TIIE-EL-Qualitative findings

Teacher Reflections- TIIE Sessions

Manjula – GHPS Byrasandra

Subjects Taught- 4th,5th,7th- English, Science- 6^th, 7^th

Manjula is an active and energetic teacher who gave constatnt support throughout the program and she had observed very few sessions. According to her, the general participation of the students in the class (6^th and 7^th) participate actively in hands on activities but do not attend to do homework, Children share their ideas openly with teachers without any hesitation. Especially those children who were reserved have started sharing their thoughts and ideas with teachers, and participates actively in the class. Initially they used to be negligent and used to exhibit the attitude that others are anyhow answering and why should I answer and would participate for the sake of doing. Now, each child feels and understands that his/her thoughts and ideas are valued and considered and hence they share their opinion frankly.

Teacher said that, she had observed few classes on storytelling sessions(Language lab) done using projector, It has impacted on children ability to use and work on Computer independently without any fear due to the individual attention that was given during the sessions. They feel that all of your classes will be very good. They never want to miss your class in any case. Children also Share that “you people talk to them with love, teach well. Its not just other children if you take Eshwar, Amrita and Pavitra they will also be very comfortable with you. They do talk to me without any inhibitions because I also talk to them with love. Even if they don’t do homework I know that they can’t because they don’t have that ability that’s why I don’t punish them. Even those children enjoy being in your class because you treat them with so much care and love. They would always wait to attend your classes. They don’t mind if they miss our class but they don’t want to miss your classes”.

Children accept and embrace your sessions unlike sessions over the years where they were not so happy and complain about it. Your sessions would have impacted positively on children as the activities and games that were taught about numbers have brought in confidence among children that they also can perform better. “In the pressure to complete the syllabus we can’t have all the classes like you do but your classes with activities will have a different impact on these children as a result we are able to see changes among them. If I were to take an example of a child Mounesh he was just talking before but now with greater confidence he talks about various things. Sanjay and Vijay was clever before also now, they have mastered computer skills to a greater extent”.

We are able to see changes in the behaviour of the children who used to be very rough before. “Children like sandeep and shailesh used to talk so rude even with us, now they still do funny and crazy things, but they have come to a point to apologize for the mistake done”. Children would have missed computer sessions and the games that were taught if there were no sessions to them. The sessions also led us complete all the assigned pending administrative tasks. The activities planned for Self-evaluation after story telling was very good because children would make an effort to try to give answer even the language was not known to them. I personally have learnt to download videos, MP3 etc., “we never regret for the classes that we spared because you have helped the children so much by giving them individual attention and have taken children with Learning difficulties for further diagnosis which no NGO will do, and our children love and miss your classes so much. I knew ItfC from long time, if they are coming for class they never just come and go they will put effort to aid learning, and we are happy with your sessions”. Since I was on long leave and was also assigned pending administrative works during your classes due to lack of sufficient teachers and clerk at school I was not able to participate in your class.

The teacher suggested including teacher during the activities and also let them know what has been done,why its done, perhaps she requested to do a small discussion with the teacher on what has been done after the class as it will help us and the teacher as well in focusing on children with difficulties. “Our children need the learning that has been given even for the upcoming years because the plans that you have for teaching children are so good as you give so much individual attention to children and you work with single child sitting on stairs using mobile and its helping children very much. Even the computer sessions have benefited children much.”

Cleaning and maintenance staff along with few infrastructures are the existing challenges of School.

According to the teacher, same classes has to be extended for 4^th and 5^th children as its being very effective it can have better impact on these children too.

Lakshmi(HM) - GHPS Byrasandra

Lakshmi is a Headmaster, even though she was not able to attend any of our sessions she would regularly interact with us for the successful implementation of the program. According to HM, children participation has improved when compared to initial days after covid, they are progressing in reading and writing but classroom behaviour needs to be improved as they have come after 2 years of gap to school, even though they are improving they still need some time to cope up with the change.

Children happily come to the classes by IT for Change and Computer classes. They will be eagerly waiting for your sessions.

The sessions have impacted on children in helping them develop and upgrade their computer skills.

The reason for not being in the sessions was due to administrative work pressure.

The focus of the session in the upcoming years should be on language and enabling children to speak fluently in English Along with basic Maths and computer training that has been already included. It should also focus on helping teachers and children for accessing classroom resources.

HM was positive about our sessions. She was ready to learn things from us, looking for continuation of the prog for the upcoming year also.

Ambika- GHPS Bilekhalli

Subjects Taught- Computer

Teacher used to always present in computer room where we used to conduct session, and she would observe all our sessions. According to her, Children participation is good during the Academic year. Children were interested to learn about computer since from the beginning, after Covid I was not able to take classes regularly to them now they are happy that they are learning about computer. “Children used to ask me to call you people to check whether you were coming” The sessions have helped the children in developing interest towards learning. The activities used in computer like stories, games, problems have increased children interest. Particularly the sessions have had a great impact on their language because of the stories that were used with children. The teacher has also attempted to introduce this to other children from grade 5 and 6 as she had a good response from 7^th std children.

When asked about the session, children said that “we like the sessions because it is different from how the teachers have taught, A teacher in a class can definitely teach orally but you people used to demonstrate and do it hand on like a science lesson. Children used to like these sessions much and I have heard children sharing about this with each other,. Moreover, children have also shared with me about the sessions saying that they liked, and they did this”. Since children got an opportunity to use and work with various devices, earphones, speakers even though it’s a govt. School and learn something new in every session they were very happy. They were so happy about it that even if the facilitator is absent they would come and work on the system and do all those that was taught to them. Making children do the craft activity and Maths activities helped them develop interest and utilize that to the fullest potential.

“The sessions have impacted on children, If we take the example of Harish, Anitha, Mahalakshmi, Nagraj and few other children would sit seperate when I asked them to work on computer. Now, they come forward to work and participate actively in the class and showed interest in Maths. They also showed greater interest when the language activity was done. Whether or not the answer is correct, they would get up and answer confidently in English Language activity. They became active”. These children would become proactive while learning and would learn with greater interest. The sessions have had impact on dull students. We need such sessions even in future as these sessions have really helped and impacted on these children. Children learning to use the approaches that was shared had developed interest among them.

The teacher said that “I like your approach for teaching, the interactions had with children, love and care that were given to the children. Sometimes they were not keeping quiet even while during our class but your sessions were their favorite sessions. The facilitator used to make children understand better through her teaching, and they would demonstrate interest throughout the session and would await for your sessions”.

The teacher was not able to attend all class as she was on leave for some days and splitting the class into 2 groups.

She was very happy about the sessions as they had a very good impact on the children and enable children to develop more interest. Requested us to continue taking classes even for the upcoming year.

Revathi P- GHPS Bilekhalli

Subjects Taught- 6th Maths, Kannada and Social

7th- maths, science, social

Initially the teacher used to participate in our sessions. According to her Children participation during the academic year is very good. Children who were not participating in the initial days have begun to be active and participating in the later days. The problems faced during the academic year were

- All the children experienced learning loss due to covid

- Health problems – children used to be absent to classes due to health issues

- lack of content knowledge

- problem with Kannada reading, writing

- lack of listening skills

- lack of time

- infrastructure problem

“I like each and every activity that was done,. The encouragement that you gave for children learning helped to improve the quality of learning. Children have shared many times about your sessions, and they like the days when they have your sessions. For example, when children were asked to draw about the story that they heard, all children shared about that”.

Your classes have impacted on the children because the encouragement that was given to children and dedication in conducting the activities was same from beginning to end. What I like most about your session is that, through your activities you have made sure that if we measure the quality of learning in the schools that you are working with our school is not less than any other. You have handled the sessions sensitively without discriminating any teacher in the class.You have taught about various activities and computer skills happily to our children”.

“I felt that you have completely optimized the time in our school.It would be good if you had taken classes for 6^th standard as well as it would help them in attaining more clarity when they come to 6^th standard. I know that its our mistake that we are the ones who told you take 7^th std when you opted 6^th in the beginning. Heartful thanks to the team for coming to our school and teaching games, lesson and activities using technology”.

Suma – GHPS Ejipura

Subjects taught- 7^th class teacher, Science- 5^th, 6^th

The teacher have observed very few sessions and she was of the opinion that participation of the children in the initial days after covid was not good but now, they participate actively in doing experiments and they have interest in learning.

Children have independently come and shared about Math activities and language games that were did in the class.

“The session would have had helped children attain incremental improvement like it might have helped children who were writing letters to write words, and words to sentences or if you take math it might have helped them solve addition and subtraction”.The sessions have had impact on general participation of the children. One student Pratap who had joined this year had fear and was not participating, now he has begun to show interest and eagerness to do science activities and experiments.

“Since your sessions had pairing and group activities, leadership qualities will be developed among children,and they show eagerness to complete the given tasks. Even we use these strategies but, there was individual attention given to each child, hence it was good. If you take an example of tan gram activity it was helpful for individual child in developing its creativity and other child was showing another way of arranging it”.

The teacher was not able to attend the sessions as she would be engaged in other class during the session. She requested for worksheets after the activity has been completed to help children to aid in self learning and retain whatever has been learn t. She was also of the opinion that there will be no continuity for children as we go to take sessions only once a week.

You have helped us in addressing multilingual problems, and also working on basic Maths which are the existing problems of the School.

Helen- GHPS Ejipura

Subjects taught- Eng, Hindi - 5^th and 6^th

She had observed 2-3 sessions. According to her, During the initial days of Covid, many students had lost track, now, Children language proficiency in English has improved so much that with little prompt children they can complete the activities on their own. Their reading skills have improved a lot because of the strategies that she try with children. According to her, children should improve with Hindi reading and writing.

“The sessions have benefited a lot to the students, since you are emphasizing on Maths basics and addition which is very important for further understanding. You are also teaching about basics of computer which helps children to develop confidence.”

She could not observe the sessions as she had many things to attend like TC issue, exams, etc,

She insisted taking sessions for other subjects like Kannada, English, Science, Social.

She showed positive response towards the sessions. As the sessions not only educated students but also educated teachers with digital skills which is very helpful to carry on day to day administrative tasks. She also requested to work with teachers in the upcoming year.