The Westminster Insight

Issue 1 18.12.2013

A new approach to teaching Chemistry!

Incorporating Multiple Intelligence into a Chemistry lesson Faced with the challenge of educating the vibrant new generation, we thought of exploiting multiple intelligences to make the lesson more interactive. The topic chosen was Creative writing on the Limestone Cycle The Word Smart learners were asked to write a story about the limestone cycle. Here is a short extract: A coral from my picnic bag fell into the nearby barbecue fire. The coral crumbled up with an amazing glow of lime light! As the rain drizzled, I saw heat spread up and lime slaking out. As more rain poured, slaked lime was transformed into lime water. It will surely neutralise the acids in the soil and the next time when I come, I hope to see purple petunia flowers instead of pink ones!

Contents
Special Interest Articles A new approach to teaching Chemistry Behavior Management E.M. team in action An old teacher in a new school Visual Harvesting Learning Urdu through cross-curriculum A religious prospective 4 4 5 3 3 2 2

Sunu Sarah Joshua

Primary Digi day

Behavior Management
80% of teacher training tends to focus on content, whereas only about 20% is devoted to human factors," those minute-to-minute problems with your youngsters that dominate each day. Whether you are a teacher, counselor, social worker or psychologist, there are days when you run out of answers. Researchers have found out that positive reinforcement is one of the behavior management strategies that work in helping the students with behavioral disability. Hence educators need to plan a strategy that is positively proactive in managing the challenging behavior. Being proactive always anticipates misbehaviour; thereby the teacher can be ready to positively address the behavior even before it occurs A teachers main concern is to help the students attain their optimum level of performance in all areas of learning and this can be achieved only if a teacher is able to manage the students behavior in the classroom. One of the positive intervention plans that can best apply to students with behavioral needs is the use of a self-monitoring technique wherein the students are the ones in-charge of tracking their own behavior. Among the steps that need to be followed is to identify the targeted behavior and decide on the possible reward that will best motivate the student to work towards the desired behavior. The success of this strategy depends on the reward that the students will receive. It would be best to start with small goals for students to feel successful. In doing so, the students selfconfidence is also being reinforced enough to focus their interest in achieving the acceptable and appropriate behavior. Looking Forward to the Staff Party

Updates
As a part of the Computer science Education week (8th Dec -15th Dec), The Westminster, also participated in some online games on Friday and Saturday.

An old teacher in a new school

Do you know the difference between education and experience? Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't! Well this was how I thought, when I first came to the Westminster. But it definitely changed as time passed by with the help of extremely supportive colleagues. I wondered what this new school would provide in return for the knowledge I had to share. It provided me with opportunities for growth That is all an individual needs to showcase her or his talents . An Opportunity! I was motivated to do things like the street play, a UN assembly and even organize a session on Dining etiquette. And that too in my first year and the first term in a new school! This has been a fruitful journey till date. Learning how to multi task between curricular, cocurricular and extra- curricular activities all at once.
Ms. Malita Jacinto

E.M. team in action

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more said George Gordon Byron, expressing his love for Nature. Mans greed for more has always been the root cause for the deteriorating environment- whether Hydrosphere, Biosphere, lithosphere or Atmosphere. Mans ever increasing demands for materials has taken its toll on the natural resources such as minerals, forests, water, and land. Environmental Management is a subject that creates a passion for preserving this beautiful natural world. At TWS, the Department of Environmental Management helps to spread awareness about developing a sustainable planet and a sustainable future through various programs such as organizing clean up campaigns, tree planting, and field trips to recycling plants, organizing student workshops, and also encouraging students to be actively involved in environmental activities in school and outside the school. Here are some of our achievements:

Grade 9 EM student Parth, speaking at the Environmental Academy, at JSS school, on 26-10-13

Our students at the environmental workshop

Ms. Beulah

Art from waste. A Robot

Visual harvesting
Last April, when I volunteered to go for the What Worked sessions organized by the KHDA, I was introduced to this unique concept called Visual Harvesting. Being a visual learner, my senses immediately connected to this creative form of translating information into visual stories. I moved from one workshop to another admiring and reading what was covered at all the other sessions that I missed, through the various sketches. In Sept 2013, I was presented the opportunity to get trained to become a Visual Harvester myself. The two days training helped change my perception of the way I looked at the beautiful visual story. Today I understand A Visual Harvester does more than just make illustrations, she or he makes dull meetings come alive, brings conversations to life, and adds a visually inspiring component to presentations and discussions. In short, Visual Harvesting captures the essence of the discussion or meetings, synthesizes the information and repacks it in a way that really excites an audience. It is a powerful way to create memorable, organized and accessible communication. I graduated from my class with flying colours and I presented my work as a Visual Harvester at the next KHDA What works session on 9th December 2013. Here are a few pictures of the first pieces I attempted, to the first ever Parent conference Ms. Rekha and me harvested in Sept 2013 at TWS.

Renny Jose

Learning Urdu through Cross-Curriculum

To cater to the needs of our 21st century learners, the Department of Urdu, organized a few cross-curricular team teaching lessons. An informal letter writing lesson on - The Importance of exercise was conducted for the boys of Year 9. For this, the subject teacher teamed up with the P.E teacher. The girls of Year 10 wrote a formal letter on Clean-up campaigns. The Environmental Management teacher paired up with the regular subject teacher. The girls of Year 8 were engaged in a project based learning on advertisements and discipline.

A Religious Prospective
To induce the importance of Islamic Calligraphy the Islamic Department involved the students from year 3-13 to do the calligraphy of 99 names of Allah (SWT). To ensure parental engagement, 99 names of Allah (SWT) were distributed in each phase of school and students were asked to calligraph them with the help of their parents. Response from the parents was awesome and visible as you walk around the school corridors. In the same manner the Department of Islamic Education celebrated the occasion of the new Islamic Calendar outlining the significance and importance of the month of Muharram. Sixth form took the charge and enlightened the entire Learning Bays throughout the school during the core value period. It was first of its kind ever in The Westminster School. Young minds and hearts were enlightened with the spirit of graciousness and generosity by conducting bake sale and garage sale in Primary School by Islamic Students. Large no of students contributed in this and almost the entire school was involved in this charity based program. The

Ms. Naheed

funds collected were sent to Jameeah-Beitul-Khair and VGF.

Ms. Nasim

From the Primary Desk

Ready to dazzle everyone! Ready to rock and roll!

We are all set to sing and dance.

Creating our own stick puppet.