Curriculum transaction

Curriculum transaction is effective implementation of lesson plans in classrooms. A lot of thought goes in planning and preparing the lesson plans. Children will benefit only if the implementation is strong, whether it be circle time, project work, subject time or music time; a teacher's effort should be to reach out effectively to each child in the group. Lesson plans are prepared much in advance and usually there is a gap between preparation and implementation. It has always helped me as a teacher to sit down at the end of my day with the children and go through my lesson plan thoroughly for the next day. Since there is a gap between planning and implementation, depending on the needs of the group, changes could be required before implementing the plan.

Children listen to some teachers and are receptive, while the same group of children could respond differently to another teacher. This is also to do with meaningfully engaging children and stimulating their thought processes. If the theme of the week is 'Football' and a discussion has been planned with the children during circle time, I would plan and prepare according to what my focus areas would be. My discussion could revolve around different kinds of footballs and how they are made. Discussion would also be participatory and involve children. As I do not know much about footballs, I would prepare myself for the circle time and put the details of the discussion in my lesson plan.

Some of the requirements of effective curriculum transaction are:

• Planning
• Clarity of thought
• Organising
• Knowing how we will transact
• Review of the work
• Team responsibility
• Clarity of communication
• Addressing different levels of children
• Knowing, observing and understanding children at all times
• Time management
• Alertness
• Material organisation
• Room set up
• The way we reach out to the children
• Ready alternatives
• Always being watchful

Writing a Progress Review

It has been a year now and I have been sharing my thoughts and views through my posts. This is my way of expressing my experiences. There could be many ways of looking at a situation, different perspectives and different views. There is no conformity or validation that I seek. This post marks the completion of the first year of my journey.

There is a difference between a progress review and a progress report. Progress review is a reflection of the child's development in various areas such as; physical, cognitive, social and emotional and creative experiences. This development is assessed on the basis of certain given parameters which are age relevant. While reviewing the progress of a child in the form of a progress review, I feel a teacher is more open and non judgmental. She is also thinking of strategies which are required and which can help the child to grow in areas that need support.

A progress report to me on the other hand sounds like a report which is being prepared to communicate the child's performance in academic and other areas. A progress review is more holistic than a progress report. A progress report is based upon a child's performance in exams or tests. A progress review will dwell on the process of the gradual growth and development of a child.

What is the purpose of a progress review? It helps a teacher understand where has she reached with each child in her class, how can she help different children in her class and it is also a reflection the curriculum. Goals are made for each area of development, this is done at the beginning of the academic session. The goals for each quarter of the year vary in terms of the progression of children in the class. These goals help in planning the curriculum which in turn helps in preparing the weekly lesson plans. When lesson plans are implemented in the classrooms, teachers observe how children respond and learn. It is important to note down the observations related to all children in the class. These observations hugely support in reviewing the progress of children.

Writing progress reviews is a very intensive and challenging task for all the teaches. While working on the progress reviews some guidelines which have helped me and made my task more enjoyable are:

* Revisiting the goals for the term for which the progress review is being written. Going through the lesson plans and curriculum for that term. This gave me further clarity on where I had planned to reach with my children at the end of the term.

* Regular noting down observations pertaining to all the children.

* Understanding what an observation is - Observation is not a generalized statement about a child. It should be specific and should tell me something about the child. If I have observed an area that needs attention, I would also need to specify the strategies being used by me. In the progress review, similar suggestions and strategies should also be given to the parents. This will also reinforce the work being done in the class.

*How do I write and record my observations?

It helps to maintain an observation journal. At the end of my day with the children, sitting quietly for some time and recording observations has provided me meaningful insights. Observation journal should also have specific pages for all children in the class. while recording the observation; the date, context, theme or topic should also be recorded.

* Managing time - Work with children is demanding. In order to complete writing the progress reviews on time, effective time management is required. A schedule can be made keeping in mind the number of children in the class. Starting early is always helpful, time can be divided in such a way that one is able to give at least three days to each review. Focus should be only one or two areas each day. This way the stress would ease out, writing would be more meaningful. The three days when you are reviewing the progress of a child, observe him more consciously and closely. Try to relate your observations with the work in notebooks and other assignments.

*Language - The language should be simple, understandable, crisp, implication should be clear.

I hope these guidelines can be of some help. Happy review writing!

Beginning the day with children

Here I am, I have reached the classroom and and am waiting for my children to trickle in. I have fifteen minutes to myself before I hear the tapping of little feet , sounds of laughter and cheerful voices. I am taking this time to check my readiness for the day,write the day's schedule on the board and collect my energies to welcome my little ones.

As a teacher I have realised that my day with the children has been more meaningful and satisfying when I have been in the classroom to receive them. Children look for acknowledgement,comfort and security when they enter their classrooms. They have a lot to share ,express and ask. They want their teacher to be a part of their world of observations and discoveries. Aditya holds my hand and drags me towards the grass mound to see the anthills he has just discovered. I can observe Aliya trying to read the words displayed on the board,Varun picking up a book from the shelf and Anuja sitting quietly.

Being with the children is more important than being physically present for them. Am I there to receive my children in the morning? If yes,then:

• Do I warmly acknowledge every child?
• Do I listen to what children share/express/ask and observe their behaviour patterns?
• Do I observe something special that can substantiate my observations made of a child?
• Do I use this time to handle emotional needs of children?
• Do I take cues from them to take forward their sense of inquiry?

Reflecting on these points will help us bond and create relationships with all children in the classroom.

Whole Language Approach

The four components of language are listening, speaking, reading and writing. All these components are very closely interrelated. My first exposure to the whole language approach was through a session during my early days as a teacher. So far I had known about language development only through the conventional ways. A is for aeroplane, B is for ball and C is for cat and that was also how I thought I had given my child his first exposure to language. After my exposure to the whole language approach, I was able to connect with language development in a very meaningful way. Language development is not restricted to the text books alone, it happens in a variety of other ways - listening, speaking, reading and writing. It has to be looked at as a whole. When a teacher introduces the letter A to the children and displays the words beginning from A in the group, the exposure is also to the rest of the letters which form the words beginning from A.

A sensitive teacher looks for language development opportunities throughout the day's schedule with children.

I am sharing here some of the strategies that I used to implement the whole language approach in my classrooms. During my interactions with children, I consciously used the words which I thought should become a part of their vocabulary. The age relevance was always kept in mind. Since there is a theme for every week , stories for the children were picked up on the basis of the theme. I specifically emphasized on all the new words in the stories. When a theme on "Dinosaurs" was taken up in the class, a lot of books related to dinosaurs were narrated during the circle time. The names of all the dinosaurs and all the words describing their characteristics became a part of the children's vocabulary. All these new words were also displayed in the classroom so that the children were visually exposed to them all the time. Language development during the circle time was happening while children were listening to stories, sharing their experiences, expressing their thoughts and ideas and asking questions related to the themes. During the project time language development was happening in the form of instructions, write ups related to project experiences, recording observations, attempting worksheets.

We had a word box in our class, children wrote new words on paper slips and dropped them in this box. There was a book corner where story books and theme related books were kept.

Language games were a part of the choice time. A story corner was displayed on one of the boards. Children wrote stories and displayed them here. The story corner was sometimes changed to a poems corner and there was also a' how I feel today' corner. At times we had activities where children would pick up an object and share about it, they picked up a paper slip from a box which contained slips with different topics written on them. They would then share their ideas related to that particular topic.

Language development has also to be integrated in subjects like Science, Maths or Social Studies. All the new terms should be displayed in the class so that they become a part of the children's vocabulary.

Effective communication with children

Work with children requires communication at different levels. Communicating with children ,parents,teachers,supervisors,administrative department and support staff. Effective communication is a skill and is also very challenging. When in a classroom, a teacher has to be very careful about her choice of words, her way of communicating will have a lasting impact upon the children. What is it that I want to convey? What is the purpose of my communication? Am I clear and confident about what I want to say? A teacher needs to communicate with children to bond and build relationships, give instructions, implement lesson plans, give feedback, share thoughts and ideas, share experiences, share information, reflect on situations, counsel, guide, answer their queries and much more. While preparing myself for my day with the children, I would look at the next day's entire lesson plan and go through the day's structure. Beginning from the circle time to the end of the day, I would reflect upon how I would interact and communicate with my children. Communication with children has to be clear, sensitive, age appropriate, non judgemental, suiting their needs, open, honest and at their level.

Collecting the energies of children

Going back to the days when I first handled a group of children as a group facilitator. I can still recall the faces of twenty five little four year olds, as I entered the Class on the first day of the new term in the Nursery Class. A few of them were resplendent with energy and running all over the space, a few were clinging to their parents and some sat quietly on the stools. To get the day started I had to collect my little ones for the circle time. The challenge was to get them all on the mats and collect their energies. I began by sitting down on the mat and holding high an elephant puppet that I had with me......." This is Haathi and he is new to this group, he wants to make friends so would you all like to be friends with him?" Suddenly the eyes turned towards Haathi and some of the children wanted to sit close to him. Within the next few minutes most of the children were sitting on the mats except some who still preferred to sit on the stools at a distance. Yet they too were curious to know what would happen next. We began with Haathi introducing himself and sharing about what all he liked. Next, my team teacher and I introduced ourselves and what we liked. After this Haathi moved to each child in the group asking names and their likes. This was the beginning of bonding and relationships evolving.

After coming together as a group, we closed our eyes and chanted. This was followed by a story time and then children moved to explore different corners which had been created for them. I have always made efforts to think of different strategies to collect the energies of children. The best of lesson plans would fail if the energies of children are scattered and they are not receptive.

It is not easy to do so always, much of it depends on our understanding of the children, bonding with them and being alert at all times. Challenges with each age group are different. Sometimes in my Nursery and Kindergarten Classes I would build linkages between the ongoing themes and my strategies to collect the energies of my children. During a theme on "Birds", I would look at them and say " Can all the little birds fly and settle on the mats quietly" " Okay let me see how many birds are quick to fly and reach here" Soon I could see hands stretched out and my birds flying next to me.Some of the simplest strategies were to make certain gestures with hands and children would just look and follow, clapping in a pattern raising the tone of voice and bringing it down to a whisper.

Five years later my experiences with children of Class V were much different. To get their attention and collect their energies, I had to break down the instructions with clarity and a sense of purpose.At that age they need to be involved and engaged.