PEDAGOGY & CURRICULUM
This is a critical issue as we know that the majority of the secondary school participants remain uncertain about both academic and professional interests. In fact, many students don’t even know
the type of personality traits they possess. The Education 4.0 India initiative suggests action in four focus areas:
- (a) foundational literacy and numeracy;
- (b) teachers’ professional development;
- (c) school-to-work transition;
- (d) connecting the unconnected.
The focus of the proposed project is on the school-to-work transition. Our vision is to bring about a sustainable change in the lives of young boys and girls (in many cases these are first generation learners) through an innovative curriculum that would help develop careers.
Program for Government School Students
On January 19, 2023, we launched a program “First Steps: Connect, Bond, Grow” for Government School students, enrolled in years 9 and 10. We commenced this as a pilot project in Chinnapalli Government School near Puttaparthi and almost 40 students have benefited from this program.
- Program Details:
- Duration: 3 days a week for 3 months
- Every session had a call to action and was scored objectively to measure progress
- Collaborative small group sessions helped passive learners & late bloomers
- Weekly awards/badges for knowledge progress allowed healthy competition among the teams
- Written work, oral presentation, and group activities were the key assessment parameters
Within a short span of three months, the program started to attract significant interest as several Government Schools based in and around Puttaparthi approached us to run this program for their students as well. In addition to expanding the scope of this project to other schools, we are also aiming to commence online sessions for students enrolled in years 11 and 12.
Program Background [Years 9 and 10]
- 1. Offline sessions 3 days a week for 3 months
- Content:
- Communicative English & Written English
- General knowledge
- Project Based Learning
- First-Aid and BLS
- Science Projects
- Music , Dance, Painting
- Movie Making
- Gardening
- Logical Thinking
- Career Guidance
- Innovative Curriculum
At MITRAz, we believe that learning must be fun and experiential in nature. We understand and appreciate that each student is different, and thus when it comes to learning styles, the ones that prove the most effective depend on who is being taught. To maximize the effectiveness of their time in the classroom, our experienced faculty rotate the types of instruction. This does not mean that we have discarded the direct instruction method – in fact, we believe that its effectiveness has not diminished over time and when executed properly, this approach helps students know the why behind the activities they are doing.
We have been successful in creating a dynamic classroom by keeping the students fully engaged with the interesting material and teaching techniques that our faculty bring to the classroom. The learning and teaching models have been changing considerably and hence our approach must change as well. Our approach to teaching is innovative.
A substantial part of our teaching approach is via the widely recognised Activity Based Learning [ABL], an approach, where children learn at their own pace through supervised activities. This approach is grounded in the belief that children are active learners and not passive gatherers of information. Coupled with this, we use the LSRW way of learning. In this model, the focus is on listening skills, followed by speaking, reading and writing. This approach helps students sharpen their capability and learn effectively.
We employ hands-on learning activities, role plays, games, experiments, multisensory instruction and an approach where the faculty would show or highlight how to do something [“I do”]. The next step is to invite the students to do the same activity together with the faculty [“We do”]. The final step is to invite the students to try the same activity on their own [“You do”]. We encourage our students to work together, make mistakes as they learn and importantly support each other’s learning.
Program Background [Years 11 and 12]
- Online sessions [3 hours]
- Weekend Program
- Content:
- English Communication [Spoken and Written]
- General Knowledge
- Logical & Reasoning Skills
- Career Counselling
Proposed Plan [2022 – 2024]
For 2023-24 and 2024 -25, our target is to skill approximately 200 to 300 students each year from at least 2 to 3 Government Schools around Puttaparthi. We plan to have more hands-on activities to retain attention and increase participation.
- Funding
To carry forward this ambitious project, we are seeking your support. Find below a brochure with details. (Attach FIRST Steps brochure here)
