IMPROVING STUDENT ATTAINMENT BY SHIFTING FROM TEACHING TO LEARNING
BY : SHEELA GEORGE
Motivation , inspiration and encouragement are the essential watchwords to be inbuilt among instructional leaders , teaching faculty , students and parents . We no longer expect our students to memorize and go page by page to study the concepts . Instead , we learn from experiences , stories and exploration .
Learning happens when there are stimulating and engaging activities in the classroom . If children leave less curious from the school campus , the school has not done much for them .
The question to be answered is -- what kind of support systems does the school have in place , to provide a rich environment for the staff and students ? There are discussions in educational forums and conferences on establishing Equity and Equality . This can be achieved when we have well – planned structured procedures in place to identify , not just the underachievers , but also going further to differentiate the types of underachievers in the classroom .
When we think differently about the things that we are used to seeing daily , we can create innovative learning opportunities . Designing solutions for the teachers and students , with a collaborative effort from them , is more likely to produce successful results .
When I joined ASPAM Indian International School in Sharjah , as a Principal , my friend , from Toronto , gifted me a very resourceful book that enabled my staff and I to reframe our differentiation procedures for underachievers . With the help of weekly collaborative times , with the teachers and school leaders , we were able to discuss-plan and workout procedures . Teachers were taught the differences between Potential and Performance .
Understanding the learner-profile of every underachiever has become more important than ever in today ' s educational system .
Team ASPAM began with a procedure of identifying the underachievers using the following strategies .
Identify students with significantly lower grades than the previous academic performance , and also pay attention to decreases across most or all school subjects . Assess and establish if the decrease in marks has occurred over a period more than one school year . Seek collaborative evidence to show whether the child has the potential to do much better . Apart from the academic procedures , teachers also delved into understanding the diverse cultures and communities of the students and their learning practices .
We learnt the anatomy of six underachievers such as Coasters , Anxious underachievers , Identity searchers , Wheel Dealers , Sad Underachievers and Defiant Underachievers . Staff were able to frame the required strategies to help the students and monitor their progress .
Most of us have a tendency to focus our attention only on the talented and gifted students , not knowing the wonders that we can create , if only we identify all our students , provide them with suitable opportunities and study the outcome .
Unless teaching faculties are constantly exploring and learning , equity or equality can never be established in the classrooms .
Preparing young people to become life-long learners with a deep knowledge of the subject matter and a broad set of skills requires a better understanding of how innovative pedagogies influence learning .
At ASPAM IIS , teachers were trained to integrate with their core subjects , the Place-Based Educational aspects , for students to know the rich resources of the country they live in , and this is further fortified with the integration of UN sustainable goals , child rights , Social and Emotional areas to make learning interesting and effective .
Building strong emotional relationships will enable students to work with a free mind . The school shall be launching the Wellness standards – SHARES to strengthen the bond between all stakeholders . The acronym SHARES stands for Self-Awareness , Humility , Accountability , Respect , Empathy and Self-Regulation . Educational administration , academics and activities will be interconnected with these standards , to build a rich bond with all our stakeholders . The future needs citizens who have a passion for lifelong learning to contribute to the economy and society through UN SDGs and Child Rights , so as to be able to access the right information , and move beyond one ' s own place and embrace multiculturalism . This can be achieved only when all stakeholders , apart from the students , understand the opportunities available for learning in today ' s world .
Ms . George is working as Principal at ASPAM Indian International School , Sharjah . She had lead the school in many innovative teaching and learning practices that are action research based . She has 33 years of progressive experience and accomplishments as a Teacher , Academic Supervisor / Vice – Principal and Principal , in K-12 CBSE schools .
26 Term 1 Sep - Dec 2021
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