The School Education Department is looking to identify teachers who use innovative methods and the State Council for Education Research and Training plans to videotape these practices to help others improve.
“We are collecting applications from across the State and once teachers with innovative practices are identified, we will tape the method and upload it on to our website,” an official said. They have received over 300 applications so far. The Chennai Corporation too, through its Centre for Science of Learning, is engaging Corporation school teachers in peer learning. Baker-Rodrigo Observation Method Protocol (BROMP) is a protocol developed for quantitative field observation of student behaviour in Corporation schools by CSL in association with Teachers College, Columbia University.
“Ryan Baker, a leading authority on the science of education from Teachers College, was here a few months ago and interacted with teachers here and helped us evolve a system that could be used in our Corporation schools,” said Krishnan Srinivasan, of Quest Explore Discover, which runs CSL in partnership with the Corporation.
Now, there is a Learn Lab in Chennai School, Alwarpet, where tools are created by teachers and sessions are held every afternoon. “Teachers can pick out and learn things they are interested in. They record videos which can be used as resource material for teaching,” Mr. Srinivasan said.
Currently, 20 teachers visit various Corporation schools and the ‘BROMP classrooms’.
“We have built a mobile app called HART, which these teachers use to fill various criteria like level of students’ enthusiasm. This would help in student engagement and gauging performance indicators,” added.
