‘Conference to Classroom’—a series of workshops, has been initiated with the aim of understanding how educators translate what is presented to them and take it to their students.
In the first of this series teachers from Modern High School for Girls, Kolkata, India developed and presented lesson plans—at a workshop on 18 September 2017 at the Modern Academy of Continued Education in Kolkata—based on takeaways from The Idea of India—the third International Conference on Teaching History.
Monuments Rap
– Ms. Sunita Biswas, teacher, Modern High School for Girls
Ever thought of getting your students to rap history?
Well, this teacher did and here we are: a creative way to study the rich range of architecture that is included in the History syllabus, and so much more, depending on what you want to address! Appeals to different kinds of learning styles, encourages critical thinking and self-expression and what’s more, your students get to see ‘idea(s)’ of India develop and emerge from projects that involve them.
Download the lesson plan below. (Includes some samples of what Ms Biswas’s students came up with.)
Right to Equality
– Chitralekha De Bakshi, teacher, Modern High School for Girls
Are we inherently born with rights, into rights—or are they given to us (does that mean they can be taken away?). A far cry from memorizing lists of rights on civics exam eves, here’s an engaging idea to get your students thinking about rights—beyond written laws, as lived realities : Download the Right to Equality Lesson Plan below.
Tell Me your Story
– Ms. Sreyasi Chatterjee, teacher, Modern High School for Girls
Inspired by this wonderful talk by Sri Lankan artist T. Sanathanan, Tell me your Story helps us take a closer, more nuanced look at story-telling as a useful classroom tool for social research and more.
Download the lesson plan below.
Understanding Sources: Using evidence to recreate history
– Ms S. Saha and Ms A. Sen, teachers, Modern High School for Girls
From the extended family whatsapp group to the ruling political parties: everyone makes a claim on history. But what history is this and which version are we to believe? Our politicians’, our textbooks’, Bollywood films’?
In times when contested histories are especially rife, and ‘fake news’ round every corner, here’s a simple exercise to get students to directly engage with a possible way of plunging straight into the heart of the noise: by looking to and learning to read SOURCES of historical information.
Download the lesson plan below.