Unfathomable minds, like vessels in the vast seas, set out onto their voyage, unfamiliar with the ways. The angelic beacon light steers them through until they discover a new shore. This is where ‘pedagogy’ comes into play. To put it simply, the art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. Teachers do not discover, they ‘assist’ discovery. Teachers, like beacon lights, use different pedagogies to steer different learning outcomes from different set of students at different points of time.
The curriculum aims at creating ‘spherical-global’ learners. Coherence and relevance of the curriculum, horizontal and vertical progression, inter disciplinary approach, group discussion sessions augmenting into healthy argument, democratic and participative ethos amongst pupils. The prime focus at the senior level is to bring forth innovation in teaching-learning methodologies by devising student friendly and student centered paradigms, thus lending a ‘real time fun filled impactful experience’.
We use technology as the wings of education and enable students to do a lot of research work. Our pedagogies serve as a bridge between the curriculum and the outer world. Our use of Multiple Intelligence Theory forms the basis of the methodological practices thus fostering higher- order thinking amongst pupils and imparting various life skills to the students.
Judicious use of PowerPoint presentations, group discussions, stimulation games, mock stocks, role plays, case studies kindle multi-sensory learning. Organizing field trips and exhibitions enable students to be multi-tasking and evolve holistically.
The instruction of Commerce aims for a fine blend of abstract theories applied to practical real world tasks. In Business Studies, concepts like Marketing Management, organizing and its principles are practiced with tasks such as mock marketing and selling. Case Studies are also taken up to understand the functioning of reputed firms. Role Play on business organizations, mind mapping, real source documenting, films, news articles, fete and success stories are taken up to catalyze the teaching learning process.
Empowering our students to draw benefits from framework of Humanities by imbibing dynamics of the Social Science, Literature, Art and Culture the school offers application based pursuits namely mind feast sheets, online games, theatre, movie clippings and documentaries, Mock Parliament, quizzes and Heritage Walks. Geography being an integral component of the curriculum promotes understanding the environment in its entirety and developing a broader perspective with an empirical, reasonable and humane outlook so that they grow into well informed and responsible citizens who contribute to nation-building.
Initiating a new paradigm, Science is reconnected with the enquiry-based approach. Practical applications, illustrations, concept mapping, research based projects, quizzes, experiments and demonstration inspire creative articulation and scientific thought process. Science edification here communicates and arouses a mystique of scientific inclination through multiple opportunities and exhibitions to discover and unravel the world within and around.
The senior wing of our school is dedicated to bring out the potential in our students and to discover their hidden likings / passions.Our approach is meticulous and is synchronized with the modern ways of developing the correct knack and abilities in our students. We aim to nurture them through various important strategies and methods that provide a holistic approach and a new dimension to the already prevailing teaching methods . Some of our important methods include the following-
Smart classrooms – equipped with the latest IT tools help us to make teaching informative and entertaining . It collaborates the audio visual techniques to help understanding evolve to better and new levels.
Class Group Experiments is another strategy employed by teachers to give a hands on case study or a situation to students , so that they engage with the problem and come up with unique divergent solutions in groups or individually.
Role Play – a nuanced method of performative arts is often employed by our teachers to help them bring out the-’ thinking out of box’ dimension in students.Students take on the role of a person affected by an issue and then they study the impacts of the issues on human life and/or the effects of human activities on the world around us from the perspective of that person. More rarely, students take on the roles of some phenomena, such as part of an ecosystem, to demonstrate the lesson in an interesting and immediate manner or as simple as enacting a character from their English curriculum .
Models or Projects are another way of giving a paradigm to students to work on the basis of a model or come up with their own models.They help in concept clarification and help in building mind maps sharpening their association abilities.
Socratic Questioning is a powerful tool to initiate and unlock the potentials of questioning and seeking . The healthy interaction and discourse can help students to draw their inferences . It helps to quench the thirst of various inquisitive minds .
Comprehensive and Continuous Assessment is a go to for every teacher , since feedback is important and a continuous engagement of students and checking their performance with suitable yardsticks is a sure shot way of maintaining a regular track. This method helps us to keep a check of how much and what has been learnt by students so far.
Vidya Vaani is the alumni-led initiative, which aims to connect Vidya School to the outer world. We put forth this e-newsletter with a desire to allow you a sneak peek into the day to day affairs of the school,thereby also, creating a space for the students to exhibit their talents in terms of artist or poetic expression.