The jazz musician continually strives to achieve the experience of being in the moment. The best jazz musicians are those who can listen to the rhythms around them, incorporate, expand and improvise.
A good jazz musician like a good teacher has to be able to ‘read’ the environment- instantaneously compose, edit, revise and perform.

Taking from the metaphor of Jazz, the 8 eight interactive workshops had been titled- The Jazz Element: Participatory Learning Workshops. These were conducted by Aditi faculty exclusively.
These workshops showcased and shared teaching experiences and thought at Aditi.
It sought to take forward research initiatives with other schools and organisations through creating online platforms for discussion and mentorship opportunities.

The Jazz Element - Participatory Learning Workshop

Session 1 - (4th December 2009, 2.00 to 3.30 p.m.)

The Young Enterprise Programme
Sateja Joshi

• Conference Track - Engaging with Young India
  

This workshop addressed thought leadership, challenging and changing student thinking. This interactive workshop took participants, on an exciting Young Enterprise journey, where participants had played simulated games, which helped create an atmosphere for innovative ideas, with particular relevance for Economics and Business classes. The workshop had discussed the scaffolding that is required to run the Young Enterprise programme in schools, showcased how students developed business tools, learnt to communicate, compete, collaborate, critically analyse a business problem, took tough business decisions, applied for patents, followed up on suppliers, delivered a good quality product on time, experienced the difficulties of raising finance, developed leadership skills in learning by doing a business operation where school students actually start and run their own company

Ms.Joshi has a Master’s degree in Economics from Pune’s Gokhale Institute of Political Science and Economics, with twenty years of teaching experience in international curricula like the IB and CIE A-Levels in leading schools in India and the Netherlands. She is a highly respected CIE Trainer and is currently senior Economics Teacher at Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore where she is the Liaison with CIE on Teacher Training and Support. She is also the mentor for teachers for Cambridge Diploma for Teacher’s & Trainers. She mentored the CIE Young Enterprise programme at Mallya Aditi, the first school in India to run the programme.

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Creativity in the Classroom - Using An Arts Based Approach
Evie Kelton and Creative Arts Department Faculty

• Conference Track - Create, Celebrate!
  

This workshop got participants to make use of simple tools from the performing and visual arts to make classroom teaching engaging, experiential and effective. Set in the larger context of developing life skills, it had demonstrated through a series of engaging activities, how Life Skills (as defined by the WHO) can be acquired and strengthened through the creative arts. The workshop had also endeavoured to develop a platform for the continued exchange of ideas.

The Creative Arts department believes passionately that art is not only a means of expression it is more importantly a way to understand, learn and grow. This workshop had inputs from Evie Kelton, Belinda Rego, Udayraj Karpur, Mohua Roy ,Anjali Sahi and Deepthi. Their collective artistic expertise and individual strengths in the visual and performing arts- made this a hugely talented and dynamic team.

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The Colour of Sustainability
Geeta Paul

• Conference Track - Enabling the Resilient School
  

In this workshop, Geeta shared her intriguing experience that ‘it is possible to trigger’ off many pathways of processing in the brain with one single stimulating thought, in this case - colour - to teach the concepts of sustainability. Science is usually taught using the constructivist model. Even though this has its advantages in the learning of some concepts, students are generally bereft of the beauty of the whole and thus of the subject. Science too is nurtured by perceptions, by the need to invent, to innovate and create and to dare to provoke the seemingly undoable - we remember best when we react at a first person level. This workshop discussed an attempt to trigger in students a personal response to an input. Reacting to a concept by making connections facilitates integration and therefore results in lifelong learning.

Geeta Paul has an M.S in Life Sciences, Molecular Biology and has completed her Masters in Education (Educational Management) from the University of Bath, U.K. She is currently the Coordinator for the High School section at Aditi and has been teaching here since 2001.Geeta taught A level biology at International Schools in Singapore for several years prior to joining Aditi.
Passionate about environmental education, she has been instrumental in successfully initiating and running green initiatives at Aditi. Geeta teaches biology and environmental science with a focus on structure and its design. She was also responsible for co-envisioning, co-planning and co-implementing the collaborative Art- Socially Useful Productive Work programme introduced in the year 2009 for High School. Geeta facilitates the study of textiles within this programme. The bigger picture she hopes to bring into her interaction with students is the relation between design and function.

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Progression of Game Skills
The Physical Education Department

• Conference Track - Designing New Learning Milieus
  

The P.E department had focussed on sharing their pioneering experience in sequencing skills i.e from motor skills to game skills for classes K to 8. The workshop had endeavored to understand and build on practices elsewhere and strive for a common understanding, the objective of which was to contribute to the holistic development of children through enriching the PE curriculum in schools.

The Aditi physical education department consisted of 5 experienced and qualified teachers. They were Joel Kribairaj - head of the department and a specialized cricket coach, Arun Kumar and Samyukta - specialized basketball coaches, John Kennethraj - specialized football coach and Jemima - hockey coach. All these 5 teachers have represented state teams at various levels. The school teams have been doing exceedingly well under their guidance. The P.E. department also appreciated the support shown by Chitra Guthi who was part of this department till last year and continues to work for the education conference.

The P.E. teachers believe that the development of a school P.E. programme is as boundless as the teams ideas and creativity and trust that a constructive P.E program will increase the motivational and participation level of students. It is also their interest to form a cohort of like-minded P.E. fraternity in India that will convert this belief into realities that unfold on the field.

Progression of Game Skills.
Presented on Day 1, 4th December 2009.
Presented by the Department of Physical Education: Joel, Samyuktha, Arun, Johnny and Jemima

Click here for the Presentation. 
(These are the intellectual property of Mallya Aditi International School and the authors. Use must be duly acknowledged and credited.)

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The Jazz Element - Participatory Learning Workshop

Session 2 - (4th December 2009, 4.00 to 5.30 p.m.)

Teaching History: Challenging Student Perceptions
Dr Anjana Banerjee

• Conference Track - Engaging with Young India
  

This workshop had focussed on exploring ways of making teaching History in High School interesting and relevant in the context of today and on creating a meeting ground and channel of communication for sharing ideas and experiences in an on-going manner.

Dr.Banerjee holds a Ph.D in history from JNU and an M.A from Delhi University. She enjoyed a long association with Prof Romila Thapar as her student and later, as her research assistant. Dr. Banerjee has since worked in different schools and colleges in Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore. In her tenure of a decade and a half at Aditi she has held positions of responsibility such as the Head of Department of Humanities. She teaches both Indian and International syllabi at the high school and pre- university level.

Teaching History: Challenging Student Perceptions.
Presented on Day 1, 4th December 2009.
Presented by Dr. Anjana Banerjee

Click here for the Presentation. 
(These are the intellectual property of Mallya Aditi International School and the authors. Use must be duly acknowledged and credited.)

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Math and Story telling
Jahnavi Mohan

• Conference Track - Create, Celebrate!
  

This workshop explored whether storytelling aids the learning of math concepts in Middle School children. It sought to take participants through the journey that children experience when they listen to math stories; they were encouraged to use words in the stories as symbols and to create visual, imaginative representation of what they hear, which facilitates the learning of mathematical concepts and ideas. The workshop celebrated the ability of the human brain to make connections between different inputs to promote learning.

Jahnavi Mohan has Bachelor of Science (Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry), Masters in English
Degree in Education, DIPSE from Oxford Brooks University, UK, close to 3 decades of teaching experience in mathematics and has taught students from KG to grade 10. She has conducted workshops on teaching math for ICSE teachers and has also created educational materials and CD’s on math. She has been involved actively with the visual and creative arts, has illustrated books, plays the veena and is also associated with an NGO for the promotion of Chittara art. Jahnavi is currently the middle school coordinator at Aditi and has been instrumental in introducing changes in the middle school curriculum and teaching

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Critical Thinking Skills
Dr Vandana Goswami

• Conference Track - Enabling the Resilient School
  

Dr. Goswami shared her understanding and experience of critical thinking as a key skill needed in today’s world. These skills are not necessarily inborn; they can be taught and learned. This workshop will focus on sharing how with a bit of training and practice, anyone can improve on their critical thinking skills. It will further seek to broaden common ground on ideas and strategies to bring critical thinking into the classroom – and into life.

Vandana Goswami teaches Sociology and Global Perspectives at Mallya Aditi International School, Critical Thinking at Srishti School of Art Design and Technology, in Bangalore. She has been involved in teaching and training for the last 20 years, working with diverse groups of people from different backgrounds and ages. She is a trainer for Cambridge International Examinations as well as other organisations. Her own area of expertise in culture and human behaviour, coming out of two Masters, as well as a Doctorate in Anthropology from Michigan State University, enables her to situate workshops in ways that relates to people’s own lives. Though specialized in Medical Anthropology, her interests have now diversified into pedagogy, epistemology of our actions, and developing Thinking Skills. For several years now, she has been involved in creating and teaching courses on Critical Thinking for different age groups.

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Self expression is a thumbprint - The English Seminar
Suravi Banerjee

• Conference Track - Designing New Learning Milieus
  

This workshop had focussed on creating a common appreciation and understanding of student opinion through building a platform for their self expression. In doing so, teachers recognize the value of the student’s thumbprint and simultaneously nurture themselves. This workshop further sought to delve into the experiences of conducting student led seminars and share how in this process, teachers go beyond knowing what they teach, to knowing what each student has essentially learnt.

Suravi Banerjee has been with the department of English at Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore, for over ten years and currently heads the department. A graduate of Loreto College, Lucknow, and a post-graduate in English Literature from Vishwa-Bharati, Santiniketan, Suravi has over thirty years of experience in teaching at the pre university level of both Indian and international syllabi, accreditation as a teacher trainer for the Cambridge International examinations and conducting workshops for teachers from various institutions in India and abroad. She is a former member of “Yatrik”, Delhi, and is deeply committed to drama. She has worked extensively with student groups in directing plays and conducting workshops on acting and stagecraft.

Self expression is a thumbprint - The English Seminar.
Presented on Day 1, 4th December 2009.
Presented by Suravi Banerjee

Click here for the Presentation. 
(These are the intellectual property of Mallya Aditi International School and the authors. Use must be duly acknowledged and credited.)