Dr Himanshu Sharma Principal (Academics), Him Academy Public School, completed Ph.D in Education Management from National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur. She holds degrees in M.E. (Electronics) from Panjab Engineering College, Chandigarh and B.Tech. (Electronics & Communication) from NIT Hamirpur. She visited Australia, UK, South Korea and Russia for various assignments related to education. Dr Himanshu Sharma conceptualized and developed a value education programme – Student Empowerment through Values in Action (SEVA), which has been adjudged as the best school practice by Asia Pacific Centre, under the aegis of UNESCO, South Korea in 2016 and by NCERT, New Delhi in 2017.
Question Bank Driven Pedagogy
From my own experience in the field, I can say that most teachers use a one-size-fit- all instructional approach to deal with students which is dominated by lecture method. Need of the hour is to regulate student centred classroom instruction procedures for enhancing student learning. In our school, we have been experimenting with question bank driven teaching pedagogy, particularly in secondary
classes, in which students are required to study the text books through a set of questions (question banks). It encourages the students to come prepared to the class before the teacher begins to teach. It is a modified form of flipped learning method.
Unique Workbooks for Foundational Stage
Keeping in view the latest National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage, we have developed customised workbooks for developing reading, writing and number skill of foundational stage children. The unique feature of language workbooks is that we have followed Phonemic Awareness technique to develop reading and the letters are not introduced in alphabetic sequence. We have seen remarkable improvement in the reading skill of students as our 3+ children are able to recognize letters and read words.
Holistic Progress Card
Following National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) guidelines, we have introduced holistic report card and portfolios in our K-2 wing. Since there is no system of formal examination in foundational stage, our Holistic Progress Record Registers are helping teachers to continuously assess the achievement of learning outcomes by students in a hassle-free manner.
Student Diary
We have made some changes in the student diary and developed it as a learning tool. The diary educates students on how to learn. It provides students an opportunity to reflect on what they are learning and to self-assess how they are progressing academically and behaviourally which is one of the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It also attempts to measure daily screen time of students countersigned by parents.
Educator’s Diary
Educator’s Diary has been revised keeping in view the recommendations of NEP 2020. It is in a way, a resource and a guiding document for enhancing the capabilities of teachers. It provides a comprehensive space to teachers for keeping academic, behavioural and co-scholastic records related to their students. It provides opportunity to teachers to reflect and
self-assess their performance against the expected professional standards.
Competency Based Education
The previous system of education was based on rote learning. NEP 2020 suggests replacing it by the exam pattern based on critical thinking and creativity. So, in addition to routine assessments, we have introduced multiple Competency Based Olympiads in an academic year for all students from grade 3 onwards. The questions included in these Olympiads deal with application of concepts to unfamiliar situations, case-based questions, assertion & reason questions and critical thinking questions.
Project Based Learning
21st century learning requires students to be able to think critically and be able to solve the problems around them. One of the appropriate learning methods to apply with regard to this is project-based learning method integrated with design thinking approach. It is an instructional approach designed to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the real world. Students are encouraged to feel the problem, define the problem and then ideate a solution. As a pilot activity we are introducing Project Based Learning for middle grade students using five steps of Design Thinking namely Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.
In addition to routine assessments, we have introduced multiple Competency Based Olympiads in an academic year for all students from grade 3 onwards
