The Learning Showcase is a regular event organized at Ekya School, Byrathi. During this event, students across grades showcase their work to their family members. This year since classes are being held online, we held this event as a virtual Showcase. The students of Grades 5-9 joined this session along with friends and family and spoke about the learning that happened in class with the assistance of discussion tools, visible thinking routines, and differentiation strategies.
The Head of School began by sharing a few words on the curriculum followed at Byrathi and the various programs offered and encouraged them to share the same with friends and family. The students of Grade 9 flagged off this event by speaking about the IGCSE curriculum, subjects offered and the various methods used to help them grasp concepts and understand better. Learning tools such as the Jigsaw puzzle, creative comparisons, six thinking hats, creative hunt, and step inside were used to reiterate learning and enable long-term retention of the same.
The students of Grade 8 introduced the ICSE curriculum and spoke about the various subjects offered and the co-curricular programs that have been made available. Writing frameworks such as Descriptive writing, summary writing, and picture compositions were introduced in order to improve the written skills of students. Learning and discussion tools such as what makes you say that hands-on experimentation and the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning framework were employed across subjects to aid better understanding and skill-building. This was followed by subject-wise presentations from the students of Grades 5-7. In the subject of English, imagine-if, see-think-me-we, poetry writing on the topic of shape and concrete were used to create memorable learning experiences. Students spoke about how they used these tools across the topics that they studied.
Learning a new language is quite challenging but at Byrathi it has been a memorable experience. Students discussed that they had employed various skill-building methods to help them speak, read and write fluently in Hindi and Kannada. French is a foreign language that is being offered as a third language option for Grades 5-7. A short skit on French cuisine and desserts was put together by the students. Performing arts is a co-curricular subject offered to all students in which they learn the nuances of music, dance, and drama. Students shared videos of the songs, dance moves that they learnt in class.
A hands-on activity in Science was done and videos of student work were displayed during the session. In Math, tools such as outside in, see-think-wonder, let’s get creative were used for explanation and aid understanding of the topic at hand. In VA, students showcased their paintings, drawing, and the various art forms that they had done such as, Kalamkari, Gond, Warli, and Madhubani.
Social Science was made interesting via a flipped classroom model in which students turned teachers and explained parts of the topic to the class, a comic strip was created in order to understand the lesson on the constitution, up and down poem was a writing framework used to summarize their learning of a topic.
Computer science lessons were demonstrated using paint and the software that students were learning about. The last showcase was on physical education and students played videos of the overs, workout sessions, and exercises that they practiced during class.
The session came to a close with the vote of thanks shared by one of the students and a pad let link was shared to collect feedback on the event. Parents were thrilled and appreciated the efforts of all the staff and students.
Ruth Sneha Inbasekaran, Ekya School, Byrathi