Thursday 30 August 2012

Tech Culture ...

How to set up a culture to connect and collaborate using technology ?

As I have shifted to a new school and referring to my previous blogs, trying to adapt into the new culture . So I wanted to explore the tech culture of the school and ways in which I could contribute.


 To start off, I was just waiting to delve into the tech infrastructure and resources of the school in the last week. As I was so used to the use of smart boards and apps in my everyday class I could not just wait to see in what ways this school had something different and better to offer. After an initial round of survey I could finally gather a sufficient knowledge of the resources available and how easily was it available to a teacher .


 Every class here is actually fitted with the state of the art interactive whiteboard called Promethean board which I had heard of but not used before. There is a projector in each of the rooms and the wiring has been done so efficiently that you just need your laptop, connect the VGA cable and the USB cable from the board and start using. Every teacher's laptop has the software Active Inspire installed and also gets a set of two interactive pens. So starting the class using the board is just a few minutes work. In my previous school the smart board software was installed in the fixed CPU s with the board and we could not connect the laptops. The process used here is much better as the teachers could actually go back and have everything in their laptop for further learning or work. So knowledge was not just not confined within the board on the wall of the classroom.

A quick exploration of the Promethean board exposed a wealth of stuff much greater than what I had used before. So I was quite happy with that.

Then next came was the survey of actually how was technology being integrated in the classroom. The students here, to my relief, do have access to laptops, but not a good idea of how actual learning can take place using the box and how the classroom can go flat. The first thing I wanted to ensure that the students of each of my classes had a virtual platform where they could connect and exchange of ideas could take place in the class and even when they are not in the class. I am an avid user of www.edmodo.com, and so I started by introducing this not only to my students but also in the Science teacher team so that effective connectivity and resource sharing remains.

How effectively I am using edmodo as a connectivity tool in my class will come up in the upcoming blogs. 

The next part would have to be to orient the students to the benefits of the use of apps in the class. So in the next few weeks I would probably pave my way to introducing the series of Web 2.0 tools that would really benefit the students and engage them further.  This would also be extended to the use of mobile phone as a multi tasker in a physics lab. So very soon would be blogging about the same.

Thursday 23 August 2012

Gearing up the new academic year..

Culture Shock or Culture Celebration......

Today the academic year started  with a combined assembly and the best part of it was that the whole school was there including even the non teaching staff. The corridor was adorned with a series of flags from 12 different countries,Germany, Poland, USA, Zambia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Serbia, Bhutan, Tibet, UK, Korea and India, to welcome the students at OIS who were from these countries. I just wondered what brought these students from the different parts of the world, who were culturally so very different from the host country of OIS , India, that too within a year of its inception. There was no strong infrastructure or results as of now that could have attracted them. It is the people behind Oaktree whom all these students have trusted and have faith in, probably, is what had brought them here. 

Today as Mr. Paul Regan started the assembly dot on 8.00 a.m ( which I understood by now that he practices punctuality), I felt that the treasure box which I had seen yesterday was not in a dream and that it would not be taken away. I could use the valuables everyday and probably could even fill the box more. 

As he welcomed the students from 12 different countries to OIS, he significantly touched the issue of being global but acting local by introducing and talking about the beautiful city of joy KOLKATA, where the school is located. He went forth to explain, that the first barrier that the second generation of students needed to cross was that of Culture shock. To deal with this he asked the students to revolve their thoughts around four qualities...Respect, Behaviour, Attitude and Responsibility. In professing these qualities and inculcating the learner profile attributes they would very soon overcome the culture shock and be more near to the third culture...the IB Culture at Oaktree. 

His next topic of discussion was TOK as he announced the next TOK theme of discussion as LOVE and made it sure that the thought process was not just limited to the DP but also percolated down to the little MYP minds. The way he gave examples of how love would mean to everybody made an interesting piece for all of us.


After all of this he lucidly took all of us through a very unique example of international mindedness           
at display in the recent Olympics 2012 at LONDON. A three–tiered rostrum is used for the three medal winners, with the gold medal winner ascending to the highest platform.  After medals are distributed, the flags of the nations of the three medalists are raised. The flag of the gold medalist's country is in the center and raised the highest while the flag of the silver medalist's country is on the left facing the flags and the flag of the bronze medalist's country is on the right, both at lower elevations than the gold medalist's country's flag. The flags are raised while the national anthem of the gold medalist's country plays.So that was celebrating culture.

With this he welcomed everyone to the Internationalism at OIS where not one culture but celebrating everyone's culture was important.




Wednesday 22 August 2012

My first day at my new school..


The Third Culture

Today was my first day at my new school,  As I entered I remembered the parting sentence of my previous school Principal Mr. Dilip Vasu, " Rajashree, every school has a culture of its own...try to adapt that. You will be happy. Think of the bigger picture always..."

Till date with whomever I had discussed about the school , whether it was my fellow IB colleagues in India or those abroad in various parts of the world , the only feedback I had got was that this is going to be the next UWC and that I would get the best learning environment of an IB school.

After  attending  the induction programme for the teachers, today ,I again and again kept feeling the gap between my thoughts and the way to express it. For one reason today only I wished to be an English teacher so that I could play with words to express what I experienced today.  Being a person inclined towards Sciences I am very straight forward and definitely short of words but still would try to express the moments of the day, every bit of which was worth treasuring. It was as if I had been exposed to a treasure box filled with valuables and I had just few hours to take as much as I could and believe me I am not exaggerating a bit. So I tried to take as much as I could from the treasure box.

Having worked in four international schools of which the previous two have been IB schools, I could not help but keep comparing between whatever I was seeing and what I had seen before. Rewinding back to a few years, the first day I was introduced to IB, about two and a half years back, so many questions came to my mind in the next few months of my work.But these questions just kept baffling me without leading to any direction.

 During the day's sessions today what I heard from Mr. Paul Regan (HOS) and Mr. Absolum Museve (Director of studies  and IBC)  resonated with the proposed answers to my baffling questions and made me strongly feel that I have come to work in the best IB school in India and in next few years maybe in the world. When  I had actually been exposed to the learner profile attributes ,in my first IB school and saw the work culture around me , I felt it was so contradicting. I always questioned myself that shouldn’t the teachers themselves be embracing the learner profile attributes before they could inculcate those in the students?Are we caring towards each other?  I always felt that IB was a process. It in itself had a culture of its own. The “IB Culture” which immediately connected teachers and students across the world. But somehow in India, with my own experiences and with the kind of information I have gathered from various sources, IB schools are moulded into a customized format to suit the clientele barring a few.

 Mr. Regan in his opening welcome speech , so very well laid down how the ethos of an IB school especially of Oaktree, that had to be built in the coming years. He was so transparent in his communication starting from the Board of Directors to the achievements and the shortcomings of the last year. He summed up the challenges that the school had to face in the first year of inception and would might have to face in future , but being the founder head of three schools his conversation showed that the school surely was in the right hands.  Surely my belief in my new school being a school of excellence was more strengthened.

 Mr. Museve in his conversation started by saying that teachers are the ones who should try to be examples in using these attributes of learner profiles to our students. He again and again stressed on the fact that we have joined an International School and throwed at us the question, what that meant? Was it that we cater to an International Curriculum, or was it we had International students from all parts of the world or was it that we had teachers from all parts of the world.  His discussion then revolved around that it was the “Third Culture” at Oaktree that made it truly international. It was about understanding the culture of the person in front and then , amalgamating our own culture, to develop this third culture where we both were comfortable. 

The  sessions by Dr. Gardner, the Director of Residence followed by Susan’s (CAS Coordinator and Senior tutor) , Ms. Anjaly's (Director of Admissions ) along with Mr. Peter Jones and Mr. Museve’s, all  so well resonated that the prime concern at OIS is the well being of the learners or the knowers. Whether it is the method  of tutor groups or University Counseling and Guidance, the school has meticulously planned every detail and the student is at the pinnacle of importance.

But this did not mean that the teachers had to compromise for something lesser. The later sessions by the HR ,Priyanka, finance person Mr. Das and the transport person Kuntal ensured that teachers were also taken well care of by the polices of the school, be it leaves or availing financial benefits or a grievance cell.

I am living my dream today and looking forward to a new journey ....and to share my experiences with you all....