Reflection NDCE

Oh what a journey and what an experience!!! Being a Science graduate and studied in Indian system my exposure to art was very limed. But after completing this course Nature Design Of Compelling experience, I can say that it's was great exposure to various forms of art involved in the various fields. Like Photography, T.V & films, Architecture and Interior designing, Music and fashion and also last 2 weeks the Work of Art involved my projects.

When I am revisiting this modules to make an entry I can see that four months has been so much creative right from the photography module were we studied different aspect of photography and also posted photograph on Face book group. The Krause reading was really nice it was first time I compared pictures and reasoned which is more compelling and catchy.

What are the bridges from these modules I have learned in CEP 882 and how do I connect this to my everyday classroom teaching ?. From photography to teaching I can definitely say focus and the critical angle that a photographer uses to take a good photograph. I think a teacher can definitely use this focus towards the topic he/ she teaches and that critical angle means he/she can teach the topic in such way that students can relate it to everyday life without losing the essence.

From the Film module, We had super bowl Sunday and Doritos commercial. I found that a 30 sec commercial can be so creative and compelling. It was really a challenge to discuss on Face book the opening scene of the movie The Godfather. I learned that we can put passion in our work and be more focused. So much inspiration we Educators can take from the world of film, T.V and advertisement. I can refer to world famous film editor Walter Murch who does not have windows in his house so that he can have the cinema hall effect 365 days a year. So defiantly dedication and passion is what I can bring to my classroom from the film module.

Imaginative bridges between architecture/interior designing and teaching.

Where I stay currently DUBAI is manmade marvel right from the tallest building on the planet to numerous manmade islands the city has transformed itself from desert town to metropolis and skyline which could only be compared to Manhattan and Shanghai. There are many architectural marvels I have seen in Dubai. What I really liked about the Architecture module is the famous American architect Sharah Susanka said in her NPR interview in which she says that “It is not bricks and mortar that make a home, but how we make that place intimate makes it a home”. Similarly the connecting bridges are not books and white boards which make a classroom. It is the experience, which we educators bring to our students that creates a learning environment.
I like the way Susanka said, “Qualities, not the quantities, of space make a difference.” It is the shaping of space, like tailor-made suits that make it more comfortable. I think an appropriate bridge would tailor made lesson plan and more differential learning.


Imaginative bridges between Music and teaching

About Music module was going on I found out that music is very compelling for students. I can connect my passion for teaching with the work of art and the energy these musicians inject into their songs. The highlight of this module was Robert Kapilow's radio interview and Leonard Bernstein you tube videos. Thanks to professor Wong for making us aware of the hidden treasures and joys that Jazz has to offers. The hook, notes and rhythm in music can also be used by a teacher as a hook could be the pull the teacher uses in a class to attract students towards the topic, notes could be the voice modulation to make the classroom more interesting and rhythm could be the pattern the teacher use while teaching.

Bridges between Fashion and teaching.

Fashion was one of the most outrages and happening module What not to where show was really inspiring and defiantly I found my work on What not to teach very compelling.“If Ideas Were Fashion” by David Wong & Danah Henriksen, opened new doors of imagination for me. Many questions were raised in this article like “students rarely find the experience of school as engaging as fashion”? I am trying to find answers to these questions raised in the article. I could definitely imagine some bridges from fashion to education. Plus what I can understand from this module is that an educator should give his/her old ideas and adapt to the newer and finer way of teaching and think out of the box.

Finally my Work of art project it was fantastic expedition. I took to make my toastmasters’ experience made it more compelling. I rehearsed in for my toastmasters club meeting in front of different people right from my students to senior toastmasters and finally gave a live toastmasters session. I was really appreciated at the end of my toastmasters meeting they found it my speech very compelling.

I felt that Journey of CEP 882 is only over as far as the course is concerned but the knowledge and reflection will be there in my mind for long time and I will definitely make bridges and connect all these above mentioned modules to my everyday teaching thus creating a compelling experience for my students and myself.

From High street fashion to teaching....

Taking inspiration from What Not To Wear (WNTW) regarding fashion, we have come up with our won video of What Not To Teach (WNTT). Like Stacey and Clinton in (WNTW) were highly opinionated about fashion and ridiculed Pam for her dressing sense, I think many times even teachers are also divided in two different schools of thoughts. Many like the Rote way while few like to experiment and others try innovative ways of teaching. I have to use the old Rote learning and indoor classroom approach of chalk and blackboard, sometimes even though I believe in experimenting and innovating in class.
Unwillingly or unknowingly I have to follow the old school of taught because most of the time I follow a rote way of teaching. In that case, I follow the method of (TTT) Teaching, Testing, Teaching and it works, as I teach the British system and we have very little chances to experiment. I teach A levels that’s grade 12 and we have to finish 6 modules in 10 months time, so only rote learning works here although I would love to experiment but cannot due to academic pressure of completing the syllabus. However, I have seen in more progressive educational systems like IB and the American systems that the teachers are encouraged to follow inquiry based learning and disapprove of (TTT).
While doing my course work reading of Madison Avenue’s “30-Second Spot Remover” I liked how Mr. Robert Greenberg described information, He said “Because of advances in technology and communication, we're surrounded by information we see and hear. Overload is a huge issue.” As he continued, he said "I think things are going to get infinitely more complex," he adds on, "and the challenge is about taking things that are infinitely complex and making them simpler and more understandable." I think that’s the problem with our education he said everything about the present state of education system. We have too much amount of research that has gone into education and teaching and we have a lot of pedagogy and it has complicated the whole educational system. We need to simply take a middle path in which we can make education a fun filled activity, as Greenberg describes it, and still achieve the objective of learning.
Like high street fashion is exclusive for the elite, rich and famous people, similarly I believe higher education is also for a selected few in many parts of the world.
I also came across the article “The aesthetic imperative” while doing course reading, that’s chapter 1 in the book "The Substance of Style" by Harper Collins where the author, Virginia Postrel compares a lot of things and try to correlate them using various parameters . I particular liked her comparison of IBM with Compaq and she gave a reason as to why people are ready to spend more for the MAC book. I also liked the example of the grocery at Salt Lake City where the owner does a makeover of her grocery shop and notices that after the makeover and the opening of a new Starbucks Café opposite to the grocery, it has not only added to the ascetic value of the shop but has also given a very welcoming atmosphere to her shop. I think similarly, if a school does a makeover and designs its classrooms, it will add to the ascetic valve and give a welcomed change to students. I can conclude that even teachers should change their teaching strategies and do a much required makeover to their teaching style.

Bridges between Fashion and Teaching........

While travelling from Dubai to Mumbai on my Easter break I was scrolling through the channels on my video in the Aircraft. I found a documentary called “September Issue” being played on one of the channels. The September issue was a short documentary and the plot was of Vogue magazine’s September month issue and people involved in publishing that month’s issue. The documentary also gives you bird’s eye view of the fashion industry and the controversies involved in fashion world. I was doing NDCE Prof. Wong Fashion Module and to my surprise I found that this documentary has come in a right time to give me an exposure about fashion world, after watching this documentary I got idea about high street fashion.
It was bit out of my league to identify with high fashion of Madison Avenue and Rodeo drive or couther fashion week in Paris. So what is the point of me as a high school teacher trying to talk about elite fashion world. I am trying to make connecting bridges from the volatile and glamour’s world of fashion to placid and down-to-earth world of teaching. Is there any connection between teaching and fashion or I am trying to make some connection in a hypotical manner this was a million dollar question?
Some of the offbeat articles like “If Ideas Were Fashion” by David Wong & Danah Henriksen, opened new doors of imagination for me. Many question were raised in this article like “students rarely find the experience of school as engaging as fashion”? I am trying to find answers to these questions raised in the article. I could definitely imagine some bridges from fashion to education before it would take sometime for me make those bridges.
After watching the episode of what not to wear (WNTW) I could draw some analogies between fashion and teaching.
Pam in (WNTW) I found Pam attitude similar to many teachers. Many of the teachers are like Pam, are old fashioned and follow age old technique in teaching. Many students don’t like the way their teachers teach a lesson but due the reluctance of the teacher’s mind to accept the change in their teaching technique leads to down fall and uninteresting classroom lesson. Many times teachers behave like Pam does in episode they are not ready to accept that there can be any problem or flaws in their way of teaching they feel that it perfect or it is alright to continue to the teach a lesson as they were doing in the past. They always self praise themselves as Pam does about her dressing style and in fact some teacher know how to escape out by blaming their students and at time school management for their inability to change or improve their teaching standards.
I am waiting for the next week’s article on NDCE of fashion make some more connecting bridges from fashion to Education….

Very exciting Musical week

Yes I know you are curious to know what the outcome of Michael Jackson concert was.
The Michael Jackson concert on 26th march was a musical extravaganza with 500 students taking part in it and so over 2000 thousand plus audiences I could see the enthusiasm and the very overwhelming response of the audience.
Coming back NDCE the second week of Music module was really interesting, I gained so much knowledge about Music.
I never studied Music and was unaware of the basics of music. But while NDCE music module second week,I learned a lot of stuff. It was two weeks of intensive Music crash course.I was surprised after finishing this module the amount of reading and listing I have gone through ,It was a true musical journey and by till know the most interesting module. The highlight of this module was Robert Kapilow's radio interview and Leonard Bernstein you tube videos. Thank you professor Wong for making us aware of the hidden treasures and joys that Jazz offers
But after reading and understanding music I wanted to know, what is that I have achieved is a million dollar question? Can I transform this knowledge and passion the musician use to create those compelling moments for their listeners that is their audience? I observed Music has patterns and every great song or piece of Music has rhythm that follows throughout the pieces and hook which are build up and repeated again and again.
Similarly in teaching we have some basic which follow through out and then we have hooks like tips tricks so that we can pull in our students. We also have to do voice modulation and add humor notes to make our lessons interesting.
I also experimented with my students by making them listen to various music composition like Beethoven and Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff while teaching them a lesson. And while asking them response or the effect the music has on them was mixed. I also played 104.4 Virgin Fm in my class it was surprising to see students singing and doing math.
I learned for the first time musical jargons like a hook, beats, rhythm, notes and also understood how to identify them in a music.

Slate’s NPR interview Of Bob Abramson was really inspiring how much passion he put in teaching a lesson in music, I hope I can transfer my passion for teaching like bob does for his music students. I liked the way he said That playing music is as easy or hard like speaking a language nice connection.
Over all I learned a lot I need some time or gestation period where revisit all this musical knowledge and make those musical bridges from music to teaching using all of valued information CEP 882 musical module as a teaching tool.

NDCE Music

While doing Prof. David Wong’s Music Module, I witnessed a compelling experience of music in my school. It was surprising, as my school is having its own concert and are paying a tribute to one of the world’s most talented, Iconic singer-songwriter, dancer, actor, choreographer, philanthropist, activist, record producer, and entertainer Michael Jackson.
Students right from Grade 4 to Grade 12 are going to be taking part in this concert .I am amazed to see the whole school being turned into a rehearsal hall. Listening to the famous American music composer, Robert Kapilow’s radio interview in which he spoke about the book “Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gadwell were he mentions, how some ideas stay around for centuries, and how some just die out. ‘Michael Jackson’ is one name which will stay in coming time memorial. Or I can say will stay in coming 1000 years. I remember growing up in India, other than just a few recognized worldwide bands like The Eagles, The Beatles and other noted singers like Whitney Houston, Madonna , Tina turner. Michael Jackson was one of the most popular star in India. As a 6 year old boy growing up listing to Michael Jackson also made me tap my feet. He is the type of artists whose work of art will stay around for centuries.
Coming back to the NDCE module . I wanted to find out what made music so compelling and how I can construct bridges which can connect my passion for teaching with the work of art and the energy these musicians inject into their song . I felt there would be no greater opportunity other than that to watch the Michael Jackson concert or see the enthusiasm and sprit that was going into it. I could really feel that the whole school was going crazy behind this iconic music legend. Students tend to run out of the class for rehearsal, groove in corridors, and even if sitting in class, I would notice their feet constantly tapping on the floor, humming along, the distinctive beats of Michael Jackson’s songs. So indeed I felt that music can make a compelling experience and as the concert day is coming near that is 26th march I am looking forward to seeing what the students and teacher who will take part in it display and the response of the audience who will be watching the concert. Wait for next post to find out if it is compelling or not.

So much to inspire from ........

After visiting two retail spaces, that in my case are these famous Indian restaurants in Dubai that are Bikanerwala and Bombay Chowpatti, I am trying to make a connection with the compelling experience of these two food joints with my teaching /classroom environment.

I had to ask myself what makes these spaces special for me as a costumer and also as food lover, and in what way I can connect these experiences to my classrooms to make it more compelling. There can be countless analogies that can be drawn. How do I draw analogies from them and make a meaningful connection to my classrooms. Prof. Wong advised us to wear NDCE glasses and look through that angle and try to make a more meaningful connection and try connecting them to our classroom.

While doing NDCE reading I read Big Ideas behind Not So Big Houses Sarah Susanka mentioned a very good point that it is the quality and not quantity which makes the difference. So these places that I visited were not that big but the way the interiors were done, the food displayed, the seating arrangement done and the way everything was arranged in a particular manner made it pleasing and a very compelling experience for me.
Being an Educator of 21st century we had to do some soul searching to try putting passion and taking inspiration from many fields and from the work of different professionals. For example when I tell my students let’s do some more calculus problems or one more problem of trigonometry or let’s keep extra class on geometry they tend to give me excuses or they just do not seem that interested. But when I tell the same students let’s go out for a class lunch at a restaurant students are more than happy. This is how we can apply such meaning full experiences to enhance classroom learning. What makes a visit to a restaurant or fast food joint more compelling than a math class? This is what I want to find out?
In my school all classrooms are similar, all the furniture and fixtures follow the same pattern and the whole school follow similar monotonous prototype model in terms of number of desks, the white boards, windows, lights, curtains and even ceiling fixtures, fans and A.C are same in all the rooms. So how do we make it different and more compelling? Definitely we have neither the budget to decorate every classroom in a unique way nor is it possible to have different classrooms for different subjects. The only way I think this can be achieved, in fact we are actually achieving it, through our classroom boards.
These boards that are done once every month helps to enhance the classroom interiors and give every classroom a unique look. Ever classroom has a very different and distinctive look depending on the level and subjects offered and the design of these boards depend on the creative quotients of the teachers and students. I will post some of the board photographs on my blogs so that you can tell me if you find them compelling or not.

Bridges between Architecture and Teaching

Imaginative bridges between architecture/interior designing and teaching? It sounds a bit out of context, but both these fields are very creative and unless the professionals in both these fields don’t put in their passion, they cannot succeed in the challenges involved in their work.
A teacher is also like an interior designer, who needs to consider the different aspects of aesthetic sense in his/her classroom. For example, if the room is well illuminated, provided with the adequate light in the room and proper ventilation, the lightings and the air circulation would definitely add to the learning experience of the students and teaching experience of the teacher.
I teach in Dubai, a city raised on a desert, where summers are extremely hot (I am talking about 50 centigrade) and winters are cold, so controlling the temperature in my classroom becomes a major task. In summers, due to central air-conditioners, the temperature in many of the classrooms is around 20 centigrade, at times students find it cold and want to increase the temperature, whereas some students find the temperature perfect. The famous American architect Sharah Susanka said in her NPR interview that “It is not bricks and mortar that make a home, but how we make that place intimate makes it a home”. Similarly it is not books and white boards which make a classroom. It is the experience, which we educators bring to our students that creates a learning environment.
I like the way Susanka said, “Qualities, not the quantities, of space make a difference.” It is the shaping of space, like tailor-made suits that make it more comfortable. I do design or reorganize my classroom by arranging the student’s desk in such a manner that I can have a proper view of all my students, this also gives a more personal touch to my classroom. Susanka said that “The human mind is wired to walk towards the light” and “Light transforms all the experiences of how you access the room that opens through the well-decorated hall way.” This statement is very true. In a school where I used to work, the hallway had very beautiful paintings and lightings and it would transform my experience and would recharge me and energize me mentally when I used to go from one class to another.
So don’t you agree that there are Imaginative bridges between architecture/interior designing and teaching? Which one do you find more creative?