'TIME-TABLE!!'

                                                TIME-TABLE!!!!

11th February,2015, 9:00 pm

A child spends one-third of his/her day in the school. The time spent in the school by teachers and students is structured by the time-table. Thus, time-table is an important administrative tool, which helps in the organization and structuring the teaching-learning strategies of both-the learner and the teacher. Time-table of a particular school is the reflection of its aims, vision, objectives, curriculum and scope for experimenting with the pedagogy style. Thus, an effective and detailed analysis of the time-table helps us to understand the school in a better way. It can also act as a constructive way for evaluating the school by taking the feedback into account.

I also got a chance to have a look and reflect on the time-table of a Government minority school for Muslim girls. In this particular paper, I have focused on classes I, II and class VIII. The reason for limiting my focus to these classes is to draw the changes in the time-table that happen over the grades (since, these classes are at two extremes- one is the lowest grades of the school and the other is the highest grade). I have tried to analyze it through different angles: number of periods given to per subject in a week; balance between curricular and co-curricular subjects; subjects dealt in pre and post lunch timings; duration of a period and balance between theory and practicum.

Time-given per subject in a week and Balance between scholastic and co-scholastic subjects:

In classes I and II, the subjects dealt are: Mathematics (6 periods per week), Urdu (6), English (5), Kannada (5) and EVS (6).

However, in class VIII the scholastic subjects dealt are: Mathematics (6 periods per week), Urdu (6), English (5), Kannada (5), General Sciences (6), and Social Sciences (6). Apart from these, subjects like: computer, library, physical education, drawing, M.PT, Life Skills, Vocational Education and S.U.P.W have 1 (or 2 for S.U.P.W) period per week.  

An interesting thing to note is that in lower grades there is no special period for games/sports/physical education, library, drawing or any other co-scholastic subjects. However, if one digs deep into it, one can see that for classes I and II, the State government has adopted Nali-Kali system, which focuses on activity-based learning. Thus, if 1 hour 20 minutes is used effectively, then it may take care of co-scholastic subjects up to some extent, but not completely. Also, in class VIII, the time given to scholastic and co-scholastic subjects is not balanced. This imbalance, clearly point out that this particular school gives quite a bit importance to the scholastic curriculum.

Balance between theory and practical:

This is especially with regard to higher grade (class VIII), the time-table is so tightly packed that there is no schedule or separate period for practicum. If a teacher, wishes to facilitate an experiment or practical in science or in any other subject as well, then there is no special provision for it. She/he will have to take out time from his/her own period, which is only for 40 minutes. Thus, even if the teacher wants to make a balance in theory and practical for the learners, by default fails to do so, effectively!

Subjects dealt in pre and post-lunch timings and organization of subjects:

In classes I and II, the time-table remains the same through-out the week without any variation in the timings of the subject dealt. Before lunch, Urdu and Mathematics are taken and post-lunch the focus is given to E.V.S, English and Kannada.

However, in class VIII there is some variation in the schedule. But, most of the co-scholastic subjects are given a time slot of post-lunch. Since, post lunch the students usually get restless. So, all the co-curricular subjects have been placed in the post-lunch time-slots. Does that indicate, in this school co-curricular subjects are not given importance?

Also, one more thing that should be taken care of is that in classes I and II, second and third language i.e. English and Kannada is scheduled in continuation. The teaching-learning process of any languages is usually similar. So, is it fine to schedule two languages period back-to-back?

Drawing from the interaction, I had with language teachers (English and Kannada), one of the major concern for them is the ‘not-so-rigid structure’ (syllabus, textbooks) for these languages results in treating language periods as free-period (specific to classes I and II). So, one way of looking at it, keeping these two languages together at the end of the day is, that they are not given utmost importance till class III!

Duration of a period, Pupil-Teacher Ratio and children’s concentration span:

An interesting thing to note, is that though the number of periods given to scholastic subjects remain similar across the grades, but the time varies. Thus, 1 period of Mathematics for lower grades means 1 hour 20 minutes and 1 period of Mathematics for higher grades is 40 minutes. Thus, keeping in mind, the actual PTR of the school, which is 60:1 of almost every class, a period of 40 minutes seems unjustified for both-the learners and the teacher. Such a short time-period and large class-strength does not leave any option with the teacher to try new and innovative teaching-learning methods in his/her classroom. But, on the other hand, too longer duration of a period also raises an issue. It is difficult for children to concentrate for more than 20 minutes at one time (as per research). Thus, in this particular case where the PTR is almost double the recommendation given by Right to Education (RTE, 2009), I think we should increase the duration of a period to an hour, where the teacher has the autonomy of choosing the appropriate pedagogy. And even then, the teacher should take into account that it is difficult for students to pay attention for an hour. Thus, she/he can include small 5 minutes break in between, which will also act as a way to enhance teacher-student relationship! But, it will be of any help, only and only if we use it properly. By extending the time and not changing the pedagogy will not serve our purpose. Since, the reason behind this is so that teacher is able to cater to individual needs.   

Time-slot for Lunch:

The school has a lunch break of 40 minutes, which is same across the grades. The time given to lunch and any other period is equal. Thus, one must appreciate the thought of the school of taking into account the time-needed by the students to refresh themselves and thus, acknowledging the need for unstructured time for students. Though the slot of unstructured time overlaps with lunch break, but one must pay heed to the time for lunch break which is usually less in other schools. However, since we do not know the exact reason for the same, but, this can be taken in positive spirit!!

Towards the end, I think the teachers’ involvement in framing the time-table should be given utmost important. And equal focus should be given to scholastic, co-scholastic subjects, theory and practical. It would be great if the time-table could find some space, say 10-15 minutes per day for class-teacher and students interactions exclusively!!

This, analysis is based on my understandings and observations. It does not take into account the perspective of time-table maker, completely. It would have been better if I could have got a chance to interact with the person who actually framed the time-table!

Pause think and.....

                                                   

                                                    Teachers' Voice 

28^th January 2015, Wednesday

This was the first practicum of the semester. The school that we went was the same as last semester, Government Urdu Primary Middle School, DJ Halli, Banglore. I was glad to see that teachers and students recognized us, and welcomed us warmly. This friendly bond helped us to have a dialogue with them as they were expressing themselves freely.

When we went there, we planned to divide ourselves in groups of two. Bhavini and I got together and went to the girls’ school. As per the task, we had to pick one subject and talk to the respective subject-teacher about how they feel about the subject. We decided to have a dialogue with the mathematics teacher. The reason for selecting mathematics was the statement that many of us have come across since our childhood- ‘I am afraid of math.’ Also, it has been the experience of many of us. So, we wanted to understand how teachers see this. When we went to the school, we first had a chance to interact with students. And it was interesting to note that there the trend was not same. Students neither liked nor disliked mathematics. Thus, they had ambiguous and mixed responses. And suddenly, some of them started sharing about how they like English and do not like Kannada. So, we changed our plan and talked to language teachers instead. 

The major reason for learning language as per the teachers was it is the medium for learning anything; it is needed to get a good job nowadays (specifically English teacher). The school follows the three-language formula as recommended in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005. Since this is a minority school so, it offers Urdu as first language, English as second Language and Kannada as Third Language. We tried to have conversation with all the subject teachers. The responses were really unexpected for me. The English teacher shared with us that the students are really excited to learn English, since it is something new for them. This was confirmed by students as well, when they said ‘जब कोई इंग्लिश में बोलता है तो सुनने में अच्छा लगता हैं’. But, the major challenge in front of English teacher is that the students are equally afraid of speaking in English. Another major concern was the lack of exposure of that particular language. And to overcome it she made it a compulsion that at least in her class, every child should speak in English. But, both teachers and students agreed that because of this compulsion, students tend to avoid speaking in English class at all. Also, she expressed that since the medium of instruction in other subjects is Urdu, children do not get any other opportunity to talk/read/write in English. Students also told us that they are comfortable in writing and listening English, but not in reading and speaking. However, the teacher’s experience was total opposite to it. According to her children don’t comprehend the language while writing (or should I say copying), thus they are uncomfortable while speaking as well.  She added by saying that it is because of this problem of comprehension that she has to explains things in their mother tongue at times.

The Kannada teacher faces a lot of challenge. Even the students showed their dis-interest and dis-like towards the language. The major problem faced by the teacher is lack of exposure, students have at home and school and hence lack of motivation for both- students and teachers. The teacher seemed to be a little isolated from the rest of the school staff which makes her demotivated to work her best. Similar to English teacher, she uses translation when needed, otherwise speak in Kannada only. This makes it difficult for students to keep themselves connected with the language. The school did not have any Kannada teacher for a long time and now it has only one in the whole school, which makes it even more challenging, as it is completely failing the idea of three-language formula as well. As there is critical age of acquiring any language and after that it will have reduced (or less) effect.

The Urdu teacher did not really have any challenges with her subject and nor do the students. Since, Urdu is their mother tongue and they have enough exposure of the language at home, neighborhood and school. But, she expresses her concern that children don’t truly appreciate the language. The logic behind this might be the difference in the written and oral form of the language. Since, what we say and what we write is not always same. And this problem persists with every language. For instance, in Hindi, in day-to-day conversation we say pohachien (पूहचिएँ) but write it as pahoochien (पहुचे).  Thus, students study Urdu as a subject only.  However, the major challenge that she talked about is how the socio-economic condition of children is influencing their over-all learning. Also the cultural capital they are exposed to at home, where the parents don’t take care of child’s learning rather focuses on earning money, can be seen as a reason for children’s lack of interest in teaching-learning process in general (as per the teacher).

The common challenge across all language teachers is the lack of exposure, which could have been up to some extent be taken care of, by proper use of library. But, the resources of school does not support them. As the library has course textbooks only. Another challenge that was raised by both-English and Kannada teachers is the way these languages are introduced in class I and II. Till class II students have Math, Urdu and EVS and are not formally introduced to English and Kannada as subjects. Rather teachers are oriented to introduce it informally, without paying too much stress. And it is left open-ended to deal with. Thus, it is taken so informally that both the languages are not dealt at all, till class III! 

Keeping in mind the perspectives of language teachers, one can see that a lot of things have to be taken care of while planning the curriculum. Thus, pedagogy, resources and learners’ context go hand in hand and should get a special place in curriculum planning!