KUETEF

48. Dharana and Dhyana for 2012

2011-12-30T18:15:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English TeacherEducator’s Forum - KUETEF]

{The viewership of this Blog crossed 2000 in December 2011}

NEW YEAR is awonderful Day

‘2 Pray’ ‘2 Love’

‘2 Care’ ‘2 Smile’

‘2 Relax & 2 thank GOD’

HAPPY NEW YEAR

A beautiful year iswaiting 4 you

Walk vth Aims

Run vth Confidence

Happy New Year 2012

...I wish u and urfamily the very best of health, happiness and prosperity in the coming years...

Three New Year Wishes for the KUETEF fraternity...

Well..., Ireceived those messages by SMS while spending a couple of days in this beautiful place in Sasthamkotah, Kollam...

I wondered.... what kind of life style is worthpursuing.... Around that time I was alsopreparing for a talk on yogic practices in pedagogy and came across ‘Dharana and Dhyana’:

Itis said that ‘Dharana and Dhyana’ helps focus our mind on ideals and pursue ourgoals in a spirit of ‘Nishkama Karma’(selfless action) and ‘Karmasu Kaushalam’(skilful actions). Development of clarity of thought appears when we are a‘Stita Prajna’ (person of mentalbalance) and have ‘Sama Bhavd’ (equal reaction to opposites).

Shall we strive to live up to these ideals...

Let 2012 be that year of change...

With warm regards

Secretary, KUETEF

47. Is a study of Linguistics relevant?

2011-12-10T00:28:00.001-08:00

[Kerala University English TeacherEducator’s Forum - KUETEF]

If you scan the list of topics mentioned under Paper V and Paper IX, you will not findany mention of the teaching of Linguistics.

Now,ask yourself ... will a sound knowledge of Syntax, Semantics, Sociolinguistics and DiscourseAnalysis yield a linguistically aware individual better equipped to teach English ? Would our trainees be capable of making any connection with the academic subject of study at Universitycalled ‘Linguistics’ and the school curriculum subject called ‘English’?

As part of course work on Sociolinguistics for the MA TEFL programme, participants are usually taught about language variation. Edwards and Owen (2005) conducted a study with the trainee teachers who enrolledfor one such course and sought to find out whether the trainee teachersconsidered that their instruction in languagevariation had ‘usefully impinged on their professional practice’. Edwards and Owen also surveyed the course participants on a large number of issues. On the issue ofwhether students were able to makeconnections between the content taught and pedagogical considerations, it was found that while some were able to articulatehow particular aspects of the topic of language variation illuminated their English teaching, a few trainee teachers had no idea about what to do with the content informationthey learned.

Edwards, C. & C. Owen. 2005. ‘Theimpact on teachers of language variation as a course component’. In N. Bartels(ed.) Applied Linguistics and Language Teacher Education (pp.43–58). NewYork: Springer.

Well friends, what is your opinion in this regard?

Dr. C. Praveen

Secretary, KUETEF

46. Teaching Reported speech in a Constructivist Class room

2011-12-10T00:25:00.001-08:00

[Kerala University English TeacherEducator’s Forum - KUETEF]

A question asked for the First Semester Examination, April 2011 ( Q # 12 Paper V :Principles of Pedagogic Analysis:English) was rarely attempted by students.

A specimen answer is given below. I hope you will find it useful.

Q. How will you teach ‘reported speech’through Constructivist Approach ?

Ans. While teaching, the teacher followsthe following six phases :Situation,Grouping, Bridging, Question, Exhibit and Reflection.

Situation

The teacher writes the following sentences on the Blackboard:

A. Rajusaid “I am going to my house”.

B. She says her brother met with an accident.

C. Fathersaid “I have finished the work”

D. Raju said that he was going to his house.

E. Shesaid, “My sister left for Delhi”.

F. Fathersaid that he had finished the work.

Grouping

The teacher directs thestudents to group the six sentences

Pupils accordinglygroup sentences A,C and E in one group and the rest in another group.

Bridging

The teacher nowattempts to bridge the new knowledge thestudents have to learn with the knowledgethey already have. The teacher asks the students: “Why did you classify thethree sentences under one category”?

S: They are similar inpattern

T: Is there anysimilarity between sentence A and C?

S : In those sentencesthe people directly says it.

T: What about the rest?

S: They are reported bysomeone else.

Now, the teacherexplains that sentences are of two types: direct and indirect speech

Questions

The teacher presents some morequestions and asks the students to use the indirect form.

Exhibition

Students write theanswers and presents them in the class.

Reflection

Here the teacher andthe students work collaboratively and discuss about Direct and Indirect speech.Then, the teacher presents some rules governing change in reporting:

Simple present changesto Simple past

Present continuouschanges into past continuous

Will/shall changes intowould and should etc.

The session ends with the teacher giving an assignment to enable thestudents to master the change from direct to indirect speech.

Dr. C. Praveen

Secretary, KUETEF

45. Platitudinous praise in place of paranoia

2011-12-05T07:50:00.001-08:00

[Kerala University English TeacherEducator’s Forum - KUETEF]

The current BEd Practical Examination Sep-Oct2011, conducted by the University ofKerala is likely to go down in history as the one which has caused theleast anxiety for Internal Examiners.

Thanks to the decision taken by the‘Board 2010-11’, the ExternalExaminers have been directed to award marks based entirely on the observation of classes and verification of Practical Records submittedby the candidate. This is similar to the system followed in the University of Calicut. There, the Chairman ofthe Practical Board would hand over the Internal Marks awarded by a college to a member of the Practical Board,only after the examiner conducts an objective assessment based on classobservation and verification of Practical Records.

One obvious outcome of the decision by the newBoard is that it has put an end to the practice in some colleges where ExternalExaminers used to be invited to offer comments regarding performance of the trainees.

What is your opinion in this regard?

Personally I would say that inviting commentsfrom the External Examiner is good if it is taken in the right spirit. It isalso important that the External Examiner should have sufficient experience anda mature frame of mind. But during the Practical Examination 2009-10, an unfortunate incident was reported from areputed college:

An External Examiner, after the Practical Examination, was asked tocomment on the performance of the trainees. The inexperienced Examiner, flashingthe Lesson Plan written by an average trainee, screamed that not a single trainee taught by the Internal Examiner knows how to write a Lesson Plan! When thetrainees of the college learned about this ‘irrational behaviour’, it led to a protest. The trainees demanded the immediateremoval of the Examiner from the Board. Only after it was confirmed thatthe External Examiner had a history of psychosis, did the trainees drop their demand!

As an External Examiner during 2009-10, Itoo was placed in a ‘nasty’situation when asked to comment on theperformance of the trainees of the college after the Practical Examination. Ishall narrate the incident briefly:

Last year, I was the member of Board of External Examiners in an unaidedcollege. When the marks awarded by the college was handed over to me, theChairman of my Board insisted that she should be intimated when the trainee who has been awarded the highestmarks for English, engages class for the Practical Examination.So when the trainee commenced teaching, both the Chairman and myself, observed the class meticulously to verify thatthe trainee deserves the marks awarded by the Internal Examiner, which was aboveeighty percent. But when the class wasover, like my Chairman, I too felt that the trainee in no way deserves a distinction. But giving the Internal Examiner the benefit ofdoubt, during the face to faceinterview, I thoroughly scrutinized theRecords submitted by the trainee. I was shocked to find that the InternalExaminer had entered in the Diary of the candidate : “Communication skill need to be improved”. This made sense for my poor rating and so I pointed it out to Chairman. Asthis was a serious flaw, the Chairman demanded that I bring it to the noticeof the Internal Examiner. But, believe it or not, the Internal Examiner was all sound and fury and attempted to justify the marks awarded! Now, suchparanoiac defence is understandable because Internal Examiners in unaidedcolleges are usually under tremendous pressure from the management to boost themarks of the students to ensure that all of them pass with high marks. A high passpercentage is essential for such colleges as they are now experiencing a huge fall in the number of students who joinfor the BEd course.

So two cheers for the decision of the ‘Board’!!

Another outcome of the decision is that, this year in many colleges, afterthe Practical Examination, themanagement and the staff of colleges, showered platitudinous praise on the ExternalExaminer for visiting the college. The ‘praise’ obviously was tongue in cheek, for they knew for certain that however hard the External Examiner tries, the result of the college would never be affected.Thanks to the new assessment practice which has given the freedom to InternalExaminers to award marks between 85 and 95 percent for all the students ofthe college.

And so, today we have platitudinous praise inplace of paranoia!!

Anycomments??

Dr. C. Praveen

Secretary,KUETEF

44. Some Dull Questions

2011-11-26T06:26:00.001-08:00

[Kerala University EnglishTeacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello everyone,

How did your trainees find Paper IX andX...?

Well Paper X , I gathered was quite easy. Did you notice afailure to provide proper weightage to all the units in the syllabus of ModernInstructional Strategies -Paper IX? Forinstance, the 16 Mark questions ( No. 2 & No. 3) appears to have the sameanswer:

Q. # 2. Is Constructivist approachfeasible to our students? What are therelative significance over the traditional approaches to teaching of English?

Q.# 3. What are the recent trends in theteaching of second language in our high school? Justify the merits withreference to our high school syllabus.

And did you notice that the 6 mark question (No. 13) does not fit into any Unitin the prescribed syllabus...

Q. # 13 Sketch the various techniques tointroduce ‘Semantic Structure’ of the language.

Most trainees whom I met were notparticularly happy with the questions asked in Paper IX.

What about your students?

Do share your views regarding the questions.

Dr. C. Praveen

Secretary, KUETEF

43. Another Practical Examination

2011-09-18T01:21:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University EnglishTeacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Inan article on Pre-service professional development,Reynolds and Conroy wrote:

“The“Ivory Tower” concept is prevalent in society and higher education is regularlycriticized for bloated beliefs involving an egotistical sense of superiorityand a matching lack of familiarity with practical, real-life issues. Likewiseteacher education courses are habitually criticized for being inauthenticand/or failing to address the real issues that future teachers willencounter...”

Thecontext obviously is American....but don’t you think it is relevant for our teacher educationprogrammes too?

Well...another Practical Examination starts tomorrow. What should be our expectations? What willwe be actually looking for ? Its going to be a tough task... For the first time in KeralaUniversity, we will not be given the marks awarded for Internal Assessment. Wewill be expected to evaluate the trainee based on class room teaching which we will beobserving for say, 15 to 20 minutes followed by a face to face meeting in whichwe ensure the trainee knows what isexpected to be known and then assess andevaluate the work done by the trainee.

Pleaseshare your experience as an examiner in the comments section of this blog or email your views to cpteach@rediffmail.com

Withwarm regards

Dr.C Praveen

Secretary,KUETEF

42. A Lesson Plan based on Interactive Model

2011-09-18T01:20:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’sForum - KUETEF]

This is a specimen Lesson Plan received by eMail tobe published in the KUETEF blog by one of its members, Ms. Bindhu TS, AssistantProfessor, Fathima Memorial Training College, Kollam. She can be contacted byemail at ts.bindhu@gmail.com

Std:

Str:

Period:

Date:

Lesson Plan based on Interactive Model

Name of the teacher : Ms. Bindhu.T.S

Name of the School :

Topic : A Fable for Tomorrow (Prose)

Curricular Objectives

· To enable the pupils to developeco-friendly attitude for sustainable development

· To think critically and take one’s ownstand regarding issue related to development and indiscriminate use ofpesticides.

· To enable the pupils develop variousdiscourses in language

· To read and analyze texts and identifythe theme.

Syntax	Class room process
Phase I Engager	A puzzle is provided to the students related to the name of ‘Kollam town’. Various visuals on the past and present condition of the town are displayed. Students are asked to go through the visuals and a discussion is initiated
Phase II Frame	The Major things listed out by the students in the visuals and discussion are analysed. “Development, Multi-storeyed buildings, Road widening, Cutting of trees”
Phase III Activity	Students are initiated to discuss about the negative impacts of the development process.
Phase IV Debrief	Teacher links the lesson ‘ A Fable for Tomorrow’ with their discussion; the 3^rd , 4^th, 5^th and 6^th paragraphs are read aloud and students are asked to discover the key aspects of the portion dealt.
Phase V Metaphor	The scope of students understanding is broadened by asking them to do the following task: Related to the ban of Endosulfan, a display of photographs with adequate captions are invited from the students of standard IX. Photographs are supplied to the group and are instructed to prepare captions.

Assignment :Prepare a write up on the ‘Beautification of Kollam town’

DESCRIPTION OF THE MODEL

The components of theModel consist of;

SYNTAX

Syntax ofthe model comprises the following:

Phases

The phasesare

· Engager

The purpose of thestage is to help students mentally leave behind potential outside distractionsand bring their attention fully into the classroom.

· Frame

Thisphase provides students with an answer to the question why they are going tospend time on this topic. If possiblehow might the information be useful to them in their personal life?

· Activity

This involves the students’physically, mentally, socially or emotionally making them feel or experiencethe importance of engaging in the topic/experience.

· Debrief

This is the teaching component of thesession, where the teacher links the lesson with the experience in which thestudents have just participated, based on the presentation of the lesson theteacher can allow students to discover the key aspects of the lesson forthemselves.

· Metaphor

In closing the lesson, the scope ofstudent’s understanding can be broadened by making the students apply theirunderstanding to a wider perspective; real life experience.

* SOCIAL SYSTEM

Social system ismoderately structured as the teacher and students share equal responsibility.

* PRINCIPLES OF REACTION

§ Theteacher tries to bring about an improvement in the social efficiency of thestudents.

*SUPPORT SYSTEM

§ Supportsystem consists of visuals based on the topic using LCD projector, newspapercuttings and activity cards.

* INSTRUCTIONAL AND NURTURANT EFFECTS

The model has the following instructional andnurturant effects.

· Instructional effects

* Sensitization of social issues

* Meaningful assimilation of information

· Nurturant effects

* Develops spirit of creativity

* Develops habit of critical thinking

41. Onam Greetings

2011-09-08T02:23:00.000-07:00

[Kerala UniversityEnglish Teacher Educator’s Forum ( KUETEF)]

Wishing all the KUETEF fraternity

A Very HappyOnam

Dr. C. Praveen

Secretary,KUETEF

40. Some Teacher’s Day Thoughts

2011-09-08T02:14:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English TeacherEducator’s Forum ( KUETEF)]

The following are quotes on teaching and teachers bySwami Vivekananda:

The first test of true teaching must be, that the teaching should not contradict reason.(II :390)

All teaching implies giving and taking. (IV: 178)

He alone teaches who has something to give, for teaching is not talking, teaching is notimparting doctrines, it is communicating. (IV: 177-78)

Until the inner teacher opens, all outside teachingis in vain. (VII : 71)

[Source : TheComplete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Advita Ashrama]

In aninterview Laxman Gnawali of Nepal wasasked the question: “Are teachers in your country generally members ofteachers’ associations?”

This was the answergiven: “Yes, almost every teacher is a member of a teacher association butthese associations are trade unions. These associations use their energy inputting pressure on the government for non academic issues. They hardly do anyprofessional activity.”

[Source : http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/laxmangnawali/laxman-gnawali-interview]

Are things different in India or in God’s Own Country, Kerala?

I have a nastyexperience to narrate: The Head of a leading Teacher Training College in our State, recently stated : At the Post Graduate Level, (MEd) any one (meaningeven a teacher with a background in Psychology) can teach the paper, Advance Methodology of Teaching English andeven assess and evaluate Seminars and Assignmentsin the Paper!

What is pathetic aboutthe whole issue is that the ‘Head’ inquestion is a teacher of English! It appears that the Head’s sole objective wasto grab a Professor’s post in the offing should a MEd department be set up in the college in which the ‘Head’teaches…

It is not surprising tonote that this finds a parallel in Teachers’ Associations in Nepal. The Teacher Educators Association which the ‘Head’ is an active member, pretends to be ignorant neither of the stancetaken by the ‘Head’ nor of the uproar it has created in Teacher TrainingColleges across the State which attempted to emulate the stance taken by the ‘erringHead’ in question.

Let us vow to keep ourForum clean of individuals with selfish interests.

Let us pray that the minds of such ‘opportunists’ open upthrough teachings similar to Swami’s quoted above...

A very warmTeacher’s Day greetings to all KUETEF members…

Dr. C. Praveen

Secretary,KUETEF

39. Extract From the Circular on Practicums

2011-06-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum-KUETEF]

During the IX Meeting of KUETEF, Fr. Joseph J provided copies of the Circular on Practicums to the members present. The following is an extract from the Circular.

[See Order No Ac.A.III/2/936/2008 dated 25.11.2008 issued by the Registrar, University of Kerala]

•Practicum is to be organized as an unique individualized, supervised experience that explores comprehensive written assignments, on-the-job practice, and innovative performance evaluation, so as to measure how a student has applied his/her talent, efforts and other resources towards achieving better professional performance.

•Practicum is to be conceived as a specialized essential experience designed to give students supervised practical application of the theoretical orientation to real instructional/allied situations where the supervisor will provide guidance to improve different aspects of practice and addressing varied student concerns in actual situations.

The following criteria should be kept in view while developing different components of the Practicum:

•Content-based
•Problem Oriented
•Inquiry Supported
•Socially Relevant
•Empirically Supported
•Personally Meaningful
•Based on established theory
•Professionally focused

It is necessary that special training be given to the would-be teachers in problem-solving following the scientific method.

Group/ individualized discussion work should be taken up by the mentor or a specialist as the problem demands.

Trainees should be given guidance in the following:

•Defining a problem and formulation of a hypothesis relating to the problem
•Collection of data for verification of the hypothesis, generalization, following confirmation/rejection of the hypothesis etc.

The practicums can be of the following type:

1.Based on analytical studies
2.Institutional case studies
3.Simple Action Research
4.Simple teaching models
5.Review of information such as textbooks/articles/websites
6.Design and application of simple teacher-made psychological tests
7.Environmental studies
8.Simple problem-based studies
9.Institutional Surveys
10.Construction of evaluation tools and techniques for specialized measurement
11.Preparation of software and technologically supported materials
12.Improvisation of learning materials

Guidelines for designing/reporting a problem for investigation

Note : The following steps are only suggestive and appropriate variation can be made according to the nature of the problem:
a.An introduction highlighting need and significance of the problem under study
b.Statement of the problem using appropriate terminology
c.Objectives
d.Methodology including the sample (if any)
e.Tools if any
f.Analysis and interpretation of data
g.Conclusions with suggestions
h.References

Note: The typed report should not exceed seven pages
For each semester the student teacher has to submit four practicums of which two will be problem-based and the rest could be of a general nature

LIST OF PRACTICUMS FOR ENGLISH

Note: The list is provided merely for developing an understanding of the scope and has to be modified with individual problems assigned to each student without repetition.

•Text book analysis Std VIII, IX and X (each student teacher may attempt at least one standard.[This Practicum is compulsory for students who have chosen language as optional]

•Module preparation ( For any one lesson they have taught during Teaching Practice)

•Book reviews ( Any one of the books in a particular language which has won reader’s acceptance)

•Case Studies / Institutional–based Case Studies

•Documentation (on a particular topic)

•Preparation of a Class Magazine – Collecting articles from each student teacher (manuscript or printed)

•An album (collecting pictures useful for learning a particular language)

•Preparation of psychological tests (teacher- made tests)

•Preparation of a year plan

•Summary of the visit to socially important places (like juvenile homes, orphanages, jail, hospitals etc.

•Making a list of audio visual aids used in their own institutions for making teaching/learning effective(with relevant explanation about the size, cost and purpose of the aid and how it is used)

•Film reviews (socially significant films)

Problem-based Practicum in the language section

Problems related to the following aspects of language learning are recommended:
a.Sounds of the language
b.Problems related to the basic skills of the language (listening , speaking, reading, writing and study skills)
c.Spelling
d.Vocabulary
e.Grammar/forms and functions
f.Teaching of prose lessons
g.Teaching of poetry lessons
h.Teaching of supplementary readers
i.Problem related to evaluation/examination
j.Problem related to Methods of teaching
k.Problem related to approaches

The problem-based practicums may contain the following steps

The number of pages of each practicum should not exceed 7 pages
1.Introduction (one or two pages)
Need and significance
Statement of the problem
Objectives
2.Methodology ( one or two pages)
Tools, sample chosen and procedure (if any)
3.Analysis and interpretation (one and a half page)
4.Conclusion and suggestion if any (one page)
5.References (at least three books/other references) (half page)

Note: There may be problems which do not have/need not have the above steps. In that case, reliable steps accepted for a qualitative research work can also be taken into consideration.

Secretary,
KUETEF

38. Consensus IX Meeting

2011-06-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum -KUETEF]

After discussing issues related to curriculum transaction, the members present, arrived at the following consensus:

Lesson Plans

•The trainees should prepare thirty Lesson Plans for the thirty working days specified by the University during the Second Spell of Practice Teaching.

Models of Teaching

•Though during the Practical Examination for the 2009-10 batch, the examiners did not insist on trainees engaging a class based on Models of teaching, the teacher educator should direct the trainees to engage at least two periods on two models during Practice Teaching.

•It is a fact that not all Models of teaching prescribed in the syllabus is suitable for teaching of English. (Eg. The Inquiry Training Model which is a favourite of Science Teacher Educators) Hence, Teacher Educators should familiarize themselves with the Handbook on Models of Teaching brought out by the Department of Education, University of Kerala which has specimen Lesson Plans based on different models for the teaching of English)

•The Models of Teaching which are most suitable for English are

* Concept Attainment Model * Direct Instruction Model
* Advance Organizer Model and * Synectics Model

• Some Models do require more than 30 to 40 minutes (the normal duration of a school period) So, trainees may be encouraged to integrate relevant phases of models to normal classroom transaction (Eg.The presentation of Advance Organizers)

• A Model titled Constructivist Model which some trainees have adopted for writing Lesson Plans does not appear to be taken from any standard Reference Book similar to Models of Teaching by Bruce Joyce and Marsha Weil. As its origin appears dubious, its use should be discouraged.

The Interactive Model

•The Lesson Plan on Interactive Model available with some teacher educators if found suitable may be circulated among the members.

Criticism of the Three column Lesson Plan

•Many Supervisors in schools have dubbed the three-column-Lesson Plan prepared by trainees as outdated. But as teacher educators of colleges affiliated to the University of Kerala, it is obligatory on our part to instruct our trainees to follow directions specified in the syllabus regarding recording of principles drawn from Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy of Education in the Lesson Plans in the third column.

On teaching theories of Learning

• The irrational inclusion of Theories of Learning in the Second Semester which is invariably taught in many colleges after Practice Teaching need to be addressed when the curriculum is revised.

On the First Spell of Practice Teaching

• Many members found the First Spell of Practice Teaching (for ten days) failing to fetch the desired result as they are asked to teach in schools without being given a proper foundation in teaching and learning.! However, many felt that the ten-day exposure trainees receive during the First Spell of Practice Teaching prepares them for a better performance during the Second Spell of Practice Teaching.

On Micro Teaching

•There is a dire need to include Micro Teaching as a compulsory topic. If included it would ensure trainees familiarizing themselves with a few teaching skills prior to Practice Teaching. Hence, this should be brought to the attention of the Board of Studies.

Practicums in English

• Many trainees are finding the BEd course particularly taxing owing to the sheer number of Practicums they have to prepare – viz; four per paper and a total of forty Practicums! The members felt that two Practicums per paper would suffice. Hence this matter should be brought to the notice of the Board of Studies.

Specimen topics for Problem-based Practicums listed include the following:

• The Problems encountered by High School students in pronouncing certain sounds in English and suitable remedies to over come them.

•Addressing Problems in Spelling
•Problems ecountered in the teaching of Grammar.

Topics for General Practicums

Non-Problem based study which is more a Survey can include the following:

•A study on the practicability of organizing, Pair Work and Group Work
•A survey of the strategies employed for developing vocabulary in secondary school children.

Circular on Practicums

•The Circular from the Registrar regarding the kind of Practicums which may be given to trainees should be made available to the Teacher Educators who have recently joined the profession.

•The directions given in the Circular mentioned above is fairly comprehensive. But it is a fact that not all trainees are competent enough to take up Problem-based Practicums and complete them following all the steps. To overcome this, Teacher Educators should encourage brighter trainees to take up new topics on Problem–based Practicums. Let the weaker trainees take up the same topic for Problem Solving which is likely to have the same steps but ensure that they actually collect the relevant data from the schools they attend for Practice Teaching.

•While trainees choose a topic for their Practicum check whether it is manageable in terms of the ability of the trainee, the time available and the resources at hand. Necessary assistance should be provided to the trainee for identifying the problem, formulating a hypothesis (if necessary) and tips should be offered regarding ways of collecting data.

Innovative Work

As the current trend focuses on a shift to Computer–based learning , encourage trainees to prepare digital teaching materials or digital self-learning materials as part of their Innovative Work. Encourage trainees to exploit visuals, text, music, animation and video in the production of digital materials.

•While trainees suggest Innovative work which they intend to submit, ensure that it actually nurtures the production of novel and creative products that enhances language learning.

Extended Reading in the new Course Book

•While teaching topics under Extended Reading prescribed for study in the new Course Book, if the students require it let the trainee teach new words/ provide model reading. What is important is that the associated skill should be mastered by the students.

Intimating Board of Studies

All the issues discussed which affects proper curriculum transaction need to be brought to the notice of the Board of Studies through the Dean of the faculty of Education, Dr. M.S.Geetha.

Secretary,
KUETEF

37. Report of IX Meeting

2011-06-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum- KUETEF]

Venue: Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam

Date: 11 June 2011

Overcoming minor inconveniences caused by the change of venue from Trivandrum to Kollam, the following teacher educators representing government-aided institutions, University Teacher Education centres and Self Financing Colleges, attended the IX Meeting of KUETEF.

Fr.Joseph John, Dr.C.Praveen, Mr. E.K.Jijan, Ms. Susan George, Mr. Scaria, Ms. Annie K Ommen and Ms. Ambili.

Two teacher educators, interested in joining the Forum Ms Nitha and Mr. Anoop also attended.

The meeting commenced at 10.45 AM with a prayer.

Fr. Joseph John, the Vice President of KUETEF welcomed the gathering. He expressed his immense happiness at the regular annual meeting organized by KUETEF albeit fall in attendance. He fondly recalled the day on which KUETEF was formally inaugurated in the very same venue a few years ago. He thanked all the members for volunteering to attend the IX meeting.

Fr. Joseph congratulated the President of KUETEF Dr. M.S.Geetha (in absentia) on her appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Education of the University of Kerala. Dr. C.Praveen, the Secretary of KUETEF was also congratulated on being awarded a doctorate by Kannur University.

After the Welcome speech, the participants introduced themselves.

Next Dr. C. Praveen, the Secretary, presented the Report of the eighth meeting and activities of the Forum since the VIII meeting. In the report mention was made of the refreshing trend among English Teacher Educators of the University of Kerala to get in touch with members of KUETEF to clarify doubts regarding curriculum transaction.

Since the eighth meeting, it was pointed out that the Blog posts have risen from 18 to 35 and the visitors to the KUETEF Blog have crossed the one thousand mark. The members present found the report quite satisfactory and it was accepted without any change.

Next, the Secretary presented the agenda for the day’s proceeding which included the following:
•Discussion regarding the introduction of the new Course Book for Standard X
•The change in duration of Teaching Practice
•Topics for Practicums
•The Interactive Model
•Innovative work

The discussions lasted nearly three hours.

Fr. Joseph arranged for a cake to be cut in honour of the Secretary’s achievement (for being awarded a doctorate). He also invited the participants to lunch.

The discussions during the short afternoon session focused on the ‘Innovative Work’ to be taken up by trainees. It was also decided to bring to the notice of the Dean of Studies in Education and the Board of Studies in Education of the University of Kerala, the problems in transaction of the BEd. Curriculum discussed during the day’s meeting.

Before the meeting concluded two proposals were made by the Secretary:
First, the organizing of annual meetings of KUETEF along with a regular Workshop or a Seminar which would draw more participants.

Second, if many members deem it necessary, a One-day Workshop to familiarize with the transaction strategy proposed by SCERT, Kerala for the newly introduced Standard X Course Book may be organized by KUETEF.

The meeting ended around 2 PM and Mr. Scaria offered the vote of thanks. All the members thanked Fr. Joseph who is now holding charge of the Principal of the college for his warm hospitality. The members were thanked for their whole-hearted participation in the discussions.

Secretary,
KUETEF

36. Crossing The One Thousand Mark

2011-06-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum – KUETEF]

•The viewer count of this Blog crossed the one thousand mark in June 2011

•Besides India, there are visitors from countries including the US, the UK and Singapore.

The KUETEF fraternity would like to thank GOOGLE for providing this free site.

Secretary,
KUETEF

35. Change of Venue

2011-06-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

We had planned to hold the next meeting of KUETEF in the Open-air auditorium in the Museum Complex at Trivandrum. But quite unexpectedly the monsoon season has arrived early this year and it is likely to be inconvenient to hold the meeting in the Open-air auditorium. Hence it is decided to hold the IX meeting at Karmela Rani Training College (KRTC), Kollam.

The Vice President of KUETEF Fr. Joseph.J who is a faculty of KRTC, has consented to make all arrangements for the meeting.

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

34. An Invitation to Join KUETEF

2011-06-02T09:04:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Dear English Teacher Educators,

If you have recently joined a Teacher Training College affiliated to the University of Kerala, you are welcome to join the Forum.

Please attend the IXth Meeting of KUETEF scheduled for 11 June 2011
Details available in Previous Post # 33)

Join KUETEF and empower yourself…

With warm Regards

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

33. Announcement IXth Meeting

2011-06-02T09:01:00.001-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Owing to several unforeseen circumstances it had not been possible for the members to meet after the commencement of the new academic year (2010-11). Last week a few members met at Govt. College for Women, Trivandrum which was the venue for the Centralized Valuation of the First Semester answer scripts. An informal meeting was held and many felt the need to hold a meeting prior to the commencement of the Second Spell of Practice Teaching. Accordingly it was decided to conduct the IXth meeting of KUETEF on 11 June 2011 Forenoon (Second Saturday). The venue will be the Open-air Auditorium, near Snake Park in the Museum Complex, Trivandrum.

The members are being intimated through Postal mail, email and SMS.

The proposed agenda for the IXth meeting:

•Compiling a List of Practicums in English (Problem-based and other studies) to be given to trainees.

•Identifying the phases, likely hypotheses and sources of data collection of select topics.

•Identifying appropriate strategies for analyzing the data that is collected.

•Identifying a set of common scoring indicators for use by the teacher educators for assessing the Problem-based Practicums and normal studies conducted by trainees for Internal Assessment.

•Compiling a list of Innovative work which could be undertaken by the trainees.

•Listing down the steps of the Interactive Model for teaching English and the preparation of a specimen Lesson Plan.

•Clarifying doubts regarding Content Analysis.

•Identifying strategies for developing communication skills of trainees.

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

32. A Format For Diary Writing

2010-11-14T15:42:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Some colleges in addition to the practice of making trainees write a Diary during the two spells of Practice Teaching, insist on writing diary every day. Unfortunately many trainees tend to turn the diary entry into a mere record of daily events. A typical Diary entry would look more or less, like this:

“ I reached college at 9.15 am, Mr. X engaged a class on Educational Psychology. Then we had our optional classes. Our optional teacher taught us ‘....’. The first two periods of the after noon session was free because the teacher was absent. The last period we had Physical Education class”.

Well, don’t you think..., such writing is meaningless? Only trainees who are really bright and good at studies will make an attempt to reflect on what they learned that day.

This academic year (2010-2011), I am planning to make my trainees observe the following format for writing a diary entry:

In addition to details of day, date, time, name of teacher educator and topic taught, they should write a two-line summary of the content taught during the period. Each day’s write-up should conclude with a reflection on what the trainee learned that day with regard to class room practices. These could include the following:

•Any novel teaching strategy/ Principle you have learned.

•Problems in classroom transaction you have learned, with specific reference to the role of the teacher and the learner in addressing such problems.

Well friends, do post your valuable comments...

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

31. Lessons From a Practical Exam

2010-11-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

September- October this year had been unique in every respect for members of KUETEF. Most of us could visit a minimum of three institutions as an external examiner. It was indeed refreshing to learn from the Chairman of several Practical Examination Boards, that there was very little disagreement among the English Teacher Educators regarding expected trainee performance. Let us all..., the English Teacher Educator fraternity of Kerala University, give ourselves a pat on our back for a job well done! This is a clear evidence of the success of our workshops and networking, particularly through email and mobile phones. I gathered with great satisfaction from fellow teachers that whenever teacher educators were in doubt regarding instructional pracatices, they did not hesitate to contact our Forum members.

During the Practical Examination while serving as an examiner, I did notice a few areas which most of us tend to overlook. They are listed below:

•Some trainees during the examination, taught the first Unit of the Course Book. This being the middle of the school term, most pupils knew the content which was being taught and so assessing the ability of the trainee was difficult.

•The performance of the trainees with regard to teaching skills in most cases appeared to be only slightly above average. Perhaps it would be a good idea to begin the academic year with practice of Micro Teaching.

•There were instances where trainees failed to prepare their Achievement Test based on Mental Process. Some trainees did not have a good idea about Mental Process.

•The entry made by some trainees in their diary did not seem to be a ‘reflection’ of teaching, but a record of the list of things that happened.

•Very few trainees had a good idea about Problem-based Practicums.

•In some colleges, instead of the actual demonstration of a lesson by an expert, a recorded video of a lesson by an expert was shown.

•The use of teaching aids- particularly pictures, flashcards etc. was limited.

•Non- availability of atleast three trainees in the same school during Teaching Practice resulted in the Shared Practice Lessons of the First Semester being limited to two.

•In some teacher training colleges, the teachers who observed classes of trainees during Practice Teaching (the Headmaster of the school, the local Supervising Teacher, the Teacher Educator and the teachers of General Papers) made an entry in the Diary details of the trainees’s classroom performance. This was particularly useful for the external examiner who usually observes the actual teaching of a trainee during the Pracatical Exam only for 20 to 25 minutes.

I hope in future workshops of KUETEF, we would be able to address some of the issues I have identified above.

Best Regards

C.Praveen
Secretary,KUETEF

30. Now it is Practical Exam Time

2010-09-06T05:19:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello teachers,

Finally the hectic spell of class observation has come to an end. (I am told that some of our friends had to observe the classes of over 25 trainees atleast twice, in twenty days!) With Practice Teaching over, I am sure, all of you must be heaving a sigh of relief.

Ms. Anila Chako did remind me of the proposed schedule of our ninth meeting. Well you know how it is .. Once Practice Teaching is over, for days together we would be breathing down the neck of our trainees to get them to submit all the records for the Practical Exam.

Well, last Saturday (04 September 2010) was the Pre-Board Examination meeting at the University. I gathered that examinations commence next week.

Let us hope and pray that our trainees perform their best during their Practical Examination.

With warm wishes and prayers

C.Praveen
Secretary KUETEF

29. Do we properly evaluate our trainee-performance ?

2010-07-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

For years, Practice Teaching for BEd course in English in the universities in Kerala State meant “methodology in action”. While observing the classes of trainees, the teacher educator would expect the following from trainees :

•1. Speak English in simple and correct language with facility and within the comprehension (vocabulary and grammar) of pupils.

•2. Write English on the Black board or in teaching aids in legible and good hand writing.

•3. Read aloud with proper intonation , stress, speed and pause.

•4. Recite poems effectively.

•5. Plan lessons well in advance.

Ever since the introduction of the New English Curriculum in Kerala, Constructivist practices have replaced Behaviourist practices. Today, the emphasis is on an activity-based, learner-centred, process oriented curriculum. This had made the teacher educator’s job of observing and assessing trainee performance in the classroom, particularly difficult. For instance, when the trainee gives three to four activities for a particular teaching period of forty minutes duration, how can the teacher educator evaluate the trainee performance for 1 to 5 mentioned above? Yet, we make a sincere effort to do a proper job…

But are we satisfied? I would like to hear from you.

Do post your valuable comments.

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

28. Placing students first…Well, do we?

2010-07-28T17:46:00.001-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

“ Place students first was my policy during the last academic year, I continued to do so this year too. Apart from my regular work as a teacher and Head of the department, I was able to contribute to the academic culture of the college by conducting a few programmes…( which includes the Beyond The Syllabus Programme)... I received some degree of gratification for all this work…”

Those are lines from the self appraisal of Mr. P. Vijayakumar, Head of the Department, Government College For Women, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala State.

I think teachers of English ought to read the write-up on Beyond The Syllabus Programme. Please view the following link:

http://www.articlesbase.com/tutoring-articles/the-beyond-the-syllabus-programme-2920335.html

Do offer your comments…

Regards

C.Praveen

Secretary. KUETEF

27. The New Course Book for Standard IX

2010-07-20T01:37:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello teachers ...

How is the Practice Teaching of your trainees progressing?

Well…, how are they finding the newly introduced Course Book for Standard IX ?
Today I had been to observe a class in Govt. Sanskrit H.S. Chalai, Trivandrum. I found my trainee struggling to teach the poem entitled ‘Women’ which is highly prosaic. There is hardly anything in it to be classified under the genre: ‘Poetry’… Did you find it so?

I would love to hear from you all. Do post your valuable comments.

Please view the following link for the comments offered by my trainees after ten days of teaching the Standard IX Course Book

http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/trainee-comments-on-teaching-the-new-standard-ix-english-course-book-2860461.html

Regards

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

26. Sample Question Paper Blue Print

2010-06-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

During the workshop held on 24 April 2010, it was decided to make use of the Blue Print format given below prepared during the SCERT workshop held in August 2005 in which the Secretary had participated and which was later supplied by SCERT.

This sample Question Paper Blue Print file was typed using Excel. But on finding it difficult to upload on this blog, it was converted to a jpeg file. Hope you won’t experience any difficulty downloading it. For assistance please contact me: cpteach@rediffmail.com

A copy of the list of ten Mental Process published along with the sample question paper by SCERT in 2006 can be downloaded at :

http://kmohss.com/english_1set.pdf

Regards

C. Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

25. Invitation for discussion

2010-05-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello teachers,

I hope you are enjoying your vacation!!

When you are free, do join the discussion on

a baseline study of English in Kerala.

Please view

http://www.eslforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5034

With warm regards

C.Praveen

Secretary KUETEF

24. Proposed agenda for IXth Meeting

2010-04-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

1. Practicums

•Compiling a List of Practicums in English (Problem-based and other studies) to be given to trainees.

•Identifying the phases, likely hypotheses and sources of data collection of select topics

•Identifying appropriate strategies for analyzing the data that is collected.

•Identifying a set of common scoring indicators for use by the teacher educators for assessing the Problem-based Practicums and normal studies conducted by trainees for Internal Assessment.

2. Demonstration of Models of Teaching by members

3. Doubt Clearing session

23. Workshop on preparation of Model Achievement Test

2010-04-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Stage 1. Briefing regarding the issues related to preparing Model Achievement Test.

The Secretary initiated a discussion regarding the current practice of SCERT to drop the preparation of Blue Print for question papers for the SSLC examination. Copies of Blue Print of the following examinations were made available for perusal by the participants of the workshop:

1. Sample Blue Print from The English Teacher’s Handbook
2. English : Paper 1: AISLC Examination (Tamilnadu Anglo-Indian schools)
3. English : Paper 2: AISLC Examination ( Tamilnadu Anglo-Indian schools)
4. English Standard XI of SCERT (2006)
5. English Standard XII of SCERT (2006)
6. General English Standard XI (Tamilnadu)
7. Special English Standard IX (Tamilnadu)
8. Communicative English Standard XII (Tamilnadu)

Stage 2: Relevant quotations from a standard reference book on the characteristics of a good test and the reference to preparation and need of Blue Print was presented by the Secretary. This was followed by a discussion regarding the advantages of preparing a Blue Print and the possibility of replacing the Blue Print with an enriched Question-wise Analysis statement which provides all the necessary information that a test marker requires.

During the discussion the following issues were highlighted:

•Teachers in secondary schools in Kerala today employ Constructivist teaching strategies in the classroom.

•The traditional Blue Print is a three-dimensional chart which focuses on Objectives of questions set on Bloom’s Taxonomy, viz; Knowledge, Comprehension etc. and is based on a Behaviourist paradigm. This, the participants insisted ought to be modified.

•After critically examining the sample Blue Prints supplied and familiarizing themselves with the guidelines for the preparation of a good test, the participants felt that the Blue Print should be retained but its form should be modified.

•All the participants unanimously agreed that it is necessary to familiarize novice teacher trainees with the concept of Blue Print of a question paper.

•It was also agreed upon to make use of the Blue Print format prepared during the workshop held in August 2005 in which the Secretary had participated and which was later supplied by SCERT.

[Until the format can be made available for downloading, those members who are interested may contact the Secretary by email for its copy]

Stage 3 : Familiarizing with Mental Processes.

A copy of the list of ten Mental Process published along with the sample question paper by SCERT in 2006 was made available for the participants of the workshop
[The Question paper can be downloaded in pdf format at

http://kmohss.com/english_1set.pdf ]

The ten Mental Process are:

No. 1. retrieves/ recollects/retells information

No. 2. readily makes connections to new information based on past experiences and
formulates initial ideas/concepts.

No. 3 detects similarities and differences.

No. 4. classifies/ categorises/ organizes information appropriately.

No. 5 translates/ transfers knowledge or understanding and applies them in new
situations.

No. 6 establishes cause-effect relationships.

No. 7 makes connections/ relates prior knowledge to new information/
applies reasoning and draws inferences.

No. 8 communicates knowledge/ understanding through different media.

No. 9. imagines/fantasises/designs/predicts based on received information.

No.10. Judges/ appraises/evaluates the merits or demerits of an idea/develops own
solutions to a problem.

Stage 4: Familiarizing with Questions

The participants formed four groups and SSLC Question Papers for English of 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 was supplied – one for each group. Even as the participants familiarized themselves with the type of questions normally asked for the Public examination, they also tried to identify the Mental Process the students are likely to employ in attempting to answer the questions.

A few findings:

*Many participants found that most questions asked for the Public Examination necessitated the activation of more than one Mental Process.

*The resemblance of Mental Processes to the higher order thinking skills under the Cognitive Domain was pointed out by some members.

*This was one indication that the SCERT guidelines for focusing on thinking skills was nothing but assigning of a new name- ‘Mental Process’, as a backbone for the Constructivist strategies they were trying to propagate.

Stage 5 : Once the participants familiarized themselves with the questions set for the SSLC examination by relating it to a Mental Process, they prepared the following questions based on the first unit of Book 2 of the Standard VIII Course Book.

Questions based on Mental Process No. 1 (retrieves/ recollects/retells information)
[Prepared by Ms. Chitra, Ms Durga & Ms. Rany]

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow :

It was then the Government agents came into the studio with a loaded gun. They fired twice and the Emperor and the Empress fell dead. The musicians, the dancers and the announcers were asked to get their handicaps back on.

It was then that George and Hazel noticed the blackout on the television set:
‘Have you been crying?’ he asked Hazel.

‘Yes’, she said;

‘What about?’ he asked.

‘I forget’, she said.

‘Forget sad things,’ said George.
‘I always do’, said Hazel.

George wanted to say something. But then there was the sound of a gun in his head.
He winced.

1. What did the Government agents do?
2. ‘He winced’. Who is the ‘he’ referred to ?

* Read the lines from ‘The Bat’ and answer the following questions:

By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.

His fingers make a hat about his head.
His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.

He loops in crazy figures half the night
Among the trees that face the corner light.

1. What does the bat do at night?
2. What does the bat like?

Questions based on Mental Process No. 2. (readily makes connections to new information based on past experiences and formulates initial ideas/concepts)
[Prepared by Ms. Chitra, Ms Durga & Ms. Rany]

( Based on the first six paragraphs of ‘Harrison Bergeron’)

1. What would the likely conversation between George and Hazel be when they know about the arrest of their son Harrison? Write it down.

2. Prepare a write-up with captions on your vision of the year 3000.
[Hints :…]

3. Write a short paragraph on Harrison Bergeron’s character making use of the following hints.

Questions based on Mental Process No. 3 ( detects similarities and differences)
[Prepared by Ms. Chitra, Ms Durga & Ms. Rany]

Answer the following questions based on the poem ‘The Bat’

1. Pick out two pairs of rhyming words

2. Contrast the description of the bat in lines 3 and 4 with lines 5 and 6

Questions based on Mental Process No. 4
(classifies/ categorises/ organizes information appropriately)
[Prepared by Ms. Shailaja D & Ms. Anila Chacko]

The following are some events from ‘Harrison Bergeron’ which are given in a jumbled order. Write a paragraph by rearranging them.

1. George and Hazel were watching television.
2. A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen.
3. Harrison was a genius and regarded as extremely dangerous.
4. He was held on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government.
5. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.

Questions based on Mental Process No. 5 (translates/ transfers knowledge or understanding and applies them in new situations )
[Prepared by Ms. Shailaja D & Ms. Anila Chacko]

Complete the following conversation between astronaut friends:

AS 1 : What a beautiful scene it is ! …………………………….?

AS 2 : Yes, of course. Really it is ………………………

AS 1 : What are the things you wanted to search here?

AS 2 : I just wanted to ……………………………………….

AS 1 : Come here, there’s plenty of ……………………………..

AS 2 : I can’t believe my eyes.

AS 1 : Shall we move on ?

AS 2 : ……………………. Yes.

Questions based on Mental Process No. 6 (establishes cause-effect relationships)
[Prepared by Ms. Shailaja D & Ms. Anila Chacko]
Prepare a short speech of not more than 80 words to be made in your school assembly on the development of science and technology. (Draw on ideas from ‘First Manned Flight To Venus’)

Questions based on Mental Process No. 7 (makes connections/ relates prior knowledge to new information/applies reasoning and draws inferences)
[Prepared by Ms. Raji V.R & Ms. Susan George]

1. What phrase does the poet use to describe sugarcane?

2. Who do you think lives in Venus? How do you perceive them?

3. How does Harrison’s death affect his parents?

4. What does the bat do at night?

Questions based on Mental Process No. 8 (communicates knowledge/ understanding through different media) [Prepared by Ms. Raji V.R & Ms. Susan George]

1. Write a brief description about the bat based on the poem ‘The Bat’

2. Describe the picture that Roethke paints in the lines
“He loops in crazy figures half the night
Among the trees that face the corner light”

3. Write a short poem about an animal or bird that fascinates you.

4. Write a letter that you might have written to your parents explaining your reasons to rebel against the laws of society drawing ideas from ‘Harrison Bergeron’.

5. Describe the appearance of Harrison as you see him in the television studio.

Questions based on Mental Process No. 9 (imagines/fantasises/designs/predicts based on received information) [Prepared by Ms. Raji V.R & Ms. Susan George]

1. Answer the question based on the hints given
Imagine that you are living in the year 2081. Describe how society will have changed by 2081.
[Hints: changes in science and tech-energy sources available- culture- fashion trends-food habits- construction of houses- social mingling]

2. Answer the question based on the hints given
What strikes you the most about the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’ ?
[Hints: Extraordinary genius-powerful satire- ridicules the effect TV can have on viewers- continues to evoke thoughtful responses about equality and individual freedom]

3. Imagine that you have visited a foreign land and you actually witnessed the events described in ‘Harrison Bergeron’. Prepare a newspaper report .

4. Imagine that you are the School Leader. Your school management plans to conduct a seminar on Road Safety. Prepare a notice inviting the public to take part in the seminar.

5. ‘When mice with wings can wear a human face’. Do you find this line from ‘The Bat’ is strange? Why?

Questions based on Mental Process No. 10 (Judges/ appraises/evaluates the merits or demerits of an idea/develops own solutions to a problem)
[Prepared by Ms. Raji V.R & Ms. Susan George]

1. What are your feelings about bats after reading the poem ‘The Bat’?

2. Did you find any fault with Harrison while reading the story ‘Harrison Bergeron’?

3. The poem ‘Sugarfields’ expresses the feeling that one’s identity and personality are shaped by one’s parents and the cultured background of one’s family. Do you agree with it? Why?

It is hoped that this would help both teacher educators and trainees visiting this Blog to get an idea about the kind of questions trainees should prepare for the Achievement Test during the second spell of Practice Teaching. Please post or email your comments to cpteach@rediffmail.com

22. Workshop on Preparation of Model Diagnostic Test

2010-04-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Stage 1 : Briefing of consensus regarding Diagnostic Test arrived at during the previous meeting was done by the Secretary.

Stage 2 : Finalizing the list of areas to be tested:

It was earlier decided to focus on the following areas in preparing Diagnostic Test :

Vocabulary, Spelling, Grammar, Paragraph Writing and Comprehension .The difficulty in scoring an open- ended question in a Diagnostic Test when a Diagnostic Chart is made use of was pointed out by a few members. This related to the evaluation of open ended answers for Paragraph Writing for a Diagnostic test. Hence it was decided to have five questions to test Writing ability, instead of Paragraph Writing. The questions on writing should focus on 1. ability to communicate, 2. Choice of vocabulary and 3. Punctuation.

The members in groups started preparing sample questions- five each for Vocabulary, Spelling, Grammar, Writing, Comprehension .

Stage 3: Finalizing the number of questions and the content for testing

It was decided that each question of the Diagnostic test was to carry one mark and the total number of multiple choice questions was to be limited to 25. The content on which the questions are to be set during the First Spell should be those topics taught to the pupils in schools by teachers prior to the commencement of Practice Teaching. If the pupils have not been taught anything owing to a vacancy in the English teacher’s post in the school, the questions could be set based on the last Unit of the Course Book which the pupils were taught.

The content on which the questions are to be set during the Second Spell should be the topics taught by the trainee in the first ten days of Spell 2 of Practice Teaching.

Given below are a few questions on the five areas prepared by the members based on the first unit of Book 2 of the Standard VIII Course Book.

Vocabulary [Prepared by Ms. Rany & Ms. Chitra]

Choose the correct answer:
1. …………… means ‘to touch lightly’ (detect, brush, stamp)

2. The opposite of symmetry is ……………………..
( asymmetry, unsymmetry, insymmetry)
3. ‘Marvellous’ means ……………
( immediately, wonderful, very big)

4. The thief ……….. over the fence.
(leapt, came, found)

5. Find the odd one from the bracket ……………………
( shriek, howl, murmur)

Spelling [Prepared by Ms. Durga & Ms. Shylaja]

Choose the correct answer to fill in the blanks

1. Harrison Bergeron is a ………………(genius, genesis)

2. The rain ………………….. and the sky became clear. (seized, ceased)

3. When the fight began, there was barking cries of co _ s _ er _ a _ io _
(ntntn, nttnn, nnntt)

4. The dance programme on television was suddenly _ nt _ r _ u _ t _ d
for a news bulletin ( ierpe, irpee, riepe)

5. Rearrange the letters b o a n a d n to given meaning to give up
( abandon, bandnon, andbnon)

Grammar [Prepared by Ms. Anila & Ms. Meenakshy]

For 1 to 3 Choose the correct answer to fill in the blanks

1. Time and tide ………………. for no man. (wait, waits)

2. Write the ‘-er’ form of the word ‘good’ .........

3. They went to school ……….. foot ( by , on, of )

4. Rewrite the sentence beginning ‘A letter……..
She writes a letter.

5. I didn’t notice it any more,………….? Add a suitable Question Tag

Writing [Prepared by Mrs. Annie K. Oommen & Mr. Scaria]

For 1 and 2 Choose the correct answer:

1. Harrison Bergeron was arrested because he………
( genius, was a genius , look genius)

2. When the astronauts were ready, the rocket………………..
( blasted off, exploded off, launched off)

3. Punctuate
Second Astronaut : Stop that kind of talk will you We ll make it and we ll be
heroes

4. Why did the first astronaut take the taped music with him?

5. “Why don’t you rest your handicap bag on the pillows?” What does ‘handicap bag’ refer to?

Comprehension [Prepared by Ms Sangeetha, Ms. Susan George & Ms. Raji V.R]

State whether the following sentences are True/ False:

1. Harrison Bergeron was arrested for his extraordinary genius.

2. In the poem ‘The Bat’ it is stated that the bat’s fingers make a hat about his head.

3. ‘Sugarcane’ is described as the syrup of the earth in the poem ‘Sugarfields’.

4. Like human beings the bat sleeps at night.

5. The story of Harrison Bergeron is set in the year 2018.

21. Consensus: 24 April, 2010

2010-04-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

The members arrived at the following consensus regarding curriculum transaction during the eighth meeting:

* Questions for Diagnostic Test should preferably be Multiple Choice type
* For the Diagnostic Test, instead of Paragraph Writing, there should be five questions to test Writing ability.
* There should be a minimum of five questions each to test the following five areas in the Diagnostic Test:

1. Vocabulary
2. Spelling
3. Grammar
4. Writing (Questions to ability to check 1. ability to communicate 2. Choice of
vocabulary 3. Punctuation)

5.Comprehension

* Blue Print for Achievement test should be retained though the SCERT now discourages its use.

* It is necessary to familiarize novice teacher trainees with the concept of Blue Print of a question paper. But its old format as a three-dimensional chart should be modified to include Mental Processes instead of Objectives related to Blooms taxonomy.

* The Blue Print format prepared during the workshop held in August 2005 and was later supplied by SCERT should be the format that teacher educators should make use of.

20. Report of Eighth Meeting

2010-04-26T08:39:00.001-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

The eighth meeting of KUETEF was held at Government College of Teacher Education on Saturday, 24th April 2010. As the second and third week of April happened to be vacation for most teacher training colleges, intimation regarding the revised date was not sent by postal mail. Instead both the Treasurer Ms. Anila Chacko and the Secretary Mr. C. Praveen, intimated change of dates by telephone. Unfortunately some of the members could not be contacted owing to change in the telephone numbers they had given.

By 10 am fourteen members had assembled in the General Lecture Hall of Govt. CTE, Trivandrum. The meeting commenced with a silent prayer. The President of KUETEF, Dr. M.S. Geetha welcomed the members to the meeting and the proposed workshop on preparation of Model Diagnostic Test and Model Achievement Test. This was followed by presentation of the Report of the Seventh Meeting held at Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam by the Secretary of KUETEF, Mr. C. Praveen.

After that the President announced the agenda for the day, the Secretary presented the proposed plan and timeframe of activities for the day.

The activities commenced with the workshop on preparation of questions for the Diagnostic Test. The whole activity took hardly 90 minutes and while tea was served the Secretary presented the background to the changes initiated by the SCERT with regard to preparation of the SSLC Question Papers.

The members familiarized themselves with many types of Blue Prints and the ten Mental Processes identified for preparation of Question Papers. The SSLC Question Papers of March 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 was analyzed by the members to identify the representation of the ten Mental Processes. By then it was lunch time and the participants took a break. The host institution made arrangements for supplying lunch.

After lunch break, the participants working in groups, prepared a number of questions based on the ten Mental Processes which the Secretary assured would be made available in the Blog of KUETEF.

Paucity of time necessitated the postponement of the Doubt Clearing Session to the next meeting.

During the brief Business Session, it was decided to hold the next meeting on Saturday 7th August 2010. A few members felt that there is a need to familiarize with the nature, procedure and evaluation of Practicum given for trainees. Hence it was decided to include it in the agenda for the next meeting. To ensure that more members do participate in future meetings, the Secretary was directed to email the telephone numbers to all the members and to get them to contact their friends personally. The meeting concluded at 3.30 pm and before dispersing, the members formally thanked the Secretary for the smooth conduct of the day’s academic sessions.

19. Dark Areas For Doubt Clearing

2010-04-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Received by email : From Anila Chacko

Dark Areas for doubt clearing session of the eighth meeting scheduled for 24 April 2010

First Semester : Methodology

Unit I - Controversy over a shift from Literature to Language Study

First Semester : Pedagogy

Unit II - Pedagogical Principles - Principles related to Educational Logic.

Second Semester : Methodology

Unit VI - Principles of language testing

Second Semester : Pedgogy

Unit VI (3)Select a topic and determine the methods.......

anilasack@yahoo.co.in

18. Eighth Meeting Postponed

2010-04-10T00:23:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

It was earlier decided to conduct the eighth meeting on 17 April 2010 to ensure maximum participation of members after the first semester examination. But recently the University postponed the examination to 23 April.

As Centralized valuation is most likely to commence in May and that June will be too late to hold a workshop on preparation of Model Achievement Test and Diagnostic Test, we are forced to postpone the eighth meeting to Saturday, 24 April 2010.

There will be no change in the venue nor the agenda.(Please see earlier blog post)

Those attending the workshop are requested to bring the second part of the Standard VIII Course Book.

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

17. KUETEF’s Doubt Clearing Session

2010-02-07T03:05:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Dear Teacher Educators,

KUETEF is now offering you a rare chance to clear doubts regarding topics prescribed for study in the BEd. English syllabus of the University of Kerala.

On the comments section of this Blog post please type questions for which you require answers. The members of KUETEF will clarify your doubts during the eighth meeting of KUETEF scheduled to be held on 17 April 2010 at Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum

With warm regards

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

16.Agenda for Eighth Meeting

2010-02-07T03:02:00.001-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Given below is a tentative agenda for the Eighth meeting of KUETEF scheduled to be held at Govt. CTE, Trivandrum on 17 April 2010.

•Preparation of Model Diagnostic Test

•Preparation of Model Achievement Test

•Doubt Clearing Session based on questions related to the topics prescribed for study in the BEd English Syllabus of Kerala University.

•Demo of Models in ELT(if time permits)

All English Teacher Educators of the colleges affiliated to the University of Kerala are cordially invited to attend the meeting.

On behalf of the members of KUETEF

C.Praveen
Secretary, KUETEF

15. Consensus: 06 February 2010

2010-02-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Given below is a consensus arrived at by members of KUETEF regarding BEd curriculum transaction, during the Seventh meeting of KUETEF held at Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam on 06 February 2010.

•Diagnostic Tests prepared by the trainees should focus on five areas and should have a minimum of 25 questions.

•Diagnostic Test given during the First Semester is to be conducted on the first or second day of the 10-Day first spell of Practice Teaching.

•The five areas identified for the Diagnostic Test are

* Vocabulary…………Multiple choice questions

* Spelling …………… Multiple choice questions

* Grammar …………. Multiple choice questions

* Paragraph Writing … to check #1 Ability to communicate # 2 Choice of
Vocabulary # 3 Punctuation

* Comprehension …. True-False or Yes-No questions based on the content of
the Course Book

•Diagnostic Test during the first spell, is to be set on topics already taught to the pupils in school, prior to the commencement of the First Spell of Practice Teaching. The test should be conducted on the first or second day itself, so that trainees get a fair idea of the ability of the pupils. [It may however be noted that in the Syllabus it is stated that the Diagnostic Test should be conducted towards the end of the First Spell of Practice Teaching]

•Diagnostic Test during the Second spell of Practice Teaching should be conducted after ten days of Practice Teaching. The questions on the five areas identified above should be from the content taught by the trainee in the first ten days of the Second Spell, so that remedial work necessary can be given to the pupils during the last ten days of the Second Spell of Practice Teaching.

•The Achievement Test and Blue Print to be prepared by the trainees during the Second Spell of Practice Teaching should be modelled on the ten Mental Processes identified in Source Book supplied by the SCERT.

14. Report of Seventh Meeting of KUETEF

2010-02-07T02:57:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

The workshop cum seventh meeting of KUETEF was held at Karmela Rani Training College(KRTC), Kollam on 06 February 2010. Though 46 Lecturers of Teacher Education colleges were intimated by Post Card, only 17 members turned up for the workshop/meeting. A few members had earlier informed the Secretary, their inability to attend owing to other personal engagements.

The meeting (normal deliberations) commenced at a quarter past three in the afternoon. The Secretary of KUETEF, Mr. C. Praveen presented the Report of the Sixth meeting and also briefed the participants of the activities undertaken after the sixth meeting. The report was approved by the members.

Copies of the Teaching Manual based on the consensus arrived at during the sixth meeting, prepared by a member of KUETEF Ms. Anu Mukund was made available. Fr. Joseph, the Vice President of KUETEF arranged for the free xeroxing of the copies for the members who expressed a desire to have a copy of the Teaching Manual.

It was pointed out that although six demo of models were planned only four could be completed during the workshop. So it was decided to have the next two demos during the next meeting of KUETEF.

The academic discussion focused on the format and objective of the Diagnostic Test. The change in format of the Achievement Test, many participants felt, had to be given due attention. Accordingly it was decided to hold the eighth meeting of KUETEF on the third Saturday in April (17 .IV.2010) at Govt. CTE, Trivandrum to prepare model Diagnostic Test and model Achievement Test

The Secretary also mentioned that he had not yet received questions for clarification based on the BEd syllabus. So it was decided to collect questions from Teacher Educators prior to the eighth meeting by email and set aside one hour for discussion during the eighth meeting.

The meeting had to be concluded at 3.45PM to enable the members to attend the Valedictory function of the workshop.

13. Report of Workshop: Models in ELT

2010-02-07T02:48:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

A workshop on Models in ELT was organized by Karmela Rani Training College(KRTC), Kollam in association with KUETEF. The programme originally scheduled for 10.00 AM was slightly delayed as many participants were unaware of the fact that KRTC had shifted to the new campus two kilometres away from the old campus near the Quilon Jn Railway station. However, for those Teacher Educators who arrived early, the delay turned out to be a blessing in disguise as they could find time to meet their peers to discuss problems in BEd curriculum transaction.

•Venue details:

* Main Venue : Auditorium of Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam
* The corridor of the Auditorium : Displays on chart/cutouts on Models of teaching prepared by the BEd. trainees of KRTC, Kollam.
* Audio/ Video support including LCD projectors and OHP operated by the Non-teaching staff of KRTC.

•The Inaugural Meeting

* On the Dias

* Fr. Joseph J, Vice President of KUETEF and HOD, English, KRTC, Kollam
* Dr. Mini, Member KUETEF and Sel. Gr. Lecturer, NSS Training College,Pandalam
* Ms. Anila Chacko, Treasurer of KUETEF and Principal St. Thomas Training College,
Mukolakkal, Trivandrum
* Mr. C.Praveen, Secretary of KUETEF and HOD English, Govt. CTE, Trivandrum

•The Audience
* Twelve Teacher Educators of colleges affiliated to the University of Kerala
* B Ed English optional trainees of KRTC, Kollam
* Twelve school children of a neighbouring school

•The Meeting
* Time 10.50 AM. The Workshop commenced with a prayer by the trainees of KRTC,
Kollam

* Welcome Speech : Fr. Joseph in his welcome speech described the KUETEF fraternity as friends, well wishers, acquaintances, and collaborators who have got together to share their experiences and expertise for the noble vocation of teacher education. He also recalled the day in which KUETEF was originally launched five years ago in the same college. He also expressed his happiness at the strides made by KUETEF ever since its inception.

* Inauguration: Ms. Anila Chacko lighted the lamp and inaugurated the workshop. She said that she deemed it a rare honour to be assigned such a role and expressed her wish that the workshop would turn out to be useful to the participants.

* Keynote address : Dr. Mini in her address, referred to the yawning gap between what we were taught and what we actually practice in the class room. She also emphasized the need to develop ones own philosophy of teaching.

* Presidential Address: Mr. C.Praveen had presided over the meeting in the absence of the President of KUETEF, Dr. M.S. Geetha, the Principal of Govt. CTE, Trivandrum. Mr. C.Praveen began by recalling the sense of discomfort he had both while he was a PG student of education and his early days as a Teacher Educator when he struggled to grasp the contents of Bruce Joyce and Marsha Weil’s book Models of Teaching.He expressed the hope that the workshop would turn out to be a fruitful academic exercise for the participants.

* Vote of Thanks : Ms. Neethu Mary Philip, a trainee of the English Optional of KRTC, Kollam, thanked the guest and audience.

•Tea Break : The inauguration ceremony was followed by a light tea.

•Preview of Models: Immediately after tea the BEd trainees of KRTC, Kollam gave a quick preview of the Phases and Syntax of the different models using an LCD projector and OHP. The hand out supplied to the participants of the workshop during registration also turned out to be helpful.

•Demonstration of Models :

A total of four models were demonstrated during the forenoon and afternoon session. All the teacher educators who demonstrated, made profuse use of Charts, Black Board, LCD projector and handouts.

* First Demo : Mr. C. Praveen, demonstrated the Advance Organizer Model
* Second Demo: Ms. Anila Chacko demonstrated the Constructivist Model

•Lunch Break : Lunch like tea was sponsored by the host institution KRTC, Kollam. During lunch break the new members registered and joined KUETEF.

* Third Demo: Ms. Durga of MITE, Chavercode, demonstrated Inductive Thinking Model
* Fourth Demo: Fr. Joseph demonstrated the Synectics Model.

The demonstration sessions came to an end around a quarter past three.

•Business session : A few minutes after the demo session was set aside for the normal business session of KUETEF

•Valedictory session : It commenced at ten minutes to 4 PM.

* Prof. Andrews, the Principal of KRTC, Kollam presided

* Fr. Joseph welcomed the gathering

* Ms Sanju Sivadas class representative English Optional KRTC, Kollam presented a report of the Workshop

* Prof.Andrews in his valedictory address stressed the importance of English Language Teaching and congratulated the participants and the convenor of the workshop . He also distributed the certificates of the workshop.

* Mr.C.Praveen who offered the vote of thanks for the session began by expressing his immense satisfaction at the sense of academic comradeire shown by the Teacher Educators who had come to share and learn. He thanked the management, the Principal, Staff and students of KRTC, Kollam for organizing the workshop and specially appreciated the meticulous planning for the workshop by the organizers.

•The meeting concluded with a standing ovation given to Fr. Joseph for his efforts at organizing a fruitful seminar.

•Tea: Around a quarter past four, before leaving, all the participants of the workshop had tea together.

12. Workshop Programme Details

2010-01-29T01:49:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Date : Saturday , 06 February 2010
Venue : Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam
Time : 10.00AM to 4.00 PM

Programme Schedule

10.00 AM : Inauguration

Dr. MS Geetha President of KUETEF,
Fr. Joseph John Vice President of KUETEF
& the Principal of Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam will address the participants

10.30 AM onwards :

Demo sessions on the following Models of Teaching by

Teacher Educators (Members of KUETEF)

* Concept Attainment Model

* Inquiry Training Model

* Advance Organizer Model

* Synectic Model

* Inductive Thinking Model

* Constructivist Model

The teacher educators who volunteered to demonstrate will supply essential Handouts
for the participants of the workshop.

1PM to 1.30 PM : Lunch Break

1.30 PM to 2.30 PM : Demo session cum discussion to continue

2.30 PM : Routine Deliberations of KUETEF
* Presentation of Report
* Discussion based on the agenda
3.30 PM : Tea break
3.45. to 4.00 PM : Closing session and distribution of certificates

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

•The host institution, Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam has graciously consented to provide the working lunch and tea.

•Please treat this as an invitation for all English Teacher Educators of colleges affiliated to the University of Kerala.

•The members of KUETEF are looking forward to meeting you all at Kollam

With warm Regards

On behalf of the members,

C.Praveen, Secretary, KUETEF

11. Workshop on Models for ELT

2010-01-12T07:27:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

The Kerala University English Teacher Educators Forum (KUETEF) and Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam is organizing a workshop on Models of Teaching on Saturday 06 February 2010. During the last meeting of KUETEF, a few teacher educators present had volunteered to demonstrate some Models that can be effectively employed for teaching English.

A Post Card intimating the proposed workshop is being mailed to all the teacher training institutions affiliated to the University of Kerala where English is offered as an optional subject.

Those teacher educators of the University of Kerala who are interested in attending the workshop are most welcome. Please register yourself as a member and strengthen our forum.

With warm regards

C.Praveen

Secretary

10. Consensus 21 November 2009

2009-11-27T08:31:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

During the after noon session of the meeting held on 21 November 2009 the members arrived at the following consensus.

• ‘Lesson Plan’ written during Practice Teaching by the trainees will be renamed ‘Teaching Manual’

• Will discontinue the writing of Self Reflection as a separate paragraph after each Teaching Manual. Instead the trainee will enter Self Reflection in the Teaching Practice Diary.

• For writing the CO for each Plan mention should be made of the Issue/ Sub issue and the Learning Objectives mentioned for each unit in the Source Book

• The Second Column of Discussion Lessons, Criticism Lessons and Teaching Manual will be renamed ‘Assessment’.

• For Discussion Lessons the trainees shall write the anticipated response in the Second Column.

• During Criticism lessons and Practice Teaching the second column will remain blank when the trainee enters the class. After the class the trainee will reflect on the learner (quantitative and qualitative), strategy and material used and enter the assessment

• The third column will have the title Theory/Principles & Approaches

Format of Teaching Manual

Name of Trainee
Name of School
Std:
Strength:
Period:
Duration:
Date:
Subject:
Unit:
Issue:
Sub Issue
Co’s
Pre-requisites
Learning Materials:
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Process(Column 1)

Informal Interaction
Entry activity
(To trigger the thought)
(Recapitulation of Previous day class)

Link Talk (presentation)
Connection to new unit/
writing on BB/
Statement of aim/
Introducing the topic

Microprocessing of input
(Prose/Poem)
• Reading of given passage
• Tacking of reading
• Sharing understanding of finding(Pair/Peer)
• Sitting in groups
• Scaffolded reading
• Finding answers to questions given
• Discourse construction: [A discourse based on input]

Individual
Pair
Group
Presentation
Refining

•Questions on appreciation for Poems
(Assessment)

Assignment

Assessment (Column 2)
(To be written after the class)
Learner – (quantitative)
Free response 10/40
Responded 20/40
Partial res 5/40
No res. 5/40
(Qualitative)
Roshan responded well
Swetha was logical

Teacher Assessment
* Need a new poem
* Anecdote not good
Material
* Not very good

Theory/Principle/Approach (Column 3)

9. Workshop Notes

2009-11-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Notes from the presentation on preparation of Teaching Manual – (Workshop organized by KUETEF on Saturday, 21st November 2009)

•Wren and Martin’s High School English Grammar was once the Bible for language teachers- Times have changed – Today teaching the forms of language is not our primary purpose.

•Insights from Cognitive Psychology, Piaget , Bruner and concepts from Chomsky are incorporated into the teaching-learning process.

•We have moved from the teaching of mere language skills and have started to see language as a knowledge subject.

•The New Course Book is assembled to address ‘issues’, Constructivist principles and Critical Pedagogy.

•The focus is on helping learners learn by asking questions- Questioning in a structured way that leads to expose pitfalls/drawbacks of fossilized knowledge-
Cf: Education is in short the growth of the thought process.

•In transacting the content of the Course Book we are trying to address two questions basically: a. How do learners read ? b. How do learners write?

•Steps in reading : [Note: The strategy given below is for Std VIII, IX and X and not for Std V,VI and VII]

*As the learner reads he tracks it by putting a question mark, an exclamation mark or a tick mark- See CB.

*Collaborative reading which involves megaphoning the doubts- the pupil shares with his partner or friend his understanding of the passage.

*Scaffolded reading : The teacher asks scaffolding questions –It is not mere comprehension type question, but questions that lead the learner to form opinions, make predictions, make judgments , establish connections etc.-[Model reading can be attempted by the teacher if it will help the learner]… the third level of reading to generate thinking.

•The reading passage is seen as an input: the expected outcome can be a dialogue or a writing task.

* Individual attempt : Try to get an initiation for the written task by asking a question related to the passage the pupils have just read. Eg: What should the character ask then…

* The learners share their ideas with friends

* Pairs join small groups and share their ideas. [If students are smart, mere pair work would suffice and the teacher can ask them to present their written work]

* Presentation of group product . The best product/ the best written work is selected.

* Teacher editing/refinement

* Refined product goes to the student portfolio.

Preparation of Teaching Manual

• The strength of the process decides the quality of the product

• Each Teaching Manual to have the following three
1.Presentation of input 2. Processing of input and output 3. Assessment

• Each Teaching Manual should have one, two or even three activities which can be meaningfully transacted during the period

• There should be an assessment of Learner(quantitative, qualitative), Teacher and the material after the completion of a module or after one week.

• Earlier assessment aimed at finding out what child knows/ does not know. Now assessment aims at helping the child learn better

• Activities other than discourses may be necessary to sensitize learners to the issue. [Remember : ‘Issues’… is basically the burden of the textbook writer]

• Each unit in the new Course Book has a number of modules [A module is a meaningful division from which one ‘construct’ emerges ie; one written product] It takes roughly four to five periods of instruction to complete a module.

• Teachers of every Subject meet –The Subject Council prepares a detailed plan of what is to be transacted the following month. They prepare a Comprehensive Unit Plan (CUP) which lists the expected outcomes (skills, discourse, values, attitudes etc.) which emerge from the learner – CUP helps pooling of resources and identification of alternative strategies for instruction - Each Lesson Plan will have around five CUP’s – one for each module)

CUP
Name of unit :
Major CO’s : … The major thrust focus of the unit (issues)
Materials and resources
[The CUP has five columns]

Column 1 Input : Poem – Dream

Prose – When Wishes Come True

Column 2 Input Process

Entry activity
First reading

Second reading
Entry activity – reading
Column 3 Output

Comprehension and appreciation (thematic)

Note of appreciation
Parallel poem

Scaffolding question

Column 4 Output Process

Individual, pair, group, presentation, refinement

Individual, pair, group, presentation, refinement

Editing

Column 5 Assessment
Self assessment
Teacher assessment
Column 6 Resources

Audio cassette
CD
Additional poems

* * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** *

8. Report of Sixth Meeting

2009-11-23T15:49:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

The sixth meeting of KUETEF and the first meeting of the academic year 2009-10 was held in the Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on Saturday, November 21st, 2009.

Based on the intimation by Postcard mailed to forty six colleges of Teacher Education affiliated to the University of Kerala, seventeen teacher educators attended the meeting.

The proposed agenda of the meeting was a workshop on preparation of Lesson Plans based on the newly introduced issue-based curriculum.

The meeting commenced at 10.30 AM with a prayer by Ms. Anu Mukund. Then the President of KUETEF Dr. M.S.Geetha, welcomed the members and the Resource Person of the day, Mr. Jose Philip, a Lecturer of the Collegiate Education department who had associated himself with the preparation of the new Course book in English. Dr. Geetha also emphasized the need to sensitize teacher educators to the shift in paradigm and to familiarize with the ways of transacting the issued-based curriculum.

Next the members introduced themselves and the Secretary of KUETEF, Mr. C.Praveen presented the Report of the meeting held on Saturday, 13th June 2009 . He also mentioned the activities which the members of KUETEF engaged in after the meeting.

After the presentation of the Report which was approved by the members present, the Resource Person Mr. Jose introduced the participants to the strategies followed for preparation of ‘Teaching Manual’ well in tune with guidelines given during School Cluster Meetings. The RP also addressed several doubts of the participants regarding the rationale of the new procedure followed in classroom transaction.

The session concluded at 1.15 PM and Ms Meenakshi Ramachandran thanked the RP on behalf of KUETEF. During the lunch break new members registered and joined KUETEF. The subscription for the new academic year was also collected by the Treasurer of KUETEF Ms. Anila Chacko.

In the afternoon the participants had a ‘round table’ conference to finalize the format of the Lesson Plan. It was decided to rename 'Lesson Plan' as 'Teaching Manual' for plans prepared by trainees during Practice Teaching.

A few members expressed a need to have discussions to clarify ‘dark areas’ on the topics prescribed for study in the Methodology and Pedagogy papers. The difficulties they faced in finding answers for ‘Principles of testing’ and ‘concepts and principles ‘ in the Pedagogy paper was discussed. Realizing the need to find answers for such ‘dark areas’ it was decided to collect the questions through email for which answers could be given in the form of comments posted on the Blog.
Mr. C. Praveen volunteered to receive the questions by email and initiate the discussion in the KUETEF Blog.

Some members stated that they were experiencing difficulty in demonstrating ‘Models’ of teaching. It was also pointed out that the workshops conducted by several colleges failed to deliver. When a few members volunteered to demonstrate the Models, the Vice President of KUETEF, Fr. Joseph J proposed to host the workshop on ‘Models for ELT’ with assistance from his college management. The Treasurer Ms. Anila informed that part of the expenses for the workshop could be met from the KUETEF funds. So it was decided to conduct a Workshop on Models of teaching at Karmela Rani Training College, Kollam, jointly with KUETEF on the first Saturday of February 2010 (ie 06 . 02. 2010).

During the tea break Fr. Joseph said it would be a good idea to mail by post the proceeding of each meeting to the members of KUETEF. The deliberations came to an end at 4 PM and Ms. Anila Chacko thanked the participants.

7. Proposed Workshop

2009-11-12T17:56:00.001-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

As informed earlier, KUETEF is organizing a workshop on preparation of Lesson Plans based on Issue-based curriculum for the English Teacher Educators of Kerala University at Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on Saturday, 21st November 2009 from 10.00 AM to 1.00 PM

The participants are directed to bring the following:

•Writing material/ stationery

•Newly introduced Coursebook for Std VIII

•Sourcebook for Standard VIII

During the afternoon, discussions on preparation of Problem-based Practicums / other topics can be arranged based on the interest and need of the members present.

- Secretary, C.Praveen

6.Methodology Media Fest

2009-11-12T17:50:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

During the meeting held on 13 June 2009 teacher educators of KUETEF planned to get in touch for improving the quality of instruction. Accordingly the Department of English of Government College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum organized a Methodology Media Fest on 09.09.2009. Its objective was to bring together trainees of neighbouring colleges to interact and refine their ideas for exploiting technological resources for teaching English.

Invitations were sent to the Kerala University Teacher Education Centre, Kumarapuram and St. Thomas Training College, Mukollakal. However only trainees of St. Thomas Training College and Govt. CTE, Trivandrum turned up for the Fest held in the Technology Lab of Government College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum.

During the discussion-based presentations materials for teaching Vocabulary, Grammar, Phonetics, Prose and Poetry were presented.

It is hoped that trainees of a few more colleges will participate in the next Methodology Media Fest.

Excerpts from the Evaluation sheet given to the participants

•“ …Such a wonderful experience…” – Shihana, St. Thomas Training College.

•“…The experience was new…what makes the day memorable is the motivation we got…”
– Satheesh, St.Thomas Training College

•“… Excellent …It would have been a great loss if I were absent…”
-Indu S.Nair, St. Thomas Training College

•“…A well organized programme, very informative and interesting…wish programmes
like this would be conducted every year…”
- Lathika, Govt.CTE.

5.Postal Mail to English Lecturers

2009-11-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello…

Hope you received the Post Card.

Greetings from the Kerala University English Teacher Educators Forum (KUETEF)

All members and those interested in joining

KUETEF are requested to contact me by email .

cpteach@rediffmail.com

On receiving your email I will intimate you about the proposed workshop on

Preparation of Lesson Plans for the newly introduced Issue-based curriculum.

Regards

C. Praveen

4.Class room Transaction & Practicum

2009-06-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Please note the consensus in Class room transaction and Practicum arrived at during the meeting held on 13 June 2009

•A Lesson Plan is only an outline programme of action of a teacher to teach a particular topic in a subject. If we surf the internet we can come across 2 Column , 3 Column, 4 Column, 5 Column and ones without any ‘Column’ at all, as in Lesson Plans for Models of Teaching. So, let us not be fussy about ‘Columns’!

•We will continue to follow the practice of making trainees write Lesson plans with three columns:
* Column 1: Process
* Column 2: Response
* Column 3: Theory / Principles

•If the trainee writes anticipated response in Column 2, prior to the class in blue ink, after the class, the trainee should reflect on the class and write an analysis of Process, Product and Strategy in another colour ink (say black)

• Alternatively, if this is not done, after the class, in the Lesson Plan at the end, the trainee should write a short paragraph reflecting on the class just engaged.

• Ensure that in the Diary, each trainee enters his/her reflections on the classes engaged during Practice Teaching.

•In the facing sheet of the Lesson plan, make a reference to the ‘Main Issue’ of the lesson being taught under the head ‘Curriculum Objectives’

•Also make sure that each Lesson Plan makes a reference to
1. The Main issue
2. The language task
3. Entry point ( ie; the ‘Advanced Organizer’ made use of )
4. Activity: individual, pair and group
5. Product: Notice, Letter etc

•While teaching topics related to an ‘issue’, attempt to identify a ‘Local text’ and move on to the various sub issues.

•Reciting of poems and reading aloud the prose passage, by the teacher will definitely help the pupil. So it should be attempted.

•Time- tested Behaviourist strategies can be attempted if they are useful for the pupils.

•While giving tasks, begin with Individual work, them move on to Pair work and finally to Group work. This will ensure better participation of pupils and help in proper scaffolding . ZPD will also receive due attention.

•The nature of evaluation for an ‘issue-based’ curriculum was one area for which the members present had nothing specific to state. So it was decided to follow the pattern in the recent SSLC Question paper* , though the CB for Standard X is not actually designed to sensitize learners to issues and employ strategies of Critical Pedagogy.
[*Prepare a short speech in not more than 80 words to be made in your school
assembly on rain water harvesting – Q.31. March 2009 Code # 219]

•Teacher educators and trainees should familiarize themselves with the currently available Source Book for Standard VII published in 2008 (Standard VIII Source Book is not yet available)

•While trainees prepare Discussion Lesson Plans , ensure that at least one lesson is IT-based.

•The teacher educator should definitely engage a lesson based on Models of Teaching as part of Demonstration Lessons.

•Encourage trainees to prepare at least one Innovative Record. It could be the report of a Multimedia material they have designed/created. Eg: Animated Video.

•Try to enrich class room transaction by making use of Magazines/ Newspaper clips, video clips etc for highlighting the ‘issue’ and for illustrating or explaining topics.

•As part of the Practicum on documentation, identify several sources for teaching a particular poem or passage. Cite the sources for audio/video/ visual/ critical/ biographical materials or even similar poems/ passages. Ensure that they are properly documented as in the Bibliography section of PhD dissertations.

•For Practicum based on Film / Book review, it would be better to choose films/ books related to the ‘issues’ identified in the Source Book However, choosing films /books dealing with ‘issues’ is not compulsory.

•For Film/Book review, the trainees may state the positive and negative aspects they were able to identify after reading/ watching it. They may also highlight the style of writing, character delineation etc.

If you need any further clarification, please feel free to contact me
cpteach@rediffmail.com

3.Report of meeting : 13 June 2009

2009-06-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Venue: Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum .

As per the intimation letter dated 4.6.09 mailed to over 40 members and reminders by telephone, from Ms. Anila Chacko, the Treasurer, KUETEF, sixteen members assembled in the Seminar Hall of GCTE, Trivandrum on 13th June 2009 at 10.30 AM

The President of KUETEF, Dr. M.S.Geetha, welcomed the members present. She also expressed her concern at the poor turn out of the members for an important meeting which intends to discuss transactional strategies for the newly introduced Standard 8 Course Book.

Dr. M.S.Geetha also informed that there is an urgent need to nominate / elect a new Secretary for KUETEF as the person who was serving as Secretary Ms. Bindhu.T.S, has taken up appointment in a school in the Gulf. This was treated as the first agenda of the meeting and the discussions based on the new Course Book and Practicum, the second agenda.

Ms. Anila Chacko , proposed the name of Mr. C.Praveen, Lecturer in English of Government College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum as the new Secretary. But when Mr. C.Praveen expressed his apprehension of his lack of familiarity with the Kerala University syllabus as he was recently transferred from a Govt. CTE, affiliated to Calicut University some members considered it too insignificant and insisted that Mr. C. Praveen be appointed as the Secretary. As none of the members present expressed a different opinion, Mr. C.Praveen was declared elected as the new Secretary.

At this juncture, Ms Anila Chacko , the Treasurer proposed that the accounts of KUETEF be audited. Accordingly Mr. Prashanth. of Fathima Memorial College, Umayanalloor, Kollam was nominated as Auditor of the accounts of KUETEF through common consent of the members present.

Next, Dr. M.S. Geetha congratulated the newly appointed Secretary and Auditor, and expressed her hope that both of them would help in the smooth functioning of KUETEF. Then she introduced Mr. C.Praveen to the members. She spoke at length about the professional background of Mr. C. Praveen- his experience as a former faculty of the Regional Institute of English, Bangalore, and participation in curriculum related work in the SCERT which could be well utilized by the members. Then Mr. C.Praveen was asked to take over the proceedings of the day.

Mr. C.Praveen, began by thanking the members for electing him as the Secretary, despite his reputation as a critic of the New Curriculum. He also expressed his desire to perform his duties as Secretary of KUETEF to the satisfaction of the members albeit, his recent appointment as Professor on deputation in the Regional Institute of English, Bangalore.

Next, the newly elected Secretary, C.Praveen objectively reviewed the current ELT curriculum being implemented at the Secondary level in Kerala. References were made to Critical Pedagogy, Issue-based curriculum and the pattern for Lesson Plan writing suggested during Cluster Meetings. He also made references to the clash in views regarding class room strategies with regard to the teaching of English experienced by the teacher educators and trainees during Practice Teaching.

Next, the Secretary distributed Xerox copies of the first unit of the newly introduced Course Book for the members who had not yet seen the new Course Book. After the members present had a look at the new Course Book, Mr. C. Praveen, based on his discussion with the faculty of SCERT, explained the proposed transactional strategy. Next, Xerox copies of relevant pages from the Source Book suggesting steps for transaction for Standard 8 were distributed.

The members did express their anxiety with regard to the kind of problems the trainees are likely to face when they go for the second spell of the Practice Teaching. Ms Meenakshi, a member present, clarified doubts raised by the members with regard to the Practicum on ‘Module Writing’ and ‘Film Review’.

Though a formal workshop was proposed earlier for writing a Lesson Plan, paucity of time forced the participants to identify the stages to be reflected in a Lesson Plan that intends to transact the prescribed unit in 30 periods. Discussions were also held regarding the ways of incorporating issues and Critical Pedagogy during class room transaction.

By 1.15 PM, the members decided to call it a day. Ms. Anila Chacko, thanked the members present for their active participation in the discussions. She also specially thanked Mr. C.Praveen and Ms. Meenakshi for briefing the participants on Curriculum transaction. Before adjourning, the members expressed the desire to keep in touch for clarification regarding teaching of the new Course Book and so it was decided to launch a web site for KUETEF in the immediate future. And as a preliminary step the Secretary proposed the launching of a blog for the benefit of the members. The meeting adjourned at 1.30.PM. -C.Praveen

2.Secretary to Members

2009-06-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

[Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum - KUETEF]

Hello everyone,

I was rather surprised at your decision to nominate me as you new Secretary during the meeting of KUETEF held on 13 June 2009.

I hope I will be able to perform the duties assigned to me and live up to your expectations.

Thank you for your faith in me.

May I invite you to join the discussion on eslforum

http://www.eslforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4932

With warm regards

C.Praveen

1.Launch of Blog for KUETEF

2009-06-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

The members of the Kerala University English Teacher Educator’s Forum (KUETEF) who

attended the meeting held at Govt. College of Teacher Education, Trivandrum on 13

June 2009 expressed the desire to launch a Community blog to enable members to

interact. As a preliminary step, this blog is being launched today.