The Global Teacher Accreditation (GTA) project is a unique opportunity to gain recognition for high-quality professional practice, grounded in peer development and reflection for serving teachers undertaking development activities.
The British Council and Cambridge Education Foundation, work together to deliver the GTA Programme to promote a global dimension in the school curriculum through the development of innovative, equitable and sustainable school partnerships.
GTA participants for the year 2015:
Four teachers Ms.Geetha Venkatraman (Maths), Ms.A.Hemaji (English), Ms.Bharathi A (Maths) and Ms.Shreelata Vedula (Computer Science) from Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Virugambakkam have been selected for the GTA project 2015. The teachers worked on Action Research projects based on the guidelines given by the British Council.
GTA participants for the year 2015:
Mrs. A. Hemaji chose '21st Century Skills' as her topic for research. Her project is titled as “How do I nurture creative thinking skills in my English classes for 4th graders through idea generation techniques?” All children are born creative but as they grow their connection to their creative roots weaken or may even disappear due to various demands and distractions. Creative thinking is an important 21st century skill that increases the ability of the students to think unconventionally, ask more questions , imagine new scenarios, and produce astonishing work and empowers them to become successful global citizens. She was inspired to explore alternate teaching methodologies which will encourage active classroom involvement. She has employed various idea generation techniques like divergent and convergent thinking, relative and random associations, lateral thinking exercises, mind mapping and few other techniques in her class to enhance the creative thinking skills in her students. She has also shared her project findings and the teaching techniques that bore results with other teachers of the school.
Mrs.A.Bharathi chose INNOVATIVE TEACHING as her topic for research. Her project is titled as How can I use speed math techniques to enhance the proficiency in Arithmetic Operations of Class IV learners ?. The objective was, Children are gadget savvy and find calculators and computers as very helpful gadgets. Simple calculations of day to day life are also solved using these instruments and under such circumstances, developing basic skills in young minds is a real challenge. Speedmath is a technique that is very useful to bring skill improvement to a fruitful one. The foremost aim is to make use of this for strong basics in math skills. Indian math techniques along with Russian Trachtenberg system of speed math is a boon to learners. Herein, mental abilities are exercised and powerful visualization skills get developed since much of the steps involved in mental calculations are seen in the computer like mind. Concentration level becomes very strong and overall capabilities in other related areas also get improved. Thus the learners become very confident to handle any type of e-problem. The result of the techniques used will improve arithmetic skills of young minds thereby giving the most professional satisfaction to cherish forever.
Mrs.Shreelata Vedula chose ICT in International Collaboration and learning as her topic for research. Her project is titled as How do I sensitize my grade four students about wastage of food during lunch time through Information and Communication Technology?. “Take what you need and use what you take” is the principle that she planned to impart in the children. The aspiration is to understand major reasons why children waste food during lunch time in the school and identify interventions that could be effective in reducing food wastage in the schools of Russia and India. Children are always enthralled by ICT tools; so the aim is to get the children acquainted with the growing crisis of global hunger worldwide through ICT. This will leave an ever-lasting impact on them so that they rethink before they waste food. At the end point of the research the students of both the countries will be well aware of the adverse effects of wasting food and the teachers can implement the outcomes of the research, during the lunch break in their respective classrooms. The group of fourth grade students chosen are diverse in every aspect. They are from different backgrounds, speak different languages and have varying learning abilities and potentials. Therefore, the intention is to ensure that every student participates and equal opportunities are given to everyone.
Children should equip themselves to live in a global village and money is one of the important essentials for a globe-trotter. The need to be acquainted with the currencies of the different countries and convert one form of currency into the other becomes imperative. As a Mathematics teacher, teaching the children of Grade VII multiplication of decimals through a child-centred activity, a play way method, would facilitate in enhancing the knowledge and evincing more interest in the child. This formed the basis for the Global Teacher Accreditation Project of Mrs. Geetha Venkataraman. Her theme for the action research was School-to-school partnership on nurturing global citizenship, that led to the question "How to augment global numismatic knowledge and inter-conversion of currencies among children of class VII, through school to school partnership and a board game?" Various activities were designed to make the learning interesting.
