Rows of students with bored faces, struggling to absorb yet another method of calculating HCF which the maths teacher is trying to explain. Many of the children silently wondering why they have to learn it in the first place. That’s a typical classroom scenario.

Curriculum Redesign Experiment

Ravi’s father observed the shape of the moon at three different times on one night at about 8 PM, 10 PM and 1 AM. Which of these could be the correct set of figures? Read the rest of this article »

EI conducts “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” workshop for the teachers. The aim of the ‘7 Habits’ workshop is to foster measurable change and improvement at the personal, managerial and organizational levels. The workshop is conducted by EI’s Leadership Training Head – Mr. Vishnuteerth Agnihotri.

The Leadership Training Programme for Principal’s through “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” – is a proven, world-renowned workshop based on Dr Stephen Covey’s book by the same name.

Sanskriti School, New Delhi- 25 teachers from the Senior School attended this programme. Some of the key learnings cited by the teachers are-

• Applicability of the concept of the Emotional Bank Account (EBA) to build trusting relationships between key stakeholders in the school
• Using Habit 5- Seek first to understand, then to be understood, with students and colleagues, to arrive at win-win solutions
• The power of focusing on the “Circle of Influence”, thereby widening their influence on matters of concern
• The school has been developing a leadership curriculum for its students, and says the 7 Habits workshop will help its teachers to perform better as role models and facilitate the delivery of this curriculum to students.

Little Angels English School, Pondicherry- The Little Angels English School in Pondicherry is a medium sized school with a big vision. Started in 1997 by Rani and Aruna, as a Pre-Kindergarten School, it has today grown up to Class 7 with a strength of over 400 students. The dream of the School is to help create “intelligent and spontaneous” human beings who are engaged with the world they are in, and contribute in their unique ways.

The School came in contact with EI a few months back- EI is now working together with Little Angels on a long-term project to help the School achieve its goals. EI conducted “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” workshop for the teachers recently. Teacher development is a high priority for Little Angels, and the 7 Habits workshop was a step in this direction. The 7 Habits has already become a part of the jargon in school- the school sees the 7 Habits as a core tool to achieve its vision. Here’s what the Principal had to say about this program.

“Having come to this stage in our school’s evolution, our dream is to take the school to the next level. We have begun to realize that building a shared vision among our teachers is a critical step towards this. The 7 Habits programme has happened at the right time for us- when we have just started inducting new teachers into our team, and are starting on a new academic year. The 7 Habits and the school-specific examples have helped our teachers to absorb the vision of what our school is about”- Rani, Principal

Velammal Matriculation Hr. Sec. School, Chennai-

Senior staff of the Velammal Matriculation Hr. Sec. School recently underwent “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” workshop, which was conducted by EI. The school in Ambattur, Chennai is part of the Velammal group of schools which runs 8 schools with over 25,000 students. Under the leadership of Group Chairman, MV Muthuramalingam, and CEO, Mr. Velmurugan, the group has grown from 183 students in 1986 to its current size today.

Velammal believes in empowering its staff to unlock their own energies and potential to help contribute toward the school mission. It is with this in mind that the School got the senior staff to undergo the 7 Habits program. Here’s what the school had to say about this program. All the Department Heads and Teachers who attended the programme found the content very relevant to their personal and professional lives. Some of the ideas that had a deep impact were-
· Applicability of Habit 4- Think Win-Win in Schools, as well as in personal life
· The idea of focusing on Quadrant 2 activities, and scheduling priorities rather than prioritizing schedules
· How the way a school sees its role (paradigms) impacts the results achieved by the school
· The need for writing a personal mission statement
· The use of Habit 5- the power of using empathic communication with students

“Since reading “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” and other works by Stephen Covey, Deming, and Peter Senge, I have always wanted to create a learning organization. The principles of the 7 Habits have played a key role in helping me take the Velammal Schools towards this goal of being a learning organization. The 7 Habits programme has helped me to further internalize the 7 Habits principles. I am excited that my team has now had the opportunity to learn the 7 Habits principles through this extremely insightful workshop- the brilliant videos of Stephen Covey played throughout the programme, really make all the difference. My hope is that each member of the team who has been through this workshop, will use this unique opportunity and start a personal journey to significantly enhance his effectiveness. The 7 Habits really have the power to transform each member of my team into an effective leader.”- Mr. Velmurugan, CEO

Anand Niketan School, Ahmedabad- Here are some quotes from the participants-

• “The 7 Habits Workshop was a wonderful journey. It was a phenomenal training programme. One important thing I have learnt from this workshop is that maturity is a balance of “courage” and consideration”. I plan to work on the courage to voice my opinion.”
• “Actually it’s a luxury to attend such an enriching programme. There were so many things in my head about my priorities and goals. This workshop has helped me to get a greater clarity on what my personal mission in life is. I believe I will understand my children better now, both as a teacher and as a mother.”
• “As the programme concludes, I have come to the conclusion that it is easier to “teach” at the students, than to be a good listener. I plan to now work on being a listener, which is essential for a teacher.”

EI also partners with Naandi Foundation, in Hyderabad and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) for its initiatives in government schools of Hyderabad (a few mandals mainly covering the old city area) for understanding and assessing the quality of learning.

Under this project for “Ensuring Students Learning” - 30,000 students of class 2 to 5 are being tested for Language and Maths competencies year on year. Naandi made a few significant changes to their interventions based on the baseline assessment report and has since been tracking the improvement in student learning. Misconceptions and common errors are also being tracked by follow ups with student interviews and video recordings that add to the learning of all in the system. This project has been extended to cover 2 more languages – Marathi and Hindi and 5 more states in the second year.

“STEPS AHEAD”
Rays of Light - An educational institution where teachers, students and parents all uphold the same vision is certainly a huge step ahead in the overall development of the society. Ruhee Gala takes a sneak peek into the city’s pristine education system that lays emphasis on the needs of the ‘young minds’ Read the rest of this article »