Cenbosec - Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. 51,  No. 3, July-Sept. 2012

Teacher's Voices - Transforming Pedagogy

Content

• From the Chairman
• Feedback Forum
• Articles
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. Anita Makkar
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. Seetha Kiran
• Transformation Pedagogy Teaching in Schools - Vigyan Ratna Lakshman Prasad
• Transforming Pedagogy - Danielle Lobo
• Transforming Pedagogy - Smt. C. Rama Devi
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. Sharmila Chatterjee
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. S. Varalakshmi
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. Madhu Sharma
• Transforming Pedagogy - Mrs. Rajkumari Kachru
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. Babita Agarwal Srinivas
• Transforming Pedagogy - P. C. Verma
• Transforming Pedagogy - G.K. Udgata
• Giving Wings to Students – Transforming Pedagogy - Satbir Singh
• Transforming Pedagogy - Mrs. Anita Nanda
• Transforming Pedagogy - Dr. S. V. Sharma
• Every Child is an Opportunity for the Nation Let’s Transform Pedagogy - Dinesh Jindal
• Transforming Pedagogy - Dinesh Pratap Singh
• Transforming Pedagogy - Mrs. Vinita Kumar Tomar
• Transforming Pedagogy - K. Gomathinayagam
• A Teacher becomes a Student; a Student becomes a Teacher - Subrata Kumar Nayak
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. Rina Krishnan
• Transforming Pedagogy - Ms. Inderjeet Kaur
• Environmental and Sustainability Education in School - Ms. Rachna Arora
• Transforming Pedagogy - Lalit Krishan Trivedi
• What other Principals say…
• What other Teachers say…
• What others say…
• News from Schools
• Green Page
• Health & Wellness Clubs
• Sahodaya Updates
• Sports Arena
• Academic Updates
• Best Practices
• News from Administration
• Circulars

The pedagogy for most of us is teacher-centric learning where deconstructed and reconstructed information  is presented to students categorized in the pre-defined age groups, within standardized classroom settings.

In an important sense, pedagogy is the overarching concept; that is integral to a nation’s culture, social  structure, growth and development. From this point of view, pedagogy can be defined by curriculum, or the content  of what is being taught; methodology, or the way in which teaching is done; and the techniques for developing  cognitive and affective skills of learners, a pre-requisite for being successful in the society, that education is designed to promote.

Stephen Heppel (2005) observed that - ‘Educators and systems spent the 20th century perfecting the 19th century  model of schooling.’ It is only in the 21st century that terms like innovation, leadership, creativity, problem solving,  decision making, collaboration, etc., got synonymous with global education. How one teaches must reflect how the  students learn. It must also reflect the world the students are an integral part of. The world today is rapidly changing,  adapting and evolving. The transforming pedagogy must emphasise the learning in the 21st century. Transforming  pedagogy is complex for the learner as well as the school as a whole - staff, students, parents and others involved  in the education system. The real issue here is not just learning, but continuous and comprehensive evaluation and  assessment. Most of the educators admit that they have never taught in the same way twice - not even if it was  continuing the same chapter, the next day. Some methods of teaching don't work, others don't work well, a few  techniques inspire different thoughts in similar target audience. So the change of style becomes imperative for a  teacher depending on the perspective of the student/s. That is one reason why the need for different pedagogies  arises. It can be as simple as teachers abandoning lesson plans and suggesting ‘learning goals’.

Today’s learners have information at a click of the button and advancement of technology has touched  everyone right from village classrooms to smart board sessions. The technological wonders like computers,  calculators, laptops, i-Pads, i-Pods, audio players, digital cameras, etc., are not tools but toys for the kids of this era.  The emerging times will see connectivity by way of broadband, wi-fi, mobile and IP-TV, E-content for schools  sector by way of Open Education Resources (OER), Free and open source software, communities driven open  access publishing and many more.

Today a query does not get noted by a learner to be answered by a teacher. S/he tries to find solutions  first. The traditional approach surely has transformed. The pedagogies cannot remain locked in old patterns of  thinking. The most appropriate pedagogy for the 21st century needs to focus on life skills, co-curricular activities,  attitudes, values etc., not only to support learning and teaching in the physical space, but in the virtual space too.  The education has to be holistic more than being information centric learning and teaching.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has consistently been striving to establish new benchmarks in  Secondary Education through various reforms in the education system of the country. In one of its moves to  strengthen the implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme in all of its affiliated  schools and to promote co-curricular activities, CBSE has planned a comprehensive nation-wide yearly calendar  detailing the training workshops for CCE and Formative Assessment (FA) for teachers and Inter-School Games  and Sports Competitions for students for the year 2012-13. The calendar details the dates and venues for both CCE and FA Training Workshops and Inter-School Games and Sports Competitions and can be accessed on CBSE Academic website (www.cbseacademic.in). All Principals and Heads of Institutions are requested to adhere to the calendar for CCE and FA Training Workshops and Inter-School Games and Sports Competitions
schedule to ensure maximum participation. It is an honour and privilege that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India has recognised CBSE as the National Sports Promotional Organisation (NSPO).

Our planet earth has beautiful and diverse forms of life and we must assume responsibility for wildlife conservation and encourage the present generation to seek solutions through education. Our students should be reminded that they can make a difference. To encourage the students in this regard, WWF India and TRAFFIC India are conducting their 5th edition of the wild life quiz - ‘Wild Wisdom’ and CBSE has associated itself with them for the online quiz from this year onwards.

The CBSE’s examination reforms are responding to the demands of the stakeholders. The Board used to  make available Blue Prints, Sample Question Papers and Marking Schemes in all major subjects for classes IX  and X. However, it has been noticed that a large section of students and examiners punctiliously follow these  documents in the letter and not in the spirit, which results in precluding the much advocated open ended approach and diversity in expression, style and content. In order to address the issue, CBSE decided to discontinue the practice of providing Blue Prints, Sample Question Papers and Marking Schemes in classes IX and X w.e.f., Summative Assessment II of 2012-13.

It is a widely acknowledged fact that research and analytical skills, ability to apply concepts, solve application based problems in Mathematics and Science, comprehend and analyse written text and effective communication are the skills which ensure success in Higher Studies and professional life. These dimensions of the 21st century life skills will greatly assist learners in acquiring higher order thinking skills such as problem solving and decision making. It is in this connection that the Board has initiated a Problem Solving Assessment (CBSE-PSA) for students of classes IX and XI from the second term of this session 2012-13. The PSA is scheduled to be held on 16 February 2013.

Keeping in line with the theme ‘Transforming Pedagogy’, the Board has also decided to conduct the 19th National Annual Sahodaya Conference at Indore on the theme: 'New Pedagogies and Enabling Technologies for Teaching and Learning'. The sub themes will dwell on the topics like Teacher Effectiveness, Education Quality and Economic Growth, Twenty First Century Learning, Education 3.0., Transformational Pedagogies and Leveraging Technology for Learning.

The Sahodaya Schools Complex is a group of neighbourhood schools voluntarily coming to share their innovative practices including curriculum design, evaluation and pedagogy. The conference is expected to facilitate a vibrant synergy of ideas aimed at excellence in education. The traditional wisdom of the teaching-learning strategies need to be fostered with transformative pedagogies of going beyond the boundaries of the classroom. As we all agree it is time for schools to share, collaborate, connect with new pedagogies and enabling technologies for teaching and learning.

Courtesy : Central Board of Secondary Education