Incubating the Next-Gen Wizards?.. What’s your Blueprint?
Pre-school, a child’s first step in their holy grail of academic achievement and worldly success. It is their initial exposure to an environment for organized learning and activity. Parents and children embark on this journey with hope in their hearts and trepidation in their eyes!! Preschools, therefore, have the delicate and onerous responsibility of ensuring that what they deliver, creates the intellectually empowered citizen of the future.
It is an established fact that the first six years of a child's life are fundamentally important. These are the foundation years that shape the children's future health, happiness, growth, development and learning at school, in the family, in community and life in general.
So here are some thoughts on possible options schools may want to ideate upon and incorporate into their curriculum.
Creative Study Modules
Create learning modules and an in-class study environment, that has a nice balance of direct personal interactions and interventions but also leverages technology tools as mode of content delivery. Kids are fairly tech savvy these days. This also exposes them to the fact that tablets, handhelds can be used as a part of their learning and not just for games. Content taught in class, can also be made available for access at home. This will foster a child-parent bonding as well as build a home learning environment.
Teacher Selection and Development
Have a well articulated process of teacher selection and continuous learning programs for them. This will ensure that teachers have the pre-requisite skills to absorb and deliver in line with current trends. Create a process that encourages teachers to bring in innovation to their curriculum. Reward and recognize them.
Co-operative Learning
Teacher-centered instruction is rapidly fading. Innovative teachers are increasingly using a student-centric approach. Co-operative learning is exciting and engaging. It encourages interaction among the students themselves. The teacher, rather than calling on one student at a time, allows children to discuss class materials with buddies or in groups, thus maximizing the level of participation. No longer a one-man show, the teacher’s role becomes that of a facilitator instead. This, in turn, leads to higher achievement, while promoting both individual confidence as well as team building.
No one size fits all approach
Differentiated instructions and Assessment of Learning are new approaches being explored by preschool teachers. This helps them assess and identify student needs at a more granular level. Individual assessments are made based on the child’s learning style: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. The teacher gets a good understanding of individuals, groups and the class as a whole. They can monitor how the children are learning as they teach, using observations, questioning strategies, class discussions etc., Teachers can then match assignments to readiness levels, offering appropriate intervention or extension activities as required. Allowing children to select activities based on areas of interest is another great way to differentiate. Offering choices is an excellent motivator for kids. Small-group work is one of the most effective ways to meet the needs of diverse learners in large class settings.
So in a fast paced ever-changing environment, teaching methods cannot remain static. That will be the biggest disservice the teaching fraternity can do to the learner and the community at large. Innovation, integrating the advantages that technology has to offer and a firm understanding of what the new age warrior needs to win the battles that lie ahead, have to be a part of the Blueprint that preschools need to create today to help conquer the challenges of tomorrow.
