TIIE - Program Report

4. Program Design & Methodology – APD (include whatever is already there in program design document; include baseline report link)

      planned processes – reaching out to teachers, teacher educators, officials, CRP workshops, BIERT interactions

      modules link - TBD

5. Implementation – GMP, NB, RB

Introduction

Inclusive education allows students with different needs and skills to attend conventional schools and get equal learning opportunities tailored to meet their needs. It is founded on the idea that all learners, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds, gender, physical or mental abilities, or range of skills, should study together. It recognizes that all children have the capacity to learn, takes into account the different learning styles of children, creates a conducive environment for learning, and develops appropriate instructional strategies and tools. Rather than being diagnostic in its approach, this module seeks to identify the most effective strategies for English language teaching in a structured manner to provide ample opportunities for practice in an accommodating environment.

Context of students

Baseline

The design of the module was influenced by a baseline study conducted to understand students’ language proficiency levels. The baseline engaged approximately 175 students from five schools. After the analysis of the students baseline study these were the findings observed;

• In the reading skills since it was in English, 26% of students can only recognize the letters and 21% can only read simple words, and only 13% of students on average were able to fluently read a short story.
• On average, only 38.8% of students were able to understand phrases in English and correctly identify the object in a given picture.

Module design

This module is designed to be learner-centric and uses storytelling as a pedagogical tool to develop listening, speaking and reading skills in English. Children enjoy listening to stories and are familiar with narrative conventions. Stories provide an ideal introduction to a second or third language as they present language in a repetitive and memorable context. Stories can also provide the starting point or act as a springboard for a wide variety of related language and learning activities, and offer an ideal resource for meeting diverse learning needs. They can help children understand the overall meaning of a story with the help of illustrations (which provide clues about the meaning) and facilitator support.

The intention is to not merely read the stories by themselves and check for reading comprehension, but to enable an immersive language experience. Customized digital resources have been developed based on select stories in order to facilitate interaction in English. Stories from Pratham books’ Storyweaver have been used and some have been repurposed to create audio-visual resources in local languages using FOSS tools like Xerte, Audacity and Kdenlive to help apply a multilingual approach to teaching. Some of the activities included in this module are based on KITE’s E-Language Lab software (an initiative by the Kerala Education Department). They include themes such as empathy, teamwork, managing emotions, and other interpersonal skills. The digital audio-visual resources contain level-appropriate listening and reading components, as well as assessments based on comprehension, vocabulary and grammar which can be used by learners individually or in groups, so that children can then respond according to their own language proficiency level and cognitive ability.

Unit-1

Unit-1

Unit-2

how sessions were organized

Maths - GMP

 

how planned activities happened -

Cluster meetings- NB

NIMHANS - GMP

CRP workshops - RB

BIERT - GMP

Teacher's workshop (DL)) - RB

Resource centre setup- RB

Event based camps- GMP - NB

7. Reflections on the program

1. Students (feedback) –

AS, MI - quant of coded part to derive categories, themes; NB – summary

feedback from event based (forms, videos) - TBD

2. Teachers (feedback)

5 schools teachers(AY), teachers met through cluster meetings (NB, AS), event based camps (GMP)

3. HMs

HMs not being able to give time and other workload. Challenges in each school.

School info written by AY

8. Analysis (our perspective)

      analysis of the findings, what could be the reasons, implications, etc.

      case studies – hyperlink externally (RS to review and edit)

      school

   • students

Need for socio-emotional support to students. Working on mental health and wellbeing. Giving them a space to share, empower them, help them deal with it and cope.

   • teachers

   • parents perspectives, challenges, awareness,

      administrative support

   • infra

   • staff, vacancies

   academic support

   • BIERT

   • CRP

   • block resource centre – IE resources wasn’t already existing

   • inclusive edu resource center

   medical/health support

   • NIMHANS

   9. Recommendations

   • School & Teachers

   • School system

       ◦ Academic

       ◦ Administrative

       ◦ Policy