Anuradha Krishnan
WHAT MAKES ME A PROGRESSIVE PRINCIPAL
The traditional role of a principal includes many things and I am sure is being followed by most.To be a Progressive Principal, one needs to move with the times. I place a great significance on mentoring and counselling which is a very important part of my job as the Head of a school. This is not limited to students and teachers who come to me for guidance. Very often, parents also approach me for advice on various matters. It is heartening when they come back with gratitude!
I have helped the school work out a pedagogical process where we use a method of enquiry and collaboration to learn/teach. The student centricity of the programme is maintained with an active feedback mechanism from the teachers, their peers and students in addition to my own visits to the classes and my appraisals. We use technology effectively but do not make it the most important part of a school day.
We have had a large number of children who have joined us through the RTE. I ensure that the children are given completely fair treatment and still have the teachers take remedial classes to help the children cope with their academics. The parents are also kept involved by sending out important circulars in the local language. I also conduct meetings to pass on information to them- also done in their language.
MY MISSION AS A PROGRESSIVE PRINCIPAL OF INDIA
Being a Progressive Principal shall help me communicate my philosophies and my progressive thinking about school management to a larger group of people. This can happen through various forums like the Universal Group of Schools of which we are a part. I could also propagate these ideas through various other fora like the IGCSE Principals Forum. It gives me the platform to ensure that I will be heard and will help me to communicate to a wider spectrum of people. I hope to motivate more people through this.
LEARNING BY DOING
Every chapter or new concept is taught primarily through activities whether in Science, Math, Social Sciences or even Languages. Children are often taken out on visits to understand the workings of either post offices, fire stations, factories, labs museums and so on. At school, the children grow their own plants to understand concepts like germination, photosynthesis, crop rotation etc, composting is done and the compost is used for organic farming, they use the rain gauge to measure rain regularly and participate in various self driven activities like Swachhagraha or Behtar India. Children, even in the primary classes are taught concepts in the Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science and Math Lab. In addition we have a THOTS lab for developing higher order thinking skills in children.
INTEGRATED CURRICULUM
A lot of interdisciplinary learning happens on our campus. For instance, recently, we had the French teacher teaching students about France and its role in the World War (History). Also Math was taught through the making of a cake and understanding ratios and fractions. English was incorporated since the students then had to write an essay about the experience of cake making. Social Studies include case studies of specific regions and this was done with the help of the Computer Science teacher who helped students make their own powerpoint presentations.
INTEGRATION OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP INTO EDUCATION THROUGH FACULTY
A fiesta is held each year. Children are encouraged to take stalls themselves, decide what they want to sell (could be food or trinkets), identify requirements, assess costs and then decide the price at which they will be able to make the best profits by keeping the price optimum. They also market their products highlighting the USP since there are multiple stalls. We create a calendar each year by incorporating the art work of our students, These calendars are then sold to parents and the proceeds are used for charity. The Business Studies students, under the guidance of their teachers have multiple teams who are asked to compete against each other to ensure maximum sale of calendars. They are given a budget for marketing and they have to get the best return on investment. This is a win-win for them and for the charitable causes we support.
PROBLEM SOLVING & CRITICAL THINKING AMIDST THE FACULTY
Workshops are often held on enhancing the problem solving and critical thinking capacity. The teachers are expected to, for instance, understand what subject specific skills are required at the Board Exam stage and then work backwards to be able to analyse what level of skill is needed at all preceding grades so that a proper gradation of learning can happen. Each teacher is also expected to design her own Lesson plan with details of activities and concept learning strategies incorporated in it. Whether it is class discipline or safety management, many thoughts are brainstormed and the pros and cons discussed before a final decision on the protocol to be followed is taken.
GROUP WORK AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL SKILLS AMIDST THE FACULTY
Teachers, like students are part of the four Houses and there are a number of events which promote teachers of the House working together for the greater good of the Team. On Sports Day or various inter house events, teachers are often as passionate about their teams as students. Teachers also have vertical subject groups across grades for example the Math Teacher Group includes Math teachers from Grade 1 to 12 who work together to ensure better understanding of concepts at an appropriate stage. There are also horizontal groups of all teachers who teach a particular class for instance all teachers who teach Grade 5 may come together to discuss ways to improve the performance of students in the class, manage their discipline or discuss other issues. To develop social interaction between teachers, we have a monthly teachers’ birthday celebration organised by the Welfare Officers. In addition, teachers form groups and celebrate all festivals showcasing the special features of the region. For instance, for Onam, teachers get together and cook an entire meal for fellow teachers and serve a full Leaf meal (A Sadhya) to all faculty members. This develops great camaraderie amongst teachers. This is done for all festivals.
UNDERSTANDING & ACTION BASED LEARNING
The school follows the IGCSE Curriculum. The focus here is always on concept understanding and application. Questions are not taken from the text and often test the ability of a child to analyse studied concepts and apply them in hitherto unknown situation. That is what prepared them for life. For instance, in English, questions from textual material is reduced significantly and the focus instead is on creative writing like narrative, descriptive or argumentative writing. In Hindi, they are asked to write speeches or movie reviews or even blogs in the language so that it is more current and relevant to students. In Science, they are asked to suggest and design experiments to check a particular hypothesis. These maybe experiments they have not done before but uses concepts learnt in class. Answers that are lifted from the text books directly score less marks.
COLLABORATIVE & COOPERATIVE LEARNING PROJECTS FOR FACULTY DEVELOPMENT
Best practices are discussed at every meeting the teachers may use different strategies and approaches to either teach a concept, to aid learning, to manage a class, to ignite enthusiasm or to ensure participation in a class. Some work well and others not as well. Teachers are expected to share their best practices with others at the biweekly staff meetings. This helps teachers come together and learn from each other. Similarly, the subject teacher meetings across grades helps teachers learn from others about the best ways to get a particular topic across to students. A Buddy System among teachers helps new/young teachers learn from their seniors in the field. An annual Outbound Trip is organised where teachers spend a weekend staying out together, away from the familiar ambience, where they get to discuss a lot of things and come up with new thought processes.
EDUCATION ACCENTUATING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SAFEGUARDING DEMOCRACY
It is my strong belief that every individual must be given a voice and be able to express his/her opinion. The motto of the school is Aude Sapere (Dare to Know) and we believe in Sand Peure (Without Fear). Children, Parents and Teachers are given free access to the principal and allowed to walk in and have a conversation or raise a concern. There are suggestion boxes placed at different points in the school where everyone is allowed to state their point of view or express their happiness or discontent. Debates are held where children with very divergent views are given a chance to express without any fear of retribution. They are also taught to deal with people who have an opposing view with maturity and grace without resorting to raised voices..
DESIGN & DELIVERY OF A LEARNING ECOSYSTEM WHEREBY HIGHLY PERSONALIZED LEARNING ACCOUNTING IS DONE FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL’S PERSONAL GOALS
The number of students in the school is maintained at an optimum level so that the teachers are able to have a personal relationship with each of her students.The teacher is able to paint a very accurate pen picture of each of her students through continuous interaction and be able to identify areas of expertise and areas of shortfall. A record of not just their marks but specific skills and difficulties both in academics and otherwise is maintained by the mentor teacher. This helps to identify discrepancies and variations in the norm quite easily. The teacher is then ready to be at the side of the student in times of need and counsel them to help them set and achieve goals without causing stress. This has really helped our students immensely.
INTEGRATION OF COMMUNITY SERVICE AND SERVICE LEARNING PROJECTS INTO THE DAILY CURRICULUM
The school is continually engaged with the neighbourhood Government School which join us on our sports day and participate with our students. The school students also have an ongoing engagement with underprivileged children through an NGO. The students from those schools either visit our school to interact with our teachers and students or our children go to their campus to play and learn with them.
We have students in our school who suffer from Muscular Dystrophy, a rare and as yet incurable disease. Our students spread awareness about this disease and even collected funds to contribute towards research in this field. They participated in a Fistful Of Rice project where every child kept aside a fistful of rice in a bag and when the bag was full, it was contributed for to the needy.
FUTURISTIC SELECTION OF SUBJECT CONTENT
There is ample chance for us to do this as a part of our Global Perspectives Programme. The students are expected to study problems in the local community, for example the water problem, or the frothing lake problem. They are then expected to identify specific causes of the problem, what is being done to solve the same, whether it can be expanded to larger ecosystems in the regional or national or the global scale. It may be about the role of migration and its impact on the local habitat, its regional, national and global impact. We hope that this subject will make our students more aware of the situation around them and also make them better global citizens. We also have students from various countries like Germany, Switzerland, Nigeria, USA and UK studying at our school. They are encouraged to discuss the issues faced in their respective country.
LIFELONG LEARNING AND SOCIAL SKILLS OF FACULTY MEMBERS
A teacher can be a good teacher only if she is a lifelong learner. Every teacher is constantly learning from her students. It is essential that one acknowledges this and takes pride in the fact that our students are teaching us or inspiring us to learn more. One cannot establish a connection with the children if one is not up to date with the subject or with the changes going on around us which may not be directly related to our subject. Knowing the latest football scores will help you use examples from the world of football to get your message across. Being able to relate to students is a very important skill for the teacher and I believe that this is as significant as domain knowledge. Children learn best when they relate to the teacher.
FACULTY ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION OF THEIR INNOVATIVE PROJECTS & PRODUCTIONS
We have an annual Performance Appraisal process which is based on the teachers giving their self appraisal based on the events that transpired during the year, the Students’ Feedback, Peer Feedback as well as Principal’s Feedback. This incorporates all the activities that have occurred during the course of the year- this maybe academic, extracurricular, or other projects or innovative projects the teachers have undertaken like new pedagogical methods, a theatre production, an innovative competition organised, a student or class that showed remarkable change and so on. The teachers have a platform to showcase what they have done and this is aided by supportive feedback from students, peers and management which helps in the more rounded evaluation of the work accomplished.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY TO FACULTY EMPOWERMENT
As a teacher, one must always recognise the immense power that we have to change the course of life in a child, a community and even the country. The teacher must always feel empowered in order to be able to empower students. It is the duty of every school management to recognise and empower their teachers. In our school, we have teachers who get elevated to positions like Team Leads in charge of larger groups of students and teachers. Teachers also head various committees for sports, events and even for conduct of the exams, As heads of these various teams, they are given guidelines on the expected outcome and the methods to be followed but they are allowed to make changes and fine tune to suit their ideas. The faculty must be allowed the flexibility and be shown that they are trusted to do the right thing. That is when they will rise to the occasion.