I was always passionate about teaching and I feel proud to say that I am a teacher. My name is Shuchi. I teach Mathematics to 5th and 6th standard. I did B.Ed. not only to add a teaching degree but also to gain perfection in teaching. Now I joined C.I.D.T.T. course not only to add an international degree to my CV but also to make my students enjoy learning with the help of different activities in my class and I also to satisfy myself to the core of my heart by teaching. After taking a class, I always look forward to have the feeling that yes each and every student in my class has understood the concept very well and each and everybody has replied to my questions and can apply the knowledge.
Before joining C.I.D.T.T. course I have taught many concepts with the help of Group Work and I have almost succeeded. But there was always some chaos among students. I always had to ask each one of them keep quiet, finish it fast, do neatly, clean your desk after the task, everybody has to participate etc. etc.. But after the Group Work session of C.I.D.T.T. I learned some tips to take control of the class with some effective planning.
When I did Group Work activity in my class V B. The concept was finding the area of a square. I made 5 cutouts of squares with each having different sides. I divided the class into 5 groups A, B, C, D and E. Each group had about 4-5 students. I instructed some ground rules. I made one student as “Timekeeper” who will keep tab on time, one as “Material Manager” who will bring the material required for activity from the teacher, one as “Facilitator” who will make sure that the work is done by all and all have the opportunity to participate and one as “Creative Director” who will be responsible for overall presentation. I made an announcement that whichever group comes first will get red star on the conduct chart but with all the correct answers and whichever group keeps quiet will get a red star and also in which ever group all the members of it take part actively will also get a red star.
After announcing the ground rules I was double assured that my activity will be hit today. I was really amazed to see that students of group D and E were behaving according to the role given and also were very happy. In group B, there were 3 boys and 1 girl. She was little reluctant and was not participating. The other 2 boys were much more active than her. I tried to encourage her and asked those 2 boys to give chance to her and the fourth boy who was keeping quiet.
After the class I thought that she was the only girl in the group and was not feeling comfortable. When I did the same activity in Class 5 C, I took care of this point. There was only one boy in a group so I asked him to exchange his position with any other student who would like to do. I know that the group should not be comfortable because the students talk more do activity less but it is not true always. But I learned that there should not be only one girl/boy in a group of 4-5 students. Any suggestion ?
In group C, the 2 girls were very active but the 1 boy was only busy in telling to keep quiet and the other was not at all participating in the activity. So I asked their roles and reminded them the ground rules. Then the other 2 boys started participating.
1 boy in this group C who was not at all participating, understood the concept very well with this activity. After this activity he was able to answer the questions orally.
In group A, 3 students were participating and 1 boy was sitting behind all these students and was peeping. Then I asked him to come and sit in the circle and participate. Then he took some interest into the activity.
Group D and A had a race that who will complete the activity first. They both made mistakes in writing the name of the square. So I asked them to go back and correct it. Finally, group D was the winner.
I could see the team spirit in group D and
A. They all were busy in correcting their mistakes and each and every member of the group was helping. I could see that all the members of group D took part actively that is why they were the winner. After all this I asked the winner of group D to put the chart on board outside the class. I gave red star to them.
In this way I did the group work in my class VB. Some errors done in VB were taken care off in Class VC. Still on the learning path.........
Sunday, August 8, 2010
by
Shuchi Srivastava
