Latha Vydianathan
If this pandemic and the resultant lockdown has taught us one thing it is that children can and should learn autonomously. So how do we change to allow students to make their own learning choices?
Category: Teaching Practice
Pause for a moment – or half
Vaishnavi Bhat and Venkata Krishna Bayineni
Question time is an important part of any teaching – learning session in the classroom. But how often does this always bring the desired result? Do teachers wait long enough for a student to respond, or as is the practice, do teachers end up answering their own questions? This interesting article gives a rundown on how important it is to give the student ‘pause’ or ‘wait’ time to respond in order to stimulate reflective thinking and increase student participation.
Zing thing: ways of a teacher
Latha Vaidyanathan
In the 21st century, a teacher is no longer someone with sole authority whose duty it is to impart knowledge. What then is the role of the new-age teacher? How can she play this role?
Seven wonders: Seven essential good practices for early years educators
Jessica Manglani
The early years of every child’s life are the most important years for they lay the foundation of the kind of person this child will turn into. As a result early years educators have the toughest job there is. Here are a few things that early years educators must keep in mind.
Understanding ‘understanding’
Aruna Sankaranarayanan
What does it mean to truly understand something? If something is learnt without understanding the basics, is that learning really useful? Teachers need to design activities that call for a deeper thinking, so that students can see the difference between ’knowing’ and ‘understanding’.
Using assessments to inform classroom instruction
Shilpi Banerjee
Assessments are a major part of the teaching-learning process for they are the tools that help teachers decide how to take their lessons forward.
Getting creative with social studies
Shalini Sabikhi
One has heard of art journals, gratitude journals and travel journals, but a social studies journal? Add a touch of excitement to your social studies classes by getting your students to maintain a social studies journal. Here’s how.
Every child learns differently
Vaidehi Sriram
A teacher shares her experience of practicing differential teaching with students of mixed abilities. She also shares how we can do this with limited resources at hand.
The power of ‘why?’
Niketa Bakshi
Questioning is the primary form of seeking knowledge, and yet a majority of our classrooms are pictures of silence with children passively listening to the teacher. Over the years, in the name of completing the syllabus and overcrowded classrooms we have squashed this natural tendency in children. It is time that we encourage them to shed their inhibitions and start asking the many questions brimming in their minds.
Unravelling word problems
Swarna Krishnan
One of the most feared aspects of primary math is the word problems. Students find them confusing and difficult to wrap their heads around word problems. A lot of this problem comes from the way we teach word problems. This teacher tried a different approach to teaching word problems and was quite successful as well.