Dr Kunal Anand has 17 years of experience in teaching, administration, training and development, staff training, student relations, campus management, campus operations and management of schools and educational institutions. He is the District Training Coordinator, COE Chandigarh, City Coordinator of National Testing Agency (NTA), City Coordinator of Examination, CBSE New Delhi. Currently, he is the Principal of Delhi Public School, Udhampur. Throughout his career, Dr Anand has shown exceptional leadership and management skills.
The ever-changing educational landscape warrants innovation and differentiated instruction can show the way. Trying varied teaching practices can help educators enhance their instruction and drive proper learning outcomes. Differentiated instruction addresses students’ learning needs through diverse learning styles, adjusted content and processes. Strategies like flexible learning stations and think-pair-share can be incorporated to provide unique learning experiences to students.
Incorporating technology in today’s education is mandatory. It makes learning effective and efficient to a great extent. It enhances learning experience, enriches content and provides a customized education experience. Assigning too much work can overwhelm students and mar learning capacity. You can see a change in their performance by assigning short, manageable tasks. Students feel at ease completing bite-sized assignments/tasks and can perform better. The approach lets students absorb and retain more information.
Work towards minimizing homework and limiting it to achievable tasks. Always give students enough time to complete their assignments in the classroom. Only if necessary should they take the assignment home. Sharing an exam layout will help students feel prepared and help them put their best foot forward. Classroom gamification can be used to keep students engaged. We cannot deny a child’s love for video games. Leveraging this for teaching and learning can amplify their learning experience.
Convergent thinking requires understanding on how to use separate pieces of information to reach one solution. It is usually used to answer questions requiring limited skills and knowledge, like multiple-choice questions, polls, etc. Divergent thinking requires students to start with one prompt and think critically, so it diverges towards distinct answers. Examples would be creative writing, essay-writing, brainstorming and creative analyzing. Convergent thinking is an essential component in building math fluency, and divergent thinking helps students understand the base concepts. They are crucial skills in any subject. If implemented in classrooms, students will learn better and understand complex topics.
Experiential learning can make instruction more engaging for students. It comprises student-centric approach, flexible and open learning outcomes, develops knowledge through experiences and minimum facilitation, and ensures that students engage in new ways of learning that help them stay focused and learn faster and dynamically. Peer-to-peer learning is also a classic way to engage students and help them develop reasoning and critical thinking skills.
Students must be mindful of their media consumption and make the right choices while navigating the internet. Guiding students to make right choices while consuming media allows them to recognize bias and develop critical thinking skills. You can educate students about media literacy and use various activities to ensure they understand the concept thoroughly. Journaling is a very effective method to achieve one’s goals. Asking students to goal-journal will help them track their own progress in achieving a goal. Ensure they use the SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Based) for maximum effect.
Goal based journaling, experiential learning, convergent thinking, peer to peer teaching, lessening homework; bite-size learning and incorporating technology in classrooms will help students and educators
