My way of Heutagogy:
My way of Heutagogy involves:
· They gather resources on their own to learn.
· They maintain their own class library:
· They narrate stories.
· They write stories, draw pictures, and send them for
publishing.
· They watch a movie every Saturday; do socially useful
productive work too that
day. They state it
as “No books day.”
· Their daily education day involves reciting telugu
padyalu, rhymes, learning
quotations,
preparing models and doing an experiment everyday.
· They prepare lot of items and display them.
· They play games and learn all subjects while playing
games.
· They play with toys and learn science from them.
· They organize social activities and go on rally’s to
create awareness among the
public.
· They interview different people from various occupations.
· They perform drama’s.
· They learn from mistakes and learn to read and write.
· They learn mathematics from daily life experiments and
mathematics games.
· They prepare correlation maps on their own.
· They use technology for improvement.
· They learn through digital class. They learn to use the
digi equipment. They learn
to do many things
on the computer.
· They concentrate on KT and KS, which means knowledge
transfer and knowledge
sharing.
· They learn through collaborative learning.
“Unconventional
activities produce extraordinary products”
Syllabus:
Flexible and negotiated syllabus fits in.
As they focus on “knowing how to learn”, they transform into life long learners.
Assessment:
Learner directed questions.Continuous comprehensive evaluation along with group success rating.
“Discussion skills, quality of work, outcomes, collaboration, academic soundness, and
knowledge of material”
Reinforcement of students should be assessed.As the teacher becomes the compass of the classroom, this compass can identify thedirection of the student and can assess every time a work is accomplished.Formatives and Summative exams can be conducted in the same way as we are conducting now. But, the pattern of the questions asked and the activities conducted shall vary according to the Heutagogic method.
Is it applicable to all the classes from class I to class V?:
Yes. It is applicable to any class whether it is a primary class
or any higher section. We
just need to
adjust the activities and provide guidance that can enhance self learning
techniques.
Learning journals:
Students write
what they learn and how they learn and document them (just as the students of
class V documented how they learned)
Action Research:
Students work on
societal issues and know about practical approach. They imbibe the
experiences and implement
the thought process that aids them to become professional in
future workplace.
Now let me explain
how it works in a classroom atmosphere:
· The annual plan is worked out after two months of basic
training for students. We
have to remember
every time that the process is learner centered. Therefore, the
students are the
partners in the preparation of annual plan.
· The syllabus may be anything the government selects. We
sit and discuss about the subjects and
lessons that are to be learned that academic year.
· Students go through every textbook from page 1 to the end
page. They see the pictures
associated with the lessons and try to understand the concept dealt with.
Here the teacher
acts as a compass.
· Coming to month wise syllabus, the first week of the month
deals with planning.
The syllabus of
the month is put forth the students. They prepare the required
Teaching Learning
Material and list out the resources they have to gather to let the
process of
Heutagogy go on.
· The subjects are clubbed and the correlation concept comes
into existence. We
club the main
themes of the lessons into three or four correlation concepts. This
gives lot of space
for experimentation and doing project works.
· The students prepare correlation maps (you may define them
as combination of
concept maps, mind
maps, flow charts and illustrations) (please find the
correlation maps
in letha akasalu book) this process simplifies the learning and
aids in providing
lot of time to learn practically.
· They prepare lot of material and gather required
resources. Then, they divide the
lessons group
wise. They work on them and present them in the class. Thus,
enabling group
exhibiting and group learning.
· It is always a team work and the accomplishment is celebrated
by group appraisal
by clapping.
· Health is main motto of primary Heutagogy. The students
are let to know the
importance of
health and given projects to know practically. Then, they are trained in herbal
medicine and healthy food techniques. Once the students are health conscious,
they eat good food and try to consume cheap but healthy home food. They are
trained to prepare healthy food items at home, which are easy to make.
They share
food in their class. The families of the students are always part of the education
system. They are trained on how to become a part of their wards learning process
and bringing them up as better citizens.
Field trips are organized. The trips may not include going out of station
but they incline on letting
students getting practical knowledge by taking them to various places in their own
place ( Bank/ post office/ fire station/ petrol Bunk/ other schools/ excise
department/ police station/ service centers/ e seva centres/ cinema theatres/ panchayat
office or municipality etc.,)
· Graphic reading is given importance. Every lesson is learned
through activity and
teamwork.
· Maintaining 3 R’s (reuse, reduce and recycle) is a part and
parcel of learning.
· As the government is concentrating on improving physical literacy
in students, I have introduced 100
village games and incorporated them with the syllabus. These games improve
physical literacy as well as educate the students in various aspects.
· In the same way, I introduced a book that was published to train
students in conserving environment.
(just like the environmental sciences textbook is used as supplementary textbook
in higher classes)
· As we are habituated to do things in common, in our day to day
life like waking up, brushing, attending
nature calls, bathing, having food and sleeping, the students are habituated
to everyday activities like a poem a day/a rhyme a day/ an experiment a day/ a new
word a day/a quote a day/ filling kids page of news paper/ knowing everyday
news through news paper etc.,
· The digital class aids in creating more awareness and to provide
videos and images and ppt’s in the
process of learning.
· Computer learning is compulsory. Students learn the basics,
paint, and browsing internet just as if they
learn to operate the mobile on their own. Teacher is just the facilitator.
· Toys play a prominent role in learning. The students play with
toys and try to explore the science
behind the working of toys. They learn all the subjects through them. They are
allowed to speak more and experiment more. However, prior training on being
disciplined is given in the initial two months.
· Drawing is given highest priority. Heutagogy actually is based on
self-expression and self-determined
learning. Therefore, they are allowed to train themselves on the process of drawing.
Once they achieve skill in drawing, they acquire lot of confidence that they can
express.
· (please see the attached article on the concept of correlation)
· The concept of triangle:
· Provide the students with a library, a laboratory and a
children’s theatre and you
are sure to succeed in
the concept of educating them.
· Provide a class library. They read books everyday in the evening.
Ask them to dramatize the read story
and see the results. Our schools are packed with students who fail to recognize
alphabets even though they reach class V.
I have dealt with class V maximum in the
whole of my 18 years service and have found the same situation in every
class. We do not have to dig on the reasons behind this but have to work on how to
overcome this situation so that the student who enters High school would not suffer
disabled in getting better education just because the student cannot recognize
alphabet.
Watching worldwide best
children’s movies every week can enhance many better
qualities in students.
This has been proven with the three batches I have
experimented with.
· An apple a day…
· Keeps the doctor away!
· Let us say…
· An experiment a day….
· Aids in throwing problems away!
· Heutagogy makes the students invent improvised low cost, no cost
equipment to
do experiments. They can
establish a lab on their own.
· The asset box they carry all through the year boosts their
learning process.
· CCE method is the best one and can suit the method of Heutagogy
in every way.
Example of one month’s syllabus:
Let me take example of the syllabus of class V for the month of November:
The concepts of the whole syllabus are merged into five or six correlation maps. The required videos/images/ppt’s etc., are shown in the digi class. Children choose the project works on their own. Students are taken on field trips. A festival is celebrated in school in which a temple fair is also conducted. They may display the items they have made in this fair. (This deals with Telugu lesson as well as English lesson) The map of the school and their area is asked to draw and they are asked to focus on kirana shops and ration shops in their maps. Then, they go to kirana shop and learn the method of weighing and write a report.
The ones who cannot write can explain. Then, they go to the ration shop and interview the dealer about the concept of ration. They watch how the items are weighed including the oil which is weighed in litres. They prepare TLM concerned with the lessons. They describe the condition of the climate the day they go on the field trip (This deals with EVS lesson) they perform experiments on air the whole month and play games that are related to the lesson. (From the games book) they watch the sky the whole month in the day as well as in the night.
They watch the digi lessons and collect information from newspapers regarding the sun and the planets. They prepare 4 healthy food items group wise and display in the temple fair. They watch movies that are based on space exploration themes and that which are based on the planets. (For example Avatar and gravity) they learn English language through the movies if they are not dubbed into Telugu language. They tell 5 words they have learned from the movie. They translate them into Telugu.
They use the dictionary to know the meaning of the words. They weigh their books. They make weighing scales. They narrate stories from their day-to-day life.They draw pictures on the lessons they have learned. They exhibit their work group wise and have their marks in the MAGIC BOX. They plan and they execute. Teamwork pays and they learn to achieve success.
They do few rally’s on healthy food or make some food items and sell in the school. They organize a small sports competition every month and give prizes collecting funds or using their “sanchayika” money. They paint or color the pictures of sankranti festival in the computer and type few words in it and save the documents with their names.
We discuss on the work process of learning and prepare a timetable. We divide the process into small bits and work out on them. The work becomes easy and the product gained is priceless! If the teacher is teaching subject wise, he/she can correlate the lessons of a single subject too in the same way.
References:
Online journals on Heutagogy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heutagogy
