IB at MSK

academy for creative teaching

Our 4 hour session at the Academy for Creative Teaching in Bengaluru began with the lighting of the lamp of knowledge, a song, a welcome address, and a wonderfully detailed program. We met approximately 30 staff members and advisers who explained that teaching is a noble ‘act’ that spreads the excitement of learning from a spark to a wildfire. This unique organization offers the CCCT – Certificate Course in Creative Teaching, and offers in-service and pre-service for teachers on all levels. The logo shows a swan flying over the sea with the sun shining. The water represents the ocean of endless knowledge. The teacher is like a swan who takes a dip in the sea of infinite knowledge and rises up to the ultimate source of knowledge represented by the sun. The Vision Statement is “To make the teaching-learning process exciting, meaningful and lasting” by infusing teaching and learning with discovery, innovation, excellence, enjoyment, creativity, values, and vision.

Creativity is approached in three modules
Module I – Traits of creativity (quality, perspective, options, support)
Module II – Blocks to creativity
Module III – Techniques to teaching creativity

Their mission belief is “QUALITY OF EDUCATION IS AS GOOD AS THE QUALITY OF TEACHERS.”
• Pre-service training and curriculum
o Induction – provides teachers with essential teaching skills
o Orientation – focuses on creative teaching and modern pedagogical advancements
o Refresher – redefines knowledge enhancement and updates content for conceptual understanding
• Perceived need of ed. institutions
• Knowledge explosion and changed curricula
• Creative teachers and reaching out to learners
• Organized effort at general in-service training (their first workshop they charged rupees 250 – about $7 and now they offer about 265 workshops per year at a much higher fee!)
o Communication Skills
o Presentation Skills
o VARK for Teachers
o Creative Teaching Techniques
o Multiple Intelligence
o Teaching & Learning Styles
o Bloom’s Taxonomy
o Evaluation Skills
o Meaningful Homework
o Strategies for Building Confident Kids
o The Emotionally Intelligent School
o Time Management
o Developing Teaching Aids
o Differentiated Teaching
o Creative Pedagogic Techniques
o Classroom Management
o Human Values
o Stress Management
o Leadership Skills
o Ethics in Teaching
o And more…
• Content specific workshops include
o Teaching Creative Writing
o Creative approaches to teaching English, Math, Science, Social Studies
o Grammar in Communication
o Math and Science in Everyday Life
o Model Making in Science and Math
o Project Work in Pedagogy Classes
o Vedic Maths
o Yoga for Teachers

ACT offers a Master Training Programme with these objectives:
• To bring together a committed and dedicated band of teachers with experience and positive attitudes
• To make the transition from teacher to trainer.
o Intensive training
o Observing training sessions
o Participatory training
• Affiliated institutions: Akshara Foundation, Vidya Poshak, KLE, BLDE, JSS, Poorna Prajna.

Academic Audit – self audit is a path to discovery
• “Health” check-up of an institution
• Assessment of an institution facilitated by the stakeholders
• Not an enquiry but an inquiry
• Audit vs accreditation – more internal
• Accreditation audit-internal standards

E-Lab – Teaching the joy of English
• Designed to inculcate positive attitudes and values through holistic learning of English language
• Indians have high knowledge and many degrees, but poor “communication” skills

Several of the 10 students at the 15
day old International School

The organization has also just started a school this past June which currently has 10 students. In 2008, the Vyasa International School began enrolling innovated and enthusiastic learners. We met 4 of the students in grade 2, 4, 5, and 7. One of the students was a special-needs students mainstreamed with the others (Downs Syndrome). The goal of VIS is “education for life.” Traits of VIS will include the following:
• Training beyond year-end exams to face the challenges of life.
• Instill an awareness of social issues in order to be able to respond in proactive ways working for the welfare of others
• Respect and value for individuals
• Shared learning process of discovery, empowerment, self-confidence, and freedom.
• Learner characteristics: positive, reflective, responsible, joyful, sure of his/her place in the world., secure in knowledge of modern aspirations and needs, innate values of compassion and acceptance
• Confluence of modern technology driven education in a “cradle of ancient wisdom and values” to create the vision of a “glorious and equitable future.”

The principal

Website: www.act.edu.in
Contact: Academy for Creative Teaching
#480, 6th Main, R.T. Nagat
Opp. Bus Depot, Bangalore 560032
coordinator@actedu.in

The director wants us to write to them so “The two worlds can meet in the spirit of humanity.”

My observations: I was absolutely stunned by the intelligence, caring, energy, elocution, and professionalism of the staff at ACT. Every address or reference to a person starts or ends with “maam” or “sir”. I LOVED the creative exercises we worked on at the end of the session – balls in a box, separate the box, paper work with numbers on the page. This showed that the mind is easy to set, but we must learn to accept change unexpectedly. Our session ended with a play about learning and knowledge performed by all the children of the school; it was delightful. I so wished that I could have talked to the middle school students about their learning in the International School, but our time had expired.

“Consciously, we teach what we know; unconsciously, we teach who we are.” (Hemachek)

cathedral school visit

Cathedral School is an elite private school that caters to students who wish to attend universities in the United States such as Columbia and Harvard. It is an oasis of a campus insulated from the city street by gates and guards. The walls are covered with quality works of student oils and sculpture. Cathedral is an ICSC school which means they have an Indian Cambridge School Certificate. The school is so difficult to enter that even 2 year olds are coached for the entry exam.

• The curriculum focus is global and conversation based with many reflective assessments on course work.
• The school uses the town fields for their sports events since space is so limited in Mumbai.
• Most parents obtain private coaching for their students so they will be competitive in sports, music, or academics.
• The school is highly accountable to the parent body.
• Periods are 35 minutes long, 10 blocks per day. There are many double blocks.
• Classes are very large – roughly 35-40 per class.
I was thrilled to visit their library to view an array of books by India popular with junior high school students:
• The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming – Chitra Banerjee
• The Hungry Tide & The Glass Palace – Amitav Ghos
• Delhi is not Far – Ruskin Bond
• Temptations of the West – Pankaj Mishra
• The Inheritance of Loss- Kiran Desai
• Wise and Otherwise – Sudha Murty
• Kiran Nagarkar – Gods Little Sodier
• The Namaste Book of Indian Short Stories
• Ten Twentieth Century Indian Poets – Parthasanathy

I was excited to learn that Mrs. Sudarshana Shukla felt the students here would like to email with my students, so we shared email addresses.

munktagan school visit

Pre-school circle time
(photo courtesy Yael Irom)

The entire day was spent at a very special school in Mumbai called Munktagan. Generally, schooling on the municipal level in India is extremely poor with few resources, rigid rote learning, high absenteeism on the part of students and teachers, and early drop out rates. Elizabeth Mehta had a vision that school could be a more joyous place of learning so she founded the Munktagan school in 2003 with the help of her businessman husband Sunil Mehta. What started as a pre-school for underserved slum children with 7 teachers and 45 students has grown into a private/public partnership school for students pre-K to grade 5. Six additional Munktagan schools have been established as well. The goal is to add a grade each year so that the students currently in grade 5 will be able to finish their schooling at grade 10, possibly to grade 12.

A local teacher from the slum community
(photo courtesy Yael Irom)

What is most amazing about this school is that the teachers come from the same slum community as the students. As long as they have a 10th grade education, they can go through the 9 month teacher training and attempt to pass the certification test. From the original 7 teachers, several are now in supervisory positions within the school. Even more astounding is that the school is an English medium school, which means that every teacher has had to learn to speak English in order to teach in English.

A classroom
(photo courtesy of Yael Irom)

“Quality education for every child” is the mission statement of Munktagan. Some important aspects of their philosophy include:
• Inclusive education
• Child-centered
• Interactive, hands-on learning
• Singing, singing, and more singing
• Continual professional development
• Daily planning for all teachers
• Teachers training teachers
• Development of inquiry and reasoning in children
• Low student-teacher ration
• Quality circles
• Monthly portfolio sharing with parents
• Daily student observations
• Low cost

Singing the Boogie-Boogie
(photo courtesy Yael Irom)

(video courtesy Yael Irom)

We so enjoyed singing in learning with the students and teachers. What a riot! Our “hokey-pokie” is their “boogie-boogie”! My favorite part of the day was reading with 5th graders in the library. On my right was a brilliant young reader who didn’t want me to share my attention with anyone else. But on my left was a struggling young lady who kept asking me “Maam, what’s this word?” Some of the words she struggled with included: honk, sighed, farmyard, humble, and scarecrow. As we talked about the purpose of scarecrows, she shared the farmers are very sad because the monsoons have not come and the crows are eating the crops. So savvy! Soon, all the children were exuberantly demanding my attention with cries of “Maam, Maam, Maam!” We ended up talking a lot about sports and food. In general, they’re favorite sports include cricket and football (soccer) and their favorite foods are Chinese, ice cream, and mutton. So many laughs and smiles were shared by all. “We all speak different languages, but the smile is the same all over the world.”

Shoe rack
(photo courtesy Yael Irom)

Since the school is housed in the same building as the municipal school, we were able to glimpse at a bit of the rigid, dreary classrooms that typify Indian education for the majority. Again, we saw the glaring opposites of India.

Ancient Buddhist swastika
(photo courtesy Yael Irom)

the village school

Loved visiting this school!

The Southern Health Improvement Samiti established the Shishu Bikas Academy to offer a quality education to poor students from K-12 by blending the village values and culture with a modern education. This particular school is a predominantly Muslim school that includes traditional Islamic culture within its curriculum. Any non-Islamic students (and there are Hindi and Christian students) are free to abstain or join in the worship as they wish.

These kids were amazingly friendly and joyous, especially considering how little they had. They loved us. They wanted to hold our hands, stare at us, say hello teacher, play football (soccer) with us and get our autographs. When we were in meetings, they would hang on the window grates and peer in at us with wonder, or spill into the door, creeping further and further until they were shooed out.

primary boys

primary girls

all ages gathering round

cooking school lunch

the lunch ladies

middle school boys

the school bus

recess- playing football
(photo courtesy Jill Hetzel)

girls’ school
(photo courtesy Jill Hetzel)

village boys walking home

walking home with grandmother

The next evening, Dr. Mullick arranged a tour through his neighborhood. We visited an incredibly beautiful and peaceful Hindu temple dedicated to Lakshmi, wife of Vishu. People wandered in and out freely, joining the chanting or making offerings to Lakshmi. This temple was a brilliant star in a dark neighborhood of concrete apartments. We also stopped by a Christian church and observed the Eucharist. As we walked, the neighborhood people – children and adults – followed us like a grand parade. Some children would call out “How are you?” and were so excited to find out that we were from AMERICA! At our destination, Dr. Mullick’s apartment, we were treated to a neighborhood party! Many of his neighbors came by to meet us and join in food. Oh my goodness, it was very spicy – my lips are still burning! As a matter of fact, the party spilled over into the neighbors’ apartments as well. I chatted with 5 children for quite a while, checking out their favorite sports, games, movie starts, and sayings. They were so eager to talk to me about their school and their friends; it was so rewarding to meet them. One of Dr. Mullick’s neighbors is a vice principal of a Class I to XII private school in Kolkata; she said her students were eager to communicate with foreigners to learn more about the world. BINGO! This will be an excellent connection for my classes! Several of the Indian people even invited me back to stay in their homes… so sweet! Thank you so much, Dr. Mullick.

book blog

I’m fascinated with the way people use words, authors particularly. Graham Salisbury uses words to create vivid images so that I can see the events play like a movie in my mind. “The tension outside the Japanese camp in Honolulu was so tight you could almost hear it snapping in the air. Pop mumbled, ‘Bad, bad times’ and mashed his lips together” (p. 1). The use of onomatopoeia lets me hear the character’s struggle.

Salsbury is also a master of the simile. Here’s a description his dog: “That ratty dog stuck to me like glue.” And can’t you just picture Pop? “He was forty-eight years old and starting to get a bouncy stomach. His undershirt was white and clean, tucked into his khaki pants that hung on him like drying laundry, bunched at his waist with a piece of rope” (p. 3). Figurative language appeals to the sense of sight, helping the reader visualize events and people.

I also enjoyed this metaphor – a highly creative comparison – that uses the techniques of personification: “The sun was just climbing into a pink morning sky. Out to sea, the ocean breathed slow and soft, a body sleeping under silk” (p. 17).

This author sure makes it easy for a reader to see what he’s saying.

la@msk

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