Fun Schooling

Wonderful results posted by Jennifer Carole at I Must be Doing Something Wrong, This is Too Much Fun:

At the pool, I was grading Katie's work (grading is a weird word, I guess reviewing, circling, commenting, questioning), and I got a little thrill. I felt so close to her. For the first time (maybe ever), I was truly understanding how she was thinking and how she made mistakes. I decided not to mark things wrong but rather simply circle them to try to understand why she answered the way she did. When we reviewed her answers later in the day, I found she sometimes goes too fast and doesn't get the whole question.

In one case, we realized her answer was correct even though it differed from the answer key.

The result was Katie felt way better about her work as she understood why she made the mistakes she made and that she could have a "right" answer even though the book said it was wrong. Very empowering. Overall, I have to say the process is truly powerful and by having us work together to review her work has put us on the same team.

Touched! Moved! Inspired!

Internet Resources for Kids

Recently, I discovered Kidzui - the internet browser for kids with features like parental control. 

It is an amazing tool and my daughter loves the experience.

On other internet resources: For Coloring fun for kids, checkout free coloring sheets at (secret guilt: I love sketching & water colors!):

http://www.freecoloringsheets.net/

http://coloringbookfun.com/

http://www.coloring.ws/

Telecom Operators in HDFC Bank Scholarship Program CHARGE PREMIUM RATES TO STUDENTS

HDFC Bank has launched a national level scholarship program to give out "over 5000 Scholarships ranging from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 10 Lakh amounting to Rs. 1.5 crore, to students from the 4th to the 9th standard."

A Judges panel will choose the winners, the evaluation criteria being:

a. Academics – Last 2 years performance in school
b. Extracurricular activities and Sports – Competitions won in intra-school, inter-school, state level and national level
c. Final written tests

 Last date for registration 18th Feb. 2009; for more details, mail meritus@hdfcbank.com.

A set of Frequently Asked Questions is available at HDFC Bank Meritus Scholarship.

Look at following two questions:

What are the call charges to take IVR test?
Premium call charges would be applicable to take the IVR test. Rates are different for each service provider. The same is mentioned in the table below.

Operator	IVR number	Price in Rs. per minute	Availability
AIRCEL	505101012	6	South and North East
AIRTEL	505101012	6	National
BPL	505101012	6	Mumbai
IDEA	505101012	6.99	National
RELIANCE	505101012	6	National
TATA	505101012	6	National
TOUCHTEL (Airtel Fixed Line)	505101012	6	National
VODAFONE	505101012	6	National
BSNL (Landline)	1255512	2.4	National
BSNL (Mobile)	1255512	5	National
MTNL (Mobile)	1255512	5	Mumbai and Delhi
MTNL (Landline) - Delhi	12555	2	Delhi
MTNL (Landline) - Mumbai	127777	2	Mumbai

How much time would it take to complete the IVR test?
If a participant answers all the questions correctly in first attempt, they should finish the IVR test in ten minutes.

Why the "Premium call charges"? Is HDFC sponsoring STUDENTS? 

Or, is HDFC sponsoring Telecom Operators?

Playfulness as an educational tool

Johan Huizinga (who wrote Homo Ludens, or "Man the Player," in 1938)  suggested that "play is primary to and necessary (though not sufficient) condition of the generation of culture".

Playfulness can be a great educational tool to help children enjoy (and easily retain) learnings. Teachers can adapt many games for teaching most of the  subjects.  What could be some examples? Let us do a quick think:

• http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Flags-of-All-Nations
  
• http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Pass-the-Parcel: At each turn, the student can be asked to do an activity: explain a concept, recite a poem, etc.
• http://www.group-games.com/ice-breakers/homemade-pictionary-game.html
• http://www.group-games.com/stationary-games/hot-seat.html (there can be a five-minute hot seat every day, conducted in a fun manner so that students want to be really at the hot seat)
• Dumb Charade (use relevant subject instead of movies)
• A quick round of Rapid Fire Quiz (First to raise hand gets to answer) 

Handing out gifts for the winners can do wonders. Children love gifts! Even if it is an eraser or a pencil or simply a "star" drawn on the hand.

What would be the impact if more and more teachers play similar games to teach as many subjects as possible in this manner?

Actually, playfulness has a deeper impact. As Hector Rodriguez shares in The Playful and the Serious: An approximation to Huizinga's Homo Ludens:

The purpose of playful learning is not to improve the "effectiveness" of teaching but to encourage a profound rethinking of the essential nature of its methods and subject matter.

A report "Playfulness-based Design in Educational Games: A perspective on an Evolutionary Contest Game" cites: 

When players are interested in something, it keeps them engaged, and when their attention is on one thing, they are described as playful (Eysenck & Keane, 2000).Webster and Martocchio (1992) define playfulness as the device that attracts players’attention and involves them during their play.

Huizinga said:

Let my playing be my learning, and my learning be my playing.

Amen!