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Creativity in Education

What does creativity in education mean? It not only implies an original approach towards tackling the same old lessons on the part of the teacher but also an attempt to foster and stimulate the natural inborn creativity that every child possesses and which often dies a slow death on exposure to the stultifying routine school… [ Continue Reading → ]

Do We Need Summer School?

Come summer, most parents make a beeline for special classes, workshops, or any form of group activity to keep their children occupied. A mime class, a swimming session, a dance or a theatre workshop would keep the kids engaged at least for a few hours everyday, they say. But, aren’t these supposed to be summer… [ Continue Reading → ]

The Visually Impaired

While speaking of somebody with a visual impairment we would be referring to a person who is either partially sighted or is blind. A person is referred to as blind when he has a loss of vision or a field restriction so high that he or she cannot rely on sight for learning. Normally people… [ Continue Reading → ]

Divaswapna

I waited eagerly for the school to begin. I was eager to take my class and start my work; eager to put my new plan into practice; eager to bring about peace and order in the class; eager to make classroom teaching interesting and win over my pupils. I felt my pulse throbbing. The bell… [ Continue Reading → ]

Primary Students on the Web

Ms. VaReane Heese, an American teacher, shares her experiences about using the Internet either in the classroom or as an active tool in the learning/teaching process. When our district was considering a technology adoption, one school board member was definitely for the purchase of computers and all the connections. However, he was definitely against placing… [ Continue Reading → ]

The Kindergarten Entrance Age Dilemma

Dev had turned four in July. Though he loved preschool, he was anxiously awaiting kindergarten next year. Dev knew his friends would be moving on to the inviting classroom in the big school where his brother and sister spent their days. Full of enthusiasm, he confidently underwent kindergarten screening where he spent half an hour… [ Continue Reading → ]

A Teacher Remembers

Divaswapna, An Educator’s Reverie Written by Gijubhai Badheka; Translated by Chittaranjan Pathak Published by National Book Trust, New Delhi Excerpts from the book: I waited eagerly for the school to begin. I was eager to take my class and start my work; eager to put my new plan into practice; eager to bring about peace… [ Continue Reading → ]

Technology in Primary Classrooms

As a follow-up, let students choose one animal to draw using the computer and write a short sentence under it telling about the animal. Print these for inclusion in a class book. Ask students to use just drawing tools without color to show the setting or main character from a favorite book. On the top… [ Continue Reading → ]

Checklists of Children’s Science Activities

In their thought-provoking book, ‘UNESCO Sourcebook for Science in the Primary School: a Workshop Approach to Teacher Education’, Wynne Harlen and Jos Elstgeest provide a means of self-evaluation which teachers can use at those points when they ask themselves ‘how good a job am I doing?’ They present three check-lists relating to children’s activities, their… [ Continue Reading → ]

Special Education – Some Signposts

What is special education? Special Education is the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of physical settings, teaching procedures, special equipment and materials, and other interventions designed to help learners with special needs, to achieve the greatest possible self-sufficiency and success in the school and community. All children exhibit individual differences in terms of physical… [ Continue Reading → ]