Teachers of Fatima Fertilizer School learned micro teaching skills, development of assessment tools, and other active teaching strategies during a custom designed two-day workshop session conducted by AKU-EB in Rahim Yar Khan in the last week of January.
“What I liked the most about the Workshop is that it helped build a grip on (the development of) MCQs, CRQs and ERQs. It now feels easier to teach the students appearing for board exams. I would be interested in more such workshops,” said one of the teachers while expressing satisfaction with the training outcomes.
Just as the name suggests, the Workshop was focused on addressing the specific teaching and assessment needs of the School. Among the subjects covered during the Workshop were Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English, Urdu, Pakistan Studies and Islamiyat.
Eight teachers and the School’s Vice Principal attended the training sessions in which ways of creating an active learning environment in the classrooms by applying formative assessment* and micro-teaching techniques were discussed. Teachers availed hands-on experience on developing Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs); designing quality tools of assessment such as MCQs, CRQs and ERQs; importance of social interaction; constructive critical feedback; and Micro-Teaching. Facilitators and participants also shared ideas on how the constructive feedback and formative assessment of students could help teachers identify areas of improvement and foster a learning-based environment in their classrooms.
Group and individual activities allowed the participants to learn from peer feedback and apply the concepts they were exposed to during the Workshop. Participants also shared their interactive lesson plans. Teachers’ queries and concerns were also actively discussed and addressed in the perspective of current versus best teaching and assessment practices.
While sharing their observation on the Workshop, one of the participants said, “I found the sessions very useful as they addressed my queries effectively. I feel more confident in bringing some change to my teaching and students’ learning.” Other participants also found the training to be useful.
Similar need-based tailored workshops were held in 2012 in Naushero Feroze, Jacobabad and Karachi for teachers from different schools. These workshops are a part of AKU-EB’s Teachers’ Professional Development Programme which runs throughout the year across Pakistan.
Custom designed/ tailored trainings could also be requested as per the needs of your School or College. If you would like to get more information, please write to us at firstname.lastname@example.org
*The goal of Formative Assessment is to monitor student’s learning. Formative Assessment:
• helps students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
• helps faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately instead of waiting for year-end examination
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