During the prolonged closure of schools, we have been experimenting with a differentiated model of schooling. Initially, we conducted an assessment to identify the gaps. Learning continued through phone calls, text messages, Viber and IMO groups, zoom classes, and in-person hourly consultancy with teachers in school. We divided students into three categories:
- Internet access.
- Some internet access.
- Zero internet access.
Group A-
Lessons are delivered on zoom classes twice a week, students send snapshots of their assignments and come to school once a week to get personalized coaching from teachers on their problems.
Group B-
We sent short video clips and bytes of class recordings on social media groups that students download, send snapshots of their assignments, and also come to school once a week for personalized coaching.
Group C-
Teachers make phone calls and send messages with assignments. The students come to school for interactive assessments and coaching twice every week.
Blended Teacher Development-
We regularly provide teachers workshops and training on different teaching-learning methods. Currently, we are focusing mostly on Game-Based learning, Social Emotional Learning, Critical Thinking and Creativity.
We have implemented our teacher development in four steps:
First, to let the teachers get an understanding of the concept as well as to make the workshops more effective, we suggest they do our online courses beforehand. We have many courses on different teaching approaches on our website which are accessible for all.
Then, we run our workshops. Usually the workshops are 2-4 days long. We try to keep the workshops more interactive, engaging and essentially experiential.
After every workshop, we evaluate the impacts in the classroom through observations and assessment rubrics. We share our feedback with teachers based on the rubrics and help them to identify scopes to do better through one-on-one coaching.
We do not limit our teacher development program solely to workshops and training sessions. We provide mentoring in classrooms for teachers to learn and stay updated on new innovations in teaching around the world. We try to co-create resources such as reading materials, video contents and teaching aids to help them grow regularly.
We believe that a good teacher is not only about skills but also values. We promote empathy, equity-equality, secularism, integrity and self reflection among our teachers.