BPS workshops sharpen teachers’ skills

Teachers of Birla Public School had four days of skill development sessions on the thought ‘Learn how to teach so that you can teach how to learn’ by the academic director - principal Harish Sanduja as a kick start for the new academic session.

Vice chairperson Maria Thomas initiated the ice breaking activity - ‘The person who knows it all takes it all’. Vice principal Edna Fernandez highlighted ‘the major skills that students should possess when they graduate from a school’. The teaching fraternity was divided into groups to discuss, prepare and present the final ideas. Counsellor Ankitha Hariharan took a class on specific learning disabilities, range of disabilities' the students face and psychological counselling at school.The theme for day two was Team Building, which was led by a series of activities by Shruti Chauhan and Lissy Mathew. Lakshmi Devi and Ranchini Binu shared insights on the 3C’s of classroom management. Teachers actively participated in open discussion on examples of instances where they effectively managed the class in difficult situations.A session on Child and Adolescent Mental Health, by Dr Jithendra Nagpal and Aprajitha Dixit, explained the flags of certain learning spectrum and early identification.Headmistress' Divya Mary Vincent and Josephine Fernandes presented a session on differentiated learning and to equip the teachers with tailor-made lesson plans that fits each child in the class.Day three saw Sanduja taking an activity-based session on Design Thinking. The teachers were able to understand the importance of training students’ mind to think out of box and to bring about new ideas. On day four Neha Sharma, principal, G D Goenka School, Delhi, took a session on theatre that helped teachers gain an insight on how to add an element of drama into classrooms.The book, ‘Joy of Theatre’ was introduced for further reference.Vice chairperson Maria Thomas presented a session on ‘Risks for Children in the Digital Environment’. The session shed light on topics including cyber bullying, communication and generation gap. The session became more interesting when she presented the ‘new vocabulary’ of children of the Alpha age.