Friday, November 27, 2009

10. Consensus 21 November 2009

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

During the after noon session of the meeting held on 21 November 2009 the members arrived at the following consensus.

• ‘Lesson Plan’ written during Practice Teaching by the trainees will be renamed ‘Teaching Manual’

• Will discontinue the writing of Self Reflection as a separate paragraph after each Teaching Manual. Instead the trainee will enter Self Reflection in the Teaching Practice Diary.

• For writing the CO for each Plan mention should be made of the Issue/ Sub issue and the Learning Objectives mentioned for each unit in the Source Book

• The Second Column of Discussion Lessons, Criticism Lessons and Teaching Manual will be renamed ‘Assessment’.

• For Discussion Lessons the trainees shall write the anticipated response in the Second Column.

• During Criticism lessons and Practice Teaching the second column will remain blank when the trainee enters the class. After the class the trainee will reflect on the learner (quantitative and qualitative), strategy and material used and enter the assessment

• The third column will have the title Theory/Principles & Approaches


Format of Teaching Manual

Name of Trainee
Name of School
Std:
Strength:
Period:
Duration:
Date:
Subject:
Unit:
Issue:
Sub Issue
Co’s
Pre-requisites
Learning Materials:
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Process(Column 1)

Informal Interaction
Entry activity
(To trigger the thought)
(Recapitulation of Previous day class)


Link Talk (presentation)
Connection to new unit/
writing on BB/
Statement of aim/
Introducing the topic

Microprocessing of input
(Prose/Poem)
• Reading of given passage
• Tacking of reading
• Sharing understanding of finding(Pair/Peer)
• Sitting in groups
• Scaffolded reading
• Finding answers to questions given
• Discourse construction: [A discourse based on input]

Individual
Pair
Group
Presentation
Refining

•Questions on appreciation for Poems
(Assessment)

Assignment

Assessment (Column 2)
(To be written after the class)
Learner – (quantitative)
Free response 10/40
Responded 20/40
Partial res 5/40
No res. 5/40
(Qualitative)
Roshan responded well
Swetha was logical

Teacher Assessment
* Need a new poem
* Anecdote not good
Material
* Not very good

Theory/Principle/Approach (Column 3)

9. Workshop Notes

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]


Notes from the presentation on preparation of Teaching Manual – (Workshop organized by KUETEF on Saturday, 21st November 2009)

•Wren and Martin’s High School English Grammar was once the Bible for language teachers- Times have changed – Today teaching the forms of language is not our primary purpose.

•Insights from Cognitive Psychology, Piaget , Bruner and concepts from Chomsky are incorporated into the teaching-learning process.

•We have moved from the teaching of mere language skills and have started to see language as a knowledge subject.

•The New Course Book is assembled to address ‘issues’, Constructivist principles and Critical Pedagogy.

•The focus is on helping learners learn by asking questions- Questioning in a structured way that leads to expose pitfalls/drawbacks of fossilized knowledge-
Cf: Education is in short the growth of the thought process.

•In transacting the content of the Course Book we are trying to address two questions basically: a. How do learners read ? b. How do learners write?

•Steps in reading : [Note: The strategy given below is for Std VIII, IX and X and not for Std V,VI and VII]

*As the learner reads he tracks it by putting a question mark, an exclamation mark or a tick mark- See CB.

*Collaborative reading which involves megaphoning the doubts- the pupil shares with his partner or friend his understanding of the passage.

*Scaffolded reading : The teacher asks scaffolding questions –It is not mere comprehension type question, but questions that lead the learner to form opinions, make predictions, make judgments , establish connections etc.-[Model reading can be attempted by the teacher if it will help the learner]… the third level of reading to generate thinking.

•The reading passage is seen as an input: the expected outcome can be a dialogue or a writing task.

* Individual attempt : Try to get an initiation for the written task by asking a question related to the passage the pupils have just read. Eg: What should the character ask then…

* The learners share their ideas with friends

* Pairs join small groups and share their ideas. [If students are smart, mere pair work would suffice and the teacher can ask them to present their written work]

* Presentation of group product . The best product/ the best written work is selected.

* Teacher editing/refinement

* Refined product goes to the student portfolio.


Preparation of Teaching Manual

• The strength of the process decides the quality of the product

• Each Teaching Manual to have the following three
1.Presentation of input 2. Processing of input and output 3. Assessment

• Each Teaching Manual should have one, two or even three activities which can be meaningfully transacted during the period

• There should be an assessment of Learner(quantitative, qualitative), Teacher and the material after the completion of a module or after one week.

• Earlier assessment aimed at finding out what child knows/ does not know. Now assessment aims at helping the child learn better

• Activities other than discourses may be necessary to sensitize learners to the issue. [Remember : ‘Issues’… is basically the burden of the textbook writer]

• Each unit in the new Course Book has a number of modules [A module is a meaningful division from which one ‘construct’ emerges ie; one written product] It takes roughly four to five periods of instruction to complete a module.

• Teachers of every Subject meet –The Subject Council prepares a detailed plan of what is to be transacted the following month. They prepare a Comprehensive Unit Plan (CUP) which lists the expected outcomes (skills, discourse, values, attitudes etc.) which emerge from the learner – CUP helps pooling of resources and identification of alternative strategies for instruction - Each Lesson Plan will have around five CUP’s – one for each module)


CUP
Name of unit :
Major CO’s : … The major thrust focus of the unit (issues)
Materials and resources
[The CUP has five columns]

Column 1 Input : Poem – Dream

Prose – When Wishes Come True

Column 2 Input Process

Entry activity
First reading

Second reading
Entry activity – reading
Column 3 Output

Comprehension and appreciation (thematic)

Note of appreciation
Parallel poem

Scaffolding question

Column 4 Output Process

Individual, pair, group, presentation, refinement

Individual, pair, group, presentation, refinement

Editing

Column 5 Assessment
Self assessment
Teacher assessment
Column 6 Resources

Audio cassette
CD
Additional poems



* * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** *

Monday, November 23, 2009

8. Report of Sixth Meeting

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]


The sixth meeting of KUETEF and the first meeting of the academic year 2009-10 was held in the Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on Saturday, November 21st, 2009.

Based on the intimation by Postcard mailed to forty six colleges of Teacher Education affiliated to the University of Kerala, seventeen teacher educators attended the meeting.

The proposed agenda of the meeting was a workshop on preparation of Lesson Plans based on the newly introduced issue-based curriculum.

The meeting commenced at 10.30 AM with a prayer by Ms. Anu Mukund. Then the President of KUETEF Dr. M.S.Geetha, welcomed the members and the Resource Person of the day, Mr. Jose Philip, a Lecturer of the Collegiate Education department who had associated himself with the preparation of the new Course book in English. Dr. Geetha also emphasized the need to sensitize teacher educators to the shift in paradigm and to familiarize with the ways of transacting the issued-based curriculum.

Next the members introduced themselves and the Secretary of KUETEF, Mr. C.Praveen presented the Report of the meeting held on Saturday, 13th June 2009 . He also mentioned the activities which the members of KUETEF engaged in after the meeting.

After the presentation of the Report which was approved by the members present, the Resource Person Mr. Jose introduced the participants to the strategies followed for preparation of ‘Teaching Manual’ well in tune with guidelines given during School Cluster Meetings. The RP also addressed several doubts of the participants regarding the rationale of the new procedure followed in classroom transaction.

The session concluded at 1.15 PM and Ms Meenakshi Ramachandran thanked the RP on behalf of KUETEF. During the lunch break new members registered and joined KUETEF. The subscription for the new academic year was also collected by the Treasurer of KUETEF Ms. Anila Chacko.

In the afternoon the participants had a ‘round table’ conference to finalize the format of the Lesson Plan. It was decided to rename 'Lesson Plan' as 'Teaching Manual' for plans prepared by trainees during Practice Teaching.

A few members expressed a need to have discussions to clarify ‘dark areas’ on the topics prescribed for study in the Methodology and Pedagogy papers. The difficulties they faced in finding answers for ‘Principles of testing’ and ‘concepts and principles ‘ in the Pedagogy paper was discussed. Realizing the need to find answers for such ‘dark areas’ it was decided to collect the questions through email for which answers could be given in the form of comments posted on the Blog.
Mr. C. Praveen volunteered to receive the questions by email and initiate the discussion in the KUETEF Blog.

Some members stated that they were experiencing difficulty in demonstrating ‘Models’ of teaching. It was also pointed out that the workshops conducted by several colleges failed to deliver. When a few members volunteered to demonstrate the Models, the Vice President of KUETEF, Fr. Joseph J proposed to host the workshop on ‘Models for ELT’ with assistance from his college management. The Treasurer Ms. Anila informed that part of the expenses for the workshop could be met from the KUETEF funds. So it was decided to conduct a Workshop on Models of teaching at Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam, jointly with KUETEF on the first Saturday of February 2010 (ie 06 . 02. 2010).

During the tea break Fr. Joseph said it would be a good idea to mail by post the proceeding of each meeting to the members of KUETEF. The deliberations came to an end at 4 PM and Ms. Anila Chacko thanked the participants.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

7. Proposed Workshop

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

As informed earlier, KUETEF is organizing a workshop on preparation of Lesson Plans based on Issue-based curriculum for the English Teacher Educators of Kerala University at Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on Saturday, 21st November 2009 from 10.00 AM to 1.00 PM

The participants are directed to bring the following:

•Writing material/ stationery

•Newly introduced Coursebook for Std VIII

•Sourcebook for Standard VIII


During the afternoon, discussions on preparation of Problem-based Practicums / other topics can be arranged based on the interest and need of the members present.

- Secretary, C.Praveen

6.Methodology Media Fest

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

During the meeting held on 13 June 2009 teacher educators of KUETEF planned to get in touch for improving the quality of instruction. Accordingly the Department of English of Government College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum organized a Methodology Media Fest on 09.09.2009. Its objective was to bring together trainees of neighbouring colleges to interact and refine their ideas for exploiting technological resources for teaching English.

Invitations were sent to the Kerala University Teacher Education Centre, Kumarapuram and St. Thomas Training College, Mukollakal. However only trainees of St. Thomas Training College and Govt. CTE, Trivandrum turned up for the Fest held in the Technology Lab of Government College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum.

During the discussion-based presentations materials for teaching Vocabulary, Grammar, Phonetics, Prose and Poetry were presented.

It is hoped that trainees of a few more colleges will participate in the next Methodology Media Fest.

Excerpts from the Evaluation sheet given to the participants

•“ …Such a wonderful experience…” – Shihana, St. Thomas Training College.


•“…The experience was new…what makes the day memorable is the motivation we got…”
– Satheesh, St.Thomas Training College

•“… Excellent …It would have been a great loss if I were absent…”
-Indu S.Nair, St. Thomas Training College

•“…A well organized programme, very informative and interesting…wish programmes
like this would be conducted every year…”
- Lathika, Govt.CTE.

Monday, November 2, 2009

5.Postal Mail to English Lecturers

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello…

Hope you received the Post Card.

Greetings from the Kerala University English Teacher Educators Forum (KUETEF)

All members and those interested in joining

KUETEF are requested to contact me by email .

cpteach@rediffmail.com


On receiving your email I will intimate you about the proposed workshop on


Preparation of Lesson Plans for the newly introduced Issue-based curriculum.

Regards

C. Praveen

Sunday, June 21, 2009

4.Class room Transaction & Practicum

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Please note the consensus in Class room transaction and Practicum arrived at during the meeting held on 13 June 2009

•A Lesson Plan is only an outline programme of action of a teacher to teach a particular topic in a subject. If we surf the internet we can come across 2 Column , 3 Column, 4 Column, 5 Column and ones without any ‘Column’ at all, as in Lesson Plans for Models of Teaching. So, let us not be fussy about ‘Columns’!

•We will continue to follow the practice of making trainees write Lesson plans with three columns:
* Column 1: Process
* Column 2: Response
* Column 3: Theory / Principles

•If the trainee writes anticipated response in Column 2, prior to the class in blue ink, after the class, the trainee should reflect on the class and write an analysis of Process, Product and Strategy in another colour ink (say black)

• Alternatively, if this is not done, after the class, in the Lesson Plan at the end, the trainee should write a short paragraph reflecting on the class just engaged.

• Ensure that in the Diary, each trainee enters his/her reflections on the classes engaged during Practice Teaching.

•In the facing sheet of the Lesson plan, make a reference to the ‘Main Issue’ of the lesson being taught under the head ‘Curriculum Objectives’

•Also make sure that each Lesson Plan makes a reference to
1. The Main issue
2. The language task
3. Entry point ( ie; the ‘Advanced Organizer’ made use of )
4. Activity: individual, pair and group
5. Product: Notice, Letter etc

•While teaching topics related to an ‘issue’, attempt to identify a ‘Local text’ and move on to the various sub issues.

•Reciting of poems and reading aloud the prose passage, by the teacher will definitely help the pupil. So it should be attempted.

•Time- tested Behaviourist strategies can be attempted if they are useful for the pupils.

•While giving tasks, begin with Individual work, them move on to Pair work and finally to Group work. This will ensure better participation of pupils and help in proper scaffolding . ZPD will also receive due attention.

•The nature of evaluation for an ‘issue-based’ curriculum was one area for which the members present had nothing specific to state. So it was decided to follow the pattern in the recent SSLC Question paper* , though the CB for Standard X is not actually designed to sensitize learners to issues and employ strategies of Critical Pedagogy.
[*Prepare a short speech in not more than 80 words to be made in your school
assembly on rain water harvesting – Q.31. March 2009 Code # 219]

•Teacher educators and trainees should familiarize themselves with the currently available Source Book for Standard VII published in 2008 (Standard VIII Source Book is not yet available)

•While trainees prepare Discussion Lesson Plans , ensure that at least one lesson is IT-based.

•The teacher educator should definitely engage a lesson based on Models of Teaching as part of Demonstration Lessons.

•Encourage trainees to prepare at least one Innovative Record. It could be the report of a Multimedia material they have designed/created. Eg: Animated Video.

•Try to enrich class room transaction by making use of Magazines/ Newspaper clips, video clips etc for highlighting the ‘issue’ and for illustrating or explaining topics.

•As part of the Practicum on documentation, identify several sources for teaching a particular poem or passage. Cite the sources for audio/video/ visual/ critical/ biographical materials or even similar poems/ passages. Ensure that they are properly documented as in the Bibliography section of PhD dissertations.

•For Practicum based on Film / Book review, it would be better to choose films/ books related to the ‘issues’ identified in the Source Book However, choosing films /books dealing with ‘issues’ is not compulsory.

•For Film/Book review, the trainees may state the positive and negative aspects they were able to identify after reading/ watching it. They may also highlight the style of writing, character delineation etc.


If you need any further clarification, please feel free to contact me
cpteach@rediffmail.com

Monday, June 15, 2009

3.Report of meeting : 13 June 2009

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Venue: Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum .

As per the intimation letter dated 4.6.09 mailed to over 40 members and reminders by telephone, from Ms. Anila Chacko, the Treasurer, KUETEF, sixteen members assembled in the Seminar Hall of GCTE, Trivandrum on 13th June 2009 at 10.30 AM


The President of KUETEF, Dr. M.S.Geetha, welcomed the members present. She also expressed her concern at the poor turn out of the members for an important meeting which intends to discuss transactional strategies for the newly introduced Standard 8 Course Book.

Dr. M.S.Geetha also informed that there is an urgent need to nominate / elect a new Secretary for KUETEF as the person who was serving as Secretary Ms. Bindhu.T.S, has taken up appointment in a school in the Gulf. This was treated as the first agenda of the meeting and the discussions based on the new Course Book and Practicum, the second agenda.

Ms. Anila Chacko , proposed the name of Mr. C.Praveen, Lecturer in English of Government College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum as the new Secretary. But when Mr. C.Praveen expressed his apprehension of his lack of familiarity with the Kerala University syllabus as he was recently transferred from a Govt. CTE, affiliated to Calicut University some members considered it too insignificant and insisted that Mr. C. Praveen be appointed as the Secretary. As none of the members present expressed a different opinion, Mr. C.Praveen was declared elected as the new Secretary.

At this juncture, Ms Anila Chacko , the Treasurer proposed that the accounts of KUETEF be audited. Accordingly Mr. Prashanth. of Fathima Memorial College, Umayanalloor, Kollam was nominated as Auditor of the accounts of KUETEF through common consent of the members present.

Next, Dr. M.S. Geetha congratulated the newly appointed Secretary and Auditor, and expressed her hope that both of them would help in the smooth functioning of KUETEF. Then she introduced Mr. C.Praveen to the members. She spoke at length about the professional background of Mr. C. Praveen- his experience as a former faculty of the Regional Institute of English, Bangalore, and participation in curriculum related work in the SCERT which could be well utilized by the members. Then Mr. C.Praveen was asked to take over the proceedings of the day.


Mr. C.Praveen, began by thanking the members for electing him as the Secretary, despite his reputation as a critic of the New Curriculum. He also expressed his desire to perform his duties as Secretary of KUETEF to the satisfaction of the members albeit, his recent appointment as Professor on deputation in the Regional Institute of English, Bangalore.


Next, the newly elected Secretary, C.Praveen objectively reviewed the current ELT curriculum being implemented at the Secondary level in Kerala. References were made to Critical Pedagogy, Issue-based curriculum and the pattern for Lesson Plan writing suggested during Cluster Meetings. He also made references to the clash in views regarding class room strategies with regard to the teaching of English experienced by the teacher educators and trainees during Practice Teaching.

Next, the Secretary distributed Xerox copies of the first unit of the newly introduced Course Book for the members who had not yet seen the new Course Book. After the members present had a look at the new Course Book, Mr. C. Praveen, based on his discussion with the faculty of SCERT, explained the proposed transactional strategy. Next, Xerox copies of relevant pages from the Source Book suggesting steps for transaction for Standard 8 were distributed.


The members did express their anxiety with regard to the kind of problems the trainees are likely to face when they go for the second spell of the Practice Teaching. Ms Meenakshi, a member present, clarified doubts raised by the members with regard to the Practicum on ‘Module Writing’ and ‘Film Review’.

Though a formal workshop was proposed earlier for writing a Lesson Plan, paucity of time forced the participants to identify the stages to be reflected in a Lesson Plan that intends to transact the prescribed unit in 30 periods. Discussions were also held regarding the ways of incorporating issues and Critical Pedagogy during class room transaction.

By 1.15 PM, the members decided to call it a day. Ms. Anila Chacko, thanked the members present for their active participation in the discussions. She also specially thanked Mr. C.Praveen and Ms. Meenakshi for briefing the participants on Curriculum transaction. Before adjourning, the members expressed the desire to keep in touch for clarification regarding teaching of the new Course Book and so it was decided to launch a web site for KUETEF in the immediate future. And as a preliminary step the Secretary proposed the launching of a blog for the benefit of the members. The meeting adjourned at 1.30.PM. -C.Praveen

2.Secretary to Members

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello everyone,

I was rather surprised at your decision to nominate me as you new Secretary during the meeting of KUETEF held on 13 June 2009.

I hope I will be able to perform the duties assigned to me and live up to your expectations.

Thank you for your faith in me.

May I invite you to join the discussion on eslforum

http://www.eslforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4932

With warm regards

C.Praveen

1.Launch of Blog for KUETEF

The members of the Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum (KUETEF) who

attended the meeting held at Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on 13

June 2009 expressed the desire to launch a Community blog to enable members to

interact. As a preliminary step, this blog is being launched today.