…an instructional leader. Hello all. Welcome to the 190th edition of TEPS Weekly! In the first part of this series, we looked at an important shift – from teaching well to leading instruction. A good teacher knows what works in their own classroom. An instructional leader can help other teachers because they can tell you why something works in the classroom. That raises the next question: How can schools identify teachers who may become good instructional leaders, and how can

…through meaningful organisation. Hello all. Welcome to the 189th edition of TEPS Weekly! Ms. Kavitha is teaching the Grade 10 History chapter Print Culture and the Modern World. Towards the end of the lesson, she writes a question on the board: How did print change life in India? The answer includes several points: cheaper books reach more readers, women read and write about their lives, reformers question social practices, religious groups circulate their views, workers gai

…does one cause the other? Hello all. Welcome to the 188th edition of TEPS Weekly! A Grade 7 Mathematics teacher shows students a graph comparing the hours they spend studying each week with their test scores. Each dot represents one student. The teacher asks, “What can we conclude from this graph?” One student responds, “The more you study, the higher your marks will be.” Another disagrees. “Not necessarily. My friend studies much longer than I do, but I usually score higher

…from day one to every day. Hello all. Welcome to the 187th edition of TEPS Weekly! Little Blooms School conducted a TPD session on classroom management. One of the strategies the trainer mentioned for effective classroom management was setting expectations in the class. Scenario 1: Mr. Francis, a middle-school teacher, decides to set classroom expectations with his students. He discusses a few expectations with the class in detail. The students actively participate in the d

…but never raises their hand. Hello all. Welcome to the 186th edition of TEPS Weekly! Mrs. Kavita poses a question during a Grade 8 Science lesson: “Why do clothes take longer to dry on a cloudy day, even when there is wind?” Immediately, three hands shoot up. They are the usual fast responders, ready with an answer before she has even completed the question. Meanwhile, in the third row, Rohan sits quietly. He isn’t talking to his friends, and he isn't staring out the window.

…to teach history. Hello all. Welcome to the 185th edition of TEPS Weekly! Ms. Vani is a middle stage History teacher. Today, she is teaching the chapter The Colonial Era in India, and she plans to discuss the introduction of the railways. She begins with a familiar question: “What changed when railways were introduced in India?” Many hands go up. One student says, “Trains helped people travel to faraway places!” Another adds, “Places that were far apart became easier to reac

…for deeper learning. Hello all. Welcome to the 184th edition of TEPS Weekly! When students get a graded paper back, what do they look at first? Usually, the marks. And that makes sense. But often, their attention stays just there, and they may not go back through the paper to see where they’ve lost marks, what they misunderstood, or what they should work on next. This is useful information and also the point of an assessment. So how can we get students to look more closely a

…in Early Numeracy. Hello all. Welcome to the 183rd edition of TEPS Weekly! What comes to your mind when you look at the picture below? Students having fun? A game? Maybe even a break from learning? That is probably what most of us would notice first. But fun, games and play can be an integral part of Early Numeracy. What is “play”? In Early Numeracy, play is when students apply and solidify what they have learnt, in a structured and joyful manner, using useful and concrete

...to instructional leader. Hello all. Welcome to the 182nd edition of TEPS Weekly! Every school has a few teachers whom others naturally turn to. They explain difficult ideas clearly. Their lessons are well planned. They know where students may get confused, and they can change their approach when a lesson is not working. So, when a school needs a Subject Coordinator, Head of Department, mentor or Academic Coordinator, these teachers are often the first choice. That makes se

…for early language development. Hello all. Welcome to the 181st edition of TEPS Weekly! In Class 1A, Rakhi ma’am is teaching the words ‘stand’, ‘jump’, ‘clap’ and ‘sit’. She has a very clear instructional routine: Teacher: Students: 1 writes the words on the board. copy the words into their notebook. 2 reads the words aloud. repeat the words after the teacher. 3 spells each word aloud. repeat the spellings after the teacher. Once done, Rakhi ma’am moves onto the next activit

…for active recall. Hello all. Welcome to the 180th edition of TEPS Weekly! A few months ago, we had written about the features of a good Teaching-Learning Material (TLM). In today’s edition, we write about a specific type of TLM – the flashcard. Is a flashcard just a piece of paper with a picture on it? Is it something more? How can it be created well, and how can it be used to its full potential? We dive into what the research says about this. How are flashcards usually use

...without taking over. Hello all. Welcome to the 179th edition of TEPS Weekly! A student is solving “3/4th of 20”. They write “20 ÷ 4 = 5” and then stop. They look back at a solved example on the board, cross something out, try another step and pause again. It has been about a minute. You are standing nearby. What would you do? Would you wait a little longer? Ask them to explain their thinking? Give a small hint? Or show them the next step? At first, this seems like a simple

…ONE skill. Hello all. Welcome to the 178th edition of TEPS Weekly! Sunitha ma’am is a teacher in a small town in Telangana, teaching English and EVS to Grades 3–6. Today in Grade 6, she has just completed reading a short story about ‘Cory’s Snow Day’ that was provided to her by a local NGO, as part of a reading bundle. Sunitha ma’am calls on Raghav to stand up and read the story aloud. Raghav stands up confidently and begins to read, one word at a time, loud and clear: Cory

…what’s the difference? Hello all. Welcome to the 177th edition of TEPS Weekly! Notebooks are an important part of every school-going student’s life. In many classrooms, they become the main source of revision before an examination. Teachers dictate important points and likely questions, students carefully write them down, and later try to memorise the answers. But a notebook can do more than store dictated points and answers. Students can use it to put an idea into their own

……than just reciting numbers. Hello all. Welcome to the 176th edition of TEPS Weekly! Can a child count without understanding numbers? At first this may seem like a strange question. If a child can count from 1 to 10, it is often assumed that the child understands numbers. But in early numeracy, being able to say number names and recite them in the correct order is different from actually understanding what numbers mean and represent – all of these skills together form “count

…to each of your 45 students? Hello all. Welcome to the 175th edition of TEPS Weekly! Can every student in a classroom receive effective feedback during a 40-minute lesson? Bindhu, a Grade 7 Social Science teacher, recently attended a Teacher Professional Development (TPD) session on formative assessment. One idea particularly stayed with her – students learn better when they receive feedback while they are learning, not only after the lesson is over. Inspired, she decided to

…a structured approach. Hello all. Welcome to the 174th edition of TEPS Weekly! Ms. Nithya is a Social Science teacher. Today, she is continuing the chapter Democracy with Class 9A, and the focus is on the section ‘Principles of Democracy’. Ms. Nithya asks different students to stand up and read aloud four of the principles and their explanations – Popular Sovereignty, Rule of Law, Fundamental Rights, Separation of Powers. After each explanation is read, she asks students a f

…meta-metacognition? Hello all. Welcome to the 173rd edition of TEPS Weekly! A student finishes reading a Science chapter, highlights several lines, and says, “I understand this.” The next day, however, the same student struggles to answer a question that looks even slightly different from the examples in the textbook. This is a situation that we are all familiar with. It is tempting to conclude that the student did not study hard enough. But often the issue is not effort alo

…create cognitive conflict. Hello all. Welcome to the 172nd edition of TEPS Weekly! A group of Grade 8 Science teachers are planning a unit on astronomy. The unit includes three closely related topics: the Moon, phases of the Moon, and eclipses. The textbook places them in that order. The yearly plan places them neatly in the same term. On paper, the sequence looks simple: teach the Moon, teach phases, and then teach eclipses. One teacher says, “The textbook has Moon phases b

…in learning science. Hello all. Welcome to the 171st edition of TEPS Weekly! A Grade 2 teacher places different leaves on each table and says, “Observe the leaves carefully and share your observations.” At first, many students look at the leaves quickly and give simple responses: “This one is big,” or “This one is green.” The teacher then pauses and explains, “In science, observing does not mean just looking. It means looking carefully and noticing details. When we observe,