Please welcome Mr. Lokesh in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’. 

Mr. Lokesh works as a  teacher in Tiptur Taluk. He has been a teacher for 26 years. 

He is intensely aware of different styles of ‘learning’. Some are ‘visual’ learners, and some others learn by ‘touch’ etc. Visual learners take ‘visual’ cues such as words on the board, underlined words etc. Such students usually do not need an explanation of a visual cue. They would learn better if we ask them to draw a sketch or a diagram. 

‘Auditory’ students take cues from sounds. They learn by listening and by watching the lip movements of the reader. Such students need Q&A method, group discussion etc. to learn effectively. Interactive sessions are important for such students. They are less motivated by ‘visual’ cues. ‘Brainstorming’ works effectively with such students.

Mr. Lokesh has found ‘kinaesthetic’ learners as well. Such students show a clear interest in physical activities. Such students respond less to ‘visual’ cues or ‘auditory’ cues. But they are better when they ‘do’ something and learn. They learn better with ‘role play’ and such activities. 

Another style of learning is ‘tactile’. Such students love working in the labs. Their approach is to ‘touch and do something'. They can handle or even build models and work with them. Such students need to be given an object or taken out on a field trip for better learning. Lokesh feels teachers need to mentally identify such students. Their learning becomes more meaningful and effective if they are given the appropriate learning ‘cues’. He has also understood that it is only by observation that a teacher can identify the learning style of a student.

Mr. Lokesh has observed that it is possible to have a ‘universal’ teaching plan, keeping all styles of learning in mind. He gives examples of lessons that he has taught using different methods. His methods have seen increased participation from his students in class. 

He remembers a particular student who was hesitant to enter the class. But eventually, with the right teaching cues, the same student was able to read from the English textbook rather well. And he was so immersed that he was not ready to let Mr. Lokesh go home when it was time to leave! 

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Please welcome Ms. Pooja Devi to this episode of ‘Pratibimba’. 

Ms. Pooja Devi is a  teacher at N. R. Pura, Chikkamagalur District. She has been teaching Science for the past two and half years. She has a total of 17 years of experience in teaching. She has been the winner of many State and National Awards for her excellence in teaching. She even has her own YouTube channel and blog spot for teachers. 

Pooja Devi is also inspired by her primary school teachers. She feels Science is as interesting as it can be difficult. She is convinced that, in order to make science learning effective, teachers have to make the students curious and ask 'Why? and How?' 

She advocates learning by observation of natural phenomena. She emphasizes the importance of science in our daily life. Her teachers were helpful in getting rid of her superstitions through science. Hence she draws the attention of students toward everything that affects life on earth. 

She then goes on to quote a very interesting incident. Students had to use a toilet located next to a crematorium adjacent to the school. They were found falling or getting injured particularly on a new moon day or on a full moon day. Superstition drove the children away from the school. After a bit of digging around, Pooja Devi found out that students would run back to school after using the toilet on those days. It was all due to the fear they had already built up in their minds, after hearing random stories. And that fear, coupled with haste, led to them tripping and falling, and injuring themselves. She then helped them get over their superstition by explaining her observations to them. 

Poojadevi narrates another story of a boy who would dance like a snake and declare that the snake god had possessed him. He would light a piece of camphor in his mouth and close his mouth and show the flame going out. On closer observation, Pooja revealed that he was doing all this to command the respect of his classmates, who would otherwise make fun of his poverty. 

She has arranged many mock sessions to demonstrate that many people fool others for a reason and give it the colour of religious belief. This has also led her to teach ‘knowledge is wealth’. 

Pooja Devi has had to take the parents into confidence to achieve a few desired results. The monthly magazine ‘Ayush’ is one such result. Students are thrilled to see themselves on her YouTube channel – talking about what they did to get rid of their superstition. She created a ‘Science Room’ in some students’ homes. All households tend to have many chemicals – unknowingly. She used this fact to encourage students to conduct their own experiments at home so that they understood the concept of an acid and base by taking extracts of different flowers. 

Pooja aims to build a scientific outlook among children. That would be the biggest reward to her from her students.  

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Please welcome Mr. Manohar to this episode of ‘Pratibimba’. 

Mr. Manohar teaches at Shantapura of Surpur Taluk, Yadgir district. He likes to be identified as a teacher first. He feels teaching as a profession has given him freedom of thought and expression. He believes just as ‘play and learn’, ‘do and learn’ concepts, ‘Sing and learn’ is also an effective teaching method. 

When Mr. Manohar goes into the class, the children request him for a song. He goes to the class with a song that he has prepared for that day’s lesson. He uses the tune of a popular song to attract the attention of the students. When the subject is taught with the tune of a popular song, children actually sing their response back!

He has taught ‘Indus valley civilisation’, and ‘The Life of Basavanna’ entirely through very popular songs. When he received feedback that he could use folk songs and tunes as well and not just tunes used in movies, he took it seriously and went on to compose a song on the life of ‘Budha’ and set it to a popular folk lullaby. 

He is convinced that children are entertained and engaged in the process of learning. This approach makes teaching more effective. 

Students have started humming his songs on the streets instead of the original songs! Some children were found singing his school song in a ‘cradle ceremony’ of a newborn child :) Incidences such as these motivate Manohar to use this method even more. 

He has a collection of about 45 songs that he has written. He has written poems about the life of Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, and others. He has even sung some of these songs with his students and uploaded them on his YouTube channel. He has demonstrated his method of teaching while working as a resource person. He even has a song about the writers who have won the Jnanapeetha Award, in Kannada. 

When Manohar asks a question in a sing-song tune, children respond with answers in a tune! He has used this method to teach language and also basic maths concepts. 

Many of his students keep in touch with him since they remember the lessons they learned through his songs.

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Link to Mr. Manohar's YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCYlX8iX2sSb-8-QTTrqaBtQ

Please welcome Mr. Sharanappa Pujar in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’. 

Mr. Sharanappa Pujar has been working as an assistant teacher from 2007. He is happy working at a lower primary school in rural area. He has taught ‘Kamsaale’ folk dance to his students who won prizes for 5 consecutive years at the Taluk level and went up to the district level! They have also participated in the ‘Kolata’ event. 

He showed a video on YouTube to one of his students about learning tables and the boy has learned up to 5,000 !!! The school has been identified as the best ‘Nali Kali’ school in 2019. It was the second school in the state to arrange furniture and execute this multi grades concept. He remembers the co-operation of his HM in getting the funds for the furniture. It made the school an attractive spot and increased the number of students.

He has worked extensively on ‘Kamsale’ folk dance. He knows it is done in the worship of Malemahadeshwara of Chamarajanagar. He is inspired by a film song. 

The Annual School Day is celebrated at the town fair. People contribute money which is used for many developmental activities in the school. Unfortunately the school had to be shifted because of the floods last year. However, old students and the public came together and rebuilt it. With the help of the Panchayat members, proper arrangement has been made for the outflow of water. 

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Please welcome Ms. Shanthavva in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’ – By Teachers, For Teachers!

Shanthavva has been an Asst. Teacher for 24 years, now at Yaraguppi. She has concentrated on following the ten-point programme of the government in improving the school. She has published 10 volumes of the magazine ‘Prerana’ in 2016-17 and they were released by the Regional Educational Officer and the MLA of Kundagola. This was on social sciences. In 2018 she brought out 11 volumes of another magazine, this time on science, called  ‘Parivartane’. 

She noticed that children had to gather information from 10 different books. That is what pushed her into compiling the necessary material in one book. That was ‘Prerana’. It starts from pre-independence days and traces back to how society changed from those days. ‘Parivartane’ traces the human evolution along with the scientific  development over a very long period. 

She has given these books to 10 different schools in her cluster, and the DDPI and the BEO insisted that the books be available in the library for reference. Now any child can look into these books for any topic included in the curriculum. 

She has spent countless nights over making these books and spent a thousands of rupees from her pocket to bring out the books. She recalls one particular incident where they students had to write about Savitri Bai Phule and her book was extremely useful. 

She has planted aver 120 saplings with her personal money and the school has got the award for  being ‘Environment friendly’. She was given a State level award and she bought a laptop and a projector for the school with that money. 

She believes that if children are treated with love, they are more likely to learn and work. Currently she is ready with a copy on the 150-year history of the school, which is soon to be released.

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Please welcome Mr. Nagaraj Buttanavar in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’. 

Mr. Buttanavar has been working as a teacher in Rhona taluk since 2002. He teaches English. He has also been a resource person at DIET and at the RIES, Bangalore. 

He adopted the direct method of teaching English – went into the class speaking in English, correcting his own spoken English in the process. Singing rhymes and making children dance to it proved effective. He lays emphasis on correct pronunciation since that would remain with children through their entire course of education. He listens to BBC and refers to Oxford and Longman dictionaries. He reads out a lesson which is heard through a speaker. 

He has made some Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) on his own and even got them laminated. He has received the ‘Guru’ award by a private organisation of Hubli in 2015. He has trained teachers across the state – at Gadag, Dharwad, Kushtagi, and Bangalore.

He has always requested tourists from other countries to address his children in English! While he has some repeated visitors, he also keeps in touch with some others. 

He understands the importance of ‘how to teach English’ rather than ‘how not to teach’. He believes in making the children smile when he enters the class. He would make extra rhyming words related to the lesson and put them up on the board. 

Every year in March, he conducts a ‘Dialogue Day’ where children get to exhibit their spoken English skills. This helps them converse in English with the foreign visitors. He draws reference audio clips from YouTube which he says is very effective. He also draws reference material from RIE, Bangalore. 

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Please welcome Mr. Srikant Basappa Gavi in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’. 

He has been working as the HM at the Higher Primary School of Jakli, Rhona Taluk, Gadag. He has a total of 27 years of experience. When he joined service at Mannangi, to demonstrate how ‘Gulliver’ looked, his team made a 20-feet tall structure with dry hay! It made the learning very effective. When he joined, there were only 32 students and the school had classes only till grade 4. He built it up till grade 7 and for 110 students by the time he moved on. 

At his next school at Abbigeri, the school had 400 children! It was a bigger and better educated place than Mannangi. Mr. Gavi was able to gather contribution from the public and improve the infrastructure. The school stood first at the Taluk level Kabaddi contest for 5 years! 

He was trained at Dharwad DIET for 45 days. He was able to train children with special needs. He was able to distribute a grant-in-aid of Rs. 600/- per child in the Abbigeri cluster. 

When he went to the school at Kurahatti, he realised his teaching was based more on lectures and not on activities. When he made the change, the school achieved 100% result at SSLC. When ‘Nali kali’ was introduced, he was able to train 600 teachers on the new approach. He started a unique programme of teaching through movies! He has been a resource person for various teacher training programmes across the state. 

When Mr. Gavi came to the school in Rhona, he noticed there was no toilet for the children. So he went around collecting contribtuions from the community, and built a toilet for the kids with that money. He was also able to get the Edu-Sat programme to the school, a first in the district. 

His current assignment started during the time of the pandemic. He has utilised it to plant saplings in the school. He used his free time to spread awareness among the villagers about various health issues. 

He praises the help of the locals and of the SDMC in painting the school. 

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Please welcome Ms. Chandrika in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’ – By Teachers, For Teachers!

Chandrika has been working as a teacher at the Government Lower Primary School, Hirehatkuni for 11 years now. She has a total of 15 years of teaching experience. She is a graduate. When she came to the present school, there were only 63 students and only 2 teachers. The school had many problems regarding infrastructure. 

The school is located in a labour class area and the attractiveness of the campus plays a major role. The better it looks, more students come to our school. But they hardly had any place to sit. With the cooperation of her husband, she bought sheets for the children to sit on. With the help of the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC), she got plates and cups for the children for a hot lunch. 

She started organising annual programmes where she could meet the parents and involve the children in various activities. Slowly, donations started pouring in. One association gave a few chairs. Most schools have a set of drums for the National Day Parade. Chandrika’s husband donated a set of drums for her school. Since LP schools have no PE teachers, students lose out on many activities. 

She was given the charge of head teacher and she refurbished the office room. And a pantry was also built to help the hot lunch team. She lays a lot of importance on cleanliness. Slowly the admissions grew in number. When she had an excess amount of Rs.15,000/-, she arranged for sketches to be drawn on the classroom walls. The student strength has gone up to 115 now. 

She got new rooms built by the help of the Block Education Officer (BEO) and other officials. The school is generally affected by rains. To counter this, they first planted saplings in the school campus. Chandrika then convinced the ZP member to make necessary arrangements to stop the rain water from creating a mess within the campus. 

She is grateful to the co-operation of all the BRP’s, CRP’s and DEO’s who have helped the school. She is proud of the students who secured admission into Morarji schools and are doing well at the State level. 

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Please welcome Smt. B. B. Harthi in this episode of ‘Pratibimba’ – By Teachers, For Teachers!

Smt. B. B. Harthi has been teaching Maths for the past 19 years. She believes strongly that Maths is not a difficult subject and it increases the logical thought process among students. She has made her own Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) to teach Maths effectively! She even involved her students while making the TLMs. In addition, the symposia at +2 level have also improved the willingness to learn maths among children. Students had fun buying things at a mock store and selling it to their parents at home! 

The school has existed for more than a century now! This year the old students have come together to organise a function. The alumni association which is 300 in number, is making every effort needed, to improve the school in every way. With the help of philanthropists and the general public, the school has bought some furniture, and also made a garden in front of the school. Some alumni, who have become panchayat members now, have helped the school in getting a fresh coat of paint. 

The school boasts of having the maximum number of students in Gadag region. It has been the trend for the past 25 years! She appreciates the quality of teachers in the school who believe in involving the students while teaching. With the cooperation of old students and the government officials, she visits the houses of absent students and tries to bring them back to the main stream. The school arranged for scientific viewing of complete solar eclipse for the students as well as the public. 

The school has various clubs such as Science club, Music club etc. Every week one club takes up an activity and engages the students. A unique program of the school is the ‘Quiz’. First 3 Mondays of the month the students are given 30 bits of information and on the last Monday of the month, they are tested on their general knowledge based on the information given earlier. This has been a successful way of engaging students of class 4 to class 7. 

The school also uses technology to teach the students – they project relevant content from the Internet and educate the students. Some teachers make slides and show them on the projector. All these activities have held the school in good stead despite a private school in the neighbourhood. The encouragement by the department officials has also inspired the teachers. 

Smt. B. B. Harthi is thankful to her Head Teacher for supporting the teachers at every level. She is proud to be associated with the school.

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Please welcome Mr. Raghavendra Ambore in this episode of  ‘Pratibimba’ – By Teachers, For Teachers!

Mr. Ambore was first appointed in 1994 and teaches Social Sciences. He keeps the textbook away and teaches them in the form of stories. Children pay more attention to stories. And they are ready to answer objective questions. 

He has a lab called ‘Jagruthi’ in which he uses maps and globes to show how to understand the landscape and directions. Children show more interest towards visual aids. 

Mr. Ambore believes awareness leads to Science. He treats History also as a science as it also provides proof for its statements. Instead of teaching them boring details of dead kings, he tells them stories about their achievements. Mr. Ambore is often invited as a resource person on ‘Jagruthi’. He was trained for a couple of days on teaching Geography. That is what inspired him to start a lab that can make its teaching effective. He started with maps, went to the globe and then on to YouTube. One class room converted as a Geography library! Children started spending more time in there. 

During the times of Covid, he created a WhatsApp group with the parents of students and taught them online. 

He is actively involved in Scouts, which he believes brings discipline among children. He describes the salute with three fingers. Children understand the importance of wearing the uniform at an early age. Successful completion of scout exam can get an admission to NCC later. Children can go up to the National level and they may get easier admission into professional colleges. 

In the annual cultural competitions, where he plays on the tabla with this group of singers, his team has crossed the district level and is now on the verge of competing at the State level. On a different platform, he secured the second prize for playing the tabla. 

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