AUXILIUM BANDEL: On 18 & 19 June, 2018 Auxilium Convent School Bandel organized 2days teachers’ Orientation Workshop in the school premises. Teachers of Auxilium Bandel and Kalyani participated in it. The resource persons were Dr. David Paige and Ms. Gayle Bartilow who are associated with Thinking Schools Academy - Homes of Hope, India. Dr. David Paige was an Associate Professor of Education at Bellarmine University USA. He is acquainted with Thinking School Academy since 2011. Ms. Gayle Bartilow is Faculty Programme coordinator in Midway College, USA.

The first day began with a prayers service and, lighting of the lamp and presenting of the bouquets to the resource persons. The theme of the Orientation was ‘Initial Acquisition Workshop’.

It was enriching and interesting that enhanced the teaching skills. The emphasis was laid on Higher Order Thinking and Re-Invent Your Teaching, adopting the Thinking School Approach i.e. Critical Thinking skill. The workshop took us into insight - Intelligence, Psychology and the Development Thinking. The concepts are Instructional Rigor, Thinking Continuum, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, the cognitive tools of learning. All these were explained specifically.

The Framework was to help the teachers in imparting knowledge to the students in a modernized way, wherein the students are expected to learn by analyzing the given facts, themselves. All the concepts were followed by activities and, Instructional Strategy: Think, Pair and, Share (TPS). The teachers were not passive listeners but they choose the subject matter and outline the questions based on, from the taught strategies. It was at par with the New Curriculam of ICSE and ISC.

The second day began imploring God’s blessing with a prayer song followed by a group activity on Webb’s Depth of knowledge, teachers were asked to frame questions pertaining, from Lower Order to Higher Order. The different strategies were discussed - how to make the lessons interesting and effective. Then it was followed by second group activity ‘Lesson Sequence Planning Template’. The objective of the Orientation was to improve reading instruction and encourage higher order of thinking. The provoking thought and tailgate workshop was beneficial to the teachers and the desired learning skills are to be cultivated in the students.

(Ms.Arundhati Dafader)