Using QCT in CIDTT sessions to establish rules with 4 year olds!
Like many of us, I too have attended a session on Quality Circle Time (QCT). At the time I was quite enthused with the idea working with older children. However I was quite skeptical about its success with the pre primary children. With the passage of time QCT was a memorable experience which was never experimented with because I was scared of failing and making a complete fool of myself.
Recently I have started practicing the 10 hour teaching sessions as required by CIDTT. After a discussion with my mentor, I decided that I must try this method with my children of Jr. Kg. Increasingly I was becoming tired of “being safe” and refusing to try unchartered waters! However I kept thinking if jeopardizing my CIDTT session was the only way out…but the streak of taking risks got the better of me.
Oct. 25th is a memorable day in my teaching calendar – in fact my very own learning and teaching moment! It has often been observed that children adapt to changes much faster than adults do. This is just what my class of 25 did today. I started with an energizer and soon followed it with a QCT to reinforce the golden rule of “Raise your hands to speak else I will not respond”. Since the theme that I am teaching is “Marine Creatures” I used a bright orange fish cutting as the speaking object. This technique worked like a charm. Children were encouraged to speak about their favorite pet animal in a sentence. A humbling aspect of the QCT was the shy ones enjoying the technique and actually basking in their moment of glory about their pet animal!! The children who are usually more extroverted actually waited their turn instead of overriding the shy ones.
A firm conclusion from today – Teaching is not as much about the years of experience as it is about the moments that take your breath away and lend an insight into learning and aging like the banyan tree – strong enough to stand rooted and flexible enough to branch out.
Archana Sarkar
Vibgyor High, Marathahalli, Bangalore
Recently I have started practicing the 10 hour teaching sessions as required by CIDTT. After a discussion with my mentor, I decided that I must try this method with my children of Jr. Kg. Increasingly I was becoming tired of “being safe” and refusing to try unchartered waters! However I kept thinking if jeopardizing my CIDTT session was the only way out…but the streak of taking risks got the better of me.
Oct. 25th is a memorable day in my teaching calendar – in fact my very own learning and teaching moment! It has often been observed that children adapt to changes much faster than adults do. This is just what my class of 25 did today. I started with an energizer and soon followed it with a QCT to reinforce the golden rule of “Raise your hands to speak else I will not respond”. Since the theme that I am teaching is “Marine Creatures” I used a bright orange fish cutting as the speaking object. This technique worked like a charm. Children were encouraged to speak about their favorite pet animal in a sentence. A humbling aspect of the QCT was the shy ones enjoying the technique and actually basking in their moment of glory about their pet animal!! The children who are usually more extroverted actually waited their turn instead of overriding the shy ones.
A firm conclusion from today – Teaching is not as much about the years of experience as it is about the moments that take your breath away and lend an insight into learning and aging like the banyan tree – strong enough to stand rooted and flexible enough to branch out.
Archana Sarkar
Vibgyor High, Marathahalli, Bangalore
4 Comment/s:
I am sure your post will inspire more teachers to "try unchartered waters"
So happy that this worked out well - More so as this was your first trial as well as such a young group..............Firoza
Archana, I'm delighted to read your blog entry :-) It required courage to try out an idea that you had shelved for sometime - that too with such a young group ! Your success will undoubtedly spur you to explore further uncharted classroom experiences !
Would you be able to post some photos too?
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