Learning Never Stops

There is a definite buzz in the air.  The new unit has started. Students are excited and eager to know what we will be inquiring into . Warming up and creating a safe haven. TUNING-IN    as it rains outside. All we needed was hot chocolate milk :) Our new unit on Natural Hazards has just completed its first week. I had to pull things down from my boards and so they look fairly bare, but we do a lot reading and reflecting everyday, so it is slowly filling up with students' work.   Students have started bringing clippings on current natural disasters and are in turn, learn geography skills. I clearly need a title for this board! Hazard Hounders maybe? I used technology to provoke their thinking. This was a lot of fun specially since we had access to Ipads. The students had to use a QR code reader to find out what the mystery picture was. They then did a Visual thinking activity (10 X 2) to observe the picture carefully. We began with our ...

I enjoy looking at data which I gather after a diagnostic task. It reveals so much about the different ways students think. This data which I am about to show you, reveals the misconceptions that my students still have. Some are baffling, while others indicate various levels of understanding. I am still trying to figure out how the students got certain answers! I am also putting to use what I learnt from a course at Stanford University, where Professor Jo Boaler emphasizes the power of mistakes. The most powerful thing a teacher can do is to teach students how to embrace mistakes and use them as stepping stones for learning rather than cringe when they make one! My next lesson is going to be an exciting one. The students will be analyzing each others mistakes and trying to pinpoint misconception. This will be followed by a metacognitive activity where they will reflect on the whole process of analyzing mistakes. I will post their reflections later on. The Diagnostic Task ...

[ View the story "4AKAH and Simple Machines!" on Storify ] Lever Hunt [ View the story "Students using twitter to share their findings" on Storify ]

So why did I decide to make my class participate in the Global Read Aloud Project, 2013?  I know it requires effort to set up blogs, edmodo and twitter accounts. It takes patience to locate schools and establish and maintain connections. It also takes a sizable proportion of students' classroom time, learning how to tweet and blog and introduce themselves. Essential agreements for blogging and making comments also need to be addressed.   So why go through all this trouble  specially when it takes up a huge chunk of our time? Julie Lindsay and Vicky Davies, authors of  Flattening classrooms, Engaging Minds, state that   "Visionary educators realize global collaboration is not an extra but a pedagogy ."  It is our job as educators to provide engaging, real-life, authentic situations for our students. The fact that this experience extends beyond  geographical borders and ventures across seas, makes it so much more appealing. ...

"In the case of mathematics, there is a persistent attempt to erase the subjective and affective in favour of: mathematics that is as dry as dust, as exciting as a telephone book, as remote as the laws of infangthief of 15th century Scotland.."                                                                                                           David and Hersh Ask yourself this question: How mathematically curious are my students? Always Often Sometimes Never In a traditional classroom set up, the answer will almost unequivocally be "Never".  Baring those students who are naturally inclined to learn maths intuitively and where the system fails to bog them down :) In a maths inquiry classroom, studen...

Pardon the imperfections. The video was made in trying conditions to say the least! My email id: nainibasu@gmail.com

The time had come when I had to leave my guest house and go to a boarding school. Was it going to be a cold and uninviting place? Was my room going to be dark and dingy? The unrelenting Himalayan wind left not much room for positivism. However stunning Ladakh is, the cold can douse any sense of adventure if you are not suitably prepared. It was therefore a very pleasant surprise when my taxi veered towards a simple yet sprawling school overlooking the icy caps of the Stok Kangri. The sight was breathtaking.  Jamyang School was started by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It opened in the year 2008 and has been running quite successfully for the past 5 years.  I was led to a corner room. Thick red carpets lined the floor while bright magenta and gold curtains added warmth to my cozy Tibetan-style room. Two single beds lined either side of the walls. The bathroom was tiny, clean and equipped with a geyser and a western-style toilet.  A newly fitted shower gli...