May 2011

Volume 5, Issue 5 Inspiring Teachers

Driving educational change through excellence in teaching

This month….
Facebook is really useful for
gathering tips quickly.
Sometime back I asked for
creative ideas in making
This month: students come to school on
Deeper Learning time and was happy to see a
Indira Narayan..….2
lively and useful discussion.
PSS Raju – Faculty The school is going to
of the month …. . 3 implement one of those ideas
question on our site too
and the answer is
published in this issue. An
article by Indira Narayan
on how to engage students
in deep learning and the
profile of a differently
abled trainer Shakir,
complemented by work
this month. Excerpts of
Faculty-of-Month, PSS
Raju, Results of picture
caption contests, humour,
interesting links sent by
friends and mailing lists are
the regulars. Please explore
those links and keep
contributing too.

Interesting links …4 posted by FB friends. done by Samrita Trust for Have a great vacation, and
One of our readers posted a visually challenged – get refreshed and recharged
Updates on site and
these are the main reads for the new academic year…
ask an expert …..4

College Champions
Differently abled
trainer Shakir …..5
April-May 2011
• Elaborate training needs analysis (TNA) for A unique model of engaging faculty and
Education for
100 teachers at NMREC, Hyderabad 25th- building a truly distributed team
Visually Challenged -
Samrita Trust……6 27th April • To make faculty as stakeholders in
• “Classroom Management”, JNTU Academic expanding the reach of
Picture captions
Humour Staff College, 26th April TheProfessor.in and
• Visit to REC Bhalki and interaction with SchoolCanvas.com
faculty – 6th April • To help enhance the profile of faculty
• Visit to Nanded and interaction with through consultancy and research
schools – 11th April options
• Sessions in a corporate induction training At the end of one year engagement, apart
program from – 15th May from the performance based cash
• Faculty training from May 15th – NMREC incentives, the faculty will get visibility in
• Adult learning and TNA – ESCI – 12th May academic and industry circles, expand
• Sessions for faculty at Kolhapur Institute of their horizons and get an impressive
Engineering, 25th May profile. For details read:
http://theprofessor.in/careers.shtml
 Inspiring Teachers
Deeper learning
“Learning which is
concerned to extract
principles and underlying
meanings, to make sense of
facts and feelings and to
integrate them with
previously acquired
knowledge. Rather than
memorization, it aims to
provide greater
understanding and therefore class control. This can happen
“Aerobics class a must a deeper meaning”
for teachers”
Deeper learning is all about
encouraging the skills and
knowledge that students will
March Newsletter
picture caption contest need to succeed in this fast
Sent by Neelu Vig on
changing world. It prepares
facebook.
students to master the
basics, understand them and
be able to apply them
whenever required.
To understand what deep
learning is we should look at ceases. This leads to a
the other side … which can
be termed as ‘Surface
Learning’ like reading,
memorizing and thereby
being successful in fetching
good marks. Learning like
this may or may not ensure
‘understanding’.
In my opinion the important To affect deep learning the evoked, following the theory
feature required to enable
teaching methodology must be
‘deeper learning ‘is the
teacher’s persona. A teacher
with an attractive (does not
Page 2 of 6
Indira Narayan
necessarily mean beautiful) the underlying principles.
and active presence is sure to The concept can be made clear
catch the interest of the by giving an example from
students. Dull and inactive outside the textbook like
teaching only makes the ‘Physics in our daily life
students feel dull and ‘where do we see this: in our
unenthusiastic. eyes, in the movement or
Communication is an art and a flexing of our fingers or
skill which is very important in bending of our knees etc. In
the teaching line as much is English, the rudiments of
sentence structure, how
only when the teacher is very plurals are formed and so on
sound with her subject and can can be made fun by grammar
cater to all the queries/ doubts games, jingles, songs all of
of her students. In fact deeper which can absorb the
learning can take place only if students’ interest. Class room
a teacher is willing to be activities are the best way of
interrupted during her enhancing interest. In the
teaching with queries or given school curriculum it is
doubts, big or small, intelligent difficult to devote much time
or simple. In a class where to such fun activities. Herein a
doubts are deemed as silly, creative teacher will introduce
learning in its true sense her lesson by citing something
outside the class and the book,
downhill process of creating or use some novel method,
a weak foundation in but something definitely
academics which defeats the about what she has to teach.
concept of deep learning. It This may take 5 to 10 minutes
can create individuals who but if the concept has been
may work mechanically understood she can teach
referring to book knowledge quite a lot in the remaining
time and again. time. With the interest
will become easy and learning
will be more effective.
made on creating an interest in
the subject by understanding
 Page 3 of 6
Excerpts from Faculty of the month -
Are there huge gaps in
curriculum compared to
what industry expects?
No. This seems to be a
monstrous myth that is being
purported by many very
feverishly but I thoroughly
disagree. The curriculum of
B. Tech course I teach (we
follow JNTU Kakinada
Syllabus) to me is reasonably
good.
I feel the goal of a B. Tech
program in make students
understand the fundamentals
of the engineering discipline
and help them develop a
strong analytical problem
solving approach. I can
categorically say the
curriculum meets that
requirement. Many people
feel computer science is all
about some tools and some
programming languages and
feel that the syllabus should
have the latest tools, to meet
industry needs. The reality is
any general purpose B. Tech
program can and should only
Inspiring Teachers
more at www.theprofessor.in
be designed to give students
the fundamental
understanding of the discipline
and lay the platform for
him/her to easily adapt to new
and myriad tools based on
their sound understanding of
the fundamentals.
Many short-sighted people also
recruit for an immediate need
and not for long term human
resource, which makes this
perception develop. Also, there
is a total lack of understanding
among majority of the
academicians about how to
interpret and deliver learning
of the curriculum. This
frustrates industry people
when they come for
recruitment and interact with
academicians, and then these
comments like curriculum has
gaps come up. Again, maybe
this is coming because many
academicians have not had
exposure to industry. I say may
be, because I do not think one
needs exposure to industry to
develop an awareness of how a
concept might be explained in
a relevant manner.
Can better delivery & more
effective administration of
curriculum enhance
student’s chances of
employment?
For students who are willing
to utilize them, absolutely.
As mentioned earlier I think
the biggest problem and
probably the sole reason for
students not building the
wherewithal needed to meet
industry expectations, is lack
of good delivery and
.
curriculum administration There is no egg in
and not gaps in curriculum eggplant, nor ham in
hamburger; neither apple
itself. Of course, this is only nor pine in pineapple.
for students who are willing English muffins weren't
invented in England or
to utilize such delivery and French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies
complement it with
while sweetbreads, which
proactive self learning. aren't sweet, are meat. We
I am more than certain if the find that quicksand can
work slowly, boxing rings
above is done, there is a are square and a guinea
pig is neither from Guinea
negligible chance that a
nor is it a pig.
student would be English is a funny language
--fwded by KV Jayakuamr
unemployed in the current
situation.
Sitarama Raju holds a B. Tech
in CSE from Andhra University
College of Engineering
followed by an M. Tech in CS
from University of Hyderabad.
A career spanning 9 1/2 years
in software industry,and 4 yrs
in academics. He is passionate
about sharing knowledge &
understanding and feels pretty
strongly about how a wrong
understanding of what is
required for an engineering job
is adversely affecting quality of
graduates coming out of
colleges.

Updates on website
Picture Caption Contest
“…and yes students,
this chart shows how
well you should take
good care of your heart,
chomp, chomp"...
Inspiring Teachers Page 4 of 6
♦ Most of the archives of newsletter (2007, 2008 and some 2009) have been uploaded on
the blog
http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/
♦ A practical and proven method of engaging students in peer learning
http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/teachers/study-teams/
♦ An initiative by American Society for Engineering Education –
http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/student/egfi/
Ask an Expert on website
How can we help students weak in English? Abdul Basith
1. If this is a small group of students who are not interested in learning, first try to find out
what interests them. Talk about those topics or discuss what they like and why? Develop a
personal rapport with them so that then they are willing to listen to you.
2. Put them on some on-line English courses with which they can improve their language. You
can see a list of courses here
http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/open-education/english-courses/

Thechitchat e-magazine
on facebook
Learning by doing –
Divya Nalla, NMREC on
facebook
3. Make a small group or what we call as buddy system. One friend who is good at studies is
teamed up with one weak student (or a few) and they should be asked to talk and communicate
in English only. Any subject related discussions can also be made by these groups.
Watch this video (in part I and II) to see what they can do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gajJ9huCog
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-kAhh54iw&feature=related

Interesting Links
♦ Big Thinkers: Judy Willis on the Science of Learning. The noted neurologist turned educator
talks about the science of boredom, lessons learned from video games, how to capture student
attention, and the most important lessons for 21st-century learning.
Mrs Indira Narayan has http://www.edutopia.org/big-thinkers-judy-willis-neuroscience-learning-video
been an English
Teacher in St Ann’s ♦ A talk that touches on a very important issue of childhood stories
High School, http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html
Secunderabad where ♦ IISc’s plunge to train school teachers
she is the Academic
http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/25apr2011/1137.pdf
Head Mistress now and
continues to teach. ♦
Good link for communication and team building activities
http://www.community4me.com/

♦ Learn English with comic strips

http://learnwithcomics.blogspot.com

♦ Inside a hard disk drive – see related videos also

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdmLvl1n82U

♦ Magazine and website for resources to empower people with the vision and tools to create a
healthy planet and vibrant communities.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/for-teachers

Sent by Anil Kumar Challa, LearningNet-India, Nagaswetha Pavuluri, Sofia Stefanidou, Ajit Kumar
Atluri
 Page 5 of 6
Shakir – a differently abled trainer
Shakir is the first visually-
challenged MBA from the
state of Andhra
Pradesh, India. He also
holds a masters in English
literature. He set
rolling “Empower” – a
premier HRD Institute in
Hyderabad, servicing
Corporates, MNCs,
engineering colleges –
envisioned to empower
the human-mind to
discover their true-hidden
potential. Concurring with
the medical findings that
humans barely use 5% of
their brain’s capacity
till their death, the CEO of
‘Empower’ Mr Syed Noor
Muhammad Shakir
seems the right person
around to invigorate us to
tap our dormant
mental capacities and
capabilities. His
transcription of Holy
Qur’an into English
Braille put him in Limca
book of records. He has
developed amazing
memory skills and can
recall all the 600 names
with respective contact
numbers saved in his
mobile phone.
It’s absolutely fascinating
Inspiring Teachers
about his 200-plus
workshops that
reverberate the need to
inculcate in one’s self,
skills to scour the
positives out of the
negative situations as well
as to mould the mind to
accept problems as
challenges. Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Vijayawada
and the four metro cities
are among the prominent
places he conducted the
workshops/seminars in.
The participants ranged
from managers, to
technical and
administrative staff, at
Mitsubishi, ICICI-
Prudential, Care
Hospitals, Maxivisiion,
City Cardiac,
Ascendas(L&T), Bajaj,
Netlife, LIC, Vilan,
Keertilal Jewellers to
name a few. Students of
various engineering,
management, post-
graduate and graduate
educational institutions
constitute yet another
sector who attend his
seminars, where he visits
on invitations. Regarding
his own memory skills he
found in himself the
budding and enabled it
flower. Memory skills he
encourages can be
developed by any
individual. He teaches the
techniques towards memory
development in his
seminars as a key ingredient
for success.
Computer savvy, Shakir
browses internet and reads
emails with the aid of a
‘Talking Computer’. An avid
Shakir with APJ Abdul
reader, Shakir considers Kalam
‘talking computer’ as a best
invention. It disassociates
him from crutches of having
others read for him given
their own time and will
constraints. This software
has aided him in reading
more than a 100 hundred
books on personality
development. His latest
being ‘Awaken the giant
within’ by Anthony
Robbins. He laments
though that the software
can read out only English
language. Hence, loses
independence reading
vernacular languages, which
include his mother-tongue
Urdu, also Telugu and
Hindi. Please contact
Shakir@9347255325
 Samrita Trust – Education for Visually Challenged
Teacher’s Academy 60 million Indians are
blind. There are 2 million
blind children in India and
Hyderabad
only 5 % of them receive any study on their own, the
education.
PHONE:
97011 41118 Blind persons can learn to
live a life of dignity and
E-MAIL: independence. They can
info@inspiring-teachers.com
also perform all most all the
tasks of a normal person
and lead a normal life.
Mission of Samrita Trust
(estd 2006) is to empower
the blind students to
become self sufficient, by
providing suitable learning
devices for their education.
The learning devices are
Audio CDs, MP3 Players, competitive examinations to
Braille Kits, SAFA software, blind candidates appearing
laptops etc – to help to for the examinations to get
employment in private and
subjects in their courses and public sector.
perform better in More importantly, the trust
examinations. The Trust is has worked to affect
inspired by Louis Braille, changes in the government
inventor of Braille, and policies to benefit these
indomitable spirit of Helen students with latest
Keller. technology.
Apart from curriculum Visit the website to learn
books for intermediate, more and contribute either
degree and some school your services or funds.
books, the trust also http://www.samritatrust.org/
produces and supplies audio samrita/index.aspx
books of study materials and http://www.giveindia.org/m-
model papers of various 1008-Samrita-Trust.aspx

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Uma Garimella