REFLECTION ON THE USAGE OF TLMs IN THE CLASSROOM

Highlights:

• TLMs, such as interaction board and sand-tray models, provide space for student-teacher interactions unlike in the conventionally followed lecture method.
• Students start taking initiatives on their own; they started writing simple descriptions and conversations by themselves without being asked to do so.
• Children find it easier to relate when they see a story being presented in a 3-dimensional form using TLMs.

In traditional classroom teaching, there is hardly any scope for the students to interact with the teacher. My previous classroom teaching was mostly dominated by the lecture method of teaching. Apart from some traditional and essential teaching aids, such as chalk, duster, and blackboard, no other  teaching/learning materials were hardly used in my classroom. I had never thought of the importance of using TLMs as a learning material in my classroom before.

WHAT ARE TLMs?

TLM stands for teaching/learning materials. Teaching materials are the aids that are used by a teacher which help him/her in facilitating his/her lesson effectively. It supports student learning and increases the chances of success of students. On the other hand, learning materials are the aids that the learner makes use of in order to learn something effectively. Teaching and learning materials can either be big or small. Such materials can be bought or made easily by both the facilitator as well as the learner.

In the third workshop of the ACE training programme, Dr. Anandhan introduced the importance of the usage of five different TLMs—interactive board, sand-tray models, magnet puppets, BALA, and hand puppets. Dr. Anandhan facilitated the usage of the abovementioned TLMs, and we were asked to make those TLMs. This activity fascinated me, and it made me wonder about the possibilities that would emerge if I made use of them in my own classroom. So, I made two such TLMs for my students—Interaction Board and Sand-tray model

CHANGES MADE IN MY CLASSROOM:

To enhance effective learning amongst my students, I needed to incorporate a lot of changes in me as well as in my classroom. First and foremost, I made a display board (using thermocol and velvet papers) so that I could make an interaction board out of it. I used the display board in two ways: it was used, on the one hand, to display pictures and elicit ideas from the students, while, on the other hand, it functioned as an interaction board as well.

THE FIRST RESPONSES OF STUDENTS:

The day before I implemented my idea, I told my students that they were in for a surprise the following day. When I entered the classroom the next day, my students looked at me eagerly, waiting for their surprise. I took out the foam-sheet models that I made for the lesson titled ‘The Story of the Road’. All the students looked at the models with great excitement, and I took this opportunity to ask, “Have you seen this picture in your book?”

Yashwardini answered, “Yes, sir,” and she went ahead to show me the picture from her textbook. Following her, the other students took out their textbooks as well with great eagerness and looked at the picture before smiling at each other.

I went ahead and asked, “Who is going to describe this picture on the Interactive Board?”

A few moments passed, but no one was up for the task. I understood that they felt hesitant to talk in front of the whole class. I thought for a while and came up with an idea:

“Imagine this boy is your friend,” I said pointing to the character on the interaction board, “Now say, who is coming forward?”

I think these words gave them some confidence, as Keerthana came forward to describe the picture. Following her lead, all the students came one at a time and described the picture to the whole class. What astonished me was the fact that each student described the picture differently, each having different ideas. Of course, the students mixed English and Tamil words in their oral description, but I was surprised because I had never witnessed such a spontaneous flow of language and ideas from the students when they were asked to write a description of a given picture.

To be frank, the thing which amazed me the most was the way Udyaraj, who is reticent and mostly reluctant to participate in classroom activities, gave a spontaneous description of the picture. I did not even have to ask the students any questions to elicit their ideas in order to engage them. I could see that the writing skills of my students had improved as well as they could use prepositions correctly without me having taught it.

THE WAY IN WHICH INTERACTION BOARD HELPED THE CHILDREN TO OVERCOME A LANGUAGE HUDDLE:

From my experience, I have noticed that if the students are shown a printed picture, they only tend to see the colourful image in it without actually feeling the liveliness of the characters in the picture. However, when it came to the interactive board, the students were able to witness the images presented in their textbook in a 3-dimensional view. They were able to feel the liveliness of the characters. I think my students must really have felt that the boy was their real friend.

THE WAY I USED THE INTERACTIVE BOARD:

After completing the narrative of the lesson, I elicited the events of the story, its location, and its characters through interaction.

QUESTIONS I USED TO INTERACT WITH THE STUDENTS:

1. Can you say what the first event of the story was?

2. Who was riding on the bicycle?

3. Where was he riding?

After the interaction, the answers given by the students were captured visually on the display board using cut-outs. Following this, the dialogues of the characters were elicited and written on the black board. Then, I called my students to read the dialogues before moving on to the next event in the same manner.

In the following week, I made a sand-tray model to teach the poem titled ‘Trains’

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR MAKING SAND TRAY:

• Plastic tray
• Sand
• File board

HOW I USED THE SAND-TRAY MODEL:

The sand-tray model was a complete new experience for my students, who had previously been engaged only by seeing printed pictures. The students eagerly came near the model to observe it. They touched it and felt it, as they would do to a real object. In fact, it is this TLM that stimulated the creativity of my students, and they started adding more and more information in their write-ups (description writing, story narration). For example, Keerthana added two new lines in her description. And, she was not the only one—all the students started to think differently. I also observed that the students who were usually not much involved in the classroom activities began to share their thoughts and ideas.

I feel the students were completely fascinated by the usage of TLMs in learning. Each and every student came in front of the class voluntarily and shared their views with others.

Recently, my students got together and asked, “Shall we use this sand tray for story narration?”

“How are you going to use it?” I asked them in turn.

“We have a plan of making topographical models of our story characters and setting,” they answered quickly.

What can I say? Their interest in story-writing has also increased a lot. Nowadays, my students write discourses on their own even without my knowledge, and it is they who present me with pleasant surprises