I connect with my teacher and enjoy school
Janvi, a student of Class X of Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Ashok Vihar, Phase I, District North West B (Pitampura) shared with us her experiences of the classroom teaching and learning activities since past few years and how it has impacted her and her classmates’ learning. She mentioned the activities carried out by TDC Priyanka Suri and other teachers who are part of the TDC program. Janvi was particular about the creation of a fearfree, student centric, experiential learning environment which encouraged them to take more ownership of their education.
Q. How have your teachers involved the students in teaching learning activities since past few years and how it has benefited you and other students?
The teaching learning activities that our Teachers conduct in classes, gives us the scope to contribute fearlessly. All students feel engaged in the activities and we all give our best in it. We get the opportunity to clear our doubts and also get answers to our curious questions. Before we used to listen and memorise but now when Teachers engage us in the activities, we feel more confident to ask questions without any fear or insecurity and know that our doubts will be cleared.
Now, the students do not feel the need to rely on outside tuition for their studies.
Q. What were the kind of group or individual activities done by the teachers which encouraged the students who were not normally engaged in class discussions to take part and contribute in the classroom?
So, basically the culture of these activities started from the name tag activity (CONNECT) whereby all students wore a tag with their names and classes written on it. We felt very good when the teachers who did not know us started addressing us by our names. This made us feel happy and very connected to them.
In the group activities, all the students got the chance to interact with each other, for example, the teacher used the Frayer’s model in our science class. In this activity, specific topics were given to some of the students and further we had to explain it to each other in a group. At the end, we wrote down what we learnt in the paper which was displayed on the wall. This gave us the scope to interact with all the students and add more points to the topic. This helped us in exploring our knowledge.
Now, we do not just listen and memorise, we explore and share with each other. Hence it becomes easy for us to remember. Another activity we did was the exit ticket and the students who did not pay attention before, felt motivated to ask questions to the teachers and interact in the classroom. Our teacher encouraged us to share anonymous questions in a piece of paper at the end of the class. This helped the students to share their thoughts.
These kinds of activities normalise the environment for all the students to ask more questions and clear their doubts not only with the help of their Teachers but also with the support of their friends, classmates and peer group, fearlessly.
Q. Do you think that the strategies used by your teachers have helped you to achieve the learning outcomes/ better results?
Yes, the teaching activities carried out by our teachers in the classroom have helped us to achieve better results. As mentioned earlier, prior to this our doubts remained as doubts in the classroom, out of insecurity or low confidence we did not engage much in the discussions and mostly relied on outside help.
When these activities happened we engaged more in our classes and group work. This gave us the scope to explore and retain our understanding. The teacher explains the topic well and it stays in our mind. It becomes easy for us to remember and write. This has helped us in achieving better outcomes.
Now, we do not just listen and memorise, we explore and share with each other. Hence it becomes easy for us to remember.
These kinds of activities normalise the environment for all the students to ask more questions and clear their doubts not only with the help of their Teachers but also with the support of their friends, classmates and peer group, fearlessly.
Q. Did you get enough chances to do peer observation and learning in the classroom when your teachers used different teaching learning strategies?
We get enough chances in the activities to do peer learning and observation and the more we share the more we enhance our knowledge. The activities support us to increase our knowledge and understanding on a given topic.
Through these activities we overcame the hesitation to ask weird questions and every student feels very curious in the classroom.
Q. Has this impacted the attendance of the classroom for the last few years?
It has impacted the attendance in the classroom. Earlier, most of the students in the class did not take the school studies seriously. They would normally get hold of the syllabus and go for tuitions.
Now, all their doubts and questions get cleared in the classroom during the group activities. When the students come to know about any activities that will take place in the class, they prefer not to remain absent. Students have fun in these activities and enjoy the learning process. This helps us to sail through the exams well.
