Joeys Success Story from Mute to Unmute – The SBI Model

"The screen is a window through which one sees a virtual world. The challenge is to make that world look real, act real, sound real, feel real."

For students, the month of June used to be all about the smell of freshly printed books, new classrooms, new classmates and new teachers. But Corona Virus has forced the world to reinvent and reimagine the usual. Online (virtual) classes have become the 'New Normal'. With class schedules arriving for the day on Whatsapp and students taking classes through the virtual world, the whole education system is now just a 'CLICK' away

"If the Classroom is limited to a screen, then that screen better be the most interesting one in the room !"

The thought above, empowered us to take up the challenge to navigate an unfamiliar 'Online' terrain to recreate a reassuring sense of continuity and community and not let this miniscule Covid virus disrupt the most phenomenal early childhood years of our kindergarteners. "Embrace New Experiences; See Opportunities; Surprise Yourself " enabled us to see the silver lining among the clouds. Thus we believe that the COVID - 19 pandemic has provided us a chance to learn new things like what we value and prioritize in life and one of the most important and profound learning has been around the role of teachers along with the supporting role of parents to keep the most important stakeholder's (children) meaningfully engaged.

We came together as a team and took a vow to emerge as a stronger, skilled set of educationists. Resilience was the keyword to refresh, recreate and redefine the role of teachers. During these challenging times, we burned the candles at both the ends and swung to action. Our students and their future was the first priority; second was the staff members, to give them the right platforms to enhance their teaching process and third our parents who continue sharing the bond of trust. All the three were trained to use the online teaching portal to its maximum potential. The most exhilarating bit of the whole plan was …… the school was in the Screen !! We came together but stayed apart physically. The school is using technology as a blessing to design the virtual learning curriculum and the focus is on the holistic development of the child where the child is given the choice, voice and ownership of his work.

Three months of regular teaching through hands-on activities, stories, presentations, videos, teaching aids, augmented activities and worksheets online has been smooth. Co-scholastic subjects like yoga, practical life activities, dance, are a part of our online classes. Highly appreciative parents have given us the motivation that we are moving ahead in the right direction. Teamwork and commitment has been at its peak. We are keeping ourselves abreast with new educational pedagogies and trends by attending webinars, though teaching online has been both challenging and comforting. Challenging with technical glitches, distractions and time management whereas Comforting, when we see our children who are shy and scared to speak out in class are able to express themselves, articulate and interact more with their teachers and peers in the comfort of their own home. And here we are today, making history by leveraging technology to transform our teaching - learning process and providing uninterrupted schooling to our students. Trust, pride and camaraderie are the cornerstones of our educational ethos that we rely upon. The success has been achieved as our online classes have helped our little children to enjoy a blended learning system that has both digital and human influence. It will be carried forward by means of a student-centric parent-teacher partnership.

You can call it a jigsaw puzzle or a roller coaster ride, but we have been courageous enough to venture into the unknown territories and pave the right path. In this new normal, the learning objectives changed - physical classrooms changed to zoom classrooms, chalk and duster changed to whiteboard and annotations but the only thing that stayed was determination to reach out to our little people. It is truly a success story for years to remember.

The school stands tall and proud and believes that "Difficult Roads Lead to Beautiful Destination" and thereby advocate the SBI model i.e. Situation, Behaviour & Impact. Where the

Situation : Covid 19,

Behaviour : Positive and proactive

Impact : Clearly visible - a million dollar smile with a spark all over !!!!!!!

Team Joeys Ambli Campus