Sharing & Learning Together

Thursday, August 24, 2006

W(h)acky lesson

Dear Tara, Shuchi and everyone else. Have been hampered by having internet only on and off.
I finished my course - but haven't printed out my course certificate yet because I'd like to have it in colour!
Here is a report of my w(h)acky lesson.
Held last Friday - August 18th - in the last block (G) which is a sixty minute thing, in 11 Arts.
What I did was something very simple really.
I used differentiated instruction to help me find out the different talents of my students - 23 in number - though a few were absent.
I offered them a chance to exhibit their abilities impromptu.
The differentited instruction element came in the form of giving them a time constraint of five minutes to do it in.
Two girls came out and sang , the first girl alone and then both together.
Then two girls came out and did the jive.
This was followed by several other items of edutainment.
One girl spoke as if at a JAM.
She also spoke as if for an elocution competition.
Another girl came out and recited a poem.
Yet another read out a poem on love that she had composed on the spot. Two girls tried to compose instantly but only one completed. The other wrote two lines at least, though.
Two boys engaged in a friendly arm wrestling competition with left and right hands.
This was followed by two girls engaging in the same activity.
Two girls drew patterns on the board and the class adjudged them both winners.
Due to lack of time the others couldn't participate in an impromptu debate we tried to whip up.
Although at the end of the lesson I had to indulge in a bit of shouting to keep the decibels down, fifty to fifty five minutes went by in a blur and after having thrown out lesson plan, learning objective etc. wholesale for good, plain, old-fashioned fun, I found that learning had indeed taken place in the sense that the students paid attention when tasks were rapidly interchanged and there were a variety of players on the stage.
The notions of control being handed over in a limited way and content being kept aside for skills to flower and creativity being given high priority were all fulfilled.
Coming up next unit plan plus lesson plans plus invite to attend class. HEHEHE!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Hi PPSEites!

Dear all

Great to see activity in this space by way of sharing of wacky ideas.

This is to remind you all that there is very little time left for the 12 lessons that are scheduled to be planned, implemented, observed by a facilitator for Module 6 of the PPSE. We have received some plans but many are still to arrive.

May I remind you that you do not need to write any Special Plans - please just send us the plans for 12 lessons that you teach as a part of your daily profession! All it needs is an explanation / analysis of how the lessons are based on the pedagogic framework that you have studied in some depth with the ASCD online course.

Dharma, Shuchi and I will observe one of the lessons that you are delivering in the classroom. Please contact us and let us know when you would like us to come.

These are the teachers we have assigned ourselves to:

Dharma: Srinivasan, Raji, Kalpana, Neela, Rekha, Geeta

Shuchi: Anitha K., Vijaya, Gudrun, Bala, Uday, Mahesh

Tara: Koshy, Hema, Amaranathan, Sandra, Gulab, Joel, Anitha S.

I have already observed Gulab's lesson. I do not have detailed lesson plans from any of the others in my group, although I do have overviews from Joel and Amaranathan. I request you all to ensure that your plans reach us by this weekend and that you give us dates for observing lessons starting Monday, August21st.

We could give you feedback on the lesson and the essays for module 3 and 4 in the same one-on-one session.

See you all soon.
Tara Kini

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Tell me if this is a wacky lesson

Introduction
Grade:9-cst
Number of Students:7
Time:90 minutes
Topic: Algorithm
Algorithm is an English description of a program. It is necessary that the algorithm should be very specific and detailed.

Instruction
I said students to think of one thing that they knew to cook and quickly write the recipe for it. Next they had to write the algorithm for preparing that food in their own kitchen. Algorithm should also include the position of the utensils and ingredients.

Execution
After they completed writing the algorithm I asked one of the students to come in front of the class to role play the algorithm as I kept reading the another student's algorithm. Some algorithms were very clear with specific details about where the utensils were and how to turn on the gas but some algorithms did not have them. Student audience made a tally of errors that the algorithm consisted of.
Students had real fun in enacting it and preparing a recipe that was designed by the other person.

Conclusion
My main objective of understanding the importance of detailed algorithm was achieved through this activity.
Simultaneously I could see fun in the class.
Students remember about this lesson and concept is now registered in their minds