Series of teacher workshops

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo

A workshop is a golden opportunity to learn new skills. The Indian School-Second Shift believes-“To become a great teacher or a great human being one must go beyond the textbooks and attend workshops or ongoing educational courses to truly master a thing.” As an initiative toward bringing a transformation in classrooms a series of workshops were conducted for the teachers from 23rd to 28th May 2022.

A workshop on the topic ‘Inclusive Education' was conducted on 23rd May 2022  by special educators Ms Diksha Agrawal and Ms Manpreet Kaur. The workshop commenced with an introduction to Inclusive Education. Thereafter, the 8 important principles of Inclusive Education were discussed in detail to provide a deeper understanding of how the teachers can include inclusivity in the classroom as well as the school set up.

Of the 21 disabilities recognised by RCI, the three disabilities, i.e. Specific Learning Disorder (SLD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), were discussed to give an understanding to the teachers with real-life examples and signs and symptoms of these three disabilities. The session concluded with a touching video presentation about ‘Inside Autism', representing the life of a child with autism.

Day 2 began with a workshop on ‘Problem-solving’. It was held on 24th May 2022 by Ms Vandana Tandon, resource person from NIE, Times of India. The workshop focused on exploring innovative ideas and solving problems with insightful activities and learning lessons for the teachers. Finding effective solutions to complex problems isn’t easy, but by using the right process and techniques, we can help ourselves be more efficient in the process. The workshop gave an insight to the educators on how to devise actionable plans to help students become better problem solvers.

Followed by problem-solving was a relaxant workshop, “Stress Management” by Ms Tania Joshi, Principal, The Indian School and Ms Jigyasa Khokhar, Psychology teacher and counsellor. The primary focus was to prompt the teachers to self analyse and teach the facilitators to better understand what causes stress, how it affects well-being, what coping techniques are optimal (such as relaxation exercises or mindfulness practice), and how students can better manage their time.

The third day, 25 May 2022 was a workshop on ‘Lesson Planning’ conducted by Ms Sonali Mukherjee. The session began with an open-ended question- ‘How should we make a lesson plan?’ Teachers proposed answers pertaining to their subjects and class level activities interlinking these with various subjects. Through the workshop, it was emphasised that it is vital to name thr details of the topic. Ms Mukherjee depicted classroom-based examples to explain how one can do conducive matter explanation along with a blackboard summary. 

Multiple intelligences were widely discussed in order to foster multiple skill development. The workshop came to an end with a brief discussion about channelising student energy through class activities. The role played by the teacher is of a facilitator engaging a multitude of students in arrangement and management. It was also outlined how meaningful and effective good lesson plans are and have a purpose for both the teacher and the learners.

A day-long  CBSE capacity building programme on ' Life Skills’ was organised for the teachers, by Ms Neera Kohli, resource person for the programme. It was an enlightening session for the teachers as they learnt about the infusion of life skills in the teaching-learning process and about the significance of inculcating these skills in pupils. Ms Kohli emphasised the need for humanistic education and shared many of her own experiences to exemplify the same. Milestones of a child’s development and domains of development was another major area that was covered. The programme successfully inculcated in the teachers the perspective of giving students a humanistic system of education.

An orientation programme was conducted by Dr Geeta Mishra on 27th May 2022  on the topic 'Happy Classrooms'. The programme commenced with a basic interaction with the teachers followed by a mindfulness activity, which contributed to experiential learning as well as listening skills. The meaning of happiness was explained and real-life examples were presented. The intent, content and approach to happiness were discussed with activities. An interactive storytelling session was also conducted. The workshop concluded with a checkout activity.

A Cyber Hygiene workshop was conducted by Mr Abhishek Ram, a dynamic and resourceful IT security researcher on 28th May, 2022. It focussed on the meaning of  Cyber Hygiene, its common concerns, how to ensure cyber hygiene,  a checklist for cyber hygiene, social media safety tips, 10 ways social media accounts can get hacked and cyber hygiene as the need of an hour.

The workshop enlightened teachers about cyber crimes and how to ensure cyber security. Being an educator, it is essential to stay abreast of the new generation of students and advancing technology. The session ended with an interactive questionnaire where teachers came up with the multiple problems faced during online classes and other cyber security concerns.

The workshops proved to be very beneficial for the teachers in terms of an abundance of ideas for active methodology.