Teachers Community of Learning Bangalore South Block 3

Teachers Communities of Learning (TCOL)
The TCOL program attempts to demonstrate how technology can support the improvement of educational outcomes at a school level through a community of learning approach. The program attempts to build communities at multiple levels - within the school, across different subject teachers, and across the schools in the Bengaluru South 3 block.

This is the third phase of the program, working with government aided schools in Bengaluru South 3 block. The program attempts to expand and deepen the work done in the second phase TCOL from 2014-17 which had focused on government high schools.

Objectives of the program in Phase 3

 * 1) Support teachers to interact with one another, for peer learning and mentoring, within a 'community of learning '
 * 2) Support schools and teachers to learn and adopt ICTs in a variety of ways, for both their own development as well as for use in their teaching-learning processes
 * 3) Demonstrate a model of ICT integration in teaching-learning
 * 4) Identify possibilities for systemic reforms and policy
 * 5) Integrate the above into the curricular and pedagogical processes of the education system.

The project will have two strands of work:
 * 1) Teacher training workshops for a structured course around ICT integration for Mathematics and Kannada / English
 * 2) School-based intensive work to demonstrate and train in ICT integration in teaching-learning and administrative processes

Program strategies

 * 1) Working with identified, interested schools for demonstrating school level technology integration.  This will include the following:
 * 2) Working with identified subjects to demonstrate techno-pedagogies
 * 3) Supporting technology integration for school management and administration
 * 4) Digital literacy classes for the students in line with NCERT National ICT Curriculum, 2013
 * 5) Support the development and maintenance of ICT labs
 * 6) Communicate with parents using IVRS system
 * 7) Helping interested schools develop a web page for their communication
 * 8) Block level workshops for head masters, subject teachers. These workshops will be subject wise only, and will be conducted on an identified day each month. Teachers from the schools where ICT is being integrated for subject teaching will also present their work to support peer learning in these workshops
 * 9) Creating and uploading digital resources in Kannada and in English; resources will be uploaded on the Karnataka Open Educational Resources portal, for use by all teachers.

Block workshops calendar
The following is the proposed schedule for workshops during 2018-19. Detailed program objectives by subject are available in each of the following pages for Mathematics program, Languages program and Head Masters' program.

School level work
Being planned

Curricular areas

 * 1) Mathematics
 * 2) Kannada
 * 3) English
 * 4) School leadership (Head Masters)
 * 5) Social Science
 * 6) Science

Expected Outcomes
-
 * 1) Development of a cohort of teachers across aided schools in the South 3 block, who are familiar with technology mediation in teaching learning
 * 2) Improvement in the educational outcomes in the participating schools (both in block level and school level work)
 * 3) Demonstration of technology integration models in aided schools for teaching learning, teacher learning and school development
 * 4) Developing the institutional identity and presence of government aided school
 * 5) Emergence of a vibrant professional learning community of teachers engaged in continuous learning – across government schools and government aided schools

Program with Government High Schools in Phase 2 (Completed)
During the three academic years 2014-17, the program worked with the 16 Government High Schools of Bengaluru South 3 Block. The two components of the program were the block level community building workshops and the school level support for academic improvement.

Program focus areas
During the second phase of the TCOL program the program focused on the following :
 * 1) Introducing teachers to new pedagogies
 * 2) Introducing digital literacy for students
 * 3) Demonstrating new classroom processes
 * 4) Building a community of subject teachers and head masters
 * 5) Strengthening the institutional identity of government schools

Block level workshops
The block level work attempted to bring together the teachers and head teachers across all the South 3 schools through workshops and digitally enabled methods focusing on the following:
 * 1) Better teaching-learning practices
 * 2) Creating a relevant, safe learning space in the school for students
 * 3) Connecting with the community and focusing on better learning outcomes, adolescent issues and making the school a safe space for the children
 * 4) Creation of a model block, enabled by ICT integration in classroom and school processes
 * 5) Bringing together the block as a collective on issues of school development, curricular changes and sharing best practices

Block-level work in 2014-15
Workshops were conducted in Mathematics, Science, Social Science and Kannada. Teachers from the schools were also connected to the state/ district groups for sharing resources and ideas.

Block-level work in 2015-16
The year started with a head masters' workshop on May 18, 2015. During this workshop, the details of the programme last year were discussed and head masters also shared their ideas for work this year.

For this year, from July - November, the following workshops are planned and the details are below.

Workshops were planned and conducted for Kannada, Science and Mathematics. Head Masters also met periodically.

In addition the block-level Science events for students and teachers was held at GHS Jayanagara 9th Block.

Block-level work in 2016-17
The year started with a head masters' workshop in June 2016. During this workshop, the details of the programme last year were discussed and head masters also shared their ideas for work this year.

For this year, from July - November, the following workshops are planned and the details are below.

Workshops have been planned for Kannada, Science and Mathematics. Head Masters will also meet periodically.

In addition the following block level workshops/ events will also be planned.
 * 1) Workshop/orientation on adolescent issues
 * 2) Block-level events for students and teachers

School level work
School based work in conducted in GHS Agara, GHS Beguru, GHS Dommaluru, GHS Ejipura, GHS Jayanagara 9th Block, GHS Konappana Agrahara, GHS Tank Garden and GHS Yediyur. The focus of these school based activities included:
 * 1) Mathematics demonstration classes
 * 2) Kannada demonstration classes
 * 3) Digital literacy for students and teachers
 * 4) Community documentation through digital stories and local mapping
 * 5) Implementing IVRS system for communicating with parents
 * 6) Science fairs and exhibitions
 * 7) Language festivals
 * 8) Helping the schools make audio visual resources for reaching out to parents

Observed outcomes

 * 1) Teachers learning new methods – changing classroom processes
 * 2) Teachers creating resources
 * 3) Improved student engagement
 * 4) Schools, teachers, head masters saw themselves as a community
 * 5) Common problems
 * 6) Shared solutions
 * 7) Acknowledging good work
 * 8) ICT learning in schools became a realistic attainment
 * 9) Moving closer to constructivist classrooms

TCOL Phase 2 Video

Bengaluru South 3 Government High School Web pages
Bengaluru South 3 Government High School Web pages