July 2011 Volume 5, Issue 7

Inspiring Teachers
Driving educational change through excellence in teaching

Editors Comments
Things are looking really good. Brig T Ramaiah has come on board to help with projects and business development. Shankarson Roy of Career Aces and Articles this month:
Faculty of the Month ...2 Challenges of a new teacher ..3 Caption Contest .3 Must Watch Videos .5 Open Workshops for students and faculty .4

and stable. Our reach has increased just by word of mouth. We will be undertaking more advertising also. Please do contribute your tips, articles and any web resources that you found useful. We have found some place to do open workshops see more about this on page 4 Uma Garimella

Eunice Thomas have done several training sessions for us and both of them have been very well received. Our content is also becoming more mature

June updates
1. Faculty Development at
NMRE: May-June-July, Hyderabad

2. One-day workshop at
Prakasam Engineering College, Kandukur, 29th June 3. One-day workshop at CVR Engineering College 4. Session at KGReddy College of Engg, Chilkur 5. 5th Teacher Training program at IIIT, Enhance Edu: May-June

Inspiring Teachers Faculty of the month

(Read full interview at www.theprofessor.in)

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Dr Cherian, Marian College, Kuttikanam
continuous personal growth. Further, I realized that the teachers investment on students will be always going to appreciate. Also, with my research and field experiences, I was sure that I could relate theory and practice much better. Do you think research or PhD is essential to develop oneself? Is it only a formality? Why or why not? A good teacher has not only to help the students to learn but also responsible for generating knowledge. For this purpose research is essential. Therefore, training in research methods and involvement in research activities is certainly helpful for the teacher for personal and professional growth. When do you feel frustrated? I feel frustrated when I see uninterested, unenthusiastic students and I have to engage monologue sessions.

What other options did you have when you actually chose to become a faculty? Why did you choose to teach? After my postgraduate

What kind of teaching methods do you use to keep students interested in your classes?

degree in social work, I My general pattern is to give worked in the field for reading materials to about two years and the students in advance and as per Course Plan, ask them to come prepared in the class for discussions. Ppts are prepared with the key words to initiate discussions. Sometimes, key questions are prepared in advance and use the same for initiating the discussions. The main goal Cherian Parekadavil, Professor & Director, School of Social Work, at Marian College Kuttikanam, since 2007. He holds a PhD in Social Work from Nagpur University and has worked at many prestigious institutes. His interests include Public health, Interventional research, Teaching-Learning methodologies, International traveling, devotional and semiclassical music. And above all, he is a wonderful and soft spoken person. is not only enabling students in getting well informed about the topics but also to develop critical joined as a lecturer in an affiliated college of Nagpur University for three years. Later I registered for PhD as a full time scholar and completed the same within three years. After this, I again went back to field practice and joined international funding agencies (World Vision, India and Lutheran World Relief (LWR), both US based international funding

agencies) before going for understanding. Sometimes I teaching. I could have use quiz method and continued in fund sometimes circulate case studies for analysis. Short films are also used to generate discussions. Students are also given topics to prepare and to present them in the class administration or join some good NGOs in the field of development- certainly more remunerative than teaching. I chose to join teaching because I love students and I love teaching. Its a wonderful profession, most satisfying and experience

which is followed with questions, clarifications and discussions.

Page 3 of 5 Challenges of a new teacher

Well the word to be noted here is NEW. Are we talking about a person who has entered the teaching profession for the first time or are discussing a teacher who is new to a school? Each of them have their own challenges to face at work. Let us take the first category of NEW - the first time teacher: a person who is beginning her career as a teacher. As always anything associated with or termed as new will create a few apprehensions in the mind. In most schools a Staff Meeting, just before the school reopens, is held. This is the first exposure to the new school. It is like a warming up session for a new teacher wherein she will meet the other teachers of the school and may be get to know her peers. She will also have an idea of the functioning of the Management, get a glimpse of the schools culture, learn something about the expectations of the Principal etc. With this introduction her first day in school may be not so bad. Time table in hand a new

Inspiring Teachers
Indira Narayan
hadnt taught earlier then. They, students, sit there like a panel of judges, closely studying their new teacher. Right from the manner of dressing , to the manner of entering the class, introducing herself and revealing her subject knowledge, her communication skills and her class presence till she leaves class, everything is a challenge a new teacher faces. Well, teaching for the first time will create some butterflies in the stomach. Many thoughts will scuttle through the mind of this teacher - are the students understanding what I am teaching, am I loud enough to be heard by all, do I have the attention of all the students? As days go on and with some experience all these thoughts and fears will fade away. But as Cicero the great Roman would say Before beginning, prepare carefully. So good luck New Teachers. Teaching is a noble profession. Welcome to the group. Author is HM, St Anns HS NR Venkat: Knowledge is Power and it should be shared with due respect based on maturity Caption Contest Entries: Divya Nalla: PowerFULL teachers required.... who can impart knowledge.... says an ad for a teacher Super-teachers needed for the new millenium... Ratna Manjari A super teacher is a power house of knowledge. Knowledge: A cutting edge tool to make a nation a super power. Know a lot to have a super powerful edge over others
Caption describing picture or graphic.

teacher is all set to launch her career as a teacher. Meeting the students one has to teach is a challenge by itself. A class has different kinds and types of students. Knowing them is important- after all you will have to see them, teach them and interact with them regularly. Children are very observant. They can quite easily catergorize a teacher and then decide whether they have to obedient or not. Orientation to a school and its system is very important for a new teacher. Support by way of encouragement, from the other teachers can make things better and comfortable. Actually, the real challenge lies with and within the class room. First impressions are important anywhere in life so with the new teacher. The class waits with bated breath to meet the new teacherthere is excitement in knowing that a new teacher has joined school and if she

Inspiring Teachers One-day open workshops

Very often when we do workshops at colleges, the teachers are

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nominated by the management. We want to explore the channel of doing these workshops for teachers interested in the sessions by themselves and willing to spare a Sunday or a holiday to learn. From July onwards we are planning to do open workshops on the following topics most likely on Sundays. Please keep seeing the website or facebook page for dates and registration details. At KG Reddy College, Chilkur on 30th June 2011

Fun in deep learning for students Life Skills for students Basic Classroom Techniques for young faculty Innovative Teaching for experienced faculty Lab teaching for lab staff Life Skills for faculty

Must watch videos/websites

1. The album of four years of Teachers Academy http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.235033126512586.78330.203174356365130

We need some serious thinkers, workers and policy makers to bring in the next generation education. Here's an example: http://www.ibiomagazine.org/issues/june-2011-issue/david-botstein.html 3. Musings of Dheeraj Sanghi, simple style, original thinking: dsanghi.blogspot.com 4. Sugata Mitra: The child-driven education | Video on TED.com http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html 5. Is Poverty, Not Teacher Quality or Charters, Key to Student Outcomes? Reeve Hamilton http://www.texastribune.org/texas-education/public-education/is-poverty-the-keyfactor-in-student-outcomes/ 6. Information about Science: News and Photos http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/science-technology/science/13004000.topic 7. Tangled in an endless web of distractions, Colleges worry about always-plugged-in students http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-24/news/29469460_1_mit-social-networking-laptops TED Talks Anil Gupta is on the hunt for the developing world's unsung inventors -indigenous entrepreneurs whose ingenuity, hidden by poverty, could change many people's lives. He shows how the Honey Bee Network helps them build the connections they need -- and gain the recognition they deserve http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/anil_gupta_india_s_hidden_hotbeds_of_invention.html

2.

8.

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