In April, team Aripana, along with the teachers of Bansidas Kanya Madhya Vidyalay, Laheria Sarai, Darbhanga, had embarked upon the setting up of a library in the school premises. A collection of books had been thoughtfully curated, a room that would become a library was identified and the teachers, the community, the children had begun engaging with the idea of co creating a vibrant library!
It was around then that the country was gripped by the second wave of Covid and schools were declared shut once more. Team Aripana along with teachers of Bansidas Vidyalay decided to explore avenues through which to stay connected with children. With support from the head teacher Shri Gautam Chaudhary and teacher, Smt. Nutan ji, we were able to commence Science classes, online!
This novel experience was not without its challenges! The willingness of students and teachers to explore the online medium to the fullest ensured a steady rhythm to the classes within a couple of weeks! Students were demonstrating cooperative online behaviors such as joining ten minutes before class, muting themselves during class, speaking only when required, sending pictures of their homework on the Whatsapp groups specially created for this purpose. The sessions ensured sufficient interaction between teachers and students as well as between students., using images, videos, stories, quiz etc. to support learning.
Not without its hiccups, this continues to be an experience immensely rich in learning for all involved! Here we share some tips on making online classes successful. These tips are more useful for teachers who are at least a little familiar and have used online tools before, but they can be mastered by anyone who is willing and keen. Thank you Anuradha C for writing this article for Teacher Plus February issue. We have translated it into Hindi for the benefit of schools and teachers we collaborate with.
This educative experience has helped us explore what is possible online, while much more needs to be done. We have figured how to do some things, while some things still need our time and practice. We look forward to sharing our reflections here, on this blog, as well as in our subsequent newsletters.
