CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES - ITS IMPORTANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

UNIT – 4

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES - ITS IMPORTANCE AND IMPLEMENTATION

A school should be a lively place. Children cannot always listen to lectures and do writing tasks. They need holistic activities. In the following we have covered these activities and under each heading we have explained its importance and the way it should be implemented in the school.

Assembly

The daily assembly is a wonderful opportunity to gain confidence in public speaking, learn the importance of team work and organizing things, be in touch with the daily news, express himself through song, dance and drama. These are no ordinary skills and very much a part of vibrant school curriculum.

But it is very important that the presentations during the assembly should be done not as rote but with spontaneity and originality. To bring this about, one of the most important things to understand is that a child is to learn from mistakes only. Hence it should be deeply understood that the process is greater than the product.

If you look within you will find that the fear of failure is a dominant attribute of our psychology that has inhibited us from trying out things and growing out of our fears.

Does this not inhibit our character? A deep understanding of this issue will liberate all of us - teachers and learners. Life is nothing but a continuous process of growth, blooming, discovery and learning. Process is Progressive.....

Music and Dance

Music and Dance are the things that children love to do and also do it spontaneously. The untouched innocent minds and hearts of children can express very well in music and dance. So the teacher should always try for expression in children as a primary thing and be gentle in the way, he teach us music and dance.

Field Trips

There is a huge difference between abstract and the concrete. To read about mountains and rivers, for example, is a lot different from actually seeing mountains and rivers.

There is so much to see in the world!!

With a proper selection ,children must be SHOWN places, industries and all the things that he doesn't see around him like great monuments, rivers, beaches, hills,places with a different climate and culture..etc.,

It is obvious a child should also see industries with his own eyes. For example, he should also see how a ship is made in the ship yard or the how the rockets are constructed. It is such through such sights that a child discovers the thrill in science and technology, But in field trips, care should be taken to make it truly an educational trip. A resource person should be a good guide bringing out all the information and knowledge. He could talk about the History, Geography, Science.

Art and Craft

A picture is worth a thousand words. This quotation is really true in many ways. Art develops visual imagination, sharpens one’s power of observing things around us, develops a sense of beauty and wonder actually. A child should do art not just to become a painter but to express his inner world.

Craft is a hand skill which sharpens the mind and hand coordination which as Gandhi once said is a very basic skill to acquire. A developed motor skills is a kind of intelligence. Also craft concretizes many Maths concepts like geometry, area and volume. The various kinds of craft also help in developing a feeling of beauty and design.

Computer technology

Any job today requires specific computer skills like Microsoft Office, Creating videos, blogs, designs, websites and basics of program.

Those who lack the skills find life to be limited. In a good school, children should have hands-on- activities, doing projects effectively and beautifully using computers. This high comfort level with respect to computers will go a long way to help the students ascend in his career and life

Games

Games could be one of the most important activities for a a growing child. Games help in keeping the mind fit and healthy, develops team spirit, getting used to winning or losing, provides enjoyment and provides the satisfaction of deep need for physical activity to the growing child. Games are absolutely an integral part of a school curriculum.

THE TEACHING PROCESS | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

UNIT – 3

THE TEACHING PROCESS

The Teaching of English

English for Indians and for many is a foreign language. We need a step wise approach to enable each student to master English.

Step 1:

The first step is to grasp the words. The ability to read / listen, write/speak all Basic Words.

We must use the phonetic method, the method of breaking a word into the letters, which serve as sounds.

Thus the word

“Agree” is really not ‘A’ but the sound, A, ‘G’ is the sound and so on with ‘r’ and ‘ee’.

Only then, the student fully grasps the reading and listening of ‘Agree’.

We need to know the meaning too

Thus, we must teach with this method and here multiple inputs must be given from – stories, songs, poems, dramas. In each activity, he must LSRW – Listen, Speech, Read and Write each word with clarity and command over a period of time.

This is the result we must work towards.

Step 2:

100% clarity in sentence formation (Grammar)

Grammar in simple terms is really situational English.

With a different situation, the sentence changes in the verb’s place.

Thus we have

Active voice and Passive voice in Tenses and Modals and also ways of joining sentences. When each structure is learnt with around 25-30 examples and again, read and written, the students find it easy to observe grammar used in real life!

Thus his reading/listening or speaking/writing seems clear cut and sharp.

He notices ‘Grammar’ in stories/ text book/conversations, songs or AV content.

Step 3:

Lots of Listening/ Reading/ Speaking/ Writing.

This step really helps us!

The students should read/ listen – Text books, story books, essays, and especially the treasures contained in Literature. He should also freely check his English by writing a lot. Spoken English needs to be frequently used.

This is what is done in good schools including.

So every teacher should be conscious of this process and himself complete step 1 & 2 & 3 with the resources provided. Slowly, but surely, his mind and heart would open up to the power and beauty of Lnguage!!

Note:

The teaching of any other second language follows the same pattern.

The teaching of subjects

The most important thing to do is to implement TEXT BOOK READING in Social, Physical & Natural Sciences.

The text books have been prepared by eminent scholars/scientists who have an in-depth knowledge.

So the teacher himself should read the text book word by word and implement the same in students. Then the concept does unfold! The Text books have many activities and all of them should be done by students. It is part and parcel of the learning process.

The Text Book comprehension (TBC) can be checked by ‘TBC’ exam by converting each para into 2 – 3 questions. This can be done twice for 100% assimilation. This method ensures top marks/ranks too.

The teaching of mathematics.

Math too must follow the textbook. In the text book, each TOPIC HAS BEEN INTRODUCED IN A CONCEPTUAL WAY THAT ANY CHILD CAN UNDERSTAND.

This must be strictly followed. Also when each exercise has been completed, we must give an exam that mimics that exercise and check 100% skill development before we go to exercise 2 .

In this way all the exercises must be completed BY THE STUDENT HIMSELF AND WITH FULL UNDERSTANDING!!

Teaching for the preprimary

Pre primary is very demanding and very difficult, in one sense. It is very simple, beautiful and also energizing in another sense. It is this second sense that I want to share with you.

The child at the pre primary stage, what is called kindergarten, is a totally different entity than even normal children. He is prodigious, active, restless, full of expression and feeling. He is an absorbent mind as Montessori made clear.

If he is naturally and already that, then we seriously need to think of how to guide that enormous and deep energy into actions that he would love in a natural way AND LEARN!!

What a gift that would be to give him that!

Think of a day, a typical day, where the child sang a song, but with full expression and with full happiness!! He then did clay work, and really played with that clay to his heart’s content and learnt to make the shapes occuring in his brain. He ran/jumped/skipped/played physical games all with a purpose of becoming strong in the mind and the body!!

He leant letters but as a phonetic game that he could make sense of and repeated and repeated endlessly to his heart’s content etc

I think the point is clear. The child loves to learn!!

We need to simply grasp that and then the way we IMPLEMENT the systems of learning would be marvelous for children.

This requires a kind of childlike, almost a kind of very active and energetic quality in the teacher also.

Given this understanding all the methods that are standard, would come alive and if done this way, the child would develop with love in his heart and nil fear. So love has to be combined with a deep understanding of the child. Needless to say, this would develop the teacher’s personality in a great way!!

UNDERSTANDING THE VARIOUS SUBJECTS | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

UNIT - 2

UNDERSTANDING THE VARIOUS SUBJECTS

Understanding the subject of English.

Let us now understand what basically at root, is the subject of English. Is English only a language? What role does literature play in shaping / educating a student?

These are the questions we answer in the following.

Like any language, English is development of LSRW skills.

And LSRW skills start from sounds (syllables), ‘letters’ and the spoken and written form, the basic vocabulary sets, and grasping the content in listening and reading.

The structure of English, the way the words are ordered and manipulated to express meaning is of course grammar.

Seen this way, grammar matters. It is good to know parts of speech, tenses, modals and methods of combining sentences etc.

In fact, English has a remarkably simple structure and can be easily learned. This point should be kept in mind when teaching EFL (English as a foreign language) students.

Thus a holistic approach of practicing grammar with vocabulary (basic sets), a significant amount of reading and listening (with 100% comprehension), practice of speaking and writing gives us the core, basic power of LSRW skills.

But English as a subject begins with basic LSRW skills NOT ends with them. English as a subject is mainly literature, which means reading and appreciating deeply many samples of poetry, short stories, novels and essays written by great masters. These masters express the common human condition but in a manner that has the power to reach deep into us, and make us very sensitive and actually fully human. This is the real, actual, profound function of literature in education.

Understanding the subject of Physical Science & Natural Sciences

Science is a wondrous subject but difficult to understand ESPECIALLY WITH THE KIND OF INPUT WE OURSELVES got in childhood.

Physical science needs us to observe the data from which we can see patterns and laws. The data is the world out there.

But that is not how Physical science is being taught. The laws and discoveries are stated logically but authoritatively. The student does not understand from what observations the laws have come. So it becomes strange and unbelievable. If you simply say that everything is made up of atoms, what does it really mean? True, everything is made of atoms, but do you feel it, do you see it? Is it real to you? It would be, if some observations/experiments were done, the same that the scientists had done then, to arrive at the laws!!

Even the experiments are taught as theory. But the Dalton’s law, for example, came from numerous experiments that showed clearly that 2 substances combine in definite ratios. Now, why must this be so, wondered the scientists.

And then Dalton realized, that there must be something very small combining with something small in the other substance!! And this small one and that small one had fixed masses and hence each small one from substance one combined with a small one from substance 2 and hence the fixed ratios as a whole!! The small particles, internally existing were called ATOMS.

Then so many more experiments were done and the whole Atomic structure was revealed and with that so many doors were opened!!

We understood what is light, sound, heat, chemical reactions, strength of materials, liquids and gases all at once, deeply!!

So, as we see, the observations have to come first, then the thinking and then the thrilling discovery. And then when we teach like that, it feels like a rediscovery. The same freshness is there, the same power and beauty!!

The best thing about the good textbooks, written by eminent educators and scientists, is that this same approach explained above has been followed and very well. So the teacher can himself engage in learning and teaching both at the same time.

This has to be strictly followed and we have explained the monitoring process later in a section.

Understanding the subject of social sciences

Social science, especially history, is about the world of men, and how we live socially, politically, economically and even the geography.

History in that sense is the most important subject because it teaches us from where we have all come so far!! The present world is the result of the past, and hence to know the past is to know really the roots of everything!!

We can know the roots of science and technology, religions, the traditional rules, the systems of governance, and even the existence of countries. It is a great power to have that information, and social science does that!!

In the textbooks too, within the limitations of space, the whole story of man does unfold!!

And hence, here too, textbook reading as a base and the first step, is a must.

Understanding the subject of Math

Math is not at all a subject of mechanical rules. Math is a powerful tool by which we handle large measurements and convey exactly, the relationships among various quantities. This is the reason why math is a part of almost every subject. All the tools that math has were created by geniuses that has transformed the world today. We did not go to the moon by using Physics alone, we needed lots of mathematical tools by which we could design a spaceship and project its trajectory. This example can be multiplied in so many situations in practical life. Math thus is a direct power and understanding of math in such a way would lead you to a great global career.

INTRODUCTION WHAT FOR? | HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!! | A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators and Self-Educators

HOLISTIC EDUCATION FOR A PASSIONATE LIFE!!

A Manual for Teachers, Parents, Educators &Self-Educators

UNIT - 1

INTRODUCTION WHAT FOR?

For an education that is totally dedicated

To bring out the hidden and

The deep talents within each child

With a respect for his independent mind,

And his ability to bloom,

To help him discover the power of knowledge,

Fall in love with the freedom of expression,

And above all, be a human being

Who is fearless, intelligent, active and joyous!!

You have become a teacher OR in a role as a teacher. It is always good to make the most of what we have. It is a very wise thing to do. In any case, we have become teachers. Why not make the most of it?

In the following, we will like to make clear, how anybody and everybody can be happy and passionate teachers.

First and foremost, let us talk a bit about motivation. Before we become clear about how to fully enjoy teaching, let us be clear about - what for?

We must strive to be far greater teachers simply because, inside you, inside anyone is a being who wants to be the best.

Each and every human being is born with a desire to achieve, to be powerful and to make his life meaningful.

Each person has that desire and deep discontent. It is simply your nature. That person inside, that real giant, if released, would give you the way of living. So try to better yourself, because it will give you real happiness and great self confidence.

Now, let us specifically come to subjects and why you need to be a master in your subject and how to be a master.

The greatest pride and security for any teacher is mastery of his subject. But what is mastery of a subject?

Normally, there is no teacher, who is not a master. Every teacher knows his subjects. Yet, there is a difference between ‘knowing a subject‘and ‘grasping a subject’.

That is the difference between an engineer and an inventor, a person who has merely completed his PG/PhD in science and a true scientist. It is the difference between a lawyer who is merely a practitioner and a top lawyer who can argue in the most difficult cases. It is the difference between a mother who loves and brings up her child and a mother who turns out a child who is highly mature, prodigious and driven from an early age.

We have all some acquaintance with great leaders in any field. They all have something driving them from within! What is it?

It is nothing more or less than actual real grasp of their subject/ field.

They have true and real knowledge.

So, what is this ‘real knowledge’? Let us now open our minds to this kind of in-depth knowledge which alone is real power.

Let us go to the source in each subject, English, physical sciences, natural sciences and social sciences (especially history). Let us try to find out what it means truly to understand each of the subjects above.

THE RAVEN AND THE FOX | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE RAVEN AND THE FOX

A Raven got himself a piece of meat, and sat down on a tree. The Fox wanted to get it from him. She went up to him, and said:

"Oh, Raven, as I look at you,—from your size and beauty,—you ought to be a king! And you would certainly be a king, if you had a good voice."

The Raven opened his mouth wide, and began to croak with all his might and main. The meat fell down. The Fox caught it and said:

"Oh, Raven! If you had also sense, you would certainly be a king."

THE LION AND THE MOUSE | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

A Lion was sleeping. A Mouse ran over his body. He awoke and caught her. The Mouse besought him; she said:

"Let me go, and I will do you a favour!"

The Lion laughed at the Mouse for promising him a favour, and let her go.

Then the hunters caught the Lion and tied him with a rope to a tree. The Mouse heard the Lion's roar, ran up, gnawed the rope through, and said:

"Do you remember? You laughed, not thinking that I could repay, but now you see that a favour may come also from a Mouse."

THE TURTLE AND THE EAGLE | RETOLD BY LEO TOLSTOY | MASTER READING - LISTENING WITH GRAMMAR ANALYSIS | AESOP STORIES | EFL RESOURCES

THE TURTLE AND THE EAGLE

A Turtle asked an Eagle to teach her how to fly. The Eagle advised her not to try, as she was not fit for it; but she insisted. The Eagle took her in his claws, raised her up, and dropped her: she fell on stones and broke to pieces.