Newsletter for trainers and teachers with articles and resources for learning and development

1. July-Sept 2014 Page 1 of 4 VOL. # 8 ISSUE #3
Inspiring Teachers
Human Excellence
Looking back and looking forward
This July marks 7 years of Teacher’s Academy. I started with
teachers but have also done some corporate workshops.
Thanks to my audiences, I have developed more than 40
modules and now have material for almost one month non-stop
program. I discovered this fact last month in IATC where I had
delivered a second ten day program in a gap of 4 months, with
some mixed participants (who had not attended the previous
program). I do most programs alone, but teamwork has also
been quite rewarding when I have other experts with me as in
DRDO workshops. I am grateful for the encouragement of my
friends and colleagues who kept me going when I felt like
giving up.
Well, it’s a new academic year. Some of you have joined new
schools/colleges while others are teaching new courses and
some others are in the same college/school teaching the same
subjects. But wait! You can still decide to teach the same
subject in a different manner this year!
This month I am sharing with you 16 templates I made for
lectures with some interaction, especially suitable for our
colleges. These can be found at
http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/category/teacher-tools/
teaching-strategies/
We have given these in NMREC and it seems to have helped
the faculty to start making their own lecture plans. Anyone
interested in similar initiatives can send e-mail to
inspiringteachers@gmail.com
Good news is that we have published two papers in Frontiers in
Education, an International IEEE Conference with a special
theme on innovations in Engineering Education.
So have a great academic year and read on this issue
--Uma Garimella
In this issue:
Editorial
Feature: 16 teaching strategies for Indian colleges……… 2
Can you find out your teaching style from your shopping… 3
Interesting Links …………….. …….. 4
Updates at the Academy
Completed programs
• 10-day faculty development program at Indo-American
Technical Campus, Anakapalle, May 18th to 28th 2014
• Intensive 3-day program on NBA and teaching for OBE
at NMREC, 19th-21st June 2014, Hyderabad
• CCE Training (with Sikshasri Educational Consultants) at
Karnataka Public School, Bidar and Sri Vidyanjali School,
Kukatpally, Hyderabad.
• Pre-retirement planning at DRDL, 10th -11th June 2014
• Guest faculty at Orientation Course at JNTU-Academic
Staff College
• Guest faculty for research based teaching methodologies
at JNTU-Academic Staff College
Forthcoming programs
• Fourth annual workshop at Sevalaya for teachers - on
formative assessment this year – July 2014
Contact us: inspiringteachers@gmail.com

2. July-Sept 2014 Page 2 of 4 VOL. #8 ISSUE #3
Teaching Strategies for the Indian College
Uma Garimella
The colleges of today have the following features
• A large number of students who cannot speak / read /
understand English fluently and who are shy
• A teacher population with some retired university professors and
a large number of very young faculty
• A tight schedule and non-residential campuses because of which
there is hardly any transaction outside classes
• University assessment which is predominantly memory based
• Traditional lecture based classes with students relying on
readymade material and rote learning
Due to this there is a huge gap between skills learnt in the college
and skills required in the workplace leading to unemployment (See
table). Fortunately, the new NBA (National Board of Accreditation)
requirements as well as the CCE (Continuous Comprehensive
Evaluation) initiated by CBSE and now adopted by many State
Boards, are trying to bring Higher Order Thinking Skills into the
curriculum. These HOTS cannot be developed in teacher centered
classes. It is mandatory to do student centered teaching with lots of
interaction for developing HOTS in students.
While the idea of creating active classrooms is quite interesting,
teachers find it difficult to make the transition. Training on pedagogic
principles is making them motivated to do something, but they are
unable to move from ‘somehow’ to ‘how’. They need guidance and
mentoring from their subject experts who also have modern
pedagogic knowledge.
Unfortunately, there are very few such experts available to the
faculty of colleges. The NBA defined 12 graduate attributes are
almost like Mt Everest for our students and teachers, whose existing
skills may be likened to ‘barely able to walk’ as compared to scaling
the Everest.
I have had opportunity to work with a couple of progressive colleges
– GMRIT and NMREC where a sincere effort is going on for
improving the teaching-learning process. I have integrated the
various kinds of inputs I gave in these colleges and elsewhere to
create some example teaching strategies or templates for lecture
plans, which can be used as the starting point by faculty.
These sixteen strategies are categorized as:
1. Enhanced Chalk and Talk (2 types)
2. Small Group Interactions
3. Video/Demo Discussion (3 types)
4. Jigsaw Reading
5. Inductive Teaching
6. Problem Solving class (3 types)
7. Review classes (3 types)
8. Learning from labs
9. Higher Order Thinking
Read more at http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/category/teacher-tools/
teaching-strategies/
#
Skills needed in
Workplace
Skills acquired in
College
1
Apply knowledge of any
domain to solve
complex contemporary
problems
Recall and
comprehension of
principles in these
areas. University exam
also measure this.
2
Analysis of problems
and design of solutions
across different
disciplines and including
ethical, environment
and legal issues
Solving text book and
topic based problems,
hardly any
interdisciplinary or
bigger problems
3
Analyze the resources
and information
available on the subject
and take decisions or
form judgments
Copy-paste of
information, rote
learning with hardly
any decision making.
Use of readymade Q&A
and not reading any
standard books due to
lack of English skills
4
Use modern tools and
equipment in the
domain of work
Focus on fundamentals
and basic tools and
techniques
5
Communicate
effectively with different
types of audience on the
subject. Write analytic
reports, manuals, design
documents. Read
manuals, give and
follow instructions.
Make social
conversations.
English and Technical
subjects are
compartmentalized.
Not much focus on
technical
communication in
classrooms. Students
continue to speak in
native language and
write incorrect English
in exams.
6
Ability to learn quickly
any new subject or skills
Dealing with the exam
instead of learning
7 Work with diverse,
multidisciplinary teams
sometimes across
cultures
Team work limited to
one or two projects in
their own discipline
and with no individual
accountability. No
exposure to diverse
cultures.
Table showing the difference between school/college
and workplace skills

3. July-Sept 2014 Page 3 of 4 VOL. # 8 ISSUE #3
Can you find your teaching style from the
way you do your shopping?
Just as there are different learning styles - VARK, Kolb’s (and
Social interaction based
(http://www.theprofessor.in/blog/teachers/understanding-the-
mind/ ), there are various types of teaching styles. One
of the classification is how the teacher manages the class -
Authoritarian (too rigid), Authoritative (expert but flexible),
Laissez-Faire (too lenient) and Indifferent. You can take a
survey here
http://www.pedagonet.com/quickies/yourstyle1.html
Another classification is the role a teacher plays - Authority,
Motivator, Delegator and Facilitator. You can take a survey
here http://longleaf.net/teachingstyle.html
These styles match in varying degrees to self-directed
learners, dependent learners, involved learners and
interested learners.
Here is a small 4- question analysis of what kind of teacher
you may be. Take it just as fun or to give you insight into
your personality.
Complete each sentence by choosing the phrase, which most
accurately describes you. Then look at the answers on the
next page.
1. When shopping at the supermarket I
a. shop strictly from a list
b. walk the aisles in order
c. walk the aisles in a non-organized fashion
d. end up on some aisles more than once
2. When working with a group to complete a task, I
typically
a. vanish into the background
b. take a leadership role
c. am forceful with my opinions
d. let others do the thinking
3. When under pressure to make a deadline, I would
describe myself as
a. cool and collected
b. under stress
c. indifferent
d. annoyed
4. My maximum attention span is:
a. 30 seconds
b. 10 minutes
c. 1 hour
d. 3 hours
Why is teaching style important?
The classroom is a space shared by the teacher and
students. It’s like a theatre where actors and
audience share the space. And actors need to connect
with their audience. But unlike theatre, teachers have
to also ensure learning outcomes are achieved and
they don’t just receive appreciation and applause.
If students share our personality characteristics, then
they are apt to learn effectively from us. If they do
not, then as teachers we might unintentionally
prevent their learning. Some of the important
personality characteristics which affect both students
and teachers are:
• degree of organization
• degree of control over others
• subjective sense of time (ability to focus on past,
present, or future, which affects how well one
plans ahead)
• ability to control one's focus (vulnerability to
distractions)
I have always been showing a beautiful video called
‘Teaching Teaching – Understanding Understanding’ in my
workshops in colleges. This is an award-winning DVD from
the University of Aarhus, Denmark, written and directed by
Claus Brabrand. (http://www.daimi.au.dk/~brabrand/short-film/)
John Biggs classified teachers as
Level 1: What the student is.
This is the horrible “blame the student” approach to
teaching. I’ll keep doing what I do. If the students can’t
learn then it is because they are bad students. It’s not my
fault. Nothing I can do.
Level 2: What the teacher does.
This is the horrible “look at me and all the neat, innovative
teaching that I’m doing”. I’m doing lots of good and difficult
things in my teaching. Are the students learning?
Level 3: What the student does.
Obviously this is the good level. The focus is on teaching
and leads to learning. Biggs (2001) uses a quote from Tyler
(1949) to illustrate that this is not a new idea
[learning] takes place through the active behavior of the
student: it is what he does that he learns, not what the
teacher does.
He then talks about constructive alignment which is nothing
but Outcome Based Teaching.

4. June 2013 Page 4 of 4 VOL. #7 ISSUE #6
Personality Function Answers to four questions
a. you read from your notes or need a written outline from which to lecture, regardless of the audience.
b. you prefer following your lecture notes in the order in which you wrote them, regardless of what is happening
among the students.
c. tend to digress during your lectures or get lost as to where you are in your notes.
d. you can repeat yourself or that you need to return to a previous topic so as to emphasize a point.
a. you are not likely to encourage class discussion and prefer a formal lecture.
b. You enjoy taking charge of a discussion, injecting comments and ideas, but fail to see the responses of the class.
c. your students are relatively quiet, with only a few openly challenging your ideas, or that you don't convey interest
in their ideas.
d. you become passive in guiding discussion or find yourself easily swayed by your students.
a. You probably return papers and exams promptly.
b. You probably dread grading papers or exams.
c. You take longer than students expect to correct exams or you fail to notice the approaching deadline.
d. You may show irritation to students about returning assignments and exam papers.
a. You are vulnerable to distraction, regardless of your interest in something. This may affect how effectively you use
your time to prepare lectures, to grade, to understand a question.
b. You might still be vulnerable to distraction, which will affect how effectively you use your time to prepare lectures,
to grade, and to understand questions.
c. You might have a tenacious ability to remain focused on whatever you are doing.
d. You might have a tenacious ability to remain focused on whatever you are doing.
Interesting Links
Self Development and Inspiration
http://www.inspiringthots.net/ http://myhero.com/go/directory/ http://www.paulstips.com/
http://www.motivateus.com/stories/index.htm http://academictips.org/blogs/ http://www.simpletruths.com/
http://www.asamanthinketh.net/ http://www.theamericanmonk.com/ http://www.silvamethod.com/
http://www.susanjeffers.com/home/index.cfm http://innersource.net/em/ http://www.louisehay.com/
Some videos on rubrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMn-5Ito4D8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOy60WLYyGk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P937Eym7bpI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WRH6kD55CQ
Teaching
A beautiful set of ten lectures on teaching science and engineering in college
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry/5-95j-teaching-college-level-science-and-engineering-spring-2009/video-discussions/
Some videos on Indian school class rooms are here if you search for TESS India
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tess+india+
This is a 40 min video about a teacher who taught his class values and ethics. Useful to replicate in our schools (for CCE) and also
useful for training the teachers. Do forward to others who may be interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tLB1lU-H0M