Creating Meaningful Learning Opportunities
Pritika Chandiramani
Year 2 Class Teacher
Year 2 Class Teacher
EtonHouse International School, 51, Broadrick
Road
Our school shares the rich
culture of weekly gatherings, where all teachers and students come together in
the school hall to experience a sense of community and belonging with each
other. The weekly assemblies are also a time to pass on general messages from
the school head and acknowledge individual student merits by awarding
certificates to discerning students. The most thrilling part about these
assemblies is, that each week a class is scheduled to host it. While it is an
absolutely enthralling experience for the students of the host class who get to
go up on stage and do a performance; for their parents who are delighted to see
their kids up on stage; and for the other class students and teachers who get
to witness another class perform; it can be a frightfully daunting experience
for the host teacher who has to think of a plan for the assembly, get her
students ready and organised in order to perform in front of the rest of the
school.
Very recently, I had the pleasure of being
that teacher! Two weeks before the actual date, I announced to the class that
it was soon going to be our Class Assembly. Barely realising, I spoke my
thoughts out loud, "what can we do"? To my amazement, students were
instantly hooked on and spontaneously started bouncing off suggestions and
sharing ideas with their peers and myself. The buzz and excitement was evident.
Seizing the teaching moment and possibly a meaningful learning journey that
could follow, I prompted them to get into groups and continue to discuss what
they would like their assembly to look like, feel like and sound like.
This is where it all began... knowing their
goal and working passionately together towards it. In the video, you will
witness the variety, depth and meaningful learning that took place there on. It
was priceless! Students were faced with opportunities that pushed them to
tackle all approaches to teaching and learning through authentic learning
experiences. They were communicating in small and big groups, presenting their
ideas, writing and reading plans. The social opportunities for team work and
collaboration were umpteen, accepting responsibilities, making group decisions
were just a few of many. The group were thinking as they were comprehending,
applying, analysing and evaluating newly acquired knowledge. They managed their
time, organised themselves and made informed choices. The ongoing research made
it possible for the students to collect, record, organise and interpret data,
while they continued to observe and plan for their class assembly.
During the entire process of their planning,
students stayed emotionally hooked, as it was a project that was relevant and
significant to them. With that in mind, it was effortless for them to stay focused
on their personal and positive attitudes towards peers, towards the environment
and towards learning.
In the end, the process and planning of our
assembly inevitably became the crux of the actual performance, in addition to the
song chosen by students to dance to. As one of the students said, "I think
we should perform to this song because it connects well
with our Central Idea".
Here is a glimpse of our planning process and the rich learning that happened through it!
Here is a glimpse of our planning process and the rich learning that happened through it!
I have to admit, that even though I was a
little nervous on the actual day of the performance, I was confident that my
students would shine up on stage for the simple reason that they owned it,
every part of it! And guess what! They did.
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