found out that the last lesson which she made an interesting one based on brain based strategies to motivate learning was perhaps the most successful of the lot. She showed us a video of the class in which she had made use of Nina John as a subject expert.
Her consequhent reflection led to this unexpected key question - unexpected but relevant for many of us teachers who deal with lots of content and concepts in a year's syllabus - :
How - through what methods (tools) -can direct teaching be made interesting?
Direct teaching, she explained - and we concurred - was the only way to teach large chunks of theory whichroug was needed as background for the discipline - those dry but necessary sections.
For someone like me who had majored in direct teaching the question came as a pleasant surprise - because it made me rethink how it could be made interesting.

Intriguingly, of the six sessions we have held so far only two dealt directly with assessment of student work. Two dealt with motivating students to work/learn better and the other two dealt with questions connected more with improving our teaching practice as professionals.
The range is what makes this exercise worthwhile.

My suggestions for improving direct teaching included bringing in the lement of performance - body langugage, jokes, gestures, eye contact, use of movement and space by the teacher in the class, preparing rigorously beforehand for the lecture, timing things perfectly , including the pauses and the time and places for discussion in the course of this kind of "delivery".
Other suggestion I made were that tech tools like video files, audio files and powerpoint presentations be made use of in direct teaching classes to enhance content rather than as media for building the student's potential to learn. Thus interviews with famous personalities - subject experts - , case studies etc could be projected making the classroom a serious space and the things shown and heard would be a documentary nature .
The idea that Anu took to most was that of personalizing the content, because however dry the topic is, if the students find a genuine link in it to their own lives, it will enthuse them.

Bala facilitated the session ably.

During the collaborative strategy building session we formulated a strategy that helped all of us
in its definitiveness.
Bala's role in insisting that the collaborative strategy sessions should really move towards a single combined strategy is worth noting as a concrete and positive move.
So is his role in making for us a document in which we can easily write down our session notes. If fine tuned this wil be of lasting importance to future CASW Sessions.
The debriefing did not contain anything much of note except the suggestion that contextualizing
the key question sometimes get confusing becasue the presenter is busy not only speaking but also handing out notes etc.
The necessity to be punctual was also stressed.
Anu was quite happy with her take-away.
All of us heaved a big sigh of relief, having completed the first round.

"School's out for ever" - Alice Cooper

Do you remember what you felt like on the last day of school after the last school -exam you'd ever write?

The Quiet Auditorium and Beyond
Tue, 21 Mar 2006 05:01:06 -0800

i was found standing
in a wide but closed space
on a sleepy noonday

a tall death's head glided
skeletally past me
to a long and spectral bench

tall, swaying trees came in
hemmed in by small seats
their branches, silent; moving

the hourglass turned thrice
i was found sitting
sleeping(!), sometimes writing

pacing is distracting
pacing shows distraction
eyes feasting on fair calves

ankles, thighs and muscles
shapes, twisting and turning
chairs and skirts, leaves rustling

three aeons went by
(for them but thirty seconds?)
of minds and sinews working

the clock struck five quietly
they rushed by, in gladness
22 soft-eyed gazelles

no longer penned in by/with questions
in "convent-ual" fences
free to roam the city

as if t'were green savannahs
to their hearts' feline dis-content(s)
in the heartless neon-lit streets

no more of school-exams
no more they, school children
no more they, girls; thinking

w/trapped in women's bodies
running out , gracefully
liberated, pretty gazelles

finally 'wisdom's' children
their sparkling faces declared
at one with their lissome limbs

and i was found walking
out of the gates of division
into the place, (of) my poem

setting it free, long-legged gazelle
into the azure - "nu/ew blue" - skies
of your desirous readings.

Gnome - 2

There is no need to feign
Poetry is worth nothing
But, then again
Nothing is worth Poetry.

Writing

"Habit is the ballast that chains the dog to its vomit" - Samuel Beckett in his monograph on Marcel Proust

What is friendship , according to Proust? Two people at the same level of confusion.....

How are these things connected to writing?

A writer needs to free himself from all preconceivedness to become a potent silence.

A change of mind & the importance of the prefix RE

I am unable to post a picture of Patrick White. I think I'll drop it. I want to return to my thread on evolving a satisfactory philosophy of education that will fit and extend my present needs as a facilitator.
I would like to be a bit subject or discipline- specific this time. However, the thoughts here are, as always, in media res; and should not be taken as a final position on anything I am pondering about.
In every subject at present a knowledge of English is needed.
So students should know English well.
What is the process by which a(ny) language can be learned 'well'?
Hearing and listening
Speaking
Reading
Writing
Thinking in the target language
These are commonly known denominators.
But in the 20th century , after modernism and post-modernism the prefix "re-" has become important.
The process of learning is not only about the impact of the first time
but about words like
re-petition
re-membering
re-inforcing
re-ifications

In literature especially, which if a man becomes an adept at, he naturally becomes good at language too - a cycle begins to form which I now feel is extremely valid
It goes like this.

Reading - RE - reading - Note-taking - RE - reading - Note-making - P(l)anning for writing -Writing - RE- reading - RE - writing (some people plan what they want to write so well they don't need to rewrite - they edit in their head- but these are exceptions)
In the circle also comes things like hearing and then hearing again, (the second is what I call ac tual listening) , viewing and RE-viewing (actual looking/seeing), thinking and then RE-thinking, doing and RE-doing, making and RE- making, creating and RE-creating.....
In short, I speak of the importance of the prefix RE and of RE-working everything to come closer to perfection....

This needs to be explicated using examples but it is potent enough as a seed for now. Ideally everything would need to be done thrice.

One of the twentieth century greats - Derrida

This picture was called " the blind deconstructing the blind."
Derrida is on the left. You can see that his hair has been deconstructed, perhaps by the wind.

Michaelangelo once said:

"i am still learning"

5th CASW session - Viji's.

Despite the absence of Anu and Hema , the former due to invigilation duty at Sophia's and the latter due to illness ; we held the fifth CASW session of the +2 teacher's group. Mohua joined in,
which was good.
Viji's key questions were
1.For projects based on research and collection of data how can the teacher ensure authenticity of data and no manipulation of the same by the student?
2. What measures can be taken by the teacher to ensure that students maintain integrity and truthfulness in producing genuine work based on research?
The questions , I felt , went into areas of research methodology, documentation, planning, assessment, life skills and ethics - a wide spectrum indeed!
The point she stressed most was that there should have been "systematic record of data, good arrangement of data, independant market survey, creative representation" in accordance with the proposed guidelines for marking with grades for 10th ISC internal assessment in economic applications projects.
She showed samples of project work where the students had not kept the criteria but it couldn't exactly be pinned down, so because of the superior packaging of the projects, they had , in a sense, got away with it....
This is what I wrote down in my indidvidual writing session:
To ensure they have done research give them specific locations. Scout those areas early or go with them. Check facts out if not with them. Collection of data must be backed by proof, not just charts.
Stick to assessment criteria and refuse to give marks/grades if what was asked for was not done.
Ensuring integrity by modelling research.
Don't let them consider the project completed until you are satisified.
The participant discussion was rich in specifying how ideas like the general ones above could actually be put into practice. I am putting them here in short hand:
Locate much of field study in school.
Bring back proof of interviews held.
Bring back bills and receipts.
Bring in research experts - to talk of how to do research and how exciting it is.
Bring back photographs and videos of the trips -
In case of dereliction of duty on the part of the student regarding quality of work done report the matter to the higher authorities
Map the work, break it down into manageable units, plan, collect data, analyze and write/present project. This makes close monitoring possible to avoid dilution.
Talk to the students of the need for ethics in research work. teach them skills of data collection, recording findings, documenting the process.
In the presenter reflection period Viji said that grouping wouldn't work and modelling was difficult. She also said that withholdoing marks and grades wasn't a feasible solution.
Collaborative strategy building :
1. Teach the students differnt styles of research;
library research, field study, market survey etc.
Also, how to record and write the results.
2.Provide structured parameters: selected locations, people, objects for study , time, sources.
3.Call in motivators and inspirers and be inspiring ....
4. Monitor the process and its documentation - evaluate and record. Surprise inspections can also be done occasionally.
The teacher has to talk throughout to students of work ethics.
If there is a clear case of plagiarism, copying, flagrant violation of copyright, patents or wholescale lifting of material from the internet etc. or stealing of intellectual property breaking those rights connected to it, the matter has to be taken to higher authorities.
Debriefing made us aware that the collaborative strategy session needed to be fine-tuned.
The facilitator's role was clearly delineated and his participant staus was seen to be less because of having to do two things at the same time.
Time has to be handled more carefully.
The points the presenter disagreed with were thought best avoided and not discussed in the collaborative strategy building session.

Next sessions:
Wednesday 22nd: Anupama's first session and/or Koshy's review. 2.30-5.00
April 1 - The other five review sessions. 8.45 - 3.15

Voss isst du?

		03/06/06 (edited Monday, Mar 06, 2006 19:04)
		Something’s stirring like a butterfly's wings It's clear that, again, someone's going batty Somewhere there's mud It feels so gritty under one's boots the sound drives you crazy In the damp rain falling hard taking shelter in a cowshed smelling of stale hay and piss so no one can think It's so nutty I feel like i’m almost about to scream There he says he knelt the gay writer with a name like W/white! Pa-trick luna-tic and he said he came to believe in the almighty - I’ve heard taller stories but i take it easy - and he wept like a baby cursin’ the damn rain (must have been night?!) beating on his wet face like thunder - Is that where he caught the chill that led to the Nobel? - I don't have an ace like that hid up my shirtsleeve I must have cheated at the game of life, gambling Voss, isst du, poker-face? The countdown for the usual cast off begins all over this year I wait in the days of Lent in a deserted vestry standing by the river in spate Can you hear the words of my roaring it asks I listen Hear It's the same old sound the crucified one crying out in human(e) agony

P.S. The experiments in language are intentional. A photograph of Patrick White shall duly be posted.

The promised picture of T.S. Eliot painted by none other than Wyndham Lewis

Bala's CASW session

Dealing with questions that touched upon the curriculum and the syllabus, bringing in the pedagogical issues of the real meaning of 'time' and 'space' and the logistics of handling them, Bala held forth in today's session a brilliant conundrum for the paticipants of how to deal with key questions that are highly relevant but totally out of the box in that they deal with student assessment rather than assessment of student work.
Art and Design coursework for AICE A level was the frame he set for us to discuss.
The key questions were:
1. How to schedule and plan sessions (practical work) when the locations are outside the school (eg; Lala Bhag Botanical Gardens or a view of the Hebbal lake) or outside the City ( eg; Mahabalipuram or Hampi )
2. how to facilitate learning in such a situation?
3. how to ensure completion of the painting as per the schedule, even when it is unmonitored.
Vijaya Rajeshwari facilitated the entire session ably.
The whole team had a lively session in which all felt comfortable and many good strategies were thrown up.
My responses to the key questions included the suggestions that the schedule should be made ready early and contact time making use of technology should be insisted on in the case of field trips ouside schoool where the students cannot be monitored by the teacher. Though I suggested self-assessment and peer-assesment as ways to keep them on target this idea - Bala rightly pointed out - is difficult to implement in the absence of the facilitator. About making sure they complete the work and don't drop out or produce shoddy work, the only solution I could think of was raising their level of motivation and interest and making them aware of the responsibilty they have towards art and life.
Strategies towards this end would include - meeting artists, discipline gained through earlier briefer field trips, showing films and works of art to them to raise their level of understanding of the intrinsic value of art and the consequent ethics and responsibilty expected of them in terms of integrity towards their work as artists which would include things like keeping deadlines etc...
In short i wanted them to think highly of their choice and calling so that it would automatically bring about in them a heightened awareness whereby they would turn in their best work.
The ideal time for field trips would be Christmas holidays, according to me.
Bala pointed out that while best work can be done only if they do go, if necessary, to far off places there were practical difficulties connected with that.....
The session ended with a serious appraisal of how Bala could handle coursework better next year - the best idea being by the "persistent" Vijaya Rajeshwari- a meticulous year plan- and debriefing where it was suggested that all of us should refresh our memory each time about the structure of the CASW meetings because at times we did forget and interrupted each other in sessions where we should have kept silent...
I feel that one thing that got forgooten was discussion on our take away from this enriching session. Mine was thoughts on how to mix school time and space constraints with the notion of how the world itself is a school and all time is meant for learning.....
Thanks to Bala for a thought provoking and tangentially illuminating session, typical of his aesthetic sensibility which always moves in a curve that is unexpected...
And to Rags and the others for harmonious participation. We missed the gregariousness of Anu who wasn't well.
The tea helped us in the fag end of the day to stay fresh.....
And to cap it all Tara's and Shuchi's feedback on my essay made a wonderful ending to a very pleasant day....

My continuing search for a satisfactory philosophy of education.

The Supertramp lyrics I quoted in the last post are, of course, interesting; but my training in theory, especially in the fields of literature and criticism, makes me read it against the grain.
When one is young is life really wonderful , a miracle, magical and beautiful?
The lyricist adds a qualifying "seems."
I remember: when I was small I actually wanted to go to school. This was because I have two elder brothers and a sister and watching two of them dress up everyday in their uniforms and take their schoolbags with books in it and go away made me feel they were more "grown up" than I...
When I did go to school, however, through sheer bad luck I got an awful teacher - a kind of bat out of hell- in the first standard and it ruined my schooling experience....
In those days , by the way, one could go to first standard directly... no K.G. ... no test...
When I reached college I 'felt' much happier . There was freedom there.
I came away from schooling pretty muddled.
The "confusion" of "learning" that Supertramp speaks of ..... I guess?! Partly inner confusion. Good teachers were rare....
I am writing this primarily from the point of view of a student....
In two of his poems T.S. Eliot speaks about how knowledge has been the bane of modern man's existence. I sought knowledge and that was perhaps the cause for my unhappiness with the system of education.....
He says that knowledge is different from wisdom...
We in India use the words gnana and vidya ....
I acquired vidya but found that what I needed was the gnana to apply the vidya...
It is clear that from the moment of birth man needs to learn....
But how does one learn? What? When? Where? From who? And last but not least, why and to what extent, i.e; how much? In other words how can I gain the gnana needed to move beyond the duality/maya of avidya and vidya...
A lot of it(learning) comes naturally and spontaneously. Some of it is "thrust", like "greatness" upon us. :).But of what we can consciously muster of learning, there we need to choose judiciously and wisely....
Samuel Beckett who was a brilliant academician discovered one day that he wanted to be an artist and threw up scholarship for consummate artistry. He eventually won a Nobel Prize for Literature but in the early years of struggle as a writer he wrote this revealing poem aptly titled
GNOME
Spent/d the years of learning squandering
Courage for the years of wandering
Through a world politely turning
From the loutishness of learning
My memory plays me tricks . I forget - but do not regret it - the exact tense of the first word of this gnomic utterance.
To sum up:
My children still learn in the same outdated system I grew up in, more or less, because I am (outwardly?) a conventional person.
But if I had a second conscious chance, what would I do?
What kind of schooling would I want?
Let me try and think it through......
(The photo is that of Samuel Beckett. I also wanted to post one of T.S. Eliot but I think I'll keep it for later. The photo is titled "Samuel Beckett's craggy stare" .....)

Supertramp › The Logical Song > Lyrics

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily
Joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible
Logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable
Clinical, intellectual, cynical.
There are times when all the world’s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man.
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who I am.
Now watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical
Liberal, fanatical, criminal.
Won’t you sign up your name, we’d like to feel you’re acceptable
Respectable, presentable, a vegetable!

At night, when all the world’s asleep
The questions run too deep
For such a simple man.
Won’t you please, please tell me what we’ve learned
I know it sounds absurd
But please tell me who I am.

I think of the lyrics of this song, along with those of many others, while evolving my philosophy of education. Is this kind of confusion at the end of the process of education a good thing or not? In the band's case they seem to have become a succes by making creative use of their confusion, crafting excellent songs out of it. The contradiction implied in that is what interests me. How much of their success was due to their education and how much in spite of it?

Third CASW session - Presenter: Joel Kribairaj

After the initial tech hiccups the session took off with Tara Kini facilitating and Satish Jayarajan as observer along with Arun from the P.E. Department.
Joel was able to put across his key questions with such conviction that we were convinced both of the necessity for the children to partcipate more actively and regularly in athletics and for there to be a democratization of such participation without bringing in the element of competition at all.
As Bala said Joel's philosophy of education shone through brightly throughout.
Joel's key questions were
Why do students in our school have immense interest in foorball and basketball?
How to create an equal interest in athletics?

During the productive discussion that followed rich strategies and perspectives emerged.
I was of the opinion that the interest in football and basketball had to do with the school's own culture, subculture and game- history and also something to with the prominence of these two games in Europe and in America, especially basketball's status as black American subculture's game. Bala opined that athletes were usually in " touch with the soil. "
Regarding equalization of interest several strategies were suggested including showing films like Iqbal and Chariots of Fire , bringing in selectors and role models , using the need for peer acceptance as a means to raise motivation through competitions, training for competitions, using an interdisciplinary method etc.
my suggestion was simulating a computer game which was like a quest for teams and weaving in things like javelin etc to make it exciting and colourful so that they would learn these sports without actually realising they were learning it first.
The question of what we took away from the session was a good one.
I personally took away the desire to motivate my students so they have equal interst in different things I teach and don't love only some of the things.
Though Joel had titled his presetation the losing battle we felt that the fight should go on and some things may have to be a choiceless entity....
The debriefing session -
I felt this session, more than the ones before , should have been video'd.....
It was the best of the three so far.
As usual, to write everything down would make it too long but there were tonnes of interesting things happening there....

Thanks to the team for another memorable experience which will feed into my teaching practice.

...and thanks to Tara for the snacks I and Anu went and had in her room at the end.

Follow up and a kind of a fare thee well ....

Trying to implement CASW sessions suggestions. I have made/am making my students rewrite the essays. parts of which I had submitted to the CASW group as their last/latest sample. While one student completed the essay , taking into account all the suggestions - and she has done a good job of it - with the other student I am following two of the strategies suggested in the CASW session - namely that her actual issues are not being given enough time and a thinking skill deficiency rather than a writing skill one...
As a result of giving her a longer time schedule and sitting and thinking what she is writing through with her - thus bringing into play another suggestion which is constant monitoring and feedback - I find that her essay is gradually becoming a satisfactory one. However the first part of my key question remains unanswered as yet. I need to look at the strategies suggested once again.

I am also wondering about something Tara wrote: are our exercises dealing with brain based learning and strategies or are they collaborative problem solving exercises? i am not satisfied with the collaborative strategy building session yet.

On a different note: I joined Aditi on May 9, 2005 for my induction course. During the course two students joined the five of us who were already there along with Tara who was mapping out evolving professional practice for us.
They were Parbati B and Mahesh. Parbati, a Bengali, had come from Vasant Valley , which was Bala's old school too.
Parbati has left us now and moved to Mumbai.
She shared the staffroom with me and Srini, two of the seven.
The time we had together was good fun She remains a good friend and I am glad I can remember her as a good colleague.
I'm sure none of us will forget your lesson on "ethnocentricism"
A pity I couldn't find the Disney Jungle Book CD to give you.
Still owing you cake. Or is it ice cream?!:)
Keep using your blog and stay in touch via email. Hoping to see you again in March. All seven of us will think of you fondly every now and then. koshy a.v. a.k.a terrestrian@gmail.com
for anyone interested in keeping in touch with Parbati her email addy is toping@rediffmail.com

Today was my presentation. Shuchi was the facilitator so things went smoothly. I presented my case using a Powerpoint presentation and also used samples of student work that included a range of unedited, edited and feedback- and - after examples. In the powerpoint presentation I explained the context. Students who are learning English literature show varied development in the case of their writing skills. Some are able to incorporate feedback instructions while some aren't. It's a question of how within the time constraints we work in , writing skills can be improved overcoming the negative impact of student variability.

My key question was:Taking into account the fact that I can spend only the same amount of time on both students, how can I equalize the learning of writng skills to mainimze the damging effects of student variabilty.
( a very pertinent remark made was that the word 'damaging' was not as appropriate as 'negative').

The group discussion and collaborative strategy building sessions after that were rich in suggesting alternate strategies to the ones I am using.
I am putting down the memorable ones:
Make the students write movie reviews.
Make them understand they are "authors."
Solicit feedback for the written pieces from other teachers, (warm feedback), classmates, and "unknowns"
by writing a description of the blog in such a way that people will leave comments.
Inspire and motivate by using things the students like.( Movies for instance)
Teacher feedback must be constant and immediate.
Marks and grades must be given.
A word limit could be given.
Collaborative writing projects. However this was considered a risky proposition in that it could create either anxiety through comparison or envy through competition.
Writing skills not being developed , a teacher rightly remarked, could mean that thinking skills was what was actually impaired. This has to be looked into at greater length.
Another strategy that was suggested was giving more of a time span for the student who is in need of more input

The issue was hopefully generic enough.

During the debriefing session an important point that came up was the one of ensuring that during the participant discussion the presented must not be involved in anyway, not even through eye contact.

The participants included our team of Bala,Joel, Viji, Anu and For quite some time Uday was there as an observer.

It was a very satisfying experience.

On being asked what strategy I would take back to class and implement , I felt that I would start with the last piece of written work of these students and try to improve that using the strategies suggested by the teachers and then bring the result in for my CASW review.

The first session of the CASW

We six , +2 group , namely; Hema, Bala, Joel, Anu, Viji and myself met at 2.30 p.m. in the A.V. room. Kalpana was also there as an observer . The session was facilitated by me. Hema presented a project on fuel cells and the use of hydrogen fuel cells in space shuttles and other applications like cars and buses. The powerpoint presentation shown was that of a project done by five 9 D students. She shared the learning objectives she had set and the guidelines she had given and also the assessment criteria. She also shared with us the mark sheet filled in by Mrs. Kausalya who had been the judge of the presentation. After presenting the work she asked the group her three key questions.
1. How can one assess if all the participants in a group do/divide the research work equally while doing group projects?
2. How to assess if learning has taken place?
3. How can students who have fear in presenting be helped to ovecome it?

After her presentation we asked clarifying questions.
This was followed by individual writing and reflection and then the group discussion of the participants in which Kalpana also offered valuable insights .
Many interesting insights and strategies were thrown up.
Some of them were
a. closer monitoring of the process
b. shared mentoring of the groups so that things could be properly monitored.
c. smaller groups
d. a common work diary or proof that the presentation had come out of individual and group effort.
e. that the students have a bibliography.
f. connecting the learning objectives to the assessment criteria
g. fluid guidelines.
h. proper documentation
These are only some of the views expressed. The actual discussion was richer than this.

After the group discussion ended, the presenter reflected on what had been shared and spoke of how it had helped her and said that for her next project on fire extinguishers she would implement the suggestions she approved of and bring back the result for review.

The collaborative strategy building section lacked focus but again threw up various suggestions . One thing that was clear was that projects should have a single unifying theme but the subtopics could be chosen bythe students. Work would be delgated according to liking within each group and proof that work was taking place would have to be shown. Presentation skills could be taught or there could be a mock presentation and the teacher could even be a counsellor in case of emotions like fear.

The session then went on to debriefing.
Certain clear suggestions came forth,
It was decided to have only two key questions maximum.
The key questions would be framed more carefully.
Copies of LO's, etc. would be a help.
Time for each part of the tuning sessions was much discussed.
A significant suggestion was that each participant keep a CASW notebook
Blogging was also emphasised.
After thanking all concerned mutually the group dispersed.

Thanks to Pande and the tech team and Satish and Kalpana for making things possible in/for the first session.

After four days of intensive learning

It was good to get a grip on how the brain learns and strategies that can help in this. Dealing with one's own problem in the light of this was a satisfying experience.

Collaborative strategy building.

The videos of the tuning protocol and CASL were interesting and the CASW exercise was suitably gripping. Shuch and Tara did a fine job of faciltiating everything and ensured that it was a level playing field which made for a satisfying experience.

Now for the attempt to put theory into practice. Interesting....

Hello

A happy new year to all.