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• Expanding the Math Classroom - Teachers Workshop April 10
  Pathways World School, Gurgaon
  

On the 5th of April 2019, Math teachers from schools across India, from Delhi and Gurugram to Mumbai and Jaipur, attended a workshop, titled 'Expanding the Math Classroom'. The workshop was organised by Pathways World School, Gurgaon in partnership with Callido Learning. It focused primarily on changing the teaching pattern of IBDP Mathematics and the new teaching strategies that teachers can adopt in order to develop critical thinkers and enhance their students' learning experience.

The workshop was led by Ms Priyamvada Das who has been associated with the IB Diploma Programme since 2005 and is currently at Bombay International School teaching Math HL/SL, TOK and acting as a Team Leader for DP Mathematics. She divided the workshop into 4 sessions, where each session was conducted by Callido experts and instructors.

Session 1 was the plenary session. It majorly focused on the intriguing discussions between the teachers, experts of the field and guest speakers. Participants shared their best practices and arrived at a platform through discussions, setting the stage for further proceedings of the day.

This was followed by Session 2 wherein the teachers were introduced to the strategy and pedagogy behind 'Inquiry-Based Learning' and how teaching methods should be re-organized to generate what is called a healthy discussion. This was a one-hour session to learn about how these teaching methods differ from traditional ones.

The participants mulled over the question as to what does inquiry look like in a Math classroom?

The third session titled 'Aligning to Assessment' sought to take a closer look at assessment objectives, analyze patterns in student performance, and discuss strategies for improvement. It primarily focused on the roles and objectives of assignments that when shared with an IB student will not only act as a medium of practice but also help the teacher analyse their weaknesses and find solutions.

It also included the introduction of strategies that can be used for effective test analysis and insight into CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency), an extremely useful tool for learning math.

The final session in its stride weaved all the sessions together, allowing the teachers to analyse and then plan a new workflow for their classrooms to make them discussion-friendly and promote critical thinking.

The session titled 'Integrating Inquiry-Based Approach in Your Classroom' deliberated upon existing solutions and embedding it into existing workflows. After a fruitful discussion between the experts and teachers, it was concluded that "integrating Inquiry-Based Approach" in the classroom will generate the best academic environment.

All in all, the workshop provided valuable information on mapping the new curriculum with effective use of technology as well as developing skills to help align the assessments with the skilfully created modules of Callido.