Online teaching — An ocean of innovative opportunities

The "TEACHER" creates the mood and tone of a classroom be it online or offline.

One person who has the power to make a difference, who can make the classroom cold or warm whatever be the weather temperature or pandemic emotions is the teacher. A positive classroom culture that invites motivated aunthetic learning can lead to more opportunities for students to positively connect with the content,peers and the 'Guru'

Year 2020, already all educationist had spent 20 years in this century debating and struggling to bring in the 21st century learning skills. But the lockdown of March, 2020, instantly made the paradigm shift in the pedagogy of teaching and learning.

But then, the old phrase , 'Blessing in Disguise' was not said in vain ,for here was the opportunity to be as innovative as possible! Not being in the regular school gave a sense of freedom to experiment and choose unconventional methods.

Till the learning was taking place, everything was acceptable to school authorities and parents .

The teachers upgraded their ICT skills, used everything from the garden to their kitchen cupboards to demonstrate and illustrate and reach across to the students. Not only academics, extra curricular activities accelerated to keep the students' well being as our top priority. Lots went into brain storming and planning our lessons.

Mindset: excitement was the key element to design and deliver the content. No more spill out of information and rote learning.

Self Reflection: very important for a teacher to look back and see what worked and what failed as she had to ensure the students sail across though the screen time was always a constraint.

Pedagogy: a pedagogy based on discovery and inquiry, adapted quickly .

Students found discovery and inquiry more exciting than remembering dates, information and taking tests.

The mention of the Quiz excited them and here the teacher was filling her objective of summative and formative assessments continuously without the students feeling the burden .

Creativity: not only the teachers, but the students too, became creative with the online classes.They took pride in showing their work through presentations . The bench mark of the classes was raised as peer learning was happening much more and parents were witness to the same.The spirit of competitiveness evolved for the healthier and the better .

Since in daily time table the interaction time was limited, acceptance and adoption of the Flip model of teaching was welcomed.

Flipped model: When teachers used a flipped classroom model, the traditional order of teaching and classroom events were reversed. Typically, students could view lecture materials, read text, or do research as their homework prior to coming into class. The time spent in class is reserved for activities that can include peer-to-peer learning, group discussions, independent learning, as well as engaging discussions or collaborative work. And, according to teachers who flipped their classes ,claimed an improvement in grades and improved student attitudes as a result.

Also, most of the teachers who flipped their classes stated they would flip their classes again the following year .As teachers , they have discovered and tested new pedagogy which is here to stay in the future too.

So, technically speaking, all these years, this is what we were desiring to revolutionise. Students who could synthesise information and bring joy and meaning into their education experience. For it cannot be deined that the students definitely feel more comfortable in their own patterns of learning.

Being from a progressive school ,our teachers had the advantage of using the soft ware and learning platforms to optimum utilization in this hour of crisis.

Here was the outcome and rewarding signs where we could see in the students -

n More self directed in learning.

n More Learning by doing

n More Thinking and applying knowledge

n More Deeply immersed in language enrichment programmes.

A new era has set in where teachers are facilitators in the true sense. Teachers are more tolerant to new diverse responses and cater to the social well being of the child much more.

Teachers who have a passion for teaching and learning are flying with their students like never before, and as they say "Sky is the Limit"

Indeed, the crisis of today was a "blessing in disguise" and an eye opener for all of us.

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