Saturday, December 24, 2011
Should Fathers Be Involved In His Child's Schooling?
The answer is a big YES. Responsibility of children is always placed on a mother's shoulders which is quite understandable because children spend most of their times with moms than dads. This might be wrong in the West or America as mostly there,both parents work if not full-time, part-time.
Though mothers play a major role in a child's upbringing, fathers should be encouraged to be involved in the child's every matter and the matter I would highlight here is Education.
Mostly fathers tend to relax on a lot of matters related to their children as they are confident that they are being taken care of by mothers. True. But not always right. I think fathers should be equally involved special regarding schooling.
Children whose fathers are very much involved in their education have a successful outcomes as compared to children who are not getting the same attention.
Reasons as to why fathers should start taking interest in their kids' education :
1. Makes the father-child bond stronger.
2. Complete the shortcomings of the partner(wife) incase there are any. Mothers are humans and sometimes tend to neglect things unintentionally which can later be corrected by father.
3. Father will have awareness of what the child is learning from school and can always make it a point if he finds anything he doesn't like rather than blaming the wife at the end if the day for not telling him about what so ever.
4. Children feel very secure getting both parents' attention.
5. The child will always take his studies seriously even as a grown up as he knows that mother and father are there watching him and are having great expectations.
These are the top five of the few reasons I observed closely. Hope you would start thinking.
So ladies encourage your husbands, and guys, start opening your kid's books now and teach them something. :)
P.S I would like to thank McGee's for the photo I used. Just love it!
Bee Zee Montessori
There was a Pre-school sometime back named Bambini Montessori which was organized by two AMI trained Directresses on a partnership basis. Later on they split up. Bambini remained and the other one is now called Bee Zee Montessori.
My experience with Bee Zee has been very good. I won't waste too much time giving unnecessary details. To make it short , they follow the Montessori system and is a preparation center too. They have a number of successful students who cleared for the renowned school in the city.
When you get your child admitted in any school, the excitement at that time includes the change in routine when you would be teaching your child at home and monitoring his/her homework. But it's not the case here. The parents are strictly told not to teach the child anything at home since he/she will be confused which in my opinion is very true. Not unless you are sure that you are teaching the right thing,that is , it is what is being taught at school, then only you can help your child for homework. But since they don't give homework to avoid confusions, parents can relax now. So if you get your child enrolled in Bee Zee you will have to follow this rule.
From time to time they will send you an assessment sheet of your child's performance report. There's no hurry to make your child write since they will do that when they are ready.
Let's Connect on Facebook to share questions and answers.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Questions to be asked when choosing a Pre-School
If you are a parent of very young kids, you will find this question popping up your mind every time you think of sending your little one to school.
So based upon my experience as someone from school and as a mother of two kids who will be going to school soon, I thought of sharing this very important information.
What are the questions you should ask when picking a Pre-School for your child?
1. Do teachers stick around?
As this is a very common issue in our schools, that teachers can leave whenever they can and are replaced easily, this question, for me, is the most important. What I have observed is, children who have had several teachers in a short time , find it more difficult to adjust as compared to students having only one teacher throughout the year or Pre-school as they get used to her ways and become fond of her. Well, you cannot expect the same teacher from the begin of the Pre-school till the end, so you should be happy with the fact that your child will have the same teacher at least for a year.
2. How will the day be for my child?
Ask about the time table as most Pre-schools in Karachi have time tables. You as a parent should be aware of what your child will be doing in the school. Make sure it's not just study, study and study but a bit of free play and fun time.
3. Teaching Method
It's important to know what methodology will your child's teacher be using in the class. For this age group "learn through play" is the most effective.
4. Students- Teachers ratio, total number of kids in a class and the class size.
How many students will a teacher handle. If they say there are a total of thirty students and on teacher but the class is very spacious then you should understand that this is not quite good. A good pre-school will always have a teacher and an assistant teacher for help. Then in this case, thirty shouldn't matter.
5. Teachers personality.
A teacher should be well-dressed , neat and clean and have a pleasant personality. Besides this she should be talkative. Children learn a lot when listening to adults speaking.
6. Check the school's hygiene.
Keep looking around and observe the environment's as well as the staff's cleanliness.
7. Who will take my child when she needs to go to the toilet?
Besides the teacher, it's always good to see and meet the "aya" or nanny of the school. See and judge by her face if she is happy doing her job.
8. What is the school's approach to children's discipline and safety.
9. Availability of school bus.
10. First Aid Kits.
I hope the above questions might be of help to you. If you think I missed out something, please feel free to write them down in your comment for other parents to see. :)
Good Luck!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Difference between Kindergarten and Montessori System
Okay here is the most commonly asked question “what is the difference between Kindergarten and Montessori System?”
You guys can find lots of answers for that here on the internet but what I’ve observed is, the answers have those very difficult terms which not everybody can understand especially those parents who aren’t aware at all of the Montessori system.
Let’s start with Kindergarten first as most of us knows it already. It is the very system we have in our schools here. The one we call the traditional system. Where we learn a particular topic of a subject together, have deadlines to submit our assignments, prepare for examinations etc etc. In this system, our teachers are our leaders and we follow them.
While Montessorians disagree with the idea that all children learn in the exact same way at the exact same time of their life. Every child has their own interests and mood. A child learns through experience. The Directress is there to guide not to teach or give orders.
A Montessori classroom have lots of materials which they use to clear concepts. Like instead of showing the symbols “1″, “2″ while introducing numbers, they use Number Rods, and the Directress says “1″ while showing the smallest rod that represents one, then goes on with “2″ while showing the rod which is bigger than the first rod with 2 sections. In this way the child will learn counting till ten and then they are shown the symbols. By the time they see the symbols , they already know what they are, when they see 1 , they know what is one because the counted “1″ already using the concrete materials. In this way Montessori has materials for everything. As your child turns 6, you will know that your child is smart enough to go the next stage of his life.
I won’t bore you with lots of details and instead gave you the shortest explanation I can.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Part 5/5: White House Grammar School - Lessons Learned
Previous: Part 4/5: White House Grammar School - "Been there, done that"
Just few months before I left job, I was transferred to the main campus as the owner’s assistant. And in that case I came to know more about the ‘inside’ of the school. WHGS has power. Power in the sense that they attract parents towards their schools like a magnet well hats off to me for taking a great number of admissions while I was the admission officer over there.
After all sales talking is something. Okay coming to the academic side of the main campus, It was all messed up. There were lots of complains from parents in one single day and coincidentally the complains were pretty much genuine. God knows what the sectional heads were up to at that time.
Mismanagement of teachers was very common too because the more teachers were managed well the lesser complains would come. I was the one who had to deal with the parents and the heads used to just tell me what to tell them. There were many times when the parents complain on the phone and they weren’t entertained at all. The parents who personally go to the school and complain, are given preferences over those who did on phone or diaries. Parents were always given assurance that their problem will be solved but frankly speaking nothing was done related to that.
Now the school has seven branches, all the sectional heads removed and all their branches have very good response with good number of students. But the standard of education is nothing extraordinary as compared to other small schools that have opened in every street of Karachi.
The school has become a total commercial and isn’t able to maintain the quality education at all. How would they maintain a quality study when they won’t increase the pay scale for their teachers who are the main pillars of their success?
Enjoy :0)
Just few months before I left job, I was transferred to the main campus as the owner’s assistant. And in that case I came to know more about the ‘inside’ of the school. WHGS has power. Power in the sense that they attract parents towards their schools like a magnet well hats off to me for taking a great number of admissions while I was the admission officer over there.
After all sales talking is something. Okay coming to the academic side of the main campus, It was all messed up. There were lots of complains from parents in one single day and coincidentally the complains were pretty much genuine. God knows what the sectional heads were up to at that time.
Mismanagement of teachers was very common too because the more teachers were managed well the lesser complains would come. I was the one who had to deal with the parents and the heads used to just tell me what to tell them. There were many times when the parents complain on the phone and they weren’t entertained at all. The parents who personally go to the school and complain, are given preferences over those who did on phone or diaries. Parents were always given assurance that their problem will be solved but frankly speaking nothing was done related to that.
Now the school has seven branches, all the sectional heads removed and all their branches have very good response with good number of students. But the standard of education is nothing extraordinary as compared to other small schools that have opened in every street of Karachi.
The school has become a total commercial and isn’t able to maintain the quality education at all. How would they maintain a quality study when they won’t increase the pay scale for their teachers who are the main pillars of their success?
Enjoy :0)
Part 4/5: White House Grammar School - "Been there, done that"
Previous: Part 3/5: White House Grammar School - On the Highway
I faced problems with dealing with the teachers as well as most of them were young and inexperienced so a lot of teaching from my side was required but that’s still better than having fussy senior experienced teachers. The teachers were hard working except for few.
It’s every school’s best quality to be able to hide their teachers’ shortcomings as much as possible but there were really some mistakes which can’t be just hidden from parents. But that’s really fine to hide the teachers’ mistakes with the intention of correcting it. Most of the teachers did correct the mistakes and some were just stubborn to do that.
WHGS was just lucky to have hardworking teachers with the pay scale they were offering. I must say that WHGS is not really good in rewarding their teachers’ efforts and good performance. The management do not pay them as much as they should be and of course the pay should match the responsibilities given to them. But the teachers adjusted to such pay since some of them lack in certain areas , like they’re undergrad or not much qualified or don’t speak English.
So here it is WHGS have many senior staff but mostly are in their main campus only but the teachers in the other campuses are not much experienced. At that time we did our best to give quality education to the kids in our junior branch but the main campus situation was very much different.
Next: Part 5/5: White House Grammar School - Lessons Learned
I faced problems with dealing with the teachers as well as most of them were young and inexperienced so a lot of teaching from my side was required but that’s still better than having fussy senior experienced teachers. The teachers were hard working except for few.
It’s every school’s best quality to be able to hide their teachers’ shortcomings as much as possible but there were really some mistakes which can’t be just hidden from parents. But that’s really fine to hide the teachers’ mistakes with the intention of correcting it. Most of the teachers did correct the mistakes and some were just stubborn to do that.
WHGS was just lucky to have hardworking teachers with the pay scale they were offering. I must say that WHGS is not really good in rewarding their teachers’ efforts and good performance. The management do not pay them as much as they should be and of course the pay should match the responsibilities given to them. But the teachers adjusted to such pay since some of them lack in certain areas , like they’re undergrad or not much qualified or don’t speak English.
So here it is WHGS have many senior staff but mostly are in their main campus only but the teachers in the other campuses are not much experienced. At that time we did our best to give quality education to the kids in our junior branch but the main campus situation was very much different.
Next: Part 5/5: White House Grammar School - Lessons Learned
Part 3/5: White House Grammar School - On the Highway
Previous: Part 2/5: White House Grammar School - The Ground Zero
That’s where my ‘real experience’ happened. WHGS had their second branch just nearby the main campus and I was made the Senior Mistress over there. Junior campus had classes from Montessori to class 2.
I was the Senior Mistress but was also handling a class of Montessori as well as was the coordinator of Pre-Primary. It was tough multi-tasking and eventually the task of being a class teacher was taken from me since I didn’t want to compromise with my quality of work and I found myself having difficulty coping up with quality work while multi-tasking. The management requested that I should remain the coordinator of Pre-primary since they couldn’t just give that responsibility to anyone yet. I give my 101% to my job and enjoyed the “seat” I got.
I was so proud of myself for my achievement. Everyone noticed me since I did some compeering for them too. We( me & Headmistress) divided the responsibilities among ourselves and I was trained by her at the same time. At first, The Headmistress was Ms. Rabeea Ali, I got to learn a lot from her too but she had some short comings as well, probably due to lack of experience. She was really good in some areas, like checking the spelling mistakes, taking care of presentation, she spoke English very well with a good accent, soft spoken and polite and had very good dealings with parents as well as parents.
My responsibilities then was checking of planners, conducting meetings, going for rounds and giving reports to the Headmistress, check students’ copies and diaries and mostly assist her. One fine day she had to leave job due to her marriage and she was replaced by Mrs. Saadia Ambreen. She is a very experienced lady and very much fit for the position. In the beginning she almost did her duty perfectly and of course I got to learn a lot from her since she was very good at training me. Like the previous Headmistress, both of us also had a very good chemistry and we got along very well. She helped me wherever I had to face problem and taught me how to solve them.
What I’ve shared until now are the positive side of my experience. I faced lots of challenges during my stay there and the biggest challenge was to work with the senior teachers of WHGS as their head because it’s just difficult for them to accept the fact that a very much younger lady than them are giving them instructions.
One incident that I cannot forget about WHGS is when I was accused by a senior teacher images (3) of something which I never did and reported me to the owner Mrs. Nuzhat Yazdani. Shockingly no one ever called me to hear my side of the story and instead rumors spread all around WHGS in both the campuses and I heard many things that was said by the owner herself against me.
This really left a bitter corner in my heart for that school. The management shouldn’t have tolerated this and instead should have asked for my side in front of that senior. But no one ever heard my side or at least gave me a chance to say it’s all false! I was already on the verge of quitting school but I didn’t want to do that. Why should I leave when I’m not guilty. So i decided to stay and face those cunning ladies.
I was still their head so, they really had no choice nor did I and we had to face each other daily but I did confront that senior teacher who accused me and I was satisfied after I saw the embarrassed look on her face. And yes I forgot to mentioned that after she reported me to the owner, she was as sweet as honey to me. But that didn’t change anything and I finally let go the matter after I told her I knew what she did behind me.
Skipping road forks!
Next: Part 4/5: White House Grammar School - "Been there, done that"
That’s where my ‘real experience’ happened. WHGS had their second branch just nearby the main campus and I was made the Senior Mistress over there. Junior campus had classes from Montessori to class 2.
I was the Senior Mistress but was also handling a class of Montessori as well as was the coordinator of Pre-Primary. It was tough multi-tasking and eventually the task of being a class teacher was taken from me since I didn’t want to compromise with my quality of work and I found myself having difficulty coping up with quality work while multi-tasking. The management requested that I should remain the coordinator of Pre-primary since they couldn’t just give that responsibility to anyone yet. I give my 101% to my job and enjoyed the “seat” I got.
I was so proud of myself for my achievement. Everyone noticed me since I did some compeering for them too. We( me & Headmistress) divided the responsibilities among ourselves and I was trained by her at the same time. At first, The Headmistress was Ms. Rabeea Ali, I got to learn a lot from her too but she had some short comings as well, probably due to lack of experience. She was really good in some areas, like checking the spelling mistakes, taking care of presentation, she spoke English very well with a good accent, soft spoken and polite and had very good dealings with parents as well as parents.
My responsibilities then was checking of planners, conducting meetings, going for rounds and giving reports to the Headmistress, check students’ copies and diaries and mostly assist her. One fine day she had to leave job due to her marriage and she was replaced by Mrs. Saadia Ambreen. She is a very experienced lady and very much fit for the position. In the beginning she almost did her duty perfectly and of course I got to learn a lot from her since she was very good at training me. Like the previous Headmistress, both of us also had a very good chemistry and we got along very well. She helped me wherever I had to face problem and taught me how to solve them.
What I’ve shared until now are the positive side of my experience. I faced lots of challenges during my stay there and the biggest challenge was to work with the senior teachers of WHGS as their head because it’s just difficult for them to accept the fact that a very much younger lady than them are giving them instructions.
One incident that I cannot forget about WHGS is when I was accused by a senior teacher images (3) of something which I never did and reported me to the owner Mrs. Nuzhat Yazdani. Shockingly no one ever called me to hear my side of the story and instead rumors spread all around WHGS in both the campuses and I heard many things that was said by the owner herself against me.
This really left a bitter corner in my heart for that school. The management shouldn’t have tolerated this and instead should have asked for my side in front of that senior. But no one ever heard my side or at least gave me a chance to say it’s all false! I was already on the verge of quitting school but I didn’t want to do that. Why should I leave when I’m not guilty. So i decided to stay and face those cunning ladies.
I was still their head so, they really had no choice nor did I and we had to face each other daily but I did confront that senior teacher who accused me and I was satisfied after I saw the embarrassed look on her face. And yes I forgot to mentioned that after she reported me to the owner, she was as sweet as honey to me. But that didn’t change anything and I finally let go the matter after I told her I knew what she did behind me.
Skipping road forks!
Next: Part 4/5: White House Grammar School - "Been there, done that"
Part 2/5: White House Grammar School - The Ground Zero
Previous: Part 1/5: White House Grammar School - Startup
With me, were another two Directress in the class. At that time, WHGS had only one branch and one classroom for Montessori. The students were divided into three age groups; reception, junior, senior with each Directress and all in one classroom. It was a bit challenging adapting to such an environment where three classes had to run in just one room. But eventually the three of us Directress adjusted gracefully to the changes since we developed understanding among each other. My colleagues were Mrs. Rubina and Ms. Raheela. Ms. Raheela joined the school few months before I did and Mrs. Rubina was a senior teacher working in WHGS since 12 yrs.
When I joined, the environment wasn’t up to the mark. In my point of view, a Montessori classroom should SPEAK. When I say speak, I mean that the classroom should have illustrations related to the current topics and each and everything should be labeled including the tables and chairs. The classroom should be well decorated and decoration doesn’t mean hanging ribbons and balloons but should have informative pictures and data in the soft boards or walls.
But all teachers were not to be seen in that classroom then. I started working on my allotted area in the classroom and this inspired my colleagues and in no time the empty classroom became bright and lively. After five to six months, I was promoted as the pre-primary coordinator due to my remarkable performance in a very short period of time. Although the whole Pre-Primary was in just one classroom, everyone could easily identify to which group a student belonged as the kids were a total reflection of their Directress. Those were really one of my most lovely experiences with kids.
Anyway after I became the coordinator, my senior colleague started to have resentment and I thought that it was quite natural since she was very much experienced than I was. Since my day 1 there I always consulted her on many matters related to the class and I did learn a lot from her too. I continued consulting her and asking her regarding any activities or changes that I wanted to make in the class. I felt the change in her behavior then.
That’s human nature and since I’m 100% human too, one fine day we had a hard talk. Well, I don’t want to discuss the negative part of my days there so I’ll just cut it short by saying that we got along eventually as she learn't to accept the fact that I was already senior than he in position and being rebellious won’t do her any good at all since I was further promoted as a Senior Mistress of WHGS’ second branch.
Living!
Next: Part 3/5: White House Grammar School - On the Highway
With me, were another two Directress in the class. At that time, WHGS had only one branch and one classroom for Montessori. The students were divided into three age groups; reception, junior, senior with each Directress and all in one classroom. It was a bit challenging adapting to such an environment where three classes had to run in just one room. But eventually the three of us Directress adjusted gracefully to the changes since we developed understanding among each other. My colleagues were Mrs. Rubina and Ms. Raheela. Ms. Raheela joined the school few months before I did and Mrs. Rubina was a senior teacher working in WHGS since 12 yrs.
When I joined, the environment wasn’t up to the mark. In my point of view, a Montessori classroom should SPEAK. When I say speak, I mean that the classroom should have illustrations related to the current topics and each and everything should be labeled including the tables and chairs. The classroom should be well decorated and decoration doesn’t mean hanging ribbons and balloons but should have informative pictures and data in the soft boards or walls.
But all teachers were not to be seen in that classroom then. I started working on my allotted area in the classroom and this inspired my colleagues and in no time the empty classroom became bright and lively. After five to six months, I was promoted as the pre-primary coordinator due to my remarkable performance in a very short period of time. Although the whole Pre-Primary was in just one classroom, everyone could easily identify to which group a student belonged as the kids were a total reflection of their Directress. Those were really one of my most lovely experiences with kids.
Anyway after I became the coordinator, my senior colleague started to have resentment and I thought that it was quite natural since she was very much experienced than I was. Since my day 1 there I always consulted her on many matters related to the class and I did learn a lot from her too. I continued consulting her and asking her regarding any activities or changes that I wanted to make in the class. I felt the change in her behavior then.
That’s human nature and since I’m 100% human too, one fine day we had a hard talk. Well, I don’t want to discuss the negative part of my days there so I’ll just cut it short by saying that we got along eventually as she learn't to accept the fact that I was already senior than he in position and being rebellious won’t do her any good at all since I was further promoted as a Senior Mistress of WHGS’ second branch.
Living!
Next: Part 3/5: White House Grammar School - On the Highway
Part 1/5: White House Grammar School - Startup
Most of us living in Karachi have heard about White House Grammar School. It has seven branches and the main is in Gulshan-e-Iqbal opposite Patel Hospital. In this post I'll be sharing about my experiences in WHGS and you’ll have an idea about the school too while going through.
Well this is how my journey in WHGS started. I joined the school in 2005 as a Montessori Directress. I was actually heading towards the school who called me for job interview when I saw WHGS’ main campus on my way there, so I thought of dropping my CV there as well since I was in search of a job.
At that time I had no idea about WHGS at all that it is known to be one of the good schools in Gulshan and that they score good mark in Board Exams. The reception office was quite impressive I must admit. I handed my CV to the receptionist and she asked me to fill up their application form. I still remember answering a question which was part of the application that still makes me laugh whenever I think of it. It went like this,
Q. How did you come to know about White House Grammar School?
and my answer was: To be honest, I don’t know anything about your school. I’m actually heading somewhere else when i came across your school so I thought of dropping my resume here.
Anyway after filling up the form, I stood up to leave but the receptionist stopped me and asked me to wait. Soon I was sent to a very ordinary-looking office of the Vice Principal. Th VP then was Mrs. Seema Malik. The interview went well and I was called for a three days class demonstration from the next day and I was appointed right after just the two days demo was completed.
Next: Part 2/5: White House Grammar School - The Ground Zero
Well this is how my journey in WHGS started. I joined the school in 2005 as a Montessori Directress. I was actually heading towards the school who called me for job interview when I saw WHGS’ main campus on my way there, so I thought of dropping my CV there as well since I was in search of a job.
At that time I had no idea about WHGS at all that it is known to be one of the good schools in Gulshan and that they score good mark in Board Exams. The reception office was quite impressive I must admit. I handed my CV to the receptionist and she asked me to fill up their application form. I still remember answering a question which was part of the application that still makes me laugh whenever I think of it. It went like this,
Q. How did you come to know about White House Grammar School?
and my answer was: To be honest, I don’t know anything about your school. I’m actually heading somewhere else when i came across your school so I thought of dropping my resume here.
Anyway after filling up the form, I stood up to leave but the receptionist stopped me and asked me to wait. Soon I was sent to a very ordinary-looking office of the Vice Principal. Th VP then was Mrs. Seema Malik. The interview went well and I was called for a three days class demonstration from the next day and I was appointed right after just the two days demo was completed.
Next: Part 2/5: White House Grammar School - The Ground Zero
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Ideal Pre-school Teacher
I remember very well, when I was a kid I used to imitate my teacher after I reach home and make all my toys sit in a row like students and start acting like my favorite teacher Ms. Lilibeth. Since teachers in the Philippines wear uniforms, so I wasn’t really very much interested in her dress. But what I loved was the way she makes up her hair, the hair clip she used and yeah her perfume and I as a child wanted so much to be just like her. But of course these aren’t enough to love your teacher. There must be something really special in her that makes her outstand from the rest of the people around you and that is how she teaches you and what you are learning from her.
I’ve mentioned Ms. Lilibeth since she was my pre-primary teacher otherwise I had my favorites in every level of my schooling and each one of them were special in their own way. Now, what I want to share here is what I’ve liked and appreciated most from my teachers so whoever will read my post would learn something and be inspired. Who knows you might become the favorite of a little boy/girl in your school.
Well I would want teachers to be reading this but parents and anyone can benefit from this too since children are around us and it’s very important to be aware of their psychology and know exactly what they want and like. Please don’t get me wrong here, what I’m about to discuss aren’t enough to make a perfect teacher but these are just some important issues which is being neglected by many.
Work on your physical appearance- How you look is the most important here because believe me one of the main reasons kids start loving their school is because of how beautiful their teacher is.
Always wear clean clothes and try not to repeat your dress on consecutive days. Make sure you smell really good because when kids come near you, the first thing they do is check whether you smell good or not and if you don’t, they won’t come near you the next time you call them.
Though everyone washes their face in the morning, make sure you’re looking fresh and lively. Not all washed face look nice. So, you might want to put on some face powder and lipstick.
Don’t wear too much accessories like jewelries. Too much means too big because you will have difficulty handling your students since your earrings would need some handling too. Cute little earrings would look really decent. Wear something in your wrist too like watch or a tiny bracelet. Kids just love to see elders dress up nicely.
Be conscious about personal hygiene- I would mention this point again:
- Wear neat and clean clothes
- Long nails look really nice but make sure they are clean, in my opinion, I don’t recommend teachers of younger kids to have long nails and short nails look more elegant.
- Always wear clean and polished shoes or sandals. N this way, they would learn to keep theirs clean and polished too.
Neat hair- Always think of a neat hairdo in advance since it’s a tough task thinking of how to make your hair and it might consume so much of your time, so better pre plan about it. You don’t need to do too much with your hair just make sure it’s neatly tied up.
Speak gently- Although most of my teachers were very soft spoken and I tried my best to be one too but I failed in becoming so. Though I don’t have that soft voice and all, I definitely speak gently with kids. You don’t have to be soft spoken as it is something that comes naturally but you will have to practice to speak gently specially with kids since they are too young and are very sensitive. You may never know unintentionally you hurt their feelings by speaking loud or with high pitched tone and they find it rude so be careful.
Leave all your personal matters at home and meet your students with fresh, lively and high spirits. Bringing your personal problems to school can affect your way of teaching and you can become really boring in class or really rude. Remember you are handling very young kids and they are learning from every step you make and you wouldn’t want them to be rude and boring so ‘be like how you want your students to be.’
Last but not the least ALWAYS KEEP A SMILE ON YOUR FACE. Starting the day by giving smile would bring more smiles back to you.
The above are some points which I think are really important to be an effective teacher because if you lack even a single point from these, there is a child among lots who dislikes you for that one particular point. These are what I have liked in my teachers when I was in school and are what I asked my teachers who worked under me.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
MONTESSORI CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER (MCDC KARACHI)
Okay how many of you are dying to have your child admitted in this school? Montessori Child Development Centre is known to be one of the prestigious schools in Karachi mainly in North Nazimabad. There was a time when I myself dreamt of having my daughter enrolled there, impressed by what I heard and of course their record ’was’ good. But thank God I missed the registration period due to which my daughter now won’t be in that school at all.
MCDC isn’t following the proper Montessori Method at all. Yes, they do have Montessori material work but do not present it as it should be presented. But as a Montessori Directress myself and having experience from different schools, I don’t really mind this fact as most schools prefer to be hybrid rather than following the typical Montessori system. But MCDC showed themselves to be different from other schools by telling people that they strictly follow Montessori system. This I have heard myself when I went there for enquiry. This lie is very much misguiding.
2nd thing is the directresses there aren’t up to the mark. They seem to be not trained at all. They practice physical punishment and use inappropriate language. Oh yeah, there’s no sign of English there except for the front desk lady, so please don’t go for what she says only. Due to the teachers’ inappropriate approach towards the students, the kids are scared and when they make mistake, they behave as if they committed a crime. Well whatever the reason is, physical punishment and use of bad language doesn’t leave a good impact on kids.
3rd issue is their written work isn’t as good as is expected from them. Most of their artwork is done by the teachers themselves and shown to the innocent parents who think it’s their kids work. Reasons for this are mainly showing off to the parents how good their students’ work is.
4th issue is they don’t have proper planner that is being followed. A teacher has to be well prepared before entering the class. She needs to prepare her lesson planner on weekly basis But there isn’t any planner followed there, which means the teacher is not prepared at all, and when you’re not prepared before hand, this shows a very careless management and a less involved teacher.
These are the information I have for you till now and I’ll be updating this post as soon as I have more to share about MCDC. Reason for sharing facts about this school is to save kids from a disaster. I hope this can help lots of you.
MCDC isn’t following the proper Montessori Method at all. Yes, they do have Montessori material work but do not present it as it should be presented. But as a Montessori Directress myself and having experience from different schools, I don’t really mind this fact as most schools prefer to be hybrid rather than following the typical Montessori system. But MCDC showed themselves to be different from other schools by telling people that they strictly follow Montessori system. This I have heard myself when I went there for enquiry. This lie is very much misguiding.
2nd thing is the directresses there aren’t up to the mark. They seem to be not trained at all. They practice physical punishment and use inappropriate language. Oh yeah, there’s no sign of English there except for the front desk lady, so please don’t go for what she says only. Due to the teachers’ inappropriate approach towards the students, the kids are scared and when they make mistake, they behave as if they committed a crime. Well whatever the reason is, physical punishment and use of bad language doesn’t leave a good impact on kids.
3rd issue is their written work isn’t as good as is expected from them. Most of their artwork is done by the teachers themselves and shown to the innocent parents who think it’s their kids work. Reasons for this are mainly showing off to the parents how good their students’ work is.
4th issue is they don’t have proper planner that is being followed. A teacher has to be well prepared before entering the class. She needs to prepare her lesson planner on weekly basis But there isn’t any planner followed there, which means the teacher is not prepared at all, and when you’re not prepared before hand, this shows a very careless management and a less involved teacher.
These are the information I have for you till now and I’ll be updating this post as soon as I have more to share about MCDC. Reason for sharing facts about this school is to save kids from a disaster. I hope this can help lots of you.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
A Good School
The H.A.S Academy
Hey there Friends! So here is a school I want all of you to know about. It’s not renowned, it’s not situated in a posh area, and it’s not that big as your “Dream School” but who knows one day, after enrolling your child there, it can become your Dream School you would put your child’s siblings there and refer to your friends and relatives. It’s The H.A.S Academy (Playgroup, Nursery to Secondary)- A SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARD. It was established in the year 2009.
The H.A.S Academy offers pre-school to secondary education to children aged 2.5 to 14years old. It provides a progressive educational program of studies and strong focus on the Arts, Islamic Education, Physical Education and Information Technology
The above mentioned points must be quite common to your eyes and ears as you must have read it in almost every school’s advertisement. So let me give you information which makes this school different from the others and that is, it is run by a foreigner. From the owner, to the Principal to most of the teachers are foreigners basically form The Philippines. They have this aim and mission of introducing quality education to students using, not just the latest but different methods which are proven effective to teach children from every walks of life.
The school is situated in Block ‘N’ North Nazimabad, and caters kids that belong to families with different standards. So you cannot expect the school to accept kids from very well-off families only but they accept kids that deserve to learn whether they are from rich or poor family. Well you must be thinking why I am even mentioning all these. That’s because we have this impression in mind that good schools means having children from rich background, which isn’t the case at all with The H.A.S Academy. I’ve mentioned in my previous posts that good schools don’t necessarily mean schools for rich kids, but schools that offer quality education.
The H.A.S Academy is one school that impressed me as I have seen it from the day it was born till date. The tremendous change is very obvious. They have 150 students now, and its greatest achievement for a newly opened school to have this much students in just 2 years. Their own students, along with their parents are recommending the school to relatives and friends which is a good thing since it means that because of utter satisfaction, they are spreading the good name of the school.
The environment is very well prepared and the result of hard work of teachers as well as administration. The administration staff themselves do the work in preparing the environment with teachers’ help, which is a very good practice as this increases harmony and understanding between them.
The teachers are highly qualified and very caring with very pleasant personality which every kid would love.
Okay here is the best fact about the H.A.S due to which I’m so excited to share to all of you. When you enter the premises you will notice everyone conversing in English. Well I have visited many schools such as City and Beaconhouse and found the staff conversing in English as well but this school is different. Why? Because not only the teachers speak English with each other, but each and every student from Nursery till Matric, and the reason is the Principal speaks English strictly and students willingly speak the universal language because they think their dear Madam can’t speak Urdu at all J So just imagine little cute kids of nursery trying to speak the dream language of their parents…..
For more information about the school you can check their facebook page by typing The H.A.S Academy on search tab.
Hey there Friends! So here is a school I want all of you to know about. It’s not renowned, it’s not situated in a posh area, and it’s not that big as your “Dream School” but who knows one day, after enrolling your child there, it can become your Dream School you would put your child’s siblings there and refer to your friends and relatives. It’s The H.A.S Academy (Playgroup, Nursery to Secondary)- A SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STANDARD. It was established in the year 2009.
The H.A.S Academy offers pre-school to secondary education to children aged 2.5 to 14years old. It provides a progressive educational program of studies and strong focus on the Arts, Islamic Education, Physical Education and Information Technology
- Foreign qualified, meticulous, loving and caring teachers
- Innovative child centered education to average and gifted students
- Enriched individualized instructions in a nurturing environment
- Emphasis on organization , study, communication skills, personality development, character building and leadership
- Special emphasis on modern education with Islamic culture and values.
The above mentioned points must be quite common to your eyes and ears as you must have read it in almost every school’s advertisement. So let me give you information which makes this school different from the others and that is, it is run by a foreigner. From the owner, to the Principal to most of the teachers are foreigners basically form The Philippines. They have this aim and mission of introducing quality education to students using, not just the latest but different methods which are proven effective to teach children from every walks of life.
The school is situated in Block ‘N’ North Nazimabad, and caters kids that belong to families with different standards. So you cannot expect the school to accept kids from very well-off families only but they accept kids that deserve to learn whether they are from rich or poor family. Well you must be thinking why I am even mentioning all these. That’s because we have this impression in mind that good schools means having children from rich background, which isn’t the case at all with The H.A.S Academy. I’ve mentioned in my previous posts that good schools don’t necessarily mean schools for rich kids, but schools that offer quality education.
The H.A.S Academy is one school that impressed me as I have seen it from the day it was born till date. The tremendous change is very obvious. They have 150 students now, and its greatest achievement for a newly opened school to have this much students in just 2 years. Their own students, along with their parents are recommending the school to relatives and friends which is a good thing since it means that because of utter satisfaction, they are spreading the good name of the school.
The environment is very well prepared and the result of hard work of teachers as well as administration. The administration staff themselves do the work in preparing the environment with teachers’ help, which is a very good practice as this increases harmony and understanding between them.
The teachers are highly qualified and very caring with very pleasant personality which every kid would love.
Okay here is the best fact about the H.A.S due to which I’m so excited to share to all of you. When you enter the premises you will notice everyone conversing in English. Well I have visited many schools such as City and Beaconhouse and found the staff conversing in English as well but this school is different. Why? Because not only the teachers speak English with each other, but each and every student from Nursery till Matric, and the reason is the Principal speaks English strictly and students willingly speak the universal language because they think their dear Madam can’t speak Urdu at all J So just imagine little cute kids of nursery trying to speak the dream language of their parents…..
For more information about the school you can check their facebook page by typing The H.A.S Academy on search tab.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Choosing the Best Schools
Choosing the best school for a child is one of the toughest decisions a parent has to make. Since I have a toddler who is about to take her first step to school in May, I found myself in this difficult situation. Yes! Difficult situation I would say because it's a matter of choosing the right future for your child and that he/she should be given in the right hands. There are lots of things going on in my mind regarding this so I thought I should share them to you all, who knows it might help some of you in choosing the "Best School"
The very first thought that occured to me is to define exactly what do I mean by "Best School"Is it the school that is the oldest in town or the school that has a very attractive and beautiful name or the school that is renowned and is 'in' at the moment? NO! I don't want to go for just the name of the school. I would want to know what they offer in terms of education as well as extra-curricular activities.
So let's start our search with the below given points.
1. Location- The most important point to be considered is the location of the school whether you would want it near your house or workplace if you have transport problem but otherwise you can think of schools from one corner of the city to the other.
2. List- Make a list of schools that you can think of in your desired vicinity. The list should contain each and every school that you can think of in that area from lowest to highest category.
3. Priority- Arrange your list from most desired to least desired school. You can arrange it by considering the name plus the reputation. Most of you might be hearing or getting information about some schools from friends and family so do have that in mind as well. In my case, I'm aware about lots of schools from the inside as well since I'm already in the field so I would consider the name, reputation, feedback from parents and teachers who have experience with that school, their system etc and arrange my list accordingly.
4. Visit/Call- Make a timetable for visiting the schools you have listed. If it's easy to visit then go for it, if not search for the telephone numbers of the school and the following information:
a. When will admissions start for the desired level?
b. Procedure of admission-whether they would conduct an interview only or will take entrance test too. (most schools would ask you to visit for details of entrance tests)
c. Fee structure
Note: Remove the schools you are not interested in at all from your list to avoid wasting time.
5. Shortlist- Now, here comes the real job. Consider the fees of each and every school and prepare another list of the affordable schools.
6. Visit- Visit the schools and gather the rest of the information you need i.e details of the entrance test like what is expected to come esp for toddlers for whom entrance tests don't make sense at all but yes most of the renowned school conduct this for their new admission and ask all the questions that occurs in your mind like what should you expect in the first 6 months of your child's schooling, how many teachers are handling what number of children, what are the books used. Ask them for how long the current teacher has been with them so you would know what to expect since frequent change of teachers is very common in most schools and by asking this question at least you won't get a shock in the near future. Don't forget to ask for any extra or hidden that they charge upon admission.
7. Others' opinion- Show all the information to your spouse or any elders at home that you think can give a wise advice to you or maybe someone that can help you think what to do next. There's no harm in taking people's opinion. But the final decision should be of both the parents.
Here's an outline of some thinking that I did regarding schools. I want my child to be in a school with big name but at the same time which offers quality education where my child would come home with lots of stories about her school so in that way I'll get to know more about her life outside the life I provided her. But sad to same most of the renowned schools in our place have become merely commercial with no quality and no longer serve their purpose. So what I've decided is I can go for smaller schools where I get to meet some friendly heads and teachers who I know would concentrate on improving the education they are offering to kids, and yes there are schools like that. One will have to compromise on something for a better result.
The very first thought that occured to me is to define exactly what do I mean by "Best School"Is it the school that is the oldest in town or the school that has a very attractive and beautiful name or the school that is renowned and is 'in' at the moment? NO! I don't want to go for just the name of the school. I would want to know what they offer in terms of education as well as extra-curricular activities.
So let's start our search with the below given points.
1. Location- The most important point to be considered is the location of the school whether you would want it near your house or workplace if you have transport problem but otherwise you can think of schools from one corner of the city to the other.
2. List- Make a list of schools that you can think of in your desired vicinity. The list should contain each and every school that you can think of in that area from lowest to highest category.
3. Priority- Arrange your list from most desired to least desired school. You can arrange it by considering the name plus the reputation. Most of you might be hearing or getting information about some schools from friends and family so do have that in mind as well. In my case, I'm aware about lots of schools from the inside as well since I'm already in the field so I would consider the name, reputation, feedback from parents and teachers who have experience with that school, their system etc and arrange my list accordingly.
4. Visit/Call- Make a timetable for visiting the schools you have listed. If it's easy to visit then go for it, if not search for the telephone numbers of the school and the following information:
a. When will admissions start for the desired level?
b. Procedure of admission-whether they would conduct an interview only or will take entrance test too. (most schools would ask you to visit for details of entrance tests)
c. Fee structure
Note: Remove the schools you are not interested in at all from your list to avoid wasting time.
5. Shortlist- Now, here comes the real job. Consider the fees of each and every school and prepare another list of the affordable schools.
6. Visit- Visit the schools and gather the rest of the information you need i.e details of the entrance test like what is expected to come esp for toddlers for whom entrance tests don't make sense at all but yes most of the renowned school conduct this for their new admission and ask all the questions that occurs in your mind like what should you expect in the first 6 months of your child's schooling, how many teachers are handling what number of children, what are the books used. Ask them for how long the current teacher has been with them so you would know what to expect since frequent change of teachers is very common in most schools and by asking this question at least you won't get a shock in the near future. Don't forget to ask for any extra or hidden that they charge upon admission.
7. Others' opinion- Show all the information to your spouse or any elders at home that you think can give a wise advice to you or maybe someone that can help you think what to do next. There's no harm in taking people's opinion. But the final decision should be of both the parents.
Here's an outline of some thinking that I did regarding schools. I want my child to be in a school with big name but at the same time which offers quality education where my child would come home with lots of stories about her school so in that way I'll get to know more about her life outside the life I provided her. But sad to same most of the renowned schools in our place have become merely commercial with no quality and no longer serve their purpose. So what I've decided is I can go for smaller schools where I get to meet some friendly heads and teachers who I know would concentrate on improving the education they are offering to kids, and yes there are schools like that. One will have to compromise on something for a better result.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)