The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

new trends
‘Facing the Challenges of 21st Century
Learning: Experience of CMS Asharfabad’
a small nondescript school in the older part of Lucknow
I will be sharing with you the experiences and challenges faced by small schools to create an
atmosphere of creativity and innovation in the teaching learning process. We have engaged our
learners who are willing to take the responsibility of their own learning and teachers who are
willing to create lessons which can achieve this.
–Aditi Sharma
As we are all aware the
21st century learner is
a self directed learner,
globally aware, a communicator,
an innovator, financially and
economically literate, civically
engaged, a problem solver, a
collaborator, information and
media literate and a critical
thinker. That is a lot that the
learner of today needs to achieve.
To create such learners we
need to take our teaching and
learning above and beyond the
basics of knowledge sharing to
embracing the 4 C’s as they call
it, the ‘Super Skills’ for the 21st
Century!
The first of these is
Communication - strong
thoughts, questions, ideas and
solutions.
Next is Collaboration - working
together to reach a goal - putting
together talent and expertise
with smart work schedules.
The third skill is Critical
Thinking - looking at problems
in a new way, linking learning
across subjects and disciplines.
The last of these C’s is the skill
of Creativity - creating and
exploring new approaches to
getting things done innovatively.
I head a small school of 760
children and 35 teachers and
staff members. This struggle to
inculcate these 21st Century
skills in our learners seemed like
a Utopian task in the beginning.
Lots of brainstorming sessions
with the teachers was followed
Aditi Sharma, a trained teacher and a
Post-Graduate in Computer Applications
and Educational Administration with a
Certificate in Guidance and Counseling,
joined the City Montessori School
Lucknow, as a Kindergarten Teacher
in 1991. After occupying a series of
administrative positions in the City
Montessori Schools chain, she was elevated to the post
of Principal in the Asharfabad Campus in September,
2014. She has had vast exposure to international teaching
practices as she has led a number of school delegations to
Hong Kong, North Korea, Indonesia, etc.
Jul/Aug 2017
by my wish to change ourselves
to facilitators more than just
dispensers of knowledge. The
children today are exposed
to innumerable sources of
knowledge on the internet. We
teachers can no longer consider
ourselves as the only source of
knowledge for them. They can
get information with just a click
of the mouse or a touch on the
screen of a smart phone.
The teachers of City Montessori
School, Asharfabad Campus,
took up the challenge and yes it
was indeed a challenge as we run
our school in a rented building
with no labs or library. We have
a small computer lab which can
barely seat twenty children at
one go. But that did not stop
the teachers to experiment and
exercise their competencies
to make their lessons more
interactive, more engaging and
more experiential.
Apart from the basic disciplines
of English, reading or language,
Arts, Mathematics, Science,
Geography, History and Civics,
Computer Science we believe
schools must move beyond a
focus on basic competency
to promoting understanding
of academic content at much
higher levels by weaving
interdisciplinary themes into
the curriculum to empower our
learners with the tools essential
for the 21st century. Some of
these are -
1. GLOBAL AWARENESS
Creating global awareness in our
learners using the 21st century
skills to understand and address
global issues, learning from and
working collaboratively with
individuals representing diverse
cultures, religions and lifestyles
in a spirit of mutual respect and
open dialogue in personal, work
and community contexts and
understanding other nations and
cultures is a necessity in these
times.
Teachers use the assemblies for
discussion of global happenings
in the form of street plays,
debates, talk shows, presentations
to make the child become a part
of the global scene instead of
just knowing what is in their
text books. Role plays in the
classrooms to enact scenes from
different cultures, wearing the
costumes of different countries
helps them to understand the
people from around the world
better. We now know that we
are all a part of this big global
village and no man can live as an
island by himself. Participating
in the mock sessions of the world
parliaments, praying for unity
and peace in all the nations of
the world and the practice of the
all religion prayer being a part of
every event of the school further
creates a bonding among children
of diverse faiths and religions.
Interweaving in the curriculum
Civic Literacy, Health Literacy
and Environmental Literacy
is also a must for these 21st
century learners. These are
carried out through different
activities.
The school organizes walks
or Sadhbhavana March on
Interfaith harmony every
year during the International
Interfaith Week in February.
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