· Web viewKeeping in view the death and destruction wrought by devastating disasters, the decade of 1990’s was observed by the United Nations as the International Decade for Natural

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ORIENTATION COURSE FOR DIRECTORS, ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS AND RESOURCE PERSONS-2011

TRAINING MANUALFOR

INSERVICE TRAINING COURSES 2011 FOR

POST GRADUATE TEACHERS( Physics ,chemistry and computer science)

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Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Zonal Institute Of Education & Training

Sector:33-C, Chandigarh. Phone: 0172 – 2621302 (O), 2621364 (Dir.), Fax – 0751 – 2621302

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Developed during

Orientation Programme for Course Directors & Resource Persons

(During 5th to 7th April 2011)

Email:

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MISSION

TO HELP

TEACHERS

REALISE

BEST IN

THEMSELVES

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Commissioner’s Message

KVS is a unique and vibrant organization that strives for excellence in all the domains of education i.e. cognitive, affective and psychomotor. It provides the necessary ambience for freedom to think, freedom to act and freedom to experiment. It maintains a judicious balance between academics and education, creativity and conformity, tradition and modernity and unity and diversity. It is growing at a steady pace and is accessible and affordable to diverse sections of our society.

Knowledge is universally recognized as the true strength of a nation and Kendriya Vidyalayas, the instruments for the social resurgence and reconstruction, are doing an excellent job while pursuing excellence and setting the pace in the field of school education. The world is changing; expectations and aspirations are changing. We have to respond to the expectations and aspirations of the times without diluting the basic objectives for which KVs have been established. The success of the organization is determined by the quality and commitment of its people, and name and fame of the organization is sustained by its readiness for adaptability, vitality and vision for the future. We have dedicated and committed teachers who need to prepare children for life in the new world order that is characterized by powerful forces of globalization.

Coming to the results of KVS, I would like to appreciate the rigorous efforts of the teaching community who have kept their commitment to excellence. The result of KVs is significantly higher in both AISSCE (Class XII) and AISSE (Class X) conducted by CBSE, New Delhi. I am quite optimistic that the result of KVS in Class X and XII in 2011 will be better than what we had in the past years.

KVS has decided to look at the things from a new prospective in the larger interest of the organization. Consequently, a slew of measures have been taken like introduction of Regional Incentive Award to honour more teachers who deliver their best in the field of education but are not selected at the KVS level because of limited number of incentive awards, transparent Transfer policy based on points and timely disposal of all the queries related to Right to Information Act. Regular student and teacher interaction is helping us in grooming our students to achieve their potential in life.

I am fortunate enough to have an experienced and committed team and intend to build on this strong foundation. It will be possible only if we all take a resolution in the New Year to rededicate ourselves to the realization of vision, mission and objectives of KVS with unflagging zeal.

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Avinash DikshitCommissioner

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Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan18 Institutional Area,

Shaheed Jeet Singh Marg New Delhi – 110602

Tel: 26965154 Fax No. 26514179 Website: www.kvsangathan.nic.in

No. F.110338-1/2011-KVSHQ(Acad.) Date : 17.02.2011

The Assistant Commissioner Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan All Regions & Directors, ZIET Mumbai / Gwalior / Mysore / Chandigarh.

SUB: In-Service training course for PGTS/ TGTS/ HM/ PRT/ Misc. teachers 2011-12.

Madam/Sir,

The details of in – service courses slated to be held during the summer vacation 2011 has been finalized. As usual the courses for PGTs, TGT (Hindi, English, Maths, Science, Social Science and Sanskrit) and for PRTs (except PRT Music ) will be organized in two spells of 12 and 10 days respectively. However, duration for Misc. category of teachers and PRT (Music) will continue will of 21 days in one spell only. The details of 1st phase of courses is given as under for your information and necessary action.

The dates for the Courses for PGT, TGT, HM and PRTs are given as under:

a) PGTs and PRTs – 09rd May to 20th May 2011. b) TGTs (other than TGT (AE) TGT(WE), TGT(P&HE), Librarian and Yoga teachers

) and HM - 08st June to 19th June 2011.c) 2nd spell of the course which could not be conducted during December 2010

d) The dates of In-service courses for TGT(AE) TGT(WE), TGT(P&HE), Librarian and Yoga teachers and PRT (Music) shall be notified separately in due course.

e) Norms for Director / Associate Director / Resource Persons of different courses are as follows:

Category Director Associate Director

Resource Persons

Maximum Guest Lectures

PGT EO/Director, ZIET/Principal Principal/V.P. 02 PGTs 10PGT(Promottee) EO/Director, ZIET/Principal Principal/V.P. 03 PGTs 06

TGTs(Regular/Promotees) EO/Director, ZIET/Principal Principal/V.P/ Sr. PGT 03 PGTs 03

PRT Principal - 01HM/02.PRT 03Misc. Trs, other than the Courses conducted by the other Institutes for PETs and Yoga Trs.

Director, ZIET AEO,ZIET/V.P. 02 10

HM EO/Director,ZIET/Principal V.P. 02Sr.HM 03

I. The List of Participants, Venues, Directors and Resource Persons shall be circulated by the s[5]

i. PGT (Economics) at ZIET Mumbai.ii. PGT(Bio) at ZIET Mysoreiii. TGT (SST) at ZIET Gwalior

8st June -17th June 2011

http://www.kvsangathan.nic.in/

Director, ZIET Mumbai in Annexure-I.

II. The approved norms of expenditure for the various courses given in Annexure – II.

III. The details of Orientation Courses for the Directors, Associate Directors and Resource Persons to be conducted by the various ZIETs is given in Annexure – III.

1. Wherever Directors, Associate Directors and Resource Persons are not identified or wherever changes are to be effected in exceptional circumstances, the Assistant Commissioner of the Regional Office concerned shall identify and depute suitable officials in consultation with the Course Directors. While selecting Directors / Associate Directors / Resource Persons the following aspects would be carefully considered by the ROs:

a) Education Officers and Principals who underwent training under SAT Programmeconducted by DoP&T (held at Shimla)/ trained in constructivist approach of learning at HBCSE Mumbai/underwent Educational study tour to Germany.

b) KVS Incentive Awardee /National Awardee Principals, Vice-Principals, H. Ms and other teachers c) Teachers deputed by KVS under Teacher Exchange Programme / Cultural Exchange Programmes / under programmes like Fulbright Scheme / Japan Teacher Exchange Programme etc. d) Teachers undergone training programme / diploma course from N.C.E.R.T. in Guidance and Counselling. e) Teachers deputed by KVS under specialized trainings in N.C.E.R.T. / N.I.U.P.A. / T.T.T.I. / I.I.M. etc.

f) Teachers trained in CCE by CBSE/ other agencies. g) Teachers trained in Constructivist approach of learning at HBCSE Mumbai.h) Teachers trained in innovation in Mathematics Education at IDC, IIT Mumbai.

2. You would appreciate that a teacher has to be a life long learner. The in-service courses are opportunities for teachers to update their knowledge and upgrade their pedagogical skills. Besides above, KVS spends considerable resources on the organization of training programmes and resources should be used optimally. In view of this, the Assistant Commissioners should ensure that all the identified teachers are deputed to attend these courses without fail. Further, dropping out by the teachers in the last minute on flimsy grounds needs be reduced. The Commissioner has desired that all the teachers deputed for the courses attend the programme without any exception.

3. When a teacher seeks exemption from attending the in – service course, such application needs to be submitted to the Assistant Commissioner of the region by the Principal along with his / her clear recommendation and teacher’s refusal to attend such courses in the past, if any. The Assistant Commissioner, shall then decide the case on merit and communicate his / her decision to the concerned through the Principal and also to the Course Director as well the Director, KVS ZIET Mumbai.

4. It should also be ensured that no teachers are left out who are due for grant of senior scale /

selection grade on or before 30.6.2011 and have not attended any in-service course between 2006 and 2010in the same cadre. In case names of such teachers are not included in the list already sent by you, their names should be sent directly to the nearest venue director of the

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course with a copy to ZIET Mumbai by 15-3-2011. In addition, those teachers who could not attend the second spell of ten days in – service course in 2010– 11, must be asked to attend 12 days course (only) during summer vacation 2011 .

5. It has also come to the notice of this office that in certain cases teachers who have attended the 12 day In–service course during 2008 and 2009 could not complete the remaining part of three 3- day short term courses. Such teachers should be given opportunity by the regional office itself to complete the left over spells so that their mandatory requirement of attending 21 days in – service course would be fulfilled.

6. The Director ZIETs and Assistant Commissioners concerned will ensure that all the Directors / Associate directors and Resource Persons identified for conduct of the in-service courses attend the orientation course as per the schedule given in Annexure-II. The orientation Programme should be conducted as per action plan given below:

i) Detailed schedule for 12-days in-service training courses for each subject of orientation course assigned be prepared and finalized.

ii) Training modules and manuals prepared in 2010 be updated with reference to change in syllabus and NCF- 2005

iii) In case of TGT Social Studies, History background teachers should be given exposure to Economics and Geography and vice-versa.

iv) Topics will be elaborated with detailed methodology.v) Wherever group discussions, case studies, perception exercises, life skill activities, etc. are

used, details should be worked out during orientation programme.vi) Stress on communication and spoken English skills should be emphasized. (30% of the In-

service Course time should be allotted for spoken English for PRTs and all Promotees and for the remaining courses 20% of the time should be allotted).

vii) Adolescence Education and Personality development, soft skills and 21st century skills should be made mandatory components in the course design.

viii) Local Experts should be selected on the basis of required topics and not the other way round.

ix) IT module identification and plan action should be done.x) Use of Educational Technology in the classroom, computer aided instruction should be

discussed. xi) Copy of the finalized training module should be handed over to the Course Director at the

venue of the Orientation Course itself.xii) The Pre-test for PGTs and TGTs should be of 03 hours duration and the test will be on the

basis of CBSE pattern and for PRTs it shall be for two hours. There shall be two tests during the conduct of the course of one hour duration each on 6th and 11th day respectively from the areas covered / included in those periods. In addition, the activities carried out by the participants like model lessons, assignments, participation in discussions etc., shall also be evaluated. The overall grading shall be done in the ratio of 60:40 for the written tests and activities respectively. A teacher securing less than 75% marks in the overall grading even in second spell of the courses shall be asked to repeat the training at the next available opportunity.

xiii) Plan for short tests of the participants and evaluation should be prepared. xiv) Blue print for evaluation and marking scheme should be prepared. Latest trends in

evaluation with special focus on CCE (for Primary/middle/secondary) and on HOTS (High Order Thinking Skills) for Secondary/Senior secondary classes should be discussed.

xv) Grading system in Primary class should be discussed in PRT/HM courses. xvi) NCF- 2005 with special focus on constructivist approach to learning should be discussedxvii) Innovations and experimentation in classroom teaching-learning process, action research

should be discussed. xviii)Ways and means to tackle individual differences among students should be discussed. xix) Emphasis should be given on carrying out the activities given at the end of each lesson of

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NCERT / CBSE books to enable students to have better understanding in the lesson/ subject.

xx) Concept of projects / assignments and their evaluation be discussed and a uniform system be adopted.

xxi) Focus on constructivist approach, laboratory based experience should be adopted.xxii) Special emphasis should be given on Common Minimum Programme for Primary

Education as circulated by KVS ( Hqrs) in PRT/HM Courses.xxiii)Orientation on National/International Olympiads and competitions like: KVYP, NTSE,

INMO, Physics Olympiad, Chemistry Olympiad, Cyber Olympiad, Science Olympiad, Intel Science fair, Oracle Think quest etc. needs to be taken up.

xxiv) Developing life skills amongst teachers and students should be discussed. xxv) For PGT(Computer Science) focus should be on CBSE syllabus for “Computer Science”

and “Informatics Practices”. The other important areas to be covered are:a) Role and responsibilities of PGT (Computer Science) maintenance of ICT

infrastructure in KVS.b) Developing effective Information Management structure in KVs: maintenance and

updating of Web sties, e-learning, content mapping for e-learning. xxvi) In case of training of promotee teachers, the focus should be on:

a) Awareness of the syllabus.b) Capacity building : Understanding of concepts that are relatively difficult

and effective transaction of curriculum in the classroom.c) Understanding of students’ requirements.d) Awareness of expectations of stakeholders.e) Competency in spoken English.

xxvii) The Assistant Commissioners are requested to depute PGT(Computer Science) from the vicinity of the training centre/ the in-service course venue or the school itself for 2 hours per day for 5 days.

xxviii)All the trainees should be exposed to latest trends in their subject area with focus on use of ICT to become more resourceful in sharing and use of learning resources.

xxix) Sensitization of teachers towards differently abled children.xxx) Work-life balance of teachers.

7. The in – service courses as well as the orientation courses should be interactive and need based. Further, it may also be ensured that all the trainees be given minimum basic comfort at each training venue for a conducive learning environment. A small committee of participants may be constituted to oversee food and other arrangements in consultation with the Course Director and participants.

8. Various Educational Organizations like Sainik Schools, Military Schools, Central Tibetan School Administration (CTSA), ISRO, DAV schools, Army Public Schools and similar chains of Govt. funded schools as well as private schools are approaching KVS for permitting their teacher (s) of various cadres to undergo In-service Courses organized by KVS. You are requested to allow such teachers from these organizations/schools to attend in-service courses with following conditions separately (for both 12 and 10 days courses):

i) The Organization / Schools will send the list of teachers nominated for course (s) to the Principal / Director of training venue with a copy to the concerned, ZIET, and Director, ZIET, Mumbai at least 15 days in advance.

ii) Teacher (s) deputed for any In-service course will report to the Director at the training venue with course fee of Rs. 5,000/- per participant for each spell of course in the form of Demand Draft in favour of the concerned KV /ZIET. The charges towards board and lodging will be borne separately by the participant as per KVS norms.

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9. The Assistant Commissioner / EO / Directors of ZIETs / Officers of KVS HQ will visit the various training venues in consultation with Deputy Commissioner (Trg) to enrich the programmes.

10. All the course Director (s) will send following inputs to ZIETs as per distribution given below. A consolidated feed back given by the participants at the end of the training. Participant wise pre and post test results. Session wise report for each course. List of participants present/absent with name, designation and category (SC/ST/OBC/GEN) KV. (To be sent on the second day of the course)

The ZIET Mysore, Gwalior and Chandigarh after consolidating course-wise information on all the above courses will send the same to ZIET Mumbai. The ZIET Mumbai will consolidate all the inputs and send a final report to the undersigned.

11. KVS receives representation from the teacher(s) for change of training venues. Normally the Assistant Commissioners should not entertain such requests as it disturbs the training plan. However, in case of genuine reason(s) such representations should be disposed of at the level of Assistant Commissioner concerned. The change of venue on genuine grounds may be considered and should be communicated to the concerned Director, KVS ZIET, Course Director and Venue Principal concerned at least 10 days before commencement of the course in the format already circulated last year. Assistant Commissioner must ensure that Promotee Teachers are not nominated for regular teachers Course & vice-versa in case of change of venue is permitted. However, such teachers shall not be eligible for TA. DA will be paid for the training period as per KVS rules.

You are requested to make necessary arrangements for the successful conduct of the orientation and in – service courses.

Yours faithfully,

(DR. SHACHI KANT)DY. COMMISSIONER (TRG)

Expenditure norms approved for 21/22 days of Inservice course(s) for each of 02 spells of 12 day training followed by 10 days are as under or PGT (Physics) / Chemistry / / Computer Science

Amount ( in ` ) Honorarium

1. Director & Associate Director @ ` 1500 x 2 30002. Guest Speakers @ ` 500 x10 – outside 50003. Resource persons @ ` 750 x 2 15004. IT Experts @ `.750 x 2 15005. Stationery & Teaching materials, reports /certificates 100006. DTP & Xerox 30007. Conveyance for field visit 50008. Lab Materials 40009. Misc. Expenditure 500

Total Expenditure 33500

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KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA SANGATHAN ZONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION & TRAINING CHANDIGARH Time table for the In-service Course – 1 st Spell

PGT (CHEMISTRY) 09.05.11 to 20.05.11

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Date 8.30-8.45am 8.45-9.45am

9.45-10.45am

10.45-11.00am

11-12noon 12-1pm 1-2pm 2-3pm 3-3.50pm

3.50-

4.00pm

4-4.45pm 4.45-5.30

09.05.11monday

Registration Inauguration

TEA BREAK

Pre-Test& Lunch Briefing by the

Director

TEA

BR

EAK

Group Formation

Allotment of group

10.05.11 Assembly Subject contentGL1

Subject contentRP2

Think Quest

General content

RP1

Group Work

Demo

11.05.11 Assembly Subject contentRP1

General contentDir

Open Session Think Quest

General content

GL6

Group Work

Demo


Subject contentRP1

Think Quest

General content

RP2

Group Work

Demo


General contentADir

General contentADir

Think Quest

General content

GL7

Group Work

Demo


Test Open Session Think Quest

General content

RP1

Demo Demo

15.05.11 Assembly Tour TOUR


General contentADir

Subject contentDir

Think Quest

General content

GL8

TEA

BR

EAK

Group Work

Demo


Subject contentDir

Subject contentDir

Think Quest

General content

RP2

Group Work

Demo


General contentGL3

Demo Think Quest

General contentADir

Group Work

Demo

19.05.11 Assembly Subject content GL5

Test General contentGL9

Think Quest

General content

Dir

Group Work

Demo


General contentGL10

Demo Think Quest

General content

Dir

Valedictory

TIME TABLE FOR 12 DAYS IN-SERVICE COURSE FOR PGT (PHYSICS) (1ST SPELL) -YEAR-2011-201209.05.2011 - 20.05.2011

VENUE: KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA -DRDO, BANGALORE

Day / Time 8.30-08.45 a.m. 8.45-10.30 a.m 10.30-

10.45 a.m 10.45-11.45a.m 11.45-1.00 p.m 1.00-2.00 p.m

2.00 - 3.30 p.m3.30-3.45

p.m 3.45-5.30 p.m

09.05.2011 Prayer Inauguration Tea Break Need Based Analysis

Director / Associate Director

Ice breaking session -Resourse person

Lunch Break Pre-Test (3 Hours)

10.05.2011 Prayer Group-1 Guest lecture Tea Break Associate Director Demo lesson

Group-8Lunch Break

Practical Group Work By Asst.

Director & Resourse Person

Tea Break

ECTLT PROGRAMME - MS Access By

P.Sriraman Resourse

Person

11.05.2011 Prayer Group-2 Associate Director Tea Break Lecture by

Mr C.Mani , Director Demo lesson

Group-7 Lunch Break



Tea Break Resourse Person

12.05.2011 Prayer Group-3 Guest lecture Tea Break

Lecture by Mr P.Sriraman Resource person

Demo lesson Group-6

Lunch Break



Tea Break

SQL & RDBMS & Web Links By

P.Sriraman Resourse

Person

13.05.2011 Prayer Group-4 Guest Lecture Tea Break Lecture by

Mr C.Mani , Director Demo lesson

Group-5Lunch Break



Tea Break

HyperLink by Front Page &

HTML By P.Sriraman Resourse

Person

14.05.2011 Prayer Group-5 Guest Lecture Tea Break

Lecture by Mr A.Narayanaswamy Resource person

Demo lesson Group-4

Lunch Break PERIODIC TEST I Tea Break

ThinkQuest by Associate Director

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TIME TABLE FOR 12 DAYS IN-SERVICE COURSE FOR PGT (PHYSICS) (1ST SPELL) -YEAR-2011-201209.05.2011 - 20.05.2011

VENUE: KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA -DRDO, BANGALORE

15.05.2011 Educational Tour To Mysore

16.05.2011 Prayer Group-7 Guest lecture Tea Break Associate Director Demo lesson

Group-3Lunch Break

Demo lesson Group-2 Tea Break

Group Work / Computer Session

17.05.2011 Prayer Group-8 Guest Lecture by Tea Break

Lecture by Mr P.Sriraman Resource person

Demo lesson Group-1

Lunch Break

Demo lesson Group-8 & 7 Tea Break


18.05.2011 Prayer Group-1 Field Trip Lunch

Break Field Visit

19.05.2011 Prayer Group-2 Guest Lecture on Tea Break

Lecture by Mr A.Narayanaswamy Resource person

Demo lesson Group-6 & 5

Lunch Break PERIODIC TEST II Tea Break


20.05.2011 Prayer Group-3 Guest Lecture on Tea Break Demo lesson Group- 4

& 3Demo lesson Group- 2 & 1

Lunch Break

Feed Back Session Tea Break Valedictory

function

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KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA SANGATHAN ZONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION & TRAINING CHANDIGARH Schedule for 12 Days In-service Course for PGT (Comp. Sc.)

From 9 th May 2011 to 20 th May 2011

Venue: Kendriya Vidyalaya IISc Bangalore – 12 / IIT Powai Mumbai - 76Date / Time Slot

8.30 –8.45 HRS

8.45 – 10.00 HRS

10.00 – 11.15 HRS

Te

a B

re

ak

(1

1.1

5 H

rs

– 1

1.3

0h

rs

)

11.30 – 13.00 HRS

Lu

nc

h B

re

ak

(1

3.0

0 h

rs

– 1

4.0

0h

rs

)

14.00 – 15.30 HRS

Te

a B

re

ak

(1

5.3

0 H

rs

– 1

5.4

5h

rs

)

15.45 – 17.30 HRS

Monday09.05.2011

Registration Registration Inauguration Group Formation Pre Test Pre Test

Tuesday10.05.2011

Prayer & Report

About KVS Content Lecture Demo Class Comm. Eng Group Work

Wednesday11.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Role & Resp. of PGT CS

Thinkquest Session

Thinkquest Session

Thinkquest Session

Group Work

Thursday12.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Website Mgmt Guest Lecture Demo Class Comm. Eng Group Work

Friday13.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Content Lecture Guest Lecture Demo Class Content Lecture Group Work

Saturday14.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Post Test 1 Guest Lecture Demo Class Content Lecture Group Work

Sunday15.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Edu. Trip Edu. Trip Edu. Trip Edu. Trip Edu. Trip

Monday16.05.2011

Prayer & Report

RTE 2011 / Inc. Education

Content Lecture Demo Class Content Lecture Group Work

Tuesday17.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Content Lecture Content Lecture Demo Class Group Work Group Work

Wednesday18.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Content Lecture Content Lecture Demo Class Comm. Eng Group Work

Thursday19.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Post Test 2 Content Lecture Demo Class Comm. Eng Group Work

Friday20.05.2011

Prayer & Report

Content Lecture Content Lecture Demo Class Valedictory Function

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TENTATIVE ALLOCATION OF TIME TO VARIOUS AREAS FORIN-SERVICE COURSE OF PGTs & TGTs

TIME BUDGET

NOTE:

1. Guest lectures should be of 90 minutes and two slots of 45 minutes may be combined.

2. Computers and IT sessions and group activity sessions may also be arranged for 90 minutes duration or as suitable.

3. About 30% time of the course should be devoted to spoken English for all PRT courses

4. Tentative Timetable is given in the concerned module.

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AREA/ACTIVITY SLOTS / SESSIONSTIME ALLOTTEDHours Minutes

Assembly 15 min (10) 2 30

Inauguration & Ice Breaking 90 min (1) 1 30

Valediction 75 min (1) 1 15

Pre Test 3 hrs.(1) 3 -

Tests on 6th & 11th Day 1 hour (2) 2 -

Subject Content 45 min (36) 27 -

Open Session 2 hrs. (1) 2 -

Group Work 45 min (8) 6 -

Demonstration Lessons 30 min (15) 7 30

General Content 45 min (19) 14 15

Computer/ThinkQuest 2 hrs. (5) 10 -

Educational Tour One-day @ 7 hrs. 7 -

T O T A L 12 day @ 7 hrs. 84 Hours

Feed Back

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan New Delhi

VENUE :________________ DATES: _________________

Name : ____________________ KV: ________________ Region : __________

(Tick in the appropriate column)Sr.No. Questions Excellent Very

Good Good Average Below Average Total

01 Boarding (Fooding)02 Lodging (Stay arrangement)

03 Schedule of every day’s programme

04 Contents of the course

05 Whether difficult areas covered during the course

06 Information about latest trends

07 Quality of Activities organized

08 Quality of Group work/Interaction

09Quality of methodology and contents presented by the Resource Person

10Quality of methodology and contents presented by the Associate Director

11Quality of methodology and contents presented by the Director

12 Cooperation of the office

13 Effectivity of Guest Speakers

ABCDEF

14 Overall Level of Satisfaction.

Signature of the participants

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Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan New DelhiFormat - I

Name of the Course:……… Date of Course :………………Name of the Venue:………………

Sr. No.

Category wise No. of participants present Total No. of participants

Present

Total No. of participants Absent

General SC ST OBC123

Name & Signature of Director

DATA FOR CANDIDATES PRESENT

Format - II

Name of the Course:……… Date of Course :………………

Sr. No.

Name of Participant K. V. where working

Cate gory

Region Name of Venue

123


DATA FOR CANDIDATES ABSENTFormat - III

Name of the Course:……… Date of Course :………………

Sr. No.

Name of Participant K. V. where working

Cate gory

Region Name of Venue

123


DETAILS OF CANDIDATES SECURED LESS THAN 75% MARKS IN POST TEST

FORMAT- IV Name of the Course:……… Date of Course :………………

Name of the Venue:………………

Sl No

Name of The Participant

KV Where Working Category Name Of Region Remarks

123

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ZONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION & TRAINING, CHANDIGARH

SESSION EVALUATION FORM

TITLE OF THE SESSION __________________________________NAME OF THE TRAINING LEADER ____________________

The following evaluation form has been developed to assess the session’s performance. Your cooperation will be appreciated and will help us to improve existing training courses.

At the end of each Statement below, please fill in the blank with the number (according to the scale) that most accurately describes your reaction.

Strongly Agree Agree Slightly Agree Neutral Slightly Disagree Disagree Strongly Disagree7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I Session purpose, objective and structure Response

1. The purpose of the session was stated ______________2. The session objective was stated ______________

3. An outline was provided to the participants ______________

II Course Content 4. The material covered was important ______________

5. The material covered was adequate to meet my job needs ______________6. The session was valuable for the information it contained ______________7. The material should be covered in the future with others

bearing my job title ______________

III Course Delivery8. The training leader knew the subject well ______________9. Training methods helped meet course objectives ______________

10. Presentations were effectively delivered ______________11. The session helped me understand important ideas ______________12. Instructional aids (OHP, LCD etc.) were used effectively ______________13. The training leaders maintained a positive attitude

towards participants ______________14. Participants felt free to interact with the trainer ______________15. The training leader showed sensitivity to

participants’ feed back ______________16. The presentation methods helped to hold my interest ______________

17. The difficult learning points were adequately emphasized ______________

IV Use of Time 18. The time was effectively used ______________

V Overall session evaluation19. The session objectives were accomplished ______________20. I recommend the same session to others ______________

DATE________ NAME OF THE PARTICIPANT __________ SIGNATURE____________ (OPTIONAL)

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MISSION : TO HELP TEACHERS REALISE BEST IN THEMSELVES

From the Desk of Director

Since education is a lifelong process, in-service education & training is an essential part of the education system. No formal training in a College or University can prepare a perfect person for professional services, particularly when education itself is dynamic and complex. Economical, Political and Cultural changes put a heavy demand on education to respond to the present trends. Education in fact is a cause and effect of changes. The teachers dealing with young children, will, therefore, have to keep pace with the societal changes and demand on teaching profession.

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, a pace setting institution in the field of school education has rightly evolved a system of in-service training for teachers and other staff at regular intervals. The system has been institutionalised through four Zonal Institution of Education & Training (ZIET) conducting courses throughout the year. ZIET mission is providing quality training to equip the teachers and staff with all the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for growth, effectiveness and efficiency of KVS and professional development of employeesLooking into the enormity of the task of training of about 6000 teachers every year, services of Education Officers, Principals, Teachers and other staff members are geared up to achieve the target.

The paradigm shift envisaged in the NCF 2005 experts teaching to be child inspired-a step a head of child centric education and the teacher to be an inspirational leader. The teacher needs to be self motivated, self initiated and self actualizing individual. The school level leadership and continuing in service education in the form of orientation courses, need based workshops and residential in service training can help teachers accomplish this vision.

In-service education in KVS primarily addresses four approaches –

1) The Defect Approach – The teacher’s function is to prepare children in lively dynamic world. What he had learnt 15 years ago may neither be suitable nor desirable in the present era, no matter how skillful he was in imparting the then known facts especially of science. Both curriculum and pedagogy undergo modification over the period and the teachers if do not overcome the gap between what has been learnt and what he is expected to perform, they will become obsolete and will not be able to do justice with the students who are to live in a world which does not exist. In-service course provides opportunities to the teachers to update their knowledge and skills.

2) Change Approach – In the area of learning, new investigations are constantly revising our ideas of how and what to teach. Many new areas like Life Skills Education, Disaster Management, Environmental Education, NAEP, Peace Education, Constructivism, Critical Pedagogy, Inclusive Education, Multiple Intelligences, CCE etc. have been added in school curriculum. ICT has practically invaded every classroom. The validity of certain methods of teaching, stages of intellectual development of the child, the time and stage to introduce principles and concepts – all these and other psychological concepts have undergone much changes in recent years. The National Curriculum Framework – 2005 has called for change in text-books and pedagogy. The teacher will undergo even greater changes when further researches in Biology and Psychology throw new light on the nature of life mental growth and development. These changes must be known to the teachers, if they have to serve society effectively.

3) Growth Approach – Teachers not only have to teach in the present rather have to prepare themselves for future as well. Many teachers ride the career ladder and are promoted for new jobs. A primary teacher is suddenly asked to teach a middle classes or a TGT promoted to the post of PGT is required to teach senior secondary classes.

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The PGT and Vice Principals are promoted to the post of Principals. The nature of job changes on each ladder of their promotion. If not prepared to take up new assignments in time, the teacher may find it very difficult to address the requirements of the new assignment. In-service training should prepare the teachers to take up added responsibilities.

4) The Problem Solving Approach – Another and perhaps most important approach is problem solving approach of in-service courses. In course of their day-to-day activities, teachers encounter many problems, which they like to share with colleagues to find a solution. In-service courses provide a platform to share concerns and best practices among the fellow friends. Solutions are discussed and action plans are prepared with the help of professional team and experts. For example many teachers find it difficult to handle computers and other electronic gadgets. Often they slide into morasses for not being able to use technology in their day-to-day teaching and feel guilty or incompetent. In-service training are arranged to equip the teachers with latest technology available.

However, training should not be a one time sporadic and haphazard. The systematic approach to training follows four essential steps –

1. Identification of Training Needs

2. Design of Training

3. Delivery of Training

4. Evaluation of TrainingAll the four steps are essential for effective transfer of the training at the work place. The

knowledge, skill and attitude of the trainer also play crucial role in the success of a training programme. In a way, as an agent of change, a trainer (Director, Resource Person) is a salesman, a salesman not of a product or a service, he is a salesman of new educational ideas, new programmes or new practices. Convincing the consumer, the trainee teacher requires most of the skills that are required of a salesman. A trainer should be well informed of new developments in the field of education. Though he may not have mastery over all the intricacies of new development, yet he should be familiar enough to relate it to existing school programme and classroom practices. He should be able to locate the places where he could go or direct the teachers for further help to influence their own programmes and practices.

The teacher in class is a special person. He/She is the director of the classroom activities, facilitation of classroom instructional processes and a creative individual solving day to day problems of the learners in a an interesting and joyful atmosphere. Therefore, a teacher should undergo a process of self discovery resulting in discovery his/her full potential in a training programme. A positive mind set and a better self esteem need to be inculcated in the teachers.

Modules (both general and subject-wise) incorporated in the booklets and CD provide direction and intended to result into focused activities.

Orientation programmes for Directors and Resource Persons is a step in designing, art of delivery and evaluation methods of training programme. I am confident that all the participants will be benefited and will be able to deliver more effectively in the programmes to be organised.

– N. K. BHARDWAJ

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1. GUIDE LINES FOR THE CONDUCT OF INSERVICE COURSES- 2011

1.1 RATIONALE

The role of a teacher has gradually evolved from a traditional transmitter of knowledge to that of a co-learner and facilitator. Accordingly, the schools have moved away from a teacher- centered curriculum to that of student centered curriculum. Such a shift has led to a change from the broadcast learning model to that of an interactive learning model. The teacher in this context is no longer a mere transmitter of knowledge and the learning comes from student’s enquiry, critical thinking and problem solving. In such an evolving scenario, it is essential for the teacher to continuously enhance the competence so that the learning outcomes are achieved.

The target for an educational institution is to aim for greater students’ achievement, as they are the customers for whom the institution has come in to existence. Various studies have clearly demonstrated that the skills and capabilities of teachers have a significant impact on students’ learning and achievement. The competence of the teacher, thus, needs to be enhanced if the objective of the institution is to be achieved. There are two ways by which the competence of a teacher can be enhanced, viz.

Self initiated learning activities of the teacher for self – professional development like reading, experimenting etc.

In –service education, refresher training / workshops organized by the department

Teachers involve in certain Self Initiated learning activities for their professional development. Analyses of such activities have shown that there are three types of Self Initiated learning activities:

a) Knowledge enhancing/exchanging.b) Experimenting; and c) Environmental scanning

The In –service training courses organized by the department are primarily intended to achieve the following broad objectives:

i) Help the teachers improve their subject knowledge and teaching skills including the use of ICT in curriculum transaction.

ii) Help the teachers gain greater understanding of their role and responsibilities in the school; and

iii) Help them gain greater confidence in their roles as educators responsible for the future of the nation.

Keeping the above in view, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan has been conducting in-service training courses for the teachers, right from the inception, to enhance their competence levels both in content and pedagogy. More so, the quantum of progress in the fields of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has opened up avenues for unlimited learning and when used effectively, has the potential to reshape the process of education. Hence, it is imperative for the practicing teacher not only to excel in the profession but even for a minimum successful survival.

The role and efforts of the individual teacher and the department are vital for the enhancement of teacher competence, which in turn can lead to significant improvement in student performance.

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Thus, the plan and conduct of the In-service Training Course needs to be made keeping in view the premise that effective in –service training can enhance teacher performance, which in turn will improve students’ learning achievement. Therefore, the endeavor of every course Director and Resource persons is to ensure that the teacher performance enhances after participation in such trainings.

1.2 GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCTING IN –SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAMMES

Having identified enhancement of the skills and capabilities of teachers as the target of achievement in the in-service training courses, it is essential to identify, plan and organize structured activities to reach this goal. It has to be ensured that the training gives value for time and resources involved in such an exercise. The focus of structured activities in the in-service training courses should include the following themes for enhancing the teacher competence:

Subject related knowledgePedagogy Utilization of new resources; including I.C.TClass-room management

Also opportunity may be provided for the sharing of knowledge, ideas and experiences among teachers, as knowledge exchanging is one of the three types of self-initiated learning activity, so that there is a mutual benefit for the teachers.

However, before giving the final shape to the schedule of the in-service training courses the following aspects be identified:

Needs of the teachers Problems of the learners New information, knowledge and theories of importance for the teachers and learners Availability of the resources both experts and materials

This can help for optimum utilization of the time and resources as well as the desired out comes are achieved.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE INSERVICE TRAINING COURSES

The curricular transaction is basically carried out involving the following four steps:

1 identification of learning outcomes/ objectives and competencies to be attained

2 planning teaching learning situations and experiences; and preparation of instructional materials

3 Application of teaching learning situations and experiences : instructional materials

4 Selection and application of evaluation techniques and tools

Keeping the above steps in view, the broad objectives of the in service training courses listed earlier have been further classified as follows to make the planning and conduct of the courses goal oriented:

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i) Content

ii) Instructional strategies

iii) Communication skills

iv) Evaluation

v) Usage of existing and new resources

vi) General class –room management

vii) Planning and conducting various curricular and co-curricular activities

viii) Interaction with the parents and society

1.3.1 CONTENT

The most essential competence required for any teacher to succeed is “SCHOLARSHIP.” Scholarship here means both the grasp of the realm of the knowledge in which the teacher performs day- today duties as well as a habit of mind. The former is an essential requisite for successful class –room teaching where as the latter ensures that the teacher continues to be a lifelong learner.

The following activities need to be included:

a) Thorough study of the text books and identification of new topics/concepts with a view to familiarize teachers to the above

b) Thorough study of the exercises/ questions so that correct answers/ solutions are known to the teachers

c) Identification and listing of difficult areas/ concepts

d) Listing of learning outcomes subject –wise, topic-wise

e) Listing of common minimum programme subject – wise for slow learners

f) Review and update the study materials produced during the year 2010—2011 keeping in view the revised syllabus and new text books

g) Identification and listing of books, CDs for conceptual clarity and additional learning, websites related to the subject/topics

1.3.2 INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Just as there are individual differences in a group of students, there differences in learning style of students in a class. Hence, it is a necessity for the teacher to have alternative approaches to cater to the varying need s of different learners. Only then, the instructional goals can be attained.

The following activities need to be included:

Identification of learning outcomes subject wise, class wise with regard to the revised syllabus and new text books

a) identification of appropriate teaching learning activities subject wise, class wise to enhance the learning

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b) Identification of appropriate teaching learning experiments subject wise, class wise to enhance the learning

c) Preparation of structured questions/ exercises/ problems to consolidate students’ learning chapter wise in each subject and in each class

d) Brief review of various models of teaching and its appropriate use

e) Constructivism and its application in classroom situations

f) Identification, development and use of appropriate learning aids

g) Preparation of detailed lesson plans for difficult areas/ topics

h) Identification of appropriate assignments and project work

i) Review of the CCE schemes of the CBSE and KVS

j) Action Research as a means of finding solutions for classroom difficulties / problems related to learning

k) Strategies for assisting slow learners

l) Strategies for the assessment of non-scholastic areas

m) Record keeping of students

n) Support programme for bright learners to maximize their performance

o) Discuss study skills related to concept attainment, memory (both short term and long term) and application

1.3.3 Communication Skills

The ability to communicate with the young learner is another essential requisite skill for the teacher to succeed. The growing up of the young is characterized by their intense questioning and noisy exuberance. Therefore, the teacher should have the ability to EMPATHIZE. Further, the teacher has to be a patient and compulsive listener so that effective communication with the student is achieved.

Attention needs to be paid to the following areas:

a) Verbal communication, both written and spoken, needs to be emphasized

b) Non- verbal communication also needs to be emphasized as it conveys emotions to the learner; positive emotions serve as catalyst for learning

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1.3.4 Evaluation

Evaluation is the process of assessing the degree of achievement of predetermined objectives by different learners. Evaluation is the tool with which we ascertain whether the instructional goals have been achieved or not. Hence, the teacher needs to be well versed not only on the evaluation items but also when, where and how to use them.

The following activities may be included:

a) Review of various modes of evaluationb) Design of blue print to ensure objectivity and reliability in assessment c) Review of various test items like short answer / Long answer / Very short answer

questions with their characteristics and utility d) Marking of answers based on value pointse) Performance, analysis of students with a view to identify effectiveness of the

instructions, difficulties from the point of view of learners and make plans for further learning

f) Identification of common errors/ mistakes committed by the students and suggestions for improvement

g) Review the method of grading in the primary sections for effective implementation

h) Review the modes of assessment VIZ., written and oral in the primary sections i) Discuss on projects and assignments in the evaluation of learningj) Follow up of learning achievement test.

1.3.5 Usage of existing and new resources

In the child centered class room where an interactive learning model is employed, a teacher requires the use of varied resources so that the curiosity of the learner can be aroused and thereby the process of learning activated. Learning takes place involving the processes of students’ observation, enquiry, analysis, reasoning and problem solving.

The availability of computers as a powerful teaching and learning tool when used effectively can enhance learning. With a well designed programme, computers help to support the engagement of the learner, sustain the motivation and enthusiasm and provide a range of interactive opportunities, which were not previously available in the learning environments. Thus, the professional development of the teacher should include learning by operational use of ICT so that these can be effectively used to support the learning of students.

a) Utilization of all kinds of printed literature

b) Utilization of audio visual aids

c) Utilization of multimedia presentation

d) Surfing the net for information and instructional strategies

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1.3.6 General class – room management

Good teaching is the target of every practising teacher and to achieve this, what is required is planned efforts. A wide range of qualities needs to be acquired by the teacher and the same is to be effectively utilized in the day to day class room activities. The following areas may be exhaustively deliberated so that the teachers get a chance to reflect on their own practice and make improvements / amends accordingly:

a) General principles of motivationb) Questioning in the class during teaching learningc) Listening to the students responses and responding to them appropriatelyd) Being flexible and experimenting instead of being rigid and having a fixed agenda;

being prepared to tackle situations confidentlye) Use of good humourf) Display of caring, nurturing attitude and behaviourg) Having integrity h) Having a strong and visionary leadership i) Using emotional intelligence for the enhancement of learning

1.3.7 Planning and conducting various curricular and co- curricular activities

In addition to the scholastic learning, the personality development of the student is the responsibility of the Vidyalaya and for this purpose various co-curricular and extra curricular activities are planned and conducted in the Vidyalaya. In order to ensure the desired outcomes, the active involvement of the teacher is required in not only planning and conducting the activities but also in motivating the students to take an active participation in them. A list of appropriate activities and their relevance to personality development my be prepared for implementation in the class room.

1.3.8 Interaction with the parents and society

The present day society is predominantly knowledge based and hence the parents are well aware of the need of good and quality education for their wards. Therefore, the expectation of the parents in respect of their wards is normally high and in such situations the teacher is expected to interact with the parents positively, seeking their cooperation and assistance in helping their children to fulfill the expectations. In such interactions, the teachers after listening to the parents with care are expected to respond using their knowledge of the students and their potential.

1.3.9 Other areas:

Consequent upon setting a National Committee on Disaster Management under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister after Gujarat Earthquake, the need for preparedness and sensitization to disasters instead of mitigation measures is felt. In Bhopal Gas Tragedy, a simple piece of information to breath through a wet handkerchief could have saved many lives. The points to be dealt in the In -service course broadly include:

1) General Disaster Management including awareness, Do’s and Don’ts 2) Post disaster trauma management, sharing the trauma.3) First Aid Information.4) Efforts to maintain the continuity in education.5) Relief Measures.

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1.4. Adult learning principles

The participants of these programmes viz. teachers are adult s and hence the principles of adult learning ie Andragogy should be invariable kept in mind while finalizing the strategies to be adopted in the in-service training programme. According to Malcolm Knowles, the pioneer in the field of adult learning:

Adults are self directing and will, therefore. Resist or try to escape from situations in which they feel treated as children. Adults typically have three reasons for learning:

Curiosity of interest Need or desire to apply specific learning Wish to gain recognition

Adults have a foundation of life experiences and knowledge and therefore they need to connect learning to this knowledge / experience base. The richer resource may also be used for each other’s learning.

Adults are goal oriented and therefore they appreciate programmes, which are organized, with defined objectives.

The process of adult learning begins, according to Jarvis’s theory, when a discrepancy is encountered between a person’s entire history of experiences and a new experience that cannot be handled automatically which gives rise to potential learning. To such a situation a person can

Respond in a routine way or is too preoccupied to consider a response and thereby rejects the opportunity to learn (non learning)

Unconsciously internalize something or memorize information (non reflective learning)

Contemplate, reflectively think about and reconsider their actions or actively experiment (reflective learning)

These three different types of learning are hierarchical and a person can gain in experience only when he/ she resort to reflective learning. The in service courses may highlight this point to the participants so that lifelong learning can take place effectively.

The advancement in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has created lot of resources for enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. Attractive multimedia presentations can be made on difficult topics where students find it difficult to visualize. In addition, rich content and lot of ideas for teaching them is available on the NET and the same needs to be exploited for the benefit of learners. Sufficient time and efforts may be devoted to this field so that the teachers would be at ease in using these resources rather than intimidated by such vast development.

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Keeping the above principles in mind the following strategies may be judiciously used in the in –service training courses:

a) Lecture –cum- discussion in the areas of content, pedagogy, instructional strategy, evaluation, general personality development, life skills, value education, action research, guidance and counseling, RTE Act 2009, RTI Act 2005 and any other area as deemed fit.

b) Demonstration lessons by the Directors/ Resource Persons/ Senior teachers on difficult areas /topics.

c) Model lessons by the participants for critical analysis and improvement.d) Model lessons using teaching aids/ activities/ games.e) Model lessons using multimedia presentationf) Group work (small groups) on different areas listed in the broad objectives g) Debates/group discussions on issues of day to day relevanceh) Quiz/ other competitions to ensure active and keen participationi) Pre-test and other- tests to ascertain the impact of the coursej) Report writing k) Cultural activitiesl) Meditation and Yoga, games and sportsm) Community singing

It may be noted that the participants are likely to attend next training course only after6 years and hence it is imperative that the course makes a positive impact on the teachers by enhancing their competence as well as initiating a continuous learning. A detailed communication may be issued to all the participants well in advance highlighting the proposed action plan and seeking details of their requirement in the course.

These are suggestive guidelines and any appropriate action points may be added after discussion with the Resource Persons and participants, if need be.

1.5 EXPECTED OUTCOME

The participants [

1) Will appreciate acquired learning points2) Will follow individualized teaching learning process/constructivist approach3) Will acquire skills and competencies required in transaction of curriculum 4) Will make apparent change of attitude towards profession of teaching5) Will take new experimentation/ innovations in methodology and evaluation6) Will employ effective evaluation strategies7) Will improve upon self esteem8) Will enable the teachers to imbibe Life Skills for a sound mental health for self and others

to reflect the impact on academic performances9) Will respect the provisions of the RTE Act 2009

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DO YOU KNOW YOUR ORGANISATION?

Time: 20 minutes

Objectives

1 Awareness of all the positive aspects of KVS 2 To have an idea of the administrative set up of KVS up to school level3 Awareness of expectation of stakeholders4 Awareness of Codes (Education Code & Accounts Code)

Materials: Sketch pens, brown sheets, 4”x 9” color etc chart paper pieces, glue stick

Method VIPP method and interaction

Activity:

1 Paste 2 brown sheets on 2 sides of training hall, put headings WHAT GOOD THINGS I SEE on one and WHAT GOOD I LIKE TO SEE on the other.

2 Provide 4”x8” Sheets /cut chart paper pieces of 2 colours to each trainee (say green and red).

3 Each trainee will write with a sketch pen (capital letters) a) list of 3 positive aspects he/she sees in KVS on green card /sheet b) list of 3 things he/she likes to see /happen in KVS on red card (No need to write

the name of the trainee on the cards.)4 Each trainee will stick the card on the respective brown sheet (Green card on WHAT

GOOD THINGS I SEE IN KVS and red card on “WHAT GOOD THINGS I LIKE TO SEE”

5 Ask some trainees to read loudly the GOOD things in KVS list and what they like to see in KVS by rotation(we may use a cordless microphone they

may be asked not to read out the repeated ones)

6 Facilitator will compile all good things in KVS and what else can be done in K. V. S.

NOTE - No discussion, no personal biases, no contradictions be allowed amongst the trainees as this is not a discussion forum. It is only for identifying the perceptions)

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Mission of Kendriya Vidyalayas

The Kendriya Vidyalayas have a four - fold mission, viz.,

1. To cater to the educational needs of children of transferable Central Government including Defence and Para-military personnel by providing a common programme of education;

2. To pursue excellence and set the pace in the field of school education;

3. To initiate and promote experimentation and innovations in education in collaboration with other bodies like the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) etc. and

4. To develop the spirit of national integration and create a sense of "Indianness" among children.

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Functioning of Kendriya Vidyalayas

Contents :

Genesis/foundation of KVS

Objectives/ Mission of the Organization

Unique feature of KVS

Oranizational set up

The growth of KVS

Admission Policy

The streams/course of studies

Steps taken towards Academic excellence

Academic Supervision

Syllabus and Text books

Evaluation Pattern

Common Examinations

Administrative and Disciplinary rules

Promotion of Sports and games

Conduct of Activities

Role of associated organizations like NCERT, CBSE etc.

Scouts and Guides Activities

Exhibitions – Science and Social Sciences

Celebrations – Annual Day, Sports Day

Excursions,

Computerisation and Office Automation

Methodology : Presentation / Discussion use of OHP transparencies

Time: 1 Hour

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KVS Setup

The KVS shall function through its General Body called the Sangathan ,its Board of Governors and three standing Committees constituted by the Board viz. Finance committee, Academic Advisory committee and Works Committee.

The Board of Governors

The Board of Governors shall be the executive body through which the Sangathan shall discharge its responsibilities to fulfill the objectives set forth in the Memorandum of Association. The Board shall be responsible for the management of all affairs and funds of the Sangathan ad shall have the authority to exercise all powers of the Sangathan. The Minister of Human Resource development shall be the chairman of the Sangathan ,as well as the Board of Governors.

Standing Committees

As per Rules and Regulations of the Sangathan, the Board of Governors, by a resolution, has appointed three advisory committees with such powers as were felt necessary. The composition and functions of the three standing committees are as under

Finance Committee

Functions

1 To scrutinize the accounts and budget estimates of the Sangathan ad to make recommendations to the oard\Chairman

2 To consider and make recommendations to the Board/Chairman on proposals for new expenditure on account of major works and purchases which shall be referred to the Finance Committee for opinion before they are considered by the Board\ Chairman

3 To scrutinize re-appropriation statements and audit notes and make recommendations thereon

to the board\Chairman;

4 To review the finances of the Sangathan from time to time and have concurrent audit conducted whenever necessary; and

5 To give advice and make recommendations to the Board\ Chairman on any other financial question affecting the affairs of the Sangathan.

Academic Advisory Committee

Functions:

1 To advise the Sangathan about academic and co-curricular programmes to be introduced in Kendriya Vidyalayas.

2 To help prepare guidelines for implementation of these programmes

3 To review periodically these programmes and suggest measures for over coming deficiencies and shortcomings.

4 To help Vidyalayas realize, among others, the following objectives of the Sangathan: s[17]

a To develop Vidyalayas as ‘Schools of excellence’ in the context national goals of

education

b To initiate and provide experimentation in education in collaboration with other expert bodies like CBSE,NCERT etc.

c To promote national integration

5 To review the publication programmes of the Sangathan and suggest improvements

Works Committee:

Functions:1. To recommend the work policy of the Sangathan2. To consider and approve the work programme3. To prescribe norms for issue of administrative approval and expenditure sanction4. To review the progress of construction work5. To advise the Board on policy matters

Administration and Establishment Committee:

Functions:

1. To advise the Sangathan about the policies to be introduced on administrative and establishment matters

2. To prepare guidelines in matters of e-governance, settlement of grievances and monitoring of other redressal machinery

3. To bring about effective coordination among the various units of organization at various levels

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EXPECTATIONS - NEEDS OF TRIANEES

As such, the program of training is a concept derived from industry. A need for training is felt whenever there is a performance gap. This gap as the distance between what is happening and what should be happening. Identified the performance gap, the next issues, that group up are :

1) Is the performance gap measurable?2) Is the performance gap bridged by training? 3) Is there any alternative method to bridge the performance gap ?4) If there are alternatives to bridge the performance gaps, what are the advantages of

having a training etc

In education sector, the trainings though are periodical in many organizations, the modus operandi is not completely in tune with method followed in industries. The process of identification of gaps it self is a complex process influenced by multiple factors –some intrinsic and some external to the school/ teachers.

Hence, program in educational training is a composite affair. In every training program, it is an imperative component to find out the difficulties of the teachers, that are pointing to the performance gaps in their work places. Though , an advanced information about the expectations of the trainees is desirable, it may not be possible all the time. Accordingly, listing the difficulties is to be done at the beginning of the trainee program.

The following inhibitions in the teacher may prevent in expressing their needs.

a) fear of being branded inferior b) fear of ridicule c) apprehension of being branded as weak d) lack of clarity in his own competence.

Expectation are normally seen as the driving force to reach to mining standard performance of an institution.

Before attempting the expectation from any particular training, the following questions are to be put. The answers for the above questions can be attempted in 2 stages.

Stage 1: Each trainee will be asked to write what is expected of him/ her at work place? Provide a sheet (a format is given) and ask the trainees to fill up.

Stage 2: Using VIPP method (clubbed with introduction on day 1) list out the expectations from this training program.

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Stage 1: What is expected of me at School?

Note: As per your opinion, what are the expectations of the following state holders from you as a teacher?

1) Students expect the following from me

2) Colleague teachers expect the following from me

3) Principal expects the following from me

4) Parents expect the following from me

5) KVS expects the following from me

6) What does management (VMC)/P.T.A expect from me?

7) My family expects the following from me

8) I expect the following from me for my self development

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CONSTITUTION OF INDIA

PART IV A

FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES OF CITIZENS

Article 51 A

Fundamental Duties – It shall be the duty of every citizen of India –

a) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and National Anthem;

b) To cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our national struggle for freedom;

c) To uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

d) To defend the country and render national service when called upon to do so;

e) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;

f) To value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;

g) To protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures;

h) To develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform;

i) To safeguard public property and to abjure violence;

j) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.

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TRAINING STRATEGIES

The Objectives can be achieved by the following strategies/methods

1. Discussions/Lectures/Talks by experts or experience librarians followed by interaction with the participants

i) This method gives the trainees an opportunity to learn from the knowledge and experiences of others, or to promote changes in opinions, attitudes, behavior and ideas.

ii) It generates new ideas in assumed situations

2. Role Plays : The participants can be divided into small groups and each group shall enact a simulated situation related to children’s problems like adjustability

The roles can be like two students talking to themselves, or a talk between a teacher and a student

3. Practical Exercises: The participants shall be made to prepare different cards like author card, title card, issue card etc and analyse the students reading habits. Similarly simulated exercises regarding condemnation procedure, Stock verification etc. can be undertaken.

4. Field Trip: A trip to a very well managed school in the station where the course is being organized

5. VIPP method (Visualization in Participatory Process)

6. Group Works

7. Talks/Discussions will be supplemented by AV Aids, Video and audio cassettes etc.

8. To have hands on experience in Computers and their use in Issue of books, Internet

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WHAT IS A ROLE PLAY

A role play, used for training purposes, is a simulation in which trainees are required to act out the role of an individual in a situation or in circumstances that are relevant to the trainee. The scenario can be an imaginary one or a real situation that the trainee is to face.

In practice, most role plays take the form of a one- act, unscripted playlet involving 2 or more participants taking the parts of different people.

THE PURPOSE OF ROLE PLAY

Role playing is a valuable technique for the trainer. It can provide participants act out (or practice) real life situations (or situations that could occur in real life) in a protected environment, their behavior, speech and feelings during the play let from the basis for self appraisal and feedback from others who have been observing; from this they will learn which behavior, words and approaches are effective. Mistakes can be made and learned from in a risk – free way

Role playing during training permits participants to receive objective feed back about their performance from their peers and from the trainer. They can learn what others see, hear and feel. Trainees can discover the impact of their attitudes and behaviour have in terms of how effective they are perceived to be by others. This opportunity to receive feedback rarely, if ever, occurs in normal circumstances back at work.

Role playing can provide a mirror for participants to see themselves as others see them. This encourages insight in to their own behaviour and sensitivity to others’ opinion, attitudes and needs. The benefits of a change in behaviour or attitude can readily be demonstrated and thus any desired change is encouraged.

WHEN TO USE A ROLE PLAY

Since role plays are most effective as vehicles in which to practice or learn face to face communication skills they are most suitable for use where participants can practice ways to deal with individuals and their problems. For the trainer, role plays provide a good way to involve trainees actively and intensively in a training session, helping them to learn in a more active and participative way.

Occasions for using a role play;

Where the need is to practice effective communication and inter personal skills. Examples of these situations are negotiation, performance appraisal

As an opportunity for the trainer to involve trainees intensively in the learning process As an opportunity to practise approaches to forthcoming real life situations. As an opportunity to replay a situation that was not successfully handled in the past in order

to extract lessons for the future Where a change of attitude is desirable. Trainees can come to appreciate the viewpoint of

another person or group if they are asked to take part in a role play in the role of that person or as a member of that group

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LEARNING FROM ROLE PLAY

Regardless of the precise situation, there are many common lessons to be learnt. These are in the area of effective face to face communication. The manager’s ability to coach, influence, persuade, advise or fully understand is crucial to the successful conduct of the interview or conversation whether the subject at issue is negotiation or handling grievances. Similarly, the value of effective questioning and listening is fundamental to all management and work place communication, as is an awareness and recognition of body language. All these aspects of face to face communication skills can be easily addressed by role playing. The ability to control conversations, handle conflict, reach agreement or gain commitment can also be improved through role playing. In addition, changes in attitude and perception are often the result of playing he role of someone else.

POTENTIAL DRAWBACKS The principal drawback of role playing is that it is open to criticism for lack of realism. It is

unlikely that a role play will accurately depict all the complexities that arise at work. Inevitably, therefore, it can be criticized for being simplistic and thus lose credibility.

In its defence, any technique that can give trainees the confidence to try new approaches (that have been endorsed by their peers and the trainer as being likely to be effective) must be worth using. Certainly, no role play can foresee all eventualities in a situation but many of the concerns and problems can be anticipated and effective behaviours to deal with them devised.

A further concern about role playing is that many people are unwilling to put themselves at the risk of appearing foolish or of making mistakes in public. People often feel threatened by video cameras or the knowledge that their behaviour is under close scrutiny by their peers. These fears can be remove only if all are involved and if everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the feedback on everyone else. An atmosphere of mutual support can be generated very quickly by the trainer who is aware of this problem. The fear of the camera can be reduced by a practice run in which all the shyness can be overcome.

The effectiveness of role playing as a training tool is dependent on the quality of the feedback. Feedback must be constructive else it is counter productive, snaps confidence and erects barriers to learning. Positive and well handled feedback can reinforce effective behaviour, instill confidence and highlight specific areas for improvement in a way that is not critical and is readily acceptable .

Checklist: Conducting a role play

1 Explain the purpose of the session and of the role play in particular. Outline the skills that should be practiced.

2 Select and reassure participants and put them at ease with the idea of role playing.3 Issue role play briefs as appropriate, notes for role players (Handout ) if required and

allow sufficient time for preparation. This is usually detailed in the notes for each role play.

4 Select observes, brief them on what is required and issue a check sheet as well as copies of the briefs issued to participants.

5 Encourage participants to get in to role and improvise within the frame work of the brief.6 Check that everyone understands their role and their part in the exercise. Be prepared to

answer questions and give clarification.7 Start the role play and allow it to continue until a reasonable conclusion is reached, until

the players dry up or there appears to be no further progress to be made or learning to be acquired.

8 The trainer should close with a summary of what worked well, what were the principal lessons and the areas for all to concentrate on for the future

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STANDARD HANDOUTNotes for role players

As you are about to take part in a role play, there are a few guidelines that it would be useful to note. These should help you to learn as much as possible from this session.

1 you are not being asked to be an actor or to entertain. The purpose of the role play is to provide a situation in which you can practice certain skills. When you read the brief, try to imagine yourself in the situation described and behave in a way you feel to be natural but be conscious of the fact that your role may require a different approach from that which you might normally use.

2 You (and others) may benefit from the chance to experiment with different approaches and behaviour so try to use the approach you feel to be most appropriate for the circumstances described in your brief.

3 The brief is just the starting point. It simply sets the scene. Try not to keep referring to the brief as this will affect the spontaneity of the meeting. Allow the role to develop as you think it might in real life and change your reactions in line with the behaviour and responses of others involved.

4 If you find that you have too little information to answer questions or to describe what has happened in the situation, do feel free to add your own thoughts and ideas. Try to keep these within the frame work of the role you are taking and try to make your improvisations realistic.

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ICE BREAKING-An Example

INSTRUCTIONS: MAKE SLIPS OF CODED TOPICS AND DISTRIBUTE ONE SLIP TO EACH PARTICIPANT. ASK HIM/HER TO DECODE AND SPEAK FOR ONE MINUTE ON THE TOPIC

1 lx Qnkd Lncdk My Role Model

2 JUR : uhrhnm 2020 KVS : Vision 2020

3 Qdenqlr h vzms sn aqhmf hm sgd oqdrdms dctbzshnm rxrsdl

Reforms I want to bring in the present education system

4 h lzjd sdzbghmf z inxetk dwodgqhdmbd I make teaching a joyful experience

5 he h'l zoonhmsdc sgd bnllhrrhnmdq ne JUR If I'm appointed the Commissioner of KVS

6 Hlokdldmszshnm ne MBE hr cheehbtks hm sgd oqdrdms dctbzshnmzk rbdmzqhn

Implementation of MCF is difficult in the present educational scenario

7 Sgd sdwsannjr mddc etqsgdq hloqnudldms The textbooks need further improvement

8 Sgd dwzlhmzshnm rxrsdl kdzcr sgd sdzbghmf hm bkzrrqnnl

The examination system leads the teaching in classroom

9 BBZ(Bn-btqqhbtkzq zbshuhshdr) hr z vzrsd ne shld

CCA (Co-curricular activities) is a waste of time

10 rbnqhmf hm anzqc dwzlr hr jdx sn rtbbdrr Scoring in Board Exams. is key to success

11 Qdzchmf ne annjr hr nts ne ezrghnm Reading of books is out of fashion

12 Hmsdqmds ezbhkhsx rhntkc ad oqnuhcdc sn bghkcqdm

Internet facility should not be provided to children

13 Enq vgnl rgntkc H unsd - Ptzkhsdr ne z fnnc kdzcdq

For whom should I vote - Qualities of a good leader

14 Sgd oqdrdcdmshzk rxrsdl ne fnudqmldms hr rthszakd enq hmchz

The presedential system of government is suitable for India

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15 Sgd ldchtl ne dctbzshnm hm JUR rgntkc ad Ghmch nmkx

The medium of education in KVS should be Hindi only

16 Qdbdrrhnm - zr h knnj zs Recession - as I look at

17 Oqhlzqx dctbzshnm azbjanmd ne sgd rxrsdl Primary education is the backbone of the education system

18 Sdzbgdq sqzhmhmf hr z vzrsd ne shld zmc lnmdx

Teacher training is a waste of time and money

19Cdrohsd mtldqntr sqzhmhmfr zmc nqhdmszshnmr sgd sdzbgdq sdmcr sn sdzbg sgd vzx (r)gd gzr addm sztfgs

Despite numerous trainings and orientations the teacher tends to teach the way (s)he has been taught

20 Hmbqdzrd hm rzkzqx hloqnudr sgd ptzkhsx ne sdzbghmf

Increase in salary improves the quality of teaching

21 Z sdzbgdq hr z rnbhzk adhmf zmc rgntkc ad rddm rn

A teacher is a socila bring and should be seen so

22 JUR rgntkc zcnos HA rxrsdl ne dctbzshnm KVS should adopt IB system of education

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NEED ASSESSMENT

1. Name of the Teacher : ______________________________________

2. Name of the KV : ______________________________________

3. Name of the Region : ______________________________________

4. Qualification : ______________________________________

5. Date of Joining : ______________________________________

6. Are you computer trained; if yes, give the details of courses attended and diploma/ degree

7. Write any three/four reasons for which you are attending this In-service course

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

8. Specify your area of interest (on priority basis)

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

9. Mention any areas in which you feel the need for updating/upgrading your knowledge (scholastic/non scholastic) to become proficient teacher.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

10. Write your strength and weaknesses as a P.G.T/T.G.T/H.M/PRT.s[28]

S. No. STRENGTH S.

No. WEAKNESSES

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

5 5

11. Mention your expectations from this 12 days In-service Course

(i)

(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)

12. Write any two recommendations of N.C.F. 2005 on which it is based?

(1)

(2)

13. Write your views towards overall development of children through the activities taking place in Kendriya Vidyalayas.

14. How do you rate yourself as facilitator (in P.G.T/T.G.T/H.M/PRT.Subjects/motivational level)

(a) Excellent (b) Very Good (c) Good (d) Average (e) Need guidance

15. What syllabus/planning do you follow for one academic session in your school?

16. Do you prepare session plan in your diary?

17. Rate enjoyment level of children in your subject on 5 grade scale.

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18. Expectations of stakeholders from you.

(a) KVS expects from me – ________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

(b) RO expects from me – _________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

(c) My Principal expects from me – __________________________________

____________________________________________________________

(d) Parents/Society expects from me – _______________________________

____________________________________________________________

(e) Children expects from me – _____________________________________

____________________________________________________________

19. What do you expect from your Vidyalaya to use your potential towards development of students

20. If given a chance would you opt to become a subject teacher?

(i) Yes/No

(ii) If yes, which subject would you like to teach?

21. What are the strengths of P.G.T/T.G.T/H.M/PRT.. in your opinion?

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Topic: Awareness of functioning of Kendriya Vidyalayas

Contents :

Genesis/foundation of KVS

Objectives/ Mission of the Organisation

Unique feature of KVS

Oranizational set up

The growth of KVS

Admission Policy

The streams/course of studies

Steps taken towards Academic excellence

Academic Supervision

Syllabus and Text books

Evaluation Pattern

Common Examinations

Administrative and Disciplinary rules

Promotion of Sports and games

Conduct of Activities

Role of associated organizations like NCERT, CBSE etc.

Scouts and Guides Activities

Exhibitions – Science and Social Sciences

Celebrations – Annual Day, Sports Day

Excursions,

Computerisation and Office Automation

Methodology : Presentation / Discussion use of OHP transparencies

Time: 1 Hour

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DISASTER MANAGEMENT

Disasters are not new to mankind. However, in recent times, owing to their increased frequency as well as the intensity, disaster management has attracted immense public interest at the national and international level. Almost half of the disasters in the world occur in Asia, making this region the world’s most vulnerable area. Some of the reasons for increase in the frequency of natural disasters are population explosion, uncontrolled urbanization, unplanned land use and global warming. Rapid industrialization and the menace of terrorism have also added new dimensions to man-made disasters.

GLOBAL TRENDS

Keeping in view the death and destruction wrought by devastating disasters, the decade of 1990’s was observed by the United Nations as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. A number of initiatives were taken globally, prominent among them being the Kyoto Protocol, under which the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has been ratified by 175 countries. Under this protocol, industrialized countries were to reduce the collective emissions of green-house gases by 52% compared to the year 1990. The new millennium began with the launch of International Strategy for Disaster Reduction to build up disaster resilience in vulnerable areas. The Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) was adopted by 168 Governments at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction at Kobe, Japan in Jan.2005. India is one of the signatories to these declarations.

THE TRANSITION IN INDIA

Government of India in recognition of the importance of disaster management as a national priority had set up a High Powered Committee (HPC) in August-1999 and National Committee on Disaster Management (DM) after the Gujarat Earthquake for making recommendations on the preparations of DM plans and for suggesting effective mitigation. Recommendations of the HPC laid the foundation for DM framework in India. Indian Ocean Tsunami acted as the catalyst and the Government of India (GOI) took a defining step in the legislative history of the country by enacting DM Act 2005.

THE DISASTER MANAGEMENT ACT-2005

The DM Act (2005) was unanimously passed by both houses of Parliament and received the assent of the President of India on 23rd December, 2005. Under this Act, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDNA) was created, chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India as the Apex Body for DM in the country. Similarly, State Disaster Management Authority are headed by the respective Chief Ministers/ Lt Governors as the case may be. The fact that these authorities are being headed by the heads of the Government themselves exhibits the national resolve to tackle this problem most seriously. Another interesting aspect of this Act is that the district Disaster Management Authority is being headed by the respective District Collectors co chaired by elected representative of the respective district. This brings in the much required public interface at the cutting edge level.

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The Act envisages a paradigm shift, from the erstwhile response-centric syndrome to a pro-active, holistic and integrated management of Disaster with emphasis on prevention, preparedness and mitigation. These efforts are aimed at conserving developmental gains and also minimizing losses to lives, livelihood and property. The Act also mandates the creation of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) for specialized response and the National Institute of Disaster of Management (NIDM) for institutional capacity development. The NIDM works within the broad guidelines of NDMA which ensures complete synergy at the National Level. The entire DM arrangement is backed by the Institutional, Financial and legal mechanism.

NATIONAL VISION

The national vision is “to build a safer and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive, multi disaster and technology driven strategy for DM. This will be achieved through a culture of prevention, mitigation and preparedness to generate a prompt and efficient response at the time of disaster. The entire process will center-stage the community and will be provided momentum and sustenance through the collective efforts of all government agencies and Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)”.

CENTRE-STAGING COMMUNITIES

Civil society stakeholders like NGOs, Corporate Sector, National Service Scheme, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Volunteers and Youth belonging to the Indian Red Cross Society, National Cadet Corps, Scouts & Guides, Civil Defence and Home Guards and elected representative from Pachayati Raj Institutions etc are being encouraged to actively participate in various aspects of DM in proactive manner.

To inculcate a culture of preparedness and secure effective participation of the community and other stakeholders, a number of mock exercises are being carried out by DM authorities throughout the countries on Earthquake, cyclones, floods, fire and chemical (industrial) disaster. These exercises have not only enhanced the level of public awareness but also honed the level of preparedness of the administration at the district level.

SCHOOL SAFETY PROGRAMME

Promoting Awareness and Education Activities

School plays a very important role in dissemination of information among the masses. Disaster Management can be a part of normal school activities like morning assembly, sports day functions, art/science exhibitions etc. In order to mainstream these aspects Scouts & Guides, Civil Defence, Fire Department, Police, Health Sector etc. can be used for creating awareness on basic search and resource emergency medical response (first aid), post disaster counseling, mock drill for evacuation through awareness campaigns, rallies, street-plays etc. as part of school activities.

Sensitization programme for school principals and teachers will be required to carry this initiative forward. Disaster Management Clubs may be initiated at school level on the lines of the eco-clubs or other similar clubs that already exist in schools.

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Setting up school safety advisory committee

Workshop for Principals & teachers

Selection of key target schools

School building – Level emergency Preparedness and Response plan

A chain of command – (Establish building – school safety team/committee)

A set of procedures

During event and post event building evacuation – mock drill

Students & Staff safety (Search & Rescue, First Aid and record keeping)

Building Security (Fire control, utilities, check, damage assessment)

Communication plan (In-school and Off-school)

Staff Roles and responsibilities

Simple lists of specific actions to be taken by all staff members during and immediately following an event

Training of task forces

Demonstration/Mock Drills

Develop emergency resource contact inventory for human resource transport and tools required dealing with emergency response

Preparation of school building-level emergency preparedness and response plan document

Parallel activities/Programmes – Hazard hunt, Exhibitions, Seminars, demonstrations, plays, media shows (screening movies) site visits etc.

Training for First Aid and Search & Rescue

Education and training programmes

Awareness Rally – Observation of Safety Week/Day

Promotion of student volunteerism

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Global warming

IntroductionThe phrase global warming refers to the documented historical warming of the Earth's surface based upon worldwide temperature records that have been maintained by humans since the 1880s. The term global warming is often used synonymously with the term climate change, but the two terms have distinct meanings. Global warming is the combined result of anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions of greenhouse gases and changes in solar irradiance, while climate change refers to any change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the average and/or the variability of its properties (e.g., temperature, precipitation), and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer.

Global Mean Temperature over Land and Ocean (Jan-Dec). (Source: NCDC/NESDIS/NOAA)

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the decade of 1998-2007 is the warmest on record. The global mean surface temperature for 2007 is currently estimated at 0.41°C/0.74°F above the 1961-1990 annual average of 14.00°C/57.20°F. WMO states that among other remarkable global climatic events recorded in 2007, a record-low Arctic sea ice extent was observed which led to first recorded opening of the Canadian Northwest Passage.

The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), found that in 2006 "Globally averaged land temperatures were +0.78°C (+1.40°F) and ocean temperatures +0.45°C (+0.81°F) above average, ranking 4th and 5th warmest, respectively. The land and ocean surface temperatures for the Northern and Southern Hemisphere ranked 2nd and 6th warmest, respectively," since global temperature record monitoring began in 1880. The NCDC report states that "during the past century, global surface temperatures have increased at a rate near 0.06°C/decade (0.11°F/decade) but this trend has increased to a rate approximately 0.18°C/decade (0.32°F/decade) during the past 25 to 30 years. There have been two sustained periods of warming, one beginning around 1910 and ending around 1945, and the most recent beginning about 1976."

The NCDC's Preliminary Annual Report on the Climate of 2007 (released December 13, 2007) states that:

"the global annual temperature for combined land and ocean surfaces for 2007 is expected to be near 58.0°F and would be the fifth warmest since records began in 1880," and that

"the year 2007 is on pace to become one of the 10 warmest years for the contiguous U.S., since national records began in 1895."

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http://www.eoearth.org/article/Monitoring

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Ocean

http://www.eoearth.org/article/National_Climatic_Data_Center%2C_United_States

http://www.noaa.gov/

http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Climate_change

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Solar_radiation

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Greenhouse_gas


http://www.eoearth.org/article/Temperature

http://www.eoearth.org/image/Global_temp_2007.jpg

http://www.eoearth.org/image/Global_temp_2007.jpg

Global in Situ Temperature Anomalies and Trends, Surface and Mid Troposphere (Jan-Dec).

The NCDC 2006 report also described temperature trends aloft in the atmosphere measured over the past 50 to 60 years using balloon-borne instruments (radiosondes) and for the past 28 years using satellites. The report states that temperature data collected from approximately 5,000 to 30,000 feet above the surface indicate that 1958-2006 global temperature trends in the middle troposphere are similar to trends in surface temperature; 0.12°C/decade for surface and 0.15°C/decade for mid-troposphere.

On 2 February 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the Summary For Policymakers (SPM), an executive summary of the first volume of its 4th Assessment Report entitled, "The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change." The IPCC Report documents that not only do the records show a warming trend during the past half century in land-based temperature data but also in global ocean temperature measurements. The increases in ocean temperatures indicate global warming trends are not an artifact of urbanization or the so-called "heat-island" effect.

U.S. TrendsThe NCDC Report also documents not only a long-term warming trend for the globe as a whole but also a warming trend for the contiguous United States. The Report documents that the 2006 average annual temperature for the contiguous U.S. was the warmest on record and nearly identical to the record set in 1998.

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http://www.eoearth.org/article/National_Climatic_Data_Center%2C_United_States

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Heat_island



http://www.eoearth.org/article/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change_(IPCC)

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Atmosphere_layers

http://www.eoearth.org/image/Sfc-radiosonde-jan-dec-pg.gif

http://www.eoearth.org/image/Sfc-radiosonde-jan-dec-pg.gif

National (Contiguous U.S.) Temperature (1895-2006). (Source: NCDC/NESDIS/NOAA)

Mean temperature values for the contiguous U.S. in the NCDC data set were calculated using a network of more than 1,200 U.S. Historical Climatology Network stations. These data, primarily from rural stations, have been adjusted to remove artificial effects resulting from factors such as urbanization and station and instrument changes which occurred during the period of record.

Causes of Global WarmingIn the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report scientists conclude that "warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level" and, furthermore, they conclude with "very high confidence (at least a 9 out of 10 chance of being correct) that the globally averaged net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming" of the Earth's climate system.

Water in a boiling pot receives heat from an element or flame and loses heat via steam and radiative cooling.

As with every environmental variable, there are multiple factors that contribute to the "warmth" of the Earth. Humans measure warmth as temperature which is a measure of the amount of heat contained in a physical object. One can envision this concept by thinking of a pot on a stove. As heat is applied to the pot from a flame or heating element, the temperature of the pot will increase. But heat will also begin escaping the pot in the form of steam and also through radiative and convective cooling from the top and the sides of the pot. Eventually the rates of both heat loss (cooling) and heat gain (warming) may stabilize and the heat then contained within the pot at an instantaneous point of time would be reflected in an equilibrium temperature. This equilibrium temperature could be measured directly but it also could be calculated by determining all of the flux rates of heat entering (heating) and leaving (cooling) the pot.

One way that climate scientists look at the warmth of the Earth's climate system is to calculate the annual average temperature of the surface of the Earth using temperature measurements systematically collected throughout the year from thousands of land- and ocean-based weather and observation stations. The observed trends in the Earth's annual average temperature is one of the factors leading to the scientific conclusion that the Earth is now in a period of global warming.

In order to attempt to answer why the Earth is currently warming, scientists have conducted accountings of each of the fluxes of heat into (warming) and out of (cooling) the Earth's climate system. Since the measured data show that annual average temperatures of the Earth have been increasing in recent decades, the year-to-year annual flux of heat into the climate system must be greater than the annual flux of heat out of the system. By accounting for each of the fluxes of heat into and out of the system, scientists are able to assess which fluxes and processes are contributing to net annual warming of the Earth's surface. By conducting such accountings, scientists are able to quantify the influence that each natural and human factor has in altering the balance of incoming and

s[37]

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Heat



http://www.eoearth.org/article/Heat



http://www.noaa.gov/

http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html

http://www.eoearth.org/image/Boiling_pot.jpg

http://www.eoearth.org/image/Boiling_pot.jpg

outgoing energy in the Earth-atmosphere system and can calculate an index of the importance of each of the factor as a potential climate change mechanism. Each of the factors are called climate drivers and the relative impact or index of each factor's importance to climate change is called its radiative forcing.

Relative importance of climate drivers to current global warming as determined by the 4th Assessment of the IPCC. (Source: IPCC)

In completing such an assessment, the IPCC has concluded with very high confidence that the globally averaged net effect of human activities since 1750 has been one of warming. The scientists found that the combined radiative forcing due to increases in carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide is the largest climate driver and its rate of increase during the industrial era is very likely to have been unprecedented in more than 10,000 years. Furthermore, the carbon dioxide radiative forcing increased by 20% from 1995 to 2005, the largest change for any decade in at least the last 200 years.

The IPCC also found that anthropogenic contributions to aerosols in the atmosphere produce cooling effects, referred to as global dimming. However the cooling (global dimming) effects due to human-caused aerosols are equivalent to about half of the warming effects due to the combined radiative forcing of human-produced greenhouse gases, causing a net warming.

Significant anthropogenic contributions to radiative forcing were also found to have come from several other sources, including tropospheric ozone changes due to emissions of ozone-forming chemicals, direct radiative forcing due to changes in halocarbons, and changes in surface albedo, due to land-cover changes and deposition of black carbon aerosols on snow. However the impacts of each of these factors was relatively small compared to the impacts of anthropogenic greenhouse gases (each showing relative impacts of 15% or less relative to the greenhouse gas forcing).

s[38]

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Land-use_and_land-cover_change

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Albedo

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Ozone

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Air_pollution_emissions


http://www.eoearth.org/article/Radiative_forcing


http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aerosols

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Nitrous_oxide

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Nitrous_oxide

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Methane

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Carbon_dioxide

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change_(IPCC)

http://www.ipcc.ch/



http://www.eoearth.org/article/Atmospheric_composition

http://www.eoearth.org/image/IPCC_Climate_Drivers.jpg

http://www.eoearth.org/image/IPCC_Climate_Drivers.jpg

Finally, an increase in solar irradiance since 1750 was estimated to have caused a forcing that contributed to the recent warming of the Earth. However, the impact of the increase in the amount of sunlight striking the Earth each year during this ~250 year time span was estimated to be only about 1/20th of the warming impacts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Further Reading 2006 Annual Report of the United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Climate 2007: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Preliminary 2007 Annual Report of the United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) World Meteorological Organization. December 13, 2007 Press Release.

CitationNodvin, Stephen C. (Lead Author); Kevin Vranes (Topic Editor). 2010. "Global warming." In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth March 14, 2007; Last revised January 24, 2010; Retrieved March 25, 2010]. <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Global_warming>Editing this

s[39]

http://www.eoearth.org/article/Global_warming

http://www.wmo.ch/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_805_en.html

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2007/ann/ann07.html

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2006/ann/ann06.html


http://www.eoearth.org/article/Solar_radiation

NATIONAL ADOLESCENCE EDUCATION PROGRAMME

SCERTs/SIEs/Directorates of Education are implementing AEP at the state level. StateBoards are also involved in this programme. District Education Office/District Institutes ofEducation and Training (DIETs) are engaged in organization of activities and monitoring and evaluation of AEP.Aims and Objectives of AEP:The Adolescence Education Programme (2005) aims to:Reinforce/support development of behaviors that will empower adolescents to make healthy choicesProvide opportunities for enhancement of life skills and reinforcement of positive behaviors to enable young people to grow up healthy cope with challenges and optimize opportunities in positive and responsible way

The Program aims to ensure that:All schools provide accurate age appropriate life skills based adolescence education in a sustained manner to young people (10-18 yrs) in schools;School-going and out-of-school (through NIOS) adolescents are equipped with accurate information, knowledge and skills in the specific contexts of the process of growing up, prevention if HIV/AIDS and prevention of substance (drug) abuse;Effective integration of Adolescence Education components in school curriculum as well as the teacher education courses, adult literacy programmes and alternative innovative education schemes; andFacilitate linkages with youth friendly services and easy access to resources for additional and reliable information.Target Group:The mandate of the Adolescence Education Program is to cover all secondary and senior secondary schools, rural, urban and transitional across the country. It covers all learners studying at the secondary and senior secondary level in i) government, local body and government–aided schools, ii) educational guarantee schemes (alternative innovative schemes, across the country) iii) all out-of-school children and adolescents being catered to by the adult literacy programs, and iv) learners of open schooling/open university systems.Components of the Program:Support for activities under the Program is provided under two main components – i) Life skills development focused co-curricular activities in schools; and ii) Curricular integration in school curriculum, curricula and study materials of out-of-school target audiences and teacher education courses and materials.Adolescence education is a new and a distinct curricular area. The life skills approach as its integral part makes it a unique program. Special efforts are required to introduce transaction strategies for life skills development in the existing education system.Strategies:In view of the above, the following strategies may be adopted to facilitate the institutionalization of this curricular area in the content and process of school education and teacher education:Awareness Building:The first and foremost step is to create a favourable environment for accepting the need to impart adolescence education in schools. Past experience has indicated that in most cases the resistance to adolescence education has been because of the lack of proper appreciation of the needs of adolescents in the changing context and also of this educational area. This requires organization of awareness building activities with a wide variety of stakeholders, including, policy framers, opinion leaders, media persons, curriculum developers, teacher educators, teachers and parents.Judicious and thoughtful utilization of strategies such as increasing use of mass media, particularly electronic media and interactions with media persons will also prove to be useful.Integration in the School Curriculum:

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Adolescence education can be effectively transacted only when its elements are integrated in the school curriculum. With a view to facilitating effective integration of adolescence education in the content and process of school education, it is necessary that the framework of adolescence education reflects adolescent reproductive and sexual health concerns relevant to various cultural settings comprehensively. The nature of the existing school curriculum will also be a key determinant.In this context, the following steps may be functional:The Conceptual Framework of Adolescence Education developed at the national level needs to be contextualized based on the findings of the needs assessment studies to be conducted in different cultural settings;School syllabi and textbooks of all the subjects have to be reviewed to identify the scope of integration of elements of adolescence education and also the relevant entry points in each subject;Prototype materials for facilitating effective integration may have to be prepared;Intensive orientation of curriculum framers, textbook writers, teacher educators and other concerned educational functionaries will make great contribution;The adolescence education contents may then be suitably incorporated in the syllabi and textbooks when they are revised; andThese elements and the needed transactional methods may be integrated in the teacher education courses.Use of Co-Curricular Modalities to Promote the Objectives of AE:The integration of elements of adolescence education in syllabi and textbooks may have to wait till they are revised in due course of time. Furthermore, the schools system throughout the country is not ready to absorb all the components of adolescent concerns in their true spirit.Participatory and experiential learning approaches to actualize life skills development are yet to assume their rightful place in the school curriculum. There is also an overall paucity of teachers and specifically trained teachers in the education departments. In order to address youth concerns expeditiously, the implementation of adolescence education cannot not be postponed until all its elements are integrated in syllabi and textbooks. Therefore, the teaching learning process may be initiated forthwith by utilizing co-curricular modalities. Co-curricular activities, especially designed for life skills focused adolescence education, may be organized in schools as early as possible. Activities like Question-Box, Group Discussion, Value Clarification, Role Play, Study, Painting/Poster Competition, Essay Competition and Quiz Contest may prove very effective in not only providing accurate and adequate information to learners but also inculcating in them positive attitude and more importantly developing the ability to apply the needed life skills.Major Categories of Program Activities:In order to facilitate the implementation of AEP, the following major categories of activities are conducted:Material Development:It is essential to develop various types of materials to facilitate integration of adolescence education in the content and process of school education and teacher education. Therefore, curricular, textual and other materials for advocacy, training, co-curricular activities, research and evaluation and monitoring are developed under the Programme.Training:Since this is an innovative curricular area and contains contents related to sexual development during adolescence that have been a taboo, teacher preparation is a critical element in its transaction in schools. Teachers therefore are being trained through in-service training programmes. To conduct teacher training programs Masters Trainers are trained at the national, state and district levels who in turn train the teachers. They also train other functionaries like the Curriculum and Materials Developers, Educational Supervisors and Peer Educators.Advocacy:As part of awareness building, advocacy programmes for different target groups are organized by the trained personnel at different levels. Advocacy of parents and local community is mandatory.

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Organisation of Activities:As stated above, classroom transaction and organization of co-curricular activities for students is core to the attainment of program objectives. These are to be made an integral part of the school time table.Monitoring and Evaluation:In order to ensure effective implementation of AEP, it is important to monitor the program at all levels. The program should be monitored at the school, district, state and national levels.Monitoring indicators at input, process and outcome levels will help in tracking the project progress.Monitoring and evaluation are an integral part of the process of institutionalization of adolescence education. All the aspects of evaluation – context evaluation, process evaluation and product evaluation – are equally crucial. The context evaluation may be conducted for identifying needs and requirements of adolescents in different cultural settings and content analyzing syllabi and textbooks in order to identify gaps and suitable entry points for integration of adolescence education elements. Evaluation may be made an integral part of material development, advocacy, training and organization of activities. Suitable designs have to be evolved to evaluate the outcomes of this educational intervention.Transaction Methods:Adolescence education is a new and a distinct curricular area. The life skills approach which is an integral part makes it a still more innovative area. Special efforts are required to introduce the transaction strategies for life skills development in the existing education system. The strategies and methods of curriculum transaction need to be carefully identified, primarily because of the following characteristics of this area:Since adolescence education focused primarily on life skills development has emerged as a curricular area in response to the pressing demands emanating from outside the education system, it is often given a marginal role within the curriculum.It deals with content that are very sensitive in nature and there is an in-built resistance to these elements.This educational area focuses on problems confronted by adolescents who have been traditionally treated as a homogeneous group which they are not. Variations in their age, and socio-cultural settings indicate their heterogeneous nature.Adolescence education is primarily aimed at influencing the non-cognitive domain and developing life skills among the learners. This needs transactional strategies that create experiential learning situations and are basically interactive.Although there is an increasing realisation of the urgency for adolescence education and empowering adolescents to make informed and responsible decisions; the age-old inhibitions and apprehensions in the adult world would require persistent efforts aimed at creating The traditional teaching methods need to be replaced by new and innovative methods of transaction. It requires a truly participatory, interactive and responsive methodology, raising questions rather than providing ready-made answers. The provisions of the National CurriculumFramework (NCF) 2005 that promote participatory learning and teaching will make it much easier to institutionalize teaching-learning methods hat promote development of life skills in mainstream curriculum. The following non-conventional and participatory teaching methods are being adopted in the transaction of AE content: Enquiry or discovery method; value clarification; case study, role plays, debates, group discussion, question box; counselling and peer education; and use of audio-visual/print materials.Suitable pedagogical methods are a key to the development of life skills among the learners.Educational intervention directed towards developing life skills should focus on enabling the learners to apply appropriate skills in a specific context e.g., countering a myth, questioning discrimination, resisting bullying or negative peer pressure etc. It is therefore necessary to employ a methodology or pedagogy that frames the development of life skills as an educational process.Unless participatory and experiential learning approaches become part of the mainstream teaching, it is unrealistic to expect that teachers will transact a radically different curriculum in life skills development after being exposed to a minimal package of in-service training, often delivered through a cascade approach.

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It is recognized that the conventional pedagogical methods may not be effective for life skills development among the learners. Only those methods are expected to be effective that are Developing positive attitudes and interpersonal skills. It is very important to lay special emphasis on experiential learning. Learners need to be engaged in a dynamic teaching learning process, so that the learning leads to an active acquisition, processing and structuring of experiences. In passive learning situations, the teacher passes on knowledge mostly through a didactic teaching method and the learner is the recipient of information. But education for life skills development requires the teaching learning process to be both active and experiential.The following pedagogical methods, focused on group work and discussion, are recommended as they are likely to be effective:Question Box:Question Box is an important activity through which anonymous questions asked by students are answered by teachers, experts or professionals. It is an effective interactive process for acquiring authentic and accurate information about any curricular area. It may provide them opportunities to discuss even sensitive issues with their teachers or experts who may be invited to interact with them in the school. It will provide them with information which adolescents are not receiving presently through any authentic source. Question Box activity will also create an enabling environment and is a good entry point for organisation of learning experiences on adolescence education in schools.Role play:Role play is an activity presenting a small spontaneous play which describes possible real life situations. In this activity learners imitate another person’s character. A situation is given to the group and they take on the roles of the characters involved. Role play allows students to simulate real-life situations with the aim of preparing them to handle similar situations in life. It also gives them an opportunity to have experiences in the application of life skills that are important to protect them from risky situations. As an educational activity it provides opportunities to students for a truly experiential learning. It is different from the one-act-play, as role play is conducted without any script, whereas the one-act-play has to have a script.Situation-Analysis and Case Studies:Situation analysis allows learners to think, analyze and discuss situations they might encounter.Case-Studies may be based on real cases or hypothetical situations but should raise real issues.The purpose of a case study is to present learners with a situation, giving sufficient background information to analyze and compute the outcome of events, or to provide solutions to specific problems. Case study is an effective tool as it focuses on a particular problem and leads the persons to understand all the aspects of that problem. By developing a comprehensive appreciation of various aspects of the case study, the activity results in skill development among students.Value Clarification:Value Clarification may be used as a potential educational activity aimed at skill development.Values are normative standards and criteria, which determine how people act upon choices.Values influence the way an individual thinks, behaves and takes decisions on different issues.It is important to note that a value cannot be perceived as right or wrong, good or bad. For example, marriage among close relations is a preferred value in some communities but a forbidden value in others. Any issue, therefore, can be adequately and appropriately appreciated only when it is perceived in a value-fair manner and all options are considered.Value clarification approach provides this kind of opportunity where the learners can evaluate all the available options of a given issue. They can explore, examine and clarify varied value positions.Group discussion:Group discussion as an educational activity provides opportunities to involve learners in an interactive process of experiential learning. It enables relatively a greater number of students to have animated discussion on a critical topic. Whereas in a debate, each team consists of two members, one speaking for the motion and the other against the motion, in a group discussion each group or every member of the group examines a problem or an issue intensively and comprehensively. While participating in this activity every member not only interacts with others in their own group but also with members of the other groups. This activity also activates serious thinking among the audience.Debate:

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Debate is an interesting activity for probing into controversial issues. In a debate the pros and cons of an issue are presented. It provides a proper setting for individuals to be logical in verbal and written communication and helps them in taking a rational position on any issue. Debate is useful when an attempt is made to explore a topic or an issue from more than one point of view. The issue to be debated should have more than one dimension that can be argued for and against by learners. The process of the activity helps them appreciate different dimensions of the issue, and leads them to acquire thinking and communication skills.Quiz contest:Quiz has been a very popular activity both within and outside educational institutions. It enables students and other learners to gather varied information on the selected theme or topic and understand the implications of different aspects of the concerned issues. It provides opportunities to learners to be exposed to various dimensions of different issues and acquire authentic knowledge about them. This activity creates a motivated environment for the audience and learning takes place in a very involved manner.Brain-Storming:Brainstorming is a method used for problem solving or generating different possible solutions to a problem. The purpose of brainstorming is to come up with as many ideas as possible without regard to quality, with as many team members as possible contributing their thoughts.Visualization in Participatory Programmes (VIPP) Exercises:VIPP is an attempt to break down the formal seminar culture that exists. It is a collection of techniques applied to encourage people to participate and cooperate with their colleagues. In VIPP processes, a whole range of participatory techniques is used: card collection (one idea per card), brainstorming, drawing exercises and debates.Presentation:This method is effective when a substantial amount of information is required to be shared in a short period of time. However, an effective presentation allows for interaction between the Facilitator and the learners. Presentations should follow. It can also serve as a good summative activity to emphasize key learning from a session.

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LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION

What are Life Skills?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined life skills as “the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”. Life Skills, from this perspective, are essentially those abilities that help promote mental well-being and competence in young people as they face the realities of life. Another term that is being used is “living skills”, referring to the personal abilities that enable the person to deal effectively the demands and challenges, which may confront them in everyday life.

We need innumerable skills to function as individuals and as members of social groups. The required Life skills are determined by temporal and spatial considerations. What may be relevant during one period may not be useful for all times and all cultures.

Core set of life skills identified by WHO for promotion of health and well-being of children and adolescents are:

Problem solving Decision making (including goal setting) Critical thinking Creative thinking (including value clarification) Communication skills Interpersonal relationship skills (including assertiveness) Self awareness Empathy Coping with stress Coping with emotions

Effective acquisition of Life Skills can influence the way we feel about ourselves and others, and, in equal measure, influence the way others perceive us. These skills can enhance our productivity, our self-efficacy, self-esteem and self-confidence. Life Skills can give us the tools and techniques to improve interpersonal relations.

The discussion document of the National Curriculum Framework for School Education has recognized the importance of linking education with Life Skills: “It is through these skills that pupils can fifth the challenges of drug violence, teenage pregnancy, AIDS and many other health related problems”. In the Indian context a UNESCO study on Life Skills in non-formal education has identified self-awareness as the first necessary Life Skills, especially for the disadvantaged and the disabled who need a self-image. The twin of self-awareness is empathy. Awareness of self should be counterbalanced by awareness of others, their different feelings and desires. Other skills identified are: critical thinking and creative thinking; decision making and problem solving; coping with emotions and stress; effective communication and interpersonal relation skills. The other two skills considered important are spatial orientation and orientation in time. The non-verbal spatial skill is needed to practice arts and crafts that are part of the Indian way of life. Most vocational programmes depend on spatial skills. Orientation to time helps the young plan their future. The study reports that the disadvantaged do not have this orientation they tend to live in the present and do not save or invest for the future. Orientation to time and space is what gives middle class children an advantage over those children who survive on the street but are not able to shape their future. In planning activities with adolescents for enhancing their Life Skills, especially for the disadvantaged it is crucial to sensitise and train the teachers/instructors, many of who need to build their own Life Skills. Only the one who is himself/herself empowered can empower others.

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For operationalising the concept of Life Skills the following three areas of Life Skills may be included: thinking skills, social skills and negotiating skills

1. Thinking skills

Thinking skills include: a) self awareness, b) social awareness, c) goal setting d) problem solving and decision making. Information is important for making informed choices. Therefore, any intervention programme for adolescents should be on providing information and education which is relevant, timely comprehensible and given in form that intersects them. When confronted with day-to-day problems, adolescents need to face challenges boldly. The skills to think critically can be developed by providing opportunities and making them realizes the consequences of hasty, unplanned decisions. Involving them in situations demanding critical thinking can enable them to develop their thinking skills.

2. Social Skills

Social skills include: a) appreciating /validating others; b) building positive relationships with friends and family; c) listening and communicating effectively; d) taking responsibility and e) coping with stress. Social skills enable adolescents to be accepted in society and to accept social norms, which provide the foundation for adult social behaviour.

3. Negotiation Skills

Negotiation skills are the out come of thinking and social skills. We need the skills to negotiate with self and others. Negotiating with self is a pre requisite for negotiating with others. What do we understand by negotiating with self? It means making decisions regarding the people/activities to get involved with, the extent of involvement and deciding when and how to detach or went off. Being involved in activities, yet being detached in order to be critical, requires thinking and social skills. The concept of attachment versus detachment for achieving quality through involvement, sustainability through detachment, requires reflection, vision and spirituality. Living in the present, not brooding about the past, and working towards the future requires negotiating with self.

For effective negotiating with others, adolescents and adults need to learn to be assertive, including learning to say “no” to drug used and other harmful behaviour. Assertiveness without aggressiveness is a skill that is of immense value in negotiating various aspects of personal and social interests.

For enhancing thinking skills, information may be incorporated in the related areas. For social skills, experience may be given in using participatory methods for bridging the gap between trainers and trainees and for communicating effectively. Analysis of case studies, role-plays and group discussions may be used during the training for negotiating skills.

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MODULE 1: DEMONSTRATION OF VIPP METHOD

In this method, VIPP(Visualization in Participatory Process) three simple rules are employed:

3. Everybody should present his/her point with sincerity and frankness4. There is no right or wrong answer5. The identity of the individual need not be disclosed

Preparation:

Fix a brown sheet on to the wall using cello tape. If required two sheets on two walls. Cut chart paper of different colors into pieces of 2” x 6”(one for each participant)

Provide sketch pens and glue sticks

Method:

Question to the participants: WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO BE A TEACHER?

Put the above question to all the participants. Every participant should write only one most important point using sketch pen in bold letters and stick it on the brown sheet provided on the wall. Sticking should be separate, not overlapping. Participant need not write his or her name. Within 10 minutes, all the participants should complete the task.

Ask some of the participants to read out loudly each card and categorize into different factors broadly. The outcome would be interesting to observe.

Advantages:

Everybody expressed (even shy people) his/her point of view No identification Redundancy reduced compared to conventional questioning Everybody participated Everybody visualized the factors

Time: 1 Hr

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MODULE 2: WHO IS HEALTHY? Nama or Salia?

Objectives:

By the end of this session the participants will be able to:

1. Understand and tell the definition of health2. Understand the importance of health3. To identify components of good health.4. Link acquisition of scientific information on health to life skills.5. Will be able to incorporate life skills in their daily life for good health

Life Skills being used: Critical thinking, empathy, creative thinking, decision making

Activities: Case studies

Advance Preparation:

Poster of WHO definition of health, scissors, gum tubes, sketch pens, markers, cover the wall with news paper or brown sheet

Time: 40 to 60 minutes

Methodology:

STEP 1:

Introduce the session by telling the participants that today we will talk about something very important to us i.e our health. Start by reading out the below given case studies. Request the participants to listen carefully as some question will be asked from them later on.

Present this part of the case study 1 first: “Nama is eighteen years old, tall, lanky boy and stays with his family of six people in a big house. Nama is studying in a school which is not far from his house and is a good football player. He can be seen hurrying to and from his school and the play ground.”

Ask the question: What do you think about Nama’s health? Is he healthy? Why do you say so?

Facilitator’s Notes: Most respondents are likely to say that Nama is healthy with their reasons. Compile them.

Continue the case study:

“He has a quick temper and gets involved in fist fights.”

Ask the question: What do you think about Nama’s health? Is he healthy? Why do you say so?

Facilitator’s Notes: The responses may start differing now. Allow them to come to a conclusion.

Continue the case study further:

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“Most evenings he sits with his friends at some place or the other. They chat, smoke and drink alcohol before they depart for their houses. “Drinking with my friends relaxes me” says Nama.”

Ask the question: What do you think about Nama’s health NOW? Is he healthy? What made you change your first opinion?

Step 2

Carry out the similar exercise with the case study mentioned below.

Start with this part of the case study:“Salia is a seventeen year old girl who uses crutches and belongs to a middle class family”

Ask the question: What do you think about Salia’s health? Is she healthy? Why do you say so?

Start with second part of the case study:

“She has studied till middle school and is now pursuing her studies via the open school. In

her spare time she teaches a number of neighborhood children. On the weekends she can be

seen going with her friends, walking slowly and calmly on her crutches, to the nearby

government computer center to learn computers.”

Ask the question: What do you think about Salia’s health? Is she healthy? Why do you say so?

Go further with next part of case study:

“You see, Salia had suffered from paralytic polio in her childhood and has to use crutches for

her movements. She doesn’t get bothered about the crutches and is quiet popular with adults

and children alike.”

Facilitator’s Note: Assist the participants in getting an overall idea about health i.e health is much more than physical dimensions alone.Relate this to skills like empathy, self-awareness. Salia is mentally healthy though physically challenged.

Note: This is reproduced from “LIFE SKILLS TRAINING MODULE” by Dr P.D. Nayar, Dr. Prema Sundararajan, Ms, Vijayalaxmi Bose

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MODULE 3: My Best Friend (Interpersonal Communication Skills)I Objectives

At the end of this session the participants should be able to:

1. Tell about the role of interpersonal communication in making and sustaining friendships.2. Mention tactful ways of sustaining a friendship using appropriate communication skills.3. Tell about strategies for discontinuing a friendship using communication skills

II Life Skills being used: Interpersonal relationships interpersonal communication, dealing with emotions and verbal presentation skills.

III Activity: 1. Describing “My Best Friend” 2. Brainstorming about friendship in a group

IV Advance Preparation for a group of 40 participants:

Involve the counselor as a co-facilitator for this activity40 large index cardsOne set of marker pensCover the walls with used newspaper or chart paperCello tape or glue

V Time: 1 Hour

VI Methodology

Step 1

Tell the participants that we will be having discussions about our friends and making friends. Tell them that there is no need to mention their friend’s name, they should only tell about their friend’s qualities. Ask the following questions:

1. Is your best friend a man or woman?2. Tell us what you like about your best friend?

(Expected responses – supportive, helpful, we laugh a lot together etc) 3. Mention a quality that you dislike about your best friend?

(Expected responses – he/she wants to dominate the friendship, is sometimes argumentative or critical about me etc.)

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Facilitator’s Notes:Remember that the objective of this exercise is not merely to describe friendship, but to understand the different aspects of friendship and give the participants interpersonal communication skills and help them to make and sustain friendships.. If participants mention only same sex friends, tell them that it is alright to have friends of the opposite sex

Step 2

Distribute the index cards to the participants. As each participant describes the characteristics of their friend, writ e the characteristics boldly on the index cards.

Expected answers: co-operative, helpful, happy, supportive, stands by me when I need him/her. Etc.

Take the most common qualities like jolly jokes a lot, supportive, empathic etc.

You should write a maximum of two characteristics per index card. Participants should be encouraged to use critical and creative thinking skills to tell about the characteristics of their best friend. Using cello tape or glue, paste the index cards on the newspaper or chart paper. Write the heading boldly (like this – MY BEST FRIEND) on the chart paper or newspapers.

Step 3

Now read out the characteristics pasted on the wall. You may take the most common qualities (like jolly, amusing, helpful etc.). Tell the participants “these are the usual characteristics which attract us to people whom we befriend”.

Step 4Ask the participants the following questions:

1. “Can you remember ever having a disagreement with your friend?” (some may say ‘yes’)2. Can you describe what happened? (some unique responses may be expected)

Participants may feel bad about disagreements that they have had, tell them that friends need not agree on everything and disagreements can happen among friends.

Step 5 (Role Plays)

Give the participants the following scenarios: You can add more. Give them 10 minutes to think of a role-play to perform. Each role play should take only 2 minutes. Divide the participants into groups of 5, using the number technique. Give each group one scenario.

1. A beautiful/handsome (male or female) has moved in to your neighborhood and you want to make friend.

2. You have had an argument with a friend two days ago and you want to make up.3. You have been friendly with a person whom you do not like anymore. How would you

behave the next time you meet him/her? Use critical thinking and creative thinking skills.

After all the role plays are performed, ask the group the following questions:i) What were the non verbal communication cues (gestures, body language)

used?ii) Would you have approached/solved the problem similarly?iii) If not, how would you have approached/solved?

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Communication Skills

Process of communication involves an effort to bring commonness in thinking between sender and receiver off the communication process. Process of communication involves.

Process: Sender converts his/her thoughts into words/actions by encoding (sentences contain words, words contain letters, and letters are nothing but symbols for sounds). The encoded expression/ sentence is transmitted (through air, over radio/TV/telephone etc.) to the receiver. The receiver has to decode the message that is reverse of encoding. The receiver has to derive the same meaning what the sender is intended to send (his thoughts).

Feed back is the second stage of communication cycle where receiver confirms to sender regarding the receipt of the message or his reaction/response. Feedback completes the communication process cycle.

Communication is treated as effective only when the receiver receives the message in the same way as the sender intended or thought. Communication gap occurs when there is a difference between what is encoded and what is decoded.

The need for a better communication is more important for teachers than people in any other profession. The need is more profound in case of primary teachers as they are dealing with small kids.

Some tips to give an appealing speech

Teachers may go through these tips before attempting the activity: extempore speech.

1. What is your topic?

Have clarity about the topic, without which your speech will be less effective. Write in 2 or 3 sentences.

2. What is the goal of your talk?

What do you want to convey to the audience?Write in 2 or 3 sentences.

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3. Start with a banging opening line of introduction/ speech.

A catchy statement or quote will be helpful in having the attention of the audience. Write in 1 or 2 catchy opening sentences

4. List a few key points for covering in the time allotted

Write 3 or 4 key points. Write a little supportive argument for the key points.

5. Write a brief closing remark in 2 or 3 line.

Start speaking for 5 minutes. Mind your language, clarity of the voice, look into the eyes of the audience (casual look) while speaking, maintain good posture.

See the difference in your feeling after the extempore speech is over.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS - EXTEMPORE SPEECH

Time : 1 hour

Objectives:

Enhance expression skills Enhance speaking skills Increase the comprehension ability

Method:

1 Prepare small slips containing the name of topics(around 10 -15) on each. The no of slips will be as much as the no of participants.

2 All the participants are divided in to 5 or groups. Each group will have 8 to 10 trainees.

3 Ask the participants to assemble separately in groups in the each group.4 Each member will pick a folded piece of paper containing the topic from the bunch of

10 to 15 topics.

5 Each participant has to speak on the topic given, for 2 or 3 minutes in English. Any one trainee of the group will summaries in not more than 2 sentences of what the other one spoke.

6 Each participant speaks with in the group only. Simultaneously in other groups, similar exercise occurs.

7 When everyone in each finishes speaking, every group should select one person to speak in front of the main group for similar extempore speech.

8 Reassemble in main hall, all the trainees.

9 Provide 5or 6 slips to each representative of the group and each will speak for not more than 3 minutes on the topic.

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Impact: Teachers will be able to witness the on the spot oratory skills among the group and also in the overall group.

List of suggested topics

COMMUNICATION SKILLSEXPERT LECTURE

Time: 45 minutes.

Objectives: To familiarize the need for communication skills. Awareness of the role and need of its effectiveness To know what are common mistakes committed by people. To enhance the skills of communication.

Method: Interactive lecture

Content:

Meaning & definition of communication skills.

Examples of communication

Type of communication

Process of communication system

Factors affecting effectiveness of communication

Tips to enhance skills

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EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE & EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:

A FORM OF INTELLIGENCE RELATING TO THE EMOTIONAL SIDE OF LIFE, SUCH AS THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE AND MANAGE ONE'S OWN AND OTHERS' EMOTIONS, TO MOTIVATE ONESELF AND RESTRAIN IMPULSES, AND TO HANDLE INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS EFFECTIVELY.

ORIGINATED BY DANIEL GOLEMAN, PSYCHOLOGIST, DENOTING THE CLUSTER OF TRAITS/ABILITIES RELATING TO THE EMOTIONAL SIDE OF LIFE

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: KNOWING OUR OWN EMOTIONS, MANAGING OUR OWN EMOTIONS, MOTIVATING OURSELVES,RECOGNIZING THE EMOTIONS OF OTHERS,AND HANDLING RELATIONSHIPS

The Ten Habits of Emotionally Intelligent People.

High EQ people:

1. Label their feelings, rather than labeling people or situations.

"I feel impatient." vs "This is ridiculous."

"I feel hurt and bitter". vs. "You are an insensitive jerk."

"I feel afraid." vs. "You are driving like an idiot."2. Distinguish between thoughts and feelings.

Thoughts: I feel like...& I feel as if.... & I feel that Feelings: I feel: (feeling word)

3. Take responsibility for their feelings. "I feel jealous." vs. "You are making me jealous."4. Use their feelings to help them make decisions. "How will I feel if I do this?" "How will I feel if I don't"

5. Show respect for other people's feelings. They ask "How will you feel if I do this?" "How will you feel if I don't."

6. Feel energized, not angry. They use what others call "anger" to help them feel energized to take productive action.

7. Validate other people's feelings. They show empathy, understanding, and acceptance of other people's feelings.

8. Practice getting a positive value from their negative emotions.

They ask themselves: "How do I feel?" and "What would help me feel better?" They ask others "How do you feel?" and "What would help you feel better?"

9. Don't advise, command, control, criticize, judge or lecture to others.

They realize it doesn't feel good to be on the receiving end of such behaviour, so they avoid it.

10. Avoid people who invalidate them, or don't respect their feelings.

As much as possible, they choose to associate only with other people with high EQ.

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EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE:

"A learned capability based on emotional intelligence that results in outstanding performance at work. Our emotional intelligence determines our potential for learning the practical skills based on the five elements : self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy, and adeptness in relationships. Our emotional competence shows how much of that potential we have translated into on-the-job capabilities." (Goleman, Working with Emotional Intelligence)

The table below lists Golemans' 5 dimensions of emotional intelligence and the 25 emotional competencies. The emotional intelligence capabilities are Independent (each contributes to job performance); Interdependent (each draws to some extent on certain others with strong interactions); Hierarchical (the emotional intelligence capabilities build upon one another); Necessary, but not sufficient (having an emotional intelligence doesn't guarantee the competencies will be demonstrated); Generic (different jobs make differing competence demands.

THE EMOTIONAL COMPETENCE FRAMEWORKPersonal Competence

SELF-AWARENESS

Emotional Awareness: recognizing one's emotions and their effect

Accurate Self-assessment: knowing one's strengths and limits

Self-confidence: A strong sense of one's self-worth and capabilities

SELF-REGULATION

Self-control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check

Trustworthiness: Maintaining standards of honesty and integrity

Conscientiousness: Taking responsibility for personal performance

Adaptability: Flexibility in handling change

Innovation: Being comfortable with novel ideas, approaches and new information

MOTIVATION

Achievement drive: Striving to improve or meet a standard of excellence

Commitment: Aligning with the goals of the group or organization

Initiative: Readiness to act on opportunities Optimism: Persistence in pursuing goals despite obstacles

and setbacks

Social Competence EMPATHY

Understanding others: sensing others' feelings and perspectives, taking an active interest in their concerns

Developing others: Sensing others development needs and bolstering their abilities

Service orientation: Anticipating, recognizing, and meeting customers' needs

Leveraging diversity: Cultivating opportunities through

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different kinds of people

Political Awareness: Reading a group's emotional currents and power relationships

SOCIAL SKILLS

Influence: Wielding effective tactics for persuasion Communication: Listening openly and sending convincing

messages Conflict management: Negotiating and resolving

disagreements Leadership: Inspiring and guiding individuals and groups Change Catalyst: Initiating or managing change Building bonds: Nurturing instrumental relationships Collaboration and cooperation: Working with others

toward shared goals

Team capabilities: creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals

The competencies:

PERSONAL COMPETENCE

SELF-AWARENESS

1. Emotional Awareness-- People with this competence:

Know which emotions they are feeling and whyRealize the links between their feelings and what they think and sayRecognize how their feelings affect their performance Have a guiding awareness of their values and goals

2. Accurate Self-Assessment -- People with this competence:Are aware of their strengths and weaknesses Reflective, learning from experienceOpen to candid feedback, new perspectives, continuous learning, and self-developmentAble to show a sense of humour and perspective about themselvesBLIND SPOTS: Blind Ambition-need to win or be right at any costUnrealistic Goals- sets overly ambitious, unattainable goals for group. Relentless Striving- compulsively hardworking at expense of all else, vulnerable to burnoutDrives Others-pushes others too hard, takes over instead of delegatingPower Hungry- seeks power for own reason rather than for companyInsatiable need for recognition- addicted to glory-takes credit for other's work and blames them for mistakesPreoccupation with Appearance-needs to look good at all costs-craves material trappingsNeed to seem perfect-enraged by or rejects criticism, can't admit mistakes

3. Self Confidence --People with this competence:Present themselves with self-assurance; have "presence"Can voice views that are unpopular and go out on a limb for what is rightAre decisive, able to make sound decisions despite uncertainties and pressures

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SELF-REGULATION

1. Self-control --People with this competency:Manage their impulsive feelings and distressing emotions wellStay composed, positive and unflappable even in trying momentsThink clearly and stay focused under pressure

2. Trustworthiness and conscientiousness --People with this competency:Trustworthiness--Act ethically and are above reproachBuild trust through their reliability and authenticityAdmit their own mistakes and confront unethical actions in others Take tough, principled stands even if they are unpopularConscientiousness --Meet commitments and keep promisesHold themselves accountable for meeting their objectivesAre organized and careful in their work

3. Innovation and Adaptability --People with this competency:Innovation - Seek out fresh ideas from a wide variety of sourcesEntertain original solutions to problemsGenerate new ideastake fresh perspectives and risks in their thinkingAdaptability - Smoothly handle multiple demands, shifting priorities, and rapid changeAdapt their responses and tactics to fit fluid circumstancesAre flexible in how they see events

MOTIVATION

1. Achievement Drive --People with this competency:Are results-oriented, with a high drive to meet their objectives and standardsSet challenging goals and take calculated risksPursue information to reduce uncertainty and find ways to do things betterLearn how to improve their performance

2. Commitment --People with this competency:Readily make sacrifices to meet a larger organizational goalFind a sense of purpose in the larger missionUse the group's core values in making decisions and clarifying choicesActively seek out opportunities to fulfil the group's mission

3. Initiative and Optimism --People with this competency:Initiative: Are ready to seize opportunitiesPursue goals beyond what's required or expected of themCut through red tape and bend the rules when necessary to get the job doneMobilize others through unusual, enterprising effortsOptimism: Persist in seeking goals despite obstacles and setbacksOperate from hope of success rather than fear of failureSee setbacks as due to manageable circumstance rather than personal flaw

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SOCIAL COMPETENCE

EMPATHY

1. Understanding Others --People with this competency:Are attentive to emotional cues and listen wellShow sensitivity and understand others' perspectivesHelp out based on understanding other people's needs and feelings

2. Developing Others --People with this competency:Acknowledge and reward people's strengths and accomplishmentsOffer useful feedback and identify people's needs for further growthMentor, give timely coaching, and offer assignments that challenge and foster a person's skills

3. Service Orientation --People with this competency:Understand customers/clients needs and math them to services of productsSeek ways to increase customers' satisfaction and loyaltyGladly offer appropriate assistanceGrasp a customer's perspective, acting as a trusted advisor

4. Leveraging Diversity --People with this competency:Respect and relate well to people from varied backgroundsUnderstand diverse worldviews and are sensitive to group differencesSee diversity as opportunity, creating an environment where diverse people can thriveChallenge bias and intolerance

5. Political Awareness --People with this competency:Accurately read key power relationshipsDetect crucial social networksUnderstand the forces that shape views and actions of clients, customers, or competitorsAccurately read organizational and external realities

SOCIAL SKILLS

1. Influence --People with this competency:Are skilled at winning people overFine-tune presentations to appeal to the listenerUse complex strategies like indirect influence to build consensus and supportOrchestrate dramatic events to effectively make a point

2. Communication --People with this competenceAre effective in give-and-take, registering emotional cues in attuning their messageDeal with difficult issues straightforwardlyListen well, seek mutual understanding, and welcome sharing of information fullyFoster open communication and stay receptive to bad news as well as good

3. Conflict Management --People with this competency:Handle difficult people and tense situations with diplomacy and tactSpot potential conflict, bring disagreements into the open and help to de-escalateEncourage debate and open discussionOrchestrate win-win solutions

4. Leadership --People with this competency:Articulate and arouse enthusiasm for a shared vision and missionStep forward to lead as needed, regardless of position

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Guide the performance of others while holding them accountableLead by example

5. Change Catalyst --People with this competency:Recognize the need to change and remove barriersChallenge the status quo to acknowledge the need for changeChampion the change and enlist others in its pursuitModel the change expected of others

6. Building Bonds --People with this competency:Cultivate and maintain extensive informal networksSeek out relationships that are mutually beneficialBuild rapport and keep others in the loopMake and maintain personal friendships among work associates

7. Collaboration and Cooperation --People with this competency:Balance a focus on task with attention to relationshipsCollaborate, sharing plans, information and resourcesPromote a friendly, cooperative climateSpot and nurture opportunities for collaboration

8. Team Capabilities --People with this competency:Model team qualities like respect, helpfulness, and cooperationDraw all members into active and enthusiastic participationBuild team identity, esprit de corps, and commitmentProtect the group and its reputation, share credit

RESOURCES:

Books: Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman (1995), Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman (1998)

Online test of Emotional Intelligence visit Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Test or

CYBERIA SHRINK- EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE QUIZ

Links and resources for Emotional Intelligence seeEQI.org

The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations

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http://www.eiconsortium.org/default.htm

http://eqi.org/

http://www.queendom.com/emotionaliq.html

http://ei.haygroup.com/resources/default_ieitest.htm

RIGHT TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION ACT 2009-AN INSIGHT

INTRODUCTION The Constitution of India (as adopted by the Indian Legislature in 1950) had included a right to education under the ‘Directive Principle of State Policy.’ (Herein after referred to as “the directives”). Part IV of the Constitution relating to Directive Principles of State Policy reads as under: Article 41 – Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases. It states that –“The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.”

Similarly Article 45 provides for -Provision for free and compulsory education for children- “The State shall endeavor to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.”

Since then the government is committed to ensuring universal elementary education for all children aged 6-14 years of age. Reiterating the constitutional directive, the National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 as modified in 1992, stated that free and compulsory elementary education of satisfactory quality shall be provided to all children up to the age of fourteen years before we enter the 21st century. REASONS FOR ARTICLE 21(A) COMING INTO FORCE-

In 1992 and 1993, the Supreme Court of India decided two Public Interest Litigation cases- Mohini Jain v State of Karnataka and Unni Krishnan J.P. v State of Andhra Pradesh, in which the plaintiffs claimed a judicially enforceable right to education. Hon’ble Supreme Court pronounced that basic education (education upto the age of 14 years) is fundamental right of every child. It further held that the Right to Education is a fundamental right at par with The Right to Life. According to the Court, this right flows from Article 21 relating to protection of life and personal liberty and its contents and parameters have to be determined in the light of Article 41 which provides for right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases and Article 45 which provides for free and compulsory education to children up to the age of 14 years.

As such the present Act has its history in the drafting of the Indian constitution at the time of Independence but is more specifically to the Constitutional Amendment that included the Article 21A in the Indian constitution making Education a fundamental Right. This amendment, however, specified the need for a legislation to describe the mode of implementation of the same which necessitated the drafting of a separate Education Bill. The rough draft of the bill was composed in year 2005. It received much opposition due to its mandatory provision to provide 25% reservation for disadvantaged children in private schools. The sub-committee of the Central Advisory Board Education which prepared the draft Bill held this provision as a significant prerequisite for creating a democratic and egalitarian society. Indian Law commission had initially proposed 50% reservation for disadvantaged students in private schools.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE RIGHT TO FREE AND COMPUSARY EDUCATION ACT, 2009

The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 has been a historical moment in the educational history of independent India. The statement of object and reasons clearly explains the aim of the legislation, which is: “The proposed legislation is anchored in the belief that the values of equality, social justice and democracy and the creation of a just and humane society can be achieved

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only through provision of inclusive elementary education to all. The provision of free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality to children from disadvantaged and weaker sections is, therefore, not merely the responsibility if schools run or supported by the appropriate governments, but also of schools which are not dependent on government funds.”

It clarifies that ‘compulsory education’ means an obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group. A child shall be admitted in Grade I on or after attaining the age of six years before the beginning of the academic year. It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class. Children with severe or profound disability, who are unable to attend a neighborhood school, have the right to be provided education in an appropriate environment. It shall be the duty of every parent or guardian to admit the child to a neighborhood school for elementary education and that no child should be denied admission for lack of age proof neither held back in class up to Grade VIII.

If a parent/guardian persistently defaults in discharging this responsibility, the School Management Committees (the “SMC”) may direct him to perform compulsory community service by way of child care in the school. The State shall ensure a school in every child’s neighborhood with every school conforming to certain minimum standards defined in the Bill. All government schools will be managed by the SMCs will composed of parents, Teachers, Students, educationists and members of the Local Authority. A National Advisory Council and State Advisory Councils for Elementary Education shall be constituted to monitor all aspects of elementary education including quality and will also act as Ombudsman for this Act. All the SCERTs (or equivalent academy) will act as Academic Authority to develop curriculum, Text books and lay down qualifications for teachers working/ to be appointed for elementary classes.

The Act bars capitation fees, making it a punishable offence with fines “up to ten times of the capitation fee charged”. It also makes screening of students a punishable offence with the fines could be as high as Rs 25,000 for the first contravention and Rs 50,000 for subsequent contravention. The Act also seeks to ban private tuition classes by teachers and ensure that no child is subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment. There will be no non-formal schools and teachers will have to possess qualifications as laid down by the Academic Authority.

The provisions also mandate that no child shall be required to pass any Board examination till completion of elementary education and that no school, other than a school established, owned or controlled by the government or the local authority, shall, after the commencement of the Act, be established or will function, without obtaining a certificate or recognition from authority. Any school being operated without recognition will attract penal action, “the recognition to it would be withdrawn and if any person still continued to run the school, he or she would be liable to pay up to Rs one lakh fine.”

In case of any grievances about the establishment, provisioning and management of a school a person may submit a written representation to the SMC/ local authority, which shall take appropriate action and inform the applicant within 90 days. If the applicant is unsatisfied with such action, she may submit a representation to NCPCR/SCPCR. Wherever SCPCR have not been setup, an interim authority known as Right to Education Protection Authority (REPA) shall be constituted for the purpose.. Therefore one may summarize the provisions in the following broad heads:• Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the six to 14 age group.• No child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education• A child who completes elementary education (up to class 8) shall be awarded a certificate• Calls for a fixed student-teacher ratio• Will apply to all of India except Jammu and Kashmir

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• Provides for 25 percent reservation for economically disadvantaged communities in admission to Class One in all private schools• Mandates improvement in quality of education• School teachers will need adequate professional degree within five years or else will lose job• School infrastructure (where there is problem) to be improved in three years, else recognition cancelled

KVS, NVS and Sanik Schools have been placed in specified category and these schools have been exempted from certain provisions of the Act.

• Financial burden will be shared between state and central government

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RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT 2005- (PROVISIONS IN BRIEF)

The RTI Act came into force on 12th October 2005. Its purpose is to ensure that the public has access to information which is under the control of various government authorities. It is designed to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every government department or institution at both central and state levels. This Act overrides and has supremacy over the Official Secrets Act 1923, where applicable.

WHAT IS INFORMATIONInformation means any material in any form, including records, documents, manuscripts, memos, emails, opinions, advices, file notings, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples and models. Also data held in any electronic form such as fax, microfilm, microfiche, etc.

1. You can take certified copies of documents, notes, extracts, contracts, etc.2. Inspect documents and records at government offices.3. Inspect works such as quality of roads.4. Obtain information in the form of printouts, disks, etc.5. Take certified samples of materials, such as, polluted water, road material, and cement etc.

COVERAGE AND APPLICABILITYAny authority, body, institution, department, panchayat, etc. which is part of the government is covered. NGOs substantially financed directly or indirectly by the government are also covered. All such bodies are referred to as a “Public Authority” in the Act.

Certain intelligence and security organizations are exempt from providing information. However, information pertaining to corruption and violation of human rights in these organizations is not exempt.

The Act applies to the whole of India with the exception of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

OBLIGATIONS OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIESGovt. departments are required to automatically publish a lot of information. Please see Section 4 of the Act.

PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICERS (PIO)Every Public Authority (government department) is supposed to appoint a PIO in all its administrative units to provide information to citizens.Some departments have appointed just one central PIO, whereas others have appointed separate PIOs for separate functions/offices.

ASSISTANT PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICERS (APIO)There is supposed to be an Assistant PIO (“APIO”) at each sub-district level (tehsil). His job is to receive your application for information or appeal and forward it immediately to the concerned PIO. Also, an officer in several post offices acts as an Assistant PIO for many Public Authorities. It may be noted here that an APIO is not an assistant to the PIO. His job is to receive applications for information or appeals preferred under the Act and forward the same to the concerned PIO or the Appellate Authority as the case may be.

ASSISTANT FROM OTHER OFFICERSA PIO may, from time to time, require the assistance of other officers in his department. If the other officers do not assist the PIO, they will be held liable and can be penalised in place of the PIO.

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APPLYING FOR INFORMATION1. First you must know the name and address of the concerned PIO. Details in many cases are available on the website of the concerned Public Authority. 2. Apply in any of the following ways.a. Apply on a plain paper in English, Hindi or local language.b. If a request cannot be made in writing, the applicant can make an oral request and the PIO will record it in writing.3a. The application should be accompanied by a fee (1) in cash or (2) by DD or (3) pay order (4) Indian Postal Order.3b. Fee for all central government public authorities is Rs.10.Different states have prescribed different rates of fee. For example, for Haryana, it is Rs.50.4. Deposit the application together with fee at the counter of the concerned Public Authority. Obtain acknowledgement on the photocopy of the application together with a receipt for the fee.5. You are not required to give any reason for asking for the information.6. You are not required to give personal details. Only contact details are sufficient.7. You must be a citizen of India, but you are not required to give any proof.8. Only individuals can apply; Corporates, NGOs and institutions cannot apply. However, you can prepare your application on the letter head of an NGO or institution.

HOW DOES A “PIO” DEAL WITH THE APPLICATION1. There are several possible scenarios:a. The PIO gives/communicates the information to you within 30 days.b. The PIO is entitled to a short extension of time. (See “Time Limits”)c. The PIO rejects your request for reasons specified under “Barred Information”. Or he rejects part of your application, and gives you only partial information. d. The PIO does not give you the information within the time limit. In this case, he will be deemed to have refused your request for information. e. The PIO gives you vague, evasive or partial information. f. The PIO discovers that jurisdiction for the whole or some part of the information lies with another Public Authority. He will transfer this part to another Public Authority and intimate to you about the transfer within 5 days g. If the information is about a third party and the PIO needs time. See section “Third Party”.2. PIO shall ordinarily provide information in the requested form/format.3. Where a request has been rejected in whole or in part, the PIO shall communicate to youa. the reasons for rejection/decisionb. the period within which you may make an appeal, andc. the particulars of the appellate authority

FEES1. A fee of Rs.10 is deposited along with the application if it is a central government public authority.2. Different state government have prescribed different fees. Usually, it is not over Rs.50 per application.3. There is no fee if the applicant belongs to “Below Poverty Line” category.4. If the PIO exceeds time limit, information will be given free of charge no matter how high the cost is.5. In many cases, payment of further fee may be required. The PIO shall intimate the calculations of further fees in writing, and request you to deposit.6. The following standard charges will apply in the case of central government public authorities;a. Rs.2 for each page created or copied or photocopied upto A3 size.b. Actual charge for larger sizesc. Actual cost or price for samples and models, and published material at the price fixedd. Rs.50 for each CD, floppy disk or other similar media

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e. For inspection of records, no fee for the first hour and Rs.5 for each subsequent hour7. State governments have prescribed their own charges.

TIME LIMITS1. PIO shall provide information or reject your request for information within 30 days.2. Information concerning the life or liberty of a person to be provided within 48 hours – even on holidays.3. When submitting an application with Assistant PIO, add 5 days.4. When application is transferred from one Public Authority to another, add 5 days.5. If the PIO fails to give a decision in time, he shall be deemed to have refused the request. Refusal is different from rejection. PIO has the right to reject, but has no right ever to refuse.6. First appeal may be made within 30 days. More time may be given on reasonable grounds. This appeal shall be disposed of within 30 days. The first appellate authority may take upto 45 days but has to record the reason for delay in its decision.7. Second appeal may be made within 90 days to the commission (CIC). More time may be given on reasonable grounds. The Commission generally gives its decision within 90 days.8. Where the fee is more, intervening period between intimation by the PIO and receipt of fee by him will be added to the applicable time limit.9. In cases of human rights violation where the Commission’s approval is necessary, the information will be supplied within 45 days.10. Where the interests of third party are involved and there is no objection by the third party after being heard, the information will be provided within 40 days.11. If the third party objects, then the third party will go through standard appeals process.

THIRD PARTY1. If the information sought concerns the interests of a third party, the PIO shall give a written notice to the third party within 5 days from the receipt of the request and take its representation into consideration.2. Third party shall be given 10 days to make a representation before the PIO.3. The PIO shall, within 40 days of application and after giving the third party an opportunity of being heard, make a decision whether or not to disclose information and give in writing the notice of his decision to third party. The third party may appeal against the decision, and standard appeals procedures shall be followed. Until all these procedures are completed, information cannot be given to you. Time taken by such procedures shall be added onto the time limit of 40 days.

BARRED INFORMATION WHICH CANNOT BE DISCLOSED TO YOU1. Information which could affect the sovereignty, integrity, security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the country, or relations with foreign State.2. Information which could lead to incitement of an offence.3. Information the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court.4. Information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person.5. Information which would impede investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders.6. Information which may harm commercial interests of a third party unless larger public interest is served.7. Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship unless larger public interest is served.8. No copyrighted information can be provided.9. Cabinet papers generated during the process of making a decision cannot be disclosed until the decision has been taken.10. Personal information which serves no public interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the PIO is satisfied of the larger public interest. However, any information which cannot be denied to parliament or state legislature shall not be denied to you.

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EXEMPTIONS1. Regardless of exemptions, PIO may allow access if public interest outweighs harm to protected interests.2. Any 20 year old information shall be open for access. Decision about when 20 years end shall be taken by the Central Government but will be subject to the usual appeals provided for in this Act.

APPEALS1. There are two levels of appeal: the First appeal, and the Second appeal.2. In case of no or bad decision, first appeal may be preferred within 30 days. First appellate authority shall be a designated officer senior in rank to the concerned PIO in the concerned department. His/her name is usually posted on the same website/notice-board/document where the details of PIOs are posted.3. In appeal proceedings, the onus to prove that a denial was justified shall be on the PIO.4. First appeal shall be disposed of within 30 days. May be 45 days for reasons recorded in writing5. First appeal may be preferred in writing on a plain paper and should include:a. name/designation and address of the first appellate authorityb. your name and contact detailsc. concerned PIO’s name and designationd. application ID no. and/or fee receipt no. issued by the authority at the time of applying, if anye. photocopy of the application form f. photocopy of the rejection letter or reply, if availableg. detailed “grounds of appeal”h. “prayers” – this is basically a list of your demands/requests to the first appellate authority6. If the first appeal is partially or fully dismissed, you may prefer a second appeal which lies with the Central Information Commission within 90. More time may be admitted on reasonable grounds. Refer:cic.gov.in7. No time limit has been set in the Act for the disposal of appeal with the Commission. Usually, the Central Information Commission delivers its decision within 90 days.8. The decision of the Commission shall be binding. However, applicant is always at liberty to approach a High Court with a writ petition.9. In its decision, the Commission may impose a penalty of Rs.250 for each day’s delay on the PIO, subject to an upper limit of Rs.25,000.10. In its decision, the Commission may require the Public Authority to compensate the complainant.

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CODE OF CONDUCT

Article 59 for Teachers

The provisions of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 shall apply mutatis mutandis to all the employees of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. In addition to this, the following code of conduct shall also be applicable to teachers. Violation of these shall make an employee liable for action under the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965.

1. Every teacher shall, by precept and example, instill in the minds of the pupils, entrusted to his care, love for the motherland.

2. Every teacher shall, by precept and example, inculcate in the minds of his pupils respect for law and order.

3. Every teacher shall organize and promote all school activities, which foster a feeling of universal brotherhood amongst the pupils.

4. Every teacher shall, by precept and example, promote tolerance for all religions amongst his pupils.

5. No teacher shall be a member of any political party or carry on activities either openly or in camera in support of any such party. He shall also not have any association with either any political party or any organization, which has been declared by the Sangathan to be carrying out its activities against the aims, objects and functions of Kendriya Vidyalayas.

6. The teacher shall always be on the alert to see that his pupils do not take active part in politics. 7. No teacher shall be a member of the State or Central Legislature. He shall resign his job before

contesting for elections as a candidate.

8. Every teacher shall take a stand against unhealthy and bad customs and practices in modern society and must strive his best to instill in the minds of his pupils the principles of co-operation and social service.

9. Every teacher shall co-operate with and secure the co-operation of other persons in all activities, which aim at the improvement of the moral, mental and physical well being of pupils.

10. Every teacher shall be strictly impartial in his relations with all his pupils. He shall be sympathetic and helpful particularly to the slow learners.

11. Every teacher shall be a learner throughout his life not only to enrich his own knowledge, but also of those who are placed in his care. He shall plan out his work on approved lines and do it methodically and vigilantly, eschewing all extraneous considerations.

12. Every teacher shall regard each individual pupil as capable of unique development and of taking his due place in the society, and help him to be creative as well as co-operative.

13. Every teacher shall be temperate and sober in his habits. He shall scrupu-lously avoid smoking, chewing of betel leaves and such other undesirable habits in the presence of students and within the precincts of the Vidyalaya.

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the opposite sex in the Vidyalaya or outside shall not be such as would cause reflection on his character or bring discredit to the Vidyalaya.

15. Every teacher shall take pride in his calling and try to promote the dignity and solidarity of his profession.

16. Every teacher shall be an advocate of freedom of thought and expression and the development of scientific temper in himself and his students.

17. No teacher shall indulge in or encourage any form of malpractice connected with examinations or other school activities.

18. Confidential matters relating to the Institution and the Department shall not be divulged by any teacher.

19. No teacher shall undertake private tuition or private employment or otherwise engage himself in any business.

20. Every teacher shall be clean and trim. He shall not be casual and informal, while on duty. His dress shall be neat and dignified. He shall on no account be dressed so as to become an object of excitement or ridicule or pity at the hands of students and his colleagues.

21. Every teacher shall be punctual in attendance in respect of his class work as also for any other work connected with the duties assigned to him by the Principal. He shall realize that he is a member of the team and shall help in developing a corporate life in the school.

22. Every teacher shall abide by the rules and regulations of the Vidyalaya and show due respect to the constituted authority, diligently carrying out instructions issued to him by the superior authority.

23. Every teacher shall avoid monetary transaction with the pupils and parents and refrain from exploiting his Vidyalaya influence for personal ends. He shall generally conduct his personal matters in such a manner that he does not incur a debt beyond his means to repay.

24. No teacher shall prepare or publish any textbook or keys or assist directly or indirectly in their preparation, or use such publications without obtaining prior approval of the Sangathan.

25. No teacher shall engage himself as a selling agent or canvasser, one for any publishing firm/trader.

26. No teacher shall apply for an assignment or job outside the Sangathan directly. He shall invariably forward his application through proper channel.

27. No teacher shall present his grievances, if any, except through proper channel, nor will he canvass for any non-official or outside influence or support in respect of his own property or funds

28. Every teacher shall consider Vidyalaya property and funds as if placed in trust with him and shall exercise the same with prudence and care, as he would do in respect of his own property of funds.

29. No teacher shall accept or permit any member of his family or any other person acting on behalf to accept ant gifts from any pupil, parent or any other person with whom he has come in contact by virtue of his position in the Vidyalaya except as provided under Rule 13 of the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964.

30. No teacher shall, except with the pervious sanction of the Sangathan, give any talk on the radio, publish any statement or document either in his own name or anonymously, pseudonymously or in the name of any other person, which has

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effect of an adverse criticism of any current or recent policy or action of the Central Government or a State Government, or which is capable of embarrassing the relations between the Central Government and the Government of any foreign State.

31. No teacher shall, except with pervious sanction of the competent authority, ask for or accept contribution or other collections in cash or in kind in pursuance of any object, whatsoever.

32. It shall be the duty of every teacher:

(i) To respect the National Flag and the National Anthem.

(ii) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women.

(iii) To develop scientific temper, humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform.

(iv) To safeguard public property and to abjure violence. (v) To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity

so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.

33. If a teacher is convicted by a Court of La.~ or arrested, it shall be his duty to inform his immediate superior the fact of his conviction or arrest and the cir-cumstances connected therewith as soon as it is possible for him to do so. Fail-ure to do so will be regarded as deliberate suppression of material information.

34. (a) Every teacher shall at all times

(i) maintain absolute integrity. (ii) maintain devotion to

duty. (iii) do nothing, which is unbecoming of an employee of the Sangathan

(b) Nothing contained in part (a) of this Article shall be deemed to take away or abridge the right of a teacher: -

(i) to appear at any examination to improve his qualifications; (ii) to become or to continue to be a member of any literary, scientific or

professional organization; (iii) to make any representation for the redressal of any bonafide grievances,

subject to the condition that such representation is made in any rude or indecorous language.

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Article 60 for Students

The following acts and conduct on the part of the students will amount to misconduct:

(i) Misbehaviour towards teachers or any other employee of the school.

(ii) Intentional disturbance of classes.

(iii) Absence from classes without the permission of the teacher / Vice- Principal/Principal.

(iv) Bullying/intimidation of others.

(v) Eve-teasing/misbehaviour towards girl-students.

(vi) Damaging/disfiguring school property.

(viii) Propagating a strike / disruption of classes.

(viii) Association with banned organizations.

(ix) Propagating communal/caste feeling amongst the students.

(x) Indulging in physical violence in any manner.

(xi) Disobeying lawful orders of the teacher / Vice Principal/Principal.

(xii) Bringing unauthorized people / articles inside the school.

(xiii) Theft / pilferage of school/students' property.

(xiv) Any behaviour unbecoming of a student.

(xv) Indulging in acts of moral turpitude.

b) In above acts of misconduct, Principal shall take suitable action as per obser-vations of the disciplinary committee depending on the gravity of the misconduct, which may include:

(i) Oral/written warnings to the student and parents.

(ii) Suspension from attending classes/school for a specified period.

(iii) Recovery of loss to school property

(iv) Issue of Transfer Certificate

(v) Expulsion/rustication from school.

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EMPLOYEE DISCIPLINE

80. Extension of the application of Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules,1965

a) All employees of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Regional offices and the Headquarters of the Sangathan shall be subject to the displinary control of the Sangathan and the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and appeal) Rules, 1965 as amended from time to time, will apply mutatis mutandis to all members of the staff of the Sangathan except when other wise decided (in the above Rules, fir the words “Government Servant” wherever they occur, the words “employee fo Kendriya Vidyalaya/ Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.” Shall be substituted).

b) The posts under the Sangathan and Kendriya Vidyalayas have been classified as Group A,B,C&D posts in the context ot Rule 6 of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965.

c) The Appointing, Disciplinary, Appellate and Reviewing Authorities for various posts in the KVS (HQ) office, Regional offices and Kendriya Vidyalayas shall be as specified in the KVS (HQ) office, Regional offices and Kendriya Vidyalayas shall be as specified in the KVS (Appointment, Promotion, Seniority etc.) Rules,1971

81 (A) Termination of Services in Certain Cases – Special Procedure

An exception to the rules mentioned in the preceding Article shall, however, be made in the following types of cases;

i) In the case of an employee who is known to be of doubtful integrity or conduct, but where it is difficult to bring forth sufficient documentary or other evidence to establish the charges, and whose retention in the Vidyalaya, etc. will be prejudicial to the interests of the institution.

ii) In the case of an employee suspected of grave misconduct where the initiation of regular proceedings against him in accordance with the provisions of the CC(CCA) Rules,1965, is likely to result in embarrassment to class of employees and / or is likely to endanger the reputation of the institution.

B) Termination of services of an employee found guilty of immoral behaviour towards students:

Where the Commissioner is satisfied after such a summary enquiry as he deems proper and practicable in the circumstances of the case that any member of the Kendriya Vidyalaya is prima- facie guilty of moral turpitude involving sexual offence or exhibition of immoral sexual behaviour towards any students, he can terminate the services of that employee by giving him one month’s or three month’s pay and allowances accordingly as the guilty employee is temporary or permanent in the service of the Sangathan. In such cases, procedure prescribed for holding enquiry for imposing major penalty In accordance with CCS(CCA) Rules,1965 as applicable to the employees of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, shall be dispensed with , provided that the Commissioner is of the opinion that it is not expedient to hold regular enquiry on account of embarrassment to student or his guardians or such other practical difficulties. The Commissioner shall record in writing the reasons under which it is not reasonably practicable to hold such enquiry and he shall keep the Chairman of the Sangathan informed of the circumstances leading to such termination of services.

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Note: Wherever and as far as possible, a summary inquiry in the complaint of immoral behaviour by a teacher towards the students of Kendriya Vidyalayas may be got investigated by the Complaints Redressal Committees constituted in the Regional offices.

(C) Appeal :

i) Appellate Authority – An employee of the Sangathan who has ceased to be in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan services by virtue of an order passed against him under article 81 (b) of the Education Code, may prefer an appeal against the aforesaid order to the Vice- Chairman, KVS.ii) Period of Limitation of Appeals – No appeal preferred under this article shall be

entertained unless it is preferred within a period of 45 days from the date on which a copy of the order appealed against Is delivered to the appellant:

Provided that the Appellate Authority may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said period, if the authority is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal in time.iii) Form and Contents of Appeal _ Form and contents of the appeal shall be the same as

prescribed under the CCS(CCA) Rules, 1965 and applicable under this article.

iv) Consideration of Appeal – in the case of an appeal under this article, the Appellate Authority shall consider whether in the light of the provisions of Article 81 (b) of the education code and having regard to the circumstances of the case, the order of termination is justified or not and confirm or revoke the order accordingly.

The Appellate Authority shall consider the following and pass orders confirming or setting aside the order of termination passed under Article81 (b) :-

(a) Whether the requirement laid down under Article 81 (b) has been complied with and , if not , whether such non- compliance has resulted in the violation of the provisions of Article 81(b)or in the failure of justice, andb) Whether the order of the Commissioner is warranted by the material on the record

v) Implementation of Orders in Appeal- The Authority which made the order appealed against shall give effect to the order passed by the Appellate Authority.

vi) Finality of order Passed in Appeal- The order of the Appellate Authority made under this article shall be final and shall not be called in to question by way of any further application / petition for revision, review, etc.

Note: 1. The above orders for appeal are effective from 1st January, 1999 and shall apply to those cases only where the order of termination was issued on or after 1.1.1999. Appeal against the termination orders issued prior to 1.1.1999 will not be entertained, being not maintainable.

2. If such an employee terminated from the services of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan preferring an appeal to the Vice- Chairman, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and having been re- instated in service up on consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case, and has consequently been given a posting at a hard station, his request for change in the place of posting in both intra and inter station transfers may not be considered before the completion of five years stay in the Vidyalaya.

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(D) Voluntary Abandonment of service

1) If an employee has been absent / remains absent without sanctioned leave or beyond the period of leave originally granted or subsequently extended, he shall provisionally lose his lien on his post unless :- a) he returns within fifteen calendar days of the commencement of the absence or the expiry of leave originally granted or subsequently extended, as the case may be ; and

b) Satisfies the Appointing Authority that his absence or his inability to return on the expiry of the leave, as the case may be, was for reasons beyond his control. The employee not reporting for duty within fifteen calendar days and satisfactorily explaining the reasons for such absence as aforesaid, shall be deemed to have voluntarily abandoned his service and would , thereby, provisionally lose lien on his post

2) An employee, who has provisionally lost lien on his post in terms of the aforesaid provisions, shall not be entitled to the pay and allowances or any other benefit after he has provisionally lost lien on his post.The payment of such pay and allowances will be regulated by such directions as the Appointing Authority may issue while ordering re- instatement of the employee in terms of sub- clause (6) of this article.

3) In cases falling under sub- clause (1) of this Article, an order recording the factum of voluntary abandonment of service by the employee and provisional loss of his lien on the post, shall be made and communicated to the employee concerned at the address recorded in his service book and / or his last known address, to show cause why the provisional order above mentioned may not be confirmed (Appendix-XIII).

4) The employee may make a written representation to the Appointing Authority. Within ten days of the receipt of the order made under sub-clause(3)

5) The Appointing Authority may on receipt of the representation, if any, and on perusal of materials available on record as also those submitted by the employee, grant, at his discretion, an oral hearing to the employee concerned to represent his case.

6) If the Appointing Authority is satisfied after such hearing that the employee concerned has voluntarily abandoned his service in terms of the provisions of sub- clause (1) of this Article, he shall pass an order conforming the loss of employee’s lien on his post, and in that event, the employee concerned shall be deemed to have been removed from the service of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan with effect from the date of his remaining absent. In case, the Appointing Authority is satisfied that the provisions of sub- clause (1) of clause (d) of this Article are not attracted in the facts and circumstances of the case, he may order re- instatement of employee to the post last held by him, subject to such directions as he may give regarding the pay and allowances for the period of absence.

7) Appellate Authority- An employee aggrieved by an order passed under sub- clause (6) of this Article may prefer an appeal to the Appellate Authority as notified by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan from time to time.

8) Period of Limitation for Appeals – No appeal preferred under this Article shall be entertained unless it is preferred within a period of 45 days from the date on which a copy of the order appealed against is served on the appellant;

Provided that the Appellate Authority may entertain the appeal after the expiry of the said period, if it is satisfied that appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from not preferring the appeal in time.

9) Form and Contents of Appeal- Form and contents of appeal shall mutatis mutandis be the same as prescribed under the CCS(CCA) Rules,1965.

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10) Consideration of Appeal- The Appellate Authority shall consider.

Whether the requirements laid down under sub- clauses (1),(3), (5)and (6) of this Article have been complied with and, if not, whether such non- compliance has resulted in failure of justice: and

Whether the order confirming loss of the employee’s lien on his post and his consequent removal from service is warranted on record;

And pass order confirming, modifying or setting aside the order passed under sub- clause (6) of this Article.

11) Implementation of Order of Appeal- The Appointing Authority shall give effect to the order passed by the Appellate Authority.

12) Finality of the Order Passed in Appeal – The order of the Appellate Authority made under this Article shall be final and shall not be called in question by way of any further application / petition for revision, review, etc

13) Applicability of the CCS (CCA) Rules- in matters falling under this Article and in those matters alone, the procedure prescribed for holding inquiry in accordance with the CCS (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 1965 as applicable to the employees of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan as also other provisions of the said rules which are not consistent with the provisions of this Article shall stand dispensed with.

14) Removal of Difficulties- Notwithstanding anything contained in any rule or order for the time being in fore in KVS,the Commissioner, KVS may, with the approval of the Vice Chairman, KVS, issue such instructions as he may deem fit to remove difficulties in the implementation of these provisions.

15) Power to issue instructions – Without prejudice to generality of the foregoing provisions, the Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan may, with the approval of the Vice Chairman, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, issue, from time to time (whether by way of relaxation of the aforesaid provisions or otherwise) general or special orders as to the guidelines, principles or procedures to be followed in giving effect to the provisions of this Article.

Note : The following supplementary instructions have been issued for giving effect to the above provisions :-

1) When an employee applies for a leave, on medical grounds or other wise, the authority competent to sanction such a leave should invariably issue orders in writing when such a leave is refused or not sanctioned adducing the grounds of refusal.

2) Employees seeking leave on prolonged medical grounds may be referred to the Medical Board at the Regional office nearest to the residence of the employee so that they do not get any succor on plea of inability on health grounds.

3) The Disciplinary Authority while examining the representation on show cause notice should preferably give a personal hearing to the employee before issue of the final order of loss of lien on the post, thereby terminating the service of that employee.

4) The Disciplinary Authority should ensure that the posting of a regular incumbent against a vacancy to that post which has been rendered vacant by virtue of application of provisions of the Article 81 (d), be kept pending till the disposal of appeal or 90 days after the date of termination whichever is later. This is to ensure the vacancy at the place of last posting of appellant, when the appeal has been disposed of favorably by the Appellate Authority.

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5) Consequent up on disposal of the appeal by the Appellate Authority, it the employee does not join his duties at the assigned place of posting within the stipulated date without assigning any reason there of, the Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan may be informed immediately, who will be at liberty to prevail over the order of Appellate Authority and pass order as deemed fit.

6) The personal file along with service book and the case file of the appellant maintained at the Regional office may invariably be provided along with the comments on the points of appeal. The Disciplinary Authority should also specifically mention the grounds or consideration on which the leave was refused to the employee.

7) Before issue of the Show –Case Notice under Article 81 (d) to an employee who is unauthorized absent, his / her appointment order should be checked to confirm his Appointing Authority Accordingly, Show Case Notice as well as removal order should not be issued by an officer below in rank of his / her Appointing Authority.

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LEARNING THROUGH CONSTRUCTION

Learning is viewed as a complex process involving multiple and varied activities. Before we encompasses on constructivistic learning, we need to focus on various learning models in vogue. We have 3 learning models :

Transmission reception or model Behaviorist model learning model Cognitive learning model

The first one (transmission learning model) though not agreed to be a proper one, yet most

teachers resort to this type where information is delivered or transmitted and children received record it. It is like treating child’s brain as information pot and teachers keep on pouring information into it. The model is most widely used but most undesirable one.

Behavior learning model focuses on behavior rather than what happens in the mind. Teachers decide the desired behavior, stimulus- response mechanism(S-R) is used as the mode of transaction. The reinforcement of response is done by awards and rewards or even punishment. In this model also, teacher occupies centre stage and the process is again teacher controlled. Even though the models is considered to be better than transmission model, child’s involvement is still very less.

Cognitive learning model assumes that learners are active in their attempts to understand the world. In this, new understanding occurs based on the previous experience and previous learning. Learning is a change in the mental structure instead of observable behavior. This model focuses on what happens within the child’s mind in the learning process. Constructivism is a cognitive model.

What is constructivism?

Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on observation and scientific study -- about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know. In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.

• Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom environment, the students learn HOW TO LEARN.

For example: Groups of students in a science class are discussing a problem in physics. Though the teacher knows the "answer" to the problem, she focuses on helping students restate their questions in useful ways. She prompts each student to reflect on and examine his or her current knowledge. When one of the students comes up with the relevant concept, the teacher seizes upon it, and indicates to the group that this might be a fruitful avenue for them

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to explore. They design and perform relevant experiments. Afterward, the students and teacher talk about what they have learned, and how their observations and experiments helped (or did not help) them to better understand the concept. In another example a primary teacher challenged her students to experiment with the idea of heat. Convinced that their hats, sweaters, blankets produce heat on a cold winter day, the children placed thermometers inside the garments and recorded the results. After three days the clothes still showed no rise in temperature. Although some of the students began to realize that they needed alternative explanations, many still believed that clothing generated heat. They were willing to continue the experiment for entire year, if necessary. The teacher had to set limits and guide the students for searching for the correct explanation

Role of teachersContrary to criticisms by some (conservative/traditional) educators, constructivism does not dismiss the active role of the teacher or the value of expert knowledge. Constructivism modifies that role, so that teachers help students to construct knowledge rather than to reproduce a series of facts. The constructivist teacher provides tools such as problem-solving and inquiry-based learning activities with which students formulate and test their ideas, draw conclusions and inferences, and pool and convey their knowledge in a collaborative learning environment. Constructivism transforms the student from a passive recipient of information to an active participant in the learning process. Always guided by the teacher, students construct their knowledge actively rather than just mechanically ingesting knowledge from the teacher or the textbook. Role of a teacher can be discussed in the following comparisions:

• Sage-on the stage Vs Coach

• Chalk-and talk Vs Mentor

• Banker Vs Midwife

• Dispenser of Knowledge Vs Facilitator

• Teacher Vs Co-learner

• Script reader Vs Curriculum developer

• Information consumer Vs Information producer

• Soloist Vs Team member

• Isolationist Vs Community builder

• Flock member Vs Educational leader

Constructivism is also often misconstrued as a learning theory that compels students to "reinvent the wheel." In fact, constructivism taps into and triggers the student's innate curiosity about the world and how things work. Students do not reinvent the wheel but, rather, attempt to understand how it turns, how it functions. They become engaged by applying their existing knowledge and real-world experience, learning to hypothesize, testing their theories, and ultimately drawing conclusions from their findings.

The best way for you to really understand what constructivism is and what it means in your classroom is by seeing examples of it at work, speaking with others about it, and trying it yourself. As you progress through each segment of this workshop, keep in mind questions or ideas to share with your colleagues.

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The concept of constructivism has roots in classical antiquity, going back to Socrates's dialogues with his followers, in which he asked directed questions that led his students to realize for themselves the weaknesses in their thinking. The Socratic dialogue is still an important tool in the way constructivist educators assess their students' learning and plan new learning experiences.

In this century, Jean Piaget and John Dewey developed theories of childhood development and education, what we now call Progressive Education that led to the evolution of constructivism.

Piaget believed that humans learn through the construction of one logical structure after another. He also concluded that the logic of children and their modes of thinking are initially entirely different from those of adults. The implications of this theory and how he applied them have shaped the foundation for constructivist education.

Dewey called for education to be grounded in real experience. He wrote, "If you have doubts about how learning happens, engage in sustained inquiry: study, ponder, consider alternative possibilities and arrive at your belief grounded in evidence." Inquiry is a key part of constructivist learning.

Among the educators, philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists who have added new perspectives to constructivist learning theory and practice are Lev Vygotsky, Jerome Bruner, and David Ausubel,. Vygotsky introduced the social aspect of learning into constructivism. He defined the "zone of proximal learning," according to which students solve problems beyond their actual developmental level (but within their level of potential development) under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers.

Bruner initiated curriculum change based on the notion that learning is an active, social process in which students constructs new ideas or concepts based on their current knowledge.

Seymour Papert's groundbreaking work in using computers to teach children has led to the widespread use of computer and information technology in constructivist environments.

Modern educators who have studied, written about, and practiced constructivist approaches to education include John D. Bransford , Ernst von Glasersfel, Eleanor Duckworth , George Forman ,Roger Schank, Jacqueline Grennon Brooks , and Martin G. Brooks .

NCF-2005 stressed the need for a paradigm shift from behaviorist model of learning to constructivist model of learning. Our approach in the class room should be from teacher centric, teacher- directed and teacher – controlled to student – centric, activity based and interactive model.

Four epistemological assumptions are at the heart of what we refer to as constructivist learning:

1 knowledge is physically constructed by learners who are involved in active learning

2 knowledge is symbolically constructed by learners who are making their own representations of action.

3 knowledge is socially constructed by learners who convey their meaning making to others;

4 knowledge is theoretically constructed by learners who try to explain things they don’t completely understand

Constructivist learning design

The”constructive learning design” emphasizes six important elements: situation, groupings, bridge, questions, exhibit, and reflections. These elements are designed to provoke teacher planning and reflection about the process of student learning. Teachers develop the situation for students to

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explain, select a process for groupings of materials and students, build a bridge between what students already know and what they want them to learn, anticipate questions to ask and answer without giving away an explanation, encourage students to exhibit a record of their thinking by sharing it with others, and solicit students’ reflections about their learning. We no longer refer to objectives, outcomes, or results since we expect that teachers have that determined by the curriculum or the textbook they are using in their classroom and need to think more about accomplishing it than about writing it again

This brief overview above indicates how each of these six elements integrate and work as a whole, but all need further explanation;

Situation; what situation are you going to arrange for students to explain? Give this situation a title and describe a process of solving problems, answering questions, creating metaphors, making decisions, drawing conclusions, or setting goals. This situation should include what you expect the students to do and how students will make their own meaning.

Groupings; there are two categories of groupings;

A How are you going to make groupings of students : as a whole class, individuals in collaborative thinking teams of two , three, four, five , six or more and what process will you use to group them: counting off, choosing a color or piece of fruit, or similar clothing ? This depends upon the situation you design and the materials you have available to you.

B How are you going to arrange groupings of materials that students will use to explain the situation by physical modeling, graphically representing, numerically describing, or individually writing about their collective experience. How many sets of materials you have well often determine the numbers of student groups you will form.

Bridge: This is an initial activity intended to determine students prior knowledge and to build a “bridge” between what they already know and what they might learn by explaining the situation. This might involve such things as giving them a simple problem to solve, having a whole class discussion, plying a game, or making lists. Sometimes this is best done before students are in groups and sometimes after they are grouped. You need to think about what is appropriate

Questions: Questions could take place during each element of the learning design. What guiding questions will you use to introduce the situation, to arrange the groupings, to set up the bridge, to keep active learning going , to prompt exhibits, and to encourage reflections? You also need to anticipate questions from students and frame other questions to encourage them to explain their thinking and to support them in continuing to think for themselves.

Exhibit: This involves having students make an exhibit for others of whatever record they made to record their thinking as they were explaining the situation. This could include writing a description on cards and gibing a verbal presentation, making a graph, chart or other visual representation, acting out or role playing their impressions, construction a physical representation with models and making a video tape, photographs, or audio tape for display.

Reflections: These are the student’s reflections of what they thought about while explaining the situation and then saw the exhibits from others. They would include what students remember from their thought process about feelings in their spirit, images in their imagination, and languages in their internal dialogue. What attitudes, skills, and concepts will students take out the door? What did students learn today that they won’t forget tomorrow? What did they know before; what did they want know; and what did they learn?

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How does this theory differ from traditional ideas about teaching and learning?

As with many of the methods addressed in this series of workshops, in the constructivist classroom, the focus tends to shift from the teacher to the students. The classroom is no longer a place where the teacher ("expert") pours knowledge into passive students, who wait like empty vessels to be filled. In the constructivist model, the students are urged to be actively involved in their own process of learning. The teacher functions more as a facilitator who coaches, mediates, prompts, and helps students develop and assess their understanding, and thereby their learning. One of the teacher's biggest jobs becomes ASKING GOOD QUESTIONS.

And, in the constructivist classroom, both teacher and students think of knowledge not as inert factoids to be memorized, but as a dynamic, ever-changing view of the world we live in and the ability to successfully stretch and explore that view.

The chart below compares the traditional classroom to the constructivist one. You can see significant differences in basic assumptions about knowledge, students, and learning. (It's important, however, to bear in mind that constructivists acknowledge that students are constructing knowledge in traditional classrooms, too. It's really a matter of the emphasis being on the student, not on the instructor.)

SL NO

TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM

CONSTRUCTIVIST CLASSROOM

1 Curriculum begins with the parts of the whole. Emphasizes basic skills.

Curriculum emphasizes big concepts, beginning with the whole and expanding to include the parts.

2 Strict adherence to fixed curriculum is highly valued.

Pursuit of student questions and interests is valued.

3 Materials are primarily textbooks and workbooks.

Materials include primary sources of material and manipulative materials.

4 Learning is based on repetition. Learning is interactive, building on what the student already knows.

5 Teachers disseminate information to students; students are recipients of knowledge.

Teachers have a dialogue with students, helping students construct their own knowledge.

6 Teacher's role is directive, rooted in authority.

Teacher's role is interactive, rooted in negotiation.

7 Assessment is through testing, correct answers.

Assessment includes student works, observations, and points of view, as well as tests. Process is as important as product.

8 Knowledge is seen as inert. Knowledge is seen as dynamic, ever changing with our experiences.

9 Students work primarily alone. Students work primarily in groups.

What are the benefits of constructivism?

. Benefit

Children learn more, and enjoy learning more when they are actively involved, rather than passive listeners.

. Benefit

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Education works best when it concentrates on thinking and understanding, rather than on rote memorization. Constructivism concentrates on learning how to think and understand.

. Benefit

Constructivist learning is transferable. In constructivist classrooms, students create organizing principles that they can take with them to other learning settings.

. Benefit

Constructivism gives students ownership of what they learn, since learning is based on students' questions and explorations, and often the students have a hand in designing the assessments as well. Constructivist assessment engages the students' initiatives and personal investments in their journals, research reports, physical models, and artistic representations. Engaging the creative instincts develops students' abilities to express knowledge through a variety of ways. The students are also more likely to retain and transfer the new knowledge to real life.

. Benefit

By grounding learning activities in an authentic, real-world context, constructivism stimulates and engages students. Students in constructivist classrooms learn to question things and to apply their natural curiousity to the world.

. Benefit

Constructivism promotes social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas. Students must learn how to articulate their ideas clearly as well as to collaborate on tasks effectively by sharing in group projects. Students must therefore exchange ideas and so must learn to "negotiate" with others and to evaluate their contributions in a socially acceptable manner. This is essential to success in the real world, since they will always be exposed to a variety of experiences in which they will have to cooperate and navigate among the ideas of others.

What are some critical perspectives?

Constructivism has been criticized on various grounds. Some of the charges that critics level against it are:

. It's elitist. Critics say that constructivism and other "progressive" educational theories have been most successful with children from privileged backgrounds who are fortunate in having outstanding teachers, committed parents, and rich home environments. They argue that disadvantaged children, lacking such resources, benefit more from more explicit instruction.

. Social constructivism leads to "group think." Critics say the collaborative aspects of constructivist classrooms tend to produce a "tyranny of the majority," in which a few students' voices or interpretations dominate the group's conclusions, and dissenting students are forced to conform to the emerging consensus.

. There is little hard evidence that constructivist methods work. Critics say that constructivists, by rejecting evaluation through testing and other external criteria, have made themselves unaccountable for their students' progress. Critics also say that studies of

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various kinds of instruction -- in particular Project Follow Through 1, a long-term government initiative -- have found that students in constructivist classrooms lag behind those in more traditional classrooms in basic skills.

Constructivists counter that in studies where children were compared on higher-order thinking skills, constructivist students seemed to outperform their peers.

The following procedures for teachers are suggested by Yager (1991) in a constructivist class room 1. Seek out and use student questions and ideas to guide lessons and whole instructional units. 2. Accept and encourage student initiation of ideas. 3. Promote student leadership, collaboration, location of information and taking actions as a

result of the learning process. 4. Use student thinking, experiences and interests to drive lessons. 5. Encourage the use of alternative sources for information both from written materials and

experts. 6. Encourage students to suggest causes for event and situations and encourage them to

predict consequences. 7. Seek out student ideas before presenting teacher ideas or before studying ideas from

textbooks or other sources. 8. Encourage students to challenge each other's conceptualizations and ideas. 9. Encourage adequate time for reflection and analysis; respect and use all ideas that students

generate. 10.Encourage self-analysis, collection of real evidence to support ideas and reformulation of

ideas in light of new knowledge. 11.Use student identification of problems with local interest and impact as organizers for the

course. 12.Use local resources (human and material) as original sources of information that can be used

in problem resolution. 13.Involve students in seeking information that can be applied in solving real-life problems. 14.Extend learning beyond the class period, classroom and the school. 15.Focus on the impact of science on each individual student.

16.Refrain from viewing science content as something that early exists for students to master on tests.

17.Emphasize career awareness--especially as related to science and technology.

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MAKING USE OF INTERNET RESOURCES IN TEACHING

In the history of mankind perhaps no other communication tool has been as influential as the Internet. The vast amount of information that is available on the Net makes it extremely powerful and most useful to us. There is hardly any field that is not benefited by the omnipresence of this wonderful tool. While it gives immense opportunities to the students to learn more on their lessons, it gives the teacher a highly potential tool that offers excellent teaching resources. For English teachers it is indeed a wonderful gift as it offers audio poems, innumerable commentaries on famous literary pieces, countless grammar exercises etc., An English teacher can make his teaching very interesting by using the Net resourcefully. There are several ways in which it can be used in the teaching – learning process.

Firstly, the teacher can get immense help on the lessons to be taught in the class. An English teacher’s job is not merely to explain the meaning of the text of the lesson to the students. Apart from teaching various language skills based on the lesson, he should also teach the lesson in the proper perspective. For this, the teacher himself should understand the lesson in proper context. He should know the relevant background of the lesson (be it a poem or a piece of prose) such as its theme, genre, information on the writer / poet, the period in which it is set, topical references etc., Unless he has a good command of what he is about to teach, he cannot do justice to the teaching of the lesson. All such information may not be used in teaching every lesson, but every lesson will need a knowledge of one or some of these aspects. There is no better place than the Internet to obtain such information. The advantage of the Net over the reference books is, of course, the speed at which information can be searched for and obtained with the help of search engines like Google, Alta Vista etc., Such background information on the lesson makes the teacher more confident of himself while the students receive a well – prepared lesson.

One of the most challenging tasks of an English teacher is teaching poetry to the secondary students. While making the students understand the poem with its nuances is difficult enough, making them read the poem with correct intonation is in itself a daunting task. A reading of the poem by a native speaker of the language will prove to be extremely useful in such instances. If one has the patience, one can locate an audio recording of most of the poems prescribed by CBSE. Take for example, Class IX English Reader. Out of the seven poems prescribed, you will find a wonderful rendering of four poems on the Net: The Solitary Reaper, Lord Ullin’s Daughter, The Seven Ages and The Road Not Taken, the last one Robert Frost himself reading to you! Most such recordings come without any copyright protection and can be freely used. With most KVs equipped with an LCD projector, a PowerPoint presentation of the poem with relevant visuals will be a treat to the students. Apart from offering a refreshing break from the routine chalk and talk business, it helps them remember the poem for a long time. Try this with the recording of the poem The Ancient Mariner available at http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page and see what difference it can make in teaching such a lovely but challenging poem to students of class X. One can find innumerable audio recordings of many such great poems on this website. One can also try for audio poems at these two websites: http://laurable.com/audio.html and http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/ Browse around within these websites and you will find links to many such wonderful poems. Since thousands of poems are available with their text as well, suitable poems can be picked up for comprehension exercises.

Another area of language teaching that can be benefited by the Net is grammar. Besides such reputed websites as http://bbc.co.uk, there are countless websites that offer grammar exercises. These exercises range from testing use of simple prepositions to correction of errors of reasonably high standard. These exercises can be downloaded and used for giving ample practice to students in the use of prepositions, tenses, phrasal verbs, collocations, idioms etc., Students can be encouraged to visit these websites and try out these exercises. Since almost all KVs have access to the Internet, a suitable timeslot can be allotted for this purpose. Most students enjoy solving such on-line exercises and will take it up with enthusiasm. They can evaluate their performance themselves as these sites

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http://bbc.co.uk/

http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/

http://laurable.com/audio.html

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

offer a key with explanation. Students can also be encouraged to exchanges their notes, address of the websites they used etc., to keep the interest alive. As project work forms an important component of continuous comprehensive assessment, it will be a good idea to assign a project work on one of the aspects of grammar which requires a good deal of research and collection of grammar exercises along with the key. Instead of allotting a similar work to all the students, they can be asked to prepare their project on different aspects of grammar either individually or in small groups. This generates plenty of material for use by the teacher as well as by the students. All such work should be made available to all the students in such a way as class libraries are used.

English teachers usually struggle to get enough reading material for their students to teach reading comprehension. The Internet once again can come to the rescue of such a desperate teacher. Of course, the teacher has to do his homework first before embarking on this kind of an exercise. True, Internet offers unbelievably huge amounts of reading material. But depending upon the level of teaching, the teacher has to find suitable passages for comprehension. While there are some sites that offer selected passages for comprehension, the user is expected to subscribe to the service before using such websites. Since it may not be feasible, students may be guided to make use of websites that offer such services free of charge. Websites like http://www.classicreader.com/ offer great classics that can improve students’ comprehension skills. There are of course, certain drawbacks. They offer only literary pieces and do not provide the variety of topics that are needed for practicing comprehension. More importantly, reading off a monitor is no pleasure comparable to the reading of a book. But there are advantages galore. It is the cheapest way to get such a huge amount of reading. If the teacher can locate suitable passages for the students on a wide variety of topics, students can be taught skills like summarising, vocabulary building etc., This, of course, presupposes availability of enough time on school computers for each student for the work. Keeping in mind the usefulness of the Internet, every school should accommodate a few more computer periods for the purpose of exploring the available resources for learning more on the lessons, to try out the interactive exercises. Needless to say, such classes should be held under the strict supervision of a teacher to prevent misuse of the time and the facility.

The Net will be useful to the teachers in several other ways. There are many websites dedicated to the exchange of ideas, resources, experiences and experiments conducted in the methodology of teaching English. Some websites also provide a platform for discussion of issues related to teaching English and correct usage. If intelligently used, they will equip the English teacher with a myriad of tools that make his teaching interesting, effective and lasting.

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http://www.classicreader.com/

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

Education aims at making children capable of becoming responsible, productive and useful members of a society. Knowledge, skills and attitudes are built through learning experiences and opportunities created for learners in school. It is in the classroom that learners can analyse and evaluate their experiences, learn to doubt, to question, to investigate and to think independently. The aim of education simultaneously reflects the current needs and aspirations of a society as well as its lasting values and human ideals. At any given time and place they can be called the contemporary and contextual articulations of broad and lasting human aspirations and values. An understanding of learners, educational aims, the nature of knowledge, and the nature of the school as a social space can help us arrive at principles to guide classroom practices. Conceptual development is thus a continuous process of deepening and enriching connections and acquiring new layers of meaning. Alongside is the development of theories that children have about the natural and social worlds, including themselves in relation to others, which provide them with explanations for why things are the way they are and the relationship between cause and effect.

Characteristics of learning• All children are naturally motivated to learn and are capable of learning.• Understanding and developing the capacity for abstract thinking, reflection and work are the most important aspects of learning.• Children learn in a variety of ways-through experience, making and doing things, experimentation, reading, discussion, asking, listening, thinking and reflecting, and expressing themselves in speech or writing-both individually and with others. They require opportunities of all these kinds in the course of their development.• Teaching something before the child is cognitively ready takes away real learning.Children may ‘remember’ many facts but they may not understand them or be able to relate them to the world around them.• Learning takes place both within school and outside school. Learning is enriched if the two arenas interact with each other. Art and work provide opportunities for holistic learning that is rich in tacit and aesthetic components. Such experiences are essentially to be learnt through direct experience and integrated into life.• Learning must be paced so that it allows learners to engage with concepts and deepen understanding rather than remembering only to forget after examinations. At the same time learning must provide variety and challenge, and be interesting and engaging. Boredom is a sign that the task may have become mechanically repetitive for the child and of little cognitive value.• Learning can take place with or without mediation. In the case of the latter, the social context and interactions, especially with those who are capable, provide avenues for learners to work at cognitive levels above their own.

Place of Evaluation in the CurriculumA curriculum is what constitutes a total teaching-learning program composed of overall aims, syllabus, materials, methods and assessment. In short it provides a framework of knowledge and capabilities, seen as appropriate to a particular level. Evaluation not only measures the progress and achievement of the learners but also the effectiveness of the teaching materials and methods used for transaction. Hence evaluation should be viewed as a component of curriculum with the twin purpose of effective delivery and further improvement in the teaching learning process. If properly understood, evaluation or assessment will not be perceived as something administered by the teachers and taken by the learners on the conclusion of a period of learning. When evaluation is seen as an end of the learning exercise, both the teachers and the learners will tend to keep it outside the teaching-learning process, rendering assessment broadly irrelevant and alien to the curriculum.

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Further such a perception associates anxiety and stress with evaluation for learners. On the contrary, if evaluation is seen as an integral part built into the teaching learning process; it will become continuous like both teaching and learning. When evaluation is subsumed into teaching-learning, learners will not perceive tests and examinations with fear. It will lead to diagnosis, remediation and enhancement of learning. The scope of evaluation in schools extends to almost all the areas of learners’ personality development. It should include both scholastic and co-scholastic areas, i.e. it should be comprehensive in nature. This is in line with the goals of education. Evaluation is continuous and reveals the strengths and weaknesses of learners more frequently, so that the learners have better opportunity to understand and improve themselves. It also provides feedback to the teachers for modifying their teaching strategies.

In view of getting a complete picture of the child’s learning, assessment should focus on the learner’s ability to –• learn and acquire desired skills related to different subject areas.• acquire a level of achievement in different subject areas in the requisite measure• develop child’s individual skills, interests, attitudes and motivation• understand and lead a healthy and a productive life.• monitor the changes taking place in a child’s learning, behaviour and progress over time.• respond to different situations and opportunities both in and out of school.• apply what is learned in a variety of environments, circumstances and situations• work independently, collaboratively and harmoniously.• analyze and evaluate. v• be aware of social and environmental issues• participate in social and environmental projects and causes.• retain what is learned over a period of time.

Thus assessment is a useful, desirable and an enabling process. To realize this one needs to keep the following parameters in mind –The need to:• assess the learner.• use a variety of ways to collect information about the learner’s learning and progress in subjects and cross curricular boundaries.• collect information continuously and record the same.• give importance to each learner’s way of responding and learning and the time it takes to do so.• report on an ongoing continuous basis and be sensitive to every learner’s responses.• provide feedback that will lead to positive action and help the learner to do better

In the assessment process, one should be careful NOT to:• label learners as slow, poor, intelligent etc.• make comparisons between them.• make negative statements.

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Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) refers to a system of school-based evaluation of students that covers all aspects of a students’ development. It is a developmental process of a child which emphasizes on two fold objectives. These objectives are continuity in evaluation on one hand and assessment of broad based learning and behaviourial outcomes on the other.The term ‘continuous’ is meant to emphasise that evaluation of identified aspects of students ‘growth and development’ is a continuous process rather than an event, built into the total teaching-learning process and spread over the entire span of academic session. It means regularity of assessment, diagnosis of learning gaps, use of corrective measures and feedback of evidence to teachers and students for their self evaluation.The second term ‘comprehensive’ means that the scheme attempts to cover both the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of students’ growth and development. Since abilities, attitudes and aptitudes can manifest themselves in forms other than the written word, the term refers to application of a variety of tools and techniques (both testing and non-testing) and aims at assessing a learner’s development in areas of learning like:• Knowledge• Understanding/Comprehension• Application• Analysis• Evaluation• Creativity

Objectives of CCE are:• To help develop cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills.• To lay emphasis on thought process and de-emphasise memorization.• To make evaluation an integral part of teaching-learning process.• To use evaluation for improvement of students’ achievement and teaching – learning strategies on the basis of regular diagnosis followed by remedial instruction.• To use evaluation as a quality control device to maintain desired standard of performance.• To determine social utility, desirability or effectiveness of a programme and take appropriate decisions about the learner, the process of learning and the learning environment.• To make the process of teaching and learning a learner-centered activity.

Features of CCE are:• The ‘continuous’ aspect of CCE takes care of ‘continual’ and ‘periodicity’ aspect of evaluation.• Continual means assessment of students in the beginning of instruction (placement evaluation) and assessment during the instructional process (formative evaluation) done informally using multiple techniques of evaluation.• Periodicity means assessment of performance done frequently at the end of unit/ term (summative)• The ‘comprehensive’ component of CCE takes care of assessment of all round development of the child’s personality. It includes assessment in Scholastic as well as Co-Scholastic aspects of the pupil’s growth.• Scholastic aspects include curricular areas or subject specific areas, whereas co-scholastic aspects include Life Skills, Co-Curricular Activities, Attitudes, and Values.• Assessment in scholastic areas is done informally and formally using multiple techniques of evaluation continually and periodically. The diagnostic evaluation takes place at the end of a unit/term test. The causes of poor performance in some units are diagnosed using diagnostic tests. These are followed up with appropriate interventions followed by retesting.• Assessment in Co-Scholastic areas is done using multiple techniques on the basis of identified criteria, while assessment in Life Skills is done on the basis of Indicators of Assessment and checklists.Source - Examination Reforms, NCERT

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The functions of CCE are:• It helps the teacher to organize effective teaching strategies.• Continuous evaluation helps in regular assessment to the extent and degree of learner’s progress (ability and achievement with reference to specific scholastic and co-scholastic areas).• Continuous evaluation serves to diagnose weaknesses and permits the teacher to ascertain an individual learner’s strengths and weaknesses and her needs. It provides immediate feedback to the teacher, who can then decide whether a particular unit or concept needs re-teaching in the whole class or whether a few individuals are in need of remedial instruction.• By continuous evaluation, children can know their strengths and weaknesses. It provides the child a realistic self assessment of how he/she studies. It can motivate children to develop good study habits, to correct errors, and to direct their activities towards the achievement of desired goals. It helps a learner to determine the areas of instruction in which more emphasis is required.• Continuous and comprehensive evaluation identifies areas of aptitude and interest.It helps in identifying changes in attitudes, and value systems.• It helps in making decisions for the future, regarding choice of subjects, courses and careers.• It provides information/reports on the progress of students in scholastic and co-scholastic areas and thus helps in predicting the future successes of the learner.Continuous evaluation helps in bringing awareness of the achievement to the child, teachers and parents from time to time. They can look into the probable cause of the fall in achievement if any, and may take remedial measures of instruction in which more emphasis is required. Many times, because of some personal reasons, family problems or adjustment problems, the children start neglecting their studies, resulting in a sudden drop in their achievement. If the teacher, child and parents do not come to know about this sudden drop in the achievement and the neglect in studies by the child continues for a longer period then it will result in poor achievement and a permanent deficiency in learning for the child. The major emphasis of CCE is on the continuous growth of students ensuring their intellectual, emotional, physical, cultural and social development and therefore will not be merely limited to assessment of learner’s scholastic attainments. It uses assessment as a means of motivating learners in further programmes to provide information for arranging feedback and follow up work to improve upon the learning in the classroom and to present a comprehensive picture of a learner’s profile. It is this that has led to the emergence of the concept of School Based Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. Source : Ncert

Scholastic and Co-scholastic AssessmentIn order to have Continuous and Comprehensive evaluation, both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects need to be given due recognition. Such a holistic assessment requires maintaining an ongoing, changing and comprehensive profile for each learner that is honest, encouraging and discreet. While teachers daily reflect, plan and implement remedial strategies, the child’s ability to retain and articulate what has been learned over a period of time also requires periodic assessment. These assessments can take many forms but all of them should be as comprehensive and discreet as possible. Weekly, fortnightly, or quarterly reviews (depending on the learning area), that do not openly compare one learner with another and are positive and constructive experiences are generally recommended to promote and enhance not just learning and retention among children but their soft skills as well.SOURCE: TEACHERS’ MANUAL ON FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT, SCIENCE CLASS – IX CBSE, DELHI

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INNOVATION AND EXPERIMENTATION IN CLASSROOM TEACHING-LEARNING

PROCESS Dr. S. P. Thakur, Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sector VIII, R. K. Puram, New Delhi

It is essential to understand the meaning of innovation and experimentation in the context of teaching-learning process. Innovation is understood as the introduction of something new and useful, for example introducing new methods, techniques, or practices. It is different from invention. Invention is the first occurrence of an idea for a new process, while innovation is the first attempt to carry it out into practice. All innovation begins with creative ideas. It is defined as the successful implementation of creative ideas. But experimentation involves testing of an idea.A teacher can use different innovations to develop linguistic competence as well as communicative competence. A semantic mapping procedure may be followed by the teacher after brainstorming and winnowing of information to help guide learners to write.

A teacher can help learners develop an awareness of how genres work by implementing a discovery-centred approach and introducing the concept through language awareness activities. In this way, a classroom becomes a laboratory and the teacher a mediator. The teacher needs to provide a variety of relevant genres and draw explicit attention to typical textual and structural features so that learners gradually acquire knowledge that will help them in their future writing.

A teacher can use the Lexical Approach (three aspects –Lexis, Noticing and Internalisation) in an innovative way to develop language of learners. Learning lexis requires the activation of the process of identifying associations between words and the way they combine together. An example of a task is given under:Step 1Learners are invited to underline all the word associations they are able to find out in the text. Suppose they find the following:*thousands of horses * commit crime * save all their moneyStep 2

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CARS

Good things Bad things

Convenienttransportation

Japan is a top manufecturer

Some cars are low cost to own and maintain

Fun to own and drive

Can be expensive

Accidents, injuries,death

Environmental probs.

People don`t shop downtown

Hierarchical semantic mapping showing three stages of development

Learners are then asked to find other words in a dictionary that go with thousands of, commit and save. They work in small groups and fine that thousands of can be followed by people, students, books, tourists, words, towns, flowers and trees. They find expressions such as commit an injustice, commit violence and commit a blunder. For save, they find time, wine, efforts, life and a place.Step 3The identification of chunks and collocations has no value if it is not followed by internalization. Suppose learners are asked to use the expression in context by producing a short text containing them. Here is an example using two of the expressions:Last summer I was in Rome and in Piazza San Pietro there were thousands of tourists. Suddenly a thief stole a wallet from a person`s pocket. The police arrived and arrested the wrong man. They committed a blunder.

Innovation and Experimentation in Learner Centred Approaches There has been increasing shift from `teacher centred` to `learner centred` approaches of teaching. Taking into account learners` capabilities, capacities, learning styles, context and culture, a teacher can make efforts for innovation and experimentation in classroom teaching.

a) If a teacher attaches importance to critical reflection in learning, he/she can guide the learners for Experiential Learning Strategy, which involves four steps, namely concrete experience, observation and reflection, formation of new concepts/ideas and validating new ideas. The process of learning starts with the action and then analyzing the effect of that action. Learners would then reflect upon and provide adequate explanations. The very idea of experiential learning directs our attention to the importance of experience in learning and guards against limiting teaching to a mere presentation of information and facts.Illustration from curricular subject (English)Following illustration explains that experiential learning strategy can be used across the curriculum. Learners can first do this activity. Read the passage once. Then fill in the blanks with any word which best fits the blank.In the Kingdom of FoolsIn the kingdom of Fools, both the king and the minister were idiots. They did not want to learn………like other kings, so they……..to change night into day and day into night. They……that everyone should be awake at….., and ……to bed as soon as…..sun came up. Anyone who……would be punished with death. The king and the …..were delighted………the success of their project. One day a guru and his….arrived in the city. It was…..beautiful day. It was day time, but there was no….about. Everyone was….., not a mouse stirring. Even the cattle…..been taught to sleep…….day. The two strangers were amazed what they saw around them and wandered around town till evening, when suddenly the whole town woke up and went about its mighty business.

After doing this fill-in-the –blanks activity, students will again read the passage and make sense out of it. They may again replace some of these words and read the whole passage again.

b) If a teacher puts premium on Concept Mapping Strategy as a tool of learning and assessment, he/she should attempt to use this as a part of his/her instructional methods in classroom teaching. He/She can develop activities of the following type to teach learners through concept mapping strategies.

i) Develop a concept map for teaching any topic of your choice and use it in the classroom while teaching.

ii) Train your learners to prepare their own concept maps both individually(on their own) and in groups.

iii) Use concept mapping strategy at the review stage of your lesson.iv) Develop a concept map as a tool of assessment on any topic of your choice.

Example : Teaching VocabularyGiven below are some adjectives which can combine with amount. Divide them into two groups, small and large and fill in the bubbles. You can look up a dictionary if you do not know the meaning of some words.

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Minuscule, gigantic, overwhelming, minute, meager, excessive, insignificant, sizeable, tiring, considerable

Method : Individual WorkAbility developed : looking up a dictionary

c) If a teacher underscores the importance of Problem Solving Strategy, he/she can use this strategy to develop conceptual understanding and the ability to transfer and apply this understanding to new situations following four steps of problem solving strategy-i) Identifying the problem, ii) Planning the process to solve the problem, iii) Executing the planned process and iv) Evaluating the solution. Higher levels of learning i.e. reasoning ability, hypothetical, deductive and inductive thinking, judgemental ability, enquiry, observational skills, values of honesty and cooperation can be achieved through problem solving strategy. In English, problem solving strategy can be used to develop skills of reading, comprehension, speaking and writing.

Example 1Problem: A detective story without ending is given. Learners are required to solve the mystery given in the story and to suggest the ending.Method: Divide the class into 4 or 5 groups and ask each group to solve the mystery and come up with their own solutions. They must write down the solution giving reasons. Different groups can then discuss their solutions in the whole class.

Example 2Problem: A study is given where a criminal trial is discussed. Learners are required to give re-verdict of the jury.Method: The class is divided into four or five groups. Each member of the group reads the story and then the group writes the re-verdict of the jury. Next, different groups present their re-verdict of jury before the whole class.Example 3

Problem: Take a passage from the text book or supplementary reading book. In the passage delete 6th or 7th word from the text. Ask the learners to fill up the appropriate words so that the passage becomes meaningful.

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minute

large small

sizeable

amount

Method: This problem is to be solved by each individual. The learners would then present in the class their completed passages. In evaluating the corrected passages, acceptable word method may be used instead of exact word method.Example 4Problem: Reports from four newspapers on a controversial issue such as `Freedom of Press` or `Role of Private Sector in Education` are provided to the learners. Ask the learners to read the reports and give their judgement as to:i) Which newspaper has the most objective reporting and is least biased? Give instances.ii) Which newspaper has the most facts? Enumerate the facts in each paper. d) If a teacher underpins Investigatory Strategy, which involves stating the question to be

investigated, formulating the hypothesis, suggesting the experiment, identifying the dependent and independent variables, conducting the experiment, recording the observations, analyzing the data , generalizing and drawing the conclusions, he/she can use it as a scientific method of finding answers to the questions. This strategy is now increasingly used to teach science, social science and languages.

Example 1A reading passage in Ramanujan, which describes his earlier life, is selected.Method: Divide the class into 3-4 groups and ask each group to find out a specific aspect of his life, for example, One group could fine out about his early adulthood. Another group could find out about his days at Cambridge, especially his relationship with

Hardy. Still another group could find out about his sickness leading to death.Abilities to be developed – Critical thinking, Decision making and ValuesLanguage ability: Reading and writing skillsExample 2Idioms relating to parts of the body, for example: He` got a finger in every pie Get it off my chest Had to pay through the nose Got to hand it to herMethod Ask the learners to collect 20 idioms relating to body parts. Look up the dictionary and find out the meaning of the idioms. Then write a story using these idioms. This task could be an individual effort or a collaborative effort.Abilities to be developed: Creative thinkingLanguage skill : WritingExample 3Reading Passage: Kathmandu by Vikram Seth from Steps to English, Class IXMethod: An excellent passage fro English across the curriculum. Get the learners to find out certain features of Kathmandu.Geographical situation, Description, Population, History, Tourist interest, Politics in NepalAbilities to be developed: Analytical thinkingLanguage skill : Reading and writing

e) If a teacher intends to use Creative Writing as a transactional strategy, he/she needs to use the process of cognitive coding in creative writing, to identify steps to implement writing in teaching of curricular subjects and also to identify tasks of creative writing. The guidelines in implementing creative writing are- learners to freely express themselves, allow them to assess by themselves their own writings, offer good models of writing, teach principles and patterns and provide students appropriate feedback. The tasks which could be used to develop creating writing ability among learners are Reporting(Reporting an event), Instructing(Telling how to do something), Suggesting(Giving one`s point of view), Argument(For and against) and Classifying(Organising information).

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Example 1APJ Abdul Kalam from Steps to English, Class IXMethod: Ask the learners to collect newspaper cuttings on Abdul Kalam, specifically in terms of where he went. Then ask them to prepare his itinerary for one week. This could be an individual work or a group work.Ability to be developed: Critical thinking, Creative writingExample 2Learners may be asked to write descriptions from pictures, graphs and models.*Picture of an event, * A story in picture form, * Graphical representations of trends,*Model of a village on the top of a hill or by the sea shoref) If a teacher wishes to organize teaching-learning using Social Enquiry Strategy to enquire

into social issues/ concerns, he/she has to enable the learners to draw conclusions, construct concepts from generalizations through observation, induction and deduction. Intrinsic to this strategy of teaching-learning is the assumption that learners should actively seek knowledge through observations rather than receiving knowledge through lectures, demonstrations, textbook reading or recitation.ExampleTo read a passage on Louis Braille or Ved Mehta or poem by Milton`On his Blindness`Method: Field Survey

Take the learners to the local blind school. Learners to prepare a questionnaire earlier where they can ask the following questions to 10

people.Agree Agree

somewhatDisagree

1.

2.

3.

The education imparted to you is as good as that offered in the general school.After you leave school, you will get equalopportunities for jobs as the other children.People treat you as well as they treat other children.

Learners can make a pie chart on the basis of this information. They then describe the pie-chart in writing.Abilities to be developed: Analytical thinking, positive attitude and valuesLanguage Skills: Writing, translation (transference of speaking information to non-verbal mode).

Innovation in Embedded LearningTeachers can use e-learning tools such as Podcasts, Blogs, Wikis, On line Social Networking(Second Life), Moodle etc. for making teaching-learning process innovative.

Encouraging InnovationsIt is the need of the hour to create structured spaces within schools, and at the level of the cluster where teachers, who often explore new ways of transacting the curriculum in addressing the needs of learners within their specific classroom context, are encouraged to share and discuss classroom practices and experiences. It is also important to bring together groups of teachers within and across schools and provide support to them in terms of resources as well as time to work together. There is also a need for documentation and research of identified `good practices`.

Designing Effective Projects: Characteristics of Projects

Benefits of Project-Based Learning

Overview of Project-Based Learning s[94]

Introduction Introducing projects into the curriculum is not a new or revolutionary idea in education. During the past decade, however, the practice has evolved into a more formally defined teaching strategy. Project-based learning has gained a greater foothold in the classroom as researchers have documented what teachers have long understood: Students become more engaged in learning when they have a chance to dig into complex, challenging, and sometimes even messy problems that closely resemble real life. Project-based learning goes beyond generating student interest. Well-designed projects encourage active inquiry and higher-level thinking (Thomas, 1998). Brain research underscores the value of these learning activities. Students' abilities to acquire new understanding are enhanced when they are "connected to meaningful problem-solving activities, and when students are helped to understand why, when, and how those facts and skills are relevant" (Bransford, Brown, & Conking, 2000, p. 23).

What is project-based learning? Project-based learning is an instructional model that involves students in investigations of compelling problems that culminate in authentic products. Projects that make for stronger classroom learning opportunities can vary widely in subject matter and scope, and can be delivered at a wide range of class levels. Nonetheless, they tend to share defining features. Projects grow out of challenging questions that cannot be answered by rote learning. Projects put students in an active role—problem solver, decision maker, investigator, documentarian. Projects serve specific, significant educational goals; they are not diversions or adds-on to the “real” curriculum.

How does project-based learning relate to inquiry? Inquiry encompasses a broad range of activities that give reign to our natural curiosity about the world. Within the context of education, inquiry takes on a more specific meaning. Teachers who use inquiry as a strategy typically encourage students to raise questions, plan and carry out investigations, make observations, and reflect on what they have discovered. However, this is not a static definition. Even within a single classroom, inquiry activities may be taking place along a continuum, from more structured and teacher-directed on one end to more open-ended and driven by student interest on the other (Jarrett, 1997). It may be helpful to think of project-based learning as a subset of inquiry learning. A review of research about project-based learning concludes that such projects are focused on questions or problems that "drive students to encounter (and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline" (Thomas, 2000, p. 3). What's more, the central activities of a project involve inquiry and the construction of new knowledge by the student (Thomas, 2000). Students typically have a choice when it comes to designing their project, which allows them to pursue their interests and engage their curiosity. In the course of answering their own questions, students may investigate topics not identified by the teacher as learning goals.

Benefits of Project-Based Learning

What are the benefits of the project-based learning model? Project-based learning offers a wide range of benefits to both students and teachers. A growing body of academic research supports the use of project-based learning in school to engage students, cut absenteeism, boost cooperative learning skills, and improve academic performance (George Lucas Educational Foundation, 2001).

For students, benefits of project-based learning include: • Increased attendance, growth in self-reliance, and improved attitudes toward learning (Thomas,

2000) • Academic gains equal to or better than those generated by other models, with students involved

in projects taking greater responsibility for their own learning than during more traditional classroom activities (Boaler, 1997; SRI, 2000 )

• Opportunities to develop complex skills, such as higher-order thinking, problem-solving, collaborating, and communicating (SRI, 2000)

• Access to a broader range of learning opportunities in the classroom, providing a strategy for engaging culturally diverse learners (Railsback, 2002)

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For many students, the appeal of this learning style comes from the authenticity of the experience. Students take on the role and behavior of those working in a particular discipline. Whether they are making a documentary video about an environmental concern, designing a travel brochure to highlight sites of historical significance in their community, or developing a multimedia presentation about the pros and cons of building a shopping mall, students are engaged in real-world activities that have significance beyond the classroom. For teachers, additional benefits include enhanced professionalism and collaboration among colleagues, and opportunities to build relationships with students (Thomas, 2000). Additionally, many teachers are pleased to find a model that accommodates diverse learners by introducing a wider range of learning opportunities into the classroom. Teachers find that students who benefit the most from project-based learning tend to be those for whom traditional instructional methods and approaches are not effective (SRI, 2000).

How does this model transform a more traditional classroom? A professional development presentation developed by Intel® Teach to the Future (2003) describes a classroom where the teacher is using the project-based learning model effectively. In such a setting:

• There is a problem with no predetermined answer • There is an atmosphere that tolerates error and change • Students make decisions with a framework • Students design the process for reaching a solution • Students have a chance to reflect on the activities • Assessment takes place continuously • A final product results and is evaluated for quality

For students accustomed to a more traditional school experience, this means a transformation from following orders to carrying out self-directed learning activities; from memorizing and repeating to discovering, integrating, and presenting; from listening and reacting to communicating and taking responsibility; from knowledge of facts, terms, and content to understanding processes; from theory to application of theory; from being teacher dependent to being empowered (Intel, 2003).

What are the challenges facing teachers? Teachers who bring project-based learning into the classroom may have to adopt new instructional strategies to achieve success. Having the teacher take the role of guide or facilitator is not the way that most educators were taught, nor even the way they were taught to teach. Direct-instruction methods that rely on textbooks, lectures, and traditional assessments do not work well in the more open-ended, interdisciplinary world of project-based learning. Rather, teachers do more coaching and modeling and less "telling." They need to be comfortable with "wrong turns" that students may make en route to completing a project (Intel, 2003). Teachers may find themselves learning alongside their students as projects unfold.

Specific challenges facing teachers include: • Recognizing situations that make for good projects • Structuring problems as learning opportunities • Collaborating with colleagues to develop interdisciplinary projects • Managing the learning process • Integrating technologies where appropriate • Developing authentic assessments

Indeed, teachers may have to be willing to take risks to overcome initial challenges. A supportive administration can help by implementing more flexible schedules, such as block schedules or team planning time, and providing teachers with professional development opportunities.

References Boaler, J. (1999, March 31). Mathematics for the moment, or the millennium? Education Week. Bransford, J., Brown, A., & Cocking, R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

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Goodrich, H. A. (1997). Understanding rubrics. Educational Leadership,54(4). http://www.middleweb.com/rubricsHG.html* George Lucas Educational Foundation. (2001, November 1). Project-based learning research. Edutopia. www.edutopia.org* Intel® Teach to the Future. (2003). Project-based classroom: Bridging the gap between education and technology. Training materials for regional and master trainers. Author. Jarrett, D. (1997). Inquiry strategies for science and mathematics learning. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. http://www.nwrel.org/msec/images/resources/justgood/05.97.pdf* Lewin, Larry, Betty Jean Shoemaker (1998). Great performances: Creating classroom-based assessment tasks, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Marzano, Robert J, Jay McTighe, Debra J. Pickering (1993). Assessing student outcomes: Performance assessment using the dimensions of learning, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Railsback, J. (2002). Project-based instruction: Creating excitement for learning. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. http://www.nwrel.org/request/2002aug/index.html* SRI International. (2000, January). Silicon valley challenge 2000: Year 4 Report. San Jose, CA: Joint Venture, Silicon Valley Network. http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/sri/Reports.htm* Thomas, J.W. (1998). Project-based learning: Overview. Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education. Thomas, J.W. (2000). A review of research on project-based learning. San Rafael, CA: Autodesk. http://www.k12reform.org/foundation/pbl/research* Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2001). Understanding by design. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2004). Understanding by design professional development workbook, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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THE FOUR TYPES OF UNDERACHIEVERS

Even though underachievers struggle with most of the same patterns and characteristics, all children with motivation problems don’t behave-or feel-the same way. Underachievers fall into four types. Each of these requires a particular kind of intervention.

Four Types What percent are primarily this type? Distant 5 Passive 20 Dependent 60 Defiant 15

These types of underachievers are not mutually exclusive. An underachieving student may, at any one time, show some aspects of more than one type. Because these are developmental categories, a child may pass from one type to another on his way to increasing maturity. Patterns of a distant or passive underachiever tend to emerge early in life, dependency a little later and defiant underachieving usually begins in the mid-to-late teens. Keep in mind that at any one point in time. Though they may exhibit behaviors that fit several categories, underachievers will show characteristics that are predominately one type.

Levels of Emotional Development

Time

Each ring represents an achieved development stage

Focus Trust/Bonding

Approval/Acceptance

Dependence/Guidance

Independence/Differentiation

To Maturity

Significant Others

MotherFather

ParentsTeachers

Peers Self Self & Others

ChronologicalAge NormallySeen*

0- 2 yrs. 3-7 yrs. 8-12 yrs. 13-21 yrs. 22 + yrs

*Approximate age range when this level normally emerges. Most children move through all these stages on their way to maturity. An underachiever becomes “stuck” at a particular stage, or regresses to an earlier one.

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THE DISTANT UNDERACHIEVERDistant underachievers are detached from other people. They choose to be distant because

the key issue with Distants is broken trust. For most of them, trusts were broken when they were very young, early in their development. Perhaps the provoking event was something as traumatic as a parent dying or parents divorcing or a parent abandoning the family. Other inciting incidents could be having someone close to them die, losing a pet, having a friend leave, frequent moves. Almost anything that creates strong emotional distress can contribute to a person being stuck at the distant level.

Because their feelings were hurt in the past, Distants carry the belief that trusting another person to be there for them is risky, so they choose to retreat emotionally. At their immature level of development, children with this problem feel that not getting close to other people will prevent them from being hurt again. This leads Distants to disengage from investing in their lives and form actively initiating social contacts. At school they don’t easily become involved with others or with class activities.

As they get older, they have few friends, if any. Emotional intimacy is avoided.

This distancing usually occurs in all aspects of their lives. Any commitment carries risks. Frequently, they will not care about anything and find reasons to remain disengaged.

Because distant underachievers are so emotionally immature, their interactions often focus heavily on their own needs rather than mutual needs. They usually have low frustration tolerance, often striking out in antisocial ways. If provoked, they may react with hostility and with no regard for consequences.

Keeping relationships secondary or tertiary behind their individual pursuits protects Distants from the uncertainties of human interactions and the possibilities of rejection and brings instead the consistencies of predictability, which these children require to meet their emotional needs. Inconsistencies profoundly disturb them.

Their lack of positive interpersonal relationships makes it difficult for Distants to change their circumstances. It is especially important to be sensitive to distant underachievers’ states of anxiety and distrust. Distant underachievers must be carefully approached in a consistent manner. Even small inconsistencies, such as being five minutes late when picking them up from school, can undermine any fragile trust established and cause them to distance themselves even more. Distants fantasize catastrophic outcomes: “Mom’s not coming to pick me up! She forgot about me!”

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THE PASSIVE UNDERACHIEVER

Passives are stuck at higher developmental levels than Distants. They are passive in their own interests. The key issue for Passives is that they find their self-worths and identities externally through the approval of others, Activitie and tasks center on the desire of the passive underachiever to gain approval of authority figures, especially parents and teachers, without consideration for his or her won needs, Passive feel that their adequacy as individuals is singularly based on meeting the expectations of others rather than on who they are as individuals. This creates intense anxiety-unproductive anxiety.

Generally, children between the ages of three and seven go through normal developmental period in which they try to please authority figures usually parents and teachers, in order to gain approval. As they acquire a better sense of self, most children quickly move through that period in which the approval of others is more important than anything else. Passives, however are stuck at this level or they may have dropped back from a higher developmental level.

In trying to please others, Passives get so apprehensive about the possibility that they may not please significant people in their lives and their self- certainty is so low. That their anxieties rise, overwhelming them. They freeze. They blank, responding oddly or in completely wrong ways. They end up falling short of everyone’s expectations, including their own. Guilty, rejected and unhappy, they experience more anxieties, which cause even more failures, It’s a circular “Catch-22” situation.

Whereas a certain amount of anxiety serves as performance cues to motivated kids, for Passives any anxiety becomes too much to bear. These children tend to collapse under it rather than use it productively.

Because Passives try to achieve for other and not for themselves, they do not experience the personal fulfillment that is necessary to develop and maintain self-motivation. Their striving for others’ approval is superficial to their own interests and externally driven.

Passives are usually so likable and try so hard to please that parents actually get anxious when their children move beyond this pattern of underachievement and progress normally to and through a dependent or difiantstage. At this point parents go from having an overly nice kid to an assertive one. The transition is jolting.

Passives can be among the most responsive children, frequently volunteering to help even if not confident that they can produce. They just want you to know that they’re trying. When it comes to school work or chores, they may even try to complete their work in minute detail after much discussion about exactly what they should do, but they show few elements of original thought. When asked for personal views, they are most likely to reflect the views of others rather than divulge their own thinking.

Passive underachievers tend to fall within four subcategories: obsessive, compulsive, somatic and hysterical.

1. Compulsive Passive underachievers’ concerns center on the necessity of order and neatness. Order and neatness seem to lessen their runway, interfering anxieties. This compulsion for order shows up in their attention to detail that precedes most activities. Room temperature, lighting and even the arrangement of items on the desk are vital prerequisites for beginning work. But they miss the big picture.

2. Obsessive passive underachievers cannot make commitments to tasks or goals. Instead, they put so much effort into checking what to do and how to do it that the tasks themselves do not get done.

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3. Somatic Passives, on the other hand, are most likely to use physical distress as a way to cope with their interfering anxieties. Physical ailments become excuses to escape from rejection or disapproval. These tendencies will often become apparent when children with this problem are faced with situation by eliciting sympathy from people around them; they avoid the possibility of failure through manipulation. Students like this spend inordinate time in the school nurse’s office or home from school. They have headaches or stomach aches, they feel faint or uncomfortable – they have all sorts of vague physical complaints. The physical symptoms and accompanying discomfort of underachievers manifesting these signs are real, but the symptoms are caused by the stress of anxiety, tension and anticipation.

4. Hysterical passive underachievers have more direct approaches. They focus on acceptance and approval of their external self. They try to impress others by their exaggerated interests, their exaggerated efforts and their exaggerated disappointments when they fail. A typical move would be raising a hand in class when the tachers asks a question, but not having an answer to the question.

Passives are very uncomfortable with their senses of self. They are more mature than Distants, but still are not sufficiently developed emotionally to face how they feel: trapped, anxious and unhappy.

THE DEPENDENT UNDERACHIEVER

The Dependent is the most common type of underachiever. Picture this: It’s dinnertime. Walking into the kitchen, you find your fourteen-year-old working on a science project that has overtaken the entire kitchen. In order to have dinner that night, you need to “help” with the project, which is due the next morning. You become upset when you realize the project was assigned two weeks ago and now your evening is going to be spent doing homework. Your adolescent is calm and secure now that help has arrived.

While usually complaining that they want to be left alone, Dependents really want others to experience their emotions, solve their conflicts and take their responsibilities. You might say the Dependent’s philosophy is “It is better to give discomfort than receive it.” Dependents see emotions as something to avoid.

Dependents display selective memory and selective attention. They commonly fail to set priorities effectively, often focusing on activities that have little long-term value, while ignoring those that will impact on their futures. The Dependents’ goals change frequently, are not well thought out or simply disappear. In junior high or high school, dependent underachievers often focus on subjects such as physical education, art or music while showing little interest in core subjects.

Much of the time Dependents say they feel bored. These kids place little importance on school and, sometimes, will even make statements about not wanting to grow up and not wanting to leave home. Missing or unprepared assignments become increasingly frequently externalize blame when things don’t work our well for them. It’s always someone else’s fault there ware circumstances beyond their control. Their explanations serve to deny them control over their situations. This reduces their anxieties from their continual inadequacies or failures. What they really are attempting to do is avoid responsibilities-and the future-by staying dependent However, dependents say they want others to leave them alone. While they complain about others stepping in, dependent underachievers have created their dependency by their inactions.

Let’s say you have a dependent underachiever who has a test tomorrow, but he chooses to watch television all evening or talk on the phone with friends. At about nine in the evening, you find out about the test from another parent. You tell your child to turn off the television or put down the phone and go to his room to study. Chances are he will go to his room, sit with his book in front of him and act like he is studying. However, he will only look at his work when you walk by the room

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and then, only grudgingly. Mainly, he will sit there thinking about how strict you are, how unfair his teacher is for having this test and how irrelevant the class material is to his life.

Usually, Dependents are quite effective at transferring emotions to concerned and caring adults. Unfortunately, if you jump in and begin taking control, trying to force compliance and personal responsibility, this can contribute to dependency. If these students get through high school because others are always guiding, controlling and prodding, they usually fail college or their employers. They aren’t able to function independently, away from the support of others. It is best not to react in a take charge manner in response to a dependent underachiever. A dependent underachiever may have been a good student at one time. But just about the time when students are required to complete heavier workloads outside the school environment- a major step to personal responsibility-the dependent underachiever stats to show the signs of indifference soon, lost or unprepared assignments become a commonplace problem.

THE DEFIANT UNDERACHIEVER

Defiant underachieving usually begins in the mid-to-late teens and these young adults tend to be very insecure in their emerging independence and maturity. Of all the types of underachievers, they are the farthest along developmentally-the closest to being mature-but this weakness in their independence holds them back. May Defiant are openly rebellious. If you say “up.” They say “down.’ If you agree and change to “down,” they will say ‘up.” They have difficulty accepting 6that their teachers, counselors and especially parents are generally correct about life’s connections and the need to fit themselves within a social context. They are conflicted. External authority stirs that conflict-as do limits, exceptions and any other boundaries.

This creates turmoil and confusion for them. They tend to act-our by arranging confrontations and by only rarely using either negotiation or compromise. If you go past almost any high school in the morning before classes start, you’ll see the kids who have add hairstyles and strange clothing loitering off school property. Maybe they’re smoking. Generally, they look rebellious. These tend to be Defiants They’ll sneer at anyone over thirty. They spend much energy trying to be confrontational in ways that they think are clever, Favorite pastimes include “catching” parents doing things that are forbidden and pointing out illogic, irrelevancy or inadequacy in adults. Depending on the intensity of their defiance, this can range from mildly irritating to outrageous. Defiant underachievers will provoke “oppressive” behavior by authority figures in order to ensure the continuance of their rationalizations of underachievement. Defiants truly have “attitudes.” Adults sometimes have a hard time not agreeing with Defiants or getting a kick out of what they say. Woven into their refusals to study could be some persuasive and entertaining arguments about the irrelevance of the subject matter, for example. “Who really needs Emily Dickinson’s poetry?” can sound like a legitimate question to a parent who owns a shoe store. The underachievers don’t understand the value of acquiring discipline through a range of schoolwork, of mental exercises to stimulate their brain, of expanding interests and being well-rounded individuals, and they shut these messages out when parents and teachers express them.

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Group Activity on Under Achievement

Exercise

Learning Outcomes:

Awareness of Under achievement Identification of under achievers Differentiation of various types of under achievers

Method:

The trainer or facilitator will introduce the topic about under achievers and gives a brief idea of types of under achievers ( 10 minutes). The activity then starts

1. Assemble all the trainees in 4 or 5 groups2. Each participant has to recollect at least 2 under achieving students (boy or girl) of his her

class3. Provide a piece of paper to each trainee4. For each student, the teacher has to recollect the types of difficulty the child is facing in the

following headings:1. Behaviour2. Writing3. Memory4. Logical ability5. Independence to do on their own6. Language, comprehension7. Interest in other co curricular activities etc.8. Some unique/abnormal mistakes committed

5. For both the students, the difficulties have to be detailed on the paper6. After 15 minutes of listing the difficulties, they will share their experiences with the other

members of the group for identification of their specific problem area of the students.7. A group leader will present a small brief of their groups interaction regarding under achievers

and their identification to the whole group.

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CHANGE MANAGEMENTThe concept of change management describes a structured approach to transitions in

individuals, teams, organizations and societies that moves the target from a current state to a desired state. Stated simply, change management is a process for managing the people-side of change. The most recent research points to a combination of organizational change management tools and individual change management models for effective change to take place.

Theories of Change

The evolution of the change management field stems from psychology, business and engineering. Hence, some models are derived from an organizational development perspective whereas others are based on individual behavioral models. Understanding of individual and organizational change theory is necessary to implement effective change management processes and tools.

Individual Change Management

An early model of change developed by Kurt Lewin described change as a three-stage process. The first stage he called "unfreezing". It involved overcoming inertia and dismantling the existing "mind set". Defense mechanisms have to be bypassed. In the second stage the change occurs. This is typically a period of confusion and transition. We are aware that the old ways are being challenged but we do not have a clear picture to replace them with yet. The third and final stage he called "refreezing". The new mindset is crystallizing and one's comfort level is returning to previous levels.

Some change theories are based on derivatives of the Kübler-Ross model from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's book, "On Death and Dying." The stages of Kubler-Ross's model describe the personal and emotional states that a person typically encounters when dealing with loss of a loved one. Derivatives of her model applied in other settings such as the workplace show that similar emotional states are encountered as individuals are confronted with change.

A Formula for Change was developed by Richard Beckhard and David Gleicher and is sometimes referred to as Gleicher's Formula. The Formula illustrates that the combination of organisational dissatisfaction, vision for the future and the possibility of immediate, tactical action must be stronger than the resistance within the organisation in order for meaningful changes to occur.

The ADKAR model for individual change management was developed by Prosci with input from more than 1000 organizations from 59 countries. This model describes five required building blocks for change to be realized successfully on an individual level. The building blocks of the ADKAR Model include:

Awareness – of why the change is needed

Desire – to support and participate in the change

Knowledge – of how to change

Ability – to implement new skills and behaviors

Reinforcement – to sustain the change

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model

Organizational Change Management

Organizational change management includes processes and tools for managing the people side of the change at an organizational level. These tools include a structured approach that can be used to effectively transition groups or organizations through change. When combined with an understanding of individual change management, these tools provide a framework for managing the people side of change.

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Change management - exerciseObjectives:

1) The questionnaire will make participants aware about different aspects involve in change in management.

2) They will realize how they react to change, and how resilient they tend to be during times of change.

Method (Trainer’s use)

1) Questionnaire(provided) is proceeded to each trainee and ask them to give answer in yes or no in the column provided

2) They should count the yes to any odd number question (1,3,5, etc.)

3) Place an ‘x’ on the line where he/she falls along the change resilience continuum below the table based on the score. (Show this continuum on the black board)

Change Averse Pro-change

20+ to 15 15 to 10 10 to 5 5 to 0

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Exercise

How Do You React To Change?

This questionnaire will allow you to determine your preferred response to change. This includes your definition of change. How you react to change, and how resilient you tend to be during times of change.

Answer each of he following questions by checking (Ö )the box marked YES or NO based on whether you exhibit this behavior or not.

YES NO1. I tend to view change as threatening.2. I generally take risks despite potentially negative consequences.3. I often feel victimized by change.

4.I assume that change will bring a new set of opportunities and choices that will produce even more demanding challenge.

5. I think change should progress in a logical and orderly fashion.

6.I tend to view change and its discomforts ad a necessary part of the adjustment process.

7. I tend to have a low tolerance for ambiguity.

8.I tend to compartmentalize stress caused by change so that it will not cause disruptions in another area of my life.

9. I often see change as unnatural, unnecessary, and unpleasant. 10. I know the limitations of my personal and organizational resources.11. I rarely see a need for change.

12.I rarely waste time, money, and energy pursuing change initiatives that cannot be successfully supported.

13. I generally respond in a reactive rather than proactive manner to change.14. I tend to be creative about how to maximize the use of my resources. 15. I feel uncomfortable managing uncertainty.

16.I constantly challenge my own assumptions and frames of reference about how something can be accomplished.

17.I often interpret unexpected change as the result of personal or organizational agendas.

18. I usually recognize when I need to ask for help.19. I tend to focus on influencing others and resolving conflict.20. I tend to focus on influencing others and resolving conflict.21. I often see the world as being unpredictable, confusing and contradictory.22. I tend to accept change as a natural part of life.23. I see major change as uncomfortable and a problem to avoid.24. I rarely assume that my world will remain unchanged.25. I find it difficult to break from established ways of doing things.26. I see change as a challenge with problems to solve and opportunities to exploit.27. I find it difficult to effectively manage tasks and demands at the same time.

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28. I tend to have a high tolerance for ambiguity. 29. I rarely ask others for help when it is needed. 30 I often feel empowered during change.

31.I do not take risks when consequences are difficult to determine or clearly negative.

32. I usually display patience, understanding, and humor when dealing with change.33. I have a hard time changing priorities during change.34. I generally only need a short time to recover from adversity or disappointment. 35. I feel I am unable to influence others or resolve conflicts effectively.

36.I recognize my own strengths and weakness and know when to accept internal or external limits.

37.I tend to refrain from developing and maintaining nurturing relationships that can be used fro support during change.

38. I set and renegotiate priorities during change. 39. I often lack patience, understanding, and humor in the face of change.

40. I usually compartmentalize stress in one area so that it dies not carry over in to other areas of my life.

Scoring

1 Review your questionnaire and note on the line below the number of times you answered YES to any ODD –NUMBERED question (i.e., question ( 1,3,5,7………)

Total the Number of Yes Answers (for Odd Numbered Questions)

2 Ask the facilitator for interpretation of your score

(Note to trainees: This score is a pointer to your perception about change, you may introspect for comparison )

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DEVELOPING MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

Talents differ; all is well and wisely put.

- Emerson

The multiple intelligences theory was first propounded by development psychologist Howard Gardner in his seminal book Frames of the Mind in 1984. In this landmark work, Gardner recounted the findings of his research. Since then, the theory of multiple intelligences has been enthusiastically embraced by educationists around the world. More than two decades later, scholars in several countries are researching how this theory can be implemented in education, agriculture and business.

For many years the IQ test was used to discern the aptitudes of students and ascertain which vocations would be most suitable for them. However, the conventional IQ test is essentially an indicator of students who have particular skills in languages and mathematics. In the 21st century, when countries need visionary leaders and multi-skilled workers in a wide range of occupations, education based on stimulating multiple intelligences best equips students for the contemporary, multi-tasking world.

For quite sometime, educationists in India have been aware that pedagogies must change if the country is to reap its demographic dividend in the new millennium. In July 2004, the executive committee of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) took the decision to revise the National Curriculum Framework.

Recommending that the curriculum should be made more relevant to the present and future needs of school children, it is submitted that teachers need to understand the way learning occurs; find ways of creating conducive conditions for learning; accommodate differences among students in respect of pace and style of learning; view learners as active participative individuals and understand that student capabilities are not fixed but capable of developing through experiences.

But these ideals have yet to be attained. While there are excellent examples of teaching in some schools, and although teachers are willing to learn new pedagogies, professional development and teacher training opportunities are sadly deficient.

Against this back drop, multiple intelligences (MI) workshops have shown teachers how to create their own lesson plans using a wide range of new teaching learning pedagogies. The basic proposition advanced in these workshops is that all students have differing talents and learn in different ways. Some learn by reading; others prefer to write and take notes. Yet others remember visuals or learn best when acting, dancing or making models. We all use different parts of our brains to solve varying problems. Thus by encouraging and stimulating multiple intelligences in classrooms, teachers can utilize differences for the good of their pupils. (The eight multiple intelligences are – linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, naturalist, interpersonal and intrapersonal).

The traditional pedagogy in India’s Classroom has been ‘chalk-n-talk’, which benefits students with strong linguistic intelligence. But chalk-n-talk is anathema to children with strong spatial or kinesthetic intelligences. Commenting on Asia’s emerging skills shortage The Economist (August 16, 2007) writes: ”Recent growth in many parts of Asia has been so great that it has rapidly transformed the types of skills needed by business. Schools and universities have been unable to keep up. India has fewer than 3000 pilots today but will need more than 12000 by 2025”. The skills pilots need are dependent on well-developed spatial intelligence. Similarly, the country needs

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multiple skills in all aspects of work, and schools need to develop MI skill sets from early age education.

Workshops are of little use unless they are followed up with realistic implementation plans. The biggest problem of India’s teachers is overcrowded classrooms, often lacking in equipment and resources. Moreover teachers have to grapple with short lesson periods which don’t allow time for imaginative teaching and a vast syllabus to cover, together with a perennial demand for good exam outcomes.

Professor Yash Pal wrote in his report to the National Advisory Committee that “Mechanical load on our students may not be too heavy, but the load of non comprehension is equally cruel”. The vast syllabus contributes to the cohesion of India’s society and should not be belittled; examinations, however, should require demonstration of excellence in a wider range of skills.

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STRESS MANAGEMENT

What is Stress?

Dr.Hans Selye, the father of stress theory, defined stress as “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand made upon it.” The “demand” can be a threat, a challenge or any kind of change which requires the body to adapt. The response is automatic and immediate. Stress can be good (called “eustress”) when it helps us perform better, or it can be bad (“distress”) when it causes disturbance or makes us sick.

What Does the Stress Reaction Consist of?

The stress reaction results from an outpouring of adrenaline, a stimulant hormone, into the blood stream. This, with other stress hormones, produces a number of changes in the body which are intended to be protective. The result often is called “the fight or flight response” because it provides the strength and energy to either fight or run away from danger. The changes include an increase in heart rate and blood pressure (to get more blood to the muscles, brain and heart), faster breathing (to take in more oxygen), tensing of muscles (preparation for action), increased mental alertness and sensitivity of sense organs (to assess the situation and act quickly), increased blood flow to the brain, heart and muscles (the organs that are most important in dealing with danger) and less blood to the skin, digestive tract, kidneys and liver (where it is least needed in times of crisis). In addition, there is an increase in blood sugar, fats and cholesterol (for extra energy) and a rise in platelets and blood clotting factors (to prevent hemorrhage in case of injury).

What Are Common Symptoms of Stress?

Manifestations of stress are numerous and varied but they generally fall into four categories (this is only a partial list of common symptoms):

Physical : fatigue, headache, insomnia, muscle aches/stiffness (especially neck, shoulders and low back), heart palpitations, chest pains, abdominal cramps, nausea, trembling, cold extremities, flushing or sweating and frequent colds.

Mental: decrease in concentration and memory, indecisiveness, mind racing or going blank, confusion, loss of sense of humor.

Emotional : anxiety, nervousness, depression, anger, frustration, worry, fear, irritability, impatience, short temper.

Behavioral: pacing, fidgeting, nervous habits (nail biting, foot-tapping), increased eating, smoking, drinking, crying, yelling, swearing, blaming and even throwing things or hitting.

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What Are the Causes of Stress?

Dr. Selye called the causes of stress “stressors” or “triggers”. There are two kinds of stressors: external and internal.

External stressors include: Physical environment : noise, bright lights, heat, confined spaces. Social (interaction with people) : rudeness, bossiness or aggressiveness on the part of

someone else. Organizational: rules, regulations, “red tape” deadlines. Major life events: death of a relative, lost job, promotion, new baby. Daily hassles: Commuting, misplacing keys, mechanical breakdowns.

Internal Stressors include:

Lifestyle choices : caffeine, not enough sleep, overloaded schedule. Negative self talk: pessimistic thinking, self criticism, over analyzing. Mind traps: unrealistic expectations, taking things personally, all-or-nothing thinking,

exaggerating, rigid thinking. Stressful personality traits : Type A, perfectionist, workaholic, pleaser.

It is important to note that most of the stress that most of us have is actually self generated.

Change your thinking

Look at things more positively. See problems as opportunities. Refute negative thoughts. Keep a sense of humor.

Diversion and distraction:

Take a time-out (anything from a short walk to a vacation) to get away from the things that are bothering you. This will not resolve the problem, but it gives you a break and chance for your stress levels to decrease. Then, you can return to deal with issues feeling more rested and in a better frame of mind.

This is a paradox because so many people think of external stressors when they are upset (it is the weather, the boss, the children, the spouse, the stock market). Recognizing that we create most of our own upsets, however, is an important first step to dealing with them.

What Are Some Ways to Reduce Stress?

The following are some categories that can be helpful in mastering stress:

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Change lifestyle habits.

Decrease caffeine (coffee, tea, colas, chocolate)

Well balanced diet

Decrease consumption of junk food.

Eat slowly.

Regular exercise (at least 30 minutes, three times per week)

Adequate sleep (figure out what you need, then get it)

Leisure time (do something for yourself every day).

Relaxation exercises (e.g. meditation, self – hypnosis)

Change stressful situations

Time and money management

Assertiveness

Look at things more positively

Problem –solving

Possibly leaving a job or a relationship.

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RESEARCH ACTIVITIES FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

OBJECTIVES

Acquainting teachers / field level functionaries with different types of research with special focus on action research,

Equipping primary school teachers to carry out simple action research to solve their immediate problems related to school,

Providing necessary inputs for conducting researches and utilizing research findings for improving the quality of elementary education.

What is Research?

Mouly (1978) has defined research in very simple words : “Research is best conceived as the process of arriving at dependable solutions to problems through the planned and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data.” It is the most important tool for advancing knowledge, for promoting progress, and for enabling man to relate more effectively to his environment, to accomplish his purposes, and to resolve his conflicts. Any systematic study designed to promote the development of education can be regarded as educational research. Educational research can broadly be classified as fundamental research and action research.

Action research

While the value of fundamental research is determined by the amount of dependable knowledge it adds to the already existing one, the value of action research is determined by the extent to which the findings lead to improvement in the practices of the people engaged in research.

Action research is the research a person conducts in order to enable him / her to be more effective. A school practitioner usually takes decisions on the basis of tradition or experiences of others or by using common sense. Action research is a step ahead of common sense approach. The difference between fundamental and action research is mainly of the degree of refinement and discipline in various steps for taking a decision. In action research, a teacher is actually careful in diagnosing the problem, in collecting facts, in designing hypotheses, in experiments with tentative practices and actions, and in evaluating results of the actions taken. Action research may be both individual and co-operative. It will be co-operative when many people deal with a problem or research is likely to effect many people.

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Steps to be followed in Action Research –

i. Identify the Research ProblemsUsually teachers are aware of the problems which exist in the school situation. Many of these problems need investigation and can be easily taken up for research by teachers. However, a teacher should evaluate a research problem by responding to the following questions:

Can the problem be solved in part or full through the process of research? Is it feasible to collect data to find an answer to the research questions? Is the problem related to an important educational principle? Would the solution help in improving the situation? Do I have the understanding of different aspects of the problem to interpret findings? Are the data gathering devices available? If not, can I develop them on my own or

with the assistance of fellow teachers? Can I generate necessary resources for financing the study, if required? Can I manage time to complete the study?

Taking the above questions into consideration we can pin-point our research problems.

ii. Define the problem Pin-point / specify the problem as to undertake an objective study. Specify limitations, merits and demerits of the study. Specify the reasons responsible for the problem. Specify the factors within and beyond the control of the teacher.

iii. Workout practicable strategies by determining Means and ways Available resources and resources to be created.

iv. Workout financial and administrative inputs required.

v. Follow team work, if possible, and adopt a unified approach to solve the problem.

vi. Work on the project / problem in view of the strategies adopted (more than one strategy can be tried-out at the same time).

vii. Evaluate the effect of process, strategies and resources involved in solving the problem on a continuous basis and if necessary, modify the plan of action.

viii. Collect data through observation, teacher made tests, survey tools etc. with community support.

ix. Draw conclusions with reference to Observations Participation Achievement Activities undertaken Process adopted (may be further tested by using a wider sample)

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x. Carry out modification in learning outcomes, environment building, regularity and punctuality, confidence in self-learning, interaction among the peer group, effectiveness of the resource material used and above all total effectiveness in learning outcomes on the basis of the research activities.

xi. Suggest further strategies / actions to be undertaken for betterment of education.

xii. Develop research modules at the elementary education level for teachers.

Priority areas of research

In the context of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, some of the important problems that need studying are:

Education of the girl child. Pre-school education and its linkage with primary education. Education of children with special educational needs-physically and mentally challenged,

SC / ST, minority, socially and economically underprivileged, e.g. children from urban slums, labourers, families below poverty line, migratory population etc.

Achieving the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education with focus on quality improvement in the form of improving attainments of the school.

Promoting active participation of children in environment building. Teaching-learning process, evaluation, feedback and promotion of potential qualities of

children. Confidence building processes both among students and teachers. Community participation in the process of educational reconstruction. Enrichment of teacher’s knowledge – subject –wise and competency-wise in transaction of

curriculum. Assisting students in their academic performance. Developing curiosity to learn more and more independently, among those children who have

practically no learning environment in their homes nor any encouragement form their parents.

Absenteeism among students and teachers. Establishing interactive relationship between institutions located in urban, rural and tribal

areas and solving problems mutually. Knowing the system of education in rural and tribal areas. Creating awareness in the villages about the need to educate their children for better life and

living.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, it can be said that undertaking research activities at all levels and in all aspects of school education will go a long way in improving the quality of education.

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TEACHER PROFILE & SELF ASSESSMENT

1. How do you rate yourself as a teacher?

2. Is your teaching style authoritarian or liberal?

3. Is your class learner centered?

4. Is your teaching textcentric?

5. How you ever attempted to know your school?

To get answer for these questions complete Annexures that follow (I to v)

Annexure-I

What is your classroom management profile?

Answer these 12 questions and learn more about classroom management profile. The steps are simple:-

Read each statement carefully. Write your response, from the scale below, on a sheet of paper. Respond to each statement based upon either actual or imagined

classroom experience. Then, follow the scoring instructions below. It couldn’t be easier!

1. = Strongly Disagree2. = Disagree3. = Neutral4. = Agree 5. = Strongly Agree

1) If a student is disruptive during class, I assign him/her to detention, without further discussion.

2) I don’t want to impose any rules on my students.3) The classroom must be quiet in order for students to learn.4) I am concerned about both my students learns and how they learn.5) If a student turns in a late homework assignment, it is not my problem.6) I don’t want to reprimand a student because it might hurt his/her feelings.7) Class preparation isn’t worth the effort.8) I always try to explain the reasons behind my rules and decisions.9) I will not accept excuses from a student who is tardy.10) The emotional well-being of my students is more important than classroom control.11) My students understand that they can interrupt my lecture if they have a relevant

question.12) If a student requests a hall pass, I always honor the request.

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To score your quiz

Add your responses to statements 1,3, and 9

This is your score for the authoritarian style.

Statements 4, 8 and 11 refer to the authoritative style.

Statements 6, 10 and 12 refer to the casual style.

Statements 2, 5 and 7 refer to the indifferent style.

The result is your classroom management profile. Your score for each management style can range from 3 to15. A high score indicates a strong preference for that particular style. After you have scored your quiz, and determined your profile, read the descriptions of each management style. You may see a little bit of yourself in each one.

As you gain teaching experience, you may find that your preferred style(s) will change. Over time, your profile may become more diverse or more focused. Also, it may be suitable to rely upon a specific style when addressing a particular situation or subject. Perhaps the successful teacher is one who can evaluate a situation and then apply the appropriate style. Finally, remember that the intent of this exercise is to inform you and arouse your curiosity regarding classroom management styles.

Note:

One Middle school pupil reacts to the authoritarian teaching style:

I don’t really care for this teacher. He is really strict and doesn’t seem to want to give his students a fair chance. He seems unfair, although that’s just his way of getting his point across.

A student reacts to the authoritative style:

I like this teacher. She is fair and understands that students can’t be perfect. She is the kind of teacher you can talk to without being put down or feeling embarrassed.

A Casual Teacher

This is a pretty popular teacher. You don’t have to be serious throughout the class. But sometimes things get out of control and we learn nothing at all.

An Indifferent Teacher:

This teacher can’t control the class and we never learn anything in there. There is hardly ever homework and people rarely bring their books.

So, Which one are you? Which one is the best ? Think about it………..

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OUT OF THE BOX EXERCISE

Time 40 minutes

Objectives:

Able to think deviating from the normal line Extrapolative thinking ability enhancement Enhance imagination Enhance creativity

Materials: 4 chart papers, cello tape, sketch pens

Method :

1 Divide the participants in to 4 groups for this activity (Each group can have a mix of male, female, elder, young etc,.)

2 Each group will be given any one topic of the following:

i) if all petrol /diesel is exhausted on the earth ii) if males could have babiesiii) if zero is not known iv) if trains could fly v) if sea water becomes sweet and potable vi) if humans become liliputs vii) if humans have 4hands 2 front and 2 rear etc

3 Each group will assemble separately, discuss the positive and negative points of the situation.

4 After exploring, each group will list all the positive points on the chart paper on the left side of the chart paper and all negative points on the right half of the chart paper.

5 One member of each group will read out loudly.

Note: Some funny, extraordinary statements will come up

(source of idea: facilitators manual –NAEP)

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TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM Most teachers of English in Kendriya Vidyalayas accept the fact that adequate attention is not being paid in both primary and secondary classes to the development of language skills viz a) listening comprehension b) speaking skills c) reading comprehension & d) writing skills in their English classrooms Though all agree that language is essentially a skill and developing proficiency in using the language is the goal of language teaching, most of them devote time and energy to completing the syllabus and preparing students for examinations. Evaluation being text based, these students secure good scores and leave school with inadequate communication skills and low language proficiency.

During In-service courses when teachers of English at all the three levels (Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary) were asked why they did not focus on development of language skills, the reasons they gave were enlightening.

Examination oriented teaching with focus on text based evaluation, lack of time for developing language skills, teachers basic competence , socio-economic background of students, lack of exposure to English both at home and in school, lack of additional resources and text centric teaching were the reasons given by the teachers.

In this article, I have attempted to give some suggestions for teachers with large classes of students who have problems while trying to teach speaking skills.

Why should we teach speaking skills in the classroom?

Most of us equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language. This is right because speaking is fundamental to human communication and human beings speak more than they read, write or listen.

If we accept that the goal of teaching English is to enable learners to communicate effectively in English, then speaking skills should be taught and practiced in the language class room. This can be done by organizing activities that develop speaking skills . Teachers of English can make the English language class room a dynamic place and raise general learner motivation in using the language by organizing interesting, interactive and joyful learning experiences.

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Dealing with common problems and arguments against teaching Speaking skills in the classroom.

Students don’t talk or say anything in English.

There are many ways to tackle this problem: In the primary classes, specially in Class I & II spontaneous natural conversation is to be encouraged and students are to be given ample opportunity to listen to natural talk.

From day one students are to be taught class room language as often as possible (Class room instructions, action words, content and structural words, question words etc.) For e.g.

Greetings – Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, Thank You.

Instructions – listen carefully, all of you will raise your hands, sit down, stand up, open your note books, give me the answers to the questions etc.

Questions – What did you have for breakfast this morning? Do you like listening to stories?What does your father do? or Where does he work?What is your neighbour’s name?

Students should be encouraged to ask for things and to ask questions in English.Giving positive feedback helps to encourage and relax shy students to speak more. Simple language games could be used effectively to make students speak without fear and inhibitions. Flash cards and story cards are to be used extensively. Questions related to the learners experience and to the outside world are to be asked and responses elicited. All responses ,whether incomplete or erroneous are to be accepted and correct responses are to be given by the teacher. Development of oral – aural skills through stories and rhymes is to be done on a regular basis. It is here that the English 400 reading programme can be of immense help.

The reading cards are graded, illustrated, self paced cards and are to be used for developing reading skills. These cards could also be used in the primary classes for developing speaking skills. Simple questions could be asked on the contents of the cards and students will be able to answer them because thematic support in the form of pictures and linguistic support through words are given. The teacher could read the card aloud and every student is to be given opportunity to respond, read, write, draw pictures, speak, observe, reflect, sing and enjoy English classes. Class rooms could be decorated with illustrations of stories / extracts as given in the cards and desks could be arranged so that learners sit in groups instead of rows.

One of the reasons for “student silence” may be that class activities are boring or not communicative as we think they are. All that the students are required to do is to answer “yes” or “no” which they do quickly and then sit in silence or worse, start talking noisily in Hindi or L1.

The best way to encourage students to speak in English is for the teacher to speak in English himself /herself as much as possible in class. If the teacher is shy about speaking in English she cannot expect students to overcome their fears about speaking in English. We should not worry if we are not very fluent or do not possess the native accent. All of us learn to speak by speaking and that goes for teachers as well as students.

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When students work in groups / pairs they end up chatting in their own language.

This is unlikely to happen if you give the students all the tools and language they need to be able to complete the task. If the language is pitched too high they may revert to their L1. Some students, specially beginners will often use their mother tongue (L1) or Hindi as an emotional support. Teachers are to be patient as very soon the confidence levels of students will increase and use of L1 will be less frequent.

Are all the students actively involved in class and are activities interesting?

If students do not have something to say or do, or don’t feel the need to speak, they will switch over to their mother tongue – L1. Activities organized should be easy and interesting and learners need reassurance at every stage.

Our attitude to error correction must change and teachers must realize that when students make mistakes, they are on the right path of language learning.

Classroom becomes noisy and class control becomes difficult.

Classes where efforts are made to make students speak will be noisy, but this is exactly what we want. Learner centred class rooms where learners do the talking in groups or pairs are more conducive to language learning than teacher centred classes. In the primary classes, teaching speaking skills has to be undertaken and classes may become teacher centred. Teachers are to ensure that all learners are involved and that the class does not go out of control. Assigning small writing tasks will result immediately in quietness.

Conclusion :

A few problems that teachers face have been dealt with and solutions have been offered. The problems are not new nor are the solutions offered. As teachers, you will continue to face hurdles but I would like to conclude by saying that it is well worth the trouble – the trial and errors and the concerted efforts made to make learners speak in English and gain proficiency in using the language.

English is a symbol of the aspirations of our youth and as committed teachers of the English Language, we must help learners to realize their dreams.

References :

English 400 Reading Programme, Orient Longman Publications. Nunan. D Language Teaching Methodology Teach English by Adrian Doff. Communicative Language Teaching by Littlewood. Teaching English as a second or Foreign Language by Celce – Murcia

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Documents

· Web viewKeeping in view the death and destruction wrought by devastating disasters, the decade of 1990’s was observed by the United Nations as the International Decade for Natural