Visit to school in Liverpool...part 2

Hello friends, I wish you all a very Happy Monsoon...

With the charming drizzle and drips,  let us enjoy reading this article..exploring the findings from the Plantation Primary school...

In my last article I talked about my visit to Plantation Primary school in Liverpool, England wherein I wrote about some of the  highlights that I noticed in the classroom...In my today's article, I am writing about the highlights in detail...
So, talking about the highlights,  first of all I would like to talk about



What is learner autonomy??
In my opinion,  learner's autonomy is something that gives children the freedom of learning..
 It provides an opportunity to learn on their own and of their interest.... what I found in the classroom of Pre primary grade where children were allowed to learn on their interest... children were given opportunity to learn on their own...
I could see that the children were enjoying the things they were doing...They themselves chose the material they want to play and learn with....
Some of the children were playing with the sand...
3- 4 children were playing and learning with Tablets...
3-5 children were enjoying with wooden blocks of various shapes...

So all were busy doing the things of their own interest ...But at the same time they were learning and developing the skill of learning...

 2.Guided freedom :

The another thing in my notice was guided freedom in the classroom.. Guided freedom means the children were allowed to do the things of their interest but they were under the monitoring and  supervision of the teachers...
Though they were free but at the same time they had their guide...

3. Digital Learning :

As I mentioned above that some of the children were busy with the tablets , playing some numbers game..it was the evidence of digital literacy since the beginning...
Not only in the primary and upper  grades but also the library was digitally equipped ...the library was provided with the projector and availability of e- books..
Thus the children were getting knowledge physically and digitally....

4.Constructivism :
T
Constructivism is nothing but constructing knowledge on their own through various learning experiences...

So this constructivism could be seen in every action...
I would really like to mention that the children of the age group 4 to 5 were using scissors so brilliantly that I was astonished for a while...because in our schools we do not even allow the children of second or third grade, to use scissors in the school.....
But ,
They were cutting the papers in various geometrical shapes and filling the glass jars with respective shapes....
Here they were actually constructing their own knowledge about the geometrical shapes...
They were learning by doing themselves...

5. Skill development :

this is one of the observation that children were developing the preparatory  skills of learning...
I observed that one girl was stringing the ribbon through holes made in the card....
At the glance she was only playing with colourful ribbons and cards but at the same time she was developing the skill of holding the pen to write....She was developing the eye hand coordination...She was developing the grip in her fingers...
These skills would definitely be helpful to further learning....

6. Personal facilitation :

This is a praiseworthy observation from the pre primary grade that one of the girl child was personally being facilitated by the assistant  teacher of their class....
Actually they have 2 teachers appointed to every class of which one is a class teacher and the other is assistant teacher...
I really liked this approach as well... Because it helps them to monitor the class more effectively...
About personal facilitation I saw that an assistant teacher of the class was telling story to one girl child sitting very motherly to her.....
Even the girl was enjoying as if she is at home....

7. Assessment based on time variation :

The another impressive observation was the assessment based on time variation...
On asking to the class teacher of pre primary grades I came to know about the assessment pattern which is based on time variation of learning during 3 consecutive academic sessions...

They have developed the framework of assessment on some criteria of language learning , mathematics skills, and other related subjects..

What do they do in assessment ??

They actually assess the children's achievement in that span of time and accordingly take him or her to the desired criteria till he completes his pre primary education in 3 consecutive sessions...

I am really impressed by this assessment pattern because this is really an opportunity to the children to learn as per his pace...

He can take all his time to achieve the desired goal...

This is really the autonomy to learn...

In this way, I observed the things and tried to bring it to you through this article...please do not forget to give your valuable feedback about my findings...
I will be back soon with another topic from IATEFL conference...
Till then have a lovely time....!!!