Asha Chennai- Project Right Start- a Teacher Empowerment Initiative

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Contact Lakshmi Suryanarayanan-

Phone- 919841091424

Dated 18April 2008

Asha Chennai- Project Right Start- A Teacher Empowerment Initiative

Proposals for 2008-2009

Refer for details

Objective of this Initiative-

To provide opportunities for teachers in Asha projects and in other schools (who want to participate), Asha volunteers who wish to be involved with helping children learn

To get acquainted with the developmental aspects of children and relate their teaching strategies to them,

To share their classroom experiences,

To create/locate new learning teaching materials to make learning a increasingly student centred process

To evolve meaningful ways of assessment- non threatening, creative, child friendly and suited to helping the teachers themselves to decide on areas for re-teaching and remediation

To learn the above through interactions facilitated from experts and experienced teachers

Past experiences-

1. The first programme was held from Sept 27th to Oct 3rd 2003. Twenty nine teachers from 12 schools and one NFE center benefited from the programme.
2. Two 3 day programmes were organized for some 30 NSS volunteers of IIT Chennai (each time) in 2003 and 2004. These volunteers directly involved in after school classes in a couple of schools.

Both programmes 1 & 2 were very well received.

1. As a follow up of this programme experienced teachers are working closely with Asha projects providing support with making materials on an ongoing fortnightly basis and creating assessment tools.
2. RightStart May 2005 was a great success from 25th May 2005 to 29th May 2005 (Wednesday to Sunday). There were 63 participants The sessions were separate for Balwadi teachers{ (Integrated Child development Service) ICDS of the central Govt. and some Asha supported balwadis} and for school teachers from primary, secondary and higher secondary levels. The participants from Mannargudi, Tiruvarur, Tirunelveli and madurai district schools as well as the city and the neighbouring Kancheepuram, Chingelpet district

1. RightStart May 2006 was held from 24th May to 29th May with 66 participants. In 2005 IIT was gracious enough to give us a venue and lodging facilities. However, from watching the previous RightStart workshops IIT understood the importance of working with teachers to improve quality of school education. In order tocontribute in the teaching learning processes in Tamil medium public education, the programme was inaugurated by the Dean Academics IIT, Professors in charge of K-12 and Continuing education. They also presented interactive lessons, developed by IIT faculty,that could be used by 10th and 12th standardstudents to prepare for board exams.

In this 2006 there were severalnew additions to the workshop including-

• Puppet making and use of puppets in story telling and teaching- Ms Bhanumathi from Pavai and Ms Prema Daniel veteran teacher trainer and assessor for govt. programmes.
• A day with Ms. Shobana at the Montessori Centre, R.A.Puram, Chennai-28 for understanding the method of experiential learning and exposure to the immense variety of learning teaching materials and regular training courses offered.
• Introduction to English teaching- basics of phonetics, sight reading, language games- creating simple, low cost teaching materials
• Activity based oral English- how this can be done with the small vocabulary and structures participants already have
• Hot spots in primary maths- using teaching aids and creating one’s own lost teaching aids
• Assessment of learning through oral and written activities- as a tool for assessing out teaching techniques

1. RightStart 2007-2008 workshops- Regular and follow up onsite

May 8th-13th 2007 at IIT in Chennai We had 67 participants from Chennai and other districts of Tamilnadu ( Please find the list of schools at the end of the report). The course included English grammar (tense), phonetics (short and long vowel sounds, use of teaching aids & Bingo cards and how to make them, group games and action songs besides general teaching skills, a discussion on the philosophy behind the ABL method (Activity Based Learning) which was newly being introduced and adopted in many government schools in Tamil Nadu. Teachers were given an overview of this system. The important new addition to the workshop was the very interesting demonstration of Physics principles by Prof. Natrajan of IIT Madras. This year the participants opted to go to the Planetarium and ScienceMuseum as an educational trip. The decision came from the participants and was a very healthy sign of wanting to learn more. Take Home Kitsincluded picture dominoes, English phonics and grammar games, resource materials like books and origami paper in a sturdy shoulder bag that the teachers would be able to carry from home to school and back. The Learning Teaching Materials (LTM) were correct, colourful and not dependent on the participating teachers skill, time and knowledge. The resource materials would enable them to put the skills learned to effective use and create new materials for children.

Apart from the participants and Asha Chennai volunteers who helped and visited, an online news paper Chennai Chimes covered the event for a day. Some half a dozen volunteers from Spice group of Verizon (An MNC) participated in the final presentation on Saturday 12th to learn from as well as help the participants like in the previous year.

May 22nd and 23rd, 2007 in Nagapattinam. Bhoomika Trust Chennai wanted to include 40 of its teachers from their neighbourhood tuition centers. As their number was large and requirements different, the same team of resource persons conducted a two day RightStart workshop separately. The main focus was remedial Maths for primary and middle schools and English reading, use of simple structures and prepositions.

September 2007- between 24thand 29that Kanyakumari. The Asha Chennai RightStart team did a workshop at the invitation of Bhoomika Trust for the teachers who are running 128 Neighbourhood Friendly Tuition Centres (NFTCs) in eight tsunami affected districts of Tamil Nadu with the support of six local NGOs. About 3000 students from classes I to VIII, studying in local village schools who areacademically weak and whose parents cannot afford paid private tuitions benefit fromthis program. The teachers are educated women within their neighborhood providing regular supplementary educational support in the evenings.

Training dates were from 24th to 26th of September for the first batch of 57 Tutors and second batch from 27th to 29th of September 2007 for the of 60 tutors.

With the use of pre-prepared sturdy LTM and suitable use of the OHP and a couple of dedicated persons (venue support and documentation) and longer hours for participants the team was able to forge ahead faster withbasic Math (integers, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, graphs),English grammar (tense), phonetics (short and long vowel sounds, use of teaching aids & Bingo cards and how to make them, group games and action songs besides general teaching skills.

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Right Start Onsite workshops- A couple of follow up one day workshops were done for local teachers in Chennai in October and November 2007 for the Asha teachers in Chennai and Poorna Vidya Corporation teachers from Vaikkaran Street.

A two day follow up workshop was conducted on 12th and 13th January 2008 at Tiruvellore for the Sangamam Poondi project teachers. Participants included besides asha teachers (older and newly joined), a couple of government and ICDS balwaditeachers and candidates short listed for appointment to vacancies and new Asha teacher positions. The RightStart team worked in small groups and were able to give a feed back through close interactions on the skills development and content understanding of the Asha tea hers and inputs on capabilities of the prospective candidates. Some newly introduced materials were provided to all and the earlier materials only to the new participants.

Learnings from the previous years that were and are to be incorporated in the future workshop planning

• Every participant must have a kit
• Sturdier materials must be provided so it would last longer
• Participants must be specifically instructed to bring the workshop materials already given to them for the next workshops
• More technical and preparation support required during planning and implementation time for the team.
• More on the spot venue technical support to be requested
• Documentation needs to be done systematically and follow report writing to be done smartly.

1. (A) RightStart May 2008- The yearly feature

From 3 May, 2008 to 11 May, 2008 at IIT, Madras for educators involved/interested in

1. early childhood learning- pre primary classes (Balwadis)
2. primary classes (1-5)
3. in middle school (6-8)

Educators can choose to be involved in workshops for a minimum of five days. They can be involved beyond the five days for as many days as they wish up to nine days.

Participants are being informed through from the different Asha Chennai project stewards. The final list

will be made by end April 2008.

The details of the days for each activity are being worked out. Material preparation is in full swing.

Demonstration opportunities of skills learnt from earlier workshops is being incorporated. Older participants will act as facilitators. RightStart resource team is expanded to watch interactions and learning processes more closely and provide more elaborate feedback to participants on a project wise basis. Documentation to be improved with more technological support.

The budget is drawn up for the May programme as below. This budget has been approved by Asha Chennai. Please notice some changed emphasis areas and new additions bases on the previous learnings.

RightStart Teacher Training 1 &2 May 2008 in Chennai for 9 days from 3rd May to 11th May 2007

Heads of expenses / Details / May 2007 Estimates for 60 participants In INR / Actual Expenses for 66 participantsfor May 2007 / May 2008 Estimates for 80 participants In INR
1 / Accommodation and food for 6 days / Breakfast for all participants, lunch for participants, resource persons and facilitators, dinner for the participants / 66000 / 69056 / 80000
2 / Resource persons and facilitators Honorarium / May 2008- Nine days with 3 sessions a day= 27 total sessions
One resource person and two facilitators will be present at each session. Invited resource persons will be paid 1000 rupees per session. The facilitators will be paid 300 rupees per session. / 10000 / 9000 / 12000
3 / Conveyance to Resource persons and facilitators / For resource persons and facilitators / 1000 / 1300 / 2000
4 / Honorarium for coordination and documentation activities / New addition
To coordinate with participants, resource persons, and arranging logistics at the venue. In charge of garnering materials, documentation through writing session notes and reports and photography. / 3000 / 228
Only photography on a digital camera- no prints were made / 5000
5 / Transportation
Outing for the participants / Educational visit to science park/ planetarium/museum/resource centers with teaching aids / 4000 / 6114 / 8000
6 / Travel expenses of participants / Train tickets and bus fares / 30000 / 14259 / 23000
7 / Materials for the participants to take home / Cards for making flash card and games, cassettes of songs, blackboard drawing book and photo copies of teacher training material, teachers kits reading support books, shoulder bag for resources to be carried to school / 24000 / 63126 / 120000
Total Amount in Rs / 140000 / 163083 / 250000

7 (B) RightStart 2008-2009 Onsite- Plans after the May regular after discussion with the groups, stewards and

need assessments, time frames…... Hence budget not taken up at this point

Find below expenses incurred in 2007-2008

RightStart 2007-2008 – Expenses - Summary and Remarks
Programme / Income for each programme in INR / Expenses for programmes / Remarks
1 / Right Start - May 2007 / From Asha SV Rs 140000
From IIT Madras
Rs 20000 / 163083 / No of participants 57
2 / May 2007- Nagapattinam for Bhoomika Trust NFTC tutors / From Bhoomika Trust
Rs8811 for only resource persons and some basic materials. Venue and lodging and travel directly paid for the Bhoomika trust / 8811 / No of participants 40
3 / September 2007- Kanyakumari for Bhoomika Trust NFTC tutors / From Bhoomika Trust
Rs 37853 for only resource persons and sturdy materials. No bags as tutors work in the immediate neighbourhood. Venue and lodging and travel directly paid for the Bhoomika trust / 37853 / No of participants 127
RightStart Onsite - / From Asha SV –Rs143,949 / For materials and continued readiness
4 / Continued Readiness-
Year long – June 2007 – May 2006 / Systematic material design and preparation of samples and study of use in local schools and Balwadis / 74844 / 14844 materials
6000*10 months for wages for making the materials
5 / Jan 2008Tiruvellore / Onsite / 28157 / No of participants 25
6 / Readiness for May 2008
as on 17 April 2008 / After estimating requirements / 26425 / Materials and wages in march 2008
Grand total end 2007-008 May to April / 129426
Balance from year 2007-2008 / 14523 / Will be used in the days prior for making materials

Request for funding from Asha Silicon Valley chapter for Rightstart May 2008= Rs250,000 (Rs2.5 lakhs)

Balances at the end of the programme will be carried forward for the continued readiness work for 2008-2009 workshops

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