‘Quality in Education’ Q&A - 2

Q. Why are many middle-class parents are getting increasingly dissatisfied with traditional urban private schools in India?

A. Many are in fact questioning the very relevance of schools. Factory model of school education is questioned and De-schooling is gaining ground and has come a long way since the days of Ivan Illich.

Unfortunately, the parent community is not concerning itself with basic issues like Learning Vs. Schooling.  In Indian cities, schooling is considered as a means to asserting social and cultural power.

Assuming that schools should remain relevant for at least some years to come, we may look at the nature of issues that cause dissatisfaction with the present school system.

There are specific issues and there are system related issues.

It is possible that some child-specific issues may get automatically resolved when appropriate systemic changes are made, other issues may still be there.

It may be possible to resolve some child-specific issues irrespective of systemic changes.

Some issues may not get resolved unless there are systemic changes.

We need to differentiate between issues that are contingent upon systemic changes and those that are not.

While attempting systemic changes we need to proceed cautiously because;

i) our school systems are struggling to accommodate conflicting objectives

ii)we have to have contingent plans ready when we are trying to tweak an established system (which already has some proven merits) particularly because 'young lives are at stake'.

Many of the problems echoed by parents are 'self-limiting.' These problems are very much likely to go away by the time children reach the end of VII std. Not because they are going to get good teachers but because the children would have developed sufficient cognitive skills. A case by case analysis can address and alleviate fears.

One can understand the anxiety of parents living in a world changing at the speed of thought. Human beings can and do adapt to these changes very quickly. But they can not evolve that fast. Human embryo does not yet mature @speed of thought and still needs 9 months plus to develop and human children still need the time-frame proposed by the likes of Jean Piaget, to develop cognitive skills. (So patience, my dear parents, patience!)

I understand the need parents feel to shape and fashion their children in tune with the life-style in vogue. The schools need to adapt to these aspirations, but certainly not at the cost of fanning egocentrism in children (and in parents).

Ad-vantage negative

This is an old trusted and tried technique of advertising copywriters. In an ostensible attempt to appear honest, a negative aspect of the product is brought out. This helps in establishing credibility in the minds of readers. In the same vein, riding the wave of credibility built earlier, a tall positive claim about the product is made and it gets smoothly pushed down the unsuspecting throat of the target.

"Our new township offers the most stunning bargain for state-of-the-art housing in the priceless prime locality of the city."

That is obviously difficult to swallow. Compare this with:

"Yes, the project no doubt tags along the highest EMI in the area (true) but it no doubt offers the most stunning bargain for state-of-the-art housing in the priceless prime locality of the city.(made to appear true) "

Digital Photography

Photography is not really an area of expertise I fancy but it certainly interests me. I have handled 2-3 types of cameras (is it the correct plural form?) though that hardly suffices to call me an amateur photographer.

Of course now every other guy or gal wielding a mobile phone is an amateur photographer and at times I too yield to temptations of clicking a shot or two. These photos are low res and with all sorts of limitations but if the subject /object photographed is potent enough, one can coolly console one’s discerning mind to a gratifying complacency.

That in short, is my brush with “digital photography.” Nevertheless that doesn’t stop me from subscribing to email posts by dps or webshots pro-tips for that matter.

I have my humble philosophy in the matter. “Everything is picturesque and everything is photogenic.”

दिल की नज़र से दुनिया को देखो
दुनिया सदा हि हसीं है

And I agree that photography, like drawing and painting, is a humane attempt to perpetuate that which is going to whither away with time. A mere chemotherapy in a bid to an incremental extension of life.

But it is also a way of expressing your viewpoint. The way you frame and appreciate life, which you want to share with others. It certainly helps you freeze the moment at least till the life of the photograph (or digital data) but more than that it also records the unique way of perceiving you registered at the moment of clicking the photo.

(Photo Credit : Kaustubh on Nokia N-72)

To 'educate' means 'to draw out'

Open-ended questions is an important evaluation technique. It is employed in many fields like education, counselling, mediation, sales, investigative work, therapy and journalism . The oft repeated question on reality TV shows "How do you feel" is a classic example of unavoidable open-ended question.

In an earlier post we had discussed Constructed Questions which may be considered as a special case of open ended questions.

Multiple choice questions are closed-ended questions that expect a short or single-word answer. As opposed to this, an open-ended question elicits a comprehensive answer forcing the student to delve deep into his/her own knowledge bank and express himself/herself fully.

"What's the make of the pen you are using?" is a typical closed ended question. A corresponding open ended question could be, "Isn't that an interesting pen ?"

Open-ended questions are intended to be less leading than closed-ended questions. This makes both answering and evaluating them a matter of some expertise. This page explains how open-ended questions can be used by maths teachers. An interesting paper can be found here, which illustrates the creative and graphic use of open-ended questions for basic maths.

Open-ended questions play an important role in evaluating students. "To measure how well a student performs, teachers have to be able to examine the process, not just the final product." Open-ended questions make students construct their own responses and the answers they give reflect their thinking and understanding.

Sadly, in an attempt to make school education more accommodating, open-ended questions are getting neglected thereby potentially stunting the expressive abilities of students' minds in their formative stages.

The medium and the message

Many of my friends frown upon the use of the term "vernacular." It is a term generally used in India for denoting the linguistic medium of schooling when it is other than English.

Regardless of the various shades of meaning and connotations with which the term is employed, it might be interesting to look at the etymology of the word. It is the language of Verna - "home-born slave" (Not servant, mind you, but 'slave'). A word of Etruscan origin.

The word is no more used in respectable and politically correct discourse. But many of us continue to do so, especially those, who think it elegant and royal to flaunt colonial legacies.

It is fashionable these days, to scoff at schooling in regional languages as "low quality education." Time and again N number of experts and educationists have preached to the contrary. But unfortunately the vernacular mentality of the neo-colonists has been propagating lies among the innocent.

I'd like to draw your attention to a UNESCO study titled "The importance of mother tongue-based schooling for educational quality" under The Quality Imperative, by Carole Benson (2004)

The study addresses various myths like :

The one nation—one language myth.

The myth that local languages cannot express modern concepts.

The myth, which holds that bilingualism causes confusion and that the first language must be pushed aside so that the second language can be learned.

The L2 as global language myth.

The myth that parents want L2-only schooling.

"Instruction through a language that learners do not speak has been called “submersion” (Skutnabb-Kangas 2000) because it is analogous to holding learners under water without teaching them how to swim;" quotes the paper.

'Tinker, tailor, soldier...'

Image via Wikipedia

It all started with a hurried blog post on our other blog. (My true intention was to test whether the "read more" tag was working.)

A "Yateendra" commented to point out many errors in the text and in also styling the format. Since his profile was not accessible, I searched for a possible Yateendra and wondered if he were the "Yateendra Joshi," who writes the Editage blog and is the author of 'Communicating in Style' - the book praised by John le Carré, well-known British spy novelist, as "A gem. Courteous, unfrightening and essential. A perfect companion to Fowler’s A Dictionary of Modern English Usage for today’s communicators."

With any mention of John le Carré, I am invariably reminded of his 'Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy', the first one of his books I had chanced to read. Eventually I read the other ones, but this remained as one of my favourites. The title is an adaptation of the famous rhyme. You can read the various versions of the cherrystone rhyme here.

It seems that the rhyme has inspired many an author. Another work I chanced to refer was P. R. Wilkinson's "Thesaurus of Traditional English Metaphors."

Entries in this compilation are arranged under a highly original scheme following this old rhyme 'Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar-man, thief' with the additional categories 'at home' 'at school and 'at play'.

This also illustrates how the consciousness of a region is a storehouse of its trades and the thesaurus aptly illustrates how these find expression in the language the people there use.

The Last Lecture

Reading or buying a book prompted by some impressive review is not exactly my forte, and even less so after reading a review on the net. But after reading the author's interview as part of Editorial Review of this book, I decided that I'd read the book if I came across it. The name Randy Pausch meant nothing to me but the whole thing started with his video Cover of The Last Lectureon time management and it also led me to the review of the book cited above.

Strand Book Stall also mentioned the book in their newsletter at about same time and it caught my attention. When I went to Strand, at least two other customers were asking for it. I did buy it but wondered whether I was getting drawn into some systematic propaganda.

But when I started reading it, an unpudownable spell unleashed itself on me and it still lingers after so many days. I'd unhesitatingly recommend it to anybody and everybody.

The last chapters appear to be preaching and are bit irritating at times but just so. Jeffrey Zaslow, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, attended the last lecture, and wrote the story . His craft has made the book intensely readable, and has done full justice to the author's intensity of feeling.

Despite its grave background, the narrative is never depressing. Certainly a collector's item, with a capacity to recharge your dampened spirits on every re-reading.

VOW ! What a medium!!

VOW is Video On Wheels.

They are also used as a cable or satellite TV on a large 100 to 300'' screen with ultra modern audio equipment.

VOW travels from village to village with a programme announced a day in advance creating a media event and getting coverage in local press - a double exposure with multiplier effect.

According to a research, on an average, VOW covers 1.5 lakh viewers a month. It operates on a generator where electricity is scarce.

1980 elections witnessed the incarnation of video vans, alias video raths. Devi Lal is said to be the first politician to use VOW for campaigning in Haryana. Since then it every political party, especially, the BJP, has exensively used VOW.

VOW is the brainchild of Dr. Jain of Jain satellite TV. After the elections, the video vans were rented out by Dr. Jain's company to various companies for marketing their products.

Companies like Hindustan Lever, Brooke Bond, ITC, Proctor & Gamble, L&T, Godrej and Pepsi have successfully used the medium to promote their products. VOW offers advertisers a complete communication solution that enables them to make inroads into the far flung rural Indian market and includes

* demonstration of product
* promotion
* market research
* retailer motivation
* instant reaction and
* opportunity to sell.

VOW is also being used for educational purposes. You can read more about VOW in this book.

What is Surrogate Advertising?

The literal meaning of ‘Surrogate advertising' is copying the brand image of one product to promote another product of the same brand. It can be defined as the strategy used by manufacturers and advertisers to promote a product surreptitiously, the advertisement of which, is banned by the law of the land. Liquor and tobacco companies often advertise their products in this clandestine manner.
In India an attempt has been made to prevent the electronic media from advertising harmful products.
Thus, Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, (CTNRA), Rule 7(2)(viii)(A) of the Advertising Code states that "no advertisement shall be permitted which promotes, directly or indirectly, the production, sale or consumption of cigarette, tobacco products, wine, alcohol, liquor or other intoxicants."
Many companies have worked around this rule by bringing out soda, glasses, and fruit juice, playing cards and what not, by the same name to promote the brand. This is known as "Brand Extension" in advertising lingo. Some say that genuine "Brand Extension" is different from surrogate advertising.   But many people believe this to be a fraudulent approach garbed in politically correct terminology.
These advertisements employ techniques of persuasive communication, strategically using "lifestyle" as an appeal to attract impressionable consumers. Celebrities from every field are roped in to eulogise the virtues of the surrogate product on screen, only to remind the target about the real thing and the gullible find it hard to escape this powerful dragnet.

A useful study-technique.

"Constructed Response Questions" or popularly called simply "Constructed Questions" are thematically connected short questions grouped together as one question. e.g.

'' What was the total wheat production in India in 2007? How does it compare with the record production figures for the decade? Interpret the data in comparison with the trends for other developing nations of Asia taken together.''

Compare this question with a typical descriptive question like "Discuss the wheat production scenario for developing nations in Asia (with special emphasis on India)."

Constructed response questions are designed for eliciting precise responses and also to to test higher level cognitive abilities. The marking or scoring is done as per a pre-determined schedule or rubric corresponding to the abilities being tested. Refer this page for a broad idea of how a marking schedule is prepared.

Answers to Constructed Questions help compare and contrast various points of view, find and link causes and effects, interpret changes in trends, identify patterns or classify and draw conclusions from the data. This also makes plotting graphs or tabulations easier. Answers may also successfully explain or predict the events.

This is the reason why we find such questions drafted for University level question papers. While preparing notes on study topics, it is therefore useful to tackle various small questions as and when they get posed and club the questions and answers together in plausible permutations and combinations as the exams approach nearer.

What is the purpose?

Advertisements are categorised in a number of ways. This categorisation* may be based on the the specific advertising objectives or it may also depend on the stylistic features of the ads or again on the type of target readership.

Based on the purpose of the ad, the classical approach divided ads into 10 types:

1. Hard selling ads:  The purpose of these ads is to achieve immediate results. These ads are variously known as 'functional ads' (following primary ad functions), the 'persuasive ads' or the 'reason why' ads.

Some of the writers propose four of the primary functions (AIDA) whereas some others, particularly those with a classical approach are proponents of a five function formula:

Attract Attention: There are various non-verbal devices that help attraction - the colour, the illustration, position of the ad, size, etc. The copywriter adds her own device viz. the headline. The headline should be in tune with the layout, display , illustration and the body copy and / or the base line.

Interest: It must retain attention once captured by arousing interest. Sub-headlines and body copy are expected to perform this function.

Desire: The reader who is attracted and whose interest is aroused should be made to desire the product. This is achieved by employing psychological appeals in the copy along with the other attractive devices discussed above. Other ad techniques like bargain advantage, bandwagon or testimonials are also applied for this purpose.

Inspire: The total effect of the ad should achieve this. The ad must exude the confidence of the advertiser that the product advertised is the best. If the ad message is timid it will not inspire the reader (Crudities and too much exaggeration should be avoided. It can repel and prove counter-productive). If puffery is used, the claim should be substantiated by citing a trustworthy source, e.g., a survey.  

Action: The message to enthuse the reader to ACT should be interwoven in the ad. It can use pressure technique use command in headline and say "Do this NOW." There are other devices like "coupons" which prompt action.

2. Reminder Ads: Reminder advertising is employed to maintain sales. This is achieved by constantly hammering the product name of brand. Poster advertising is mostly reminding advertising. Slogan + Product name forms most of the display. The technique employs publication or broadcasting of ads with considerable frequency. Small and medium sized staple goods manufacturers generally resort to reminder ads. These are the ads that promote habit formation and exploit slogans to that effect.

3.Informative ads: Informative ads attempt to mould public opinion about a product or class of products. They are also called educative ads. These ads do not attempt to aid the sales conclusion immediately. They educate the public by disseminating information about the product and cultivate buyers over time. Once in a life-time purchases or expensive products rely more on informative / educative ads.

4. Prestige ads : This type of ad is sometimes referred to as "Image Ad" These ads not only get published in prestigious places and publications, their intent is to enhance the prestige or the image of the brand or to attract up-market clients. This instils confidence in the minds of stake-holders, assists the PR function for the brand and ultimately aims at adding value to goodwill.  

5. Distributor ads: Also called as 'Trade' ads these ads target wholesalers of retailers rather than the end users. These ads are written  to emphasize the benefits the traders will derive by stocking and selling the product. These magazines appear in trade journals and publications of traders' associations.

6. Co-operative ads:  Co-operative ads are so called because many manufacturers or service providers from a particular industry co-operatively publish these ads. Though the techniques employed by other types of ads do get employed here, the main characteristic difference is that a common theme is sought to be advanced by numerous individual advertisers on cost-sharing or subscription basis. Associations of Banks, POL products, Merchants' Associations of specific foodstuffs like eggs and plantation products like tea, coffee or coir etc advertise co-operatively to further their common themes.

7. Technical ads: These ads get published in technical magazines and are addressed to technicians or professionals. Mostly they advertise speciality products and the target customers are people from that particular trade, proficiency or practice.

8. Mail order catalogues: Mail ordering is not advertising but in fact, a mode of sale. Mail order traders use press ads and sales letters or direct mail appeals for persuading customers to buy through post. However writing catalogues is a craft in itself as it has to substitute direct handling or experiencing the products. The desire to buy normally traverses the route of 'Sight - Touch - Possession'. The catalogues therefore need to crafted to entice similar feelings. In the contemporary scenario, offer brochures accompanying credit card bills or mobile phone bills fall in this category.

9. Direct Mail letters: Direct mail should not be confused with mail order. It is not necessarily an offer to sell through post but is in essence, a direct communication from the advertiser to the target customer. It requires that the names and the addresses of the customers be known. Mostly these are in the form of a personal letter skilfully written to appeal the customer and plant a desire to buy some product. The selling point can be anything from a local store to a mail order-delivery system.

10. Retail advertising: This type of advertising is more for the store of the retailer than a particular product. Departmental stores, malls, supply chain outlets, advertise their quality retailing services through these ads. They employ some or all of the techniques used by other types of ads mentioned above, but their focus is on the qualitative and beneficial aspects of their sales rather than the products they sell. The conveniences can include one-stop shopping, lifestyle purchasing experience or novel ambience.

*References

Reference Material for Copywriting

For writing my pieces and preparing for lectures about copywriting I have been referring to various books and articles by great experts in the field . I mention these below and I would urge every serious student of copywriting to have his own copies and build a decent library.

1. Advertising in India - by Jiban Mukerjee

2. Copywriting and its presentation - by F. W. Jefkins

3. Introduction to Advertising Principles and Practice - by Thomas E. Maytham 

4. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

5. Hearing Voices - Producing Great Radio Commercials - by Alan Barzman

6. The Craft of Copywriting - by June A. Valladares 

7. Making Money from Copywriting - by Jason Deign

8. Writing Marketing Copy to Get Results - by James Essinger

9. More Words that Sell - by Richard Bayan

10. Behind the Scenes in Advertising - by Jeremy Bullmore

11.Advertising Management - by Jaishri Jethwaney and Shruti Jain

Directness and simplicity

Directness and simplicity are the two most desirable qualities of an advertising copy that intends to fulfil its purpose successfully.

Instead, too much modern advertising is of "super-clever" category. One wonders whether the aim is to impress the "smart" folks of advertising industry or the people it is intended to reach. The copy should not expect the reader to invest too much voluntary effort or initiative.

The object of the copy should be to create the much valued familiarity about the product or service so as to ease the work of the salesman and the resistance to sale.

Advertising copy that is simple or direct need not be classified as bash or crude. The unusual may attract the reader towards the novelty of the ad rather than the product or the aesthetic appeal may not be sought after by many a target audience.

The objective of the ad copy is to publicize to help sell. The persuasive and the informative character of the copy should not be compromised to meet the demands of visualisation. No doubt the presentation is important to attract attention, stimulate interest; but to help absorption of the message should be its prime function. Everything else is trying to sell the ad rather than the product.

A road which is direct, honest and simple leads to success.

Copywriting

Copywriting uses words to promote a person, business, opinion, or idea. It may be used as plain text, as a radio or television advertisement, or in a variety of other media. The main purpose of writing this marketing copy, or promotional text, is to persuade the listener or reader to act — to buy a product or subscribe to a certain viewpoint, for instance। Alternatively, copy might also be intended to dissuade a reader from a particular belief or action. (Wikipedia)

Strictly speaking a "copy" meant for publication also includes graphics. In advertising parlance however, it generally means the textual or the verbal content. The art, craft or the practice of writing such "copies" is copywriting. Considering the motivational intent of the advertising copy, and the professional practice of writing such copies, I am tempted to define copywriting as "writing a strategic resume for a product, service or idea."

Advertising copies are created based on the brief of a product or service as supplied by the advertiser ('client') and drafted in keeping with the marketing objectives of the client. The advertising objectives set up by the ad agency also shape the copies in a particular fashion। The copy also gets modified according to type of advertising task and type.

A press copy typically includes a headline, a body copy, a visual and a concluding line or baseline। The structure is flexible and its main purpose is to attract and arrest the attention of the prospective consumer (target). The strategic theme or conceptual design employed in the press ad also gets expressed in the form of storylines or storyboards for audio-visual media and as snippets or catch-lines in outdoor advertising. The copy is suitably modified or altered to suit these forms.

To be attractive and arresting, the copy needs to be simple and relevant and should stand out employing wordplay and/or some psychological techniques। This demands that the copywriter has command over his language and general knowledge across various disciplines and subjects. Knowledge of social trends and practices in vogue, of fashions and happenings also helps. I remember having read a centre-piece in Times of India proclaiming in a lighter vein, "The copywriter needs to have superficial knowledge of deep things and deep knowledge of superficial things."

Copywriting is frequently confused with Copyright, making copies of written text, translations etc. Copywriting is obviously different from all these activities though it may involve some or all of them.

Math Knowledge

Two mathematicians were having dinner in a restaurant, arguing about the average mathematical knowledge of the American public. One mathematician claimed that this average was woefully inadequate, the other maintained that it was surprisingly high.

"I'll tell you what," said the cynic. "Ask that waitress a simple math question. If she gets it right, I'll pick up dinner. If not, you do." He then excused himself to visit the men's room, and the other called the waitress over.

"When my friend comes back," he told her, "I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to respond `one-third x cubed.' There's twenty bucks in it for you." She agreed.

The cynic returned from the bathroom and called the waitress over. "The food was wonderful, thank you," the mathematician started. "Incidentally, do you know what the integral of x squared is?"

The waitress looked pensive; almost pained. She looked around the room, at her feet, made gurgling noises, and finally said, "Um, one-third x cubed?"

So the cynic paid the check. The waitress wheeled around, walked a few paces away, looked back at the two men, and muttered under her breath, "...plus a constant."

------------------------

I found this anecdote here. Do visit the site if you want to read more.

Copywriting syllabus

Copywriting syllabus for BMM (Mumbai University)

Semester V

Paper II

Objectives:

To familiarize the students with various types of copywriting and develop their inherent writing skills

To train students to generate, develop and express ideas

To familiarize the students with contemporary advertising techniques

Syllabus

(Lectures to be used both for theory and practical)

1. Writing for print media - parts of a press ad- the headline, subhead, body copy (4)

2. Writing for TV (5)

• Writing scripts and developing story-boards
• Briefing the producer
• Pre-production
• Shooting
• Post-production

2. Writing for radio (5)

• Characteristics of radio environment
• Message strategy
• Writing the radio script
• Radio production process

3. Writing for Internet (1)

4. Writing for outdoor

5. Writing for direct mail-letters, product brochures, leaflets, folders etc. (1)

6. Writing for innovative media (1)

7. The skill of proof-checking (1)

8. The grammar of copy-writing (1)

9. Copy for specialized areas (12)

• Corporate advertising
• Financial advertising
• Recruitment ads
• Retail advertising
• Sale/Clearance Advertising
• Advertising in Indian Languages
• International markets - Language and campaign transfer
• Political advertising
• B2B advertising
• Local advertising
• Classified ads
• Catalogue copy
• Image advertising
• Fashion and Life style advertising
• Trade Advertising
• Mail order advertising
• PR advertising
• Non-commercial / public service advertising
• Government advertising
• Awareness advertising
• Agricultural advertising
• Rural advertising
• Food and beverages
• Durables
• Personal products

10. Different types of copy (7)

· Advertorials

· Infomercials

· Slogan and jingle ads

· Humour/sex/fear/anxiety ads

· Feel-good ads

· Light fantasy

· Demonstrations/testimonials

· Use of celebrity

· Slice of life

· Reason why

· Fund raising copy

· Comparative copy

· Motivational copy

11. Contemporary copywriting (5)

· The creative strategies, visual imagery, and copy used in current advertising

· Theoretical premises and industry practices.

12. Copy for different audiences (4)

· Children

· Women-Homemakers, modern women

· Senior citizens

· Executives

· Youth

13. Use of non-verbal communication in advertising (2)

• Use of colours, shapes, gestures
• Manipulation of the environments

Booklist

1. Arthur A Winters and Shirley F Milton, The Creative Connection : ad copy writing and idea visualization -- Fairchild Publications - 1989

2. Herschel Gordon Lewis, On the art of writing copy - Amacom 2000

3. Luke Sullivan, Hey Whipple, squeeze this - A guide to creating greater ads - John Wiley and sons 1998

4. Robert W Bly, The copywriter's handbook - Henry Holt and Company 1985

5. James L. Marra, Advertising Creativity : Techniques for Generating Ideas - Prentice-Hall 1990

6. Hank Seiden, Advertising Pure and Simple - Macmillan 1963

7. John Caples, Tested advertising methods.

Critical Issues in School Improvement

To quote from the ncrel site,

'Q: What is a "Critical Issue"?

A: "Critical Issue" is a multimedia document that examines a particular issue being tackled by educators engaged in school improvement. Currently, more than 75 Critical Issues are available in the following 10 areas: Assessment, At-risk, Family and Community, Instruction, Leadership, Literacy, Mathematics and Science, Policy, Professional Development, and Technology in Education. For example, under Literacy, you'll find the Critical Issue "Using Technology to Enhance Literacy Instruction," as well as several other Literacy-related Critical Issues.'

The ncrel directory of critical issues can be found here.

There are n number of ways in which the issue of school improvement can be approached.

ncrel ( north central regional educational laboratory) has adopted the approach of defining critical issues and examining each one in details. We, in India, can also adopt this methodology and identify critical issues pertinent to our respective environments and compile such documents. e.g. critical issue: supporting ways parents and families can become involved in schools can be found here.

Attention

When a student is actively engaged in your lesson, he or she pays attention.

That may sound simple, but it isn’t. Some students look at the teacher, but their minds are actually a million miles away. Paying attention means that students are actually focusing on what is going on in the classroom. It’s important to craft lessons that require students to pay attention to the task at hand. In every lesson or activity, you should provide an opportunity for students to do something. Ask them to create an example, build a model, draw a picture, write notes, or stand up and demonstrate what they have learned.

If you want to read more about this, you can read "Classroom Instruction" by Barbara Blackburn. Sample chapters are available here.

Making The Buds Open

"He who can open the bud, does it so simply'' said Ravindranath Tagore. Technology, however, is about making the buds open.

''Technology coerces beings, which are governed by a hidden law of emergence and withdrawal, into perpetual presence." said Heidegger

Animus, 'a philosophical journal of our times' makes interesting reading on the net. Its volume 8 of 2003 is devoted to aesthetics. I particularly liked Sean McGrath's article on Heidegger's thesis.

Interestingly, he discusses technology that allows the beautiful to occur. He has summarized his contention as :

"The ecological problem is an aesthetic crisis. The world is becoming increasingly less beautiful because of technology. Leavening Heidegger with a measure of largely forgotten medieval aesthetics, I maintain that we have forgotten the ontological relevance of the beautiful, and the aesthetic relevance of the ontological. We have allowed our technology to develop without consideration for aesthetic effect. I offer three criteria for a technology that allows the beautiful to occur: fittingness, transparency, and self-containment."

For explaining fittingness he quotes Robert Grosseteste as: “Beauty is a concordance and fittingness of a thing to itself and of all its individual parts to themselves and to each other and to the whole, and of the whole to all things [italics mine].”

Putting forth the criterion of transparency, he argues thus, " To be beautiful in a technical way is to let nature show itself through technology.."

Describing self-containment, he aptly explains Heidegger's notion of "sparing":

"A self-contained technology lets form shine without eclipsing nature. Like the painter who knows when to leave a detail at the level of suggestion, the writer who knows when to leave something unsaid, the architect who resists the inclination to ornamentation, a technology that allows the beautiful to occur holds back and lets be. Heidegger calls this “sparing.”

Those who have had even a slight brush with Philosophy, will enjoy the article immensely.

Seeing is believing

There are many reference tools available on the net. Click here to find Merriam-Webster visual dictionary. I feel this site is very rich and useful for students. This is what the publishers say:

''The Visual Dictionary Online is an interactive dictionary with an innovative approach.
From the image to the word and its definition, the Visual Dictionary Online is an all-in-one reference. Search the themes to quickly locate words, or find the meaning of a word by viewing the image it represents. What’s more, the Visual Dictionary Online helps you learn English in a visual and accessible way. The Visual Dictionary Online is ideal for teachers, parents, translators and students of all skill levels. Explore the Visual Dictionary Online and enrich your mind. Perfect for home, school or work. Discover a visual world of information''