CBSE Workshops for Teachers 2014
India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) won a Pan-Indian bid in March 2014 to conduct capacity building workshops in arts education for teachers from CBSE affiliated schools. This step marks a new chapter for IFA’s Arts Education programme, one that will help it build on its commitment to strengthen arts-based teacher training for teachers of all subjects.
On perceiving the merit of IFA’s work in seven districts of Karnataka with in-service teachers as part of its Kali-Kalisu initiative, the Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) Bangalore, Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Mysore and the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT), Delhi, agreed to collaborate with us on a number of projects. IFA was invited to write two position papers, charting the curriculum and syllabus for arts-based teacher training; to write a source book for pre-service teacher trainees in Karnataka pursuing their Diploma in Education; and to conduct a pilot training programme for students pursuing their Bachelors in Education programme at RIE, Mysore.
Thus, IFA has won this bid to work with teachers from CBSE affiliated schools on the basis of several years of experience in the field of arts-based training for teachers and looks forward to working with the CBSE towards creating an enriching series of workshops for its teachers. For details on the two-day workshop, please read our CBSE Workshop Module below.
Registrations for the workshop are now open. We invite interested teachers (both subject and art teachers) from primary and secondary schools to register for the training at the following link.
CBSE Workshop Module: Details for Two Days of Teacher Training
DAY 1 | ORIENTATION
09:30 AM - 11.30 AM | 2 hours
The orientation will begin with laying emphasis on creating opportunities of interaction between the teachers and artists/facilitators preceding the arts education training. This will help the artist facilitator to understand and appreciate the world of the teachers and vice-versa, and help raise questions about their larger preoccupations within the schools, their ideas regarding teaching and education, their background in arts, all of which will form the basis for creating arts education activities.
As an example, Rafiki (a theatre group) has created the following list of questions that can spark off a process of mutual understanding between the teachers and the artist facilitators, when addressed by both constituencies:
- Why did I become a teacher?
- What is it that I like about my chosen subject?
- What has been my engagement with the arts?
- What effect do the arts have on my life?
- Why should I use the arts in my class?
- How am I going to use the arts in my class?
- What challenges and resistance do I perceive in implementing these new methods?
It is absolutely crucial to have this orientation, as it will close the gap between the mandate of arts education and education; it will allow teachers to draw important connections between what they teach and what may be learnt from arts education approaches; it will establish a better relationship between the “outside” resource persons and the realities of their schools, and, in the long run, convert them into advocates for arts education.
Mode of transaction: Games & discussions, video presentations
11:45 AM - 01:45 PM | 2 hours
Facilitators will share the background and history of arts education as a disciplinary practice. A collection of reading materials will be shared for discussion during this time as well as for the following three days of training which will create awareness about the context from which these practices have emerged, particularly within educational spaces, and will enable aesthetic literacy for teachers that will prepare them for the rest of the training. This may also function as a primer in arts appreciation.
Mode of transaction: Group reading and discussion
LUNCH | 1:45pm- 2:30pm | 45 minutes
INTRODUCTION TO ‘PLAY’ | 02.30pm - 6pm | 3 hours 30 minutes
Theory: Role of the arts (movement, sound and visual) as “play” in self-development, communication, and the creation of an inclusive environment.
The teacher will be exposed to various modes of “play” through arts-based activities organised through the categories of “Movement,” “Sound,” and “Visual”. The objectives of play include “play as imagination,” “play as communication, and “play for reflection”. Each of the activities will be followed by a de-briefing session for discussion and analysis.
The batch will be divided into three groups. Three parallel sessions will be conducted such that all three groups will engage with every form (with one form extending to Day 2).
Mode of transaction: Hands-on activities, presentations, videos and discussions
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DAY 2
09:30 AM - 11:30 AM | 2 hours
The first session will be used complete the work from the last session of Day 1.
11:45am – 06:00pm | 5 hours 30 minutes with a 45 minute (01:45pm - -2:30pm) break for lunch in between
Teachers will develop arts-based practices through incorporating a variety of modes of play. They can choose a subject that has relevance to their lives, communities, culture, society or classroom. Alternately, teachers can create a series of content-based pedagogical strategies and materials by integrating arts into subject areas within the syllabus. These classroom applications are not standardized materials that carry over from one generation to the next, but an indication of the teacher’s unique creative and pedagogic capabilities.
Mode of transaction: Hands-on activities followed by teachers’ presentations of 5-7 mins for each group.
06:00pm – 06.30 pm | 30 minutes
A detailed de-briefing and feedback session