Building an alternate approach to learning: Kalikayatna

A REPORT OF 2nd YEAR OF KALIKAYATNA - A JOINT INITIATIVE OF SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN AND PRAJAYATNA

June 2006 - April 2007

KALIKAYATNA IN THE SECOND YEAR OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION Last year classes 1,2 and 3 were involved in this new initiative. The new academic year2006-7 included the fresh batch of first standards also the initiative now has a total of 1170 students and 40 teachers. The new academic year began with an intensive refresher program for all the teachers for two days. The new teachers were given a brief orientation to the process. It was agreed that during the school visits these new teachers would be paid additional attention and supported to engage in the Kalikayatna process. The teachers of their school who were in the process the previous year also provided the required support. As far as the new students were concerned the other children helped them in their engagement with the tasks. What are the areas that are gradually getting streamlined in the initiative? Classroom processes School visits and their documentation Monthly collective meetings Assessment process Reporting childs work on a weekly basis to parents

Classroom processes Teachers are more or less comfortable with the structure of KY classes. They engage the classes in either whole group or learner group processes in the fore noon sessions. The afternoon sessions are mainly spent in individual practice sessions. The teachers are able to contextualise the introduction of the concepts. They are tied round the local happenings. Subjects blend into the current theme and the activities include songs. Dance, drama, demonstrations etc whatever the teachers are comfortable with. Most of the teachers are sitting along with the students most of the time and are colearners in the process. The whole group activities include lot of questions posed both by teachers and students. It also has introductory activities like songs, stories etc The learner group activities see a lot of collaborative learning happening. The children are seated in mixed age groups. The older and the younger children are teaching and learning from each other. They work in the same groups for a week or a term based on the their choice or for logistic convenience. The individual practice sessions need to be more focussed. But a healthy indicator is with regard to teachers preparing their own worksheets to suit the needs of their class children or requesting the team to prepare them based on the ideas given by them. The teachers have freedom to use any available

TLM such as Nali kali cards, textbooks etc if they are useful to consolidate their conceptual understanding.
The students are provided paper to record their learning and practice their procedural skills. These are duly filed in their individual portfolios. The teacher reviews the portfolios of specified number of children each day and provides written feedback. However this needs to be streamlined further to make it more effective. The feedback focuses on what the child can do well and sets the direction for the childs next goal. The teachers put up their daily plan in the specified format. This includes the theme, concepts for the day, the activities during Whole Group and Learner Group. Objectives are set for the individual practice sessions and suitable activities to cater to the different needs of individual students are planned. The teachers role during the various processes is to observe the child, record their learning, impediments and group dynamics. School visits and their documentation The team members have divided the schools among themselves. Each member takes responsibility for the schools designated to them. They visit the schools on a daily basis and observe the processes and document the same. The team records the processes in a given format to standardise the documentation process. Their role is to sit with the teacher individually and help her/him reflect on the class process and also provide feedback. Wherever and whenever required the team also acts as a scaffold to the teacher in classroom process by involving in team teaching along with the teacher. The team also liaisons between teachers and the headmaster to ensure that the required support like infrastructure, issue of new teachers etc are addressed for successful implementation of the process During samudaya datta shale (school moving towards community- a scheme of the Government of Karnataka) or SDMC meetings the team ensures their presence to experience the response of parents and the community. The team also interacts with parents and invites written feedback from them about their childs learning and the KY process. Based on the notes prepared during the visits, the team brings out a newsletter every two months. This is circulated to all the teachers and to the concerned departmental officials.

Monthly collective meetings Every month dates are fixed for the collective meetings. The KY team hands over the circulars to the headmasters of the respective schools. The teachers are divided into two batches to facilitate better interaction. The meetings are held on two consecutive days-Day 1 is for Batch one and Day two for batch two. The meetings begin at 10 am and end at 4 pm. Most of the teachers are in time and those who are likely to get delayed due to various reasons do inform the team before hand. To ensure all the teachers attend the meetings, wherever required KY team engages the students in classroom processes for the day. The teachers request for support in this regard earlier so on the meeting day there is no delay. The meetings have four sessions- the first session is for recap and discussion on different aspects of learning. The second session is specific to suit the needs of the teachers- how to observe, how to fill formats etc. the third session is for planning for the next month. The fourth is reserved for preparing worksheets and other learning materials. The agenda for each collective meeting is prepared based on the teams feedback to the facilitator. The needs of the teachers and other challenges are taken up for discussion during the meetings. The environment of the collectives is one of cooperation and collaboration, so individual challenges are collectively discussed and feasible solutions are worked out. The KY team makes detailed notes of the collective proceedings. They prepare a monthly report of the meeting. The details of the plan and other relevant notes are photocopied and given to the teachers.

Teachers planning in groups for the month ahead

Assessment process The following sums up the ideas that have evolved about assessment from the teachers in the initiative Assessment means: Assessment process of in KY is a continuous the childs recording Tools of assessment Student portfolio and reflection portfolio Teachers observation note book each teacher is given a printed book for this purpose Parental feedback Peer feedback

movement in the broad framework of learning goals. Principles practices No grading or ranking Not norm based or criterion based No comparison with other governing the assessment

Implementation in the classroom During the whole group activities the teacher prepares the anecdotal records During the learner group activities teacher gathers peer and parental feedback During Individual practice sessions teacher takes stock of the procedural skills and provides oral and written feedback on students work Documentation of assessment records Daily- teachers observation record and written remarks on the the students portfolios. Quarterly Rubricindicating movement of each child on a rubric after discussing with parents. Annual- consolidated statement of learning of the child in a narration format along with the last quarters rubric. At the end of five years of schooling [I phase] - a cumulative report of the child indicating the exit level of the child against the expected of dept. outcomes (inclusive

students but comparing with a childs past performance Continuous and formative Assessment and learning process are same and not separate activities Assessment should be a feedback to the child to set future goals Assessment should help a teacher plan appropriate individualized plans and strategies to facilitate childs learning Assessment should help the parents and the child to identify childs strengths and interests Assessment should indicate the readiness of the child to enter the next phase of schooling Assessment is about what the child can do with what s/he knows rather than mere content accumulation Assessment cannot do should state what s/he can do rather than what s/he

framework) along with the other reports and by preparing the profile of the child.

What are the aspects reported on? The Kalikayatna report card indicates the learning of the child in four areas of performance

Psycho motor development Social growth Getting the tools of learning Adding and exploring the content

Reporting childs work on a weekly basis to parents It was also decided by the teachers to send the students weekly work to the parents during the week.

Sharing of experiences in other forums The team was invited to make a presentation on Kalikayatna at National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore. The team also explained the KY assessment process in International Workshop on LEARNING Assessment at the primary level organised by UNESCO and hosted by NCERT in Delhi. The team was also invited to a discussion in Pune to share its view and incorporate the assessment approach of Kalikayatna in a source book to be brought out by NCERT. The team made a presentation about our concerns and views in an open forum held in Mysore with regard to the current assessment practices of the department. The Commissioner for Public Instructions chaired the meeting and other departmental officials participated in it. Sending newsletters to all the departmental officials and other interested members

Overall impact on teachers Planning and preparation 1. Are able to prepare individual daily plans based on the discussions during the teachers collective meeting 2. Teachers are able to identify the sources and also source them as per their requirement either from newspapers or from KY resource room 3. Teachers are able to prepare worksheets to suit the needs of their students 4. They raise relevant questions in the collective. For eg how to introduce the concepts that the child has not had any exposure to? Etc 5. They contextualise the learning process and link the concepts well Facilitation skills During the whole group process they provide opportunities for students to ask questions, sing songs, reflect on their learning They encourage students to think and connect rather than giving direct information. They provide appropriate feedback and show the appropriate models when required They try to bond with the children by being open and approachable Classroom environment Students have freedom to share a, share, discuss and question Individual needs of learners are met Students are involved in self-evaluation of their work, identify their mistakes and also provide feedback to their peers. There is an environment of collaboration rather than competition The story books provided by KY is made accessible to the students Children are made to take responsibility to take replace the learning materials. Children are made to display their work in the classrooms Understanding students

Teachers are learning to observe the students during their engagement with their work Teachers are seen suggesting alternative roles to students who are normally inhibited or those trying to dominate others. Are able to gauge the needs of individual students and identify their performance levels Documentation

From expressing resistance to difficulty in recording about each child, the teachers have now entered the acceptance stage and are making efforts to record at east few aspects for every child. Some teachers are also documenting their daily processes and activities Lot of teachers are seen filing their daily plans, notes made during collective meetings, information gathered about concepts, in their files.

Personal growth Some teachers who never shared during the collective meetings are opening up now. Teachers are learning to share and listen to each other. Teachers opine that enhancing the self-confidence of the children is their main responsibility. Discussing and analysing learning theories and terms like learning, assessment, facilitation etc is helping them in their professional growth and also expanding their knowledge base. Overall impact on students according to the teachers Children are learning to think independently now. Students gather information, discuss about it and are beginning to experience how to construct knowledge on their own. Students are learning to ask inquiring questions, clarifying questions and exploring questions. Students are really learning now, it is not like recalling the notes dictated by teachers. Students do a lot of comparing and differentiating, reflecting and thinking. Unlike in earlier experiments, where they learnt what is in textbooks or cards, they are now learning more from their immediate environment and experiences. Students use the blackboards more than teachers.

Challenges and issues Teachers are still worried about enhancing writing skills among the first and second standard students. Integrated maths during concept facilitation is still difficult for most of them. Observing the students is fine but recording each students work is difficult. How to introduce english organically through concept facilitation as english is made compulsory for students from next academic year. How to help our students face exams? How to convince parents that students are learning without textbooks and homework? Future plans include developing of a teacher resource book, forming an advisory group to provide feedback to the team and to organise periodic discussions on learning among the various stakeholder groups.