Inspiring Teachers Human Excellence

July-Sept 2014 Page 1 of 4 VOL. # 8 ISSUE #3

Looking back and looking forward

This July marks 7 years of Teacher’s Academy. I started with

teachers but have also done some corporate workshops.

Thanks to my audiences, I have developed more than 40

modules and now have material for almost one month non-stop

program. I discovered this fact last month in IATC where I had

delivered a second ten day program in a gap of 4 months, with

some mixed participants (who had not attended the previous

program). I do most programs alone, but teamwork has also

been quite rewarding when I have other experts with me as in

DRDO workshops. I am grateful for the encouragement of my

friends and colleagues who kept me going when I felt like

giving up.

Well, it’s a new academic year. Some of you have joined new

schools/colleges while others are teaching new courses and

some others are in the same college/school teaching the same

subjects. But wait! You can still decide to teach the same

subject in a different manner this year!

This month I am sharing with you 16 templates I made for

lectures with some interaction, especially suitable for our

colleges. These can be found at

http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/category/teacher-

tools/teaching-strategies/

We have given these in NMREC and it seems to have helped

the faculty to start making their own lecture plans. Anyone

interested in similar initiatives can send e-mail to

inspiringteachers@gmail.com

Good news is that we have published two papers in Frontiers in

Education, an International IEEE Conference with a special

theme on innovations in Engineering Education.

So have a great academic year and read on this issue

--Uma Garimella

In this issue:

Editorial

Feature: 16 teaching strategies for Indian colleges……… 2

Can you find out your teaching style from your shopping… 3

Interesting Links …………….. …….. 4

Updates at the Academy

Completed programs

• 10-day faculty development program at Indo-American

Technical Campus, Anakapalle, May 18th to 28th 2014

• Intensive 3-day program on NBA and teaching for OBE

at NMREC, 19th-21st June 2014, Hyderabad

• CCE Training (with Sikshasri Educational Consultants) at

Karnataka Public School, Bidar and Sri Vidyanjali School,

Kukatpally, Hyderabad.

• Pre-retirement planning at DRDL, 10th -11th June 2014

• Guest faculty at Orientation Course at JNTU-Academic

Staff College

• Guest faculty for research based teaching methodologies

at JNTU-Academic Staff College

Forthcoming programs

• Fourth annual workshop at Sevalaya for teachers - on

formative assessment this year – July 2014

Contact us: inspiringteachers@gmail.com

Teaching Strategies for the Indian College Uma Garimella

The colleges of today have the following features

• A large number of students who cannot speak / read /

understand English fluently and who are shy

• A teacher population with some retired university professors and

a large number of very young faculty • A tight schedule and non-residential campuses because of which

there is hardly any transaction outside classes

• University assessment which is predominantly memory based

• Traditional lecture based classes with students relying on

readymade material and rote learning

Due to this there is a huge gap between skills learnt in the college

and skills required in the workplace leading to unemployment (See table). Fortunately, the new NBA (National Board of Accreditation)

requirements as well as the CCE (Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation) initiated by CBSE and now adopted by many State

Boards, are trying to bring Higher Order Thinking Skills into the

curriculum. These HOTS cannot be developed in teacher centered classes. It is mandatory to do student centered teaching with lots of

interaction for developing HOTS in students.

While the idea of creating active classrooms is quite interesting,

teachers find it difficult to make the transition. Training on pedagogic principles is making them motivated to do something, but they are

unable to move from ‘somehow’ to ‘how’. They need guidance and mentoring from their subject experts who also have modern

pedagogic knowledge.

Unfortunately, there are very few such experts available to the

faculty of colleges. The NBA defined 12 graduate attributes are almost like Mt Everest for our students and teachers, whose existing

skills may be likened to ‘barely able to walk’ as compared to scaling the Everest.

I have had opportunity to work with a couple of progressive colleges – GMRIT and NMREC where a sincere effort is going on for

improving the teaching-learning process. I have integrated the various kinds of inputs I gave in these colleges and elsewhere to

create some example teaching strategies or templates for lecture

plans, which can be used as the starting point by faculty.

These sixteen strategies are categorized as: 1. Enhanced Chalk and Talk (2 types)

2. Small Group Interactions 3. Video/Demo Discussion (3 types)

4. Jigsaw Reading

5. Inductive Teaching 6. Problem Solving class (3 types)

7. Review classes (3 types) 8. Learning from labs

9. Higher Order Thinking

Read more at http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/category/teacher-tools/teaching-strategies/

July-Sept 2014 Page 2 of 4 VOL. #8 ISSUE #3

# Skills needed in

Workplace

Skills acquired in

College

1

Apply knowledge of any

domain to solve

complex contemporary

problems

Recall and

comprehension of

principles in these

areas. University exam

also measure this.

2

Analysis of problems

and design of solutions

across different

disciplines and including

ethical, environment

and legal issues

Solving text book and

topic based problems,

hardly any

interdisciplinary or

bigger problems

3 Analyze the resources

and information

available on the subject

and take decisions or

form judgments

Copy-paste of

information, rote

learning with hardly

any decision making.

Use of readymade Q&A

and not reading any

standard books due to

lack of English skills

4 Use modern tools and

equipment in the

domain of work

Focus on fundamentals

and basic tools and

techniques

5

Communicate

effectively with different

types of audience on the

subject. Write analytic

reports, manuals, design

documents. Read

manuals, give and

follow instructions.

Make social

conversations.

English and Technical

subjects are

compartmentalized.

Not much focus on

technical

communication in

classrooms. Students

continue to speak in

native language and

write incorrect English

in exams.

6 Ability to learn quickly

any new subject or skills

Dealing with the exam

instead of learning

7 Work with diverse,

multidisciplinary teams

sometimes across

cultures

Team work limited to

one or two projects in

their own discipline

and with no individual

accountability. No

exposure to diverse

cultures.

Table showing the difference between school/college

and workplace skills

Can you find your teaching style from the way you do your shopping?

Just as there are different learning styles - VARK, Kolb’s (and Social interaction based

(http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/teachers/understanding-

the-mind/ ), there are various types of teaching styles. One of the classification is how the teacher manages the class -

Authoritarian (too rigid), Authoritative (expert but flexible), Laissez-Faire (too lenient) and Indifferent. You can take a

survey here http://www.pedagonet.com/quickies/yourstyle1.html

Another classification is the role a teacher plays - Authority,

Motivator, Delegator and Facilitator. You can take a survey here http://longleaf.net/teachingstyle.html

These styles match in varying degrees to self-directed learners, dependent learners, involved learners and

interested learners.

Here is a small 4- question analysis of what kind of teacher you may be. Take it just as fun or to give you insight into

your personality. Complete each sentence by choosing the phrase, which most

accurately describes you. Then look at the answers on the next page.

1. When shopping at the supermarket I

a. shop strictly from a list b. walk the aisles in order

c. walk the aisles in a non-organized fashion d. end up on some aisles more than once

2. When working with a group to complete a task, I

typically a. vanish into the background

b. take a leadership role c. am forceful with my opinions

d. let others do the thinking 3. When under pressure to make a deadline, I would

describe myself as

a. cool and collected b. under stress

c. indifferent d. annoyed

4. My maximum attention span is:

a. 30 seconds b. 10 minutes

c. 1 hour d. 3 hours

July-Sept 2014 Page 3 of 4 VOL. # 8 ISSUE #3

Why is teaching style important?

The classroom is a space shared by the teacher and

students. It’s like a theatre where actors and

audience share the space. And actors need to connect

with their audience. But unlike theatre, teachers have

to also ensure learning outcomes are achieved and

they don’t just receive appreciation and applause.

If students share our personality characteristics, then

they are apt to learn effectively from us. If they do

not, then as teachers we might unintentionally

prevent their learning. Some of the important

personality characteristics which affect both students

and teachers are:

• degree of organization • degree of control over others • subjective sense of time (ability to focus on past,

present, or future, which affects how well one plans ahead)

• ability to control one's focus (vulnerability to distractions)

I have always been showing a beautiful video called

‘Teaching Teaching – Understanding Understanding’ in my workshops in colleges. This is an award-winning DVD from

the University of Aarhus, Denmark, written and directed by Claus Brabrand. (http://www.daimi.au.dk/~brabrand/short-

film/)

John Biggs classified teachers as Level 1: What the student is.

This is the horrible “blame the student” approach to teaching. I’ll keep doing what I do. If the students can’t

learn then it is because they are bad students. It’s not my fault. Nothing I can do.

Level 2: What the teacher does.

This is the horrible “look at me and all the neat, innovative teaching that I’m doing”. I’m doing lots of good and difficult

things in my teaching. Are the students learning? Level 3: What the student does.

Obviously this is the good level. The focus is on teaching

and leads to learning. Biggs (2001) uses a quote from Tyler (1949) to illustrate that this is not a new idea

[learning] takes place through the active behavior of the student: it is what he does that he learns, not what the

teacher does. He then talks about constructive alignment which is nothing but Outcome Based Teaching.

Personality Function Answers to four questions

a. you read from your notes or need a written outline from which to lecture, regardless of the audience. b. you prefer following your lecture notes in the order in which you wrote them, regardless of what is happening

among the students. c. tend to digress during your lectures or get lost as to where you are in your notes.

d. you can repeat yourself or that you need to return to a previous topic so as to emphasize a point.

a. you are not likely to encourage class discussion and prefer a formal lecture.

b. You enjoy taking charge of a discussion, injecting comments and ideas, but fail to see the responses of the class. c. your students are relatively quiet, with only a few openly challenging your ideas, or that you don't convey interest

in their ideas. d. you become passive in guiding discussion or find yourself easily swayed by your students.

a. You probably return papers and exams promptly. b. You probably dread grading papers or exams.

c. You take longer than students expect to correct exams or you fail to notice the approaching deadline. d. You may show irritation to students about returning assignments and exam papers.

a. You are vulnerable to distraction, regardless of your interest in something. This may affect how effectively you use your time to prepare lectures, to grade, to understand a question.

b. You might still be vulnerable to distraction, which will affect how effectively you use your time to prepare lectures, to grade, and to understand questions.

c. You might have a tenacious ability to remain focused on whatever you are doing. d. You might have a tenacious ability to remain focused on whatever you are doing.

Interesting Links Self Development and Inspiration

http://www.inspiringthots.net/ http://myhero.com/go/directory/ http://www.paulstips.com/

http://www.motivateus.com/stories/index.htm http://academictips.org/blogs/ http://www.simpletruths.com/

http://www.asamanthinketh.net/ http://www.theamericanmonk.com/ http://www.silvamethod.com/

http://www.susanjeffers.com/home/index.cfm http://innersource.net/em/ http://www.louisehay.com/

Some videos on rubrics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMn-5Ito4D8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOy60WLYyGk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P937Eym7bpI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WRH6kD55CQ

Teaching

A beautiful set of ten lectures on teaching science and engineering in college

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry/5-95j-teaching-college-level-science-and-engineering-spring-2009/video-discussions/

Some videos on Indian school class rooms are here if you search for TESS India

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tess+india+

This is a 40 min video about a teacher who taught his class values and ethics. Useful to replicate in our schools (for CCE) and also

useful for training the teachers. Do forward to others who may be interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tLB1lU-H0M

June 2013 Page 4 of 4 VOL. #7 ISSUE #6