Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Our team 2
2. Tools in Schools summary report 3
3. Profiles of resource persons 24
4. List of participants 28
5. Abstracts of sessions held 29
6. Tools in Schools group works 38
7. Sample Lesson plans 50
8. Opinions 59
1
OUR TEAM
ARIJIT - BITM
SUBHASH - BITM
2
Tools in School Workshop
Held at BITM, Kolkata from August 19 to 21, 2010
A summary report
O
ne day, sometime in the early part of the 20th Century,
Hiramba Maitra, an educationist famous for his puritanical
views, was walking along a narrow lane in north Calcutta. He
noticed a movie poster stuck on the wall of the lane and the frown
on his brow deepened. “Bioscope!”, he muttered, “This new craze
will be the ruin of today’s youth!’He was deeply disapproving of the
growing popularity of this new medium of entertainment in India
and considered three hours spent in the sinister darkness of a
movie hall to be an utter waste of time. Movies were addictive, he
thought, and should be shunned like dope.
Just then, a young man bumped into him and asked him the way to
Roopabani Cinema – the movie hall where the movie announced in
the poster was playing. Hiramba Maitra turned away from him in
disgust. “I don’t know,” he snarled. But then after walking a few
paces, he realised that he just lied to the young man. And because
he considered lying a graver vice than watching a movie, he hailed
young man who had turned a corner. “Hey!” Hiramba Maitra
shouted, “ I do know the way to the movie hall, but I won’t tell
you!”
Even in the 21st Century, one comes across teachers suffering from
the Hiramba Maitra syndrome, who believe that education is
serious business while movies are entertainment and “never the
twain shall meet”. But just think about it. When we come out of the
dark movie halls after watching other peoples’ lives for three hours,
3
aren’t we all a little wiser? Aren’t we a little more knowledgeable
about the ways of the world? We know that a well made movie
stays with us for a long time and may influence our thoughts and
actions.
4
Why cinema in the classroom
A
group of enthusiastic teachers, who have been exploring
Over and above, cinema itself can be a topic for discussion in the
classroom – why the students liked the movie they watched over
the weekend, which parts of the movie touched them the most,
message to offer …
5
Tools in Schools Kolkata
A
t the Tools in Schools workshop held at the Birla Industrial &
6
Day 1
1. [Sangeeta Basu says how she can use Muted Music in her class]
3. [All of 50 participants]
T
he workshop began with an introductory session on film
appreciation conducted by Dr. Somnath Zutshi. A teacher has
to realise that a movie can charge a student’s mind and a movie
can open many worlds at the same time with knowledge,
imagination and wonder. In the subsequent session, taken by
Subha Das Mollick, the participants watched a charming short film
“Muted Music” (Courtesy Prix Jeunesse Foundation) about a child’s
loss of hearing. One of the teachers found it just the right film for
discussing non verbal communication, while another said that this
film should be used for teaching life skills such as anger
management and coming to terms with a disability. For science
teachers this is a great film for initiating a discourse on hearing and
the human ear. The teachers’ responses to this Icelandic film
7
exemplified multiple possibilities even in a different culture and
context.
Bubla Basu began her English session with the reading of a poem
‘Mebula Ramasandra’ by Valerie Noble. The poem, obviously about
racial prejudice, was complemented by clips from a PBS
documentary, A Moral Journey (etc) giving actual news footage of
the 1960’s in America and introduced Robert Coles, a child
psychiatrist who counseled 6 year old Ruby Bridges, the first Afro-
American child to attend a previously All-White school and the
impact that this created –on her and those around her. The class,
one of input and opinion, is one after which the exercise given to
the children is “ That morning, I looked out of my window and ….”.
8
The final presentation was by Anjum Katyal who screened the
Czech animation film Hand by Jiri Trinka. The group exercise
following the screening threw up a number of suggestions on the
meaningful exercises that could be generated from this film. Some
suggested students could ‘identify the hand of the oppressor
through the ages in history’, while others were more inclined to
interpret the ‘hand’ in literature and the metonymic uses of ‘hand’
in language. Other teachers said that they would play the game of
‘persons’ and ‘non persons’ in class after the screening of this film
and thus identify the oppressor and the oppressed in society. Still
others suggested that they would go one step further and explore
ways to resolve the conflicts suggested in the film.
9
Day 2
D
ay 2 began with a refreshing session by Sumita Mazumdar on
how an atmosphere of freewheeling and self motivated
learning can be created outside the confines of the classroom. All
that is needed is to arouse the curiosity of children with some
snippets of information; anecdotes, movie clippings etc and they
can independently source and research content, even download
images from the Net and line them up to make a film of their own.
Technology today is literally at the fingertips of our children and
they are capable of recording the germination of a seed with a
mobile phone camera or recording their thought process on the
mobile camera mike.
10
Science teachers prefer live demonstrations or blackboard
/whiteboard diagrams to showing films in class. But the world of
cinema offers spectacular possibilities that can never be replicated
in real life. Subha Das Mollick suggested that a lesson on simple
machines could be revved up with a sequence from the popular film
Home Alone .It could be followed by a serious discussion on how
Kevin managed to glide to the tree house from his bedroom. The
spectacular sequence of tapping the power of lightning in Back To
The Future could fuel a discussion on the power of lightning,
harnessing power and the impending energy crisis. Any chase
sequence in cinema can generate a discussion on conservation of
energy and momentum and only Hollywood can produce sounds
powerful enough to blow away a human being. Popular films can be
used to dispel the fear of science and generate enthusiastic class
discussion.
11
A session on sourcing sharing and cataloguing films was conducted
by S.V.Raman. To recharge the participants for this last session of
the day, he screened two films – The Passenger and The Boy The
Slum and the Pan Lids. There were discussions on the meanings
connotated in the visuals of these films, both of which were without
dialogues. A list of useful websites and names of organizations
were given out to the participants at the end of Day 2.
12
Day 3
D
ay 3 began on the chimes of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times
illustrating the point of man turning into machine. Rupali
Sachdev initiated a discussion on our dependence on machines and
how this most unfortunately has led to our materialistic values. In
the same session, a music video by Anand Patwardhan was shown,
where an optimistic popular song sung by Kishore Kumar on the
soundtrack contrasted with the images of nuclear holocaust on the
screen. This session triggered off an animated discussion on the
defence services, a borderless world and whether being offensive in
self defence was morally right.
The final session of the workshop was taken by Mita Pramanik who
illustrated “The Shield of Achilles” by W.H Auden, concerning
13
heroism in ancient Greece could be made more relevant using film
clippings. Worksheets were given to participants to show how the
clippings could be integrated into the lesson plan. In the same
session a short film called Rice Plate was screened to generate a
discussion on a deep seated prejudice in our society. As part of a
‘personality development’ class, such a film can help the students
become more sensitive to individual differences in religion and
society.
14
Group work
P
erhaps the most exciting part of the workshop was the group
work. The participants were
The participants were divided
divided into five groups according to into five groups according to
the subjects they taught and
the subjects they taught and each each group was given a short
film or a film clipping around
group was given a short film or a film
which they had to develop a
clipping around which they had to lesson plan.
develop a lesson plan. The two largest groups were the group of
15
Primary school teachers and the group of English and History
teachers. The smallest group was the group of Mathematics and
Science teachers. The other two groups comprised teachers of Life
Science, Geography, Environmental Science and Life Skills.
The Life Skills group presentation was based on the Mongolian film
Friend (Courtesy Prix Jeunesse Foundation). This group designed
activities to drive home the idea of inclusion. Several issues
concerning the content of the film were discussed and questions
were raised as to what issues could be explored in the context of
the classroom.
16
Road ahead
17
table and cinema breathes with a life of its own. It asserts an
autonomous existence.”
18
Participants in the workshop
T
he group of 51 participants at the workshop was indeed
heterogeneous, across boards, from urban to semi urban
schools, from principals to primary teachers, from art teachers and
Ngo trainers to teacher trainers.
DISTRIBUTION OF SCHOOLS/INSTITUTIONS
19
West Bengal Board
1. Loreto Sealdah (eng medium)-3
2. Gonipur Shitala HS-1 (Beng medium)
3. Bethune Collegiate School-2 (Beng medium)
4. Behala HS-2 (Beng medium)
5. Nripendranath Girls HS-2 (Beng medium)
6. Baidyabati Charushila Balika Bidyalaya-1
7. The Oriental Seminary School-2 (Beng medium)
NGO
1. DRCSC-1
2. CLPOA-1
3. IPER-2
4. CRY-2
Others
1. The Cambridge School (A Level)-1
2. Little Palms( Montessori)-1
20
Participants’ feedback
T
he feedback form was designed to gauge which sessions they
had enjoyed the most, which ones they felt were relevant to
their classes and if the group work to design a lesson plan for the
classroom situation was useful. From the analysis of the feedback
one can deduce that the workshop in general was enjoyed and
appreciated by all, save for a couple of sessions which some of
them felt was relevant as a teacher in general but not to their
subject, in particular. The group work most felt was extremely
enjoyable and relevant, giving them hand on experience on linking
a film clip to a teaching issue and devising ways to introduce it in
class.
The workshop was intensive, over 3 days (with tea being served
during sessions for paucity of time!), but most were happy with the
length of the workshop given the fact that that they took back
several skills at the end of the three days.
21
Group work 6 4
presentation 1
all 4
22
itself should have been separate for primary and secondary
teachers! A valid observation was that the group size may have
been smaller to elicit responses from all members instead of just a
few but this was not possible given the overwhelming response by
the schools.
23
Profiles of resource persons
25
on theatre and the visual arts. She is currently working with
Saregama-HMV. anjkat@hotmail.com
26
RUPALI SACHDEV: Teaching in Mahadevi Birla Girls School since
1987, she studied film studies at Chitrabani in 1989-90, under
Father G. Roberge. She has started a film club in her school and
may be contacted at rupalisachdev@yahoo.co.in on 9830477891,
between 5pm-7pm.
27
Tools in Schools
List of participants
BITM, Kolkata August 19 to 21, 2010
28
Abstracts of sessions held at the Tools in Schools workshop
29
be introduced in different ways to different groups of children. The
children can then be taken to a higher level of understanding and
realization through a focused discussion along a chosen track.
S Das Mollick
30
The list is not exhaustive. Suffice to say that the task of the History
teacher appears to be a daunting one. The text books that are
available to History teachers fall far short of what is required and
the teacher has to rely on a variety of other materials to help her
fulfill this onerous task. Films are a valuable resource available to
us and, if used judiciously, can go a long way to fulfill our goals.
This workshop will attempt to look at how the above mentioned
objectives can be achieved through the use of films.
Some of the film clips that will be used to demonstrate this process
include:
• Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi
• History of the Cellular Jail
• Purva Uttara: a series of short films on historical sites of
India (Marg Publications)
• You tube video clips
Amita Prasad
31
possibly can do this is by using English in specific contexts before
we use it independently. We learn to look at a whole, and then its
parts. The best way is surely through the careful choice and use of
cinema where pictures are the language that everyone can follow.
This session will draw from visuals re: 1955-1960's in America. Film
clips will be used from:
32
Life science and films (Session 7: Aug 20)
33
Films that can initiate a debate on the burning issues of the day –
big dams, nuclear energy, climate change, human gene mapping
and much more?A definitive yes!
A film can also be used to show activities that cannot be done live
in the classroom.
A film gives a human face to science and sprinkles the dry concepts
with a little emotion.
This session illustrates how a science teacher may turn to popular
blockbusters to cull out superbly crafted sequences that
demonstrate some of the basic concepts in the science text books.
S Das Mollick
34
particularly young formative minds? It is mostly what is dished out
on the various channels of television or the excessively hyped
versions of Bollywood films in the name of entertainment. This
results in a kind of colonising and blunting of the mind, luring it to
an addiction for only a certain kind of moving images, whereas the
scope extends far beyond.
35
Life skills (Session 11: Aug 21)
All of us who have been working with children may have noticed
the increasing influence of cinema not only in the way students
dress up or behave, sing or dance, but also the way they think and
act. The primary source of ideas, opinions, facts, attitudes and
values is, very often, the films they watch. Realising that using this
medium in the classroom, would make them more aware, sensitive
and beautiful human beings, a film club was started in our school.
For the last few years, students of class 9 have been taking active
part in weekly screenings and discussions of films.
36
Children can then, see for themselves marginalised sections of
society and issues made invisible, and begin to ask questions about
the system of which they are a part. That’s the first step taken.
After this, we can leave them alone, to find themselves, and if they
wish, and if we can, guide them in their journey.
Rupali Sachdev
In her first presentation, she uses video clips from two films ‘Troy’
to introduce ISC students to the Homeric world of legend, alluded
to in W.H.Auden’s poem and ‘ All Quiet on the Western Front’ which
depicts the killing fields of modern warfare.
The second film presentation, ‘The Riceplate’ has been used to
explore the ideas of Prejudice which prevail in Indian society.
Mita Pramanik
37
Tools in Schools Group works
The English and History group watched the last 20 minutes of the
film The Diary of Anne Frank. After an initial period of debating
whether to have two separate English and History lessons it was
decided to merge the two together, with two teachers co-teaching,
for the presentation. So it was planned that the lesson would begin
with the History teacher picking up from a previous discussion
about Hitler’s Jewish policy and the horror of the holocaust, which
ran parallel to the Second World War. After the class had watched
the film the teacher would ask questions to gauge whether the
students were able to comprehend and connect the Jewish “policy”
they had learnt about, with the actual and chilling incarceration of a
group of Jews and their fate after being discovered. Then the
importance of Anne Frank’s diary as an original/primary source of
history would be explained. From this point the English lesson
38
(presented by an English teacher) would take over with an exercise
on diary writing. Then there would be a creative thinking exercise
where the students would be asked to think about times they have
been in hiding, what were the possible things one could feel the
need to hide from, is it not true that everyone has something to
hide or is hiding from something. As an extension activity
connected with the themes of war and peace, hate and hope a
poem on peace would be read out by the teacher.
- Sunita Biswas
The clipping shown to the group was from the film “Beautiful
People” and the sequence was about animal life in semi arid regions
showing a glimpse of animal behaviour pertaining to an ostrich
family (the mating ritual, the care of the eggs, predators,
protective instinct, etc)
After viewing the clip, the group was asked to refer to the group
activity sheet and note down the following details:
• Which part of the clip could be used to excite a class?
39
• Which topics/themes (for class VI-X) came to mind when
they viewed the clip?
• Which class/level would this be most appropriate for?
• What other activities could be linked to this lesson?
I must confess that I left the group to their own devices soon after
as they seemed to be moving in the correct direction. (It seems the
biology group sat separately and planned their lesson as they felt
that the level/topics didn’t match their syllabus, something I was
told only the next day when it was too close to the presentation to
change things around.)
40
to see what was documented during the discussion of the group to
cause this change.
Personally, I feel that though the group understood that they were
to prepare one lesson, they were (like some other groups too) keen
to show the rest during the presentation how much they could link
to this one clip and hence the presentation was not really well
structured for one class/period. Since they were all strangers I
don’t think they had much time (or inclination) to discuss the
lesson after the session and it was pretty much left to the
presenters’ own devices.
Given the limited time and communication within the group, the
presentation, though not an ideal lesson plan by any means, at
least showed that they had exploited the potential to develop a
lesson around a film clip, which was what they had set out to do.
An immediate exercise for us, the organizers, would be to generate
a list of useful films for all subjects, with their sources to enable
them to start experimenting with using films in their classrooms.
- Devika Kar
41
2 films were shown to the group:
A Sunny day – a small 4 minute funny animated film on how the
sun rises up in the morning, gears up for the day, looks for a friend
but his attempts are thwarted by everyone, digs into icecream on
the sea beach, and ultimately gets recognition when people on the
beach admire his setting colours.
The group decided to take up both the films, A Sunny Day for the
preprimary and the Turtle’s Adventure for the upper primary , as
they found both of them interesting. To identify the objectives,
there was a random jotting down of concepts and skills , which
could be covered by the films. There were too many ideas coming
up. Some are given below:
A Sunny day –
Concepts:
• Colours
• Opposites- Night and day, light and shade, happy and sad etc
• Solar bodies- sun, rainbow, stars,etc
• Friendship- why do we need friends?
• Routine- What do we do in the morning? What do we do
before we go to bed?
• Different time of the day
42
Skills:
• Observation and inference
• Comprehension
• Expressing ideas
• Reproducing images seen through drawings or role plays
• Identifying colours
(See A Sunny Day)
A Turtle’s Adventure-
Concepts:
• Underwater life
• Land and water life
• Food web
• Responsibility, helping attitude
• Fear and how to overcome it
• Journey/Adventure
Skills:
• Observation and inference
• Comprehension
• Expressing ideas verbally and in writing/creative writing
• Reproducing images seen through drawings or role plays
• Categorising, Comparing
43
very day, but tasks derived from the films, but which does not
require immediate reference like discussions on issues like
friendship, role playing, rhymes, creating aquarium could be taken
up gradually. Many activities were suggested to cater to the films.
See Lesson plan on Turtles film.
The assessment sheet could have been shared with teachers at the
beginning to bring their discussion to track. Many ideas emerged,
but there need to be some more encouragement on unusual
interesting activities, as classes as these are rare within a school
curriculum and teachers need to make the most of it.
44
The enthusiasm was high. All 11 lady teachers participated. There
were a lot of debates, arguments, but in a good spirit. Task was
distributed. Teachers wanted to learn from each other and accepted
ideas. They took each others contact address. Overall, there was a
very positive energy in the group.
- Malini Mukherjee
45
the group did not take up that idea for presentation, perhaps
because there was only one Physics teacher in the group. After
some initial debate, the group chose to work on the golden
rectangle. Their decision was perhaps guided by the fact that they
watched the film in the mathematics gallery and there is a
prominent display on the golden rectangle in the same gallery. One
must mention here that inspired by the beginning of the film where
Donald Duck gets lost in the mathemagic forest, initially some of
the teachers discussed creating a mathemagic forest in their class;
but quickly this idea got sidelined in favour of the golden rectangle.
As a post screening activity, the teachers decided that the children
should draw the spiral that emerges by joining the corners of the
golden rectangle.
The teachers admitted that the idea of the golden rectangle was
new to them. It was definitely not a part of the syllabus and they
asked me in which part of the syllabus it could be contextualized. I
suggested to them that it could be incorporated either in the basic
geometry lesson on rectangles or in the lesson on ratio and
proportion. One of the teachers came up with the idea that the
students could be made to work in pairs and discover the golden
ratio in their body parts – say, the length from shoulder to elbow
and then from elbow to wrist. With these lengths they could draw
the rectangles and then further sub divide these rectangles into
smaller rectangles. Another teacher came up with the idea of using
India’s national flag to introduce the concept of rectangles of fixed
ratio of sides. Thus developed the lesson plan – first the flag to
introduce the concept of proportionate rectangles with a fixed ratio
of sides, then the film to introduce a very special rectangle, then a
46
classroom activity to draw the golden rectangles and the spiral
either on graph paper or with coloured papers, depending on the
class and finally, as an extended activity or a project after class,
identifying golden rectangles in nature and art and taking pictures
of these objects with a mobile phone camera and sharing them with
e - pals.
The teachers agreed that the idea of the golden rectangle could be
introduced in primary classes as well as higher classes – right upto
higher secondary classes where the concept of irrational numbers
are introduced. In each class the golden rectangle could be
explored to different depths. The time was too short for the
teachers to understand the concept fully and then adapt it to the
class lesson. They did not get an opportunity to view the film a
second time. Nor did they get time to try out certain activities
hands on. In spite of that, they managed to develop a workable
lesson plan and give a decent presentation.
With more time, the potential of the film could have been explored
further.
- Subha Das Mollick
48
At the end of this session participants were able to recognise the
life skills and connect those life skills in their own life situations.
Hence multiple manifestations of different life skills were observed.
Then our teachers (participants) prepared an outline of lesson plan
design using this film on the basis of observation,
conceptualisation, cognitive apprenticeship, collaboration,
interpretation construction, multiple interpretation and multiple
manifestations. After the observation of that film, students can
construct their own knowledge, unlearn some misconceptions and
relearn some good findings through the help of a teacher facilitator.
See Life Skills Education lesson plan
- Debasish Mandal
49
Sample Lesson Plans
A SUNNY DAY
This film had been chosen as a lesson for the Pre-primary children.
The plan is as follows:
ENGLISH
1. Comprehension
2. Creative writing – a day in the Sun’s life, a day at a sea beach,
a day when the sun overslept
3. Concepts of day & night, before & after, hot & cold, sad &
happy, seasons, friends
4. Sequencing
5. Naming words, doing words
EVS
1. Punctuality & routine
2. Colours in the sky, beach, rainbow
3. Categorization – observation skill
4. Co-ordination – motor skills development
5. Drawing
Ishita Banerjee
Children’s Foundation
50
Lesson Plan on Turtles 3D film
(activities for a week)
Age group – 8 to 10 years
Movie – The Adventures of the Turtle (3D Movie)
Note – This film can be used in teaching various subjects.
51
stick, chart paper and colours. Introduction to the film-Let us watch
the story of a dear little turtle
For language
While doing Collective Nouns(school of whales, shoal of fish , flock
of birds) I will go back and connect it to migration.
Creative writing- You were under water throughout the film. In
reality you are always above water. What is the difference in
experience?
Value Education
How would you feel when you are in danger. Imagine travelling to a
new place.
How would you help someone in danger? We saw the turtle help
another turtle caught in a net.
52
How would you feel if your mummy and daddy returned home late
one day?
They can make posters, slogans and write poems – to save turtles
Jeenu George
Loreto Dharamtala
53
Starter Activity:
The class begins with a game in which all students participate. The
teacher asks the students to form a circle by joining hands. She /
he asks a volunteer to step out of the circle. This ‘outsider’ is then
asked to try to make his / her way into the circle. The ‘insiders’
defend their space while the ‘outsider’ fights to make a place
among them. The volunteer is then called back into the circle and a
new volunteer is asked for. This may be repeated twice/thrice. It is
interesting to note the behavior of the ‘insiders’ towards the
‘outsider’ and vice versa (before and after the latter is reinstated)
as well as that of the first ‘outsider’ (once he/she has been
reinstated in the circle) towards the next.
Once the game is over the students take their seats. Any follow-up
discussion is avoided at this stage. They are simply asked to hold
on to what they felt while the game was in progress.
After the viewing the students are given a few minutes for quiet
reflection to think about what they have just seen –the characters
and their lives, the incidents and twists the story takes and the
dominant feelings and attitudes which emerge from the various
interactions in the film.
54
Group work or collaboration:
The class is then divided into groups of 5/6 students and asked to
respond to a number of questions. These may either be put up on a
board or handed out in the form of questionnaires. Each group is
asked to select a group leader who records the responses of the
group members. These responses are collected from the groups by
the teacher after completion. Questions for this part of the lesson
may be selected from the following:
• What feelings emerge from the following relationships- Batar
and Orgil, Batar, Orgil and the bullies, Batar and his parents,
Orgil and his parents.
• Why is Orgil referred to as ‘stupid’ or ‘foolish’ by Batar’s
parents and the other boys? Is his behavior more foolish than
that of the other characters?
• Do you think Batar should have obeyed his father and not
befriended Orgil? Why or why not?
• What do you think Orgil and Batar felt at the following points-
their first meeting, their first and second encounter with the
bullies, after hurting the child and finally while Orgil is being
taken away by the police.
• Which characters, according to you, did the right thing and
who were wrong? Why?
• Was crime and punishment evenly balanced in the film- for
Orgil and the little boy whom he assaulted?
• Did you like the ending? Could the film have ended differently?
How would you have liked it to end?
• For your desired ending which characters should have behaved
differently? What should they have done?
55
• What would you have done if you were in Batar and Orgil’s
place?
• What would you have done if the cigarette was offered to you?
• Which characters need to change in the story and how?
• What do you think will happen to the characters after this?
• What did you enjoy in this film? Suggest a title for it.
• Relate this to any real life or fictional friendship between two
apparently unlike people you may have experienced,
witnessed or read about.
56
Presentation or group sharing:
The groups are then asked to make a presentation based on their
interpretations by selecting any one of the following activities. The
teacher should ensure that each option is selected by at least two
groups:
• Present a role play showing how similar incidents may occur in
a class room situation or in the playground and people’s
responses in such a case.
• Prepare and present interviews of the following characters -
Batar , Orgil, the boy who is hurt, his friends, the parents of
Batar, Orgil and the boy he assaults, an onlooker who
witnessed the arrest of Orgil.
• Act out the alternative / desired ending to the story of Orgil
and Batar.
• Imagine that Batar manages to sneak out and go to prison to
visit Orgil. Act out the meeting and the conversation that will
take place between them.
57
them to quietly remember the times when they have been
insensitive to the plight of others or have lost control over
themselves and done something which they regret. Finally they are
asked to make a promise to themselves that they will try to be
more sensitive and matured next time they face a trying situation
and also make a note of it.
Roshni Ghosh
Loreto Sealdah
58
Opinions
T
he Three-Day-Workshop on Use of Films in learning lesson at
School level at BITM from 19th.- 21st. August,2010 has
opened a new dimension specially to the teachers of the Bengali
Medium Government Aided Institutions. Being the Principal of a
Higher (Senior) Secondary School,stepping into 125th. Year, I think
if the class-room teaching is imparted with the clippings of popular
films it will have an overwhelming impact on the mind of young
learners. The use of movies in the class-room can substitute the
board-work and repeated lecture, make the abstract tangible and
manifest the unspeakable with different point of view on different
subjects. If this system is introduced in Bengali Medium School
undoubtedly learners can learn their lesson with much enthusiasm
and interest forgetting the monotony of the traditional class-room
situation and enjoy the lesson as it becomes less and less like
lesson and more like entertainment. – Dr. D Bera (Principal,
Behala High School)
I
t is an effective and emerging mode of teaching learning
process. Now a days media plays a important role in our society.
So using films in classroom situation is necessary to create interest
in teaching learning process. It is quite tough to implement this
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process in our system due to lack of computers in schools. But
through this process we can easily generate joy and fun among the
pupils and the pupils learn the subject joyfully. - Dr. Swapan Kr
Sarkar (David Hare Training College)
T
eachers cannot follow the same pedagogical methods year
after year. The teaching learning methods should evolve and
improve through research. This method of using films in the
classroom, demonstrated in the workshop, is a very interesting one
and can get the student interested in the subject. We have started
applying this method in our school. – Dr. Manoj Bhattacharya
(Principal, The Oriental Seminary School)
A
fter Taare Zameen Par, it has become so much easier to
explain to our students what learning disability means. 3 Idiots
has beautifully illustrated the advantage of learning by
understanding over rote learning. In Bengali films you will find
teachers with varied personalities. Thus our popular films can be
very effectively tapped as resource material – not only for B.Ed
classes, but for all subjects. – Dr. Subir Nag (Principal, Satyapriya
Roy College of Education)
T
ools in Schools is a very exciting programme that would lead
to meaningful learning in the classroom. It is a stimulating
activity that is contemporary in nature and can be used very
effectively to promote critical thinking and develop cooperative
learning skills in the classroom. It has the potential to cater to the
various learning styles too, i.e. visual, auditory, kinaesthetic etc. –
Kaveri Dutt (Principal, Calcutta International School)
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I
t is a wonderful effort on your part to utilize films as an
effective tool to enhance teaching learning
process. Every learner is searching for something lively,
new and unconventional way of seeking knowledge within
the classroom, which your method would happily
provide. Different subjects can be taught with a new
perspective. Abstract concepts, dull issues, boring
classrooms can take on a different ambience which is
tangible, alive and interesting.
- Ms. Malini Bhagat (Principal, Mahadevi Birla High School)
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