Articles, tips, resources for teachers

1. February 2012
Volume 6, Issue 2 Inspiring Teachers
Articles this month:
Gross National
Happiness
……………..….2
Teacher Accountability
………….…..3
Must Read Websites
………………….4
Caption Contest
……..………......5
Open Source Teacher’s
Handbook
……………….. 5
Driving educational change through excellence in teaching
While the governments are spending a
huge amount on creating access to
education, the system is wrought with
several problems. ASER, an initiative by
PRATHAM measures outcomes of school
education and makes this report available
. Their survey in AP, HP, Assam,
Jharkhand and Rajasthan , has noted that
in the last two decades, impressive strides
have been made in India in terms of
providing school buildings, classrooms,
teachers, textbooks and other facilities.
The study tracked 30,000 rural children in
Std 2 and Std 4 in 900 schools in these
five states. The key recommendations
emerging from this study are as below:-
(i) Textbooks need urgent revisions. They
need to start from what children can do
and be more realistic and developmentally
appropriate in what children are expected
to learn, with clear learning goals and
sequence.
(ii) Systems must be put into place to track
attendance, not just enrollment, and
ensure regular reporting and monitoring
of this attendance.
(iii) Mother tongue instruction and
programmes for language transition need
to be introduced and expanded.
(iv) Teacher recruitment policies need to
Editor’s Comments - ASER
assess teachers’ knowledge, but more
importantly their ability to explain content to
children, make information relevant to their
lives and use teaching learning materials and
activities other than the textbook.
(v) State teacher education plans should
invest in human resource capacity academic
structure and enable them to help improve
teaching and learning quality via in-service
training and classroom visits.
(vi) As per the RTE child-friendly education
needs to be defined and measured regularly as
a part of the indicators of quality education.
(vii) Libraries with take home books for
reading practice at the household level,
should be monitored as part of RTE
indicators. Family reading programmes could
also be part of innovations to help support
first generation school goers.
This month we are carrying an article on
teacher accountability – do read and post
your comments on the blog too.
The Faculty of the Month, interview is missing
in this issue, but do look for it on the website,
shortly.
Everyone in this world wants to be happy!
Then shouldn’t governments be measuring
and spending efforts on increasing GNH?
Read on…
--Uma Garimella

2. Inspiring Teachers Page 2 of 6
Take on Education
The term "gross national
happiness" was coined in 1972
by Bhutan's then King Jigme
Singye Wangchuck, who has
opened Bhutan to the age of
modernization, soon after the
demise of his father, King
Jigme Dorji Wangchuk.
In 2005 the Royal Government
decided to make it a
measurable index and not just
an abstract notion or an
academic discussion. They
want to assess happiness and
create conditions to implement
GNH policies and programs. It
is an attempt to define and
measure quality of life or social
progress in more holistic and
psychological terms than only
the economic indicator of
GDP.
The questionnaire for the
baseline study had 249
questions, which included the
following nine domains:
1. Psychological well being -
sense of satisfaction in all
areas of life, meaningful
life, spirituality, feeling of
belonging etc
2. Standard of living and
happiness – usual
measures of income, and
debt.
3. Good governance –
perception of government
agencies and their
functioning
4. Health – mental and
physical health, diseases,
addictions and
functioning of health
care systems.
5. Education – asks about
their satisfaction with
the formal education as
well measures their
literacy in health,
ecology, history,
traditional crafts and
politics.
6. Community vitality –
related to philanthropy,
family relations, crimes,
sense of safety
7. Cultural Diversity – their
perception on human
values, traditions, impact
of media
8. Ecological Diversity and
Resilience – awareness,
development and
environment, individual
lifestyles and eco-
friendliness
9. Time use and happiness
- reckoning the time
spent in the last 24 hrs
and reflecting on how it
has been spent.
It will be a nice idea to
download this questionnaire
and reflect on some of these
questions.
The GNH Index is constructed
on 33 indicators in these nine
domains, based upon a robust
multidimensional methodology
known as the Alkire-Foster
method
Interesting findings of 2010
survey
1. 41% of Bhutanese have
sufficiency in six or more of
the nine domains and are
considered ‘happy’.
2. Men are happier than
women on average.
3. Of the nine domains,
Bhutanese have the most
sufficiency in health, then
ecology, psychological
wellbeing, and community
vitality.
4. In urban areas, 50% of
people are happy; in rural
areas it is 37%.
5. Urban areas do better in
health, living standards and
education. Rural areas do
better in community vitality,
cultural resilience, and good
governance.
6. The happiest are civil
servants, monks and
GYT/DYT members. The
unemployed are happier
than corporate employees,
housewives, farmers or the
national work force.
Gross National Happiness Uma Garimella
Many other learning
outcomes (other than
enrolment, teacher-
student ratio and pass
percentages) which
took place outside of
formal structured
education systems have
not been assessed so
far. This survey goes
little further in its scope
from the conventional
system of reporting
educational
attainments. It has, for
the first time, tried to
assess different types of
knowledge and skills
that people have
acquired in their life
course such as history,
culture, civic, ecology
and indigenous
knowledge and skills
which are mostly
acquired informally.

3. Inspiring TeachersPage 3 of 6
This year on Nov 11,
National Education Day, the
PM of India Mr Manmohan
Singh launched a nationwide
campaign “Shiksha Ka Haq
Abhiyaan” to motivate the
children of the country to do
well in studies to achieve
their dreams.
Though India has been late
in implementing the Right to
Education Act, it has set up
several schools in every nook
and corner of the country to
ensure easy access to
education. As many as 83
per cent of the total 1,061
thousand habitations have
access to primary schooling
facilities within 1 km and 76
per cent habitations to upper
primary schooling facilities
within a distance of 3 km
guaranteeing that access
would not feature as a major
road block for enrolment.
Similarly the number of
teachers both at the primary
and upper primary levels of
education over time has
increased many folds.
Though the government had
made strides in ensuring
easy access to education can
it also assure a quality that is
on par with good education
systems across the world?
The Government of India
has spent INR 88,000
Teacher accountability – a highly compromised value in Indian education system – Anitha Jagathkar
Ms Anitha, is a Project
Manager with CfBT Education
Services, India. She led her
team in evaluating various
alternative educational
programs in India. She has
assessed several schools for
institutional effectiveness in
various districts of AP. She has
also authored several baseline
reports and drafted school
improvement plans for both
public and private schools. As a
Leadership trainer she
mentored school principals to
improve the provision in their
schools. Currently she is
pursuing her Ph.d at National
School of Leadership, Pune.
She can be contacted at
ajagathkar@gmail.com.
Crores (~$18 Billion) on
education since 2004. The
government should get the
credit for investing in
education which has no
definite outcomes. Less
than 5% of the education
budget is spent on non-
salary recurrent
expenditure [Kingdon,
2010]. The maximum
education budget is
allocated for teacher
salaries and benefits that
have increased generously
to respectable levels in
recent years, due to the 6th
pay commission. Then, why
are the educational
institutions shying away
from taking accountability
for the outcomes of their
institutions? While
assessing GyanShala, an
alternative education
provider in Gujarat, which
provides quality education
to thousands of slum
children in the selected
Gujarat and Bihar cities, I
was astonished to learn that
the government school
teachers refused to
implement the successful
GS pedagogy in their
schools. Equally surprising
was the reason for refusal,
the teachers felt that the
implementation of GS
methodology meant more
work, more pressure and
more accountability.
The fundamental question
that has been intriguing the
stakeholders for decades is
why are teachers especially in
public schools not
accountable? What makes
them so? Is it possible to
make schools accountable for
student achievement levels?
Education in India is both
Centre’s and State’s
responsibility, giving the
state governments a stake in
the state education policy
making. Different states
follow different teacher
recruitment procedures in
India. But one thing is
common to all states, total
job security. This aspect of
the job determines the entire
behavior of a school teacher
throughout his career in
schools. Whereas in a
corporate sector where cut
throat competition is the
drive to excel in performance,
in public sector and
especially in schools there is
a lack of motivation to excel
as the work force is confident
of regular cash flow in the
form of salaries and yearly
benefits. (Cont’d on page 4)

4. Inspiring Teachers Page 4 of 6
1. Everything you knew about learning may be wrong – new insights
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/01/everything-about-learning/
2. A good essay on evaluation
http://www.forbes.com/sites/artcarden/2012/01/12/dear-student-i-dont-lie-awake-at-night-thinking-of-ways-to-ruin-
your-life/
3. A good blog for faculty in universities and colleges
http://derekbruff.org/blogs/tomprof/
4. New e-textbooks from Apple
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0119/Apple-announces-iBooks2-a-new-textbook-program-
for-iPad
5. Good collection of teaching resources at University of Florida
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_teaching_methods
6. Thousands of free media for public use
http://www.teachersdomain.org/
7. Math Puzzles to sharpen your mind
http://jeyakums-puzzles.blogspot.in/
http://vidyamanohar.blogspot.in/
8. Zero budget natural farming by Subhash Palekar
www.palekarzerobudgetnaturalfarming.com
9. Two teenagers put Lego man in space
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/lego-man-space-moves-230122438.html
10. A website to help faculty build courses
http://www.udemy.com/
11. Article links good teachers to lasting gains beyond classrooms
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/education/big-study-links-good-teachers-to-lasting-gain.html?_r=3
12. UMIC provides infrastructural facilities to nurture inventions among students from various disciplines.
http://gymkhana.iitb.ac.in/~umic/index.php?title=home
Teacher Accountability …..
Since no power can easily terminate
their services, there is no reason for
teachers to enhance their
performance by setting goals and
targets. The schools lack clear plans,
measures and strategies that
collectively define the direction and
outcomes of a business.
Individual school having a vision is a
farfetched notion as they are bound
by state policies and dictums. Plans
and strategies are of little value as
they are not accountable for their
schools’ results.
One of the most basic evidence of
teachers’ accountability anywhere in
the universe is attendance
which is the most compromised.The school
staff exemplifies marvelous teamwork in
being absent regularly from the campus.
There is a subtle harmony among the
teachers and the leaders in maintaining the
balance of teacher and leader absenteeism.
This stems from weak monitoring
mechanism, high level of corruption,
influence and power of teacher unions,
lopsided policies that cannot fire teachers,
seniority-based salary structure, and the
extreme centralized nature of the education
system. Though the systemic maladies
manifest in all sorts of irregularities in the
public schools, the teachers per se are
highly qualified and well informed in stark
contrast to the teachers of the private
providers.
However, when the students’ outcomes and
achievement levels are compared the
students of private schools stand out in
terms of high grades, always. It is difficult
to deny that the private school teachers are
more accountable than public school
teachers. Though the constitution of India
guarantees RTE to all the children, it is the
prime duty of the enforcement agencies
specifically the learning institutions to
enable the government machinery to
achieve the national goal. Unless the
schools contribute to the nation’s
commitment young India cannot feature as
the most literate population in the world in
the distant future. See more on pg 6
Must read links - also at http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/must-read-links/feb-2012/

5. Inspiring TeachersPage 5 of 6
Open Source Teachers’ Handbook
Many people understand what is Open Source in software – a philosophy which gives access to the product’s source
material. It is also a philosophy where people contribute and cooperate to build a product. Bhagirathi Behera, a
teacher with more than 10 yrs experience and now working as a principal has initiated a book compilation project with
the help of the community of teachers. He has partnered with Teacher’s Academy to bring out this compilation of
experiences, opinions, ideas and expertise and make it available to all teachers. Your contributions will appear with
your name in the book.
What do you need to do?
Please send YOUR answers to the
following questions along with your
picture and brief profile (include
information about high school, college,
activities, honors, work experience,
why you have chosen teaching as a
career, what are your strengths as a
teacher, your career goals in next 1, 3,
5 and 10 yrs )
QUESTIONS
Your philosophy of teaching
1. Think of your best teachers. What
positive characteristics do you
believe these teachers had? Which
of these characteristics do you
believe you have?
2. Think of your worst teachers.
What mistakes did they make or
qualities did they have? How are
you avoiding those
mistakes/qualities?
3. What three words would your
students use to describe you?
4. Define student and school
according to you.
5. How do you see the teacher’s
status and role in society change in
the recent past?
Beyond class
6. What is the purpose of homework
/ projects? What is your typical
homework / project?
Involving Parents
7. What role have parents played
(and are playing) in shaping
today’s education system?
8. What are some ways you involve
parents in your student
development strategy?
9. How do you approach a parent
who is upset and and/or angry?
Teaching
10. Explain how you structure the
40/45 minutes of a class
period?
11. How much effort do you put
in planning this lesson? (in
terms of subject, method,
aids)
12. How do you cater to the
different needs of students in
your class?
13. How do you incorporate
technology into your
instructions?
Classroom management
14. How do you handle disruptive
students in the classroom?
Any special strategies for the
occasional and for the
repetitive behavior?
15. How do you create an
atmosphere of tolerance and
friendship among students in
your class?
Deadlines
30/03/2012- Responses for
questionnaire.
30/04/2012 Editorial team and
title of the book
5 /09/2012 -Book release at
Hyderabad
If you want to be on the
editorial team
contact personally on
8084125247, or 9440607287
Mail us at
bhagijune19@gmail.com/rediffma
il.com
info@inspiring-teachers.com
Project Coordinator:
BHAGIRATHI BEHERA
PRINCIPAL
GREEN VALLEY INTERNATIONAL
SCHOOL,MALINAGAR
SAMASTIPUR ,BIHAR-848125
Picture Caption
Arun Shetty: Can I phone a friend?
Neelu Vig Ummm.....my mobile has
a calculator!
Sridhar Belide I need tech support..
Pradeep Joshi: You tell me first!
Ashok Kumar: Sorry sir, out of
coverage area!
Atul Negi: If you get the answer
right, you get this cool mobile.
Dashrath Ram:Black Board meeda
maths cheyyadam pata idea, Balck
Berry lo cheyyadam kotta idea!! Take
my mobile madam, will not charge
you!!

6. Inspiring Teachers Page 6 of 6
Teacher Accountability cont’d from page 4
Though the government invests heavily on capacity building of the faculty for its schools,
nothing has changed from the dawn. Well, defining the problem is not the solution in itself.
What is needed is a complete remodeling of the recruitment structure with well defined
policies and norms that govern the weak accountability mindset of the department. A few
strategies that might ensure that individuals become more answerable to their professions
are introduction of PMS (performance management system), more responsible teacher
unions, demand driven services and an empowered community that does the quality check
of educational institutions on the departments’ behalf.
Performance Management
System
Let’s not believe that PMS
cannot be introduced in
government organizations. The
job becomes easier if the
objectives for the department
are clearly mentioned and
monitored. Just as profit is the
objective for a private firm,
service is the main objective for
the public schools.
The activities then stem from this objective at each level of hierarchy and monitored. PMS
can be introduced in a phased manner starting from senior and middle management, and
then the teachers and the administrative staff.
Services should be demand driven and monitored by the community for effective
functioning. It is human nature to shirk responsibility if no one is looking. The lack of
honest hierarchy and infrastructure compounds the problem further. School self
evaluation complemented with external review could be the best way to pin the school
leadership and the faculty for their actions and outcomes. This method debars the
interference of unions in the day to day administration of schools. Similarly if the teacher
unions are localized and made accountable for the progress and development of schools in
their own areas, our schools could feature as the best models of excellence in the continent.
Unless the learning institutions are trained for societal and organizational accountability
through a set of work guidelines it is difficult to improve the provision in our government
schools.
(Comments are invited on this important aspect of education from all our readers)
http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/guest-column/teacher-accountability-part-i/
See us at:
www.teachersacademy.co
www.theprofessor.in
Teacher’s Academy
Hyderabad
PHONE:
97011 41118
E-MAIL:
info@inspiring-teachers.com
Community Empowerment
National agenda requires local
actions and leadership. With
training and with the use of
simple monitoring instruments,
the local community will not
only ensure that the schools
excel, but also save state’s
expenditure on a defunct
monitoring system. When the
community is empowered to
take decisions on the efficacy of
provision, changing policies and
changing governments’
interruption on education
system in the states will be
reduced.