Professional Development at Sansakr School

Teacher professional development is of increasing interest for many top CBSE schools in Hyderabad providing education of the 21st century. Sanskar innovative school too has identified effective ways of professional development and witnessed a positive link between teacher professional development, teaching practices, and student outcomes. Read on to know various approaches Sanskar school adopts to foster successful teacher professional development strategies:

Curriculum focused teaching development

Sanskar school often organises professional development programs that focus on developing teaching strategies that are specific to curriculum content within their classroom contexts. For example, for a Sanskar school science teachers, we focus the development program to deepen teacher’s understanding of students’ scientific thinking, which helps teachers anticipate and respond to students’ ideas and misunderstandings in productive ways. The second step is to help teachers learn to sequence science ideas to help students construct a coherent "story" that \helps students remember the concepts effectively. Teachers are also taught tp model lessons themselves and analyze their teaching with their colleagues, evaluating the experience and student work to revise the lessons for colleagues to then teach in a form of lesson study.

Active Learning

Active learning helps teachers to get hands-on experience designing and practising new teaching strategies, deflecting from the same style of learning and designing interesting ways for their students, using real examples of curriculum, student work, and instruction. For example, Inquiry-based PD model designed to help Sanskar school biology teachers integrate literacy and biology instruction in their classrooms. Organising sessions where teachers come up with learning activities and environments they will then be creating for their students. Teachers in the program practice classroom routines that will help to build student engagement and student collaboration.

Collaboration

High-quality professional development is an essential part of international schools in Medchal where teachers share ideas and collaborate in their learning, often in job-embedded contexts that relate new instructional strategies to teachers’ students and classrooms. By working collaboratively, teachers can create positive changes in their entire grade level, department and school. Sanskar school teachers engage in on-site, small-group professional development to promote inquiry-based, literacy-integrated instruction in science classrooms to improve English language learners’ science and reading achievement. Through the initiative, teachers participate in workshops where upcoming lessons are reviewed, discussed and participate as learners in the types of inquiry-based science activities they would be implementing for their students.

Modelling

Modelling of lesson plans like unit plans, student work, video or written cases of accomplished teaching, provides teachers with a clear vision of what best practices look like. This professional development strategy requires one group of teachers to analyze teaching from actual classrooms and another set of teachers working on structured, collaborative groups to analyze examples of student work from a shared unit taught in their classrooms. The third set of teachers reflect on their instruction and their outcomes. This is a widely used professional development strategy among the best schools in Telangana, helping teachers realise good practices and implement new strategies in their classrooms.

Expert Support

This program involves sharing of expertise about content and teaching practices by experts in group workshops. We invite senior teaching faculty or coaches from best schools in Telangana, universities or professional development organizations to organise weekly sessions introducing our teachers to new literacy concepts. Each session focuses on coaches and teachers collaboratively working on specific instructional practice, followed by oral and written feedback on their teaching, facilitating the implementation of desired instructional practices. Video clips of coaches and other materials of coaching sessions are provided for Sanskar school teachers.

Feedback and Reflection

High-quality professional development at international schools in Medchal requires proper feedback system for teachers to think about, receive input on, and make changes to their practise by facilitating reflection. Feedback is offered by senior mentors & peers providing opportunities for Sanskar school teachers to reflect about what might be refined or retained and reinforced. Sanskar teachers also complete online coursework and knowledge assessments throughout the school year to improve their literacy skills. We invite expert facilitators, who observed the teacher’s practice, then facilitated reflective follow-up and provided positive and constructive feedback.

Effective professional development incorporates most or all of these elements to support teacher learning resulting in student learning gains. Teacher professional development is of increasing interest in all top schools in Hyderabad to support the increasingly complex skills students need to learn in the 21st century. Sophisticated forms of teaching are what sets Sanskar school apart from other schools in Medchal. We develop student competencies such as deep mastery of challenging content, critical thinking, complex problem solving, effective communication and collaboration, and self-direction. Professional development of teachers has helped us achieve refined instructional strategies required to teach these skills to students. Teaching methods are continually developing among CBSE schools in Medchal helping teachers learn new techniques and strategies which enable them to keep up with colleagues who have just finished training. Below listed are key factors that contribute to any CBSE Hyderabad school adopting effective professional development:

• Evidence-based using the latest research
• Practical, that fit classroom teaching
• Affordable at a time when budgets are being slashed
• Enjoyable with personalised exercises
• Relevant with a subject specialism and the needs of students.
• Sustained by embedding new ideas into classroom practice.
• Supported by coaching or mentoring from experienced faculty either from within or from outside the school.
• Collaborative with fellow teachers and colleagues

Sanskar school always has a comprehensive, ongoing, and intensive professional development program ongoing to improve teachers’ effectiveness in raising student achievement. The impact of professional development in terms of schools near Medchal is varying and raising student achievement has also varied greatly. Like other CBSE schools in Medchal, teachers of Sanskar school are provided with opportunities for professional development in the form of workshops and collaborative professional development. For many years, we have been working to raise student achievement through providing quality professional development for Sanskar school teachers in ways that support and sustain effective classroom practice based on experience and a solid research base highlighting the characteristics of professional development that result in improved teaching and increased student achievement. Just as students have diverse learning needs, so do teachers. Professional development needs to be differentiated and take into account teachers’ previous experiences and learning styles, and build on their current understandings and we do just that!

Teacher professional development is of increasing interest for many top Cbse schools in Hyderabad providing education of the 21st century.