articles, tips, interviews for teachers

1. June 2011
Volume 5, Issue 6 Inspiring Teachers
Driving educational change through excellence in teaching
Editor’s Comments
first generation learners In the past we have done
Facebook is a powerful
forms the third item in this free sessions. But let’s do
medium for getting quick
issue. And of course a nice something really BIG this
responses – we got several
inspiring story forwarded by time.
captions for our picture. Do
Articles this month: e-mail is the tail piece.
visit our page on Facebook
Faculty of the Month
……………..….2 and like it, so that you too can
Come July and we will be
Gurus as parents participate in discussions.
………………..3 celebrating the fourth
Excerpts from Dr Giri
anniversary of Teacher’s
Must Watch Videos Tiruvuri’s interview are given
……………….4 Academy. Do send in ideas
here, do visit our site to read
for what to do to mark this
Caption Contest full text. The role of teachers
……………….5 event.
in educating children who are
Story - Fwd - KV
Jayakumar
……………….6
Summer ’11 at Teacher’s Academy
1. Faculty Development at NMREC, On the Road in search of Excellence
Hyderabad: One week each for
In the first week of July, Teacher’s Academy
three batches. May-June.
will launch a monthly road trip to colleges
2. One-day workshop at KIT’s College and schools with a team who will interview,
of Engg at Kolhapur, as part of a video graph and showcase talents and efforts
STTP approved by ISTE – 25th May. of existing inspiring teachers.
3. Summer Batch of CIT Teacher
This is a pioneering project and will certainly
Training program at EnhanceEdu, bring out the stories of many ‘unsung heroes’
IIIT-Hyderabad May-June-July. of our education system. We are quite sure
4. Classroom Management and ICT in this will also make our Inspiring Teacher
education – Academic Staff College, Awards a bigger draw.
JNTU, Hyderabad Please write to us if you want us to visit your
5. Training at Adam’s High School,
college or school. info@theprofessor.in
June

2. Inspiring Teachers Page 2 of 6
Faculty of the month Dr Giri Tiruvuri, Aditya Group, Kakinada
(Read full interview at 4)By empowering that is relevant to its
www.theprofessor.in) (enhancing the society.
What needs to be done consciousness as well as the How do your colleagues
in our colleges? capabilities) both faculty react to your ideas and
1) The learning and the and students, we need to initiatives?
performance are largely bring joy back to the
learners' responsibilities. process of learning. Schools, 'Varied' is the right word
While the colleges also have colleges and universities that describes their
a huge responsibility to have to be comfort zones in response. About a third are
provide the right a broader sense. strongly supportive, putting
environment (facilities and 5)I don't know how, but the extra effort to make a
faculty) for learning, their more TRUST should be difference. Some of them
responsibility for academic inducted into the system. are working really diligently
performance is before the Unfortunately, the more to make the learning
exams, not after. Similarly, councils, the more process more joyful,
the responsibility for regulatory authorities we experiential and learner-
recruitment is to the extent have, the more corrupt centric. I am competing
of bringing reputed everything is becoming. constantly to catch up with
Giri Tiruvuri Ph.D.,
PMP holds a PhD from companies to the campus And, this is a chicken and them. Some others are
Michigan State (by building their own
University, East egg situation. The education working on software
Lansing, USA in reputation and may be some system today is an integral development and
Algorithms for VLSI, relationship) and not for
prior to which he part, victim and a culprit of improvements in the labs
completed M.Tech. in negotiating with companies the deep-rooted corruption (towards experiential
AI & Robotics, Central to recruit more numbers.
University, Hyderabad in the country. learning). A second third
and B.E. in Computer 2)The students should have 6)The colleges have to be are kind of 'ok' with it and
Science, AU, Vizag more freedom (from seen as more than factories starting to believe slowly.
He has over eighteen parents) to choose what of employable graduates. I The other third (mostly
years of experience in career they want to pursue
industry and is understand and respect the seniors) are either very
currently Dean of and more freedom (from importance of education as indifferent or show
Computer Science, at colleges) in terms of
Aditya Engineering an instrument for contempt as a defense to
Colleges, where he is attendance, special interests livelihood. No two ways indifference. Some of these
working with students 3)Faculty should
and teachers to build about it. While ensuring may genuinely disagree
teaching-learning understand learner-centric this in a positive and with the ideas, but they
material and methods. process of learning and be constructive manner, we believe disagreement is
equipped with better levels need to ensure that disrespect and hence don't
of knowledge to facilitate education is producing the show it.
active learning. right intellectual capital

3. Page 3 of 6 Inspiring Teachers
Let the guru be like the parents Uma Garimella
My daughter and I were our Sunday school at “important” questions to
having dinner at an Udupi Sainikpuri. pass their exams (with
restaurant on a Saturday The parents of these flying colors).
night, and due to the crowd, children are not educated They wouldn’t know the
the waiter seated a young but are very keen on their answers if the questions
couple with a three-year old children's education. They were changed in any way.
son at our table. The boy pay high fees and admit As a college teacher, I know
started looking at the menu their children in even adult students still in Caption describing
picture or graphic.
card and spelling out all the reasonably good schools, that state.
items. I-D-L-Y, S-A-M-B-A- but teachers can’t pay As education becomes more
R etc. He didn't have to be attention to every single accessible (which is very
prompted and he wasn't child in school and private good) we have students
Above: Teachers at Sevalaya
doing this to show off! The tutors aren’t doing any coming from diverse
primarily deal with first
moment he saw a book it better. backgrounds, many of them generation schoolers and they
was his natural instinct to Initially when I looked at first generation 'schoolers' take extra effort to motivate and
read from it. The parents their school books I was in the family. These reach these children. Some
children stay on campus but
looked embarrassed since shocked that these children have no support
many are say scholars. This
the child was loud, but children couldn’t read during their homework or
school has been getting 100%
inside I am sure, they were individual alphabets anyone to check their school results for the past many years.
proud. They told us that quickly and didn’t work. So they end up
when they went to a friend's understand the words in memorizing.
house for dinner, he asked the sentences. For Educated parents play a
for the 'book' to order! example, they said major role in the child’s
“Kashmir is in the north of learning – explicitly
I contrasted this scene with
India” but didn’t through tracking progress Farther from home, SEED
the one I used to have every
understand the meaning of and homework, but more Foundation, founded by Raj
Sunday. Two children in Vinnakota and Eric Adler started
any word in it. They had significantly implicitly
4th and 6th standards, and 24-hr schools in the US, for
division in mathematics through creating the children who are at a high risk of
who have scored good
but didn’t know even environment of reading, dropping out. They set very high
grades and double
subtraction. They were talking, visiting places, expectations, motivated the
promotions in their school,
literally at nursery level listening and learning at children constantly and enabled
struggle to identify these children to achieve
but studying in higher home.
alphabets or understand dramatic results through their
classes. And they were In fact, it is precisely for hard work and commitment.
words, while they can reel
completely relying on this reason that Read more about their
off answers from memory
some pattern matching residential schools have
or even write them down. been started for
technique combined with
These two were the sincere underprivileged students,
teachers giving so that they don’t
students who used to attend
unlearn everything at

4. Inspiring Teachers Page 4 of 6
Let the guru be like parents…
Understanding is the suddenly when it becomes forced to memorize because
naturally accepted and clear to you – what a the teacher gives them
enjoyed process. pleasure you got! ‘important question-answers’
Memorizing huge Understanding brings without making them learn,
amounts of information joy. That joy can never we are making them rote
without knowing the be experienced by rote learners for life and only
meaning is a very stressful learning. much later in life, they might
process. Recall any event In fact, according to discover the joy of reading,
in your life when you did Bloom’s taxonomy, understanding, analyzing
Children of Sevalaya’s
Mahakavi Bharathiyar not understand understanding is only the and creating!
High School, something clearly. You first step towards higher So teachers, especially of
Thirunindravur may have felt very uneasy. order thinking. And when students who have no
And after a long trial when children lack academic support at home,
you crack that topic or understanding or they are please ensure they
Must watch videos understand, enjoy and learn!
Put yourself in the role of
that caring parent!
A physics class using interactive teaching
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQra4baNwP8
How to give an interactive lecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzoloVpNNxc&feature=related
Eric Mazur’s Physics lecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBYrKPoVFwg&playnext=1&list=PL718EB1C25F38B6C5
What is peer instruction?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbBpMDVc7yA&feature=related
Three parts of a video about engaging students in higher order thinking and about writing
objectives:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMZA80XpP6Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPLNmeAM7sE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6rx-GBBwVg&feature=related
Five parts of a short film on a teacher who starts as a struggling teacher and grows into an excellent
teacher. Never ceases to entertain and teach our trainees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lVleH3f1BA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjIFImPrRgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_mrwIa5guk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TDU-uBARdo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uY48IN00YY

5. Page 5 of 6 Inspiring Teachers
Captions received on Facebook:
Shalini Nahata: Udan Khatola
Arpita Bose Das: 'saat samundar paar by Air Edukatola'
Gita Ramanan: Broadening your horizons... one book at a time!
Chhaya A Mehrotra: "Booked up there!";)
Sujatha Sharma: booked out by knowledge
Marianne Furtado De Nazareth: Knowledge: The wind beneath my wings!
Vernita Verma Sarkar: keep flying: by hook or by book
Apeksha Goel: Time to be a pheonix - 2020
Shilpi Khandelwal: I am booked! Help!!
Ratna Manjari: Totally bound by the book..
Neha Dugar Chhaochharia: FLY HIGH TAKE ME HGH

6. Inspiring Teachers Page 6 of 6
Teacher’s Academy e-mail fwd KV Jayakumar
Once upon a time there was a painter who had just completed his course. He took 3 days
Hyderabad and painted beautiful scenery. He wanted people's opinion about his caliber and painting
skills.
PHONE:
97011 41118
E-MAIL:
info@inspiring-teachers.com
Or
He put his creation at a busy street-crossing. And just down below aboard which read -"I
have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some
mistakes in my strokes etc. Please put a cross wherever you see a mistake."
While he came back in the evening to collect his painting he was completely shattered to
see that whole canvass was filled with Xs (crosses) and some people had even written
their comments on the painting. Disheartened and broken completely he ran to his
master's place and burst into tears.
This young artist was breathing heavily and master heard him saying "I'm useless and if
this is what I have learnt to paint I'm not worth becoming a painter. People have rejected
me completely. I feel like dying"
The Master smiled and suggested "My Son, I will prove that you are a great artist and have
See us at: learnt flawless painting. Do as I say without questioning it. It WILL work."
www.teachersacademy.co
www.theprofessor.in The Young artist reluctantly agreed and two days later early morning he presented a
replica of his earlier painting to his master. Master took that gracefully and smiled.
"Come with me." the master said. They reached the same street-square early morning and
displayed the same painting exactly at the same place. Now the master took out another
board which read -"Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession
I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. I have put a box with colors and
brushes just below. Please do a favor. If you see a mistake, kindly pick up the brush and
correct it."
Master and disciple walked back home.
They both visited the place same evening. The Young painter was surprised to see that
actually there was not a single correction done so far. Next day again they visited and
found painting remained untouched. They say the painting was kept there for a month for
no correction came in!
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