Consultancy

What do you see?

2012-02-17T06:17:00.001-08:00

Reflections on Righteousness

2011-12-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

Development organisations tend to think they have cornered the market on trust, honesty and passion. From this follows righteousness to reckon with and what can be sickening condescension. While they can be quite difficult to dialogue with unless you have been anointed an accepted member of the community - they like to speak only to the converted, this approach also alienates them from crippling difficulties in their own implementation.
Considering they will pride themselves on being compassionate and shame anyone outside the clique into thinking that they could not possibly know the context enough to be as endearing to the blessed community members as they, there is often a wide gap to be between the organisation's understanding of the context of its own staff and their internal capacity building, monitoring and mentoring processes. (Please see article: Mentoring is not Monitoring).
Sarcasm and frustration aside, the challenge is as follows. Staff members need to be profiled carefully, as beneficiaries are, the antecedents of their learning carefully analysed before a growth path can be charted and a corresponding capacity building plan is created.

Workshops - Program Re-Design

2011-05-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

In the last three days, we rehashed the program design of a project that has already been approved for funding. The organisation - our client- in 4 days time, for a minimal charge of Rs.5000/day, has a Gantt Chart of activities to be done in the three year period, an LFA for the same period, orientation slides for staff during the different phases of implementation, an organogram for the staff to be hired, a rehashed budget which is saving them money, and JDs.

One person from our team spent 5 hours with the two member leadership team in the client's office for these 4 days to move from having one proposal to what has been described above.

It has earned us the trust of the organisation, and the invitation to have a 6 day workshop on curriculum, a series of project review meetings through the year and a short consultancy to review all the rest of their projects.
LI rocks!
How can we help you?
Call us on 999-9914734 or 9899295706 or write on pritha.ghosh@gmail.com

Teaching English

2011-03-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

Presentation_Action India_June2010

Proposal for School Turn Around

2011-01-08T16:07:00.001-08:00

School Turn Around

Catching Up with Social Sciences

2010-12-16T20:42:00.001-08:00

Having an education system in which students join school through the academic year, teachers and school administrators are finding it difficult to adjust because they think their new students will not.

The good news is that this is not true. Children adjust quickly, given the right mix of content and methodology to orient them as they ease into school systems through Special Training classes set up within the school system (either on or off the school campus).

The pictures below are of a 22 year old community school which functioned like any Government school until it was opened up to students of all ages who were being excluded from the system because they did not access school on their own. It resulted in a wide range of ages in the class and a wider disparity in understanding and familiarity with content.

This is a photo documentation of three days workshops designed to provide the leverage children needed to then join into age appropriate classes in Social Sciences. The school required the students to appear for the NIOS examinations in Class X and XII.

LearningInq has devised a curriculum, in keeping with the NCF2005, to ensure that students joining the system are oriented as fast as possible, but according to the pace at which they are comfortable. The Social Sciences course takes children through the echonograph and assists them to construct their knowledge of connectedness with their social environment. It results in a familiarity with all the topics delivered in standard textbooks.

TOT For Fluency in English

2010-12-16T04:17:00.000-08:00

1. Outcomes for learners from the curriculum
1.1. Develop a confidence in written and conversational English to enhance their opportunities to negotiate fulfilling careers
1.2. Use the English language as a tool to effectively communicate authentic individual and group identities during such negotiation

2. Outcomes for learners from the pedagogic strategy
2.1. Learners will be partners in the creation and implementation of learning outcomes and the curriculum that results from them
2.2. The English course will be one part of a comprehensive Life Skills Program, the objectives of which will include support to learners to create authentic and thoughtful career plans and help hone individual identities. Unlike the curriculum of a ‘finishing school’, it will exclude coaching learners to ‘fit in’ with a specific social group, while it includes the cognitive and social skills required to enable learners to be able to make the distinction between keeping abreast with the socialisation available to the English-speaking community and feeling forced to adopt a culture in order to be successfully employed

3. Pedagogic Strategy
3.1. Students’ actual life experiences are provided a central place, thereby creating the opportunity for an authentic context for learning, and decreasing a natural resistance to new learning
3.2. The learning environment is constructed such that mutual and coequal roles are shared between teachers and learners
3.3. Students can take part in a constructive collective effort, where peers rely on each other for learning
3.4. Use of Critical Pedagogy as a facilitation technique
3.5. Trainers undergo the same pedagogic experience as their potential students

4. Syllabus
4.1. Curriculum concept line – a listing of the concepts to be taught in logical sequence

5. Implementation Team
5.1. Pedagogue is responsible for 1,2 & 3
5.2. Linguist is responsible for 4

ToT for English Fluency

Language Lab

Student Profile

2010-12-16T04:10:00.000-08:00

The creation of a relevant education system which is designed to evaluate itself in participatory fashion so it continuously improves in the ability to address the dynamic education needs of the people it serves must begin with a thorough knowledge of these people.

The Student Profile covers 8 areas of need. 8 aspects of context that need study while creating a program that has a good chance of not being discarded by the learner. These 8 considerations remain the basis of case discussions and are the source of all innovation and the reality that ground the program in practicality and thus usefulness.

To design a basic program to ensure engagement, the Social, Physical and Financial profiles of the learner must be investigated and studied. They are the easiest to access and identifying various factors in these three realms is often well within the basic skill set of even the novice Social Worker or Communicator. Thus it is good place to start the profile. When training a team, these three areas can be filled out in the student profile even before the first meeting to decide on a program.

Based on the skill sets and modalities of work that is the norm in the organization, the above information can be gathered through door-to-door surveys, group meetings in the community with a mix of adults and children or separately or by piggy-backing on community meetings designed to service existing programs of the organization.

Especially in the case of groups that have been marginalized over more than one generation and those in which migration is frequent, health services designed to service the physical profile is a safe and often welcome start to a program in a community[1].

The next important step in the outreach process is the conversation about motivation to learn.
Once it is clear what the motivation to learn is, an academic program can be chosen. This would include a choice of Education Board at the National level, so there is at least the attempt to arrive at the level of a recognized standard certificate of education.
Based on a combination of all the above factors considered thus far, the administrative and logistical section of the profile needs to be filled. The conveniences and facilities that each individual child requires when collated determine the basic framework of the service - the hours, the curriculum, the location, the number and qualifications of the staff, the resources and the budget.

Creating a pedagogic, psychological and curricular profile for learners should be left to professionals trained for the task[2]. The organisation may choose to hire this skill either on a long-term basis from the consultant or by recruiting a resource or by using in-house staff. This is a specialised skill and training on it is akin to starting a bachelor’s in education program.

Re-Organising for Efficiency

2010-12-16T02:38:00.000-08:00

Like all very busy institutions or activity junctions, where the number of footfalls is an issue, like hospital emergency rooms and community centres, malls and traffic signals; the school is at best chaotic.

I have found that to have five clear departments helps sort this chaos out in the shortest possible time.

The Community Outreach Department

The Curricular/Academic/Pedagogic Department

The Administrative-Logistical Department

Creating a department by that name starts a change process wherein, all staff memebers begin to speacialise. The teacher begins to see the difference between preparing for class, implementing a lesson plan in the classroom and the wide range of peripheral logistics that support any of the above two activities.

Teachers are used to taking on a great many administrative tasks that are intertwined with teaching and the smooth functioning of a classroom environment which nurtures learning. Giving up these responsibilities can be unsettling as it requires tremendous trust in the person taking them over, also it requires very close co-ordination. So much so, sometimes it may even feel like the interaction required is so great that it is easier for the teacher to do the task him/herself.

After the initial period of hiccups, however, it often proves to be a good idea because of the incremental increase in the time that the teacher gains to reflect on classroom process. The time gained may be used to replace the administrative tasks with reporting on classroom dynamics, process and student assessment. This is not the same as filling report forms and checking copies. It is a constructivist approach to reflecting on classroom process so that the teaching-learning process can be more effective.

The Financial Department

The Health Centre

The size and nature of the staffing in each is determined by the context as well as the number of footfalls desired.

The process of building consensus is a continuous one, if change is to be permanent. The reasons for the change needing to be reiterated continuously, sometimes at the most inconvenient of times, is not an indication that the change is bad, or that it is not required or is before its time, but a reminder that organisational change in a school often needs to be internalised at a personal level for it to have permanent outcomes at work.

Different people in the system will have different reasons for resisting change, as they are stakeholders in different aspects of the status quo. It is very unlikely that everyone concerned is going to be as ready for all aspects for the change process as everyone else. That is not a good reason not to start.

One way to solve the problem is to start the change with everyone as far as they are ready to go with it. It is best to keep the plans for change transparent and, quite honestly, as fluid as possible. When people get the idea that you are there to listen to their ideas seriously, and see that you will be fair, that you will change plans when the argument makes sense; they begin to contribute. Participation begins to take shape. Programs begin to reflect the ideas of the people who implement them.

Equal access and the opportunity to shape the change that the organisation will take will also avoid those who take the first step being ostracised overtly or subtly.

Holistic Curriculum

2010-12-15T21:29:00.000-08:00

LearningInq works with school administrators and educational program managers to ensure that curriculum is holistic. The how of integrating the arts and supposedly co-scholastic subjects into a strictly academic calendar/timetable is a process but one that is do-able and simple.

"Music, in its purest form, encompasses the very ideals that we want to impart to our children. Let us consider a few. Because music makes abstract thought concrete, it forces us to develop several important cognitive functions.

The first is memory. Musicians must memorize not only the melody of a piece but also the individual notes that make it up. Within that, music teaches us the language of expression. You and I and Martin Luther King Jr. could read the exact same speech and it wouldn't sound the same. The words are the same, of course, but why is it that Dr. King's voice and tone carried something beyond the words? It's the expressiveness of the performance. Similarly, three people playing a trumpet don't sound the same. They can play the same note or melody, but only some trumpet players have a feeling that touches our heart.

Music also teaches us how to get along with others. Consider the music I love: jazz. Each member of the group can improvise, but none of it works -- for a soloist or an ensemble -- if the musicians do not play in balance. If the drummer, who plays the loudest instrument, decides he wants to be much louder than the bassist, who has the softest instrument, you're going to have discord. This group dynamic teaches the importance of choice, and many choices require some form of sacrifice. You must listen. You must have a conversation. The group must work together to achieve its goals.

Jazz, in many ways, embodies our core democratic principles. The motto of the United States is "E Pluribus Unum" -- Out of Many, One. Likewise, in music we celebrate the skills of the individual, as well as the strength of the group. Playing music also allows us to interact with some of our greatest artistic minds. When you perform the music of Charlie Parker or Leonard Bernstein, you understand their world. With each song, we get a glimpse of the intellectual life contained within the artistic statement."Please read the rest of this article under Free Tools and Ressources.

The Politics of the Staff Room

2010-12-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

An education audit reveals many intricacies of relationships with histories as long as the organisation. Not paying them mind does not work, wiping the slate clean does not work. The undercurrents are strong and determine the quality, participation and future of the individual as well as the group's learning. They are also just as well disguised. Those who believe they have been oppressed stand united because they believe the world to be against them. So never mind what is going on under the surface amongst them, the "outsider" is kept out.

So imagine the confusion and absolute havoc, like chasing a chicken on a minefield - when the auditor strikes up individual relationships with each of the staff, when everyone has equal access to decision makers and everyone feels justice as they see it as at hand.

The frail unity crumbles as the common enemy ceases to exist. The energy diverted from the common cause is redirected inward to the group and the auditor is subjected to a tangled mess of free-for-all. There ensues a long period of subtle sabotaging through which one can only remain calm, fair, honest and direct, if one can keep talking through the day representing everybody's best to each other without negating individual experience. At this time, one is constantly accused of favouritism, and is deemed guilty unless proven otherwise by time or test.

Math Mela - Hope Project

2010-12-13T11:21:00.001-08:00

I beleive that learning may be best when in the deep end of the pool...where necessity is upon you, if not panic.

This is a picture of a counter run by a student at which other children must come to learn Math skills before they are allowed to pass through.

The student is asked to hold back and observe how the children try to solve the puzzle, and only help if absolutely required.

Most teachers find this hard to do initially, but learn to depend on this method when they experience the far reaching results of inquiry as a methodology. Not only do learners quickly become self reliant, they stumble upon their own preferred mode of learning and almost always ask to learn much more than the planned content. As a result learning is quicker, more comprehensive and longer lasting.

2010-12-12T07:30:00.001-08:00

Gen 1 Can Brochure

Mazboot Neev Application Form

2010-12-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

Mazboot Neev Application

Municipal Corporation Schools, Delhi

2010-12-12T06:35:00.001-08:00

Nurturing Reading

2010-12-12T06:19:00.000-08:00

LearningInq sets up comprehensive reading programs in your school with measurable results in:

1. Increased fluency in teachers and students with English and the native tongue, where fluency equals reading with comprehension, speaking with understanding, functioning in the language-environment.

2. Increased usage of language (widened vocabulary) in the use of debate, discussion and expression of opinion in verbal and written form.

3. Increased engagement with language-rich environments such as participation in seminars that are language-rich, increased usage of library, engagement in school and community projects that require language usage and development.

This program was first tested to provide career related opportunities to students of the Hope Project Charitable School. To be considered indicators of success, the engagement with language took various forms:

1. The Apprenticeship Program (for Language teachers):

As a result of an exercise to explore dreams for their future, students whose aspiration was to be part of the childcare and development industry were encouraged. It has resulted in 8 current students of the school being trained as apprentices, an increase in the number students attending the classes that they teach from 35 (taught by the Support teacher) to 113 (divided amongst students that the teacher trained).

2: Debates on current affairs:

The country had been torn on the argument about reservation of sets for specific social castes and classes in institutions of higher education, for some time now. The Social Sciences classes with the senior students had been discussing the issue in their classrooms for a while. In order to make sure that students understood the issue and came to hold an opinion for themselves, it was decided to do a debate on the issue as part of the Language Program.

3. Integration of strategies across subjects for whole-school impact:

The students who did not travel to Rajasthan used three days to read, comprehend and translate from research on Jodhpur from English to Hindi. It was an assessment of how much the children are able to use dictionaries. Several copies were bought for this workshop and are now housed in the Language Lab.

4. Identification of parts of the syllabus that students find difficult and finding ways to reach multiple intelligences:

The workshop on poetry was started because introducing the subject of poetry to the students was proving difficult for the senior classes as in the way it is suggested in the NIOS course. By the time that the students reach the Xth standard and above, the material that needs to be digested gets to be so lengthy, there is no time to relish the beauty of the work that they are required to study.

The Hindi teacher felt that the students needed a background in poetry and literature, which was delivered at length in a workshop format so that they could be prepared academically as well as in spirit to receive the information in their course later. The timetable was adjusted such that, ince every week, the students experience recitations, exposure visits to listen to recitations and authors as well as book releases, as well as discussions on the life and times of various poets and authors. The works of Hazrat Inayat Khan were also discussed under the section of Sufi poets and Saints and their philosophy. The intervention ran three months in duration.

Please contact us for short and long-term engagement to facilitate Reading at your school - whether it be low-cost private schools, community schools or NGO schools and centres or high-end private schools.

Effective Mainstreaming

2010-12-12T05:07:00.000-08:00

A workshop on pragmatic solutions to use the last month before mainstreaming to the best advantage. Simple, do-able plans of action will emerge as LI's entire range of expertise will be applied to whatever the current situation in centres/schooling/organisations/classes.

The three day workshop will include sessions on the following:
Assessment of learning levels in English, Hindi, EVS and Math
Remediation in a multi-grade situation
Exam taking skills
Involving parents in the mainstreaming process
Classroom management in a multi-level and multi-grade classroom

Purpose : Ensuring that good practice and proven strategies are used such that the most possible students are mainstreamed. This workshop will have several follow ups on how to retain children who have been mainstreamed.

Classroom Management Strategies

2010-12-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

One-day workshop for teaching staff on classroom management techniques that work for non-formal and formal classes.

Who Should Attend:

* Supervisory and teaching staff of formal and non formal schools of all classes up to Class 8

Agenda
* 09-10 AM: Introduction and customisation of training to suit the needs of individual participants
* 10-12PM: Multiple Intelligences - Reaching out to 8 different categories of intelligence and interest
* 12-03PM: Inquiry as Methodology - Putting children in charge of their own learning (and classes)
* 03-05PM: Logistics and Power - Sharing responsibility for discipline

Students and teachers both, come into a classroom with baggage. Traditionally, it has been the place to flaunt conventional power dynamics between adults and children.

Re-arranging a classroom can affect these dynamics and quickly, painlessly encourage participation and increase the impact of learning.

Notice in the picture, the students are seated so that they can communicate with each other, assisting each other to digest the information they receive so it converts to learning. The resources for learning, in this case the BBC Website being beamed on the wall, the teacher as well as the students' peers are all within reach for the individual learner.

Concept Mapping

2010-12-12T05:04:00.000-08:00

A workshop on the use of mind maps to revise syllabus, provide remedial education and fast track students in multi level classrooms.

Learning Outcomes :
1. Prepare children for mainstreaming into Government schools by March in age-appropriate class
2. Interesting and fast method of revision, leaving time to teach remedial and exam taking skills
3. Increases teacher capacities to manage single-teacher and multi-level classrooms
4. Will assist curriculum planning for coming academic year

Crack English

2010-12-12T05:02:00.000-08:00

CRACK ENGLISH
Learn to write, speak, understand English

Learn to function comfortably in an English-speaking environment

Through simple tested techniques

With experienced facilitators

Specially Designed For student teachers As Part of B.Ed

Learn to read to understand English by reading lesson plans, surfing education websites, looking for jobs

Learn to speak English by delivering lessons, in conversation about education and teaching practices, by presenting case studies

Learn to listen to and understand English by viewing videos on world class schools and teachers

Learn to write English by preparing lessons for students as Power Point presentations.

Outcomes for Teachers

•To understand text better

•To prepare lessons better

•To write reports better

•To consume research better

•To speak comfortably to visitors

•To speak fluently to students

Logistics

3 months - November, December, January

2 days a week

6 hours per week

Minimum 50 students

Each student pays Rs.1000/- total for tuition and material in advance at the time of registration

English Fluency

2010-12-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

One-day workshop for grass-root teaching staff on how to teach English for fluency in reading, writing, speaking, listening and functioning. Kindly call for any questions or write back with confirmation of participation. The research on which this is based was sponsored by Youthreach and tested with 9 organisations across Delhi.

Who Should Attend:
* A teacher for remedial or non-formal education classes for children who will be mainstreamed to Class 1-5
* A teacher who is required to teach English
* A teacher who is not fluent in English herself/himself
* A teacher who is a first generation learner

Agenda
* 09-10 AM: Introduction and customisation of training to suit the needs of individual participants
* 10-11AM: Concept Level 1
* 11-12AM: Concept Level 2
* 12-01PM: Concept Level 3
* 02-03PM: Concept Level 4
* 03-04PM: Review