January 2012

Volume 6, Issue 1 Inspiring Teachers

Articles this month:

Faculty of the Month

……………..….2

Paradigm Shift …..3

Caption Contest

……………….3

Must Watch Websites

……………….4

Classroom Humour

……………….4

Open Source Teacher’s

Handbook ……………… 5

Driving educational change through excellence in teaching

We have entered a new calendar year and

my greetings to you all! But years are just

numbers, aren’t they? And every year, it’s

the same story. Resolutions, hope, routine,

reviews and count down to another year,

and zero hour!!! We need to see what

impact we are having, how we like to be

remembered, how we live our life. In fact,

I have been reflecting a lot for the past few

weeks on what is the direction of the

Academy!

I will uncover these as the year goes, but

will be happy if my readers can send some

possible activities for the Academy this

year.

This month’s faculty is Dr Arundhati

Sardesai, called Maya Tai by everyone. I

met her at Sholapur and saw her energy

and enthusiasm. Was surprised to see her

age in the profile! Apart from formal

degrees, she has learnt a lot from her

hobbies and she shares with all her

students.

In this issue, we have our fare of useful

links, picture caption contest and

invitation to contribute to an open source

teacher’s handbook. And do get a new

view of the world and life in 2012!

Read page 3.

Happy reading ☺

Uma Garimella

Editor’s Comments Send in your ideas for our

projects

What would you like us to do this year?

Training? Seminars? Conferences on

teaching? Student awareness? Parent

Awareness? Teachers’ placements?

Showcasing great teachers? Publish books?

Anything else? Do write to us and find your

name in the project.

See article on these pictures on page 3

Inspiring Teachers Page 2 of 6

(Read full interview at

www.theprofessor.in)

How did you get initiated into teaching? It was the third quarter of

an academic year in one of

the very reputed Delhi

schools when I joined it as a

teacher of Mathematics, in

place of a young person who

was getting married. I had

typical regional accents in

those days. My students

were not very happy as the

image of their previous

teacher was not matching

me. I was trying my best to

please them. At the end of

that academic year I could

not promote two of my class

students which made me

extremely sad. Even in

those days, I was a believer

of a Spearman’s theory, that

95% students must

understand 95% of your

teaching, to be a teacher.

My truthful tears with those

students and their parents

changed the picture about

me amongst students and

fellow teachers. When

Indian Air Force posted us

out of Delhi after three

years, I could not erase the

picture of the previous

teacher from students’ mind

but I was successful in

carving a good teacher’s

impression on them. It was

carved on the tender minds

of my students, that their

achievements will be valued

along with the higher

achievers of the whole class.

I never encouraged an

excellence of a single person

better than the rest when

the class was showing

average performance.

According to me, it is a duty

of the highest achiever to

make others come on par

with him to fight a tough

competition with the rest.

My own sons were also

taught the same thing. That

gave wonderful results. All

my students realised the

value of sharing and

genuine competition in all

fields.

What are your other interests? I am having a good

collection of fossils

(Himalayan and other),

coins (right from Mughal-

Shivaji period to the latest

commemorative coins made

by RBI), I am having First

Day covers and Stamps

printed by Indian Post

Office, crystals and stones I

like to gather, I have

collected remains of Indus-

Chinese-Inca-Mayan and

many local civilizations. I

have the capsule issues of

Times of India (1838

onwards) and the issues of

journals of American

Freedom. Though I am a

total atheist I have

wonderful miniature idols

of gods and goddesses. I am

a regular trekker and do

cycling and walking to keep

me fit.

What kind of

innovations do you do

in teaching?

All my treasure is used

while teaching or giving

lectures on any academic

subject or on social issues. I

like to use maps while

teaching so that people get

exact idea about the places

they are taken to! The maps

can be used in languages,

History, Geography,

Sociology etc. My trekking

expeditions, photos and

videos provide them new

inspiration. When I take my

students/enthusiast, to

different forts in Sahyadri

and we clean water tanks,

roads and environment,

they feel proud to be

associated with the hard

work.

Faculty of the month Dr Arundhati Sardesai, Manavya, Pune

Dr Mrs Arundhati Sardesai is a well known educationist and writer. She is on board of several educational and research institutions and is currently actively engaged in Manavya - a residential care and rehabilitation center of HIV/AIDS affected destitute/orphaned children and women. The reason she is profiled here is that she has been a teacher all her life, in schools and colleges. And she led some teacher education institutes like Raja Shree Shivaraya Pratishthan and Meenatai Thakre D. Ed.College, Pune and worked for adult literacy too. She delivers many talks on AIR Pune, varied public functions and has written articles in Hindi, English and Marathi in journals & magazines. She has varied educational degrees in Maths to Philosophy and Law, of course always at the top of her class. She has received several awards for her work in education and social work.

Inspiring TeachersPage 3 of 6

Are you wondering what

the pictures on page 1 are?

Well, one is a ‘down under’

map made in Australia. And

the other a “Pacific centred”

map.

Ever wondered why we

should always have north

on top? Aren’t North,

South, East and West

purely arbitrary choices we

humans have made to have

a frame of reference? Yes,

and any other choice would

have been equally ‘right’.

But the downside (pun

intended) of any frame of

reference is that it puts us

in only one frame. After a

while (like a few decades)

we start to believe that the

frame is the reality.

The reason the second map

looks a little ‘distorted’ by

our standards is yet another

new perspective. All map

projections distort the

surface of earth in some

fashion because we are

moving from a 3-d sphere

(oblate spheroid for those

who want to be accurate) to

a 2-d map. The pacific

centred map given here is

an ‘equal area map’ which

Dr. Arno Peters created as a

new projection method that

dramatically improves the

accuracy of how we see the

Paradigm Shift - a new way of looking at the world Uma Garimella

Sharath Chandra: An

engineering student proving

it to the professor.

Ratna Manjari: Simple

question, mind boggling

solution.

Nalini Marthi: We are an

awesome twosome!

Original: In an increasingly

complex world, sometimes

old questions require new

answers

Shantaram: Stuck up with

2? Let me help you?

Earth. With the traditional

(Mercator) map Greenland

and China look to be the same

size but in reality China is

almost 4 times larger! So

much for geography!

I saw this map when I was in

France in 1995.

Perhaps most of you have

grown up with digital clocks

and actually wonder about the

origin of the word ‘clockwise’,

for us – well the clock has

always been ‘that way’. So it

was a pleasant surprise to see

an ‘anti-clockwise’ clock

which my friend made. It

takes a while to read the time

from this clock since we are

so used to ‘clockwise’ clock.

(see more left handed stuff at

http://www.anythingleft-

handed.co.uk/)

Stephen Covey in his Seven

Habits of Highly Effective

People talks about Paradigm

Shift that happens when

suddenly you get to know the

situation from another angle.

He gives an example of a

noisy family entering the

train much to everyone’s

annoyance until the father

reveals that the children had

just lost their mother. What

an astounding paradigm-

shift! To quote Covey: While

individuals may look at their

own lives and interactions in

terms of paradigms or maps

emerging out of their

experience and conditioning,

these maps are not the

territory. They are a ‘subjective

reality’ only an attempt to

describe the reality – he goes

on to write. What an apt

metaphor! We mistake the map

for the reality, whereas it is

only a representation of reality.

And does anyone know the

reality? Even science has

accepted that quantum physics

is not objective but changes

with the observer!

Dr Wayne Dyer also writes

about giving up black and

white thinking in his

“Erroneous Zones”. Thinking

that there is only your way of

thinking or doing something is

a sure way to unhappiness. We

need to cultivate this open

mind. For example,

try to do things with your non-

dominant hand, follow

different routes wherever

possible, read a different

newspaper etc

Another safe and sound way is

to become good listeners. Its

amazing how listening to

another person with your

100% attention opens up new

vistas for you, to look at the

world from the speaker’s point

of view. Contd on p 6

Caption describing

picture or graphic.

Inspiring Teachers Page 4 of 6

Classroom Humour

1. Academically adrift! A study finds that college grads don’t learn much because of low expectations of faculty!

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/01/18/study_finds_large_numbers_of_college_students_don_t_learn_much

2. Assessment of graduating students

http://www.collegiatelearningassessment.org/ 3. Earn a master’s degree in teaching

http://mat.usc.edu/ 4. IBM predicts future technologies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/ibm-five-in-five-company-makes-tech-future-predictions/2011/12/19/gIQAvGKl4O_blog.html

5. Save the earth

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nGeXdv-uPaw

6. Hand Shadowgraphy by Amar Sen On Calcutta http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=H9LBHwlAeOU

7. MIT adds assessment to its OCW to offer certificates/degrees online

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/education/mit-expands-free-online-courses-offering-certificates.html?_r=2

8. Computer science is beyond just using IT – curriculum needs a reboot

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/computing-in-class-needs-reboot-6268889.html

9. Google and Pearson team up for free LMS http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/pearson-and-google-jump-into-learning-management-systems/33636?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chronicle%2Fwiredcampus+%28The+Chronicle%3A+Wired+Campus%29

Son to father: My teacher pointed at me

with a ruler & said:

“At the End of this Ruler is an Idiot” I still

don’t get why I got rusticated.

I only asked him, “Which End Sir?”

Announcement in University:

"The students who have parked their cars

on the driveway, please move them"

Another announcement after 20 minutes

"The 200 students who went to move 9

cars please return to their respective

classes"

Master: How Old is ur father?

Pappu: As old as I am.

Master: How is it possible?

Pappu: He became father only after I was

born.

TEACHER: In this box, I have a 10-

foot snake.

SAMMY: You can't fool me, Teacher...

snakes don't have feet.

Physics Teacher: "Isaac Newton was

sitting under a tree when an apple fell

on his head and he discovered gravity.

Isn't that wonderful?"

Student: "Yes sir, if he had been sitting

in class looking at books like us, he

wouldn't have discovered anything."

Must watch websites available at http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/must-read-links/jan-2012/

Inspiring TeachersPage 5 of 6

Open Source Teachers’ Handbook Many people understand what is Open Source in software – a philosophy which gives access to the product’s source

material. It is also a philosophy where people contribute and cooperate to build a product. Bhagirathi Behera, a

teacher with more than 10 yrs experience and now working as a principal has initiated a book compilation project

with the help of the community of teachers. He has partnered with Teacher’s Academy to bring out this compilation

of experiences, opinions, ideas and expertise and make it available to all teachers. Your contributions will appear

with your name in the book.

What do you need to do? Please respond to the following questions and send to us along with your picture and brief profile (include information about high school, college, activities, honors, work experience, why you have chosen teaching as a career, what are your strengths as a teacher, your career goals in next 1, 3, 5 and 10 yrs ) QUESTIONS Your philosophy of teaching 1. Think of your best teachers.

What positive characteristics

do you believe these teachers

had? Which of these

characteristics do you believe

you have?

2. Think of your worst teachers.

What mistakes did they make

or qualities did they have?

How are you avoiding those

mistakes/qualities?

3. What three words would your

students use to describe you?

4. Define student and school

according to you.

5. How do you see the teacher’s

status and role in society

change in the recent past?

Beyond class 6. What is the purpose of

homework / projects? What is

your typical homework /

project?

Involving Parents 1. What role have parents played

(and are playing) in shaping

today’s education system?

2. What are some ways you

involve parents in your

student development

strategy?

3. How do you approach a

parent who is upset and

and/or angry?

Teaching 4. Explain how you structure the

40/45 minutes of a class

period?

5. How much effort do you put

in planning this lesson? (in

terms of subject, method,

aids)

6. How do you cater to the

different needs of students in

your class?

7. How do you incorporate

technology into your

instructions?

Classroom management 1. How do you handle disruptive

students in the classroom?

Any special strategies for the

occasional and for the

repetitive behavior?

2. How do you create an

atmosphere of tolerance and

friendship among students in

your class?

Deadlines 30 March 2012- Last date to receive responses for questionnaire. 30 April 2012- Announcing editorial team and title of the book 5 September 2012 -Inauguration of the book at Hyderabad If you want to be on the editorial team Any educator interested to be a part of the team can contact personally on 8084125247, or 9440607287 Mail us at bhagijune19@gmail.com/rediffmail.com info@inspiring-teachers.com Project Coordinator: BHAGIRATHI BEHERA PRINCIPAL GREEN VALLEY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL,MALINAGAR SAMASTIPUR ,BIHAR-848125

Inspiring Teachers Page 6 of 6

Paradigm Shift – cont’d from page 3

On a more serious note, I work with an NGO and have come across many differently

abled people. It is truly a humbling experience to see them perform routine tasks in a

completely different way from my thinking. Paraplegics getting into a chair

effortlessly, blind persons adept at computers and mobiles, deaf and dumb persons

having a lively chat using sign language, polio affected persons driving vehicles –

there is really no end to this list. I have realised that ‘differently abled’ is not just a

politically correct version for physically challenged but it is actually true. For

example, if I don’t know how to ride a bicycle or drive a car or stitch clothes – is

someone who can do that ‘more able’ than me? Am I not challenged as far as these

tasks are concerned? Come to think of it, there are millions of tasks and skills one can

have. But we probably have a hundred or thousand of them. So by all means, we are

challenged for the remaining skills.

While every living being has a tremendous potential for adaptation (to circumstances

and to disability), all of us need to always keep the ‘other view’ in mind and not have a

fixed map! Sometimes just looking at the world with a ‘shirshaasan’ may help.

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