Professional Development

One of the highlights of our school visit in Hyderabad was the professional development sessions Dana and I held for two days after school, with the teachers from Jubilee Hills. At the first session we were supposed to show multimedia presentations, but there was a problem with the sound system, so we just spoke about our respective school systems and schools, and had a question and answer session. Since it wasn't easy getting the teachers to ask questions, I started to give away the CLMS lanyards Ms. Lavoie had given to me as incentives. Soon there were a lot of teachers asking all kinds of things about education in America and the nature of discipline and instruction.

The second day we both presented on cross-curricular learning. I started my part off with a "walking anticipation guide" of themes from the novel Tangerine by Edward Bloor, asking for teacher participants. I also showed them problem-solution worksheets, samples of student work, a K-W-L-H chart, a worksheet for assessing the validity of online sources, and a Vocabulary Flipchart with definitions, images, and use of the words in sentences.

Teachers with prizes

After our sessions we held a raffle to give away some of the things we had brought with us: Dana brought t-shirts, mugs and caps from Missouri, and I had some light-up pens left, lanyards, and classroom decorations. Needless to say, the teachers really enjoyed that part. The CLMS light-up pens, donated by Ms. Phillips, were a big hit. After the raffle, some of the teachers who hadn't won anything asked me for the pens.

Teachers with prizes

 After that, we rode the teacher bus back to the hotel, and had a chance for more conversation. Many teachers ride school buses home because it is a lot less stressful than facing the mad traffic every day. It was a great way for us to get to know them better outside of school.

On the teacher bus

A group of teachers posing with us

 Indian women, including teachers, generally wear either saris or salwar kameez, a long tunic top worn over either baggy pants or legging-type pants with extra folds around the ankles. These clothing choices are surprisingly cool in the hot weather. Saris are worn differently in different parts of India, and according to socila position. There are many different styles of salwar kameez. I don't believe I saw any duplications of either type of clothing: no two are alike. Men often wear western clothes, except for holiday celebrations and weddings; older men in the north sometimes wear dhotis, or long cloths wrapped around their hips and legs. Hyderabad has a large Muslim population,
and since our visit there coincided with Ramadan, when people fast all day, only breaking their fast towards nightfall, we saw many Muslim people, from children to elderly people, on the streets at night, dressed in traditional finery.