My First eBook

My first eBook

My first ebook

My Action Research journey under the aegis of British Council AAPTIS Action Research Programme was an exciting learning curve for me. 

I wanted to register my thoughts, experiences, excitement and all other nuances of the journey in my action research story. Using Flipsnack.com, I have converted the same into eBoook. the result was unexpected as seeing my effort in the form of a book whose pages turn like a real one! WOW!!

How can I not share it with everyone!

So here is my attempt at creating an eBook.

THANKYOU FLIPSNACK!

https://www.flipsnack.com/akila4/action-research-story-for-book.html

All about Word Wall

The Versatile, Humble and Interactive Vocabulary Building Tool

Word Wall has been in vogue for many many years. But the pity is either many teachers do not know about this or it is so humble a technique that many teachers ignore it. But, Word Wall is the most versatile resource.
It definitely is humble as the resources needed are also humble.
1. Wall or any plain surface. Next would be
2. Words / Vocabulary and then one needs
3. chart paper and
4. bold markers.

How to create a Word Wall??
Again I browsed the internet. There are as many ways as there are teachers and students. The most important thing to keep in mind is that the words used must be
1. written /printed in bold characters and 
2. visible clearly to all students at all times.

What words can be used in a Word Wall?? Anything and Everything that one wants to teach and reinforce.

Anything. a teacher can use his/her imagination in ways to use Word Wall. It can be used to teach Nouns, Adjectives, Adverbs, other Parts of Speech, Poetic Devices and what not. You can also use the Word Wall in other Subject Curriculum such as Science (Concepts, Formulae, Definitions), Social Science (special Vocabulary), Mathematics (Formulae) etc.

How to use a Word Wall??

Let me just take the example of what I did in my class. I used the VERBS used in a chapter of text in the Word Wall. Before beginning the chapter the Word Wall had all the verbs used in it.

When the chapter was being done I, again and again, referred to these verbs so that my students will be in constant touch with them. I gave them the correct pronunciation as well as spellings while referring to the words. This way, these words/verbs became part of my students' active vocabulary as they started getting comfortable and familiar with the words and were able to use most of them on their own. that is the reason why the students must be able to constantly be seeing them for some time, as in this case till a chapter is done.

Next comes the versatility of the Word Wall. As I had chosen verbs, I used the Word Wall to teach the other forms of these verbs. So my students came to grips with tenses too. I plan to take it to the next level when with the help of these words/verbs I will teach them grammar of tenses and how to use the various tenses in their speaking and writing. But that would come later on.

This way one can teach anything one wants to with a Word Wall. As I wanted to share this versatile yet simple vocabulary building tool with my fellow teachers I made a PowerPoint presentation of the features of Word Wall.

Then I heard about Prezi, another interesting presentation tool. I wanted to explore this and made a Prezi presentation of Word Wall too. I would like to share both of them on this blog.




 

THE BROWNING VERSION Terence Rattigan

Mindmap of character of Crocker-Harris & Frank

My first encounter with WORD WALL

And then...

I will now trace my Action Research journey.

https://1drv.ms/i/s!Aqa0uo7EZpQJjlovvKL8lsqshtXS

My question for Action Research was “Reading for pleasure is an important skill. Students and youngsters now-a-days just don’t have the inclination and interest for this simple pleasure. Almost all their language woes will be sorted once they get into the habit of reading especially reading for pleasure. So how to make my students take interest in reading?”

I started taking them to the school library and let them read ‘any’ book that interested them. This happened for about 4 weeks. But I couldn’t progress past teeny magazines with colourful pictures. I understood that they were plain ‘not’ interested in this supposed to be intellectual activity.

Meanwhile, I started a facebook page "Reading for pleasure’. 

https://www.facebook.com/Reading-for-pleasure-163564200835939/?modal=composer

I diligently posted pictures, thoughts and lists of books to be read. But with my students, it was as if I had hit a brick wall.

After much pondering, I thought of problems faced by my students. As I discussed this with teachers of other subjects of the class, I understood that they have a problem of comprehending words. Vocabulary was their problem. So now I changed route and started my own research on how to tackle with this problem – the problem students face because of difficulty in understanding words and to use them.

Now I reframed my Action Research question to “there is a gap between words and their meaning. What can I do to decrease this gap?”

I put to use my close friendship with the ‘net’, to find out ways to decrease the word-meaning gap.

Lo!Voila! I hit pay dirt with WORD WALL!!!!

All about my encounter with this gold mine in the next post...

The beginning of my Action Research Journey

British Council, India has been a part of my life since my college days. My friends used to tease me about my magnetic draw towards British Council Library, Chennai- ‘BCL’ - as we used to call it. I drank in Daphne du Maurier and Nevil Shute from the BCL and got teased for that too.

After a gap of many years, British Council, Delhi came into my life in the form of International School Award (ISA) when DAV Public School, sreshtha Vihar, Delhi,  applied for it and I was in the ISA core team. Since then it has been a very fortuitous and fruitful association for me. After twice accredited with the ISA, 5 teachers from the school were selected by Principal Mrs Prem Lata Garg to work with mentors Mrs Suman Chawla and mrs Chandeep Marwah for the Aptis Action Research  Mentor Scheme (AARMS).

To quote Wikipedia, “Action research is either research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems.”

The first meeting was an exciting one as our mentors Mrs Chawla and Mrs Marwah are dynamic personalities. They introduced us to Action Research, what it is and how to go about it. It was intimidating to all five of us from the school, Ms Preeti Bhatnagar, Ms Shweta Handa, Mrs Ranjana Varma, Ms Nupur Gupta and myself.  We wondered if we will be able to take up the challenge of classroom research with all other duties as senior teachers. With the reassurance and positive vibes of Ms Chawla and Ms Marwah, we promised that we will take it up. As passionate teachers, we indeed wanted to be change makers by bringing in small yet fantastic changes in our classrooms.

In this exciting journey we were joined by 5 teachers from Ramjas School, Karol Bagh. It was an interesting mix of teachers of Chemistry, Computer Science and English from primary to the senior classes. We were told to think of questions on which we could base our action research. It could be “something which has been challenging us in the class room or something which is a success but needed further exploration”. The webinar led by our mentors’ guides Mr Amol and Mr Richard was an eye opener as all of us were impressed and intrigues us the teacher from Mexico and her action research. Through action research, she was able to find out “how to end her lessons interestingly”. As teachers, we plan extensively about how to introduce each lesson and ways to begin every class. We do not give much thinking about how to end our classes. We just summarise and probably exit the class. The webinar in detail spoke about this teacher’s research and how she started practicing different interesting means to end her classes. Wow! Just great!! we thought. Can we also practice such simple, interesting and exciting things in our classroom? 

We started discussing things then. And then...

Relevance of Mythology today

Many of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s cannot forget Amar Chitra Katha (ACK). Uloopi, Chitrangada , the beautiful pictures of Sita and other princesses, the unique sounding names, Pingalaka, Bhasuraka, the beauty of Malavika of Kalidasa – each one has a special place in my life. More than History lessons in school, I learnt about Baji Rao and Kannagi from Amar Chitra Katha.

Such was the allure of the pictures and stories that my father used to bring one or two titles every month. There used to be competition among classmates and friends on the titles one possessed. Titles were exchanged, to be read and enjoyed. It was a matter of pride to possess titles of ACK.  

My initiation into mythology was through ACK only. I was attracted towards Indian mythology and the intriguing stories of the great heroes and heroines like Rani Lakshmi Bai, Rani Padmini inspired me no end.

By the way, once upon a time it was fashionable to be knowledgeable about Indian mythology.  I wonder why it is no longer so now. Why the gen Y, gen X gen Z are running after angry birds, Pokemon, Doremon and other monsters?  What is not there in mythology to attract the active minds of youngsters? Mythology has alluring beautiful ladies, great warriors, black villains, breathless adventure, exciting action and to top these all, values and life skills to follow and imbibe.

How many of the young generation knows the story of Ramayana and Mahabharata? Why do they consider that it is infra dig to know about two of the greatest epics? Is it not the duty of the schools, teachers and parents to introduce mythology to the young generation?

All the schools make it a point to have life skill activities. What better way to introduce life skills and smart thinking than stories of Panchatantra and Hitopadesha? So many competitions are being organized in schools. They have themes in the morning assembly, themes for their annual function, themes like sustainable living, green and clean world etc. these topics again have become fashionable. These can be taught in a wonderful manner with the use of interesting stories from the mythology as well as panchatantra / Hitopadesha.

Planting and preservation of trees are made sacred in religious functions Indians have worshipped trees, we have tied sacred threads around them, we have taken shelter under them, have held social ceremonies around these, offered these water, milk and sometimes even cow dung.

In short, I mean to say that today’s children are ignorant of mythology, their importance and relevance in today’s time. This ignorance is not bliss. This is nothing but ignorance which can be rectified to make a positive impact on the society. Connect the mythology to science, art, social science and of course literature too. It is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Use them wisely to overcome the evils of society.

QUEST for British Council International School Award

QUEST for British Council International School Award

“Persevere in thy quest and thou shalt find what thou seekest. Pursue thy aim unswervingly and thou shalt gain victory. Struggle earnestly and thou shalt triumph.” – Gautam Buddha

The British Council International School Award programme, is not a simple journey, it is a Quest. A Quest for knowledge, a Quest for experience, a Quest for friends and peers, a Quest for personality development, in short a Quest for all things good and beautiful that education can give.

This Quest is not a one man Quest but a team one. The urge for it came from our Principal Madam Mrs Prem Lata Garg, whose motivation and inspiration spurred the ISA team and the entire school staff to move ahead relentlessly in achieving the Quest.

From our earlier experience, we have a clear understanding that the path is neither simple nor easy. Right from planning activities for the Action Plan till the submission of the dossier, our focus should be on the target. This is what we had gained from the first ISA experience.

This time too the whole school was involved in planning and of course implementation of the Action Plan. The ISA team got unflagging support from all the stakeholders without which the Quest would have faced great turbulence. There was turbulence, but everything was manageable.

The school has come a long way, as teaching-learning is beyond the concrete wall and the printed text books. Our students are guided to be on the Pegasus, and enjoy the whole wide universe of which they are the citizens. International Projects make us one with our transatlantic peers in thought and action. The ISA and the Projects have given the school a vibrant and evolving international Policy and ethos. These have been harmoniously blended into the school systems.

Teachers and students upgraded their 21^st century skills especially collaborative skills through technology. The technological skills of students are par excellent, but the need for thorough and proper guidance is needed. That is what the teachers did. With their navigation, the students were able to successfully improve their online skills.

Our Quest was not devoid of turbulence. There were many which were overcome with strong and focused leadership, togetherness and team work. As Henry Ford had said “coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress and working together is success.”  When the team works like a well oiled machine work is no longer a task but a joyous enterprise. The entire ISA Quest was a joy for each teacher and student as we supported each other. Team members for each assignment were chosen with great care so that they complemented each other. Finding the right person for the right task was the toughest job. But as each one was eager to learn, they adapted wonderfully to the job at hand, helping each other, smoothing out frayed nerves and moving ahead.

Getting the ISA Kite mark doesn’t end our Quest. As the school has applied for re-accreditation, we understand that the Quest never ends but it is a constant movement ahead. Our partnership with one of the schools in the UK is its successful 4^th year. We have another school from the UK as a new partner. We plan to work on sustaining these partnerships as well as look for and sustain more such partners from other countries. We also propose to have interesting collaborative activities with our international peers.

We began the Quest with the aim to achieve re-accreditation of the British Council International School Award. The school will not stop here. The Quest will continue as it is the Quest for knowledge, the Quest for experience, the Quest for friends and peers, the Quest for personality development, in short the Quest for all things good and beautiful that education can give. The ISA Programme has given us this unquenchable thirst for more and more rewarding experiences such as what ISA has given all of us.