3 Smart Classroom Management Tools to Revamp your Learning Space

At E-base, all classes are intended to be fun! But it a lot more difficult to ensure you are having fun and learning at the same time, than you think; as fun is usually associated with disorderliness and learning with structure. There 3 fun ways to seamlessly integrate the two.

Noise levels: One of the side effects of being teacher is that you will inevitably lose your voice at some point in a week. The noise level chart works great with the junior class students like class 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd. It works well in setting expectations of the class before you start and you must remember to start the class with that. It also helps to just point at the chart every time you hear an increase in voice levels, instead of increasing your voice levels and losing it.

Visual Learning Aids: Every child has a different learning style. Something that has helped me cater to all has been the Visual Learning Aid which is directed towards the visual learners (those who learn remember and retain better through visual props), but you can integrate the other learning styles into it like tactile and audiovisual. The idea for the visual aid dawned upon me from a new series I started watching called the misfits (which is hilarious!), and others like Sherlock and movies like mission impossible, Borne Identity, Gajani and the like. The way we have been conducting the and fromEbase sessions has been: to map all the information that we learn in every class, take active notes and also learn to take the right kinds of notes from a much younger age, filter out the unnecessary information and associated the information to the place of happening. This is usually relevant to the documentaries that we have been watching in our documentary film club, but can be the done the same way with projects involving research tools and every day classes. The research topic for class 5 students under biodiversity was a set of 11 animals that they had to find in groups from a set of books provided per group. The objective was to find as many animals possible in a 40 minute of a class. Once you have scanned an entire book you could choose to barter your book with another group. Working in teams of there were specific tasks assigned to each person, like one got to be a scanner, on the notes taker and another batterer. We got into the habit of notes taking for all our other classes and clubs, like the documentary film club and started associating stories to a place. Finally we connected all those places with the notes through colorful string and there you have a tool great for visual learners, a great review of duration of a course and also a colorful Hitman like movie addition to your class.

A snapshot of all that we learn during the course. 

Team Work Tracker: Classroom tracker is a great tool to keep track of individual student progress; but in a PBL class the best way to effectively track progress is using a team work tracker. This tool works great till middle school level, as the students really care about whether they are getting a black start or a blue one based on their team performance. You get to see some really interesting dynamics within a group, and to also see individual personalities transcend through the entire group and the group take on the qualities of their strong leaders. From the beginning we have been conducting sessions as teams, organizing team building exercises, brainstorming in groups and taking actions as teams with set tasks. It is a great way to introduce the kids to work-life functioning, teach them the need to interact with students/people with different temperaments, to get work done even with people who are not their best friends or chosen work buddies, and help them evolve from the team building till achieving end result. 

Team building with boys we would never choose to be in the same team with. 

Affordable Virtual Reality in Classrooms

“Life is a book and those who don’t travel read only one page.” I love this quote. While some kids are fortunate enough to travel from a very young age, a few other people start when they are much older and there are still some who have never stepped out of their houses even at 80. Travel makes you richer than a stable job and the experiences and people you encounter teach you much more than any classroom lesson. Just like field trips!

But what if you don’t have the budget for travel or the resources to organize a field trip?

Enter Virtual Reality through Google Cardboard- the cheapest way to augmented reality. With just 5$ and a smart phone you can walk on the streets of London, visit the Eiffel tower in Paris, see some oriental buildings in Tokyo, take a tour of an art exhibit at the Louvre and take a stroll on the sandy beaches of Indonesia, without stepping out of your classroom.

You don’t even need to buy google cardboard but can make it from scratch with an old cardboard box as Google makes its blue prints available for free on their website to encourage its use. The only extra items you need are 35mm convex lenses and a magnet.

Ebase is about making learning fun, interactive and keeping updated with the new technology out there. We used Google Cardboard in our Ebase classroom and the results were quite amusing. To see kids experience a roller coaster for the first time in their lives in 360 degrees, brings a smile on your face as it does on theirs. Some of them even experienced vertigo, and couldn’t take it after 2 mins of it. Some of them tried to grab onto things around them with the cardboard on. Everyone at school loves the Cardboard as even teachers fight over their turn to use it.

Exam Jitters even at 52

I’ve had this very uneasy feeling since morning. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it until I reached school. I was given the task of invigilating the 9^th and 10^th Class Board Exam (Essay-1).Since schools close for 4 months in winter in Leh, schools here give their Essay-1 exams in September, which has 50%  weightage in the final boards. 

Ruled long scape sheets, school seal stamps, pencil box checking, sharpened pencils, brand new erasers, refills and rulers- it all smells of nostalgia. What is it about ‘EXAMS’ that gives us jitters? Do you remember how much you scored in your 10^th class Pre-Board Exams? Why does the Indian education system have to be so marks based? Is the topper of your school having the best job in the world right now? Does he not think about quitting it and following his offbeat passions? Do your marks say anything about your personality? Does it ensure life skills to survive out there in the real world?

How much of cramming for exams, is only for marks and how much of it is out of sheer interest of learning those facts? If I don’t know when the battle of Plassey was fought am I any less intellectual than you are? Could there be a future without exams?

My mother at 52, still has one recurring nightmare where she forgets her hall ticket at home and is not allowed to enter the examination hall, and every time she tells me that dream at the breakfast table, I thank my stars (after laughing at her for a while) for parents who never pushed me to get good marks (although they never had to coz I faired pretty decent) and always encouraged my every new whim and hobby.

In spite of all that here I am shushing kids in the exam hall, stopping them from cheating at an exam which won’t determine anything about their lives. Unless they take up Hindi literature as their subject for bachelors or become Bhodhi Pandits. Either way invigilating for an exam sure is a uniquely ironic experience. Especially when you know their every trick in the book, having been there done that, but now it is your turn to put on a straight face and a grim stare to stop them from cheating.  

A Birthday to Remeber

10^th September 2016

Thursday

Being the younger one, my birthdays have always been a big deal at my place. Every year since I can remember, we use to start planning party games, make custom made invitations, have return gifts wrapped and decide on the menu from a month in advance. As I grew older there was always a surprise cake cutting at 12 from one group or another, followed by a series of pre and post parties from a week in advance. There used to be at least 30 invitees, and my 21^st birthday had about 40! The past few years it’s been a little mellow, though; maybe, because I am getting older. 

I woke up this morning to a continuous chain of students knocking on my door to wish me happy birthday. And as I entered the dining hall for breakfast, the entire room sang happy birthday! We had an E-base origami session at 8 AM which was a freestyle-make-anything-you-want-spree. The idea was to see how many they can make on their own with instructions. Only a few of them managed to finish it with no help. Most of them got stuck at difficult folds. But most of them finished 3 in time for the assembly.

I had 3 substitution classes with class 6^th so we all finished the mini Biogas Plant! It was a lot of fun. One group “M-sealed” the joints, the other painted it black and the last mixed the cow dung and water. It was great to see how the girls didn’t cringe even once while mixing it; even though the boys did and kept teasing them about it. But all in all we are very excited to see whether the experiment is successful after a week or not. Fingers crossed. Class 7^th did a crash course in what they had been learning the past few days and I had a very serious chat with them how they are the only class who is not doing a project!

Class 5^th was not at all in the mood to study today and they pleaded quite strongly that they wanted to watch videos today with a happy birthday song, which was hard to say no to. Class 2^nd made an origami turtle, learnt about its self-defense mechanism with the moral Slow and steady wins the race! Just about very class sang happy birthday and I received a lot of handmade birthday cards. 

Now for the best part of my day: Dolma Ma’am met me three times during the day; once during the assembly, once she called me to her office to assign a task and once in the evening in the main office, and she didn’t wish me even once. I found it a little odd because we had had a conversation about this a few weeks ago, and all the kids in the school seemed to remember, but I just assumed she forgot. But right when I got back to the hostel for dinner around 7:30, I got a call from Gurmet asking me to be at the hostel gate in 5 mins and refused to answer any more questions even though he left me with some clues to think about. I thought something was fishy but still obliged. Within a few mins I got picked up by a car and was taken to Sambhodhi.

You guessed it! There was a big surprise birthday planed for me by Dolma Ma’am with 12 people, a cake with candles, a table full of snacks, finger food, salami and sausages, a wreath of flowers that I was made to wear on my head, gifts, song singing, cake smearing, party games, a formal dinner with a spread of delicacies and abundant love. It was the sweetest gesture from the MIMC team and they really made me feel a part of the family.

Dolma ma’am is the coolest principal in the world. She later told me; not wishing me all day was the hardest thing she had to do while planning all this on the side. It’s amazing how she manages to effectively lead an organization, fulfil her professional duties, beautifully bring up an 8 month old baby, spearhead teacher meetings, entertain international delegates and plan a surprise birthday party for a volunteer intern all in a day’s work! Most of all her humility about the responsibility that has been bestowed upon her, along with her kindness and tact towards people and everyday situations, makes her the most awesome principal ever!

All in all a wonderful birthday, even though it was spent away from family, it was like being with a larger family who made you feel as loved. 

Top Ten Fellowship Experiences:

#10. The people: My father was posted in Leh for two and a half years, away from family and his new born (me) and the one thing (and the only thing) he fondly recalls about Leh is how wonderfully courteous the people of Leh are. I now see why he says so. People here are so obliging that they go out of their way to help you, if you ask. I’ve hitch hiked my way to Leh city several times in the past month only because even strangers are so trust worthy. They always involve you in every celebration, every new gossip (coz not much happens around here), and keep filling you in with facts and trivia about their lovely city.

#9. Learn a new culture: Like with all my travels (and all travels for everyone) you learn of a whole new world you never knew existed. That’s why I like to mix my travel and work, because I believe one cannot possibly learn or absorb a culture in 2 or 7 days. “When in roam be roman” is my personal travel mantra.  From Ladakhi food, clothing, dances, songs, customs, traditions to movies- you learn it straight from the locals and get some real perspective.

#8.  Teaching the most diverse group of students: The kids I teach are the most diverse bunch I've taught yet. My class is has mix of hostel kids, day scholars, visually impaired kids, monks and nuns! Never did I ever think I'd teach a bunch of monks! who are both naughty and serene. And there is a boy in my class, who might not be able to see but plays the guitar like such a pro that it makes me want to quit my guitar. Every day during assembly I see a boy showing the way to our guitar friend till his line and I think to myself: if Empathy is the skill you want to instill in your child, this is where you should send them! While the People with Disability (PWD) Act 1995 and the Right to Education Act (RTE) reinforce the inclusion of differently able-ed children into mainstream education, how many schools actually implement this law? Mahabhodhi is diverse in that sense as it not only provides free education and boarding for rural kids who cannot afford it, but also creates an environment for development beyond classroom required skills by teaching monks, nuns and the visually impaired all under the same roof. This is what I call holistic education in the true sense.

#7. You learn to braid hair like a pro! Growing up as a tom boy I missed out on a few things. Staying with 150 girls has been a great time to catch up on those things. Ladkahi girls are amazingly skillful at tying hair in a 100 different knots and styles. If only we knew all these different ways of braiding hair, we wouldn’t have hated wearing two plates to school as kids. 

#6. The Milky Way galaxy every single night: That’s the sky I see every night.I kid you not!! 

#5. Stealing apples: There are some experiences which are priceless. Blowing bubbles at your dog, ice cream cones at midnight, dipping your fingers in paint, jumping off a swing when it’s at its peak- let you feel like a child again. The thrill of climbing the apple orchard fence and stealing apples while the warden is asleep is one of them.

#4. The view to work every day: It’s that one hill right in front of the school, the hostel and the playground that makes me pause and appreciate Nature every single day, every time I look up. That’s one thing that you can never get bored of. The mighty Himalayas have that power. #nature #profound

 

#3. Sweet tea 5 times a day: and not just any tea, but tea made with condensed milk instead of plain milk. I was never a tea or a coffee person and took pride in having stayed away from those addictions. After coming to Leh, I found myself addicted to tea right after my very first week. I am on detox, as I have switched back to green tea; but I do indulge in a cup of chai with the other teachers in the staff room every now and then. Tea time is a great way to socialize and get to know people you otherwise would not get a chance to spend time with here in Leh. kids drink tea here from the time they are 3 and it's weird for me since I didn't get used to it till 2 months ago, but as I understand your body needs that kind of calories for the weather here. 

#2. Momos and Thupkas: You can learn how to make Momos from the wardens in a biweekly special dinner session and enjoy other local delicacies like SKU, Timok, Thupka 3 times a week. Every week! Although, it can stop being a good thing after a while. :/ Get ready to eat some Momos the next time you meet me!

#1. The KIDS! The KIDS! The KIDS! I was saving the best for the last. In all of the above points, the kids are the pioneers. The smiles of the little ones, twirling them, holding hands and walking them to school each day, the endless hospitality of the older ones, early morning hair braiding sessions, late night ghost stories, wake up calls, breakfast, lunch, dinner table conversations- they are all worth it, and more. They drive you nuts, but make up for it ten times more in magnitude.