CBSE teacher workshop

The Indian School organised a Capacity Building Programme on Life Skills in collaboration with CBSE on 25 May 2022 from 9 am to 4 pm.

CBSE resource person, Dr Alka Saxena, Deputy Director (Health and Wellness) at Bluebells Group of Schools, Gurgaon, acquainted the gathering about various ways and techniques of developing and enhancing life skills among students across all age groups. The engrossing session was attended by 52 teachers of the primary to senior secondary levels.

Dr Saxena began the workshop with an icebreaking activity where she asked the teachers to create name tags for themselves. She talked about how ten core life skills namely - self- awareness, empathy, critical thinking, creative thinking, decision making, problem solving, effective communication, interpersonal relationship, coping with stress and coping with emotions, can yield fruitful results when incorporated in the teaching learning process. She also asked the teachers to draw a comparison between how the teaching-learning process has changed over time moving from a didactic teaching method to a student- centric approach. She then asked the teachers to list down the characteristics and skills required by a 21st century learner.

The workshop emphasised upon how motivation plays a very important role in the life of a learner stressing upon the two main components of it, namely aim and strength. She reminded that Maslows Hierarchy of Needs should be kept in mind during the teaching-learning process in a classroom setting. The workshop acted as a reiteration of the fact that a successful education lies at the core of creating an insightful and responsive individual.

The entire workshop was conducted in an interactive manner where the teachers were divided into groups and each group was given a story along with a methodology to create a short presentation. It was an engaging time when different groups had something unique to present. The group members worked as a cohesive unit and presented many attributes of practical life skills.

The rewarding session concluded with a wonderful and relaxing exercise on mindfulness and a discussion on where the learnings of the day can be applied in professional as well as personal life. It was a very fruitful and informative session.