Workshop Blue Planet (Smart collection of waste material) July 2nd , 2022

A workshop on smart collection of waste material was conducted on 2nd July 2022. Mr. Krishna was the resource person from Blue Planet who conducted the workshop for all teachers of Shalom Hills group of schools. The main aim of the workshop was to create awareness about the importance of collecting waste in an organized manner so as to keep the Earth clean and pollution free. By engaging teachers, students and policy makers the organization plans to create long term public policy plans and initiatives that will lead the charge for a sustainable future.
The workshop emphasized on the importance of motivating students to collect waste material like plastic, paper etc from around their surroundings on a weekly basis. Two bins would be kept at schools for plastic and paper waste. The participating students and teachers would be given points which would lead to winning certificates and medals. PPT and videos were shown to the teachers which had plans on the proposed collective responsibility drive (CDR). Many innovative things like a bench made out of recycled plastic was shown to the teachers.
. The workshop helped the teachers understand the importance of creating awareness among the young students about collective responsibility in waste management.

Workshop Experiential Activities (Pre-school and Primary School) June 30th , 2022

A workshop on Experiential activities for Pre-school and Primary school was conducted by Pearson on 30th June 2022. Ms Shradha Anand was the resource person who conducted the workshop for pre-primary and primary teachers of Shalom Hills group of schools. The aim of the workshop was to help the teachers understand the new emerging trends in teaching as per NEP as well as to help them re-engineer their teaching methodology, pedagogy, transaction and delivery.
Kinesthetic activities like nature scavenger hunt, mini alphabet sensory bins, letter bingo activity were explained as well as demonstrated during the workshop. There were different experiential activities related to Math, Science, SST, Hindi and English. For grades 1-5 many interesting activities like sensory bag, clock model, map making, free writing, swatter activity, misconception check, puppet show etc were introduced to the teachers. English had many new experiential activities like scrabble, word-search, cross-word, radio show etc. Emphasis was given on improving the speaking and reading skills of the students. A discussion on the important aspects of NEP also took place. Use of technology, 21st century skills, curricular integration, foundational literacy and evolution of NEP were some of the additional aspects discussed in the workshop. The workshop was interactive and helped the teachers understand the latest and innovative Experiential activities given in NEP.

Workshop on Aims for Behaviour Modification in Teenagers to Make Classrooms Happy May 19 & 21, 2022

A workshop was organized for the SHIS teaching faculty by the Health & Wellness department. It was conducted by Ms Geetika Kapoor-founder of Ed Essential, a community outreach that brings the science of learning to the service of children. Ms. Kapoor is a trainer in the field of School Psychology from Kansa, USA, and has upgraded her skills in Behaviour Analysis, Precision teaching and content analysis for academic curriculums.
The session started with an ice-breaker group activity on “Let’s talk in groups”. The purpose was for the group members to know about each other, their past experiences and feelings associated with them. Ms Kapoor explained that feelings are mostly neglected & ignored creating problems leading to self-doubt. She talked about the developmental needs that each post adolescent carries and goes through in the classroom. Emotionally disruptive behaviour needs to be understood by not being judgemental but by noticing and reflecting upon it.
The teachers need to be experimenters and problem solvers by putting themselves in the shoes of the children who will not learn at once. She said after the lockdown learners are taking time to adjust and readapt to the physical school and we should not rush instead deal with them with patience and a calm state of mind.
A two-hour interactive session in two slots was greatly appreciated by the teachers. A token of appreciation was presented to Ms Geetika Kapoor by the Headmistress.

Webinar on Children Safety & Wellbeing April 16, 2022

An integrated webinar for SHIS staff was organized by the Health & Wellness department of the school. The resource persons were Ms Neha Tyagi- Legal Consultant at Supreme Court and Delhi High court judiciary; Ms Annie Namratha and Ms Kashish Jain- both Advocacy Ambassadors. The webinar comprised 3 sessions: Legal, Academic and Psychological. Under Legal- Ms Neha explored the facts under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences- 2012 POCSO Act and JJ justice (Reformation and Rehabilitation) Act-2015 (JJA). Under Academic- Roles and responsibilities of schools for children’s safety and wellbeing were explained in detail by Ms Annie. Under Psychological- curriculum-syllabus for safety and wellbeing of children was discussed by Ms Kashish.
Ms Kashish also had an interaction related to the Life Skill book that has been introduced in the current session to help the children become aware about all ten life skills. Some common aspects were related to Physical/Online safety, bullying, empathy and communication and critical/creative thinking skills.
The webinar catered to all the needs of children’s safety and well-being explaining them in detail. An interactive session, it was highly appreciated by the staff members.

CBSE ENGLISH TEST ITEM WRITING TRAINING February 21-28, 2022

CBSE COE Panchkula organized an English (Class 9-10) Test Item Writing Training webinar in collaboration with British Council. The training period conducted by CBSE Master Trainer Educators was attended by Ms Mamta Badia on behalf of Shalom Hills International School.
The first step in the process was to review the NCERT curriculum and identify how the relevant CBSE syllabus which sets out the content to be taught could be intertwined with the curriculum. This mapping produced a ‘Learning Ladder’ which identified both pedagogy and learning outcomes from the NCERT curriculum which were then aligned with the content from the CBSE syllabus. The trainees were told that the purpose of the assessments is a summative test which will allow students to not only demonstrate what they know and can do but also give them and their teachers some formative information about areas of strength and development needs.
The participants were trained to design the assessments keeping in mind the following:

• Create subject-specific assessment objectives
• Assess a more significant proportion of higher order thinking skills such as analysis and evaluation
• Reduce the proportion of assessment on recall of knowledge
• Increase the assessment of fundamental skills in real-world contexts
• Use authentic source materials and scenarios
• Use more diagrams and other visual materials
• Use more structured questions which link together to vary the demand throughout the assessment
• Use language which is accessible to all levels of student ability
• Use a limited range of command words consistently
• Use improved level of response and point based mark schemes.

The webinar was very informative and educative.

Webinar - Learning Standards Framework for English February 16, 2022

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
An online session on Learning Standards Framework for English (IX –X) was organized by CBSE in collaboration with Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. The session was addressed by the Chairperson CBSE, Director (Academics), CBSE and other CBSE functionaries along with subject experts.
The main objective of the workshop was to give an insight of ‘Learning Standards Framework – A Comprehensive Document’ that has been designed by their team for English for classes IX-X. The CBSE desires to orient practicing English teachers to these Frameworks and also collect their feedback so that these may be improved and later utilized by schools and teachers.
The resource person started the webinar by delineating the importance of competency-based education and experiential learning. Many examples were highlighted to inform the teachers about various pedagogical processes, assessment strategies, rubrics for assessments, and sample questions with complexity growing from basic level to the highest level. The session ended with a question answer round.
The English teaching fraternity was encouraged to share their valuable feedback and ideas using the Civis platform. All in all, this Framework will work as an equalizer for teaching and learning of English language.

Webinar - Employability Skills January 18, 2022

A webinar was conducted by CBSE on Employability Skills on January 18, 2022. The agenda for the webinar was to explain the functioning of CBSE portal www.psscive.ac.in. It is a very user friendly portal where teachers and students can have easy access to the content related to employability skills subjects.
The resource person Mr. Vikram Jha explained the procedure of registration of the teachers. After the registration, teachers can create any number of batches. Batch code can be shared with the students. Similarly, students also get themselves registered on the portal and can join the batch with the help of batch code.
Mr. Vikram Jha also displayed a demonstration of the entire process to clarify the steps. He also explained other features of the portal like access to sample paper, managing batch etc. The session concluded with a question answer round followed by attendance marked on Google form.

Adaptability- Back to system- Transition from Online to Physical mode: Coping strategies January 08, 2022

A webinar on Adaptability Transition from Online to Physical classes was conducted by Ms. Stuti Sood- Counseling Psychologist at the Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, Fortis. As part of her work besides behavior modification and stress management she provides an eclectic approach and supportive therapy.
Ms. Sood talked about how the transition from online to offline has impacted the whole community in terms of fear and anxiety of getting contaminated, has brought threats to children more than the adults. She focused upon Controlling the Controllable in personal and professional life and by not regretting something that cannot be controlled. An Inclusive approach needs to be adopted by talking to the parents, and individual session will help the child in meeting societal demands and bringing things back to the normal once again.
Few of the coping strategies for the teachers were suggested like self-love and self-care, treating oneself with compassion, setting reasonable expectations, remaining connected with the people who are significant in your lives.
An overall rejuvenating session helped the teachers to express their emotions and talk freely.

Developing Resilience at Home & at Work Place January 08, 2022

The Health and Wellness Department of Shalom Hills International School organized a webinar on the Topic “Developing Resilience at Home & at Work Place' AND 'Positive Habits for a Work Life Balance’.
The workshop highlighted the quality of “Resilience”, the ability to bounce back when encountering the challenges that are an inevitable part of life. Like any skill, with practice, resilience can be learned. The Senior counselor emphasized that when one practices resilience, it’s like “working out” one’s ‘resilience muscle’, getting stronger every day. She explained that Resilience in the workplace improves organizational skill and employee performance. Resilience also shapes the way employees respond to and manage the stress of change.
The next half of the session was taken up by the Middle wing Counselor on,” Positive Habits for Work Life Balance”. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude”. Few habits like, choose the quality of life you desire, know your limits and respect them, set aside time for those close to you, Build a support network, turn off technology and periodically re-evaluate your life, were discussed.
The session was fruitful. Teachers stepped forward and asked questions and it was answered by the counselors. Few books were also suggested for reading.

Webinar – Enhancing Public Speaking Skills September 17, 2021

“If you can speak, you can influence. If you can influence, you can change lives.”
Public Speaking is one the most feared as well as one of the greatest skills one can acquire. Standing in front of a large audience to deliver a speech, cab be a harrowing experience for many.
Ms Kavita Bhardwaj (HOD English) attended a webinar, “Enhancing Public Speaking Skills”, organised by CENTA, to help teachers to overcome their dread of public speaking and help their students to become proficient public speakers.
The resource person, Dr. Pooja Banjamin Jain, began by discussing the essence and benefits of public speaking. Laying out the barriers in public speaking, she provided solutions for them and emphasising on the three Ps – Plan, Practice and Prepare. She advised the aspiring public speakers to let their personality come through in their speech. Dr. Pooja also provided the strategies to enhance one’s public speaking skills.
The interactive session was informative and highly enlightening. The aim was not only to help teachers enhance their public speaking skills but also to guide their students to do the same.

Webinar on National Education Policy-2020 September 11, 2021

‘App Dippo Bhav' (Be your own Lamp) - Bhagwan Buddha
Technological advancements since past few decades have led to the globalization of the world. People today live in the World of virtual cultures due to this ongoing pandemic. So, constant upgradation and pacing up with the dynamic environment is the need of the hour. Shalom Hills International School, in a constant endeavour to upgrade the fraternity so as to make the balance between future challenges and present need, has initiated a program ‘Erudithon 2021 - Share your knowledge’ in the form of brief presentations, activities, discussions, deliberations, applicability and inclusion in the curriculum to improve it.
Keeping the above in mind, a Webinar was conducted by Ms. Kousalya Seshadri and Ms. Tista Choudhry for the teachers of VI-X, on the National Education Policy-2020. The webinar acted as a recapitulation of ideas already known and practiced by teachers. The program began with an introduction which included history of education policy and regular amendments in it. A Powerpoint presentation highlighted the capsule points of New Education Policy, emphasizing on the points like inclusive and equitable education and use of technology in the new curriculum framework.
Quizzes were planned in between so as to break the monotony and keep the teachers involved, they also acted as a brush up of the topics explained. Overall, the workshop was very informative and interactive.

Erudithon 2021-Fostering Digital Literacy and Creativity September 9, 2021

“Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes.”   - Peter Senge
Teaching is an ongoing learning process. With the intention of sharing knowledge, Shalom Hills International School has initiated a program ‘Erudithon 2021, to enable the teachers collaborate and learn from each other. A Workshop on ‘Fostering Digital Literacy and Creativity Skills’ was organized for the teachers of Grade 6 to 9 was conducted by Ms. Reena Bhagat and Ms. Ritika Kharbanda using the virtual platform.
In a rapidly changing world, there are new fantastic problems and there are exciting possibilities. In order to introduce the topic -Creativity Skills, a fun filled activity of drawing a landscape was conducted for the teachers. The objective was to emphasize- how rigid are the pictures in our mind that we do not think beyond that. The need of Digital literacy was discussed considering different subjects. Different e-resources used in the teaching learning process were also discussed. The teachers presented their experiences and initiatives taken to foster creativity in the classroom. Blooms Taxonomy was also a part of the workshop. The significance of creativity and the steps to reach that level were also taken into consideration.
The Workshop was an amalgamation of PPT, Video Presentation, fun filled activity and discussion. Teachers participated with full enthusiasm making the workshop interactive and successful.

Workshop: Competency Based Education For Primary Teachers 9 September 2021

Erudithon is the programme initiated with the motive of sharing knowledge with peer group.
Grade 3 teachers, Ms. Pritika Chugh and Ms. Nidhi Verma presented a workshop on the topic ‘Competency Based Education’. It was an interactive session to discuss the importance of Competency Based Education and highlight the difference between the Traditional Methods of Teaching and Competency Based Education.
The session started with ‘Brain Storming’ along with a discussion of the topics and its outcomes and impacts on the education system.
A Quiz based on the topic was conducted during the workshop and teachers participated enthusiastically.
Over all, it was a fun-filled interactive session laying stress on the importance of Competency Based Education.

Workshop: Concept Mapping for Easy Content Writing 8th September 2021

Erudithon is the series of workshops organised with the motive of sharing knowledge with peer group.
Grade 3 teachers, Ms. Anchal Sharma and Ms. Sapna Tyagi presented a workshop on the topic ‘Concept Mapping for Easy Content Writing’. It was an interactive session to discuss the importance and use of idea of including and incorporating concept mapping in the teaching – learning process.
The session started with a healthy discussion on different ways and activities which the teachers of the primary wing usually follow in their teaching and learning process.
Teachers were made aware about different types of concept maps. Names and links to various concepts map creating websites were shared with them. A demo was given on how to create concept maps for easy content writing and eventually making learning and teaching fun for students and teachers. Towards the end of the session a quiz was conducted to revise the concept. An activity on creating and presenting a concept map was also organised.
Over all, it was a fun-filled interactive session and enjoyed by the teachers.

Webinar on Art Integrated Learning Teachers of Classes VI- IX September 07, 2021

The future belongs to young people with an education and the imagination to create.
Shalom Hills International School believes that the key to unlocking profound human understanding and accomplishment is integration in all aspects. Keeping the visionary ideologies in mind under the initiative ‘Erudithon 2021 - Share your knowledge’, on 7th September 2021 a workshop was conducted by Miss Rajbala and Miss Deepmala on ‘Art Integrated Learning’.
The program began with explaining the difference between Art and Art Integration with the help of a Quiz. The teachers then presented, elucidated and played varied activities based on different subjects like ‘Learning by Singing ‘, ‘Clapping Activity’, ‘Mirror Activity’ and many more.
The overwhelming session was enjoyed by all as it was a step towards creating an interactive classroom for the future torchbearers. 

Workshop - Effective Communication 7th September 2021

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide in our communication with others.”
An innovative workshop was organised on the topic- ‘Effective Communication Skills’ for the teachers of primary wing on 7th September 2021 through the virtual platform. The workshop ailed to upgrade their communication skills of the participants and shed their inhibitions and negativity, along with enlightening the teachers on the importance of effective communication, an essential skill in today’s world. Emphasising that communication is more than just words, the teachers shared techniques of effective communication such as listening to understand; observation; retention; non-verbal communication; being clear and succinct; being empathetic and many more.
The emphasis was laid on attributes of good interpersonal skills vital to collaborate and communicate with different types of people. Having a strong work ethic, professionalism, power to inspire others and resolve conflicts, being tactful and respectful paves way for working as a team. This workshop will surely encourage the participants to identify, build and improve their professional image, to enhance awareness towards one’s role in the organization, and also to overcome the barriers in communication.

Online Workshop- ‘Creating Explanation Content’ 6th September 2021

A live workshop on ‘How to create explanation content for your class’ was organized by Shalom Hills International School for the educators of Grade I-V on 6th September 2021 as a part of the ERUDITHON-Competency Based Program.
The mainstay of the session was to apprise the teachers how a little add-on video, audio or graphic can improve the quality of their teaching content, which can make their teaching more impactful, and impressive. It was shared with the teachers how they can start the class with mind warm up exercises and use movement in their teaching to catch the attention of young kids in class. Learning content under two categories- explanation and practice were thoroughly discussed. The key building blocks of any explanation content like hooks, GIFs, Memes, audios, videos, real world examples, hand-on activities were briefly discussed in the workshop.
The teachers were made to do a couple of activities to drive home the practice content or the use of apps for making the teaching and assessment more easy and fun- filled.
The session concluded with a thought, “It is the supreme art of the TEACHER to awaken the joy in creative expression and knowledge- by Albert Einstein”. It was an educative and refreshing session.

Online Workshop- ‘Interdisciplinary Art Integration’ 3rd September 2021

“Art has the power to transform, to illuminate, to educate, inspire and motivate.”
An online workshop on Interdisciplinary Art Integration was organized by Shalom Hills International School for the educators of Grades I-V on 3rd September 2021 as part of the ERUDITHON-Competency Based Program.
The aim of the workshop was to acquaint the teachers with the various art forms namely visual art, performing art. The workshop also aimed at integration of art in the day-to-day transaction of the curriculum and to promote active/experiential learning for “connecting knowledge to life outside the school”, ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods for enriching the curriculum, so that it goes beyond textbooks.
The workshop highlighted the engrossing areas of learning such as storytelling, mime, singing, role play, comic strip, clay modelling. The learning platform was an engaging one and the participating teachers took active part in the workshop as was evident in their enthusiasm, their involvement in all the activities, their active response as well as their cooperation throughout the session.
The session concluded with a glance of activities done in our school and a questionnaire to be attempted by the teachers.

Online Workshop- ‘Experiential Learning in Environmental Education’ 2nd September 2021

As a part of the ERUDITHON-Competency Based Program, a live workshop on “Experiential Learning in Environmental Education” was organized by Shalom Hills International School for the educators of Grades I-V on 2nd September 2021, in order to improve the virtual learning process.
The mainstay of the session was to apprise the teachers about the collaboration of the Experiential learning in Environmental Education which should be child inclusive and collaborative. It was also highlighted that the Experiential learning are the competencies which lead to holistic development and prepares the child for lifelong learning.
Ensuring full participation, the trainees were taken through hands on activities to achieve experience of learning by doing.
The session concluded with a thought -provoking and quintessential quote, “Learning never exhausts the mind as change is the end result of all true learning”. It was an eye-opening and refreshing session.

Workshop- ‘Setting Learning Outcomes in Teaching -Learning’ 1st September 2021

A live workshop on Setting Learning Outcomes in Teaching-Learning was organized by Shalom Hills International School for the educators of Grades I-V on 1st September 2021 as part of the ERUDITHON-Competency Based Program, with the aim to improve the virtual learning process.
The mainstay of the session was to apprise the teachers about the setting of the learning outcomes which should be child inclusive, experiential and collaborative. It was also highlighted that the learning outcomes are the competencies which lead to holistic development and prepares the child for lifelong learning.
Ensuring full participation, the trainees were taken through a gamut of activities to drive home the key points to achieve the effective learning objectives and outcomes through pedagogy, curriculum and assessment keeping in mind capabilities of varied learners, and to ensure that the students are able to extract the maximum from it.
The session concluded with a thought -provoking and quintessential quote, “Learning never exhausts the mind as change is the end result of all true learning”. It was indeed an eye-opening and refreshing session.

CBSE WORKSHOP- ‘Early Childhood Care and Education’ 31st August 2021

"Childhood is the best of all the seasons of life, and the longer it lasts with happy memories, the stronger the emotional stability in adulthood."
A webinar on Early Childhood Care and Education was organized on 31st August 2021 to acquaint the teachers about the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing.
The speaker Associate Professor Fay Hadley emphasized that teachers are the best investments a country can make to promote human resource development, gender equality and social cohesion, and to reduce the costs for later remedial programmes. They were also sensitised how early years of development are critical for providing a firm foundation in cognitive, language and motor development, as well as social, emotional and moral development.
The teachers also learned certain responsibilities and competencies expected from an early childhood and care educator, which includes understanding of child’s holistic development and learning; engaging parents, families and caregivers as partners and the right ways of inculcating good habits and values in their students. The workshop concluded with an interactive question and answer session. It was an informative and enriching workshop.

ERUDITHON 2021 Workshop: Competency Building For Primary Teachers 31st August 2021

Erudithon is the programme started with the motive of sharing knowledge with peer group through planned workshops.
Grade 3 teachers, Ms. Jyoti Batra and Ms. Rashi Bhatia, conducted a workshop on the topic ‘Competency Building based on Phonics’. It was a complete interactive session attended by the teachers of Primary Wing to discuss the importance of phonics and the methods to incorporate phonetic teaching in our curriculum.
The session started with the game ‘Word Antakshri’ followed by a discussion regarding phonics, phonetics and phonemes. A lot of games like – scripting instant story, dumb charades, Phonetic song and animal grid were played which the teachers enjoyed and participated in enthusiastically.
Over all, it was a fun-filled interactive session laying stress on the role played by phonics in language teaching and learning.

Webinar on Experiential Learning Teachers of Classes VI, VII and IX August 31, 2021

In constant endeavour to keep the fraternity up skilled and engaged in a progression cycle, Shalom Hills International School has initiated a program ‘Erudithon 2021 - Share your knowledge’. The intention and objective of this program is to share knowledge with peers in the form of a brief presentation which may include some activity, discussion, deliberation, applicability and inclusion in the curriculum to improve it.
Keeping the above in mind, a Webinar was conducted by Ms. Aditi Jain and Ms. Mamta Badia on the topic of Experiential Learning. It was purely an interactive session, organized noting that the teachers had attended numerous such workshops and webinars conducted by CBSE and others. The webinar acted as a reinforcement of ideas already known and practiced by teachers. The program began with an Icebreaker Activity which included stress busting breathing exercise and a sense actuating exercise. A PowerPoint presentation was shared with the teachers which highlighted reference to Diksha, reinforcement of meanings of holistic development and experiential learning (EL), the strategies involved in EL, Kolb’s cycle, views of some great Indian Educators such as Jiddu Krishnamurthy, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindra Nath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. All the teachers shared their experiences while practicing EL in various subjects and expressed their willingness and determination to further the same. They all agreed that,
“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.”    - Carl Rogers

Erudithon- Webinar on Physical & Emotional Wellness 27th August 2021

The webinar on Physical & Emotional Wellness was conducted for the teachers of grades VI-IX by the senior counsellor Ms Bhupinder Kaur. The objective was to help the teachers understand the importance of physical and emotional wellness. Key features of how mind and body work together were discussed as it is well said that ‘There is no Health without Mental Health’
Physical Health depends upon our bodies and Mental Health depends upon our minds. It is important to keep ourselves healthy by keeping fit, eating well, getting adequate sleep and managing stress or regulating emotions positively. Similarly, it is important to control our thoughts, emotions, feelings and behaviour. The same thing that keeps our body healthy also keeps our mind healthy. It was also explained that if the employees are not in positive state of mind it may affect their performance, miss deadlines and difficulty in concentrating, social withdrawal, also may experience bouts of emotions like frequent irritability and tearfulness.
It was told that as any other health issue, people should be vigilant in identifying their emotions, be aware of their own stereotyped & stigmatizing attitudes and approach for help. Later a Quiz based activity was conducted to assess their emotional intelligence-EQ
It was an interactive session and the teachers opened up in the Question/Answer round seeking remedies for their issues.

Online Training Programme on Story-telling (CBSE) June 14, 2021

A training programme on Storytelling as Pedagogy was conducted online by CBSE to equip educators with resources and techniques which would help them in presenting facts and ideas in such a way that students not only understand it but also retain the knowledge. The programme was attended by teachers from grades 1 to 12th. Storytelling as a pedagogical tool may be used to explore regional and cultural diversity of our country, to integrate stories into the curriculum at all levels. The session started with an explanation of the history of story-telling and its place in the classroom. The trainers emphasized the importance of making the narration of a story as interesting as possible with the use of different tools like pictures etc. Stories can be used to connect different subjects and to develop a multidisciplinary approach to teaching. Stories are an important tool for integrated learning. Importance was given to creating participation in the class through the stories. In online classes one can invite the students to give their responses, ask questions, carry the narration forward through the chat box. Story-telling is an important learning tool as it activates higher order thinking skills in students. The online webinar concluded with the teachers being informed about the website where they can get more information on the different training programmes that are being conducted for Storytelling.

School Portal Update Workshop June12, 2021

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”
Though efficiency is the foundation of survival but effectiveness is the foundation of success and Shalom Hills International School, believing in both efficiency and effectiveness, is continuously working to adapt to the advancement in the education sector and provide a better platform to its students and staff for their approach.
A workshop about the ERP school portal was conducted by Mr. Piyush in collaboration with Edu Next Technologies. The current unprecedented situation has brought a big change in the education system wherein the classes are being conducted on online platforms. The school was already using Microsoft Team as the online platform for conducting classes and this workshop detailed the enhanced up-gradation in the school portal which can now reflect and connect directly with Microsoft Teams. Mr. Ajay described the entire process and additions made to the school portal which can be very helpful to both teachers and students in many aspects related to creating meetings, assignments, marking attendance, and even getting a clear idea about student’s activity on it.
The major goal was to achieve a systematic and user-friendly approach towards learning and availability of the resources at the easiest connect. The workshop was useful and it iterated the continuous efforts being made by the school management to enhance the online learning platform for the students.

SQAA Workshop June12, 2021

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”- John Dewey
With the acceptance of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 by India, one of the significant goals is raising the quality of school education in the country. Accordingly, CBSE has developed a mechanism of School Quality Assessment and Assurance (SQAA) for comprehensive school evaluation aiming at continuous quality improvement through self-analysis and self-monitoring of quality enhancement processes. CBSE recognizes the importance of self-assessment as an integral part of schools’ ongoing review and improvement plan.
A workshop to impart information about the same to all the teachers of Shalom Hills International School, was conducted by the SQAA In-charges for their respective domains. As the overall in-charge, the Vice Principalexplained the importance, process and benefits of SQAA with the help of a detailed presentation. He detailed that SQAA not only enhances the student’s learning but empowers the school in assessing their performance with the help of different tools and thus moving further on the developmental continuum. The other in-charges then one by one explained the role and importance of their domains and sub-domains focusing on the area where each teacher is responsible and accordingly liable for diligent completion of the work. They also focused on the vitality of keeping a track of records and evidences of all the activities.
The workshop was concluded withthe Vice Principal stressing that Shalom, under the guidance of its visionary Founder and Chairperson, believes in the formulation of comprehensive methods and approaches to address the issue of refining the quality of school education in the country and will not leave any stone unturned in accomplishing this goal.

Enlightening Session for English teachers May 28, 2021

“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.” — John Crosby Shalom Hills is blessed to be headed by a resilient leader, a passionate educationist and an empathetic guide, its Founder and Chairperson, Dr (Mrs.) Lily George, who never fails to support and hand-hold her teachers.
In an enlightening session, our beloved MD ma’am, addressed the grades III-XII teachers of the English Department, to help them enhance their teaching skills. She was enthusiastically welcomed by the Principal (Jr.).
Introducing herself and the school, MD ma’am touched upon the establishment days of Shalom. Sharing her life experiences, she encouraged the teachers to have unwavering faith in God as He provides the strength to accomplish one’s goals. Nature has a special place in her heart. She believes plants and the beauty of nature have healing properties.
In an engaging session she took up the grade X poem-Amanda, to demonstrate the art of teaching. She guided the teachers on how to lead the students to the theme of the poem by relating it to their real-life situations. Beautifully reciting the poem with appropriate stress and intonation, she brought out the true message of the poem, and provided a new perspective to the teachers to imbibe in their own class rooms.
Talking about the qualities of a teacher, she stated that within everyone is a book of knowledge. We need to turn each page and utilize that knowledge, assimilate it and pass it on to others. Education for her is - Spreading light to the darkest corners to remove ignorance.
Stressing on the importance if time, she encouraged all to value time. She also elaborately described the nuance of reaction and response, aiming that reaction is always a negative aspect and hence should always be avoided centralizing on the response. Teachers need to be expressive and appreciative. They need to understand when to motivate and where to appreciate, as there should never be incorrect appreciation.
The session concluded with ma’am blessing all the teachers with strength and happiness.
Both Principal Sir and Principal (Jr.), along with all the teachers, thanked MD Ma’am for her time, leadership, support, and the wisdom she imparted. It was indeed a privilege to witness a true teacher in action.

Code Basic AI and Code Basic Workshop March18-20, 2021

Shalom Hills International School organised an informative workshopon Artificial Intelligence for the teachers of primary wing from 18th March to 20th March 2021. The aim of the workshop was to introducetheprimary school teachers to the world of AI, so as to enable them to bring it to their classroom. This challenging assignment also required development of an AI syllabus that is interesting and easy for the children to follow. The workshop was divided into 3 sessions, conducted by Mr. ManbirBedi of the Primary Plus Magazine. He introduced the key concepts on artificial intelligence; defining critical terms, capabilities along with introducing a few hands-on activities that can be incorporated in the curriculum. The workshop took the teachers through the new AI CBSE syllabus and explained how to implement it. Each day of the workshop progressed with interesting hands-on activities along with critical thinking and analysing. Finallyconcluding with reflection sessions,which emphasized on what had been covered so far, difficulties that were faced and how theywereovercome. Feedback was also collected on what needs to be improved in the workshop. The introduction to the 3D concepts and following the 5 main steps for the Workshop was an exhilarating experience.

Webinar For Teachers On Nep 2020 Guidelines February 19, 2021

A webinar was organized by CBSE wherein the resource person Ms. Arti Chopra intricately shared the vision and other important specifics of the National Education Policy 2020. NEP envisions an education system rooted in Indian ethos that contributes directly to transforming India. This policy envisages that the existing 10+2 structure in school education will be modified with a new pedagogical and curricular restructuring of 5+3+3+4 covering ages 3-18. The highest priority of the education system will be to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary school by 2025. It aims to simplify learning for all students with special emphasis on Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs), strengthening of the TETs to inculcate better test material, both in terms of content and pedagogy. The assessment system will be made objective and developmental oriented. Conclusively, it aims to move towards education which is more holistic and multidisciplinary. It was a highly enriching and productive webinar.

Teachers’ Workshop - Adobe Spark Creativity Tool February 27,2021

If you are not willing to learn, No one can help you. If you are determined to learn, No one can stop you. To enhance the creativity, usage and knowledge of teachers about computers, an online Adobe workshop on Zoom was conducted under the aegis of our Founder and Chairperson Dr (Mrs.) Lilly George, on 27th February 2021. Adobe Spark is the story telling application that has the ability to help teachers design posters, webpages, videos etc. This is under Adobe Digital Disha Program. Mr. Saffin Mathew and Mr. Krishna Kumar updated the teachers about the enhanced workings of the software, how it would help them in making their lessons more interactive and stimulating for long lasting learning.Different types of tools in the software were explained along with some hands-on trials. After attending this workshop, the teachers came out better fortified with lots of creative material to restructure their already skilful teaching methods and tools.

Pearson Workshop (English Department) Grade 1-5 February 27, 2021

Aworkshop was organized for the teachers of Englishof grades1 to 5 by Pearson book Company on 27th February 2021. The resource persons, Ms. Ila, Ms. Neha and Ms. Tanisha,informed the teachers about the new books in grammar and literature which have been published by the company. They spoke about the simplified version of books available for grades 1 and 2. The key features of this workshop were the introduction of the innovative features of the book like Create a Mind Map, Word calculator etc. The resource person also showed the digital animation available for the books which can make the lessons interesting and interactive for the students. They also took the teachers through various aspects in the resource book for teachers which can help them in making question papers and worksheets. A feedback form was filled by all the teachers towards the end of the workshop

'Reflection 2020-21' Teachers Grades I – V March 6, 2021

A Reflection meeting was conducted with theteachers of Middle wing under the supervision of HM (I to V). Teachers used this time to evaluate professional learning and sharing of teaching learning goals for the next session (2021-22).
The aim of the session was to observeand inculcate the best practices of eachteacher to improve the virtual teaching methodology for maximumlearning of the students. Class in-charges of each grade one by one presented and explained the highlights of the year, learning outcome, achievements and area of improvements. All the teachers discussed areas thatcould be worked upon to improve the virtual teaching techniques. Tomake the session interactive and interesting the teachers were encouraged to askquestions/clarify their doubts and give suggestions for improvement.
Teachers looked forward to a fresh start and recall all the mental notes they took during theyear about what to do differently to make the next year even better.
The team was encouraged to come up with innovations and creativity by the school Principal (Sr.) accompanied by Principal (Jr.). He also appreciated them for their efforts during this teaching-learning process in this pandemic situation.

Webinar: Implementing Peer-Turoring January 29, 2021

Peer-tutoring is a proven best practice in education. The NEP 2020 has recommended using this technique to help slow learners achieve their learning outcomes. Implementing peer-tutoring not only requires a change in the mindset of different stakeholders but also the introduction of several new processes.
To understand peer-tutoring and its benefits, nature of mindset changes required to adapt it and the essential processes required to implement peer-tutoring a webinar Friday@5 was organised by ICSL Education Convo for educators. The resource persons were Prof. Namita Ranganathan, Department of Education, Delhi University, Ms. Pirjo Suhonen, Teacher Educator & Director, ALO Finland, Ms Renu Khanna, Teacher, Knucles Elementary, North Carolina, USA, with Dr. Atul Nischal, Founder-Director, ICSL, acting as the Moderator.
The resource persons emphasised on peer-tutoring being a collaborative and cooperative learning process with the focus on child-to-child learning. Since a real-time class comprises members with diverse skill sets, peer-tutoring enables the members to help each other learn. The role of the educator in peer-tutoring is to identify each child’s skill/ability/strength which he/she can share with group members, in addition to the weakness he/she needs help in. The focus in peer-tutoring is on the process of learning not on the end – the end result will follow will the process in a multiple-intelligences and abilities in class. The webinar concluded with a question-answer session to clarify the doubts of the attendees.

English Webinar September 11, 2020

The English faculty of Shalom Hills International School, attended an online webinar organized by Rachna Sagar Pvt. Ltd. The webinar was conducted by Mr. Deepam Mittal. In the course of the session, Mr. Deepam gave a synopsis of the recently released New Education Policy. He also updated the teachers about the changes in the English syllabus and the portions deleted form the syllabus of classes IX-XII. The new marking scheme was also shared with the teachers. In addition to these, he also gave a step by step presentation on how to create question papers using their Test Generator. Overall it was an informative and useful session.

Webinar-Turn Setbacks Into Comebacks September 5, 2020

During this transitional pandemic phase, when everyone is faced with challenges and emotional stress, Kriti Group of Companies organised a webinar with the main speaker being Mr. Shiv Khera, the eminent author, Educator and Business Consultant. His books have sold 8 million copies including the international seller “You Can Win”. The teachers were accorded the opportunity to attend the online webinar and learn tips to develop a positive attitude towards life. Mr. Khera stated that in these uncertain and unpredictable times feelings of frustration, anger, depression and chronic stress are widespread. He emphasised that this crisis has impacted the life, livelihood and lifestyle when people are troubled whether the crisis will end first or the money. In order to face this crisis, he advised everyone to first of all accept, then prioritise and distinguish between what is important and what is urgent. Generally, we give priority to urgent matters, but if the important concerns like health and relationships are neglected for long, they will convert to urgencies. Direction is more important than speed. One must be emotionally strong to handle challenging times and failures. He stressed that the silver lining is that whenever unemployment goes up, self-employment goes up. One should be solution focused and provider rather than problem focused. We must make our choices carefully as they ultimately make us. Highlighting the role of teachers, he said we need to prepare the younger generation for life so that we don’t have to repair them. He encouraged all to give back to the society by proactively doing good. The talk by Mr. Khera was truly inspirational and opened doors to positive thoughts, choices and actions.

Workshop on Stress Management August 1, 2020

Yet another thought-provoking workshop was organized by the Health & Wellness department for the entire faculty of the Shalom group on ‘Stress Management’ and how to cope up with the inner conflicts and outside pressures during the pandemic. The workshop was conducted by Dr Samir Parikh, the eminent Psychiatrist and Director- Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Mental Health Program. Dr Parikh focussed on three components that build up stress during pandemic that are anxiety of illness, uncertainty regarding future and anxiety of dealing with new normal. He said these anxieties can be resolved by taking medications, following government guidelines and precautions,eliminating negativity, spreading positive messages, staying productive, living in the present by accepting the situation, and maintaining connectivity with friends&family. He also shared few tips on how to keep a balance between work and home by maintaining a daily schedule like waking time, fixing work station, taking multiple breaks, playing board games, spending time with senior citizens and children in family. He also said that it is a time to build generosity, compassion and empathy among ourselves and our youths. There is a need to prepare oneself to adapt to changes in life, focus on positive communication and value system, leading a healthy life style by listening to music, doing mediation and exercise. Also, to become a problem solver rather than keeping it inside and not procrastinating. He encouraged all to seek help from colleagues, friends or mental health professionals. The workshop ended with a useful question and answer round.

Rorschach-Exner System 19th-21st June 2020

Three days Online subject enrichment course in Psychology was attended by Ms. Bhupinder Kaur &Ms. Mitu Singh which was organized by the team of Fortis Mental Health Department. The four-hour workshop was conducted by Ms.KamnaChhiber- Head of Mental Health Department, Ms.Mimansa Singh- Clinical Psychologist, Ms. Kriti Munjal & Ms.AnunaBordoloi. Rorschach Exner System is the elaborative & systematic psychological projective inkblot tool to diagnose various mental health illness and is widely used by the clinical psychologists/psychiatristsall over the world. The greatest utility of the RT is when an understanding of a person, as an individual becomes important for the purpose of selecting strategies. The personality assessment is done that helps in understanding the psychological organization and functioning of the person rather than the behavior of the person.It is used for diagnostic purpose, better diagnostic clarity specially in psychotic disorders. The administration, scoring, interpretation with report writing was very well explained by the speakers in detail.

Pro-Social Peer Moderator Program 22nd-28th June 2020

A series of workshops under Pro-Social Peer Moderator program were organized virtually for classes IX-XII. Fortis Pro-Social Peer Moderator is an important initiative in taking life skills to schools across country. The workshops were conducted byleading Psychiatrist and Director of Fortis Mental Health Department Dr. Samir Parikh. The themes to learn Life Skills in Application included Aggression Management, Media Literacy, Risk Behavior Management, Gender Sensitivity, Study & Exam Skills,Caring for the Environment and Bully to Buddy. Life skills help build resilience and empower us to handle the ups and downs of life effectively. According to Dr. Parikh- “Assertiveness is an important life skill that helps with managing aggressive behavior”. During the sessions he pondered on Media Literacy and said we need to recognize the value of thinking critically, being able to analyze the information we consume. Being passive recipients and consumers of media will impact the ability to discern the credibility of information. He also talked about risk taking behaviors that can be mediated by building adolescent’s abilities to navigate peer linked situations where risk taking can occur. Incorporating the right skills and approach to studying and exam taking is a must for success in life for students. The experience gained by the Shalomiteswas enriched with positive values that will help them in enhancing the skills to deal with adversities in life. wastika Acharya, the Workshop concluded with a few “Fun –filled Activities” for teachers. The session was informative and interactive.

‘Workshop on “Striking Balance between Work and Home” 27thJune 2020

Under the able guidance of senior authorities and mentors, the Health & Wellness Department of Shalom Hills International School took aninitiative to enlighten theteachers on the topic“Striking Balance between work and home”.It was conducted by Ms. Kristna, Counsellor of the MiddleWing along with Ms. Bhupinder Counsellor Senior Wing. Striking a healthy work-life balance is a difficult challenge even in the best of times, but it is all the more daunting and necessary during times of economic stagnation and uncertainty.The Workshop highlighted how one can maintain a balance and strike the right chord between work and home in the spirit of self-care, both emotionally and physically. Following Tips were given to the teachers for self-developmentin maintaining Work –Life Balance:  1.Wake up early  2. Fix your workspace  3. Utilize breaks  4. Equip your kids with activities and tasks  5. Save time for family interaction Work life balance is not an entitlement or benefit. One has to create it for oneself.” As suggested by HM ma’am Ms. Swastika Acharya, the Workshop concluded with a few “Fun –filled Activities” for teachers. The session was informative and interactive.

‘TUK - ASSESSMENT DEMO’ June 27, 2020

A session was conducted by ‘The Ultimate Knowledge’ for teachersusing the Google Meet platform. The session was addressed by Mr. Lovelish Abraham, Ms. Reeta Roy and Ms. Akshita Nigam. The focus was on the unique features of the TUK GK books prescribed for our students. Every feature was explained in detail and the suggestions of the teachers were welcomed. This is the time, when technology is playing a major role in the teaching and learning process. Mr. Lovelish apprised the teachers with the ‘TUK Portal’, a platform to ‘Learn Ultimate Anytime, Anywhere’ for Grade 3 to Grade12.Ms. Akshita continued the session emphasizing on the importance of online assessment and briefing about the ‘TUK Online Assessment’. The session concluded with the Middle Wing Headmistress, Ms. Swastika Acharya, appreciating the TUK Team for their interesting and informative presentation.

Webinar on “Introduction to School Psychology” 17th& 18th June 2020

A webinar on Introduction to School Psychology was organized for teachers and Psychology students on 17th& 18th June. It was taken by the guest speaker MsGeetika Kapoor- School & Educational Psychologist and founder of EdEssential. She broadly categorized School Psychology as a Professional and specialized sub-field in Psychology that combines knowledge and skill set of Psychology and education. MsGeetika spoke about three components that every school should adopt - Interventions for Academic Skills, Social Skills and Interventions for Emotional Well-being that builds up the overall personality of an individual. The teachers should aim to develop systematic explicit instruction in phonics, reading comprehension needs explicit teaching, early intervention in language development. She said the rate of learning/response to intervention is an important determiner. For emotional well being the teacher should spend time in understanding the emotional state of the child and hence take appropriate measures by approaching counsellors, as handling emotional issues will be time consuming that target meaningful skills training. Finally, proper follow ups are very important to track action-consequence set.

WEBINAR ON THE NEW NORMAL-ACADEMIC CHALLENGES AND HEALTH DEMEANOURS JUNE 26, 2020

“Wherever we see something good happening, we should appreciate it and help it to spread far and wide. Same is the case with education,” said Anil Swarup, Former Secretary, School Education, Government of India, in a webinar on ‘The New Normal- academic challenges and health demeanours’, on 26th June 2020. He discussed various important points related to virtual classes. The main focus of this webinar was
• Travelling for learning.
• Use of technology to make learning an enjoyable experience.
• Discovering techniques to enhance learning.
• Importance of assessments.
He talked about so much material available around and the need to utilize the material smartly. He also emphasized on coupling two teachers together to facilitate the process of teaching and learning. The webinar ended with an interactive session.

Training-Pedagogy of LanguageJune 17, 2020

CBSE initiated training ‘Diksha’ on Pedagogy of Language was attended by the HOD of English Department. The training focused on various aspects of teaching the English language to the children. The Bloom’s Taxonomy was outlined along with the list of vocabulary to be used for its various stages. The course focused on teaching the four skills of language-Listening, Speaking, Reading & Writing. The building of vocabulary, grammatical structure, qualities of a good listener and aspects of fluent writing were elaborated. The five main forms of literature were also highlighted. It was a useful and informative training.

Webinar on Cyber-safety at School: During and Post Covid May 29, 2020

The Head of Computer Science Department, Ms. Sarika Aneja had an opportunity to join for a live candid talk with top Cyber Security Expert Mr. Rakshit Tandon and topmost academician Mr. M. M. Pant, regarding Cyber Ethics and Awareness at School Level. Top School Leader Dr. Ruchi Seth and Dr. Sudha Acharya along with Dr. Roma Kumar discussed about the psychology of students. The Webinar was organised by Augmented Minds (Under the Flagship of Cyber Peril) Founder/ CEO Mr. Rakesh Malaviya. All the eminent experts in their domains shared their experience. Mr. Rakshit apprised school teachers how to remain safe while conducting virtual classes. It is very important to go through all the security measures before using any platform- Zoom, MS Teams, Webex etc. He informed how we can guide students to keep themselves digitally safe while using social networking sites. He also enlightened everyone about the cyber-crime laws in India. Mr. Rakshit Tandon added, “Victims of fraud should not hesitate to approach the police. On the cyberspace, it is impossible to erase a digital footprint completely. He informed that students can join the short-term course Hackershala, an Online Cyber Security Summer Internship programme. It was indeed a very enlightening webinar.

WEBINAR ON CYBER SPACE: NAVIGATING OPPORTUNITIES TAMING THREATS May 30, 2020

The Department of Computer had an opportunity to attend the Webinar conducted by Admitkard hosted by Mr. Rajshekhar Pullabhatia and Mr. Dheeraj Bhatia on 30th May 2020.
Today’s generation of digital natives can seamlessly connect with the world and access information in a way that simply wasn’t possible earlier. But the same comes with the safety risks, from cyber-crimes to malware and the dark web. We have to safely navigate the web and mitigate the risks that wait online. Also the cyber security has emerged as a lucrative and in demand career option.
The main focus of this webinar was
1) Vulnerability in the digital era of cloud computing, Machine learning and AI.
2) Protecting children online.
3) Online frauds.
4) Safeguarding mobile phones from cyber attacks.
5) Cyber threats in every organization.
6) Cybersecurity as a career, scope and opportunities.
The content is not recorded as a conventional video lesson and the teacher is in control of the session at all times and is able to alter the course and pace of the lecture as per his/her own will. The level of the content used and the approach of delivering the concept was appreciated by the teachers of the department. On the whole it was found to be good.

Webinar on Online Safety for Working Women June 2, 2020

The Department of Computer had an opportunity to attend the Webinar conducted by Collins hosted by the top Cyber Security Expert Mr. Rakshit Tandon on 2nd June 2020. Mr. Rakshit discussed many points regarding the Safety and security of the Working Women while surfing the internet for research or as means of communication or entertainment. He started with the discussion on current online frauds happening in the society. Mr. Rakshit apprised school teachers how to remain safe while conducting virtual classes. It is very important to go through all the security measures before using any platform- Zoom, MS Teams, Webex etc. He informed how we can guide students to keep themselves digitally safe while using social networking sites. He also enlightened everyone about the cyber-crime laws in India. Mr Rakshit cautioned about how much personal information you provide on social networking sites. The more information you post, the easier it may be for a hacker or someone else to use that information to steal your identity, access your data or commit other crimes such as stalking. He apprised about Email fraud (or email scam) being the intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual through email, which began almost as soon as email became widely used. It can take the form of a "con game", or scam. Confidence tricks tend to exploit the inherent greed and dishonesty of their victims. Many people have lost their life savings due to fraud. Mr. Rakshit Tandon added, “Victims of fraud should not hesitate to approach the police. On the cyberspace, it is impossible to erase a digital footprint completely.” It was indeed a very enlightening webinar.

WEBINAR ON INTRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SCHOOLS May 26, 2020

The Department of Computer Science had an opportunity to attend the Webinar conducted on 26th May’20 by Dr. Niti Dwivedi who is a Microsoft Certified Trainer. The primary goal of AI is to improve computer behavior so that it can be called intelligent. The main focus of this webinar was
1) How it will give benefits to school.
2) Does AI integration in education promote “effective pedagogy” in the class room.
3) Future prospects of AI globally.
The content is not recorded as a conventional video lesson and the teacher is in control of the session at all times and is able to alter the course and pace of the lecture as per his/her own will. It was also explained how AI can help the Schools to automate the tasks and why it is important for students to learn this new emerging technology. The level of the content used and the approach of delivering the concept was appreciated by the teachers of the department. The session was followed by a Question and Answers round in which the participants queries were solved. On the whole it was found to be a good .

Webinar by Math Buddy May 27, 2020

The Department of Mathematics had an opportunity to attend the Webinar conducted by Math Buddy on 27th May 2020. Math Buddy offers digital platform for classes I to X with virtual interactive activities to help students learn Math with understanding. It involves hands on activities along with few great simulations to enable students to understand the concept in a better way. It ensures the involvement of students in various activities where students can keep a track of their progress with the avatars on their profiles. The hands-on activities are designed in such a way that it serves the purpose of Math Lab as well. The content is not recorded as a conventional video lesson and the teacher is in control of the session at all times and is able to alter the course and pace of the lecture as per his/her own will. The level of the content used and the approach of delivering the concept was unanimously appreciated by the teachers of the department. On the whole it was found to be a good and useful product especially for virtual teaching. .

Workshop on “One Note” April 19, 2020

The Shalom group of schools, under the innovative leadership of its Founder and Chairperson, Dr. (Mrs. Lilly) George, prospers in comradeship and constantly works in the best interest of each other. With the consent of the Headmistress, the French teacher, Ms Aditi Jain conducted a workshop on the application software ‘OneNote’ to facilitate her colleagues to incorporate the software in order to make the teaching-learning process more smooth, interesting and easy. She volunteered to conduct the workshop online and explained all the features relating to the software in great detail. It was indeed a pronounced gesture on the part of Ms. Aditi and a great learning for the teachers.

Workshop on “Microsoft Teams” April 18, 2020

In the wake of the reports and the concerns expressed regarding the safety issue of the ‘Zoom App’, and under the directions of the Directorate of Education, Shalom decided to discontinue the ‘Zoom online virtual classes’. Keeping pace with the times, ‘Microsoft Teams’ was introduced as an alternative to Zoom for grades I to XII. Initiated by the Head Coordinator, the Application was introduced through an online session by the IT in charge and his team. A list of separate usernames and passwords was also shared by the IT department which was disseminated to the pupil via Whats app by the respective class teachers. The Microsoft Teams classes are running smoothly till date.

Workshop on “Zoom” March 18, 2020

SHIS under the guidance of their futuristic Founder and Chairperson Dr. (Mrs.) Lilly George, constantly thrives to remain updated and abreast of technology. In the wake of the dreaded pandemic Covid-19, when the government ordered to shutdown schools it was decided to introduce Zoom online virtual classes, to avert the academic loss of the students. Organized by the Head Coordinator, the workshop was conducted by the IT in charge, Mr. Piyush to introduce ‘Zoom software’ to the teachers teaching grades X and XII. He explained all the steps to download and work on Zoom in great detail. The knowledge was extremely helpful to the faculty and the teachers were able to conduct classes with ease in no time.

Workshop on “Wellbeing”18th March, 2020

Life-skill based workshop on ‘Wellbeing’ was conducted by the resource person from ‘Roundglass’ for the teachers of senior and junior wing. He defined ‘Wellbeing’ as a sustainable state of positive mood of attitude, resilience and satisfaction with self, relationships and experiences at school. The workshop highlighted important points like how to make classrooms happier, bullying free, to develop socio-emotional skills and empathy among children. Higher levels of wellbeing bring better mental health and it creates better positive and healthy environment, also a better learning environment leads to pro-social behavior. It also focused that Socio-emotional intrusion will develop social environment competence, academic achievement will increase and will reduce the emotional distress. Hence the teachers should take time to discuss and understand basics emotional needs of children in their respective classrooms. At the end an activity on Anger control was conducted where the teachers were asked to write the frustrating moments that made them feel aggressive and how to manage those emotions.

Workshop on "DESIGN THINKING FOR ALL" February 26, 2020

Vedatya Institute, an educator for the service industry, organized a workshop on DESIGN THINKING for educators from various schools around Delhi, NCR at Radisson Blu, New Delhi. The workshop was attended by the Art & Craft teachers- MsDeepikaWadhawa&MsJyoti, form our school.The resource persons, ProfessorMr. Munjal and Dr. SiddhantBhushan, discussion about the non-STEM career paths currently in India, with a focus on ‘Liberal Arts and Design’ related career paths.
The main objective of the workshop cum discussion was to understand the competency needs to bebuilt throughout the school journey of a student to make him/her develop the right set of skills and a general aptitude for new opportunities outside the traditional teaching and learning methods. Design thinking focuses on possibilities and involves a lot of experimentation. It begins with questioning, embraces ambiguity and deals with the messiness of learning. It generates interest in learners. Based on these aspects, Vedatya Institute is offering programs for students in the service sector related areas like hospitality, business, healthcare, retail and arts.
The workshop was quite informative and a great learning experience

UDISE+ Form Training February 07, 2020

A training for teachers on UDISE + was conducted by Ms.RituChoudhary, Education Officer, Haryana on 7th February 2020. The main objective of the training was to inform the teachers how to fill the UDISE+ form. The training was attended by teachers from schools across Gurugram. From Shalom Hills International School, Ms. Lalita Yadav & Ms. PayalYadav attended the training. The spokesperson explained in detail about the online and offline process of filling the form. It was an informative session.

Workshop: Women Empowerment February 06, 2020

In an initiative to upgrade teachers’ knowledge, Ms. Anita Bhutani and Ms. KavitaBhardwajwere accorded the opportunity to attend a workshop on the theme ‘Women Empowerment’ at IILM University, Gurgaon, on February 06, 2020.
The resource person, Justice Dr. Satish Chandra, has been a highly acclaimed former High Court Judge of Judicature at Allahbad. He is presently part of the Review Authority of National Investigation Agency. Justice Chandra emphasized on the need of empowering women for the progress of the nation. He educated the audience regarding the constitutional rights of the women and the need to sincerely implement those rights.
Post the address by the guest person, an inter-active session took during which questions were welcomed from the audience. Justice Chandra answered the questions and clarified the doubts raised

Workshop on “Anger Management”14th January 2020

Health and Wellness Department of Shalom Hills International conducted a workshop for teachers of classes VI-X on the topic “Anger Management”. It was conducted by theCounselor of the middle wing andthe Principal. The Counselor enlightenedthe teachers about the skills required to deal withanger in appropriate ways and also how one can identify anger setting in their system. The difference between anger and aggression was also explained.Skills needed in dealing with one’s anger can be identified as a range of feelings including anger, internal cues to feelingsof anger,aggressive acts by self and others andthe potential consequences to self and others from these aggressive acts, self-destructive behavior, along withdeveloping coping mechanisms for dealing with anger. At the end of the session the teachers were acquainted with a few relaxation exercises. The Principal also shared his views on managing anger and encouraged teachers to manage classroom discipline without losing control of emotions, to stay happy and to work efficiently.

Capacity Building Workshop 21st December 2019

“Nothing gets transformed in your life until your mind is transformed.” Keeping this thought in mind and to ensure the progress of the school, it is imperative to keep the teachers well-versed with the changing trends in education and their respective subjects. As part of this endeavor, all the teachers of Shalom Hills International School attended the Capacity Building Workshop on Life Skills conducted by CBSE. The highly knowledgeable resource person, Mr. MadanSawneywitha teaching experience of 40 years conducted the workshop. Believing that Experiential Learning should be a part of the curriculum hehelped the teachers to polish their skills in teaching. He emphasized on the need for Experiential Learning, a strategy to make learning more enjoyable for students. He stated that skills are the abilities that are adaptive as well as positive and this can be learned to face the challenges of life and fulfill the needs. He informed the teachers about the 10 skills stated as life skills by WHO (World Health Organization). He further familiarized the teachers with the life skills such as Thinking, Emotional and Social skills. He also suggested that these important skills should be inculcated in children with the help of debate, declamation, drama, sports, role plays, article writing, etc. The workshop was creditable and informative. With the help of this workshop, the teachers learnt a lot and also stated that they would surely devise different activities to make ensure a sound teaching-learning experience for the children as well the teachers themselves.

Workshop on ‘ARTIFICIAL INTELLEGENCE AND MACHINE Learning 10th December 2019

“By far the Greatest Danger of Artificial Intelligence is that people conclude too early that they understand it” – EliezerYudkowsky Shalom computer teachers, Ms. DivyaAgarwal& Ms. NehaKapoor, attended a KIPS sponsored workshop on the topic ‘A peep into Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning’, on December 10, 2019 at The Suryaa Hotel, New Delhi. The resource person, Ms. GurpreetKaur, a renowned Education Evangelist and Author started the workshop with a game ‘Break the Ice’ sharing her experiences and knowledge in this field. She enlightened the practiceof appropriate strategies in teaching and assessing of learning by trial and error method. The workshop was spread in four sessions ‘PRELUDE TO AI’.
Session 1 comprehended the basic definitions of Data, Big Data, Data Analysis, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep Learning and relation between them. Session 2 was about the difference between the Traditional programming and Machine learning, various aspects of Machine learning and steps of ML. Session 3 highlighted the importanceof personalized learning, which was expounded through case studies on Predict Sales, Netflix and Loan granting. Lots of real-life examples were shared in this session. The speaker concluded the 3rd session by showing a video on Shopping Ease- Amazon Go. The last Sessionfocused onData Visualizations which included advantages of Data Analytics in Education. The workshop concluded with a game on Kahoot.it,encompassing questions related to the workshop.The workshopprovided a deep- insight to this future technology and its implementation in education.

WORKSHOP ON SQAA NOVEMBER 15, 2019

In an endeavour to keep the staff updated to the changing trends in education, the Headmistresses (Senior and Middle Wings) collaboratively conducted a workshop on SQAA. The aim of the workshop was to make the teachers understand the need of introspecting and reflecting on what exactly is the role and purpose of teachers in the school, so as to make the functioning of the school effective. Theyapprised what SQAA means and how it helps us and the school system to be assessed, collaborated and innovated. Qualitative education was explained and highlighted how necessary it is to adapt to changes given by CBSE and the need to constantly update ourselves by various means such as attending workshops and reading books. The vision and mission of SQAA was further elaborated upon which explained the need of empowering schools to be continually involved and provide qualitative education to the students. It also suggests that the schools should review and reflect on their scholastic and co-scholastic processes. The objective of SQAA, which primarily focuses on the experiential learning to be taken in schools and integrating methods of multiple teaching, was highlighted. Out of the eight domains of SQAA,three domains were discussed-Scholastic Processes, Co-Scholastic Processes and Inclusive Practices.The teachers were guided to maintain all the documents (PTM record, month-end documents, copy checking, class observation file etc.) involved in teaching-learning process so that transparent evaluation could be done.Further it was also informed that Inclusive Practices (Third Domain) hasbeen given 10% weightage by SQAA in which the schools are supposed to be unbiased with the children, give them barrier free environment and all the facilities rendered to other students. The session ended on a light note with a melodious song sung by a staff member mesmerizing the audience. Finally the Vice Principal appreciated the Headmistresses on their interesting and informativepresentation and emphasized on the need of constant upgrading of teachers. .

Workshop On Stress Management November 5,2019

At Shalom Hills International School, we realize that the biggest benefit of Information Technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. An informative and interactive workshop on Photo tally was conducted for the new joinees by Ms. Ambika Yadav in Computer Lab on 3rd September 2019.
Teachers were encouraged to keep themselves updated with the various norms of Photo Tally. They were even explained step wise uploading of photos and informed about the School App which could also be used to upload photographs. Various samples of Photo Tally were shared to ensure smooth functioning of work. Practical demonstration of uploading photographs was also shown to the teachers for a better understanding. Teachers shared their doubts and displayed clarity to upload photographs comfortably.

Workshop on Photo tally 3rd September 2019

At Shalom Hills International School, we realize that the biggest benefit of Information Technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. An informative and interactive workshop on Photo tally was conducted for the new joinees by Ms. Ambika Yadav in Computer Lab on 3rd September 2019.
Teachers were encouraged to keep themselves updated with the various norms of Photo Tally. They were even explained step wise uploading of photos and informed about the School App which could also be used to upload photographs. Various samples of Photo Tally were shared to ensure smooth functioning of work. Practical demonstration of uploading photographs was also shown to the teachers for a better understanding. Teachers shared their doubts and displayed clarity to upload photographs comfortably.

Workshop on Sensitivity (Empathy) 31st August 2019

“Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.”
A workshop on Sensitivity (Empathy) was conducted for all the teachers of the Shalom group at Shalom Presidency School on 31st August 2019. The resource person, Ms. MeenakshiBhakuni,the Principal of G.D GoenkaPublic School, VasantKunj, expressed the belief that a teacheris a learner first and then a teacher.
As quoted by her, a teacher should modify ‘the man/woman in the mirror’. A paradigm shift has to come from a teacher to a co-learner. A movie entitled ‘Meals for a Day’ was also shown by her. She shared her belief that the teachers are there to transform lives and must always ‘walk the talk’. The role of a teacher in today’s time is important in order to develop responsible individuals.Feeling understood and supported is especially important for students with learning and attention issues. It helps them stay motivated, increases self-awareness, and encourages them to advocate for themselves.
Towards the end of the workshop the Vice Principal also gave his inputs on the importance of maintaining cleanliness in the classrooms and guiding the children towards keeping their surroundings clean as well as respecting school property. The session ended with the Head Coordinatoraddressing all the staff members and stressing on the need of instilling moral valuesin the children. She also stressed on maintaining cleanliness. Crediting our revered Founder and Chairperson, Dr. (Mrs.) Lilly George, for all the encouragement and motivation givento all the staff members,she assured that the school management is always open to suggestions by the staff members. She appreciated all the teachers for their hard work.

Capacity Building Workshop - English July 19 & 20, 2019

Keeping the teachers updated is imperative to the growth of the teachers and Shalom Hills International School ensures that its teachers are well-versed with the changing trends in education and their respective subjects.
As part of this endeavour, Ms Kavita Bhardwaj attended the English Capacity Building Workshop conducted by CBSE. The highly knowledgeable resource persons, Mr. Derek Richard Brendish (Principal-Apex Public School) and Ms. Soumya Gulati (Deputy Director Academic development & Innovation-Blue Bells School) helped the teachers to polish their skills. They emphasized on the need for Experiential Learning, a strategy to make learning more enjoyable for students. While Mr. Derek guided the teachers on how to enhance the four skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing – of the students; Ms. Soumya focused on the strategies of teaching these skills and in using the strategies to prepare the question papers. She also discussed the formats and important points to be kept in mind for the writing skill questions.
The workshop was very informative and useful.

CBSE CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM FOR MATH 19th and 20th July 2019

"Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.”
As part of initiatives taken by Shalom Hills International school to keep its teachers updated, Ms. Kousalya Seshadri got the opportunity to attend a “CBSE Capacity Building Workshop for class 10 Math” on 19th & 20th July. The workshop was organised to train teachers in dealing better with the challenges faced by students and to make the teaching- learning process more effective for Math teachers of class 10.
The resource persons were Ms. Ishita Mukherjee, a renowned freelancer associated with CBSE since 2015 and Ms. Praveena, a renowned educationalist who works in National Vector School, Patparganj. Ms. Mukherjee familiarised participants with the concept of Multiple Intelligence and guided them in effective planning of lessons. She emphasised that the teacher can facilitate learning by creating a lively, playful and experiential learning environment in the classroom. A new concept of SMART (Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Relevant-Time bound) was discussed.
The session was made interesting with activities like the Tangram using Trigonometry, Finding the missing side in a Pythagorean stack and making Toys of waste material. These activities act as invaluable teaching aids as per the resource persons.
The session concluded with the distribution of participation certificates to all the teachers who attended the programme.

Workshop on Secondary School Assessment CBSE 16th July 2019

An informative and interactive workshop on Secondary School Assessment was conducted by Ms. AnupamaMehra and Ms. GeetaRastogiin Delhi Public School Sector 45, Gurgaon. Along with teachers from all over the NCR region, Ms. VineetaLoombafrom SHIS attended the workshop which was divided into two sessions. Teachers were made to form groups according to their subjects.
In the first session teachers were given different real life situations to discuss after which some workable solutions were listed and presented by each group. The importance of framing good questions to compliment teaching learning process was discussed. Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy were revisited.
The second session involved exercise on categorizing few general questions within the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Upon which each group was provided with a question paper where each question was categorized into levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Along with that, importance of creating the atmosphere for learning especially during adolescence was emphasized.
An exercise to sum up the different stages involving collection, recording and analysiswas held. Each group was given one stage and the ideas were discussed for better understanding of the topic.
Overall, it was an enriching and informative session. The session concluded with the distribution of certificates.

Workshop on Information Technology by CBSE 12th July 2019

A highly informative and interactive workshop on Information Technology was conducted by Mr. Jatin Vashist, Ms. Nidhi Tiwari and Dr. Richa Verma in KIIT World School, Pitampura. Along with teachers from all over the India, Ms. Sarika Aneja and Ms. Ambika Yadav from SHIS attended the workshop which was divided into four sessions.
The first session covered “Sway”. After being updated about the software, the teachers made Office Sway presentations, a program of the Microsoft Office family of products allowing users with a Microsoft account to combine text and media to create a presentable website.
The second session focused on “blogging”. A blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries with posts being displayed in reverse chronological order, so that the most recent post appears first, at the top of the web page.
The third session, Mind mapping is a creative exercise that begins when you write down a central idea or theme, then draw lines that branch out into new "nodes," each with a new word or idea that's related to the first.
The fourth session, “Cyber Security”, was an eye opener. Cyber Security is basically an information technology with security techniques for protecting computers, networks, programs and data from unauthorized access or attacks that are aimed for exploitation.
The teachers also made 10 MCQ’s from class X chapter. The workshop was very interesting and a great learning experience. At the end of the session teachers got participation certificates by CBSE.

Workshop on Google Sheets and Documents 1st – 4th July 2019

A workshop is a great way for teachers to learn about a particular subject, new projects, and methods in order to enhance their knowledge and skills and implement the same for the betterment of students.
In order to upgrade and enhance the IT skills, an interesting workshop was held from 01st July to 4th July 2019 for teachers of Grade II-V, on the topic “Google Sheets and Docs” conducted by MS. Shruti Barawal. The session started with a brief round of questions which were asked to check the previous knowledge of the teachers. The concept was introduced with the importance and purpose of using google sheets and documents for compilation of data. The teachers tried practical application of the concept. First a sample sheet was made and demonstrated and teachers were asked to fill in details in the same sheet. Later the teachers made their own Google sheets. To make the session interactive and interesting the teachers were encouraged to ask questions and clarify their doubts.
The session was very informative and interesting, and will help the teachers in their compilation work and make the usage of Google sheets and documents easier and faster.

Workshop on Classroom Management 29th June 2019

A workshop on classroom management was conducted for teachers by Ms. Ameeta on 29th June 2019. The workshop was attended by all the teachers of grades 1 to 5.
A PPT on effective techniques of maintaining class discipline and control was shown to the teachers. Emphasis was laid on motivating the students and ensuring that learning is taking place in a happy environment. Teachers were encouraged to guide and motivate the students.
There was also an introduction on notebook rules to be followed. The teachers were again informed about the importance of proper corrections to be done. All the rules with regards to writing the index properly and maintaining a record of incomplete work submitted by the students was also discussed. Teachers were asked to ensure that all the students come in proper school uniform.
The workshop was useful in understanding the importance of effective classroom management.

Workshop on Formatting Documents 29th June 2019

A workshop on enhancing the formatting skills of teachers was conducted by Ms.Shruti Barawal on 29th June 2019. The workshop was attended by all the teachers of grades 1 to 5.
The main aim of this workshop was to help the teachers understand the various ways by which they can improve the formatting of their documents. The teachers were told about the standard formatting sizes which were required to be followed while making the exam papers. There was a presentation on the use of correct alignment of margins along with the way of marking question numbers. Grouping of objects to help make flowcharts was also explained. Spacing in paragraphs along with use of bullets for numbering, putting page numbers was also explained. The teachers were also told about the use of format painter.
The workshop helped the teachers clear their doubts with regards to formatting papers and helped them learn new formatting techniques.

Subject Enrichment Workshop 28th June 2019

A subject enrichment workshop was organised by Mr. Sunil Tripathi, HOD Commerce, G.D. Goenka Public School, Gurugram, for Commerce teachers.
Ms. Shipra Waidya started the session by sharing the CBSE expectations in context with changes in curriculum. She also emphasized the significance and objectives of taxonomy in Commerce subjects. Mr. S.S. Sehrawat continued the session by sharing his expert knowledge regarding same.
After tea break, subject wise sessions were held. Ms. Anandita attended the Economics session conducted by Dr. Subhash De and Mr. Saurabh Mehrotra. Ms. Preeti attended the Accountancy session conducted by Mr. Vikas Vijay and Mr. S.S. Sehrawat. Teachers were guided on how to create different level of questions. The teachers were divided into groups and tasked with designing a balanced question paper, which was then discussed by Mr. Abhishek singh. Next a career counseling session was conducted by Mr. Deepak Madan from Career Launchers.
The workshop concluded with vote of thanks followed by certificate distribution.

Self-Development Session 24th May 2019

Self- development is a lifelong process. It is a way for people to assess their skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realise and maximise their potential.
A Self-development workshop was conducted for all the teachers of Shalom Hills International School and Shalom Presidency on 24th May 2019 in the Auditorium. The workshop was conducted by Ms. Sonali, a Counselling Psychologist. The foremost aim of this workshop was how to increase concentration in the students, how to work on their communication skills and how to inculcate active learning skills in them. The workshop began with warm up sessions followed by many interesting activities like blindfold challenge, human knots etc. Each game concluded with a message on self-development/improvement. It taught the teachers the importance of teamwork and having a positive attitude. Teachers were told how they need to understand the perspective of the students and plan the activities accordingly.
The workshop concluded with an emphasis on the need to develop cooperation and communication skills. It also stressed on the importance of developing active leaning skills in students.

International School Award Action Plan Briefing meet May 2, 2019

A meet regarding guidelines to make ISA action plan held in The Lalit, New Delhi, was attended by the ISA co-ordinator and another faculty member. Many important points were explained. The workshop helped the teachers to gain clarity about the ISA project. Taking this opportunity the school is all set to re-embark on a journey it started in 2016 by getting accreditation from The British Council in the form of the prestigious ISA award. The meet proved to be highly informative for the development of teachers and school at large.

Hindi Enrichment Workshop 20th April 2019

Shalom Hills International School not only aspires to provide holistic development to the students but also conducts workshops, seminars, conferences and symposiums for the teachers to enrich their knowledge and enhance their practical experience. One such workshop was organized by the Hindi Department and conducted by the HOD, Ms. Lalita Yadav focusing on incorporating listening skills, enhancing vocabulary, speaking skills, writing skills, class discipline and pronunciation through a well presented PPT. The Hindi teachers of Grades VI to X took this immense opportunity to brush up their skills. They got the chance to discuss, understand and internalize the practical problems related to Hindi language teaching. It was an amazing learning and awareness raising experience. Ms. Lalita Yadav discussed about the active involvement of students in the learning process. She reiterated that the teaching of Hindi shouldn’t be limited to the passive learning as it doesn’t lead to a purposeful outcome of an educational model. Rather the children should be involved in active learning where in they interact with others, share insights, or contribute to a dialogue and enhance their communicative skills. She concluded the workshop stating that Hindi is not a knowledge set to be memorized; rather it is a skill to be acquired by practicing.

Workshop conducted by Extra Marks 6th April 2019

A workshop was conducted by Extra Marks for the Subject Heads on 6th April 2019 to introduce the teachers of the middle wing to the curriculum offered by them. “Extra marks” is a leading educational technology company which provides new age digital education solutions to schools and students to make the teaching – learning process easy and effective. It has a user-friendly platform that automates and brings effective visually appealing lessons to the students.
The session was taken by Mr.Manish from Extra Marks. He showed the teachers the study material prepared for each subject by Extra Marks. Each topic has a content section which gives a detailed explanation of the topic along with a section on question/Answers. Many interactive worksheets and games are also linked to the topics.
The session was useful for the subject teachers to learn the different innovative ways in which to make learning more interesting for the students.

Workshopon “One Note”30th March 2019

A workshopwas conducted on Digital note making app called “One Note” by Mr.Gurpreet Singh, who is Divisional Manager at KIPS Publications and also Google certified. The workshop was attended by the entire faculty of the Computer Science Department, Subject Heads and some teachers of the Science, Commerce, Mathematics, Health and Wellness, Hindi and Social Science departments.
Microsoft “OneNote” is a computer program for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. It gathers users' notes (handwritten or typed), drawings, screen clippings and audio commentaries. Notes can be shared with other “OneNote” users over the Internet or a network. It has a user-friendly platform.
The session was very useful for the teachers as they can make question papers and notes without taking care of the formatting of the document. Secondly the software is free of cost. It’s a Microsoft product so only outlook email id is required to take its advantages. It is a much more useful application than MS Word.

Personality Development Workshop At Iilm Gurgaon6thapril 2019

Shalom Hills International School not only aspires to provide holistic development to the students but is equally concerned about the overall development of the teachers.To empower the teachers and enhance their practical knowledge, the school not only conducts workshops and seminars in the school premises but also provides opportunities to the teachers to attend workshops in different universities and schools.
A few teachers of the school got the opportunity to attend a workshop organized by the IILM UNIVERSITY on 6th April 2019. The focus of the workshop was on Personality Development.
The main objective of the workshop was to adopt effective interpersonal skills inside and outside the classroom. Other related topics like emotional intelligence, counseling, liberal education, future career options, and psychology were also an integral part of the workshop.
The key points of the sessions were to teach the participants to enhance their communication skills and interpersonal skills in order to function in professional and social settings effectively; to enrich the academic language skills for academic writing and presentations; to understand effective planning, time management and implementation for setting goals and achieving targets in both the personal and professional arena.
The workshop was concluded by felicitating the teachers with certificates. The learning imparted in the sessions would surely help the teachers to grow as professionals.

Teacher Orientation Program 12th March, 2019

An enriching orientation program was held on March 12, 2019 in the Conference Hall of Shalom Hills International School (Senior Wing) from 9.15 am to 10.15 am for all the newly appointed faculty members. The Headmistress, Ms. Neena Thimmaya gave a brief introduction of the institution. She highlighted the mission of the organization along with the vision as envisaged by our beloved Founder & Chairperson, Dr. (Mrs.) Lilly George, which is “To enlighten and empower each child with the flame of knowledge, virtues and ethical behavior”.
The Headmistress enlightened the newly joined Shalom Team members about the institution’s achievements, goals and expectations. The teachers were familiarized with the school rules and regulations, code of conduct, organizational structure and the CBSE norms. She, herself being an experienced educator, suggested measures for effective classroom management, better communication skills and efficacious lesson planning along with resolute and purposeful class governance. At the same time, she also advised the teachers to practice compassion and kindness, the two important factors of constructive student care. In her address, she also very kindly shared her own personal experiences as a teacher and highlighted the technicalities of cognitive learning that the teachers could follow by taking reference from the Bloom’s Taxonomy, working from lower levels of learning towards higher order thinking skills. The Headmistress summed up her presentation with the advice to the teachers to be opened minded towards enhancement of teaching skills, adaptation of suggestions and refinement of use of modern technology. The Principal addressed the teachers, giving his valuable, crisp and neat inputs to all present. He made a special mention for the teachers to be innovative in their teaching so that the school management could implement it on a larger scale for the benefit of all.
Towards the end the teaching staff was introduced to the respective coordinators Ms. Anita Bhutani and Ms. Swastika. The session was an engaging and effective program equipping the teachers for better assessment and care.

English Workshop For English Faculty February 23, 2019

The English faculty (VI-XII) of Shalom Hills international school got a wonderful opportunity to have one - to - one interaction with the renowned author Ms.Renu Anand. Ms. Anand is closely associated with CBSE and conducts many workshops for teachers as well as students. A teacher trainer and an educationist, she has authored many English books for children.
Ms. Anand updated the teachers about the changes in the English syllabus of classes X, XI & XII. She discussed some of the lessons and poems in class IX syllabus. Some of the reinstated texts in the XI course were also introduced and explained through excellent slides. Thereafter, she briefly discussed formats of writing skills. She patiently dealt with the queries of the teachers and showed PPTS highlighting marking scheme for the board examination. She supplied the teachers with handouts of some of the important topics and discussed the important ‘figures of speech’ with examples. On request of the teachers she also discussed the main features of Note-making for classes XI & XII.
The anecdotes and examples that she related to the teachers kept the tone light and relaxed during the session. It was a privilege to have the opportunity to share her vast experience. The session was truly enriching for all the teachers.

Workshop For Hindi Teachers 16th February 2019

A Workshop was organized by the Hindi Department on 16th February 2019 at Shalom Hills International School, Gurugram. This workshop was attended by the entire Hindi faculty of SHIS, Sushant Lok phase-1.
The resource person, Ms. Bharti Anand, explained the grammatical rules in a very simplified manner. She recited beautiful poems, stressed on teaching grammar in a play way method and gave some useful tips for the same.
The teachers got many innovative ideas regarding how to improve spelling mistakes of students and how to improve their listening skills. The workshop helped to develop creative writing skills of the teachers and enhance their contemplation and thinking.

Subject Enrichment Workshop February 16, 2019

The Science department of our school witnessed relentless enthusiasm amongst the staff members as everyone listened in rapt attention to the Head of the Department, Ms. Vimala R. Jossy. She reiterated the thought that we all are facilitators to our pupils and need to be effective in our listening as well as understanding skills.
“The soul never thinks without a mental image,” this adage by Aristotle became the basis of the presentation which saw Ms. Vimala maneuvering deftly from Bloom’s taxonomy to effective mind-mapping, taking care to update the faculty on how each child’s potential can be harnessed to the maximum.
“If you cannot tell it simply, you have not understood it,” the quote by Albert Einstein formed the basis of understanding how the different parts of the brain function and how we can get a better understanding of how the children imbibe and learn. Facilitators both from the senior and the middle wing were testimony to this enriching session for which the venue was the Biology laboratory.

English Enrichment Workshop 16th February 2019

Shalom Hills International School not only aspires to provide holistic development to the students but also conduct workshops, seminars, conferences and symposiums for the teachers to enrich their knowledge and enhance their practical experience. One such workshop was organized by the English Department and conducted by the HOD, Ms. Kavita Bhardwaj focused on the major theme of English as a Medium of Instruction- incorporating listening skills, enhancing vocabulary, speaking skills, writing skills and pronunciation through a well presented PPT.
The English teachers of Grade IV to XII took this immense opportunity to brush up their skills. They got the chance to discuss, understand and internalize the practical problems related to English language education. It was an amazing learning and awareness raising experience.
Ms. Kavita Bhardwaj discussed about the active involvement of students in the learning process. She reiterated that the teaching of English shouldn’t be limited to the passive learning as it doesn’t lead to a purposeful outcome of an educational model. Rather the children should be involved in active learning where in they interact with others, share insights, or contribute to a dialogue and enhance their communicative skills.
She concluded the workshop stating that English is not a knowledge set to be memorized; rather it is a skill to be acquired by practicing and analyzing

Preparedness for Examination February 11, 2019

A live web streaming on ‘Preparedness for Examination’ was held by the CBSE for teachers on February 11, 2019, from 10:30am onwards. The main objective of the streaming was to update examiners regarding the changes in the rules and regulations for conducting the board examination and guidelines for checking the answer sheets.
The highlights of the interaction being that it is mandatory for the students to come in school uniform, no entry will be allowed after 10 o’clock, parent’s signature must be there on the Admit Card. It was also clarified as to what the students can take/ not take to the exam centre.
It was informed that there would be observers visiting schools to confirm the smooth conduct of the examination. Contac needs to be maintained with the local administration. Guidelines for checking and re-checking were also stated.

Workshop on Formatting January 15, 2019

A workshop on ‘Formatting’ was conducted for the teachers in the ‘Computer Lab’ on January15, 2019 by the Computer Science Department. Ms. Sarika explained the formatting methods, step by step while the teachers followed her instructions on the computers. Ms. Ambika and Ms. Devanshi helped the teachers in following the process of formatting.
Ms. Sarika gave the format for preparing the Question Paper. She informed the teachers about the Font styles and sizes to be used in the papers and asked them to open the word document and try out the formatting requirements. She explained the use of various tools for changing alignment, using bullets, adjusting line spacing and checking preview. She also explained the methods to save and convert a word document to PDF file.
The teachers understood the use of various tools of ‘Word Document’ required for correct formatting. It turned out to be a very useful workshop.

Science Workshop on 13th December 18

Workshop on Mind map was organized by Orange Educational Foundation in Euro International School, Sector 85, for Science teachers. Ms Vimala Jossy attended the workshop conducted by Mr.Sanjay, the CEO of the company.
He explained about the importance of Mind map for recapitulation of the topics and concepts in the classroom in an easy and effective way. How the mind map works in the minds of the students and their effects were discussed in the workshop. He personally trained all the teachers with his one-day science workshop. He used innovative learning tools while focusing on the real science that is being taught. It’s a great way to re-energize the teachers as they focus on making science more fun and meaningful.

Hindi Teachers Attend Workshop 8th December 2018

A Hindi Workshop, organized by Rachna Sagar Educational Publishers, was conducted on 8th December, 2018 at Shiv Nadar School, DLF Phase 1, Gurugram . This workshop was attended by the Hindi teachers of SHIS, Sushant Lok phase-1.-Ms. Lalita Yadav, Ms. Neha, Ms Shalini and Mr. Lalit Tiwari. Grammatical rules were explained in a very simplified manner by the resource person, Dr. Dilip Kumar. He recited beautiful poems, stressed on teaching grammar in a play way method and gave some useful tips for the same.
The teachers got many innovative ideas regarding how to improve spelling mistakes of students and how to improve their listening skills. The workshop helped to develop creative writing skills of the teachers and enhanced their contemplation and thinking.

Physics Enrichment Workshop December 1, 2018

Shalom Hills International School has always believed in providing different platforms to their teachers in order to enhance their horizons of learning. An Enrichment Program was organized by the Indian Association of Physics Teacher for all Physics Teachers from Delhi –NCR at D.A.V Public School, Sector 49, Gurgaon on 1st December 2018. Sh. O. P. Sharma, the President, Sh. M. S. Bhandari , Secretary, Sh. Manoj Kaushik from SCERT and Ms. Pragya Nopany, the Coordinator graced the occasion with their presence.
An active discussion was held by the resource person Dr. Rajeev Tyagi on the topic ‘Use of Technology’ in Physics. Mr Param Dev Singh, Mr Jai Prakash and Ms Lajeeli Sinha got the opportunity to be a part of this workshop and extend their horizon of learning.
Effective sessions on the Use of Free Google Tools for creating Self-Assessing Quizzes and for Collaboration, Use of HTML5/JavaScript Simulations in teaching Physics and Making short videos of Physics Activities, editing and posting them on YouTube to enhance teaching and learning process in Physics were conducted by Dr. Rajeev Tyagi. Power-packed discussions took place among the teachers and professors of Physics related to this topic which led to effective learning.
On the whole it was an informative and enriching session.

Librarian Meet 28th November 2018

“The Only Thing you absolutely have to know is the Location of the library.” -Albert Einstein
Libraries are – and always have been – an important part of communities. Challenged over time to shift their resources and services to meet the needs of the 21st century digital world, libraries constantly need to upgrade themselves. Shalom Hills International School has always endeavoured to enrich the already talented and enlightened teachers towards broadening their knowledge and skills. With this objective a Librarian’s meet was conducted based on the Topic – Join the Dots: Identifying and Transforming Readers by Penguin Random House India in collaboration with Mr. Amit Sarin (KOOLSKOOL) at India International Centre on 28 November, 2018. A welcome note was addressed by Mr. Gaurav Shrinagesh, CEO of Penguin Random House.
Ms. Madhu Bhargava, the Head librarian of Woodstock school continued the session sharing her views on the Importance of libraries in today’s changing world. Ms. Tanu Shree Singh, the Author/founder of online community Reading Raccons, on children’s choices to read, stating that few children read for fun while few read for academic excellence. She stated that there should be ways to make libraries more accessible to children. This was followed by a panel discussion on this topic where all shared their views. The session culminated with this strong belief that reading starts from home and parents should make the desired effort to inculcate reading habits at an early age.
Hon’ble Minister for Women and Child Development, Ms Menaka Gandhi enlightened all with a short speech sharing her views on the importance of a library. She strongly believes that Libraries play a great role in the society and more libraries and museums should be established such as –Photo Graphic libraries and visual libraries.

EPF Workshop November 7, 2018

A workshop was held today in the school auditorium to apprise and inform the teachers about the Employee’s Provident Fund. Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF) is a retirement benefit scheme that’s available to all salaried employees and is maintained and overseen by the Employees Provident Fund Organization of India (EPFO). It’s a savings platform that helps employees save a fraction of their salary every month that can be used in the event that they are rendered unable to work, or upon retirement.
The resource person, Mr. Manjit Yadav, explained the procedure to log in and activate the PF account online. All the teachers were given their UAN numbers in order to activate and view their individual accounts. The accounts resource person explained the whole procedure in detail from activating a PF account to generating a passbook. The teachers were asked to contact the accounts department in case they wanted any modifications made in their account.
The workshop helped the teachers to understand the process of viewing their PF accounts online and helped clear their doubts.

De-Stress Yoga Workshop 17th November 2018

“Yoga means addition- addition of energy, strength and beauty to body, mind and soul.”
Keeping in view the above thought, Shalom Hills International School organized an interesting session of Yoga and fitness for the wellbeing and good health of its teachers. The teachers were apprised about the importance of Yoga in day to day life. Warm up exercises were performed by all the teachers performed. The trainers of Play Fitness Gym Centre demonstrated various asanas and exercises followed by Omkar chanting. The session was designed keeping in mind, the diet plan, sleep pattern and importance of fitness in our daily lives. The workshop concluded with functional exercises. The trainers encouraged the teachers to practice regular yoga to remain fit and improve concentration.
“Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with you, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help in well being.” Regular practice of yoga can definitely help teachers achieve a better life, physically, mentally and spiritually as well. Overall it was a motivating session as teachers actively took part and enjoyed the same.

Workshop ‘Tuk General Knowledge Website’ 27th October 2018

A workshop to introduce ‘TUK’ General Knowledge website to students was held for teachers of Grade I to V on 27th October 2018. The aim of this workshop was to inform the teachers about the benefits of using TUK website. The workshop was conducted by Ms. Rita a resource person from ‘The Ultimate Knowledge’ a website for knowledge awareness. She gave an introduction of the website to the teachers and emphasised on the importance of making general knowledge interesting for the students. The website has been planned keeping in mind that the various lessons are age appropriate. Importance was given more on making the study of general knowledge interesting and interactive for students. TUK website aims to make the general knowledge classes more fun-filled and interactive. It was a power- packed interactive session wherein teachers put up various questions pertaining to their classroom sessions related to General Awareness.
The workshop was useful to understand how TUK would aid in the teaching and learning of new developments in general knowledge.

Workshop on First AID 15th September 2018

A workshop on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and First Aid was conducted on Saturday, September 15, 2018 for the staff members of the school. The workshop was conducted by a team of Max Hospital, led by Dr. Jharna. It imparted knowledge of commonly occurring situations in our day to day life. It was explained to teachers on the need to remain calm in adverse situations and how to give basic medical aid to students, if required.
A hands-on training was demonstrated in CPR and other medical conditions like bruises, cuts, nose bleeding, chocking, vertigo, fits etc. by the team. The workshop was followed by a doubt clarification session which was dealt by the doctor with fervor and patience. The doctor answered all the questions raised by the teachers.
It was an interactive and educative session to equip teachers with skills and confidence to use first aid and CPR in real life situation.

Workshop on “SELF MOTIVATION” September 15, 2018

The Health and Wellness Department of Shalom Hills International School conducted a workshop for teachers of classes I to V on the topic “SELF MOTIVATION”. It was conducted by the junior counselor Ms. Kristna Kalpana Pattnaik of the primary wing. The teachers were enlightened with the fact that Self-motivation is having the initiative to do a task or activity without being supervised or being told to do it. The workshop highlighted on “BEHAVIOUR” and “CHARACTERISTICS” and also on external motivation and internal motivation.
Following Tips were given to the teachers on how to become more competent:
1. Practice. The more competent you are at a certain activity, the more motivated you’ll be to do it.
2. Look for positive feedback. Your motivation will become stronger if you can find some way of getting positive feedback on your progress. Avoid negative feedback as it will stand in the way of your confidence and block your internal motivation.
3. Break down your tasks and goals.
4. Make sure the difficulty level matches your ability. You want your goals and activities to be reasonable, not so easy that you become bored, but not so difficult that you become frustrated.
5. Set a goal and write it down.
6. Understand that finishing what you start is important.
7. Socialize with achievers and people with similar interests or goals, since motivation and positive attitude are contagious.
8. Never procrastinate anything.
9. Persistence, patience and not giving up, despite failure and difficulties, keep the flame of motivation burning.
10. Read about the subjects of your interest.
11. Constantly, affirm to yourself that you can, and will succeed.
12. Look at photos of things you want to get, achieve or do.
13. Visualize your goals as achieved, adding a feeling of happiness and joy.
If a certain goal is really important, going through the above steps will strengthen one’s motivation, and keep one going forward.

Workshop on Emotional Intelligence (EI) at IILM 14th September 2018

A workshop on Emotional Intelligence was attended by the senior counsellor Ms. Bhupinder Kaur along with Ms. Kristna at IILM. Prof. Dr. Aruna Broota, Ph,D. Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Anjana Das (Physician, Author and Consultant, Founder member of the forum for EI learning), were among the eminent panellists invited to express their views on “Critical Role of Emotional Intelligence in the 21st Century”. Dr. Broota emphasised the need to understand the role of Intelligence and EQ in a child’s life and the clinical implications related to High/Good Intelligence and Poor Emotional Intelligence. Ms. Anjana highlighted the link between Emotional Competence and cognition which leads to maturity, self-awareness and self-speculation.
After the panel discussion an exclusive workshop on EI was conducted by Dr. Broota. She informed that EI is the balance between Cognition and Affect and also a balance between the ‘Mind and Heart’. The emotions that interfere in learning and performance lead to anger, frustration, increased emotional outburst and violence. Effects of low EQ on behaviour and personality also lead to E- addiction, gaming habits, fragile egos, disrespect to elders and use of foul language with pride.
Dr. Broota emphasized that enhancing EQ will establish inner peace, lead to tolerance and patience; reduce violence, substance abuse and road rage. She said that the role of Psychotherapy and Counselling is imperative to resolve marital conflicts and other family issues. Workshops are needed for teachers, parents and also for administrative staff to gain insight into emotional maturity.

CBSE Workshop: Effective Questioning September 8, 2018

If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask. For once I know the proper question I could the solve the problem in less than five minutes
- ALBERT EINSTEIN
Aptly said by Einstein and meticulously elucidated by Dr. Radha Singh, the honorable CBSE resource person at the workshop conducted in Shalom Presidency on 8th September 2018.
Dr. Radha Singh is an accomplished Educationist, currently functioning as an Education Consultant, Life skill coach and a Resource person/Trainer for the Enrichment and Empowerment of Teachers, Students and Parents. She is also a Chief Trainer for the PMKVY, at the National level.
Dr. Singh made the workshop highly interactive and her focal point was ‘Effective Questioning Skills’. She explained that the formation of questions should be based on the need to question, the purpose of the question and the kind of response expected from the question.
Dr. Singh emphasized the use of ‘Open ended questions’ rather than ‘Closed Ended’ since open ended questions promote thinking, which is the ultimate objective of the Teaching- Learning Process. She also informed about various pitfalls ensued due to faltered questioning in class and suggested alternatives to escape from them. She guided the teachers about making question papers using the Bloom’s Taxonomy.
The workshop was an informative session where teachers were challenged to think and respond.

Shalom Fraternity Celebrates Teacher’s Day September 5, 2018

I am a teacher. I help the young fledglings
coming into my nest
to take their first tentative
steps into the world.
I encourage them to spread their wings,
explore, take flight and reach for new horizons.
I am a mother, a guide,
a mentor, a disciplinarian, a counselor.
Yes, I am a teacher.
Teachers guide their wards put under their trust and help them to blossom. But our mentor, our beacon of light is our ever-inspiring Founder and Chairperson, Dr. (Mrs.) Lilly George, who has introduced us to a new vision of life. Her vitality, undying faith in the the power of education, enthuses in us the zeal to live up to your unfaltering conviction in our ability to give life to your dreams.
The birthday of India’s most renowned academician, Dr. S Radhakrishnan, is celebrated as Teachers’ day to commemorate this great thinker and teacher.
The Shalom Group of Schools celebrated Teachers’ Day with great enthusiasm and abandonment. The graceful dancing, mellifluous singing, glamorous fashion shows, had the Shalom fraternity tapping their feet and enjoying their day with gusto. Some hidden talents were unearthed, surprising all.
However, amidst all the festivities, the educators never once lost sight of their purpose and role in society. It only strengthened their resolve to shoulder their responsibility with renewed vigour. In the words of A P J Abdul Kalam-
Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber and future of an individual.

English Workshop: Developing Creative-Writing Skills 1st September 2018

Creative writing is one of the most powerful ways to express feelings, thoughts and ideas. Writing, like all other forms of arts is meant to affect and influence the minds and emotions of others. Budding writers often come up with some flaws that need to be pointed out, checked and corrected.
A one day workshop on ways to develop creative writing skills in students was organized at The HDFC School, Sector -57, Gurgaon on 1st September 2018. English teachers from different schools in Gurgaon attended the workshop. Two teachers from the middle wing Ms. Vandita Chugh and Ms Minakshi Yadav attended the workshop.
The resource person, Ms Kiran Misra, emphasised on writing different kinds of poetry like- Clerihew poem, Bio poem, Five W’s poem, Magnetic poetry, Recycled poem, Diamante poem, Emotion poem, List poem and Haiku poem (a form of Japanese poem writing).
The words for the Recycled poem were taken out from cuttings of newspapers and magazines. This was an interesting activity to get the students involved in creating a poem. Creating an Acrostic poem was also discussed in the workshop.
The workshop emphasized the importance of observing one’s surroundings closely and relating it with things that are known to one. Once the ideas have formed, it is important to indulge in free writing and record all thoughts without inhibition. It is only when all the thoughts have been put down on paper that one should move towards cohering the piece of writing by editing, altering, correcting the writing, and taking feedback on it. The tips given were beneficial for teachers as they brought clarity on how a class on poetry could be conducted and made interesting for the students. It was indeed, an interactive session.

Shalom Teachers Attend Progressive Teachers’ Conclave 2nd September 2018

Keeping the teachers updated with the latest in Education pedagogy, has always been the aim of Shalom Group of Schools. As such, Ms. Meenakshi Madan and Ms. Mitu Singh represented SHIS at the Progressive Teachers’ Conclave by S. Chand Group of Publications held at Okhla, New Delhi. Many innovators in the field of education were also awarded during the Teaching Excellence Award 2018 ceremony.
The Conclave comprised a Keynote Address, two Panel Discussions and Awards for Excellence in Teaching and School Education. It was attended by over two hundred and fifty delegates –Principals, Heads, Coordinators, teachers, and educationists.
The event started at 9:30 with a Welcome Note by Ms. Rita Wilson, a renowned Editor, followed by engaging speeches on innovative strategies for teaching by few eminent speakers. The Teaching Excellence Award ceremony was held post lunch.
The session proved to be highly informative and enlightening for the teachers.

Metamorphosis: Workshop on Rethink Discipline – The Positive Discipline August 25, 2018

A workshop ‘Rethink Discipline’- The Positive Discipline, was organised by Blue Bells Group of Schools for the teachers at Blue Bells Model School, Sector 4, Gurgaon on August 25, 2018. It was conducted as part of the Inter-school Health and Wellness Fiesta in which many top schools from Gurgaon participated. The workshop was conducted on the theme of Positive Discipline. It began with an interactive session in which teachers from different schools were asked to form groups. Each group was assigned some interesting tasks. On the basis of which discussions on the behaviour of students ensued. The activity and the interesting role play by the host school described the coercive and the permissive approach for the student- teacher behaviour.
The discussion and the PPT presentation made the workshop more interesting under the guidance of the resource person, Dr. Alka Saxena, the Deputy Director (Health & awareness), Blue Bells Group of Schools.
The workshop was an interactive and informative one.

English Micro-teaching 28th July 2018

A micro-teaching session was conducted for English teachers on 28th July 2018. The aim of the micro-teaching session was to focus on sharpening and developing specific teaching skills. The session also helped the teachers to learn and adopt new teaching skills under controlled conditions and to gain confidence in teaching.
Two teachers of Grade III, Ms. Anjali Kaintura and Ms. Minakshi Yadav, gave a presentation during this session. The topic selected for the micro-teaching session by Ms. Anjali was ‘Kinds of Sentences’. Ms.Minakshi gave a presentation on ‘Simple present tense’. The teachers demonstrated how the topics were introduced and taught in the class. The pre-activity and post-activity conducted in the class for the given topics was also explained.
The aim of the session was to share and learn the best teaching practices across the different grades. The micro-teaching session gave the teachers an opportunity to discuss and observe the different teaching methods.

Science Microteaching July 21, 2018

To enables teacher–trainees to learn and assimilate new teaching skills under controlled conditions and to enable them to gain confidence in teaching and master a number of skills, microteaching was organised in Biology Lab for science teachers.
The main objective was to learn the skill of introducing a lesson, explaining the lesson with correct use of board and illustrations with examples.
Microteaching was done by Ms.Richa, Ms.Rinkey and Ms.Homa. Metals and non metals, Nutrition in plants, Components of food are the topics taken by the teachers. Valuable inputs were given by the Science teachers to improvise the lesson in class and to make it interesting.
Interesting facts were shared by the peer group as well. Overall it was very fruitful and enjoyable session.

Workshop on “Conflict Management” May 19, 2018

Health and Wellness Department of Shalom Hills International conducted a workshop for teachers of classes I to V on the topic “Conflict Management”. It was conducted by junior counselor Ms. Kristna Kalpana Pattnaik of the primary wing. The teachers were enlightened with the fact that “Conflict is neither good nor bad. Properly managed, it is absolutely vital.” Conflict management is the process of limiting the negative aspects of conflict while increasing the positive aspects of conflict.
The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance in an organizational setting. Emphasis was given on this by the resource person. Different conflict management styles were discussed. Teachers were apprised with the steps to conflict resolution too.
Following tips were given to the teachers for managing conflict :
1. Identify the source of the conflict.
2. Look beyond the incident.
3. Request solutions.
4. Identify solutions both disputants can support.
5. Agreement.
6. The mediation process works between groups as well as individuals.

Counsellor Forum at the FMRI- Fortis Memorial Research Institute 10th May 2018

The Fortis School Counsellor Forum is a platform for participating counsellors to exchange ideas and remain cognizant of the latest developments in the field of child and adolescent mental health.The counsellor Forum, organised on the theme “Stories as A Psychotherapeutic Method” was attended by the Senior Ms Bhupinder Kaur and Junior Counsellor Ms Kristna Pattnaik.
Ms Aditi Kaul- Coordinator Arts Based Therapy; described story telling as a medium to use in therapy which allows an individual to read or hear about others who have overcome problems similar to their own, giving them the opportunity to apply what they have learned from the stories to their own real-life situations.The workshop highlighted how stories can be healing and can help organize our thoughts, transmit values that enhance an individual’s functioning. A well-chosen or tailored story allows for identification & externalization of one’s conflicts or problems; makes the problem more coherent, tangible graspable; building curiosity and bypassing resistance.
Following tips were given on how to narrate a story and the process that can make stories therapeutic:
  1. One needs to read, listen and learn stories.
  2. One not only has to learn the content but also the patterns.
  3. We should make stories more interesting by adding more elements.
  4. Make use of power of imagination by creating thrill and excitement.
  5. Help children to identify the characters.
  6. The stories should be narrated entirely through one’s expression so that it seems real and children connect with it.
Reading the scriptures such as Ramayana & Mahabharat can be used with patients suffering from neurosis and stress related disorder, maladaptive coping styles & relationship difficulties.

Effective Lesson Planning Workshop 5th April 2018

A short, crisp, to-the-point workshop was conducted by the Headmistress (Middle Wing), Ms. Arti Bedi to give important guidelines for lesson planning. It was a half-hour workshop which touched all the salient points of lesson planning- introspection as a teacher on the learning outcome of one’s students was an important aspect which was emphasized upon. Being ready for the lesson along with material to be used was another important part of the workshop. The basic duty of the teacher towards her students, according to the Headmistress, was to know them and more importantly their learning abilities and to shape the lesson keeping in mind these important clues.
She also advised the teachers to keep their egos aside and ask their compatriots for any help required, to make the lessons easy to understand and interesting for the students.
The workshop was interesting and informative making the teachers rethink and rework their strategies for more effective learning.

Teachers’-Counselors’ Conclave

“Once you stop learning, you start dying” -- Albert Einstein
One such opportunity of learning was provided to SHIS teachers to attend the Teachers’-Counselors’ Conclave conducted by Vedatya Institute on 9th February 2018. The conclave was attended by attended by Ms. Preeti Ahuja and Ms. Era Bakshi from SHIS.
Mr. Sandeep Munjal initiated the session by introducing Mr. Sudhanshu Bhushan (Professor) and Ms. Anjana Singh (Head of School).
The main topic of discussion was ‘learning methods and its problems in today’s dynamic environment’. Few areas covered were as follows:
• Two way learning
• Student directed learning (development of modules)
• Cross curriculum activities
• Epic learning, Spiritual learning and creative learning
• Holistic development of a child
Overall, it was an enthralling experience. The ideas shared were quite practical which can be implemented in our organization and will enable our stakeholders to become better citizens.

Workshop by Lions’ Club 9th January 2018

A workshop was organised on 9th January ‘18 by the Lions’ Club members to spread awareness about the threat of using plastic bags. The workshop was presided over by our Respected Principal, Mr. Atul Bhatt. He introduced the members of the Lions’ Club to the teachers of the school.
They emphasised on the hazards of using poly-bags which are non-biodegradable, and explained its ill-effects on our health, especially on very small children and the old people. The teachers were informed about their campaign on propagating the planting of trees to purify the air and reduce the toxic gases in our environment. Everyone was also warned about the depleting quality of air that we are breathing everyday. As teachers, we were urged to spread awareness among our students.
They communicated the importance of ‘Going Green’ and how to reduce, reuse and recycle for curbing environmental pollution.
The teachers vowed to keep the Earth clean and green and to instil in the students the awareness to save trees. They expressed their desire for teachers to take forward their campaign for clean environment and the need to stop its negative effects on climate and global warming, by example. Keeping that in mind they gave a jute shopping bag to all the teachers to stop the use of plastic bags. It was a very relevant and productive workshop.

ICAE Education Conclave February 15, 2018

Equipping and updating students and teachers alike with the latest developments in the field of education, has always been the enterprise and goal of our Founder and Chairperson Dr. (Mrs.) Lily George. As part of this endeavour, Ms. Maya Vinod, Ms. Kavita Bhardwaj and Ms. Amita Deo Singh were awarded the opportunity to attend the International Conference on Education, having –‘Emerging Trends In Educational Technology & Leadership’, as its core theme. The conference had as its speakers, eminent personalities like Dr. Aruna Broota (Psychologist, Hypnotherapist and Alchemist ), Ms. Jyostna Bhardwaj (Consulting Psychologist & Counsellor), Ms Chetna Sabharwal (Head, Counselling & International Education, Ahlcon International School), to name a few.
The Conference commenced with the lighting of the lamp. All the speakers enlightened the audience on various aspects covering the main theme of the conference. Dr. Broota touched on the rising criminal tendencies in children and the need for the adults to not just express shock but to come forward to help. It’s the time to act, to create a think-tank to analyse the problem and seek out solutions. The world is undergoing dramatic changes with technology coming to the forefront and children becoming over dependent on it. Ms Jyotsna emphasized that with the students engaging consistently with colourful, moving, live screens, the dull ‘discoloured’ class room teaching fails to get the attention of or arouse interest in the students. The teachers now have to equip themselves to compete with the digital visual world to engage the students.
A panel discussion, presided over by Ms Nidhi Tiwari from Springdale School, discussed the topic and answered queries. It was reiterated that the role of the traditional teacher is obsolete with the onslaught of a plethora of on-line information sites. The future of the world is technology and we cannot keep the children away from it. So, the need is to blend education with technology.
Overall it was a very illuminating and eye-opening conclave about the increasing influence of technology and the changing role of the teacher.

TIPS ON FIRE SAFETY

Through various safeguards and campaigns, Shalom Hills International School strives to make its teachers aware and up-to-date. Keeping this in mind, a workshop on “How to operate Fire-fighting equipment” was organized for the teachers on 20th Jan, 2018 in the school multi-purpose court. The speaker on the occasion was a Fire Safety Counselor. He shared simple and easy to follow safety tips, explained the functioning of a fire extinguisher and spoke of the DOs and DON’Ts regarding possibilities of fire. Some teachers were even called on to operate the fire-extinguishers independently. He also spoke on the need to watch out for warning signs and practice safeguards to prevent occurrence of incidents that may range from inconvenient to life-threatening. Some first-aid tips and demonstrations were also given.
The session proved to be informative and an imperative lesson on life-saving skills.

Workshop on “How to Handle Kids with Behavioural Issues” January 12, 2018

The Health and Wellness Department of Shalom Hills International School conducted a workshop for teachers of classes I to V on the topic “How to Handle Kids with Behavioral Issues”. It was conducted by Ms. Kristna Kalpana Pattnaik, School Counselor of the primary wing. At the start, the teachers were motivated by both the counselors to take up the behavioral issues very positively and feel that they can sort out the issues by developing calmness, patience, love and willingness to handle it with a sense of belongingness. They emphasized more on being firm in fixing up the class room decorum and following it consistently so that the students too would reciprocate the same.
Following Tips were given to the teachers for handling such cases more appropriately:

• Be a good listener.
• Be calm and patient.
• Be more loving and empathize with the emotions of the children.
• Do not be judgmental.
• Appreciate magnanimously.
• Do it with a sense of belongingness.
• Motivate children.
• Give positive re-enforcements.
• Applaud good behavior.
• Time to time speak to the parents.

Workshop on Safety- Creating a Secure Base 9th January 2018

The workshop on “Safety-Creating a Secure Base”, was organised for the staff of Shalom Hills International School. It was conducted by Ms Mimansa Singh Tanwar-Clinical Psychologist & Coordinator Mental Health Program of Fortis Hospital Gurgaon. She apprised how the children and even the adults are becoming vulnerable to social media- like blue whale challenge which becomes unsafe and threatening. Also the children are not safe due to bullying, violence and aggression among them. She said that today’s reality is that there is increased social isolation and urban loneliness, easy and unfiltered access to faulty information, changing structure and milieu of society , high competition and pressure to perform and physical threat to safety (online and offline) has made the people dependent and easy prey on internets.
Ms Mimansa Singh explained that secure base can be created by giving the children a feeling of safety and comfort, allowing them to explore their environment, by assuring guilt-free return after exploration, by promoting feelings of confidence and competence, and by allowing cohesive, strong sense of self and individual personality. She also talked about the Intervention & Peer Dynamics at the school front for e.g by developing social skills training for assertiveness and conflict resolution, enhancing empathy and perspective taking, peer mentoring and buddy systems, anti-bullying programs. Stressing on teachers providing encouragement to students in reporting conflicts and help- seeking, she informed that Media Literacy programs enhance critical thinking and questioning about media messages, and that the content viewed on the media will give them the way to educate themselves on online safety and privacy.
Ms Singh emphasised the need for schools having a Crisis Intervention Cell that ensures safety and swift intervention in times of crisis and maintains sense of security in children.
In the end she said that the teacher’s non-judgemental behaviour can encourage children to express their fears and anxieties. The teachers can also work upon their student’s strengths and weaknesses which will help them in raising their students’ positive self-concept and image.

Workshop on Understanding POCSO ACT 2012 22nd December 2017

A workshop to understand the POCSO ACT 2012 was conducted by eminent speakers Mr. Vikas Nautiyal and Mr. Varun Malhotra was attended by Ms. Swastika Acharya and Ms. Ambika Yadav of Shalom Hills International.
The agenda of the workshop was to introduce a child rights based project CACA initiated by the NGO SAI Social Axiom Insignia for the academic year 2018-19 for schools and covered points such as POCSO Act 2012, Project CACA and Rights on protection of children sexual abuse (CSA).
Project CSA is child centric and holistic in approach. It creates a safety net for children against child abuse in general. Project CACA has age appropriate progressive life skills and value education based safety workbooks from classes Kindergarten to XII along with companion parent- teacher resource booklets. The knowledge in these books is transmitted through stories, poems, plays and activities.
The workshop was very informative and provided knowledge on safety measures against child sexual abuse.

Conclave on Child Development and Behavioural Management 8th December 2017

A conclave on Child Development and Behavioral Management was conducted by Studenting Era. This conclave was attended by Miss Mitu Singh and Mr. Ashish Kumar Rawat.
The agenda of the conclave was to address those behavioral aspects of a child which are extremely significant and critical for them to evolve and grow. The parenting methodology, strategy and requirements of a child change from stage to stage with their growth from basic physical needs to mental stimuli at various stages of development.
There were many eminent speakers like, Mr. Anil Sawrup, Ms. Anu Aggarwal, Prof. Daniel Khan, Col. Kr. Prapat Singh, Ms. Alka Verma in addition to others.
There was a panel of psychologist who shared their ideologies and invaluable contributions in the field of child development. The discussion included topics including Teacher training, Child development and behavior, knowing about one’s own self through yoga or spiritual connectivity, and denial in our society. Few suggestions like-Direct interaction with parents once a year and student-teachers meeting, were forthcoming which can be implemented in our schools to give a platform for a child to open up.
The workshop was very informative and provided guidance for counselors to improvise their methodology.

ICAE International Conference on Education 10th & 11th November

Equipping and updating students and teachers alike with the latest developments in the field of education, has always been the enterprise and goal of our Founder and Chairperson Dr. (Mrs.) Lily George. As part of this endeavour, Ms. Kavita Bhardwaj was awarded the opportunity to attend the International Conference on Education, having –‘Carving Global Citizens-The sustainable Way’, as its core theme. The conference had as its speakers, eminent personalities like Mr. Ashok Pandey (Principal-Ahlcon International School), Mr. Joshua Kumar (Entrepreneur/Director Singapore), Dr. Debashis Chatterjee (Director General-IMI Delhi), Mr. Rajeev Chandran (National Information officer-UNIC), Ms. Jyostna Bhardwaj (Consulting Psychologist & Counsellor), to name just a few.
The Conference commenced with the lighting of the lamp, followed by the opening address by Mr. Ashok Pandey. All the speakers spoke on various aspects covering the main theme of the conference. The world is undergoing dramatic changes with technology coming to the forefront, and robotics and artificial intelligence the new fields. The days of the secure 9 to 5 jobs are becoming obsolete and there is a mind shift towards flexi-jobs which are becoming the norm. Almost all the speakers reiterated that with the uncertainty in future trends in jobs, we need to equip the youngsters with skills like analytical reasoning, empathy, cultural and gender sensitivity, cognitive and logical skills, environmental responsibility and entrepreneurship, which is not just about starting and running a successful business but a spirit for bringing about and accepting change.
Two panel discussions were also held on the changing roles of counselors and parents in guiding students in pursuing their choice subjects and careers, no matter how off-beat they may seem, and also whether technology is here to replace or supplement the humans.
Overall it was a very enlightening and eye-opening two-day event about the changes ensuing in education and employment trends.

Counsellor Forum at FMRI- Fortis Memorial Research Institute 12th October 2017

The counsellor Forum, on the theme “Creating A Secure Base”, was attended by Shalom Hills Senior Counsellor, Ms Bhupinder Kaur. The Fortis School Counsellor Forum is a platform for participating counsellors to exchange ideas and remain cognizant of the latest developments in the field of child and adolescent mental health.
The clinical psychologist, Ms Mimansa Singh, elaborated the concept of a secure base in the attachment theory which has been conceptualized by Mary Ainsworth. It suggests that the availability and the sensitivity of all significant adults in a child’s life can create a safe space for the child to explore. This will help to identify individual differences and at the same time build a sense of stability in the child. It was underlined that the exhaustive exposure to media, inclusive of social media has been posing a threat to a child’s inner sense of security leading to a weakened secure base which generates fear and anxiety. It becomes important for the society to put collective efforts in building a more secure ecosystem for the children today. What can be done to create a secure base?

• Intervention: Peer Dynamics- social skill training for assertiveness and conflict resolution, enhancing empathy and perspective taking, peer mentoring and buddy systems, anti-bullying programs, educate on avenues for reporting conflicts and help seeking.
• Media Influences- Media Literacy Programs, critical thinking and questioning about media messages, discussion about content viewed on the media.
• Intervention with teachers- maintains a healthy locus of control- accept limitations. Deal with emotional needs and vulnerabilities of teachers, focus on teacher engagement, not only skill enhancement, provide systematic training on dealing with emotional conflicts & maintaining a secure base, small group interactions to facilitate peer relationships, guide towards appropriate help seeking.

At the school level there is a need for Crisis Intervention:
Events occurring within the child’s immediate environment or within the society at large can both impact a child’s sense of security and lead to trauma. Swift intervention in times of crisis maintains a sense of security in children.

“Workshop on Computer Masti” For IT Department 9th August’17

Computer department conducted a workshop on 9th August’17 for teachers. Mr. Avinash Sharma, Mr. Mohit and Mr.Ketan were resource persons from Next Education Team.
They talked about end to end solution –Computer Masti, which is the master mind of well known IIT, Bombay professor Mr. Shridhar Iyer and his team in collaboration with Next Education. They talked in detail about the history, philosophy, curriculum features, curriculum themes, teaching learning strategies and resources available in Computer Masti.
A short video was also presented in which the whole team of the Computer Masti talked about the implementation and use of this programme. People in the video also talked about reading mind maps and integrating thinking skills in whatever we do with the effectiveness to communicate, and the element of fun included in it.
The workshop was instrumental in guiding the teachers to learn and acquire new skills through Computer Masti and integrate the same in the pedagogy, teaching/learning process and to provide a sound, stable base for both teachers and students .

Green School Programme Workshop

CSE (Centre for Science and environment) conducted a workshop on August 2, 2017 for different schools to provide information about the Green School Programmes, CSE guidelines and different tasks that are needed to be followed while submitting the GSP report. Our school was represented by Ms.Tista and Ms.Maneesha.
The workshop started with a briefing by Ms. Ranjeeta Menon about the Centre for Science and Environment. Then Ms. Ajanta took over and explained the online portal of GSP. She guided everyone through the audit criteria and different sections of GSP protocol with the help of PPT. After the briefing a short tour of the CSE campus was given showing their 5 types Segregation Systems, Rain Water Harvesting System, and their Decentralized Sewage Treatment Plant and Mechanical Compost Pit. She explained the need of the audit submission on time and also emphasised the importance of sensitizing the students on environment related issues.
External speakers from a private waste management firm “POM-POM” were also present there who explained about their motto and how they are helping us to manage our school`s waste. Ms. Ajanta finally read a performance report stating the points that are important for scoring good marks in the GSP Audit. The workshop culminated with the Certificate distribution ceremony. The workshop was an interesting interactive session and helped in clarifying all the audit and report submission related doubts.
As the saying goes- “We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors but borrow it from our Children”. With this thought in mind we take a pledge to do all we can to save the planet.

Workshop on Certificate in Teaching for Applied Learning (CTAL), at Vedatya Institute 20th July’17 -21st July’17

Under the mentorship of Founder-Managing Director, Dr. (Mrs.) Lily George, teacher enhancement programmes and workshops are a part of Shalom. Mr. Param Dev from the Science Department and Ms. Vineeta Loomba from the Department of Mathematics were provided the opportunity to attend a Workshop on Certificate in Teaching for Applied Learning (CTAL), organized at Vedatya Institute, Sohna Road. Along with the teachers from, Shalom Hills International School it was also attended by the faculty members from schools like Gems International School and Shri Ram International among others.
The two day programme was full of learning experiences.The first day started with the introduction and learning outcomes of the workshop, and topics like - Use of reflections of Individual teaching and Learning Experience, Philosophy of teaching, Assessment tools and Use of Assessment Grid, were covered. The sessions were taken by renowned and experienced educationists and academicians.
The second day started with a session on understanding higher level learning through Bloom’s Taxonomy followed by an interactive session on use of research in teaching children. An interactive session was also held on Academic conduct for self and students. The workshop ended with another interactive session on Critical Thinking followed by Reflections.
It was indeed a wonderful and enriching learning experience which will enhance the teaching-learning process for the benefit of the students.

Workshop on New Techniques of Teaching Aids 29th June, 2017

A workshop on “New Techniques of Teaching Aids” was organized in the school for middle wing teachers. The workshop was conducted by Ms. Seema Nagar.
The workshop emphasized on what teaching is and the teaching process. An important point discussed in the workshop was that people with completely different styles of teaching are equally effective. Pedagogy is an art or profession of teaching. The workshop emphasized the importance of being well prepared, clear, accurate and specific. Teachers should be sensitive and receptive. Learning cycle was also introduced. Three domains were discussed- Cognitive, psychomotor and Affective. Advantages of Multimedia learning process were discussed. A presentation on Edgar Dale’s classification of audio-visual aids was shown. Mind map technique was introduced. Mnemomonics was also explained.
The workshop concluded with by stressing that the teacher is the greatest innovator and that learning never ends.

Workshop on Team Building for Teachers held on 24th May, 2017

A grooming and training based workshop was organized for SHIS staff on Building Interpersonal & Leadership Skills by the Health & Wellness Department when the teachers resumed their work after the summer break. The workshop was conducted by Ms Geetika Virdi, counselling psychologist, Fortis La Femme of Greater Kailash, New Delhi.
The teachers were able to understand, assess and learn how to balance two interactive zones i.e. Home and Work. Ms Virdi asked the audience the difference between Non- Assertive, Assertive and Aggressive behaviour, and shared tips on Assertive Communication. She stressed on how to eliminate use of unnecessary conversation filters and to avoid closed body postures. She also highlighted the importance of repeating statements to convey understanding, nodding occasionally as a sign of acknowledgement and listening carefully.
Ms Virdi elaborated the concept of Emotional Regulation in managing conflicts at work place. She said one should learn to identify and label his/her emotions, try to focus on goals even when he/she feels anxious, resist the temptation to act out, share his/her feelings with trusted colleagues and try to understand what the others are feeling. On Leadership, she mentioned that a person should be strong enough to build a team, keep promises, and be decisive and confident.
The workshop ended on a positive note by highlighting that- “A Leader is one who leads when he/she welcomes feedback and is able to nurture healthy and positive skills among his/her teammates by managing and balancing interpersonal conflicts.”

Workshop on Team Building for Teachers held on 24th May, 2017

A workshop was organized in the school for teachers on “Team Building” by our respected and esteemed Founder Managing Director, Dr. Mrs. Lilly George and Dean Sir. The workshop was conducted by Wing Commander S.K Sharma, who is associated with many Corporate Houses like Maruti, to train and motivate people on Team Building.
Teamwork means cooperating, using individual skills and providing constructive feedback, despite individual disparities. He emphasized that a Team is one which works together for a common goal. In our school we have different departments but we all are working as one team for the “Team Shalom”.
Making the teachers participate in games like “Scout Clapping”, with everyone clapping in synchrony skipping a beat after every three claps and “Human Ladder”, involving three transportees and rest working as transporters to build a ladder with sticks to carry them from one end to another, the importance of harmonizing with each other, coordinating effectively and managing the things as a team, were emphasized.
The workshop was wrapped up by showing a beautiful video depicting the story of a Gardner’s girl, highlighting the importance of every member in a “Team”.

School Counsellor Forum Attended at Fortis Memorial Research Institute on 11th May 2017

A School Counsellor Forum, conducted by the Clinical Psychologist, Ms. Mimansa Singh, was attended by the senior counsellor of SHIS, Ms Bhupinder Kaur.
Stressing on the fact, that children having poor social skills easily show aggression, have low self-esteem, academic difficulties and become victims of bullying and social anxiety, the topic of discussion chosen was “Developing Effective Interpersonal Skills”, by using the DBT- (Dialectical Behaviour Theory) approach.
Ms Mimansa taught the counsellors basic skills by using set of worksheets and Role Plays, through using live situations. The need for building effective communication skills in children like, “Ask for what you want…. and get it, resolve conflict effectively, not avoid, decrease interpersonal chaos, build relationships and end destructive ones”, was highlighted. Clarifying Interpersonal goals, maintaining relationships goals and self –respect make the objective or goal clear.
The Forum was not only helpful for training the children in basic skills, but also for mankind to adapt and maintain positive and healthy relationships in life.

Workshop on Scratch and APP Inventor by Google 9th May 2017

A highly informative and interactive workshop on Scratch and App Inventor was conducted by Mr. Siddhant Agarwal in Indraprastha School, Dwarka, Sector-10. Ms. Ambika Yadav and Ms. Shruti Barwal, two faculty members of Shalom Hills International School, were among the privileged to be a part of the session. The event began with the introduction of Scratch followed by the App Inventor.
The facilitator briefed about the Scratch tool by showing short animations. Scratch is a free app to create interactive art, stories, simulations and games developed by MIT Media Lab. It is very useful for students to make animations and stories and help them to show their creativity in technology. It is designed for education. In the post break session, the App Inventor was introduced with the aid of examples. This app can be taught in our institution to accomplish better education.
At the end of the session teachers got the participation certificate by Google. Overall it was a great learning experience.

Workshop on Behaviour Modification in Classroom Settings- with teachers on 29th April 2017

A workshop on Behaviour Modification was conducted by the senior counselor, Ms Bhupinder Kaur and the Intern, Ms Sheryl, for the new teachers of the senior wing. The aim was to reduce the prevailing disciplinary issues that occur in the classrooms and help the teachers to identify the problematic areas and work on them.
The teachers were informed about the various approaches and specific techniques that work in reducing the issues of discipline and unruly behavior. These techniques included- positive reinforcement, clarity of instruction, modeling expected behavior, providing a time-out, sound observation and monitoring and indulging in rational talk. They were informed as to which strategy they can use to prevent unruly behavior, control the situation when indiscipline occurs and how to remedy the situation after a conflict has occurred. They were also educated on how to use these strategies, and the ways in which they can change their approach to establish a better connectivity with the children and in turn be able to impart meaningful education. Specific cases that occur in the classroom were also addressed and a video on how to maintain discipline in class was shown.
The session was highly interactive and informative. A positive feedback was received from all teachers. The teachers also discussed the issues they face in the class in a Question &Answer round.

Hindi Teachers attend a Hindi Workshop on 29th April’17

The Hindi faculty of SHIS was fortunate to have the opportunity of attending a workshop organised by the Hindi HOD, Ms. Lalita Yadav, on 29th April’17, which was conducted by an eminent resource person, the HOD Hindi at DPS Noida, Dr. Vinod Prasoon, who is also working for Zee cinema.
He imparted a lot of information to the teachers regarding Hindi as a subject and language. The Hindi teachers got many innovative ideas regarding how to improve spelling mistakes of students and how to improve their listening skills. The teachers were exposed to fresh and new ways of generating an interest among their students for Hindi. By using this information, the teachers can now give more knowledge to the students about the subject. This workshop was an interesting and educational one.
It will work as nectar for teachers as well as students.

School Counselors attended a workshop on Intervening for Substance Abuse in School-Aged Children on 9th Feb 2017

The school counselors Ms. Bhupinder Kaur and Ms. Elizabeth B. Thomas attended a workshop at FMRI, Gurgaon. The therapist, Dr. Mimansa Singh helped the counselors to identify the children at risk behavior and to develop prevention/intervention strategies for the students who have been identified for substance abuse.
It was stressed that at the primary level, a school wide policy has to be framed to spread awareness about substance abuse and at the secondary level, collaborative work among parents, counselors and teachers is required to help the child. Lack of parental support or supervision, severe conflicts within the family, transitory stages are a few factors which make intervention necessary by the school counselors. In such a scenario, setting the goals for the child & family and collaborative work by the school are needed. Methods like talks from experts, peer facilitators, social skills training which would help in reducing the risk factors among the students were discussed in the forum. Life Skills Training and motivational Interview, along with mobilizing social support for enhancing communication and decision making skills are the need of the hour.

Shalom faculty member attends a workshop on Insights into the latest CBSE Reforms on 22nd Feb 2017

Ms. Maya Vinod, the Academic Coordinator of the Senior Wing of SHIS attended a CBSE Workshop at G.D Goenka Public School. Ms. Radha Singh was the CBSE resource person who discussed how the periodic assessment schedule needs to be mapped out for Grade X and other senior classes keeping the latest CBSE reforms in the mind.
Interestingly, instead of reading aloud and sharing the school’s Annual Report with the teachers present, the school had showcased all that the students, faculty and school had accomplished in academics, co-curricular areas, sports and enrichment programmes throughout the academic session in different venues in the school premises.
During the course of the workshop, Ms. Radha informed the delegates that the 6th Optional subject in IX-X remains unchanged as per CBSE notification. Through examples, Ms. Radha Singh stressed upon the difference between Assessment and Evaluation and how the school curriculum and examination pattern should recognize this difference.

Shalom faculty members attend a workshop on Student Data Management Information System (SDMIS) on 10th January 2017

A workshop was arranged by Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad at Govt.
Senior Secondary School, Jharsa village, Gurgaon on 10th Jan, 2017.The workshop was attended by Ms. Sarika Aneja from the Computer Department and Mr. Rahul Sharma from IT Department of Shalom Hills International School. The resource person, Mr. Satish Kumar demonstrated in detail all the steps to export MIS data to SDMIS data. All the details are also given in at the link www.hsspp.in.
The workshop was attended by teachers of 7 schools which come under this Govt School’s purview. The principal of the school addressed the gathering and requested the delegates to update SDMIS data in the given time.

A Workshop conducted on Technology conducted for Shalom Faculty on 10th January 2017

A workshop on the topic ‘’Are we ready for digital transformation” was conducted in the Middle Wing Basement for the teachers of Shalom Hills International School by Mr. Amit Taneja of NIIT. He is also a parent of one of the students. He initiated the workshop by emphasizing the difference between Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. Mr. Taneja shared his views on how the teachers can integrate technology into mainstream classroom teaching. He touched upon the topics of Organizing & Planning, Interactive Teaching, Engaged Learning, Real Experience & Experimentation, Authentic Assessments and Teaming & Collaboration.
Towards the end of the workshop, Mr. Taneja told the teachers about the websites like moodle.org, webquest.org etc. wherein the teachers can find the best teaching materials and can prepare their own online assessment tools. He clarified the doubts raised by the teachers.

Shri Sambhavna held in TSRS on 10 December’16

Shri Sambhavna was planned by The Shri Ram School as a peek into the world of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality and its relevance into 21st century. It proved to be an effective platform to enhance the knack for creative innovation pertaining to science & technology. The event was attended by Ms Maya Vinod, Ms Vimla Jossy, Ms Rupali and Ms Lopa Mishra.
The students of class XI of TSRS had showcased their engineering skills by putting up working models on The E- Pod – Solar Power Air Ioniser (SPAI), Piezo Electric Material- Channelizer cum vibration emitter providing to households.
The senior graders had displayed their research work on DNA Engineering & Genetic Vaccines, Transgeneric Animals- DNA’s, organs for futuristic treatment technology.
The Robee- A Miocrobiotic Insectoid Drone, Virtual Stock Exchange – Demonetisation & GST was well presented by the students. The exhibits made out of waste products included - Door mats, Key chains, pen stands, Bin.
The Zumba dance show put up for the visitors was indeed a visual treat to body, mind & soul for them.

Workshop conducted with the senior staff on ICC- Internal Complaint Committee on 26thth November 2016

Ms Bhupinder Kaur apprised the teachers of Senior Wing (mainly the teachers who were unable to attend the earlier workshop) with the guidelines of Internal/Local Complaint Committee to be set up under the Sexual Harassment at workplace Act, 2013. The objective of this Act is to provide a safe and friendly environment to all employees. The Internal Complaint Committee will investigate and look into all complaints and concerns of sexual harassment at workplaces. Ms Bhupinder explained to the teachers what constitutes sexual harassment and emphasized that if a woman employee feels uncomfortable/unsafe in her workplace or in the presence of any male colleague, then she has a right to file a written complaint before the committee. It was also explained that if the complaint is found to be genuine, then the offender has to face legal procedures with the penalties which can extend from withholding of increments to the termination or dismissal from the services. Ms Bhupinder shared the names of the members of the committee with the teachers -- Ms Rima Gaekwad, Ms Bhupinder Kaur-Counsellor, Ms Elizabeth- Counsellor and Mr Saini, an advocate.

Micro-Teaching session conducted on 19th Nov’16

Micro-teaching is a faculty training and development technique whereby the teachers’ review a recording of a teaching session, in order to get constructive feedback from peers about what has worked and what amendments can be made to improve their teaching technique.
A Micro teaching session was conducted by Ms. Meetu Mukherjee on 19th Nov’16 on the Grammar topic ‘Conjunctions’ for Grade VII. The topic was introduced with an introductory session and fun way of remembering Coordinating Conjunction. The Co-Teachers were encouraged to clarify their doubts regarding Coordinating and Subordinating through questions during the course of the micro-class.
Post this; several examples were shared to clarify the difference between Dependent and Independent Clauses. The classic example of ‘FANBOYS’ was put to optimal use to illustrate the correct usage of conjunctions. The Middle Wing teachers found the session very productive and the senior teachers too connected well with this topic. There was a group activity planned on the topic of ‘Correlative Conjunctions’.

Shalom teachers attend a Workshop on “COMPUTER AS A TOOL OR SUBJECT on 17th Nov.’16

A workshop cum conference was organized by Kips Publications at Park Plaza Hotel, Faridabad on 17.11.16. The Computer Science teachers of SHIS namely, Ms. Megha Gupta, Ms. Sarika Aneja and Ms. Ambika Yadav attended it. The resource person, Mr. Dheeraj Bhatia, Director of Kips Publications initiated the event with the slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisaan Jai Gurus”.
The key speakers explained to the delegates how to teach the students with the concept of LOA-Law of Association. Also how cramming can be overcome by understanding through activities, visual and interactive Methods. The various IT persons and their achievements were also discussed during the course of the session. The various new Kips tools were demonstrated before the teachers.
Many interactive activities were conducted engaging the teachers. The resources persons took extreme care to guide and update the delegate teachers with the various levels of certification courses by Google and Microsoft. It was overall a very fruitful session for the Shalom and other teachers.

Workshop conducted with the staff on ICC- Internal Complaint Committee on 11th November 2016

Ms Bhupinder Kaur apprised the teachers of Senior and Middle Wing with the guidelines of Internal/Local Complaint Committee to be set up under the Sexual Harassment at workplace Act, 2013. The objective of this Act is to provide a safe and friendly environment to all employees. The Internal Complaint Committee will investigate and look into all complaints and concerns of sexual harassment at workplaces.
Ms Bhupinder shared the names of the members of the committee with the teachers -- Ms Rima Gaekwad- Head Mistress – Primary Wing, Ms Bhupinder Kaur-Counsellor, Ms Elizabeth- Counsellor and Mr Saini, an advocate. Ms Bhupinder explained what constitutes sexual harassment and emphasized that if a woman employee feels uncomfortable/unsafe in her workplace or in the presence of any male colleague, then she has a right to file a written complaint before the committee.
It was also explained that if the complaint is found to be genuine, then the offender has to face legal procedures with the penalties which can extend from withholding of increments to the termination or dismissal from the services.
The objective of providing a safe and friendly environment to all at work, State Government has framed guidelines to ensure prevention of sexual harassment at workplace. The committee accountable is the Local Complaint Committee which will oversee sexual harassment cases at workplaces.

Micro-Teaching session conducted on 8th Oct’16

Micro-teaching is a faculty training and development technique whereby the teachers review a recording of a teaching session, in order to get constructive feedback from peers about what has worked and what amendments can be made to improve their teaching technique.
Micro teaching session was conducted by Ms. Amita Deo on 8th Oct’16 on the topic ‘Anagrams’ for Primary teachers (Grade I-V). The topic was introduced with topic building exercises. Warm up exercises were given to the co-teachers who were the learners for this session. Many links up questions were asked to develop interest of the listeners.
Post this; an interesting recap session was conducted with the help of a small text book activity. Through this activity, thorough recapitulation of anagrams was done.

Shalom faculty members attend a Workshop on 29th August 2016

A workshop on “Nurturing the 21st Century Learners-Creating global leaders of tomorrow” was attended by the Senior Coordinator, Ms. Swastika Acharya and the school counselors Ms. Bhupinder and Ms. Elizabeth at the India International Centre, New Delhi. Mr. Bob Athwal, Director Leicester University gave an opening talk on how to identify the challenges faced while shaping the future leaders. He laid stress on the fact that the students need skills more than degrees to enter the job market in the coming times.
Dr. Aruna Broota, a renowned clinical psychologist spoke about fostering acceptance and empathy among students to make them fine future leaders. She stressed on giving the children space to think and act ; also that values can’t be taught but need to be enhanced by educators and parents through positive role modeling.
Mr. Vijay Thandani, NIIT University next addressed the gathering and emphasized on the skills required by the students in the 21st century. Dr. Jyostna Bhardwaj, Life Skills Trainer shared innovative practices for promotion of happiness quotient in the schools. She shared simple activities which could be conducted in the classrooms to make learning effective and friendly.

Shalom teachers attend a Workshop on Adolescence and Adolescent Issues’ on 2nd August’16

Ms. Bhupinder Kaur, Senior Counselor and Health and Wellness trainer, Ms. Elizabeth, Counselor of Junior Wing and Ms. Jyotin Prinja attended an illumining workshop which was a part of Metamorphosis– an initiative by the Health and Wellness Department of Blue Bells School. Dr Alka Saxena and her team were the resource persons.
The aim of the workshop was to sensitize and orient schoolteachers about adolescent problems and parenting styles. After introducing AWBY – The Awesome Buddy, the mascot of the H.W. Programme, Dr Alka engaged all the teachers in defining Adolescence. ‘Pinning the donkey’s tail’ activity not only served as an ice-breaker but also to underscore the vulnerability of the adolescent to all types of influences.
As the workshop progressed Dr Alka stressed upon Authoritarian, Autocratic, Permissive and Uninterested parenting styles and the impact they have on the children as they grow up. Parenting must involve certain controls backed by full understanding of the adolescent’s needs. The workshop drew to a close with another activity and poignant lines of Kalil Gibrain – ‘Your children are not your children. They are the son and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.’

Micro teaching lessons delivered by English Faculty member on 23rd July’16

Yet another round of Micro-Teaching lectures was carried out in the English faculty on 23rd July’16. Ms Esha Sethi took up an extremely interesting and relevant topic of ‘Subject-Verb Agreement’ for her micro-lesson. She had made ample use of the white board and several examples to re-inforce the rules and emphasize the key points of the topic. She took care to also stress upon the importance of the topic in the written and spoken language proficiency.
Ms. Esha Sethi, during the interactive session involved her colleagues in question-answers and illustrative examples. She also engaged them in a collaborative activity by dividing them in small groups,
Ms. Esha Sethi ensured that the topic taken up by them was fully understood by their colleagues. Based on the micro-teaching cycle, she took feedback and inputs from her counterparts. The learning outcome was satisfactorily achieved when the learners understood the nitty-gritty of the topic covered in the micro-teaching session.

Classroom Discipline and Effective Management

At SHIS, classroom management is the process by which teachers aim to create and maintain appropriate behaviour of students in classroom settings. With this aim, Ms. Anita Bhutani, Discipline Head, conducted a workshop for all the Primary Wing teachers on 23rd July’2016. The purpose of implementing classroom management strategies is to enhance prosocial behaviour and increase student academic engagement.
Ms. Bhutani began the session with the importance of discipline – a virtue. She ardently emphasised that a teacher should not only be the preacher but utmost practitioner of discipline. Discipline makes every teacher more enabled, more inspired.
As an experienced and sapient educator, she shared many creative ideas to get a class immediately settled for a joyful teaching and learning process. She laid a great stress on the importance of proactive lesson planning. Ms. Bhutani, as the resource person, encouraged discussions on varied array of topics such as cleanliness, anecdotal filings, self-management, ownership towards one’s classroom and many more. It was an educational session for all the teachers. It inspired them to be more alert, agile and aware. Discipline is the silent force at work that breeds success.

Micro teaching lessons delivered by English Faculty members on 30th June’16

Yet another round of Micro-Teaching lectures was carried out in the English faculty on 30th June’16. Ms Esha Sethi took up an extremely interesting and relevant topic of Vocabulary for her micro-lesson. She had made it point to emphasize the importance of new words and good vocabulary in enhancing English speaking and writing proficiency. She took up a few examples to introduce the topic and then clearly explained how children can be initiated into the habit of learning and using new words on a regular basis.
Ms. Sangeeta Madhok also took up a topic related to Grad IV syllabus – ‘Nouns’. An interesting and light-hearted game on Concrete and Abstract Nouns was played which served as an excellent way to test the learners’ comprehension of the topic.
Both Ms. Esha and Ms. Sangeeta ensured that the topics taken up by them were fully understood by their colleagues. Based on the micro-teaching cycle, both took feedback and inputs from their counterparts. The learning outcome was satisfactorily achieved when the learners understood the nitty-gritty of the topics covered in the micro-teaching sessions.

Workshop on classroom Discipline and Management held on 30th June’16

Ms. Anita Bhutani, H.O.D - Hindi Faculty and widely respected for her exemplary class control conducted a workshop for the Senior Wing teachers. Mr Atul Bhatt, the principal and Ms. Priyaa Chauhan, the Head-Mistress too were present for the workshop. While recounting her personal experiences, Ms. Bhutani emphasized that all teachers must have ‘an emotional connect’ with their students. This rapport with the teacher/s would lead to a student’s increased interest in the subject and ensure discipline in the class.
Ms. Anita also gave some practical tips on how to establish the rules of discipline in the class on the first day of a new session. By ensuring that all students remain in the classroom awaiting their teacher’s arrival, keep the subject textbooks ready on the tables and see that the classroom is in order, all teachers can contribute to discipline in their classes and the whole school. Ms. Bhutani made it clear that the onus and accountability of classroom management and discipline is always on the teacher. As role models, the teachers must observe discipline amongst themselves and comply with school norms before they expect it from their students.

‘Workshop on Emotional Intelligence by Fortis experts on 29th June’16

A workshop on Emotional Intelligence was conducted by Dr. Mimansa Singh. The session was aimed at making the teachers understand that every human being has the power to manage and control their emotions. Emotions are the subjective response accompanied by physiological change which readies the individual for some action that is associated with a change in behavior. The importance of E.I was stressed upon as it is required for effective communication, stress-management and prevention of teacher burn out.
Emotional Intelligence helps a teacher to manage the class in certain situations and also in bonding with their colleagues and the parents effectively. The resource person stressed upon an Emotional Literacy Curriculum which would help the students to understand and express different emotions they go through.
In the end, the teachers were made aware of how they can use E.I in their class rooms by giving space to the students in venting out their anger; refusing to engage in public arguments; using humor and distraction when appropriate and by adopting a non-confrontational but empathetic approach. With these techniques, the classrooms will become a livelier place for the students to enjoy and learn.

‘Workshop on Childhood Disorders’ held on 28th June,16’

A workshop on Learning Childhood disorders was conducted by Ms. Elizabeth on 28th June’16 and was attended by all Primary Wing and Senior Wing teachers. It is very imperative for all the teachers to be aware of these learning disorders, given the fact that India has taken a huge leap in the number of students falling under this spectrum.
The session commenced with the introduction of various disorders and how they adversely affect students’ education, social life and academic tracking. Ms. Elizabeth walked us through the causes of disorders- genetic, parenting style, neglect, childhood experience and stress. Ms Bhupinder, Senior Counselor of Senior Wing too shared some cases and her personal experiences in handling children with such extreme behavior disorders/personality disorders.
All the teachers received a thorough knowledge of common childhood disorders such as ADHD, ODD, PDD & Deficits in social interaction and communication and learning disorders. She guided the teachers about how to show love and care, give positive reinforcements and appreciate their small achievements. The session was informative and engaging.

‘Drama,Stage Management and Script Writing Workshop held for Shalom faculty members on 28th June’16

An interesting, invigorating and enlivening Theatre Workshop was held by Mr Gaurav Kumar, a renowned theatre artist on 28th June 2016 in Shalom Hills International School for all Primary and Senior Wing teachers. Mr. Gaurav, a Freelance Creative Consultant and Theatre personality was welcomed by the Head-Mistresses. From the very outset of the workshop, Mr Gaurav captivated the gathering with his acting histrionics. He also held the teachers enthralled by showcasing his script-writing and directorial skills.
During the course of the session, he emphasized on the need for voice modulation, use of props, stage setting, postures and dialogue delivery for most effective and powerful theatrical presentations. All the teachers benefitted a lot through the group stage activities. The teachers also staged a Play, which came out very well through their joint efforts. Mr Gaurav further emphasized on theatre techniques and how can children improvise on these techniques without much practice. The workshop was very engaging and insightful. It was appreciated by all the participants.

‘Art of Living’ Workshop held for entire faculty on 27th June’16

The workshop started with a welcome address by Ms. Rima Gaekwad followed by a quick introduction of What does success mean to us, How to have a balanced life and what are the essential components of a balanced life (Health, family, happiness, good education, peace of mind etc) by Dr. Neena Bansal (Associated with Art of Living- Bangalore, A professor at Kamla Nehru College- Delhi University).
The instructor shared thought provoking ideas about relation of mind vis-a-vis our breath and guided the teachers on how to have a controlled mind by controlling one’s breath. Brief introduction also took place of ‘Sudarshan Kriya’, its benefits and the area of its benefits (how it can improve individual’s health and job performance). The workshop concluded with a 15 minutes’ session of meditation and sheetali yoga/ cooling breath. Soul soothing music accompanied the meditation session and made the meditation session it a memorable one.
All the teachers had a knowledgeable session on- How ‘The Art of Living Course’ teaches us to have greater peace, energy and joy…for a lifetime.

Dental Check up organized for the teachers of the Middle Wing on 20th May’16

As part of the school’s thriving Teacher Enrichment Programme, a dental check up was organised especially for the teachers on 20th May,16.
Dr. Stuti and Dr. Moksha from Dental Roots had come to check the oral hygiene of teachers. They shared the observation that most of the teachers follow the correct oral routine. They also suggested root canal treatments and other dentistry procedures as required by a few teachers in need of dental treatment.
It was a procedurally followed clinical checkup. The dentists made it a point to give the teachers practical and handy tips on how to improve one’s dental care and routine and look after one’s teeth better.
The teachers flocked to the Dental Camp which was a great success as a caring and experienced team of doctors made it a pleasant experience.

Workshop conducted by Mr. Dhar on the theme of ‘Soul of a Schoolmaster’ on 16th May’16

A workshop on ‘The Soul of a Schoolmaster’ was conducted by Mr A.N. Dhar on 16th May 2016 for the Primary Wing teachers.
The workshop started with an introduction by Mr.Dhar about himself and his vast experience as a teacher. He gave useful and interesting insights about the qualities that a teacher must have and also how a teacher should always be a happy nurturer. These insights were provided through various case-studies. One of the case study showed that a teacher strongly relates to a student in the same way as a mother does to her child.
Mr. Dhar stressed on the moot point that forms the crux of teaching - a teacher has to be many people rolled into one - philosopher, manager, role-model, astrologer and a writer-actor. The main responsibility of a teacher, in Mr. Dhar’s is to help children evolve. An interesting story on Brahma and his creation of a teacher was shared by Mr.Dhar. According to Lord Brahma, a schoolteacher is a divine creation and should be cherished as such.

Head-Mistress of SHIS attends Times NIE Principal Meet on 6th May’16

The Times of India organized its Annual Principal Meet 2016 at The Grand New Delhi, Vasunt Kunj, New Delhi to acknowledge the efforts of Principals, Vice-Principals and the teacher fraternity who are the pillars of education and society. The Annual Meet was an excellent platform for heads and honchos of almost 200 schools of Delhi NCR to converge, interact and introspect with experts and to contribute to a better learning environment. Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, the H’ble Sh. Manish Sisodia was the Chief Guest. Shalom Hills International School was represented by the Head-Mistress of the Senior Wing, Ms. Priyaa Chauhan.
Mr Sanjeev Dutta who runs a personality school emphasized the importance and the therapeutic effects of dance therapy as a stress-buster. Mr Surakshit Goswami then demonstrated the power of yoga exercises in order to de-stress and relax. Mr. Amit Tandon, the stand-up comedian put up a show-stopper act for the edification of the distinguished gathering. Ms. Kiran Nadar, the trustee of Shiv Nadar Foundation was also present as the sponsor of the event.
There was a panel discussion in which eminent personalities present at the Meet took part.

“Science Micro Teaching Session” conducted on 30th April’16

Micro-teaching is a faculty training and development technique whereby the teachers review a teaching session, in order to get constructive feedback from peers about what has worked and what amendments can be made to improve their teaching technique. Science teachers were asked to prepare a short lesson (usually 20 minutes) for a small group of learners.
The session on 30th April was started by Ms. Shalini Pandey ( Class IV Science teacher) who imparted the lecture on “Microbes and Digestion” to her colleagues who were their learners of the day.
Ms. Nausheen was next to deliver the Micro Teaching lesson in which she discussed the teaching methodology taken with Grade I children. An interactive session was then taken up by Ms. Litty in which she discussed how the topic “Animals and their food habits” is taught in Class III. Towards the end of the session, Ms. Madhavi ( Class V ) explained how children should be a part of discussions which makes the class interactive and engaging. In context to the micro teaching session, Ms. Vimala Jossy, HOD of Science shared her ideas and inputs about making the classroom teaching more interesting and thought provoking.
Conducting this kind of enrichment programme for the teachers not only helps them to upgrade their horizons but also persuades them to be more creative and innovative in conveying their lectures in the class. Through this training, the teachers will sharpen their teaching skills which would help them to make the students understand the topic in much interesting way.

Micro teaching lessons delivered by English Faculty members on 30th April’16

Essentially, microteaching is like simulated teaching to provide feedback to teacher. Prima facie, it serves as a post-mortem so that the teacher can find out what has successfully worked in the class, in which aspects has it fallen short and what needs to be done to enhance their teaching technique.

Ms Meenakshi Madan took up the Grammar topic of Conditionals. She took up a few examples to introduce the topic and then clearly explained the rules pertaining to the topic. She kept asking questions from her colleagues. A game of framing conditional sentences was played which served as an excellent way to test the learners’ comprehension of the topic.
Ms. Meeta Calvin initialized the Literature Chapter for Grade V with a topic building PPT. She quickly got her colleagues to form groups and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of car/train journey. Ms. Sangeeta and Ms. Kalika shared their exerpiences of their ‘First train Journey’. An engaging micro session ensued. By making ample use of the white board and engaging activities, Ms Meeta and Ms Meenakshi ensured that the topics taken up by them were fully understood by their colleagues.

Shalom senior graders attend the City Round of CBSE Cryptic Crossword Contest 2016 on 28th April’16

“IT IS ALWAYS SMALL PIECES THAT MAKE BIG PICTURES” !!

Cryptic Crosswords are crossword puzzles in which each clue is a word puzzle in and of itself.. The Cryptic Crossword Puzzle Competition organized by CBSE made the students juggle their brain cells and improve their lateral thinking. The competition held in Shiv Nadar School took off with a short address by Mr. Ranjan, CBSE organizer of the contest. The city round which was held on 28th April, 2016. It engaged two students from each participating school in solving a written cryptic crossword puzzle comprising of 23 questions in a time span of 60 minutes.

Raj Abbas Tulluri of Grade XII and Yash Vinod of Grade XI of Shalom Hills International School challenged their own ‘cracking’ potential and pitted their skills against that of 26 participating teams from across leading schools in Gurgaon, namely DPS Sector 45, Amity Sector 46, Ryan International, D.A.V School Sector 14, Bal Bharati Public School etc. They put up a valiant fight and solved quite a few ‘knotty’ questions.

Micro-Teaching session conducted by Ms. Kalika Tiwari on 23rd April’16

Micro teaching session was conducted by Ms. Kalika Tiwari on 23rd April’16 on the topic ‘Verbs’ for Primary teachers (Grade I-V). The White Board management was excellent as not only the word/thought/date was mentioned but also the subtopics, rules, web chart based on Verbs were also clearly written. The topic was introduced with topic building exercises. Warm up exercises were given to the co-teachers who were the learners for this session. Many link up questions were asked to develop interest of the listeners. An interesting PPT on Verbs was shown and step by step the rules and ways to identify the Verbs were explained.
Post this; an interesting recap session was conducted with the help of a small activity- ‘Paper Word Activity’. Through this activity, thorough recapitulation of Verb and its types- Transitive and Intransitive was done.

Shalom Faculty attends a workshop on ‘School Portal Management’ on 9th April’16

A workshop on School Portal Management was organized by the Computer Department for the teachers of Primary, Middle and Senior wing and Nirvana branch on 9th April’16 in the auditorium. Mr. Rahul Aggarwal from Edunext took the training of teachers and explained to them the process and steps involved in how to -

 Upload the assignments, class-work and homework
 Upload photographs using photo gallery.
 Communicate with individual student.
 Make lesson plans and converting it in PDF format.
 Filling in Online teacher’s diary.
 Keep records of all the students.
 Enter the Co-Scholastic grades.
 Enter FA and SA marks of the students.
 Access the term reports in PDF format.
 Mark the attendance of each student.

The trainer also made the teachers aware about the size of pictures (uploaded through photo gallery) supported by the portal i.e. maximum 500kb size. He also informed the teachers that the assignment should be uploaded in PDF format.It was overall a very useful workshop for all the teachers in which they learnt many new things and options on the school portal.

Workshop on CBSE evidences conducted by Ms. Priyaa Chauhan on 9th April’16

A workshop was conducted by the H.M of the Senior Wing, Ms Priyaa Chauhan, for all the teachers of Grades VI-XII. After stressing upon the need for collecting evidence through reports, observations and pictures, Ms. Priyaa Chauhan also emphasized that it would not increase the work-load of the teachers since they are already doing so. The purpose of the workshop was to streamline the process of collecting data and making it uniform for all subjects and Co-Scholastic domains.

Ms. Chauhan very clearly and with the help of Excel sheet formats, list of descriptors, observations tallies explained the areas that are to be covered:

2 A- Life Skills
2-B Work Education
2 C – Visual and Performing Arts
2 D – Attitudes and Values
3 A – Co-Scholastic
3 B – Physical Health and Well-Being

The H.M made it clear that CBSE evidences collection is the responsibility of all teachers and not only of class teachers. Teachers must take ample pictures of each student doing an activity in class, Skill Clubs and during Sports/Work Education classes. All teachers to record remarks of each and every student once a month in the anecdotal files.

Google Apps workshop held for Senior Wing teachers on 22nd March’16

At Shalom Hills International School, we realize that the “biggest benefit of Information Technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about discovering and realizing their potential.

Ms Sarika Aneja and Ms. Ambika Yadav conducted the first training workshop to give ‘hands on ‘training of Google Docs and Google slides’ to all the senior grades teachers. Through live demonstration of both applications, Ms. Sarika and Ms Ambika explained threadbare and stepwise how docs can be used by all the teachers, subject incharges and H.Ms in sharing common records, editing documents and working collaboratively.

Ms. Sarika and Ms. Ambika made it a point to stress upon the various advantages of Google Apps especially of Google docs in preparing assignments, question papers, presentations and Newsletters.They gave ample opportunity to all the teachers to work on docs and slides, prepare new documents and share amongst themselves. Teachers were guided how to edit, comment and share slides and docs. The teachers found the workshop useful and highly practical.

New Teachers’ Induction Programme held in Shalom Hills International School on 22nd March’16

In order to welcome the new teachers in its fold as well as infuse them with the school’s unique culture and ethos of love, commitment and compassion, a Teachers Induction Programme was held in Shalom Hills International School on 22nd March’16. The existing teachers were also present and learnt about the proposed academic planning for the next session. The Induction Programme served as an effective platform for them to update themselves about the changes in school policies and other academic domains. Ms. Jyotin Prinja shared the vision and distinctive ethos of the school’s Founder-Managing Director, Dr. Lilly George and Vice Chairman, Mr Dennis George. She dwelt on the management’s exemplary leadership, spiritual mentoring and constant empowerment provided to each and every faculty member. Several incidents and key words were shared which revealed how benevolent, supportive, caring and compassionate the management are towards the faculty and understanding of their needs.

Later on, the code of conduct by which the Shalom faculty has to adhere was explained by Ms. Rima Gaekwad, the Head-Mistress of Primary Wing. She also touched upon the HR guidelines governing their leave entitlement, salary rules, school processes, bus duty as well as the standing instructions and practices to be followed were also touched upon. To facilitate and familiarize the freshly recruited teachers with the mechanism of academic infrastructure and modus operandi of school functioning, a PPT was shown which gave a detailed rundown of the system of lesson plans, online assignments, doubt clarification file, remedial measures, student’s portal and re-correction of notebooks.

Computer Science faculty members attended Google Road Show at Lotus Valley International School on 17th March 2016

Lotus Valley International School, Gurgaon organized the 1st Road Show on Google Apps for Education. This first of its kind event was designed to showcase the use of Google Apps for Education in classrooms and Google certifications for educators. Ms. Jalpa Shah, GEG coordinator conducted it and specially chosen teachers (by Google) from Delhi and NCR schools attended the session. Ms. Sarika Aneja and Ms. Ambika Yadav from SHIS were among the privileged few to be a part of the illumining session.

Ms. Anita Malhotra, the principal in the welcome address shared her school and teachers’ experience of implementing Google Apps in her school. Ms. Jimmy Puri gave the Introduction to 21st century class rooms. Hands on session on different Google apps were shared by all the educators of L.V. School.

Mr. Gagandeep Singh, a resource person from Google explained about the Google products and devices available for all the educators. The main thrust of the session was on the usage of GAFE and certification on Basic level and Google Educators Level 1. It was an eye-opening and purposeful session for the educators.

Shalom faculty members attend an interactive session at British Council on 9th March’16

Ms. Shruti Vashisht and Ms. Jyotin Prinja attended an interactive session by Ms. Sara Wingate, a British researcher, writer and artist which threw light on various ways on overcoming reading challenges and integrating reading/library activities in the course curriculum in British Council.

The session was an illuming one as it threw into light how ‘reading habits’ form a grey area in many schools and the library is often dismissed as a ‘mere appendix’ … in fact a non-entity. During the case study from Puerto Rico, Norway, Netherlands and so on, Ms. Wingate emphasized how children are be drawn more into library and reading –oriented activities which will help the school to develop, polish and hone their communicative and creative skills better in the long run.

Another interesting theory that was shared during the session was the concentric zone of Proximal Development by Lev Vygotsky(1978) which shows the areas where the learner can do unaided, areas where learners need guidance and where all learners cannot do.Many strategies were discussed e,g, sharing reviews on blogs, get lapel badges in recognition of their reading habits, running Reading Programme etc.

Shalom teachers attend ‘Counsellors Symposium 2016’ Workshop on 29th February 2016

Ms. Elizabeth B. Thomas, Ms. Meeta Calvin and Mr. Ramprakash attended a ‘Counsellors Symposium 2016’ organized by BML MUNJAL UNIVERSITY at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The theme was “Broadening the educational horizon: Exploring the potentials”. The session started with an inaugural address by Prof. P.A Satyanarayan of BML University. He highlighted that India is a strong emerging leader and the whole world is looking at India with lots of expectations. The session was carried forward by the renowned clinical psychologist Dr. Aruna Broota who stressed on the fact that students should be guided to make right career choices in their lives. She discussed various case studies which helped the participants to get an insight into the problems faced by students while opting for different streams after class X.

Dr. Goldie Gabrani, Professor at BML Munjal University discussed the broadening of the educational horizons by encouraging the students to think out of the box. Ms. Jyotsana Bhardwaj, a consulting psychologist emphasized on the need to nurture human potential. She asked the educators to keep their students motivated and to help them gain self esteem.

Shalom teachers attend a CBSE Master Trainer Workshop on 15th and 16th Feb’16

Ms. Suniti Bhai and Ms. Maya Vinod took keen part in the CBSE Workshop which had 40 participants from different schools including principals and vice principals of different region. Ms. Roopa Chakravarty and Ms. Neera Chawla were the resource persons. Much learning ensued as the delegates deliberated and discussed the following points:

 Difference between the Evaluation and Assessment.
 What constitutes CCE, what is not covered in CCE and how can schools innovate under CCE guidelines.
 Importance of Parental Interaction after each evaluation.
 Teachers should not confine themselves to text-books and be deep-learning oriented.
 Difference between Anecdotal and Student Portfolio.
 Criteria grid for rubrics.
 Importance of inter-disciplinary projects.
 Importance of Newspaper activity.
 Importance of Bloom Taxonomy in drafting question papers.
 Different parameters under Co-Scholastic areas.
 Importance of Summative Assessment.
 Importance of Value Education
 Ensuring that the content in the text-books is gender-sensitive.
 Conducting Life Skill activities in school.

Yet another important area of discussion was how to improve the results in Grade XI and prepare the students for the rigours of Grade XII boards.

Shalom faculty members attend a CBSE Workshop on 5th Feb’16

Ms. Mitu Singh, Psychology and Life Skills teacher and Mrs. Elizabeth Bijo Thomas Students Well Being Educator of SHIS attended a CBSE workshop on Life Skills at CBSE, Centre of Excellence, Gurgaon on 5th Feb’16. The resource persons, Ms. Usha Anand, psychologist and Ms. Himal, Principal, Hans Raj Model School, Delhi. started the session with an ice breaking exercise. Then different situations were given in a hand out to identify the skills that were most apt to the given situation. It was a very interactive session as each participant assessed the situation according to their own view and then the resource person/s explained the right way to assess the same situation. A group activity was done to emphasize different ways to make life skills classes more interesting. Right methods to use each technique like storytelling, role play, drama and dance were demonstrated through another group activity.

A video was also shown to make the delegates understand the importance of using audio visuals in a class. Post-lunch session aimed at understanding the assessment of life skills. The session ended with a question answer session

Workshop on Assertiveness Training for Social Anxiety Disorder attended by Shalom counselor and teachers on 2nd February 2016.

A workshop on Assertiveness Training for Social Anxiety Disorder held at Fortis Hospital was attended by Ms Bhupinder Kaur, Senior Counselor and In charge of Health & Wellness Department along with Ms Elizabeth & Ms Mitu Singh. The session was an informative one as it threw light on various approaches to be taken up in the classroom settings. The psychologist also laid stress on how observation is an important part in identifying the social anxiety disorder. The assertiveness training to be imparted in the class was discussed in detail. The various methods to be used in assertive training are like social stories, Talk blocks, I’s game. The various assertive techniques and refusal skills using Role Play which could be practiced in the class room were also demonstrated.

Some of them are:
• Expression of anger in an adaptive way, to express or tell someone what you feel by using ‘I’ statements.
• Express needs and desires.
• Say NO in adaptive ways.
• State opinions
• Discrepancy assertion- clarifying misunderstandings.

Staff Welfare trip organized to Farmstead in Baliawas on 30th Jan’16Shalom teachers attend Workshop on ‘Challenging Areas Of English Core-Class XII’ on 27 and 28 Jan’16

A workshop on Assertiveness Training for Social Anxiety Disorder held at Fortis Hospital was attended by Ms Bhupinder Kaur, Senior Counselor and In charge of Health & Wellness Department along with Ms Elizabeth & Ms Mitu Singh. The session was an informative one as it threw light on various approaches to be taken up in the classroom settings. The psychologist also laid stress on how observation is an important part in identifying the social anxiety disorder. The assertiveness training to be imparted in the class was discussed in detail. The various methods to be used in assertive training are like social stories, Talk blocks, I’s game. The various assertive techniques and refusal skills using Role Play which could be practiced in the class room were also demonstrated.

Some of them are:
• Expression of anger in an adaptive way, to express or tell someone what you feel by using ‘I’ statements.
• Express needs and desires.
• Say NO in adaptive ways.
• State opinions
• Discrepancy assertion- clarifying misunderstandings.

Staff Welfare trip organized to Farmstead in Baliawas on 30th Jan’16Shalom teachers attend Workshop on ‘Challenging Areas Of English Core-Class XII’ on 27 and 28 Jan’16

Staff Welfare is very important to the management of Shalom Hills International School. Other than a spate of Staff Club and in-house programmes organized for the relaxation, entertainment and team-building among the staff, the management organizes trips to give the teachers a well-deserved respite from their teaching routine. And to the credit of the staff, they apply the same dedicated approach to having fun which they do to their work. On a day on unsullied sunshine, the faculty members accompanied by the Head-Mistresses of Primary and Senor Wing, the two Senior Coordinators spent a day on undiluted merriment at Farmstead, Baliawas, Faridabad. The principal Mr Atul Bhatt joined the teachers for the post-lunch activities.

The teachers showed their dare-devilry and adventurous spirit by trying their hands at Zorbing, Horse Hurdle, Burma Bridge, Flying Fox, Rock climbing and river crossing. Some tried their hand at pottery as well.
The teachers danced to the heart’s glory to the popular beats. They enjoyed a savory breakfast and sumptuous lunch in addition to reveling in one another’s congenial company. The teachers thanked the school management for arranging such a delightful stress-buster for them.

Shalom teachers attend Workshop on ‘Challenging Areas Of English Core-Class XII’ on 27 and 28 Jan’16

An enlightening and highly interactive was conducted by Ms.Neelima Sharma, Ms.Neerda and Ms Kiran Bhatt at CBSE centre of excellence. Ms. Meenakshi madan and Ms.Rinky Maini represented SHIS at the session.

The training-workshop was opened with an ice-breaker that required the participants to line up alphabetically by first name or nick name without talking. Ms. Neerda then opened the session by welcoming the participants, asking them to introduce themselves, and establishing the ground rules. She then went on to the first session based on the concept of teaching writing skills effectively, beginning with a word-visualization exercise.

In an activity, the teachers ‘skimmed, scanned, actively read’ an excerpt from ‘The Invisible Man’ and thought of some add-on questions that would spike up the children’s interest in the story and get them to write better and enjoy reading assignments. In another activity, they understood the different poetic structures and attempted poetic expressions using them.

Workshop on Classroom Management with senior teachers on 23rd Jan’16

A Workshop on Classroom Management was conducted for the Senior Wing faculty members by Ms Bhupinder Kaur, In charge of Health & Wellness Department & Senior Counsellor. The workshop covered these main objectives:

• Recognize and identify the potential of behavioral problems within classroom settings.
• Gain insight in adapting proactive approach rather than reactive and
• How to empower the students to be more responsible for their own behavior and,
• Provide educators with strategies to enhance learning, build self-esteem and control troublesome behavior of students.

Ms Bhupinder stressed that at times the cause of behavioral problems result from academic ones and to sort out such problems, firstly the academic problems should be sorted out and the cases should be referred to the counsellor in the beginning of the session to understand if the child falls under SEN (special educational needs) or not. The teachers present in the workshop were guided how to overcome the difficulties they face in the classrooms and a few teachers also shared incidents how they have helped not only Shalomites but also other children by bringing about a change in their attitude and behaviour.

NCF Workshop conducted by the Head Mistress-Senior Wing on 23rd Jan’16

In order to enlighten all the teachers regarding the need, relevance and tenets of NCF 2005, a workshop was conducted by Ms. Priyaa Chauhan, Head Mistress-Senior Wing on 23rd Jan’16 with the teachers of Grades VI-XII.At the outset of the workshop, Ms. Chauhan expounded upon the objectives which are enshrined in the NCF and how its basic tenets are to do justice to the doctrines in the Constitution of India.

Ms. Chauhan also shared how the NCF seeks to minimize rote learning and curriculum overload, thereby ensuring that knowledge takes place outside the classroom and through an integration of Inter-Disciplinary projects and programmes. The ultimate aim of education as envisioned by NCF is to empower minds , stop isolated learning, bring uniformity and flexibility in schools across the country and foster creativity. The role of teachers was clearly spelt out as guides, facilitators who have to ensure that knowledge is gained by students and not merely information.

Ms. Priyaa Chauhan, in a highly interactive and illumining workshop, touched upon how teaching of subjects like Maths, Science, languages, Computer Education and Social Science should foster lifelong and ‘beyond textbooks’

Shalom teachers attend Workshop on ‘Improvising Reading Comprehension skills’ on 16th Jan’16

An edifying and highly interactive workshop was conducted by Dr. Ranjini Krishnaswamy at Lotus Valley International School in collaboration with Pitambar Publishing Co Pvt Ltd. Ms. Jyotin Prinja and Ms. Kalika Tiwari represented SHIS at the session.

The session took off on a consensual note that Reading forms the most neglected area of the language skills. Since good readers spawn a generation of good writers, teachers must adopt techniques and strategies to encourage reading habits. After a discussion of the novel ways used by various schools to inculcate reading habit among their students, the teachers were made to ‘Read aloud’ from the comprehension passages handed out to them. In an activity, the teachers ‘skimmed, scanned, actively read’ an excerpt from Canterville Ghost and thought of some add-on questions that would spike up the children’s interest in the story and get them to write better and enjoy reading assignments. In another activity, they understood the different poetic structures (Haiku, tanka) and attempted poetic expressions using them.

Another important learning outcome was that learning experiences with scaffolds and inter-disciplinary material can improve the student’s performance before, during and after an activity.

CCE – Workshop attended by faculty members on 8th and 9th January 2016

The faculty members of the 2 branches attended a two-day CCE Workshop conducted by Ms Rachna Swarup of N.I.I.T Solution. On Day –I, the Scholastic areas were taken up for discussion. At the outset of the workshop, the resource person emphasized on the importance of 21st century skills including life skills. The distinction between Formative and Summative Assessment was underscored through interesting quotes like ‘When the cook tastes the soup, it is formative while the guests taste the soup, it is summative assessment.” New tools for FA covering diagnostic, remedial, enhancement and effectiveness were introduced.

Curriculum Planning through Vertical and Horizontal Mapping was explained to the teachers. Although only one activity was conducted on Day 1, there were a few collaborative activities conducted on the second day which included the drawing up of an inter-disciplinary ‘Activity Design Grid’ and Evaluation Grid by each group of teachers. Bloom’s Taxonomy, descriptive indicators, portfolio and the criterion on which a good and balanced paper is to be based were also reiterated. A short Role Play activity was carried out to discuss how to make and record observations of students’ behavior and attitude.

Shalom teachers attend a Seminar held at KR Mangalam School on 18th December’15

“Mathematics is one of the essential emanations of the human spirit, a thing to be valued in and for itself, like art or poetry”- Oswald Veblen

Maths teachers of the Senior Wing, Ms. Shruti Vasishta, Ms. Kousalya Seshadri and Ms. Vanita Verma attended a “Mathematics Orientation Programme” conducted by Prof. M.L. Aggarwal. The seminar was convened by APC Books, Karol Bargh, New Delhi in collaboration with KR Mangalam World School.

The programme started at 9:30 am in Yoga room of K.R. Mangalam School. The principal of K.R. Mangalam introduced the chief guest and felicitated him with a token of appreciation. Approximately 100 teachers from various schools of Gurgaon and NCR participated in this interactive programme.In his speech, Prof. M.L. Aggarwal elaborated upon the “Concept Building of Mathematics” and followed it up with an activity. He shared his own experiences with the delegates on how to teach mathematics through reasoning and logical thinking.

In the vote of thanks, the Principal of K.R. Mangalam School appreciated the teacher’s efforts and their outstanding work in the field of education.

French Teachers’ Workshop organized by Saraswati Publications in SHIS on 5TH Dec’15

French teachers from various schools at Gurgaon like Heritage, Sun City, DPS-45, Presidium, Meenaxi Public school, American Public School etc attended an interesting French Workshop. Ms. Mahitha Ranjit, who has 11 years of teaching French at eminent schools like Apeejay, St. Paul, G.D. Goenka, Nodal Head- 12th standard CBSE Examination and has authored- Apprenons le francais, Ailes, Entre Jeunes and Together with French, conducted the workshop. All the participating teachers interacted with the author and with other teachers.The learning objectives of the workshop were to share views on upcoming trends/changes in the French curriculum, CBSE’s syllabus for Grade IX, X. Other points of interaction were as below

 Teachers also had interaction and shared Insight into French culture and civilisation 5Cs of teaching How to encourage lively and effective classroom teaching,How to make language learning more than just scholastic learning Easy and interesting learning Introduction to Value based questions Sharing of French listening practice resources.The workshop was concluded with the Principal, Mr Atul Bhatt’s interaction with the participants and the Guest Author.

Computer Science faculty members attend India GEG Level 1 Workshop on 3rd and 4th Dec 2015

Google had organized a two days session on India GEG Level 1 Workshop Featuring Google Apps for Education (GAfE). Mr. Jay Atwood conducted it and specially handpicked teachers (by Google) from Delhi and NCR schools attended the session. Ms. Sarika Aneja and Ms. Ambika Yadav were among the privileged few to be a part of the illumining session. The event began with the introduction of each participant followed by talk on Google Apps for Education tools. The focus was primarily on the usage of GAfE and certification on Google Educators Level 1.

Google Apps for Education are built for schools only and focuses on tools and technology that the teachers can use in their everyday lives to improve their task management and increase student engagement. These tools offer real time editing, powerful sharing controls and seamless compatibility. The session was divided into before and post lunch session on both the days. Practice session was held at the end of the each day to recollect the learning objectives. SHIS is using GAfE. Shortly the entire faculty will be trained into using it optimally and effectively.

Head Mistress of Shalom Hills International School attends Round Table Discussion at Radisson Blu Plaza on 27th November’2015

A Principal’s Meet was organized by Vedatya Institute at Radisson Blu Plaza to discuss the important issues such as the advances in teaching pedagogy and their impact on student learning and performance. Ms Priyaa Chauhan, Head-Mistress of Senior Wing represented Shalom Hills International School and took keen part in the discussions. The initial discussions were moderated by Dr Sudhanshu Bhushan, Professor at Vedatya.

The delegates shared their experiences with respect to innovation in teaching pedagogy being implemented in their respective institutions. Some schools have responded to the challenge of embracing children with special needs in the mainstream like The Heritage, The Shree Ram School, Eicher School, Faridabad and it was commonly felt that others could gain from their experiences. Professor Sandeep Munjal, Director, Vedatya moderated the discussion. Need for a vocational course was discussed.

Various schools participated in the discussion, namely Sri Venketashwara International School, Raman Munjal School and Loreto Convent School. The Vedataya group proposed to start a 3 years vocational course in culinary for the learners with special needs. They would initialize discussions with schools shortly.

Shalom teachers attend a Workshop in Paras Hospital on 21st Nov’15

A workshop and coffee session with a diabetalolgist was organized for Shalom teachers by Health & Wellness Department of Senior Wing. Ms Sangeeta Wadhawan, Ms Seema Sobti & Ms Attreyee Dey attended the session with the diabetologist in Paras Hospital. The workshop to spread awareness about diabetes and its related complications was conducted by Dr Vineet Sharma, a Diabetologist and Endocrinologist. He threw light on the causes, symptoms of diabetes and its effects on health. The causes of diabetes and how a healthy life style can be followed to avoid or to get rid of diabetes were some of the main issues addressed in the session.

The chief dietician, Ms Neeti Bhalla was there to guide the delegates about the various kinds of foods to be included in one’s daily diet plan; how to have a healthy life style and if anyone is already suffering, what kind of foods would be beneficial to lower the risks. Finally in the end, all the queries by the teachers were answered by the doctors and the dietician.

Shalom H.M and faculty member attend British Council’s ISA Mid-Term Review Meeting in New Delhi on 5th Nov’15

Ms. Priyaa Chauhan, Head Mistress of Senior Wing and Ms. Ambika Yadav attended and took keen part in the ISA Mid-Term Review Meeting held in New Delhi. The meeting was a part of the British Council’s Connecting Classroom Programme of which SHIS has become a part. The session was attended by faculty members of 55 schools across the country. Ms. Kanika Nayyar and Ms. Anantha were the resource persons.

Ms. Priyaa Chauhan and Ms. Ambika Yadav showed the dossier containing records and documents of the curriculum projects conducted in the school till date. Ms. Priya Chauhan informed the resource persons that the school had finished its 3 Collaborative Projects and shared details of the partner schools.

The resource persons suggested amendments in the templates and documents. They also informed the Shalom ISA members that they would be receiving a CD and kit shortly. The school’s ISA Chief Coordinator would soon need to attend a series of training workshops and appear for online courses. The date of completion of all projects and submission of the dossier was fixed for end of Feb 2016.

Hindi faculty members of Shalom Hills attend a Hindi Workshop on 31st Oct’15

Shalom Hills International School, through its Teacher Enrichment Programme offers umpteen opportunities to its faculty members to expand and extend their subject knowledge, update themselves with latest teaching practices and also enhance their professional expertise by attending various workshops and seminars organized within the school or elsewhere. One such opportunity was given to the members of the Hindi Department on 31st Oct’15.

Hindi teachers of Senior and Middle Wing, namely Ms. Mukesh Dabas, Ms. Suman Lamba, Ms. Sangeeta Singh, Ms. Pooja Nagar and Ms. Shefali Srivastva attended a Hindi workshop conducted by Dr. Prasoon Singh Chauhan in D.P.S, Sector 45, Gurgaon. During the course of the interactive session many important concepts of Hindi related to all classes were discussed minutely. Care was taken to highlight the common errors made by the students in the language and how they can be rectified. The workshop was very interesting and fruitful.

Visit by Google Chrome team from U.S.A to Shalom Hills International School on 15th October’15

From creating its own website to launching Google apps, online report card, student’s portal to E-Resources etc, Shalom Hills International School is a technology enabled and digitally driven school. Recently Google Chrome Team from U.S.A has undertaken a visit to top 10 most progressive schools of Delhi NCR, Shalom Hills International School being one of them.

On 15th Oct’15, Mrs. Jimmy Puri, Michael, Rupali, Jaishree and Tarun came to our school to conduct an interactive session with the students and teachers. They were welcomed by the Principal, Mr Atul Bhatt and H.M – Senior Wing, Mrs Priya Chauhan. After that, an interactive session was held by them with a few students of Grades VIII-XII. The students really enjoyed sharing with them about Google tools, difference between Chrome and Internet Explorer. andhow our school is using latest technology in classroom teaching.

In an informal session with a few Senior Wing teachers, namely Ms. Sarika Aneja, Ms. Megha Gupta, Ms. Jyotin Prinja, Ms. Vimala Jossy, Ms. Vineeta Lomba and Ms. Ambika Yadav, they learnt how all the teachers are making effective use of technology in their teaching techniques.

Shalom Primary Wing teachers attend a workshop at Bharti Sigma Centre on 14th October’15

The workshop was attended by Ms. Shilpa Saluja and Ms. Kalika Tiwari, the Primary English teachers of SHIS attended a Workshop for Primary School English teachers at Bharti Sigma Centre on 14th October’15. The workshop was on ‘How do Educators meet challenges of developing 21st century learners?’ and was organized by Scholastic India Pvt. Ltd.

It was a 3 hour session which concentrated on the Big Four principles of the teaching learning process- Communication, Comprehension, Collaboration and Circle Time. The session began with discussion of the challenges faced by teachers in teaching English, followed by the Skill enhancement session which began with the most important skill of English Language- listening skills.

The interactive workshop was interspersed with dialogue, storytelling, role playing, freeze frames, picture association, story collation and creating interactive lesson plans. It emphasised the idea of giving students an opportunity to read by choice and not by compulsion. Only this way, we would be able to change student’s outlook towards English not just as a subject of school curriculum but also to learn it as an interesting and widely communicated language.

Shalom faculty attends a Workshop on “Effective Teaching of Mathematics for Classes 9 & 10” on 10th Oct’15

A Workshop was conducted by Ratna Sagar Publishing House at Delhi Public School, Sector-45, Gurgaon on 10th October 2015. The Resource person was Dr. Hukum Singh, Former Dean Academic, NIE, NCERT. The main theme of the workshop was “Effective Teaching of Mathematics Classes 9 and 10”. Ms Visakha of Maths Department of Shalom Hills International School attended the workshop.

The session began with a discussion on the basic recommendations of National Curriculum Framework 2005. Its key points were highlighted, for example the shift from rote methods to logical thinking, importance of classroom teaching and most importantly the need to believe in the capacity of the child fully.Dr. Singh spoke on the importance of Mathematics. He included elements from the history of Maths, The Great Mathematicians of India namely Baudhayana (800BC), Aryabhata (600BC), Brahmagupta, Varamahamira, Sridhara, Ramanujan, their contributions to mathematics and also spoke about the Golden period of Mathematics in India.

The discussion then progressed to the common conceptual errors committed by the students and the necessity of the teacher to deal with them skilfully. Dr Singh urged the teachers to create their own kits for chapter specific tools to ensure better understanding of concepts and insisted on the presence of Math Lab in all schools. He also shared with us the information about the Nobel Prize and the Fields Medal.

The second session was a hands-on exercise. Professor Singh demonstrated various simple yet effective models to build a thorough understanding of mathematical concepts like Geometry and Algebra. He recommended the use of such tools for students, not only to instil an interest in the subject but also to make them excel.

In the end Ratna Sagar Publications publicized their new Maths book for classes 9 and 10 by Monica Capoor. The session was enlightening and immensely interactive. Dr Hukum was a great source of inspiration for the teachers and provided all of them with new and innovative methods of teaching Mathematics.

Shalom faculty members attend The Times NIE Teachers’ Meet in New Delhi on 9th Oct’15

Ms. Jyotin Prinja, the Subject Incharge of English Department and Ms. Meenakshi Madan, Senior Secondary English teacher attended the annual event organized by The Times of India Group in Hotel Holiday Inn in Mayur Vihar, New Delhi on 9th Oct’15.The theme of the Annual Meet was “Healthy Life in a competitive world’ and included a series of health and fitness activities by experts from the respective fields. The TOI staff used the event as a platform to acknowledge the effort and contribution of the teaching fraternity who are considered the pillars of our society. They felicitated the NIE school coordinators who have served their schools for more than 20 years.

Ms. Nicole, former Ms. India was the guest of honour and shared memories of the time she was crowned Ms. India. Many interesting activities and fun games were organized for the teachers. The teachers from leading schools across Delhi NCR enjoyed getting to know one another, exchanging ideas and having fun in the team games0.

Shalom faculty members attend The Times NIE Teachers’ Meet in New Delhi on 9th Oct’15

Ms. Jyotin Prinja, the Subject Incharge of English Department and Ms. Meenakshi Madan, Senior Secondary English teacher attended the annual event organized by The Times of India Group in Hotel Holiday Inn in Mayur Vihar, New Delhi on 9th Oct’15.The theme of the Annual Meet was “Healthy Life in a competitive world’ and included a series of health and fitness activities by experts from the respective fields. The TOI staff used the event as a platform to acknowledge the effort and contribution of the teaching fraternity who are considered the pillars of our society. They felicitated the NIE school coordinators who have served their schools for more than 20 years.

Ms. Nicole, former Ms. India was the guest of honour and shared memories of the time she was crowned Ms. India. Many interesting activities and fun games were organized for the teachers. The teachers from leading schools across Delhi NCR enjoyed getting to know one another, exchanging ideas and having fun in the team games0.

Workshop on Google Literacy and Google Tools conducted on 26th September’15

“In life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough; you must take action.”

Most people believe that life ought to be enjoyed in the fullest in the present moment and nowhere else. So to experience our life fully means focusing on the now, the present moment. If not now, when? is one of the mantras that inspires the Shalom faculty to engage in productive pursuits and professional enrichment programme that take place throughout the year in the school in order to move towards realizing their dreams.

Online resource hubs and other tools for collaboration, i.e. blogs and discussion boards, and including virtual or in-school coaching and mentoring, are beginning to make inroads in accomplishing teaching quality and student achievement. To familiarize the Shalom faculty with the latest online resources and the Computational thinking resource, the school had organized a workshop for the teachers. Ms. Ambika Yadav, Senior Grades Computer Science teacher and Mr. Nebu and Ms. Ritika (resources persons from Google Office, Gurgaon) conducted the workshop. The session began with brainstorming on Computational Thinking and how best it can be utilized for the teaching faculty to prepare ‘the students for a world they can’t see’. A succinct video highlighted the key components of CT – Decomposition, Pattern Recognition, Abstraction and Algorithm Design. As a warming up exercise, all the teachers were engaged in drawing up a flow-chart of how they would take up any lesson/topic/concept in their class and impart it to the students. Connecting the 9-dots mind game challenged the teachers thinking and computational skills.

The teachers were acquainted with the components to include in their lesson plans – Algorithm, Decomposition, Pattern, Abstraction and revamp it according to the Computational Thinking criterion. Ms. Ambika Yadav facilitated all the teachers by explaining in minutest details how to break down their individual lesson palns to micro level, what to show under abstraction and so on. Mr. Rohit Raghav and Ms. Ambika helped the teachers to successfully upload their lesson plans on the Google link. To their collective credit, all the teachers uploaded their lesson plans on the link and even received online certificates from Google Office. They will be receiving hardcopy of the online certificates shortly.

Over all the session was really very interesting and educative. After the workshop was over, they are now looking forward to applying the knowledge of all the newly learnt apps in their day to day life.

Teachers of Middle Wing attend a workshop on Multiple Intelligence on 18th September’15

A workshop on Multiple Intelligence was conducted by Ms. Kavita in the Middle Wing Auditorium on 18th September’ 2015. The illumining session on Howard Gardner’s 8 Intelligences Theory and how it can be integrated into everyday teaching was attended by the Middle Wing Headmistress Ms. Rima Gaekwad, Ms. Suniti Bhai and the teachers of Grades I-V.

Ms. Kavita started the workshop with a Power Point Presentation giving a detailed insight into the 8 intelligences theory pioneered and popularized by the specialist, Howard Gardner. She first began by sharing what is considered IQ, how it was realised that the Intelligence tests such as IQ test did not accurately represent or assess the diversity of ways in which people learn. Therefore, the teachers were encouraged to start thinking of intelligence as a set of many different abilities and skills that help an individual learner to comprehend, examine, and respond. Dr Gardner has suggested that each person possesses 8 Intelligences or ways in which individuals respond in different ways, to different kinds of content or situation.

The teachers were apprised about the importance of assessing the multiple intelligence in all the students in the classroom through simple observation, previous records, interaction with parents, students etc. Ms. Kavita shared numerous incidents taken from life examples with teachers such as there might be children in the classroom who are high on interpersonal intelligence; hence activities like discussion and interactions will work for them. However at the same time, there might be other students who might be high on intrapersonal intelligence but who would not be otherwise active in a classroom interaction environ; hence a teacher has to discover every student’s intelligence or ways of learning.

The session was not all theoretical but filled with activities for teachers such as ‘Two Minute Story Narration with action’ and ‘How innovative one can get with a mere football’. The teachers came out with creative stories and acted them out at the same time. The activity not only helped teachers to understand students better and their individual ways of learning but also brought out the child present inside teachers. Each group was given a chart paper wherein they drew out their group’s story and associated it with different types of intelligences. Overall, it was a highly interactive and application-based workshop.

Shalom teachers attend an Interactive Teacher Workshop by 10th September 2015

An Interactive Teacher Training Workshop was conducted by Geetika Kapoor, eminent psychologist and Founder Director, Ed Essential on ‘Closing Achievement Gap: Building True Potential of a Child’ at Indian International Centre , New Delhi on 10th September’15. Dr. Anjali Sharma , Ms. Richa Jaini , Ms. Vineeta Bhatt and Ms. Anika, Senior Grades teachers of Shalom Hills International School attended the workshop.

Ms. Geetika Kapoor , a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, trained in Kankas ,USA , has worked closely with various schools in making learning an emotionally healthy experience for all children. The workshop highlighted the Dynamics of Achievement Gap, and Ms. Geetika emphasized on creating skill based learning experience and positive engagement with students. She interacted with the teachers and encouraged them to adopt classroom practices that ensure motivation and high achievement.

It takes a village to bring up a child, let’s be that village, a popular aphorism, was the crux of the workshop. Children learn best when they are happy. Achievement gap manifests itself in many ways. Once a child starts falling behind in academic performance, it is difficult to catch up. By the time a child reaches Grade 3, gaps are tremendous and parents and teachers wonder where to begin to reverse the process. So, early interventions are very important. The basic indicators like receptively recognizing colours, alphabets, and limited vocabulary help in identifying a gap. Early stimulation is very important. Parents should talk a lot to their kids.

Closing such an achievement gap is a humongous task. Mainstream teachers, counselor, special teachers need to work as a team. Students should be helped by optimal utilization of the non-financial resources and which is imperative for a school’s success. These resources: emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, support system and role model, help in achieving success. Class room behavior has to be taught. Teachers need to adopt a skill developed approach rather than a syllabus driven approach. Students work better when motivated. Feedback is crucial .The teachers should focus on the behavior they want to see in the future.

The workshop was enriching and enlightening and gave all the teachers some real food for thought. A truly invigorating , inspiring and stimulating experience!

Shalom counselor and teachers attend a Workshop on “Nurturing Positive Self Esteem” in Fortis Hospital Gurgaon on 19.08.15

Department of Mental Health &Behavioral Sciences, Fortis Health Care Limited Gurgaon, organized a workshop on “Self Esteem Building Skills” under Counsellor’s Forum. Ms Bhupinder Kaur- Senior Counsellor, senior grader teachers Ms Mitu Singh & Ms Vinita Loomba of Shalom Hills International School also attended the workshop.

Ms Mimansa Singh, Ms Chaya (both clinical psychologists) and Ms Aditi Kumar (Art Therapist) as key speakers initiated the discussion through Case Studies of varied age group (8 to 17 year old ) and defined Self Esteem- as an individual’s subjective evaluation of her or his worth as a person.Self Esteem can be broadly classified as Global self-esteem & Domain Specific self-esteem. Global SE refers to an individual’s overall evaluation of herself or himself, whereas domain specific SE concerns specific facets of the self-such as physical appearance or academic competence.

At last, it was rightly said that SE is a complex & multifaceted construct & requires strategies that focus both on enhancing global & domain specific self-esteem. Adolescent is a vulnerable stage as the teenagers tend to face many vectors that impact SE, hence it is important to deal with self-esteem at both cognitive & social level.

Shalom teachers attend Microsoft Workshop on 11th August 2015

An Induction Workshop under Microsoft was held in Lotus Valley International School, Gurgaon. This program is part of a leadership initiative for schools on environmentally sustainable living. It also seeks to lead to the development of 21st century skills among students including collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, communication, social skills, ICT competencies, self direction and planning.

The workshop was attended by teachers from 14 schools of Gurgaon as well as Delhi. Ms. Neelima Mani and Ms. Sarika Aneja from Shalom Hills International School attended the workshop. The workshop started with a motivational speech by Mr. Pranshu Singhal from Microsoft. Thereafter the introduction address was given by Mr. Rohit Prakash from I-dream. Light was thrown on the teacher handbook and toolkit along with an interactive session of understanding sustainability through games. The workshop ended with conceptual discussion on various toolkits and exercises. The participating teachers were also asked to give their feedback about the workshop. All the teachers had positive and appreciative remarks to share, mostly that they felt the program can meet the contemporary need to make the world better place and be an integral part of sustainable development.

Shalom teachers attend a workshop on Climate Reality Project on 25th July’15

Mr Rohit from Ecoslate, and a Climate Reality leader conducted the workshop for the Science faculty members of the Senior Wing of Shalom Hills International School, namely Ms. Vimala Jossy (Subject Head – Science Department), Ms. Lajeeli Sinha, Ms. Suman Bhanwala, Ms Anjali Drolia, Mr Jai Prakash, Ms. Apoorva, Ms. Neelima and Ms. Meenakshi. The main purpose of this workshop was to bring about an awareness about the social impact of climate change in our society. With the help of video clippings, he explained how the green house gases are useful and harmful to the earth’s atmosphere. He also explained how earth has maintained an average temperature of 15 ▫C due to green house gases. In absence of these gases, the temperature may drop to -18▫ . Through examples, Mr Rohit explained the correlation between rainfall and temperature.

During the course of this extremely thought-provoking workshop, Mr Rohit discussed the far-reaching impact of climate change like increase of rainfall, forest fires, decrease in crop yield, water crisis, infrastructure, decrease in animal and plant species, respiratory ailments etc. He also shared important data such as 2014 was the hottest year ever. The session concluded on a positive note wherein Mr Rohit provided the faculty members with some solutions to overcome the problem like more use of green energy like wind energy , installations of solar panels , use of airconditioners at an average temperature of 24-26▫C and maintaining the thermostat of geysers at 40▫C. He disclosed how a school in Gujarat uses solar panels to recharge laptops.

An interesting interactive game was played as a wrap-up exercise towards the end of the workshop . Mr. Rohit mentioned that every teacher can also become a climate reality member by clearing an online test. Furthermore, they can work as a mascot for the Climate Change and sensitize the students. It was an informative and fruitful workshop.

U.K teachers and delegates visit Shalom Hills International School on 10th July 2015

A team of eminent educationists associated with some premier social service, educational and first aid organizations of U.K recently visited Shalom Hills International School. Mr Richard Fullway, former Chairman Aberystwyth University Conservative Future (2013-14) and currently looking after RS First Aid - three countries area along with Mr Tiernam Daniel Lean, associated with Edinburg University, United Kingdom were taken on a guided tour of the school by Mr. Atul Bhatt, the school principal and other coordinators. They were highly impressed by the infrastructure, facilities, and high standards of safety, hygiene and well-being being maintained in Shalom Hills under the aegis of its committed and learned management.

They admired the state-of-the-art building, sprawling and well-maintained grounds and clean n green premises. After that, they were engaged in an informative and absorbing discussion and interaction with the principal. After a session of free-flowing intellectual talk and exchange of ideas, the visitors went back, full of praise for the school, its facilities and processes.

Shalom teachers attend workshop on handling adolescent issues on 30th June’15

A workshop with teachers on “How to handle Adolescent Issues” was organized by the Health & Wellness Department of Senior Wing for the teachers of Grades I-X on 30.06.15. A beneficial & interactive session was taken by Dr Mimansa Singh , a clinical psychologist from Fortis Hospital. She spread awareness about Adolescence stating that “as the adolescent period is more intense period of growth that teachers & parents should not ignore the emotional growth of a child”. It leads to conflicts like aggression, school truancy, substance abuse, eating disorders, anti-social behavior, self-harm, poor school achievement and many more. Ms Mimansa explored the nature of adolescent behavior by describing that sometimes, kids can't easily explain why they act the way they do. They may be just as confused about it as the adults, or they simply see delinquent behavior as appropriate way to deal with what they experience. Parents and loved ones may feel scared, angry, frustrated, or hopeless. They may feel guilty and wonder where they went wrong. All these feelings are normal, but it is important to understand that there is help available for troubled kids and their families.

The grown-ups’ decision making process, thinking patterns is vastly different than theirs so it is difficult for the adults to understand an adolescent or their problems. The pre-teens and teens think & do differently and thus more conflicting situation arise. The foremost thing in coping with such situations at home & in school is to give the teenagers support & extend a helping hand to understand their emotions, firstly by accepting and then by helping. If the connect is not developed between the child & the parent or child & the teacher, the power struggle between the two will continue. They will block their emotions & never try to solve their own problems. The growing youngster should be made to understand his/her strengths & limitations. Media Literacy & social engagement is also important.

Most of the senior teachers raised questions & were helped in understanding the difficult phase of Adolescent period.

A workshop on E- BOOK and Hindi Grammar conducted by Madhuban Publications on 29th June’15

A workshop was conducted by Sambodhan Hindi Shaikshik Manch at Shalom Hills International School on 29-June 2015. All the teachers from the Primary Wing participated in the workshop with great enthusiasm. The teachers learned important details of Hindi Grammar “Vyakaran” from Ms Rama Gupta. Teachers also learned how to use the E-books to improve the teaching skills and to make teaching more interactive and attractive.Overall, the workshop was very interesting and impressive. All the teachers contributed to the topic of the workshop with great interest. It was indeed a great learning exposure for all.

The Shalom family appreciated the Madhuban Publications for the great effort on their part to provide this learning opportunity to the teachers to learn the new teaching methods.

Shalom faculty attend a workshop on Learning Disability on 27th June’15

A workshop on Learning Disability was organized by the Health & Wellness Department of Senior Wing for the benefit of all faculty members on 27 June 2015. The workshop was an initiative conducted under the aegis of the Fortis Green Channel program by Dr. Chaya, clinical psychologist and Dr. Namrata Mahajan, special educator. The session aimed at making the teachers aware of the definition and important facts pertaining to Learning Disability. Yet another objective of the session was to empower them and guide them in identifying such cases in their classrooms.

The teachers were told about different types of learning disabilities (Disorder of reading, Disorder of written expressions, Disorder of Mathematics) and how to identify the children requiring special or individualized support in academics. Emotional aspect of children with learning disability was also shared by the clinical psychologist so that the teachers could be alert, sensitive and pro-active in understanding the child. It was an interactive session as teachers shared their classroom observations and the experts helped them in finding a solution. Role of the school, teachers and parents were discussed in helping a child with Special Educational Needs.

Staff Club Meeting held on 25th April’15

The entire staff of Shalom Hills International School came together to have a good time and meet the new joinees. The new teachers were warmly greeted by the existing staff members and were accorded a cordial welcome by Ms. Ritu Mehta, the school principal. All the new inductees introduced themselves and disclosed a few details of their hobbies, qualifications and previous experience. All the teachers were glad to join the Shalom fold and were appreciative of the care and cooperation extended to them by their seniors and counter-parts.

Ms. Ritu Mehta introduced the Head-Mistresses of Senior and Junior wings, Ms. Meenu Chopra and Ms. Rima Gaekwad to the teachers present followed by the announcement of the senior coordinators – Ms. Ruchi Bhatia, Ms. Swastika Acharya and Ms. Jyotin Prinja. A special mention was made of Ms. Anita Bhutani and Ms. Suniti Bhai as the senior-most teachers and their sterling contribution to the school. Ms. Rinky Maini was appreciated and her hard work acknowledged for the outstanding achievements of our students in Regional Round of World Scholar Cup. After acknowledging the role of the counselors and the accreditation team, Ms. Ritu Mehta gave away the certificates to the teachers who had attended the CBSE mandated workshop on Life-Skills.

Ms. Ruchi Bhatia, senior coordinator shared M.D ma’am vision of an ideal teacher and school. She shared with the teachers some thumbnail policies and guidelines which need to be adhered to by all the teachers to ensure unity, love and connectivity among the staff. The role of each and every teacher in promoting positive discipline in the school was emphasized upon and some measures to do so were discussed. The teachers greeted Ms. Anita Bhutani on her birthday, shared savoury snacks and mingled with one another.

Shalom teachers attend a Workshop on School Cinema on 10th April 2015

A riveting workshop on School Cinema was attended by the teachers of Classes VI to X as well as by the Head Mistress of Senior Wing, Ms Meenu Chopra & Counsellor of Senior Wing, Ms Bhupinder Kaur on 10th April 2015 in the school. The resource person cum trainer, Ms Bipasha stressed upon the fact that School Cinema is a researched film based learning curriculum supported by an interactive workbook, designed to introduce & reaffirm life skills, values & attitude to children, parents & educators.The movies shown under school cinema have won three National & International film festival awards & many countries have adopted them and integrated them in the curriculum to teach moral values in their schools. Ms. Bipasha pointed out that the basic aim of school cinema is to teach life skills in a non-preachy manner so that it has maximum impact on the young minds.

According to the trainer, today’s young generation is greatly influenced by cinema & they seek to imitate the behaviour they observe & see on T.V or in movies. School Cinema provides a channel meant for healthy viewing which helps the youngsters in making right decisions from an offering of varied choices. From the beginning of their childhood, they are compelled to do most things by their elders & forced expectations of the parents don’t let children to take decisions on their own. They cannot differentiate between what is good & bad. Each chapter from school cinema book consists of three learning factors & outcomes - Awareness, Understanding & Action. Every child in the class will show full participation by doing self-awareness activities, understanding the facts by using analytical approach & by translating their thinking into action. Ms Bipasha explained that 30 sessions are necessary in a year in which 20 minutes movie clip will be shown in every session & in the school cinema book which has been prescribed for Grades VI to X, the students will answer questions, choice appropriate option from multiple choice questions, and also share their opinions related to the movies.

The resource person showed the movie which was picked from class VIII curriculum named Checkmate- Are Boys & girls equally capable? The message about Gender Sensitivity/ Inequality, fear of failure & healthy competition was well depicted in the movie. After the movie, each teacher was provided with a teacher’s kit which contains teacher’s facilitator, workbook, CCE Evaluation Manual. Ms. Bipasha informed the staff about the parenting-counselling sessions wherein the parents will be guided how to understand an adolescent’s problems & they will be able to realize how difficult it is for every child to face & handle this difficult phase of life. The workshop imparted a lot of knowledge & provided entertainment to the teachers. They were exposed to a novel way to understand issues from their student’s perspective and keeping their feelings uppermost in mind while dealing with various problems.

Workshop on Guidelines for identifying children with Learning Disabilities held on 20th March 2015

A workshop with Senior Wing & Middle Wing teachers was conducted by Ms Bhupinder Kaur, school counsellor after the staff meeting taken by the school Principal, Ms Ritu Mehta in the Middle Wing Auditorium. The aim of the workshop was to make the realization that no child is alike & he/she should not be tagged or labelled for their behaviour & academic failure paramount in the minds of the teachers. They were apprised about what aspects of the child they should keep in mind while teaching in classrooms.

It was told clearly that learning problems may arise if the child has trouble in processing, organizing & applying the information. They should also understand the difference between Learning Disability & Learning Difficulty before identifying them with learning problems. A Specific Learning Disability (SLD) is “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities.”Learning difficulty- Any learning or emotional problem that affects, or substantially affects, a person’s ability to learn, get along with others and follow convention.

Learning disability- A significant, lifelong condition that starts & diagnosed in childhood, affects development and leads to help being required to Understand information, Learn skills & Cope independently.The cause of Learning Disability is manifested by - Acquired trauma to the central nervous system Genetic/hereditary influences, Biochemical abnormalities & Environmental possibilities. Teachers were made to understand that they should not ignore the basic features of the child if are exhibited in form of

•  Perceptual-motor impairment
•  Emotional liability
•  Coordination problems
•  Attention, Hyperactivity & Impulsivity (ADHD)
•  Memory disorders
•  Academic difficulties
•  Social skills deficits
•  Information processing difficulties
•  Lack of cognitive strategies for success (metacognition)
•  Language (reading, writing, speaking) and math deficits.

Once the problem is identified by the teachers, the case should be referred to the counselor with immediate effect. The child is further assessed by the counselor after consulting the history and previous anecdotal record of the child. If required, there will be counseling session with parents.The case is again referred outside for the psychological testing & evaluation after parents’ consent is obtained by the special educators. The counselors play an intermediate role in helping & supporting the child at school level. If the problem is verified after the testing then the child is referred for remedial education.

It was again stressed by Ms. Bhupinder how the teachers can help such children with visual aids, summarize through notes and give students written versions/print outs of key points verbalize what is being written on the whiteboard and read aloud material contained in handouts. Students with dyslexia may find it easier to complete writing assignments on a computer. The teachers were encouraged to support such children & be considerate enough to understand that the kids with learning disabilities may have trouble expressing their feelings, calming themselves down, and reading nonverbal cues from others. This can lead to difficulty in the classroom and with their peers. The peer group should be sensitized about their needs & difficulties & they should understand that all children need love, encouragement, and support, and for kids with learning disabilities, such positive reinforcement can help in ensuring that they emerge with a strong sense of self-worth, confidence, and the determination to keep going even when things are tough.

CCE – Workshop attended by teachers of Primary Wing on 17th March’15

A workshop on CCE- Life Skills was conducted by Mrs. Shobha Gupta, on 17 March, 2015.

The session began by addressing the teacher’s role in the holistic development of the child.It was also discussed that the teacher is the one who creates an impact on the society & contributes towards securing the nation’s future through innovative pedagogies.
The purpose of this workshop was to further familiarize the teachers with the scholastic and the co-scholastic aspects of the CCE. They were also made aware of the different areas under which Life Skills, Attitudes and Values are judged. These aspects were discussed with the help of activities, which was a fun- filled way to comprehend each of these aspects.

The workshop focussed on the issue of inclusive education as well. It laid stress on a very important point, that, curriculum must be in conformity with the values engraved in our constitution.

The various other parameters on life skills were conferred:

• 1. Role as a facilitator who has the power to direct information
• 2. Problem Solving Attitude of the child was discoursed
• 3. Behavioral Aspect of the child
• 4. Critical Thinking of the child
• 5. Teacher’s role as an effective Communicator
• 6. Discussion on different personality traits
• 7. Various ego states were explained
• 8. CCE framework of Lifeskills ( Thinking , Social & Emotional Skills )
• 9. Different areas in which values to be assessed
• 10. Need to learn the rubrics on lifeskills, Values & Attitudes
• 11. Questionnaire were given to the teachers related to teaching methodology
• 12. Individual & Group activity were conducted in which we have to choose value skills which we thought were most appropriate.

The workshop was indeed an eye opener as it cleared doubts and brought to light many aspects that are important for fair and effective implementation of the CCE. The interaction was informative as well as entertaining as it had a wide variety of interesting activities for teachers. For this purpose, the audience had been divided into groups of 10 each. Each group was given a different activity to be discussed and then a representative from every group was asked to share it with the larger audience. Every activity held relevance as it gave practical knowledge and hands- on experience to the teachers on how to deal with diverse aspects of CCE. The workshop was a robust refresher for the teachers on the assimilation of CCE.

Shalom teacher attends HT Pace – Annual Teachers Meet 2015 On 17th March 2015

The Hindustan Times Pace organized the Annual Teachers Meet on 17th March 2015 at HYATT Regency, New Delhi. The workshop included a yoga session which was followed by an interactive session on the importance and need of Ayurveda in today’s life, with special emphasis on its efficacy in removing physical and mental stress of the teachers. The teachers present for the Annual Meet took keen part in the yoga session in which some asanas and exercises were demonstrated to teach them how to cope with recurrent physical issues faced by teachers, like cervical and backache. The session was extremely rejuvenating and helped the teachers in understanding the need to exercise and how yoga can be a terrific tool to combat stress.

One of the eminent speakers in the panel was Dr Pratap Chauhan, the founder of JIVA, who enlightened the gathering with the concept of ‘Happiness and Health’ which can be attained through natural treatment and lifestyle enhancement. Further on, there was a question-answer round in which Dr. Chauhan answered the queries asked by the teachers pertaining to their lifestyle and health problems. Mr Steven Rudolf, the co-founder of JIVA and an educator from Europe also addressed the gathering and took everyone by surprise with his rendition of ‘Saare Jahan se Acha’. He shared his astounding experiences in India and also revealed his deep connect and association with Ayurveda. He explained to the gathering the multiple reasons why Ayurveda is slowly emerging as the need of the hour and why it ought to be incorporated and inculcated at the earliest stage via school curriculum.

The event was followed by prize distribution and souvenirs were given to the esteemed gathering of teachers who came forth to attend the seminar from all over Delhi and NCR. This session left a profound impact on the teachers since it sensitized them towards the need for better living and made them aware of the need to have a healthy evolvement of mind, body and soul.

Shalom faculty attend Capacity Building Workshop on 16th March 2015

As part of its Teacher Enrichment Programme, Shalom Hills International School organized an In-Service Capacity Building Workshop for its faculty members on 16th March 2015. The workshop was a CBSE Initiative and was conducted by Ms. Priyanka Bhambri. It was attended by Ms. Meenu Chopra, the Head Mistress and other Senior Grades teachers. The objective of the workshop was to further acquaint the teachers with the co-scholastic aspects of the CCE. The teachers were explained in great detail the different areas under Co-Scholastics namely Life Skills, Attitudes and Values and Health and Physical Education and how they are judged. The session began with an ice-breaker activity which served as a prelude to a discussion of the categories covered under Life Skills. Fun-filled activities and informative hand-outs helped the teachers to comprehend better and faster how they can develop Emotional, Social and Thinking Skills among the students.

At the outset, the teachers were handed a printout of a popular story and each group had to enlist the Life Skills displayed by the main protagonist in each popular story like The Lion and the Mouse; The Lion and the clever rabbit, the Monkey and the Crocodile. As the workshop progressed, Ms. Priyanka took up a detailed discussion of tools and techniques to evaluate Co-Scholastic areas. After explaining the difference between tools and techniques, she engaged the teachers in yet another group activity. Each group took up a tool – like checklist, portfolio, anecdotal records, rating scale and prepared a template based on it for presentation before the others. Each group explained the name of the tool, advantages of the tool, its disadvantages, how to use this tool, where can it be used most effectively and the list of dos and don’ts. Worksheets on how to determine communication types – Submissive, assertive and aggressive; descriptive indicators to rate Life skills, activities to gauge emotional and thinking skills etc were also given to all the teachers present for the workshop.

At the end, feedback and need analysis forms were filled in the teachers and handed over to the resource person.

Workshop on Extra Marks held for Senior Grades teachers on 11th March 2015

To facilitate and train teachers to make optimal use of the technology resources and digital tools available in the classrooms, a workshop was conducted by personnel from Extra Marks. An important objective of the workshop was to make the Extra Marks applications more user-friendly for the teachers. The faculty members discussed all the problems they normally encounter while logging in or using the various modules present in extra marks in their subject. French and Hindi teachers pointed out to the lack of content availability.

Other teachers highlighted the glitches that come up unexpectedly when they are using SLM or mind map or engaging the class in an online quiz. The resource person patiently demonstrated how to log in, how to move forward and come back to home back from various applications. She also showed how the online question bank can be copied in Libro Window, thus allowing the teachers to tweak and add their own questions to the ones present in the software. She demonstrated the virtual lab available in Maths and 3 D tools in Science. The teachers made most of the opportunity to discuss their problems and understand how to make most of the applications and use them in the class more effectively.

Shalom Head Mistress and Counsellor attend a Workshop on Childhood Depression on 24th Feb’15

Institute of Counselor Training Research and Consultancy had organized the National Convention of School Counselors on “Childhood Depression –Identification, Prevention and Intervention” on 24 Feb’15 at the India International Centre, New Delhi. The high-voltage meeting was attended by Ms. Rima Gaekwad, Head Mistress of the Middle Wing and Ms. Elizabeth, the Counselor for the Middle Wing of Shalom Hills International School.

It was a great learning platform where counselors and teachers from different part of the country joined in to discuss one of the most important issue coming up while dealing with children of all the age groups i.e., DEPRESSION. The main resource person for the seminar was Dr. Ravindran, an expert in the field of counseling with a vast experience of dealing with children of all the age groups. Dr. Ravindran stressed on creating awareness among children and also among teachers and parents to deal with the problem of Depression. He also warned of mixing up of other behavioral issues like ADHD, ODD, LD with depression while observing the child.

The session was aimed at making the school proactive in dealing with stress/depression among children. Other speakers include Prof. Maya Rao who helped the teachers and counselors understand how theatre could be used as an effective tool in empowering children for the future. Prof. Dipankar Gupta stressed on nurturing citizenship among children by making them responsible for their act. The session ended with Dr. Ravindran guiding the counselors on how to deal with the cases of depression in school and how to promote well-being among students all age group.

Shalom faculty member attends Training session on ASL and role of oral Examiner on 30th and 31st Jan’15

Ms. Geetanjali Sethi, Senior English teacher of Shalom Hills International School attended a workshop in CBSE Centre of Excellence on 30th and 31st Jan’15. The two-day workshop on ASL, conducted by the trained master trainers, Ms. Rajni Jaimini and MS. Kiran Bhatt was highly informative and interactive.

The basic and dual objective behind the workshop was to clear all ambiguities regarding ASL and to train and guide the teachers how to conduct ASL in a uniform manner, as per the guidelines given by the TRINITY COLLEGE of LONDON. Activities like Link the chain, Jazz Chant, Role Play were conducted so as to enable the teachers to enhance the listening and speaking skills of the students.

The objectives of conducting listening and speaking activities were also discussed at length. Teachers were apprised with the 6 grading parameters of CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) and it is imperative for all examiners to adhere to them. It is also important to give enough practice to the students in ASL throughout the course of an academic session instead of just conducting ASL at the end of the two terms.

The workshop was attended by the teachers of Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Meerut.

Shalom faculty member attends CBSE Workshop on Alice Software from 27th to 29th Jan’15

CBSE had organized a three day long session in collaboration with the Oracle Academy on Alice Software from 27th to 29th Jan’15. The workshop was conducted by Ms. Geet. Teachers from different schools across Delhi and NCR were shortlisted by CBSE. Ms. Ambika Yadav, was amongst the few privileged ones who got this golden opportunity to attend the workshop held at CBSE institute, Gurgaon.

Day 1: (27th January 2015)- The workshop began with an introductory session wherein each participant was asked to speak a few lines on oneself. Later a brief warm up session was held on the Alice Software. The focus was primarily on the usage of this software. Oracle also shared information about a website for self study on Alice.

• Visual and textual storyboard for an animation.
• Correlate storyboard statements with program execution tasks.
• Java programming

Teachers regrouped themselves after lunch and learnt more on Alice. A practice session was held at the end of the day to recollect all the learning objectives.

Day 2: (28th January 2015) - The workshop started with full zeal as participants learnt the coding part for making an animation. They made small stories by using cartoon characters. Participants used their technical skills to enhance the knowledge by using Alice software. A hands-on session was conducted by Ms. Geet from Oracle Academy during which all the participants were taught about texting an animation and repositioning objects at runtime.

In the post-lunch session, another Oracle facilitator Ms. Chethra took the session on loops and creating multiple camera angles. By the end of the day, all participants had learnt to develop the animations by using camera angles.

Day 3: (29th January 2015) – On the final day, the session started with the review of standard rubrics, animation design worksheet. All the participants were asked to prepare projects on different topics, during the assigned duration, like – Save Earth, Deforestation, Maths 3D equations etc. In the last leg of the workshop, a FAQ session was held by the facilitator and all the participants presented their projects in groups. During the closing session of the workshop, the participants were awarded with the degree of a Certificate for Alice from CBSE with the collaboration with Oracle Academy to endorse and appreciate their efforts in the field of education. It was definitely an enriching session for all the participants.

Shalom Hills International School becomes a part of the British Council’s Connecting Classroom and ISA Programme

On 27th January’15, Ms. Ritu Mehta, the principal of Shalom Hills International School and Ms. Jyotin Prinja, Head of English Department attended a high-voltage session of British Council’s Connecting Classroom Programme. The school believes in adding an international dimension to its curriculum, grooming its students for their future role as world leaders and global citizens and equipping its students with 21st century skills. To further its endeavour in this direction, the school has started a Foreign Exchange Programme with Queenswood School in London and is now aboard the internationally recognized and acclaimed ISA (International School Award) which is a part of the British Council’s Connecting Classroom.

The ‘Action Plan’ briefing and brainstorming session attended by Ms. Ritu Mehta and Ms. Jyotin Prinja introduced them to a platform where like-minded schools of Delhi NCR and North India will be partnering with schools across the globe and engaging in collaborative and online projects through British Council’s Connecting Classroom. Ms. Kanika, the British Council’s School Ambassador enumerated the far-reaching benefits of ISA for the schools, students and the educational system. The distinct advantages that would accrue would be

1. The students and teachers would be a part of the global learning network
2. Students would gain the 21st century skills – Creative, Communicative and Collaborative by engaging in projects with international dimensions
3. School would set a global benchmark and receive outstanding support and recognition from the globally acclaimed British Council.

The session was divided into before and post lunch session. After an ice-breaking session, the principals, heads and other delegates regrouped themselves and settled down to understand the intricacies and modalities of deciding the school projects and aligning activities which would involve the whole school and most of the grades. Yet another ‘win-win’ situation would be that this programme also seeks integration of subjects. Since Shalom Hills International School is already engaged in Inter-Disciplinary and Integrated teaching and in-house projects in Primary grades, it will be able to exchange the same with other schools. Furthermore, it can also lead to cross-fertilization of new teaching pedagogies and expose the students to multi-cultural diversity and learning processes.

Details were shared as to how each school needs to align its action plan with the school’s curriculum or school plan so that work can be done seamlessly on the selected projects.

In the post-lunch session, the teachers were shown sample action plans which have been successfully implemented by other schools and all the headers and essential components of an action plan were elaborated upon by Ms. Kanika. Thereafter each group had to actually chalk out an action plan for either Online or Collaborative or In-House project on a chart paper with a quick overview of the chosen project and detailed description of the link-up activity, grades involved in it, the subjects and also the evaluation methods.

The action plan presented by Ms. Ritu Mehta and her group was adjudged the best and Ms. Jyotin Prinja was appreciated for her presentation style. The session concluded with announcement of important dates and time-line for drawing up of action plan by the school ISA team, initiation of work on projects, approval of action plan, completion of dossier/portfolio and the award ceremony.

Staff Club Meeting held on 24th January’15

A Staff Club Meeting was organised for the entire Shalom faculty in the Middle Wing Auditorium on 24th January 2015. All the teachers of the Pre-Primary, Primary and Senior Wings gathered together and joined in the revelries. This occasion was more memorable since the teachers also took the opportunity to bid a fond adieu to Ms Jalpa Shah, senior PGT – Chemistry teacher who has served the school in many key capacities in the last 3 years. The ceremony was made more special when the entire Science Department shared their experiences of working closely with Ms. Jalpa and of learning many new things from her. Ms. Meenu Chopra, Head-Mistress of the Senior Wing and Ms. Jyotin Prinja called Ms. Jalpa an integral part of the Shalom family and on the behalf of the Shalom family wished her success as she embarked on a fresh chapter in her professional journey. Mrs Ritu Mehta, the principal also shared reminiscences about the high points of her year-long association with Ms. Jalpa, how the two shared a special equation on account of being Chemistry teachers and co-teachers in Grade XII. After touching upon her contribution and commitment to the school, Ms. Ritu Mehta wished her luck for the future. Mr. M. Quadri spoke an emotional couplet in Urdu which beautifully captured the feelings of the staff for Ms. Jalpa.

Ms. Jalpa Shah took the occasion to extend her profuse gratitude and thanks to M.D ma’am for entrusting her with key responsibilities and providing her with constant inspiration, mentoring, support and encouragement at each and every step of her tenure in the school. Ms. Jalpa expressed her heartfelt thankfulness to V.C Sir for his inspirational leadership which has been not also empowered and enlightened her as a teacher but also allowed her to grow as an individual and a professional. She also cherished every moment spent in the school and with her colleagues.

Anna was also present for the Staff Club Meeting and joined in the fun. All the teachers whose birthdays had fallen in the previous month and current month were wished and felicitated. After savouring some munchies and tea, everybody made a beeline for the dance floor arranged for on the stage. As popular numbers were being belted out by the Dance and Music teachers, the teachers shared more moments of togetherness and merriment as they jigged and danced happily with one another.

It was altogether a truly memorable occasion and great way to usher in the new year.

Hand Writing Workshop conducted with Grades I-X Language teachers on 08th January 15

A workshop was conducted for the Language teachers of Grades I-X on 08th January 14 to highlight the importance of handwriting in Hindi & English. The session was conducted by Mr. Ajay Kumar Singh KICE INDIA INSTITUTE OF HAND WRITING.

In this work shop, the teachers came to know about many interesting and lesser known things about handwriting. The knowledge gained by the teachers from and during the session of this work shop will definitely help them to have a deeper understanding of Hindi & English Hand Writing. Also the teachers came to know of ways in which a child can become better versed and more proficient in hand writing skills. The teachers enjoyed the session and interacted freely with the resource person.

NCF Workshop conducted by Ms. Meenu Chopra, Head Mistress-Senior Wing on 9th Jan’15

In order to enlighten all the teachers regarding the importance, relevance and tenets of NCF 2005, a workshop was conducted by Ms. Meenu Chopra, Head Mistress-Senior Wing on 9th Jan’15 with the teachers of Grades VI-XII.

At the outset of the workshop, Ms. Chopra highlighted the objectives and ideals which are enshrined in the NCF and how its basic tenets are to do justice to the doctrines in the Constitution of India, bring about quality education for all and to transcend the bridge between classroom teaching and real-life situations.

Ms. Chopra also shared how the NCF seeks to minimize rote learning and curriculum load, thereby ensuring that knowledge takes place outside the classroom and through an integration of Inter-Disciplinary projects and programmes. The ultimate aim of education as envisioned by NCF is to empower minds and raise ‘thinking and rational individuals’ through its policy of constructivism. It was pointed out that values and attitudes are also given equal importance under NCF.

The role of teachers was clearly spelt out as guides, facilitators who have to ensure that knowledge is gained by students and not merely information. The purpose of assessment / examination was to test what has been understood by the students in the class was reiterated by Ms. Meenu Chopra.

It was informed by Ms. Chopra that the NCF guidelines relating to the core subjects will be taken up in another workshop shortly.

Edurite Workshop held for senior grades teachers on 9th Jan’14

A comprehensive, interactive and demonstrative workshop by Mr. Nikhil Arya, the trainer and resource person from Pearson, Noida on 9th Jan’14. All subject and activity teachers from Grades VI-XII attended the workshop in which they shared the problems and logistics difficulties they have encountered in accessing and using Edurite modules. Mr. Nikhil tried to resolve these problems and guided the teachers about the correct steps to follow and alternate options.

Mr. Nikhil revealed that the software modules in English Literature section were going to be shortly updated with greater content in Drama, Prose and Grammar being added shortly. Other applications demonstrated and discussed were

• Availability to access internet directly through default option on Edurite already
• Material for French will be added shortly from the next session
• Concern raised that Social Science content for some lesser important topics ( according to marks weightage) was too elaborate and exhaustive
• Feedback option available to post suggestions and point mistakes in the content directly to the software providers
• A handy tool like Recognized Text available to convert free hand into legible text
• Senior Grades course material to be accessed through Master in TIC (Teaching in class)
• Explained use of floating tool bar to add temporary notes on the PPTs or text already available in TIC.
• Extra content available in Knowledge Library which can be used to enhance and enrich course curriculum
• 3D Virtual Globe has been introduced for Social Studies this year
• State maps have been updated
• Amazing videos available in E.V.S, Social Studies, Science and Maths

Teachers from Maths, English, Hindi and other departments pointed out the glitches and problems they face in writing on Notepad. They were guided how to use the stylus and ensure that the boards should be devoid of dust and grime.

Workshop on ‘Students’ safety’ conducted for the teachers on 7th Jan’15

A workshop was conducted on student’s safety on 07.01.15 for the teachers. The aim of the workshop was to equip and guide the teachers on how to deal with different situations like terrorist attack, kidnapping, firing. Ms. Ritu Mehta, the Principal discussed the CBSE guidelines which are to be followed in case on any mishappening in the school. Ms. Swastika Nodal In charge of Disaster Management Team introduced the other team members. Student’s safety also covers all aspects that can possibly compromise the mental well being of the child. Premised on the cardinal principal that the school needs to secure the physical safety and mental well-being of its students, a workshop was conducted by the school counselor, Ms. Elizabeth on Student Safety (child abuse). The purpose and the idea behind the workshop were to make the teachers aware of child abuse and also to educate and sensitize them on how to deal with such cases. Stress was laid on empowering the children and to have a good rapport with the children so that they can come and share their feelings.

Some points of discussion were

• Our duty as teachers/parents
• Some pointers that children should know about the topic of child abuse.
• How can teachers help a child in coming out of difficult phase
• Steps that can be taken by teachers in case of child abuse.

WORKSHOP CONDUCTED FOR SUPPORT STAFF ON 7th Jan’15

A workshop on student’s safety was conducted on 07.01.15 for the Grade 4 employees and lady guards. The workshop was chaired by Ms. Ritu Mehta, the school principal. Ms. Mehta started the session by discussing various safety issues in the school and also highlighted how Grade 4 employees play an important role in the smooth functioning of the school. The support staff was told to be alert and punctual in carrying out their duties and they were told to report any matter which they think can hamper/affect/harm the well being of the students in the school to the concerned authorities. Stress was laid on safety of students in the school buses and transport routes. Bus drivers, conductors and lady guards were told to be extra vigilant in picking up and dropping of the children.

A session on good touch and bad touch was also conducted by the school counselors Ms.Bhupinder and Ms.Elizabeth to make them aware of the far-reaching and lifelong effects of child abuse. It was informed that child abuse is a punishable crime and the school can’t help anyone who is found guilty of such offence/s. the employees were told to report any such matter if it comes to their notice to the concerned authorities and were also told to remember the school’s safety guidelines while dealing with the children. The session ended on the note that physical and emotional well being of the students needs to be taken care of all the employees of the school and it can’t be achieved without the active, vigilant and involved support staff.

Workshop attended by the school principal in New Delhi on 22nd December 2014

The Heritage Group of Schools in association with ‘I am a teacher’ organized a talk by Dr Dennis Litty, the Co- Founder of Big Picture Learning at IHC, New Delhi on 22nd December 2014. It was attended by the principal of Shalom Hills International School, Ms. Ritu Mehta.

During his talk, Dr Litty explained his innovative concept of re-imaging schools and how Big Picture Schools are working systematically towards imparting education to the students in U.S.

The Big Picture Schools are radical schools in U.S which foster creative thinking in young minds & wherein the aptitude, attitude and interest of students are particularly emphasized rather than a defined content or definite curriculum.

To develop and popularize such concepts in India, firstly Teacher Training Programme will be initiated in the country where Post Graduate Diploma in Learning & Teaching (PGDLT) will be awarded to the teachers. The programme is called ‘I am a teacher’ which will be an award winning diploma in Learning & Teaching.

A comparison was shown between the conventional programme of teaching & PGDLT to the delegates. During the course, the teacher will be guided to undertake the following:

Intensive mentoring
Seamless blend of practice and theory
Emphasis on ‘how to create a positive learning environment, how to foster inquiry , how to differentiate, and how to make learning relevant’
Demonstrative pedagogy
Collaborative learning
Assessment for learning – comprehensive and continues assessment of the desired competencies through portfolios, planning and teaching gateways, observation and self-reflection.

After the talk & presentation, there was a talk show organized by the journalist Sonali from NDTV along with Dr Litty & Mr. Manat Jain.

The main point discussed in the talk show was ‘Is Indian Education system prepared for such type of schools like Big Picture?’, ‘Will our parents believe in such education?’ and ‘Will the colleges accept such students on list?’ The concurrent and recurrent belief among the gathering was that there is a need to reform our education system with emphasis not only on core content delivery but to make it more selective & interest based. The question was left unanswered as still CBSE has not been able to justify the CCE pattern completely.

Staff Welfare trip organized to Eco Adventure Club, Najafgarh on 24th Dec’14

Special care is taken by Shalom management to organize celebrations, festivities and trips for the faculty to give them a well-deserved respite from their teaching periods and routine. And to the credit of the staff, they applied their usual serious and dedicated approach to having fun also. So, along with the school principal, Ms. Ritu Mehta and Ms. Meenu Chopra, Head Mistress – Senior Wing, the staff of Grades VI-XI with the activity and sports teachers got down to the serious business of having a ‘blast’. Since the best antidote to the winter chill is chatting, having fun and dancing around a crackling bonfire, the teachers regaled one another with peppy chartbusters and rib-ticklers around a bon-fire in the open once they reached the sprawling gardens of the Eco Adventure Camp. The teachers including the principal and head mistress showed their dare-devilry and adventurous spirit by trying their hands at just about every type of adventure activities. They resembled excited juniors as they teamed up students and one another and went for camel riding, cart rides, monkey crawling, Burma Bridge, Flying Fox, rock climbing and river crossing.

The teachers danced to the heart’s glory and unselfconsciously to the popular beats in the open amphitheatre. They enjoyed a savory breakfast and sumptuous lunch while enjoying one another’s congenial company. The teachers enjoyed the day and thanked the school management for arranging such a delightful stress-buster for them.

Shalom teachers attend Maths workshop on 22nd Dec’14

A Training Workshop took place on December 20 2012 at the Indian Auditorium, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. It was attended by the maths teachers of senior grades in Shalom Hills International School, Ms. Shruti Vashishta and Ms. Vineeta. Prof. Dr. Hukum Singh, a renowned educationist who has contributed valuable inputs to N.C.E.R.T text book of Mathematics was the resource person.

The preliminary session started by remembering and paying respects to the great Indian mathematician, Srinivas Ramanujam. The speaker emphasised on following facts:

Some of the typical signs listed below that can be identified in school are :

1. Upscaling the standards of Mathematics is a key factor in the development of any country.
2. Role of great Mathematicians like Aryabhatta, Brahmgupta, Sridhar, Bodhayan and Bhaskara was major factor making India a developed country.

Dr. Hukum Singh emphasised on following points which are the quintessence of teaching basic concepts in Maths-

• Relating Knowledge to real life to create interest in the subject.
• Learning by doing to encourage better understanding and application.
• Designing curriculum in order to attain overall development of child which includes physical, intellectual and spiritual development.
• Teaching gender sensitivity and protection of environment.
• Including slow learners, differently-abled students in teaching learning process.

In the second half of the seminar, Dr. Hukum Singh conducted a few practical activities like square of binomial, cube of trinomial, representation of linear equations graphically. A high point was the discussion of Indian Nobel Prize winners. The session concluded with the inauguration of a textbook in Mathematics by Ms Monika Kapoor.It was indeed an enriching and motivating experience.

Head Mistress and School Counselor attend a Workshop on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in Fortis on 12th December’2014.

A workshop was attended by Ms Meenu Chopra, the Head Mistress of Senior Wing and Ms. Bhupinder Kaur, the Counselor/Health & Wellness teacher of Senior Wing under the subject: Fortis School Counsellor’s Forum. The forum is designed to be a platform for practising counselors, and school teachers to be able to exchange, discuss and formulate ways of working with children and adolescents in a bid to enhance their mental health and overall well-being.

The theme of this meet was Obsessive Compulsive Disorders in School Going Children. The discussion began with how OCD interferes in the normal functioning and development of a child by causing impairment in school performance, friendships, family relationships & vocational functioning. OCD is characterized by the presence of obsessions & compulsions. Obsessions can be defined as recurrent, intrusive & unwanted thoughts, images or impulses experienced as distressing & anxiety provoking ( for e.g., repetitive thoughts of being dirty or having acquired a serious illness). Compulsions are repetitive behaviors (for e.g., hand washing or checking) or mental acts (counting, praying) which are performed to prevent or reduce anxiety. Children tend to have lower degree of insight in relation to the symptoms & often finds difficult to articulate & verbalize them. Hence they have greater tendency towards internalizing their difficulties. It was an eye-opener for the delegates when they were told that the prevalence & occurrence of OCD is estimated to fall between 1-4 % & around 30-50 % of adults with OCD have onset of symptoms during childhood or adolescence. OCD can affect a child’s interpersonal & academic functioning & affect their overall self esteem. It can also affect child’s attention & concentration thereby causing a decline the academic performance.

Some of the typical signs listed below that can be identified in school are :

1. Avoiding touching door knobs; use of tissues or hankies when opening doors.
2. Repeated questioning for permission to leave the classroom to go to the washroom.
3. Repeated checking of doors, windows, light switches or written material.
4. Repeated and /or stereotypical reading of words, text passages or pages in books.
5. Repeated writing, erasing & overwhelming of letters, numbers or words.
6. Excessive & repeated questioning for reassurance.
7. Repeated &/ or symmetric circling in multiple-choice-tasks.
8. Repeated ordering & arranging items (in a symmetrical way).
9. Repeated and/or ritualized touching of items.

Counselors, teachers, and other school personnel can help identify at-risk students. Thus, it is most important that school counselors/school psychologists should be aware of the signs of OCD as manifested in children, & also train other school personnel in identifying OCD. Raising awareness will help reduce the associated stigma, & any child who is suffering, will feel more comfortable in expressing their problems.

The type, causes, consequences & intervention were discussed in detail in the Forum. The entire session was a wonderful exposure towards the mental illness when elaborated with the case studies & experiences shared by the teachers & counselors present there from different & leading schools of Gurgaon.

Shalom teacher attends GEG Leader Summit on 6th December’14

The GEG Leader Summit was held on 6th December’14 in the Google Office, Gurgaon. Ms. Deepika Dalal, HOD - Computer Science and also Google leader, Delhi attended the session along with a few hand-picked other leaders from across India. The goal of the GEG Leader summits in India is to empower the GEG Leaders to become the best GEG Leaders possible. Every session of the summit was directed to accomplishing this objective. Other than focusing on the pedagogical changes that Google tools can make within the education sphere, at the same time the summit ensured that all Google leaders understood how to use and further train on Google tools and technologies and understand advanced tips of using them for pedagogical purposes. In addition, the summit also provided an opportunity for GEG Leaders to share their positive experiences they have had either in running a GEG event or a success story of one of their members doing something innovative with the tools pedagogically speaking. The key note on this occasion was given by Prof. M. M. Pant (Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and faculty of IIT, Kanpur, MLNR Engineering College and Faculty as well as Visiting Professor, University of Western Ontario, Canada.). He stressed upon the need for the same platform for Student-Teacher and conveyed that by 2030; almost 20 billion devices would be connected together. He discussed the challenges looming up today which are:-

1. Being user is just not adequate; one can’t be ignorant
2. Whether everyone should know programming is a raging debatable question.
3. To what degree programming should be taught to everyone?

All people, who RESIST Change need to understand that computers can do what one actually can’t be done manually. He also stressed on sharing the content with the community. Larger the number of learners ...more will be the Learning i.e. more connected people mean more knowledge. The 1:20 teacher ratio no longer works.

Other prominent speakers on the occasion were Mr. Sudhir Giri (Head of Learning technologies at Google, London), Ms. Avnita Bir (Director Principal, R N Podar School, Mumbai), Prof Warren D'souza (Dean, Goa University) and Ms. Carolyn Wendell (Program Manager - Emerging Markets Education Google, London). The main points shared/stressed on were:-

1. exploration and learning.
2. how can the vast knowledge be put to use (we have access to all the knowledge in the world)
3. technology is not different from human relations.
4. technology actually empowers teachers; it doesn’t replace the teacher.
5. creating innovative teachers for the future.
6. amalgamation of technology with education
7. in the past we were known by what we knew; in the present scenario we are known by what we share

There was also a hands-on session by Anshul Bhagi from Camp K12, wherein he guided the teachers on how to make a robot car using LEGO and also hw to do its programming.

it the end of the session, GEG Leaders from various parts of India were felicitated with a certificate to recognize their contribution towards the field of education with technology. A video on Google Educator Groups of India was also launched at the end of session. This video features the pioneers of education in India like; Mr. Mukesh Kumar (HOD, Comp.- DPS RK Puram), Ms Rashmi Kathuria (Kulachi Hansraj School), Ms. Gurpreet Kaur (HOD, Comp.-GD Goenka), Ms. Monika Sehgal (St. Marks Girls School) and Ms. Deepika Dalal (HOD, Comp.- SHIS). The url to the video is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXTr0xYdOxQ

Shalom teacher attends Google Teacher Academy Program on 4th and 5th December’14

The Google Teacher Academy Program was held for the first time in India on 4th and 5th Dec’14. In this academy, Google handpicks 50 educators from across the world after a rigorous selection process from the thousands of applications received by it to be a part of it. Ms. Deepika Dalal, Head of Computer Science Department was also among the few privileged ones who got a chance to attend this prestigious event held in Google office, Gurgaon.

On day 1; Thursday, December 4, the event began with the introduction of each participant GTA followed by the Design Thinking and Designing Action Plan. The focus was primarily on the outstanding educators with a passion for using innovative technologies and approaches to improve teaching and learning. This was followed by a talk on Internet Safety - Digital Leadership/Citizenship. There were breakout sessions on Google classroom and YouTube in-between wherein the participants were taught about some shortcuts and techniques. In the second half, the focus was on the creative leaders who understand opportunities and challenges, and have a desire to help empower others in their local community and beyond. An introduction of Google’s Cultural Institute was given. In the evening all participants were taken for a tour of Google Office followed by dinner and Ghazal night at the Galaxy Hotel, Gurgaon.

On day 2; Friday, December 5, the main focus of the highly interactive session was on ambassadors for change who model high expectations, life-long learning, collaboration, equity, and innovation. A hands-on session on Quadcopter was taken by Anshul Bhagi from Camp K12 in which all the participants were taught about how to make a drone and do its programming for flying it. There were breakout sessions on Cultural heritage and Maps in-between where participants were taught about how to make a gallery and also a map of their own which can be further utilized in their classrooms. The evening session was on conference where all participants discussed about what all can be done and what new things can be implemented in integrating teaching with technology. In the closing session of the workshop, the participants were awarded with the degree of a Google Certified Teacher to endorse and appreciate their efforts in the field of education. Google also shared a website on the resource bank of Google Apps with the newly awarded GCT’s (Google certified teachers). They were also given editing rights for the same to conduct various workshops on the same.

Shalom teacher attends Workshop on Strategic Vision and Planning for School Leadership on 17th Nov’14

A Strategic Vision and Planning for School Leadership Workshop was conducted by Mr. Steve Molyneux, CEO, Tablet Academy, UK on 17th November, 2014 at Hotel Courtyard Marriott, Gurgaon. The workshop was attended by the faculty members of esteemed institutions along with the senior educators in different fields. Ms. Monidipa Mukherjee was the representative delegate from Shalom Hills International School.
The day started with the welcome address by Dr. Vinnie Jauhari who is currently the Director - Education Advocacy, Microsoft India. She emphasised on contributing to capacity building in education and exposure to engaged learning and teaching, curriculum development, deployment of technology in teaching.
Professor Molyneux is a well-known and respected advocate of the use of learning technologies that support education and training. He devoted a large part of the session to illustrating and demonstrating how advanced technology tools like E-tablet can revolutionize the teaching-learning scenario in schools and create a virtual world of knowledge inside a classroom.

Workshop on “Personalised Learning – The Future of Education” attended by Shalom teacher on 20th Oct’14

Ms. Maya Vinod attended an illumining session on “Personalized Learning” organized in The Pavallion, Maple Exotica, New Delhi on 20th Oct’14. Ms Ranjani Mitra (Sr. Educational Specialist - Educational Initiatives, Ahmadabad) and Mr Pranav Kothari ( AVP Mind spark - Educational Initiatives, Ahmadabad) were the resource persons. The half-day session (three hours before lunch and one hour post lunch) included discussion followed with the Research and Development team of Mind Spark imparting enriching hands on experience about how learning can be personalized and hence, made more effective. The following points were discussed:

• Importance of IT based learning.
• Necessity of social growth in educational system.
• Need of change in Educational system.
• Misconception in Mathematics teaching area.
• Variables of learning process.

Third gathering of Staff Club held on 18th October 2014

The third gathering of the Staff Club took place on 18th October 2014 in the Middle Wing Auditorium. It was celebration time as the festive air and spirit was very much in the air with the Festival of Lights just around the corner. The entire Shalom family, including the teaching staff and admin members from all the three wings gathered in the auditorium for an afternoon of fun and togetherness.

The programme commenced with the most popular game of Tambola which was conducted by Ms. Jyoti Abrol and Ms. Suniti Bhai. All the staff members played with keen enthusiasm and laughingly vied with one another to win the several prizes.

Additionally, all the teachers who celebrate their birthdays in the months of July, August & September were felicitated with gifts. Tasteful and environmentally friendly jute bags were presented to them by Ms. Ritu Mehta, the school principal. The gifs were special because they had been made and designed by the inmates of Tihar Jail. Diwali gifts on behalf of the Staff Club were distributed to the entire staff by the Head Mistresses of the three wings. On the behalf of the school management, Ms. Mehta wished the staff and their families a prosperous, happy and safe Diwali.

The entire staff savored the mouth – watering refreshments and outdid one another in dancing, twirling and jiving to their heart’s content.

Head of Sports Department of Shalom Hills represents India in International SEMOS held in Tokyo, Japan from 28th September’14 to 12th October’14

Mr. Ashish Rawat, Head of Physical Department was the only Indian to be selected to represent India in the coveted International SEMOS organized by TSUKUBA International Academy for Sports Science and Government of Japan. He took part in a fortnight long programme on Olympics Sports Management which was a rigorous regime for preparations for Olympics 2020 to be held in Tokyo.

There were 37 representatives from 26 countries who were given intensive training in all aspects and modules of Olympics Sports Management, namely sponsorship, marketing, promotional strategies, operations, opening and closing ceremony and all sporting events.

Mr. Ashish was keenly involved in all brainstorming sessions and the practical exposure to the most internationally acclaimed sporting event gained by him is going to prove beneficial to the school and students where the forthcoming Annual Meet and other major sporting events of the school are concerned.

Shalom Counsellor attends a workshop on ‘Suicide Prevention in School Children’ in Fortis on 29th Sept’14

Incidence of Suicidal Tendency is increasing alarmingly in the school children and there is an urgent need on the part of Counsellors/ Teachers to understand the gravity of the situation and to upgrade themselves by acquiring the latest skills to tackle this vastly overlooked problem. As a part of this endeavour to spread awareness about this issue, the Mental Health Department of Fortis Memorial Research Institute Gurgaon organised Counsellor Forum Programme under the Guidance of Expert Dr Samir Parikh, eminent Psychiatrist. The session was attended by the school counsellor of the Middle Wing, Ms. Elizabeth.

The meeting highlighted the need for a comprehensive school suicide prevention program which should include three components i.e. prevention, intervention and postvention. The activities of the prevention program should focus on raising staff and student awareness about suicide warning signs, risk factors and referral steps. The speaker emphasised that no clue regarding any suicidal thought should be taken lightly but it should be attended seriously by anyone (teacher/counsellor) in whom the child trusts, further the case should be referred if need arises, to a psychologist for further assistance.

An open discussion was conducted on various factors like personality, peer group stress, influence of media, parental support which induce suicidal tendency among children. Various case studies were also discussed to help understand how to deal such issues in school.

The session ended on the note that an effective school suicide prevention program will help students to deal with various stressors in the life and it will empower them to deal with difficulties ahead in their life.

OPEN SESSION ON ACCOUNTANCY & B.STUDIES ATTENDED BY SHALOM TEACHER ON 30th September’14

An open session on Accountancy and Business Studies was organised by Rachna Sagar Publishers in D.P.S Sushant Lok on 30-Sept-14. The agenda of the workshop was primarily to discuss the changes in curriculum. The major highlights were:

• Interest on partner’s loan is to be treated as charge against profit.
• Preparation of retiring partner’s loan account
• Treatment of realisation expenses when borne by the firm.
• Interest on calls in arrears & advance
• Treatment of Bank Overdraft and Cash Credit in Cash Flow Statement
• Business Studies Project Work.

The session was initiated by Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Education Officer, CBSE who provided valuable insight about the new project introduced in Business Studies & Accountancy. He provided a detailed step wise idea of how to carry out the new project on Stock Exchange. The session was then addressed by Dr. Vikas Vijay & Mr. Yogesh Vijay, from the team of Rachna Sagar Pvt. Ltd. They enriched the knowledge of all the teachers by giving them novel and fresh inputs ideas on Evaluation, Value Based and Multidisciplinary Questions. Several examples of the same were discussed. The session ended with a discussion on special ways and practices necessary to enhance the performance of the students in the exams.

The resource persons were prompt in handling the queries and as it was an open session, the teachers gained a lot from this session.

Micro teaching in Computer Science on 29th September’14

In Shalom Hills, micro-teaching was given a more practical yet inventive meaning and dimension by all the departments. A Computer Science teacher had prepared a lesson on the topic Hierarchical Vs. Relational Model.

The Micro lessons in Computers served as great opportunities to the teachers to present sample "snapshots" of what/how they teach and to get some feedback from their colleagues about how it was received. It's a chance to try teaching strategies that the teacher may not use regularly. It was a good, safe time to experiment with something new and get feedback on technique.

Ms. Sarika Aneja taught the comparison between Hierarchical model and Relational Model to her colleagues. The teaching was carried out with the following aims-

1. The concept and use of data modeling
2. Types of data modeling
3. Comparison between Hierarchical and Relational model on the basis of
   • structure
   • execution
   • operations: insertion and deletion of records
   • problems occur in each model
4. Rules to form Relational Model
5. To analyse and conclude the better model
6. Conversion of one model to another

Based on the feedback received from her colleagues, she went through the cycle of re-planning, re-teaching wherever there was a perceived shortfall of teaching outcome.

Micro teaching in English conducted on 20th Sept’14 and 27th September’14

Essentially, microteaching is like simulated teaching to provide feedback to pupil-teacher. Prima facie, it serves as a post-mortem so that the teacher can find out what has successfully worked in the class, in which aspects has it fallen short and what needs to be done to enhance their teaching technique.

In Shalom Hills, micro-teaching was given a more practical yet inventive meaning and dimension as all the departments engaged the Middle Wing as well as Senior Wing teachers in preparing a lesson (based on any one section – Reading, Writing-Grammar or Literature) for 39 minutes which they delivered in front of the entire department teachers who were their learners for the day. The Micro lessons in English served as great opportunities to the teachers to present sample "snapshots" of what/how they teach and to get some feedback from their colleagues about how it was received. It's a chance to try teaching strategies that the teacher may not use regularly. It was a good, safe time to experiment with something new and get feedback on technique. Every micro lesson is planned, keeping in mind certain specific learning objectives and after a lesson is completed, the learning outcome is measured against it. It also allows inter-alia learning among the teachers teaching different grades. They all learn new and novel practices and methodologies from one another.

On 20th Sept’14, Ms. Geetanjali Sethi, Senior Grades teacher taking Grades X-XII took up the topic of ‘Note Making’ for her micro lesson. Ms. Sethi started by updating the teachers with how an English Question Paper now comprises of 3 sections – Reading, Writing and Grammar and Literature (including Supplementary Reader). An interesting session followed as Ms. Geetanjali explained the objectives and characteristics of Note Making. All the components as well as marking scheme was put up on the white board by her. Every part of the topic – be it the title, notes, indentation, use of phrases instead of full sentences, abbreviations and summary were written on the board and explained thoroughly by Ms. Sethi.

Ms. Geetanjali made it a point to highlight on the board and through reiterated instructions the most salient points that need to be permanently etched in the students/learners’ minds – abbreviations have to be used in notes, only brief phrases to be used in notes, no exact reproduction of the passage in the summary, abbreviation not to be used in the summary. By making ample use of the white board, comprehensive hand-outs and note-making worksheets, she ensured that the topic was fully understood by her colleagues. Based on the micro-teaching cycle, she too took feedback from her colleagues and proceeded further with the lesson. She engaged the teachers present in an interesting activity by way of recapitulation and feedback. The learning outcome was satisfactorily achieved when the learners understood how to make notes, prepare an abbreviation key and write a summary, which was the entire purpose of the micro lesson of the day.

On 27th Sept’14, Ms. Jyotin Prinja , H.O.D – English Department took up the topic of ‘Reported Speech’ for her micro lesson. A highlight of the microteaching session was that Ms. Prinja made it a point to write the word of the week and cover all the aspects of SOFTBOARD MANAGEMENT by writing the subject, topic, sub-topic and learning objectives on one side of the board and putting up key rules on the other side. After a warming up activity which served to introduce and build up the topic of the day, Ms. Prinja explained the conversion rules, rules when the tense of Reporting Verb is changed and not changed and also other necessary rules. A handout of thumbnail rules along with two practice sheets was distributed among the teachers. After the exercises were completed, the answers were discussed and rules repeated. An interesting activity of Chinese Whispers ensued in which one set of teachers had to whisper remarks in Direct Speech which were then reported in Indirect Speech by other teachers. The micro lesson concluded with reiteration of the rules and a home assignment being set for the learners.

By making ample use of the white board, comprehensive hand-outs and worksheets, she ensured that the topic was fully understood by her colleagues. Based on the micro-teaching cycle, she too took feedback from her colleagues and proceeded further with the lesson. The learning outcome was satisfactorily achieved when the learners understood how to convert the tenses of reporting verb and use it appropriately in written and spoken language.

Short session on Google Drive on 27th September’14

A short session was conducted by Ms. Deepika Dalal to guide and facilitate the Heads of Departments on usage of Google Drive by their department on 27th September’14. She briefed the teachers how to make optimal use of Google drive and also the practical ways in which it can be incorporated in their teaching.

Ms. Deepika told the teachers that when Google Drive was first launched, it served as a place to store one’s files in the cloud so that they could be accessed anywhere. As Drive has evolved, it has assimilated the roles of Google Docs and now serves as the hub for all Google document creation and office tools. The teachers learnt that one can even install apps into Drive to expand its functionality even further.

By taking the HODs through step wise demonstration of Google Drive, Ms. Deepika practically taught them how to store and organize one’s files online. With Google Drive on the web, one can:

• Create, add, or upload a file with a single button.
• Easily find and add shared files.
• Single-click a file to select it and double-click to open it.
• Drag and drop files and folders, just like you do on your desktop.
• Share files with others and choose what they can do with them: view, comment, or edit.
• Access your files even when you’re not connected to the Internet.

Micro teaching in Computer Science

In Shalom Hills, micro-teaching was given a more practical yet inventive meaning and dimension as all the departments. The Computer Science teachers had prepared a lesson (based on MS Excel – Pivot Table) for 39 minutes which they delivered in front of a small group of teachers who were their learners for the day.

The Micro lessons in Computers served as great opportunities to the teachers to present sample "snapshots" of what/how they teach and to get some feedback from their colleagues about how it was received. It's a chance to try teaching strategies that the teacher may not use regularly. It was a good, safe time to experiment with something new and get feedback on technique.

Ms. Ambika Yadav taught the concept of Pivot Table (MS Excel) to her colleagues. The data created by her shared the instructions about how to filter any given data. For example - to find out the designations and the salary withdrawn by an individual in a particular organization.

The teaching was carried out with the following aims –

1. To familiarize the students with the concept of Pivot table.
2. To understand the importance of Pivot table.
3. To understand the calculation and summarizing the data through Pivot table.
4. To provide the knowledge about the -
   • Creation of Pivot table
   • Features of Pivot table
   • Re-arrangement of data in different ways

The micro teaching session was really interactive and teachers were made more familiar regarding the usage of pivot table. Based on the feedback received from her colleagues, she went through the cycle of re-planning, re-teaching wherever there was a perceived shortfall of teaching outcome.

Shalom teacher attends a Management Development Programme for Leaders on creating World Class Institutions on 20th September’14

‘If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.’

A Management Development Programme for Leaders on creating World class Institutions was conducted by Ratna Sagar at 32nd Milestone on 20th September’2014.

It was attended by the Principals and Teachers from various schools around Delhi and NCR. Ms. Rinky Maini, the English teacher represented Shalom Hills International School at the workshop.

The enthusiastic and vibrant approach by the resource person, Mr. Surya brought about a change in one’s perspective to education to make it indeed, World class. The most important key to the workshop for all was to participate and keep asking questions. He briefed the delegates about the most important principles of world-class leadership with special emphasis on the success triangle that we either accept what we cannot change or change what we cannot accept.

Short documentary films and advertisements were shown from time to time to learning fun and understand the essence of world class environment.

The highlight of the workshop was the self assessment that the teachers had to undergo: The MBTI Instrument. This enabled the teachers to determine their personality characteristics which can go a long way in evolving them as educators and guiding them as to use their specific types as a conflict management tool. Various tips were shared during the session as to how the teachers could interact with others who were either introverts or extroverts to create a world class environment. Towards the end, a book launch was held to unveil the new series of Communicate in English by Ratna Sagar.

It was indeed an enriching experience to be a part of such an educative forum which laid the path to excellence to be achievers in the word of leaders wherein the teachers are quoted as the ‘Gold Collar workers’.

Workshop on Implications of Howard Gardener Multiple Intelligence theory held on 20th September’14

A workshop on Implications of MI theory in teaching-learning process was taken up in two slots - first with the teachers of Classes I-II and the second one with the III- V teachers by Ms. Jalpa Shah.

Ms. Jalpa shared with all the teachers how under the far-sighted vision and learned guidance of M.D Ma’am and V.C sir, the school curriculum has always been supported and substantiated by Experiential Learning and M.I. based curriculum. Recognizing the imperative need of incorporating Howard Gardener’s M.I Theory in academics as well as activities, Ma’am and Sir had decided to have it skilfully woven and integrated in the school curriculum. Thus, with the management invaluable guidance and monitoring, the entire concept of Integrated Thematic and M.I curriculum has been introduced at Primary level and is being successfully implemented in every class, thus enhancing and enriching the teaching-learning processes in the school.

The children of all sections of every class in the Middle Wing (I-IV) pay frequent visits to M.I. Lab and engage in various M.I. based activities throughout a month. Thus, the teachers learnt how the CBSE and NCERT guidelines that learning should be a joyful experience and the children should learn by ‘doing’ and being ‘involved’ are being met by our school through its uniquely conceptualized and ably carried out Multiple Intelligences programme and thematic curriculum.

Various M.I. kits and games were displayed for the teachers to go through and understand. All the teachers took part and enjoyed solving some of these MI. mind games or tussling with some mathematical kit or learning an English or Science concept through an M.I activity.

Science teachers go on an Industrial Trip (Yakult) on 15th September’14

An industrial trip to Yakult’s manufacturing unit situated in Sonepat was organized for the Science teachers (from Class III to X) of Shalom Hills international School on 15th September’14. The teachers were shown and explained the processing and packing of Yakult - Pro-Biotic drink in the factory.

The representative from Yakult, Ms Priyanka briefed the visiting teachers that Yakult was first launched in Japan in 1935 and today with over 75 years of history, Yakult is a Global Leader in the Probiotic Drinks Market with the wide range of probiotic products using Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LCS) and Bifidobacterium breve. The flagship product, Yakult contains over 6.5 billion beneficial bacteria which have proven health benefits.

The Science faculty was guided by an executive as to the entire manufacturing cycle followed from the fermentation process to the final packaging of the product.

The industrial trip was very enlightening and provided the right opportunity and perspective to the teachers to explore the new world collectively.

Science teachers attend a Live Workshop cum Demonstration on Planetarium EducationTM (K12) on 10th September’14

The Orange Digital Mobile Planetarium created a full dome 3D immersive environment (no part of the sky was missing) for the viewing of the visiting delegate-teachers from different schools. It was attended by the Science teachers of Senior Grades, Ms. Durga Rathi and Ms. Ashu Trehan. The objective of the workshop was to teach the fundamentals of night sky gazing and to liberate schools from the practical impediments of empirical astronomy. The live workshop duration was of 45 minutes followed by a Recorded Show.

The resource persons showed how to find TRUE directions i.e. North, South, East, West. These directions are on the Horizons. The point that is right in the middle of the sky is called Zenith. TRUE directions are found with the help of Pole Star. It is the 48th brightest star. As the night advances Pole star stays fixed at one place in our sky where as all other celestial objects move slowly and slowly.

Later on, the teachers were shown how to divide the sky above the head into four equal parts i.e. 4 houses. They are NZE, NZW, SZE, SZW. Interestingly, a night sky map that had labels/ names of the stars/ planets/ constellations for our city/place, date and time of viewing was also shown. Objects covered for identification in terms of their brightness, colour and their position in a house:

• a. Star Arcturus Swati
• b. Star Vega, Altair, Dened
• c. Planet Saturn, Mars, Jupiter

Overall the workshop was really good, informative and impressive. The teachers were all praise for the eye-opening session as well as the enhanced technology used.

Principal, Ms. Ritu Mehta attends a Conference on Economic Growth on 4th September’14

India International Friendship Society, a non-government society held a conference on ‘Economic Growth and National Integration’ at New Delhi. The principal of Shalom Hills International School, Ms. Ritu Mehta was a part of the high-voltage gathering. The conference was graced by cabinet ministers, eminent social activists, intellectual luminaries and eminent members of the intelligentsia.

Key speakers like Chief Minister of Goa, Digambar Kamat, former director of CBI, Mr. Joginder Singh and Ms. Sumitra Singh, to name a few, traced the economic progress and growth of India since the era of liberalization. Some key speakers grew a graphic comparison of how a few decades back, the middle-class had to make odds meet on low salaries, queue up to book a Maruti car, make do with limited commodities and post-economic boom, all multi-national brands have entered the Indian market and revamped the consumer scenario.

After the conference, Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Awards felicitation ceremony was conducted in which the school principal, Ms. Ritu Mehta was conferred the Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award for outstanding individual achievements and distinguished services to the nation.

A Cordova Learning Series Workshop conducted for Grades I-IV teachers on 30th August’14

A workshop was conducted by Cordova Publications Pvt. Ltd on 30th August’2014 for Class I-V teachers to promote their ICT supported textbooks as well as to demonstrate their efforts to innovate and revolutionize the process of learning.

Main Highlights:

• ICT enables joyful and effective learning
• The software is designed in such a way to empower the teachers in instruction and assessment processes
• Subtitles were given beneath the videos referring to the chapters or content
• Difficult words shown with audio and video impact
• Every subject has a same layout comprising of - exercises based on the chapter, joyful games, web support
• Talking Dictionary –one of the main feature which solves major problems related to meaning, sentence formation, pronunciation
• Lesson Plans, assessment with answer keys and worksheets given for all subjects
• Current affairs can be updated through their monthly news letter ‘The Cordova Today’
• The software promotes a complete understanding of the lessons

Overall it was an interactive and interesting session and the teachers participated with a lot of enthusiasm.

STAFF CLUB - 2nd Celebration, 30th August 2014

The second gathering of the Staff Club took place on 26 July 2014, Saturday in the Middle Wing Auditorium. The entire Shalom family, including the teaching staff and admin members from all the three wings gathered in the auditorium for an afternoon of fun and togetherness.

The programme commenced with a variety of frothy and fizzy light –hearted quizzes like find the odd one out, guess the names of movies and brands from the given clues.

In addition, announcements were made regarding Teacher’s Day programme and the appreciation certificate to be given to the teachers from all three wings for maintaining the best disciplined class for the month. All the teachers were informed to give department –wise performance for the Teacher’s Day.

The entire staff sang birthday wishes for Ms. Ritu Mehta, Principal, Ms. Meenu Chopra, Head Mistress – Senior Wing ma’am, and Nishi Jayswal, Wing Coordinator – Grade V. The entire staff savored the mouth –watering refreshments and outdid one another in dancing, twirling and jiving to their heart’s content.

Department of Mental Health & Behavioral Sciences, Fortis Healthcare Limited Shalom Health and Wellness teacher attends a workshop under ‘Counselor’s Forum’ on “Depression in School Aged Children” on 29th August’14

The workshop was attended by the Health & Wellness teacher, Ms Bhupinder Kaur. Counselors at senior level & several senior teachers from all over the established schools joined the Forum. It started with the clear message that the growing prevalence of internalizing problems in children (e.g., anxiety & depression) & the high level of disability associated with them, presents a unique opportunity for school psychologists to participate in efforts to prevent & treat these problems. School-aged children today are 10 times more likely to experience a severe depression in their lifetimes than the children born just three generations ago. Depression is twice more common in girls. It is important to look for the symptoms such as sadness/irritability, difficulty in adjusting with peer, low self-esteem, and loss of interest, difficulty in concentration, tiredness & fatigue, avoidance / withdrawal, bullied behavior. The child is also more prone to show symptoms of depression before the commencement of exams.

Those children would be at higher risk who have medical problems, who bully or are victims of bullying, face negative experiences in life, belong to conflict ridden home environment, family history of depression, children who have academic & behavioral problems. All these factors lead to poor or worsened school performance, impaired social interactions & peer relationships, prone to substance abuse, disruptive behavior, violence & aggression and suicide. Depression can be prevented when school creates supportive environment where child can express about how they feel. Teachers, counselors, collaboration with experts from outside school, play an important role in handling the depression at right time. School should conduct awareness programs, educating teachers & parents about mental health related problems. Comprehensive Crisis Intervention Plan especially during exams can also help in reducing stress during exams. Schools should also provide training programs for faculty & parents to recognize the risk factors & warning signs of depression. Teachers can help children with these traits by developing a strong teacher student relationship, by using positive approaches, understanding their perspective, provide them with the opportunities towards success (positive reinforcement).

Extra Marks Workshop conducted for the teachers for Grades IX-XII on 9th August’14

Extra Marks module and systems have been installed in all the grades from Grades IX onwards. In order to train teachers how to operate the hardware and software components of Extra Marks application, a workshop was organized by the professionals from Extra Marks. The workshop began with a step wise explanation of the hardware and the three applications running on the first page. The resource person showed the teachers the tools – stylus, pointer etc that can be used to operate the Interactive board and applications. All the high-tech yet user friendly tools were shown to the teachers one by one e.g. the pens, geometric tools, paint bar, curtains, open page, compass and calculator. The password was shared with the teachers and their user id would be created and informed to them shortly.

In the second leg of workshop, one can access Extra Marks icon/module in order to teach the content in each subject and grade. After opening on the first page, the teachers can easily select the subject and chapter for the classes they teach. They were shown and demonstrated the use of all the operational resources for teaching a particular lesson e.g. Mind Map, SLM (PPTs), previous 5 years question bank, value based questions, formative discussion, HOTS, Chapter wise question-answers, CCE assignments, CCE question bank. The teachers can use 3D animations, diagrams, marker tools etc. The module is replete with case studies and life skills questions which will enrich the teaching-learning process in the senior grades. Virtual labs have been added for Science subjects.

Science and Maths subject teaching can be ably supplemented with Animations, lab skill online, viva questions, BBC videos. English prose and poetry have been well-covered but limited (only 2 in poetry) chapters have been covered in Hindi. Ample map practice questions have been provided.

Shalom teachers attend a Maths Workshop on 19th July’14

A Maths workshop was conducted on 19th July’14 by Ms. Jharna Dey in the Maths Lab in the Senior Wing. The workshop was attended by all the mother teachers of Grades I-II as well as by the Maths and S.Sc teachers of Grades III-VIII. Ms. Jharna explained the concepts with the help of a kit and engaged the teachers throughout the session in various activities.
She taught the faculty members how to cover different concepts through a single activity. She made the workshop more interesting by giving real life examples too.It was really an interesting workshop. All the teachers actively participated in the activities and appreciated the workshop for being a truly illuminating one. The workshop has indeed helped the teachers to broaden their teaching and learning horizons.

Shalom teachers attend a workshop on Chromebook at google office on 18th July’14

Shalom Hills International School believes in teacher enrichment and as part of its Teacher Care Programme, encourages its faculty members to take part in subject related workshops in order to augment their subject know-how as well as for their professional enhancement. To keep their staff updated with all the latest developments in the field of technology, the school sent Ms. Deepika Dalal (H.O.D – Computer Science) and Mr. Lalit Gupta to be part of a workshop on ‘Chromebook’. Mr. Adam Naor, Enterprise Education Business Development Manager at Google and Mr. Gagan Puri, Head of Google Education, India briefed the participants on the benefits of a Chromebook over any other machine.

The key speaker briefed the delegates about how Chrome devices are optimized for the web's vast educational resources. He dwelt on the fact that

• Chromebooks integrate rich content into lessons, inspire collaborative learning, and encourage the students to create and share their own content with the world.

• Yet another winning edge that the Chrome devices have is that they deliver a lesson without lengthy startup times or tedious training.

• They're a simple, scalable and affordable way to put technology into the hands of more students and teachers.

Mr. Gagan pointed out to the participants how Chromebooks have proven to be an excellent solution for schools looking to make a safer, cheaper and easier foray into 21st century learning. It was an eye-opener for the teachers present there to learn that Chromebooks also support students without internet access at home by providing them with 100mb of free data usage per month. Attendees were given hands-on access to Chromebooks and guide on how to explore more ways by which the students and teachers can leverage the technology in their classroom.

All in all it was a very innovative and interesting workshop. The Shalom teachers after attending the workshop are very keen to share their learning outcome with their students and colleagues. They seem favorably inclined towards using Chrome books as a new tool of imparting learning.

Workshop on Sustainable Schools programme conducted at Golden Heights School, Gurgaon on 8th July’14

Shalom Hills International School has taken up Green Award Project in association with Eco- Slate and Climate Miles. As many as 16 schools of Gurgaon are a part of this project in which they have to work towards making their school sustainable. As part of in- series training sessions, a workshop was conducted by Shalom Hills and Eco-slate at Golden Heights School, Gurgaon.

The Principal and teacher in-charge Ms. Jaya Srivastava took the Shalom staff around the host school. After that, a one hour workshop was conducted with a group of 30 teachers who were given details about the award criteria and the project to be undertaken in their school.

A detailed talk on waste and energy –“Two themes of Sustainable School Award 2014” was shared. What followed was a hand on training on how to conduct waste and energy audit in their school and as a corollary to that, how to work towards setting up a waste and energy management system for the school. The Shalom mentor team also showcased before the host school’s core group the case study of Shalom Hills International School, their community based green projects, the Green School Programme undertaken in association with Centre of Environment Education and the best sustainable practices which made Shalom Hills the forerunner and recipient of the Most Sustainable School Award.

Workshop conducted at Kendriya Vidyalaya School on 5th July 2014

Sometimes you walk into a movie theater without any expectations and the film turns out to surprise you and leave you with memories and thoughts worth remembering. If you have seen “Queen”, you would know what I mean. The Shalom team had a similar experience when they walked into Kendriya Vidyalaya School located in Sec-14, Gurgaon.

There they saw was a school which had an effective and fully functional waste management system in place. The school successfully collects and segregates most of the waste generated in the premises and it has also established relevant partnerships to take care of the same. K.V School was facing a few glitches which they shared with the team from Shalom Hills International School. The Shalom students tried to solve the problem bringing in a bit of a systematic approach. Apart from that, Shalom Hills International School shared its best practices and waste management project which has received an International Platinum Award ‘Cyber Fair’ with the other school.

Next, the Shalomites and the students of the host school had a discussion about how to set up an energy management system in the school. A core group of students and teachers in the school were guided on how to do the energy audit followed by a brief discussion on some techniques and steps which can be adopted to reduce the energy consumption. The K.V School will divide the students into groups of two with one group handling the WASTE and the other ENERGY.

To throw more illumination on the topic, they were presented with the waste and energy manual of Shalom Hills International School which can guide them to set their processes right.

This was indeed a very enriching experience for everyone to see the dedication and passion of both teachers and students at creating a sustainable value system in their school.

Workshop conducted by Vice Chairman on 4th July’14

It is the regular practice of the school management of Shalom Hills International School to introduce innovations in the school mechanism, review the progress and implementation of the School Development Plan (SDP) and view the teaching-pedagogical practices that have been being updated in the school. As part of the process, the management conducts frequent inspirational and empowerment workshops with the principal, various heads and coordinators.

One such workshop was recently conducted by Mr. D. George, the Vice Chairman of Shalom Group of Schools with Ms. Ritu Mehta, principal and members of Strategic and Resource Development team (SRD) – Ms. Maya Vinod, Ms. Swastika Acharya, Ms. Jalpa Shah, Ms. Deepika Dalal and Ms. Jyotin Prinja.

At the outset of the workshop, Ms. Maya Vinod shared with the Vice Chairman and others how every department has not only plotted its curriculum in strict compliance with NCF 2005 guidelines but are also diligently carrying them out throughout every session including the current one. As is usual in the school, activities over and above the ones spelt out in NCF 2005 are being carried out to extend maximum benefit to the students. Vice Chairman was given a report of the microteaching and micro lessons conducted by the Heads of every department and the teachers before the school reopened after vacations.

Very interestingly, Ms. Mehta, the principal under the guidance of Vice Chairman had set a teeny weeny homework for the teachers during the vacations. All had to write the goals, learning outcomes and process of teaching in their subject as sketched out in National Curriculum Framework 2005. After congratulating the heads on how well each department had carried out the task, Vice Chairman shared the rationale and advantages of this exercise, firstly all in the department are on the same page and function according to the stated goals of their subject, and also how it is easier for new inductees to familiarize themselves with the key points of the NCF 2005 (for their subject) in a single snapshot.

Vice Chairman suggested to the teachers to ensure that all the excellent work being done in the Skill Clubs, Co-Scholastic, Scholastic and parental involvement areas should be spelt out in the Academic Planner and should appear as a baseline for the parents, teachers and students alike.

Vice Chairman reviewed the improvements made in the infrastructure, the Disaster Management workshops, Health and Wellness Club activities as well as those carried out in the Dynasties and Skill Clubs. The on-going process of selection of Student’s Council was also discussed.

Workshop conducted at Amity International School on 3rd July'14

Shalom Hills International School is the first school in Gurgaon and NCR to implement a systematic sustainability curriculum for which it has been acknowledged, feted and awarded with Most Sustainable School and Green Initiative Awards. We at Shalom Hills believe that knowledge gained ought to be shared; so the school seeks to reach out to like-minded schools to share best green practices and together build up a commonwealth of green schools and contribute to an ecologically rich world through collaboration and innovation.

The school has taken a lead in of handholding and mentoring 16 schools in Gurgaon and help them in implementing sustainable and practical waste and energy management practices. With this regard, the second in- training workshop was organized at Amity International School (Sector-43).

Ms. Nina Soni (Head Mistress of Amity), Science teachers and a group of 10 students are the core committee members at Amity International School for the Green Award Programme undertaken by Shalom Hills International School who attended the workshop conducted by Ms. Jalpa Shah of Shalom Hills International School.

Ms. Jalpa Shah started the training session by introducing them to the concept of sustainability and the elements which are requisite for building up sustainable schools. The roadmap for building waste and energy management system in the school was also explained to the teachers and students alike. Various initiatives, best practices as well as the awards received by Shalom Hills International School were also shared with them. In order to sensitize the core team as to why there was a need to wake up and respond to the call for help by the ailing earth, those present at the workshop were shown a telling animation movie.

At the end, the award criterion was discussed with the core team and they were briefed about mid-term evaluation of the project wherein the core team of Amity International will submit their project which would be reviewed.

The teachers and students at Amity International were all praise of the work done by Shalom Hills International School. They showed keen interest in the various best practices like zero waste day, vermipits, energy manual, surveys and community projects and showed enthusiasm in implementing the same.

Shalom teachers attend a Road Safety related workshop on 4th July’14

The teachers of Grades X-XII were a part of the Road Safety and Youth Awareness Drive conducted by Gurgaon police in the school. Shalom Hills International School believes that the student enlightenment, enrichment and empowerment are directly proportional to the enrichment of the teaching faculty. For this reason and also since an empowered staff is the precursor to an aware student fraternity, the Shalom teachers are actively involved in subject enrichment workshops, training programmes or awareness drives throughout the academic year.

One such awareness programme was conducted with the teachers and students alike on 4th July’14 by the Gurgaon police. The teachers were given Gurgaon Police Visiting Cards with all important helpline numbers. They were guided to make their students familiar with them and know which one to call in case of an emergency. The teachers were also made to realize that the youth must have a healthy respect for traffic rules and it is also the obligation of teachers to guide and encourage their children to obey road safety rules.

Yet another important learning outcome from the workshop for the teachers was to spread the message among the parents at PTMs and other interactive forums. Yet another important benefit is that the whole society and community will benefit if and when teachers and students join the Road Safety Department of Gurgaon Police to make the roads safer and reduce the number of traffic violations.

Inspirational address by Founder - Managing Director, Dr. Lilly George to the staff and students of Senior Grades on 2nd July'14

The special and self-written prayer prepared by M.D ma'am especially for the students breathed fresh life into the Inspirational workshop conducted by M.D ma'am in the Middle Wing Auditorium on 2nd July'14. Ms. Karishma George, Director of Shalom Group of Schools along with Ms. Sara Noorana, Group Head and Ms. Ritu Mehta, principal were also present there. In her inspirational talk, M.D ma’am addressed the faculty and senior grade students of Grades VI-XII.

When the presentation showing M.D ma'am vision for the students and heartfelt prayer was read aloud to the students, an immediate spark 'to live life the right way' was lit in the hearts of the entire student fraternity and faculty. They were immeasurably moved by the depth and breadth of ma’am dream for them and the poignant words that followed:

"Be like the sun, Arise early and never go to bed late;
Be like the moon, shine in the darkness but submit to a greater light;
Be like the flower, always seeking the sun but grounded to the earth;
Be like the river, always moving ahead;
Be like the birds
Eat, drink, sing and fly;
Be like the day that arrives and leaves without any noise"

The high point of the workshop was when M.D ma’am said that the occasion was a special one for all the students since it was actually a celebration of the growth of the school as a whole. Ma’am touched upon all the school and students awards and achievements which have made the school ‘a force to reckon with’. M.D ma’am congratulated all the students who have won accolades for the school be it in Skating tournaments, sports events, Olympiads, street plays, debates or dance-dramas or the Cyber Fair International event. Holding aloft the Cambridge University’s Guide to Excellence SU 2013, ma’am shared that it had been her dream as a child to study in Cambridge University and how life has come full circle that in the present time, it is Cambridge University which has personally sought her out and studied the education system of her school, calling it as a school offering ‘Top Class Education’.

Workshop by Canadian Centre of Education for the Senior Wing faculty members on 30th June'14

'A Bright Future in Canada' was the name of the workshop conducted for the Senior Grade teachers taking Grades X-XII by Mr. Dan Shekhar, the Founder of Canadian Centre for Education and Career Development and Mr. T.V Thomas, the M.D of Cambrian University.

Mr. T.V Thomas, in his address to the teachers pointed out the multiple benefits of studying in Canada. Through a PPT, he covered the study options and subsequent career options offered in Cambrian University, Canada. He underscored the key advantages, namely how teaching in Canadian college is job oriented, 25% cheaper than other countries, focussed on skills acquisition and development, sponsorship by industry, less student strength in the classes, high salary and quick placements, flexible training hours, 26 teaching programmes specially suited and relevant to India, and 87% employment rate.

Mr. Dan Shekhar and Mr. T.V Thomas during their interaction with the teachers shared the relevant and mandatory information that they can pass on to their students who are interested in studying abroad. They distributed handouts to the teachers which carried detailed information about the study courses open in Canada.

Workshop conducted at Shiv Nadar School on 30th June'14

Shalom Hills International School has been awarded the International Platinum Cyber Fair Award, the Most Sustainable School by Climate Miles and Eco Slate and ECON Green School Awards. With the objective of working collectively with other schools towards an ecologically rich and green world, Shalom Hills International School has taken up the initiative of handholding and mentoring 15 schools in Gurgaon about the concept of Sustainable Green School. The school along with Eco Slate will be reaching out to these schools and helping them to adopt practical measures and implement practices necessary for a Green Sustainable School. All the schools will be working on the parameters and road map given to them by Shalom Hills and Ecoslate. A mid term review of their efforts will be done and if any further assistance is required for setting up the practices, the same will be provided to the schools. At the culmination of the initiative, a grand finale will be held at Shalom Hills International School in association with Climate Miles and Eco Slate wherein the school which has initialized and executed the best waste and energy management practices will be awarded.

To flag off the initiative, the maiden workshop was held by Ms. Jalpa Shah, a Senior Grades Chemistry teacher of Shalom Hills International School at Shiv Nadar School, Gurgaon which was attended by at least 70 teachers. The workshop started with the introduction of what is sustainability and the idea behind being a sustainable school. Elements like waste, energy, air and water which define the criteria of sustainability were explained in detail.

Shalom Hills International School is the first school in Gurgaon and NCR to implement a sustainable curriculum and hence all the benchmark activities done by school were shown in detail through a presentation by Ms. Jalpa Shah. The following points were covered through a detailed presentation.

• Sustainable curriculum which is implemented across the school to calculate the carbon footprint of the school.
• Waste, energy, water and air audit through the Eco Slate Programme.
• Shalom Hills initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint and increase the handprint.
• Shalom Green School Programme in association with Centre of Environment Education, New Delhi.
• Shalom Hills 'Do it yourself' manual for waste, air, water and land audit of school.
• Shalom Hills believes in imparting a 'beyond the four walls' curriculum wherein the students get a chance to apply their knowledge in real life and hence the school takes on various community projects to solve the problems related to the environment. Various community projects done by the school like waste management, save electricity campaign were also elaborated upon.
• Teachers were shown an animation movie on environment.

As the workshop drew to a close, the teachers were given a strategic roadmap for working on implementing waste and energy management practices in their respective schools. The criterion for the Award was also shared. Shalom Hills International School will be conducting its next workshop on 5th July with Amity International School (Sector- 43 branch).

Workshop on Google Literacy and Google Tools conducted on 28th June'14

"In life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough; you must take action."

Most people believe that life ought to be enjoyed in the fullest in the present moment and nowhere else. So to experience our life fully means focusing on the now, the present moment. If not now, when? is one of the mantras that inspires the Shalom faculty to engage in productive pursuits and professional enrichment programme that take place throughout the year in the school in order to move towards realizing their dreams.

Online resource hubs and other tools for collaboration, i.e. blogs and discussion boards, and including virtual or in-school coaching and mentoring, are beginning to make inroads in accomplishing teaching quality and student achievement. To familiarize the Shalom faculty with the latest online resources and Google apps, Ms. Deepika Dalal H.O.D - Computers had organized a workshop for the teachers in Shalom Hills International School in collaboration with G.E.G i.e Google Educators Group. The key speaker was Ms. Jimmy Puri and thereafter the workshop was conducted by Mr. Nebu and Mr. Neeraj.

During the course of the workshop, Ms. Deepika Dalal was announced as one of the G.E.G Leaders all over the country. The teachers were acquainted with the use of various Google apps such as Google drive, Google maps etc. They were given hands-on experience by the Google resource persons. The teachers were taught about- how to create a folder, share PPTs, mail questionnaires, conduct surveys, design question papers etc. with the help of Google Drive App.

Over all the session was really very interesting and educative. The teachers took keen interest in learning how to reduce their online work and share their resources with one another through Google Drive App. After the workshop was over, they are now looking forward to applying the knowledge of all the newly learnt apps in their day to day life.

Workshop on SDP (School Development Plan) conducted on 27th June'14

A workshop was conducted by Ms. Ritu Mehta, Principal, Shalom Hills International School was conducted on 27th June, 2014 in the Middle Wing Auditorium with all the teachers and staff members regarding the key areas in the School Development Plan. The major highlights of Skill Clubs and other changes introduced in the school mechanism discussed by Ms. Ritu Mehta were:

• Teachers to be whole heartedly devoted to their teaching profession.
• A detailed Skill Club plan to be submitted.
• Activity teachers to arrange for Inter School Competitions. List of competitions to be submitted at the earliest.
• Major emphasis to be laid on Constructive Results utilizing all the resources available in school.
• Achievements and appreciation of teachers to be mentioned in the Teacher's Diary.
• Initiation of Staff Club from July onwards for the celebration of staff birthdays, marriages or even for going on excursions.
• A PTA Club to be formed for parents who are ready to pay voluntary services in the functioning of the school.
• Safety and security of the children to be the first priority.
• Community services to be initiated to reach out to the community at large.
• A surprise mock drill for Disaster Management to be conducted in July.

Thereafter, major guidelines on the safety and hygiene of the students were discussed by Ms. Swastika, namely:

• Through feedback@shalomhills.com parents can have a 24 hours access to the management.
• Shepherding through the Pastoral Care- a platform for the parents, students and faculty for handholding, guidance and emotional safety.
• Safety and security in campus and classrooms to be ensured through several safeguards
• Safe Transport Policy- Buses to have lady guards, GPS, first aid box, fire extinguishers, display of emergency contact number.
• Safety measures during dispersal to b e strictly followed.
• The school has a well equipped infirmary with full time nurse, doctor on call is some facilities to ensure the safety of the students.
• Cyber Safety- usage of internet to be monitored by teachers.
• The school has modern infrastructures like CCTV surveillance, security guards, public address system.
• For Disaster Management, an evacuation plan is displayed at different places.
• Waves of Change Programme (WOC)- officially registered under CBSE , WOC is spreading health and hygiene message across the community.

After that, a detailed description of Community Outreach Projects taken up by the school was given by Ms. Jalpa Shah. Under the School Development Plan, Community Work has been given great importance. Some of these community services are

• Donations
• Visit to old age home
• Three hour campaign
• Discussing community problems with NGO's
• UTTAHAN official tie up for safe electricity campaign
• International Cyber Fair
• Waste Management through activities and programme
• Go Green Drive
• Green School Programme by Ecoslate
• Adopting a deaf and dumb school(upcoming project)

In the last leg of the workshop, Ms. Jyotin Prinja elaborated upon the General and Structured Life Skills Inculcation Programme being implemented in the school. Ms. Jyotin laid special stress on how our school has through every means, resources, facilities and vehicle ensured that life coping skills and life skills are imparted to the students throughout the calendar year.

The salient points which distinguish our school's Life Skills Programme from those of other schools are

• Life Skills inculcation through Emotional Well Being Programme
• Promotion of Life Skills through art forms
• Through thematic and value based school programmes
• Through Event Management - annual day, graduation day, special events organized for moms, dads and grandparents ad thematic assemblies
• Through Community Outreach Programmes - through Rotary's Interact Club projects, Green House Programme, Cyber Fair Competition and Waste Management measures
• By an Empowered Student Council - planning and carrying school events and annual observances like Teacher's Day and Children's Day
• Through CinemaScope
• Through theme based class and special assemblies
• Triangulation Assessment Procedure
• Awareness Programmes like Life Skills and Sensitization Workshops, Skills Development Programmes, Role Play activities
• Trend filters for selection of books

Workshop on teaching methodologies conducted by Ms. Ritu Mehta, the school principal on 26th June'14

Ms. Ritu Mehta, the principal of Shalom hills International School convened a meeting with the Senior Grades teachers, activity teachers and Heads of the Department to acquaint them with the latest teaching methodologies and pedagogy, and at the same time to share with them practical hands on tips about time management and optimisation of their skills and resources.

At the very outset of the workshop, Ms. Ritu Mehta highlighted the importance of Academics as well as Curricular activities as being the crux for building up one's overall personality. In this context, the school's Skill Clubs play a very vital role and due weight age has to be given to them by all the teachers and students alike. All the class teachers to inform the students about the Skill Clubs on the very first day the school reopens.

Ms. Mehta shared the result analysis of Grade X & XII with special emphasis on the CGPA and relative grading. During the course of the workshop, she enumerated and touched upon different methodology of teaching that can be introduced, initialized and implemented throughout the year in every class and in every subject in order to have a successful teaching-learning outcome. In this context, Ms. Mehta elaborated upon the key points to be borne in mind while teaching in a class:

• Understanding through fun
• Learning by doing
• Importance of assignments and PPTs to enrich the teaching process
• Need for data analysis
• Application in daily life (Life skills and VBQ)
• Lecture method
• Collaborative Mapping of syllabus among different depts.
• Anecdotal records to be updated from time to time
• Display the Holiday Homework in every classroom on PTMs

Ms. Mehta concluded the workshop by urging and exhorting the teachers to fall upon their most ingenious and creative self-resources to come up with interesting and student-centric methodologies to make learning the most wonderful experience for their students. She also urged the teachers to share their creative inputs with their counterparts and other colleagues from other departments so that all the students and the school can benefit from them.

Workshop conducted by the principal, Ms. Ritu Mehta on 26th June'14

The Principal of Shalom Hills International School, Ms. Ritu Mehta conducted a workshop with all the heads and teachers of Senior Wing and shared the school's development plans which are going to be implemented from the current session.

Ms. Ritu Mehta shared how our school has added to the existing Skill Clubs in order to offer a wide spectrum of choices by way of Skill Clubs and to provide exposure to every kind of skills to the students. The principal shared with all the teachers present how the skill clubs have been streamlined further this year and how the club activities have been well integrated in the time table. Certain standard instructions were given to the teachers about the procedure and processes to be followed regarding :

• Allocation of students in each club
• All the students to be an integral in some core clubs and to be selected on a bi-monthly rotational basis in the other Skill Clubs.
• Each student if so desires can take part in one or more than one club.
• Parents to be informed about the activities of the Skill Clubs
• Skill Club Incharges and HODs to decide on the activities to be carried out in the clubs.
• Display of the activities of the students in each club during PTA
• Extra ordinary achievements are to be regularly recorded in the student portfolios
• Grades to be given in each activity to serve as an impetus and encouragement for the students.
• The club activities can be conducted inside and outside the classrooms.

Work Shop conducted on Storytelling session for Junior Wing Teachers

Story telling is an art which has multiple facets and advantages. It can be created, told and retold at any time and to people of any age. However, the children take extreme pleasure in listening to stories. The teachers at Shalom Hills School got trained on the skills required to enhance the ‘Art of Storytelling’.

A two days workshop conducted on 26th & 27th June 2014, brought about a new perception in the minds of the teachers and pre-disposed them towards yet another way of innovative learning and teaching of Pre-Primary students.

Understanding developed during the Storytelling workshop.

• Definition of storytelling.
• Every story is not connected with a moral
• How to use stories with various purposes
• Skills of story telling
• How to build a connect with audience
• Pause in the story
• Voice modulation
• Facial expressions
• Body Language – gestures
• Content of narration
• Choices of word
• Balance in narration and dialogues
• Variations based on objective.
• Various ways to tell a story
• Props
• Puppets
• Picture charts
• How to create a story?
• Characters – physical, color, traits, attitude
• Settling – period & place
• Beginning & Closing
• Length of the story

The teachers created their own set of stories which can be referred to throughout the year. They also designed several props, puppets and story cards during the session which can be used to give enhanced classroom experience to the students.

Enlightening and Empowerment workshop on ‘Best Teaching practices and pedagogy’ attended by the school principal and coordinator on 9th June’14

The principal of Shalom Hills International School, Ms. Ritu Mehta and coordinator for Grade V, Ms. Nishi Jayswal were a part of the high-voltage workshop organized by One Planet Research Organization in the CRPF Camp Auditorium in Kadarpur on 9th June’14. It was attended by the who’s Who of the education industry and renowned academicians hailing from different schools, colleges, universities and educational institutions in Gurgaon and Delhi NCR.

Important speakers discussed the need to have innovations in teaching pedagogy. Dr. B.N Ramesh, I.G – CRPF, Kadarpur also addressed the gathering as a key speaker. He took the guests through a presentation highlighting the best practices and methodologies relating to social sphere including education sector in the CRPF and how the most innovative ones are most successful when implemented by the CRPF personnel.

At the same venue, in the glittering 5th Annual Education Excellence Award ceremony held in, the school was conferred the National Education Award for being the Best International School for innovative teaching practice by an Indo-Italian Organization, One Planet Research Organization.

On behalf of Shalom Hills International School, the Shalom team led by the school Principal, Mrs. Ritu Mehta, and Ms. Nishi Jayswal, the Coordinator of Grade V received the coveted award from H’ble Udyog Minister, Shri Kalraj Mishra.

“We need to get more quality changes in education. As honorable Mr. Narendra Modi recently said to focus on skills development. Skills are very important to work in any field,” Shri Kalraj Mishra, Indian Union Cabinet Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the BJP, said on the occasion.

Shalom Principal and Head of English Department attend University of Bristol Offer Holders Event in New Delhi on 29th May'14

Ms. Ritu Mehta, principal of Shalom Hills International School and Ms. Jyotin Prinja, Head of Department attended an Offer Holders Event specially organized by the University of Bristol in India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, Delhi.

After the welcome address to the gathering, Ms. Stephanie, the International Relations Head of University of Bristol gave a comprehensive presentation which afforded insight into the entire ambit of procedure necessary for enrolling into the Undergraduate and Post Graduate courses in University of Bristol - the study options, admission forms, and deadlines for their submission, courses, career opportunities and accommodation.

It was mentioned during the presentation that the special highlight of studying in the University of Bristol is the Career Service offered by them. It covers:

• Job Shop for those seeking part time jobs
• Paid Internship Opportunities
• Bristol Plus Awards
• Career Fairs (attended and placements offered by the world's topnotch employers like Jaguar, Microsoft, BAE, Airbus, Land Rover, Rolls Royce and so on.
• International Career Advisor (to guide you about the best career options on an individual basis).

What sets the education offered in University of Bristol distinctly apart from the other premier universities is its Students Union, which is one of the most active SU in the world. Other than boasting of 180 clubs and societies under its aegis, the Students Union provides:

• Student Counselling
• Support Student Health Service
• Student Funding
• Multi faith Chaplaincy
• UBU - Just Ask (Catering to frequently asked students' questions)
• Personal Tutoring

In great detail, Ms. Stephanie explained the process of seeking admission into the courses offered by University of Bristol, starting from accepting the offer, meeting the deadlines for acceptance and subsequent submission of online forms to paying the fee deposit by the given dates. Thereafter the University mails a Guide Book and gives out dates to 'Meet your Faculty'. Once the full admission fee is paid, the student gets a Student Card and Sports Pass.

A quick overview was given of the accommodation (in campus and outside) options available to the undergraduates and post graduates and scholarships open to them. After letting out details of the websites to those present, there was a Question-Answer round.

Workshop on Standard Operative Procedures conducted on 23rd May'14

The workshop was taken by Ms. Jalpa with all heads, HM, coordinator, in-charges to apprise them about their roles and responsibilities and all the standard operative procedures which are followed in the school, namely:
Printing
Disposal of good
Purchase procedure
Terrorist attack
Laboratory safety
Physical safety
Emotional safety
Grievances
Medical concerns
Discipline
School time table
Substitution
Guideline for improving academics
Examination

All the heads present cleared their doubts and were then instructed to further brief their teams and teachers of their departments and comply with the SOPs.

Workshop on NCF conducted for the teachers of Grades VI-XII on 22nd May'14

The school's principal, Ms. Ritu Mehta conducted a workshop with the teachers of the Senior Wing to bring them on the same page regarding NCF 2005. She emphasized the imperative need for each and every teacher to know the mandatory features of NCF 2005 which relate to their subject. Ms. Mehta particularly stressed upon the fact that Ms. Swastika Acharya and Ms. Maya Vinod's role in streamlining the processes and facilitating the teachers' work in scholastic and Co-Scholastic Domains. All the teachers were set a little homework requiring them to do indepth study of the goals, learning outcomes, challenges of teaching a particular subject and recommendations and then write a succinct write up covering these points.

Ms. Maya Vinod shared a detailed PPT on NCF 2005 with the teachers present for the workshop. She explained the tools of assessment and clarified that FAs should include three diagnostic tools namely one group activity, one individual activity and a paper-pen test. Ms. Maya reiterated the need for all the Senior Grade teachers to take up PSA (Problem Solving Assessment) seriously and dedicatedly in the classes they teach and that too at the earliest. The senior graders from Grade IX onwards should be guided on how to ace OTBA especially the way to frame relevant questions. Since fortunately, the syllabus in most subjects is already aligned to CBSE guidelines and NCF 2005, only Psychology and Web Technology subjects needed to plotted and mapped out accordingly. Ms. Maya shared the PPT with all the teachers.

Computer Workshop - Classes I - V on 19th May'14

A workshop was conducted by HOD Computers - Ms. Deepika Dalal on 19rd May'14 for the teachers of classes I- V in the Senior Wing Computer Lab. During the course of the workshop, all the queries regarding MS Office (MS Word,Excel and Powerpoint) were resolved.

Teachers were acquainted with the following important steps pertained to MS Office
Alignment of the document
Usage of Page Borders
Page Colour
Water Mark
Usage of Tables in word document
How to align Data in Word document
In Excel- How to pertinent the various formulas
Alignment of the Data in Excel Sheet
Usage of pictures in document was enlightened

Education Career Fair Attended at Pragati Maidan on 10th May'2014

Education Career Fair was attended by the Health & Wellness teacher of Senior Wing Ms Bhupinder Kaur, on 10th May'14 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. There was participation from various universities, colleges, representatives of International Colleges / Universities, counseling agencies and foreign education consultants. Their representatives gave out information regarding the eligibility criteria and procedures, fee structure, expenses, job opportunities, faculties and infrastructure of their universities. Some of the key universities which participated were - Amity University, Sharda University, Lovely Professional, GD Goenka, Punjab Technical University from the Domestic List and the institutions from Australia, Malaysia, United States, Ireland, and Canada. The courses being offered ranged from Engineering, Medical, Commerce, Humanities or Arts. There were institutes offering elite and specialized niche courses like Aviation, Fashion designing, Media, Nursing, Paramedical, Mass Communication etc. It was a great experience to get the exposure & information on different courses that will help in making the school's senior graders aware about the recent careers.

Shalom teacher attends the Times of India NIE Annual Teachers' Meet 2014-15 on 9th May'14

'Those who educate the children are to be honoured more than those who produce them because the latter only create life while the former impart to them the art of living and the meaning of life!'

The Kingdom of Dreams seemed to have morphed into a magnetic needle drawing teachers from all over Delhi NCR as they flocked together to be a part of the prestigious Teachers Meet organized by the Times of India NIE. Loud applause greeted the entry of the two guests of honour, Ms. Divya Dutta, an acclaimed T.V and film actress and Mr. Sandeep Verma, the debutante director of Manjunath. Ms. Divya held the audience rapt when she shared her experiences and eventful rise to fame in the film industry. She paid her respect to all the teachers present in the gathering and all over the world and termed the years spent under the tutelage of her teachers "the golden years of her life." She expressed her gratitude to the teachers present and past. Mr. Sandeep Verma then dwelt on his foray into Bollywood meaningful cinema through his debut film, Manjunath.

After a floral welcome to the guests of honour and other guest dignitaries, a fun session was set rolling for the teachers. A succint quiz based on the Times of India and its publications tested the newspaper reading habits of the gathering. Many hands were raised in response to questions like National News Editor of TOI Student's Edition, on which page does Action Reaction Appear? In how many cities is TOI NIE published? This was a prelude to more some go-getter and snappy quizzes which followed thereafter. Bollywood Quiz was a runaway success as the teachers literally shouted out answers without waiting for their turn. Gifts were distributed liberally to all those who gave correct answers. More questions kept rolling and so did small tokens as presents.

After the Quiz rounds and question-answer round with Ms. Divya Dutta was over, the teachers dispersed to food counters of different states and savoured their moth-watering cuisine. Post-lunch, the teachers were escorted to the Nautanki Mahal to watch a musical extravaganza Jhumroo which took their breath away and was an enthralling experience in totality from the start to the finish.

The teachers take a blast as they made most of their day out!

Learning outcome:
How to weave interesting quiz round newspapers and capture the interest of the target audience ( in our case, the student fraternity) Workshops, seminars, contests which are organized by the TOI group and its education partners for the schools which subscribe to the paper Team building and inter-personal skills build up automatically through fun and interactive sessions which are ostensibly with no stated agenda or set targets.

Shalom teacher attends GEG(Google Educator Group) Meet up on 2nd May, 14

The school is engaged in continuous endeavours to engage its teachers in subject enhancement, personality enrichment and other interactive programmes whether in-house or by sending them to other forums. Ms. Deepika Dalal, H.O.D - IT Department of the school took keen interest and part in the GEG Meet up organized by Google. The meet covered the vast topic of "Advanced levels of Google Tools" and during the course of the workshop, the best classroom practices were shared by all teachers culled from their own live school experiences.

Google has a range of tools for teaching and learning. This session of Google Educator Group (GEG) introduced to the teachers what they are and how to apply them. This meet also had interesting and innovative sessions chaired by Mr Mukesh from D.P.S R.K Puram and Ms Rashmi of Kulachi Hansraj School.

The meet up was organized by Google with the objective of reinforcing and exploring new ways of infusing tools and technology in the schools. At the same time, it was also an opportunity for GEG to share their success stories and voice their plans ahead for the implementation of technology and open web in their respective classrooms. Moreover it was an occasion for all to appreciate each other's efforts and strengthen collaboration among all.

Educational Innovation Conference

Attended by Principal - Mrs. Ritu Mehta on 12th April, 14

Sri Aurobindo Society, ICIE (Indian Council for Integral Education) & Litchi Education Innovation collaborated together to organize the Annual Conference for Principals on 12th April 2014 at Taj Palace, New Delhi. The main focus of the conference was "Innovation in Education through which to transform the Education system of India". The inaugural session started with the recap of EIFI & the over view of Sri Aurobind Society which was followed by keynote speech by eminent personalities from the corporate world. The distinguished speakers expressed their view on how education can nurture leaders of tomorrow. They all conscientiously debated in favour of transforming the teacher-centric education to student centric education. The delegates agreed that today all individuals are competing with each other, and therefore a profession requires a person to be innovative & creative. Against this scenario, schools should impart to the students an education which can nurture the leaders of tomorrow; education that creates and whets the appetite of learners to make them think beyond the boundaries of conventional reason & logic.

After listening to the debate, the stakeholders of education were invited on the dais to articulate their views on the current education system. The principals of renowned schools shared the best practices which were being followed religiously in their school & also how these practices are helping them to shape their institution & attain greater heights of success. The audience appreciated the efforts taken by the schools in carving a niche in the society.

The second stakeholders in education 'students' were then called to share their perspective on the hurdles & opportunities offered by the current education system. They shared both their bad & good experiences of CBSE education system & wanted the transformation in the education system from rote learning & marks oriented education to become more realistic and practical.

The post lunch session was more argumentative & deliberative as there were simultaneous discussions on the pitfalls of the current education system and identifying the next essential system which will help to transform education system substantially.

On the conclusive note, some famous academicians shared their views on an integral education system, which may possibly be the answer to the new reforms in education system followed by Litchi organization offering to the schools the ZIIEI scheme (Zero Investment Improvement for Educational Initiative). The Director of ICIE promised grants of 21 each to schools which will document the innovative practices of their schools and shared it with other schools which will spark off a chain reaction and empower all stakeholders with varied ways that can benefit the education system.

Workshop conducted by IT Dept for the new joinees on 26th April, 14

A workshop cum meeting was held on 26-04-14 between the new joinees and the IT department. The HOD - Computers, Ms. Deepika Dalal introduced the new joinees to the IT Department Staff. After that, Mr. Anurag, executive of the IT Department, started the session with an introduction of the Shalom Hills Student-Teacher Portal for the comprehension of the new teachers The following processes were shown as well as explained to the newly recruited teachers;

Use of Login ID and Password
Updation of Teacher Profile
Updation of Students records related to attendance and Health Details
Maintenance of Students Academic records and results
Usage of Photo Gallery for highlighting Students Achievements
Generation of Assessment Reports
Usage of Portal for communicating with Parents
In the end of the workshop, Q & A session was conducted to clear the doubts of the teachers.

Workshop by School Cinema organized for Shalom teachers for 26th April, 14

A workshop was conducted by School Cinema on 26th April, 2014 in the Middle Wing Auditorium for all the teachers and staff members.

An innovative concept developed by EduMedia, School Cinema is a film-based learning module combined with a fun and exciting workbook to reaffirm values, morals and to equip children with life skills to deal with everyday challenges. A fine blend of entertainment and education, it uses a language that children are familiar with. It also acts as a training aid for teachers to enhance their self and professional development, in addition to bringing parents into the circle of learning through specially created films on parenting.

The teachers were explained that School Cinema aims to influence young minds into making better choices for themselves as young adults, as well as to improve the role parents and teachers play in the holistic development of children.

Several movies like "All is Well", "Dealing with Addictions" and many more were shown to the faculty which catered to the various needs of the students of different classes ranging from first to tenth. Based on the movies, the workbooks have been prepared which act as a questionnaire for the students. Specific activities on the movies have also been devised. A manual which is a synopsis of the life skills based on the CCE guidelines was provided to the teachers for reference along with CDs.

Overall, it was a very educative and informative workshop which provided innovative and modern technologies to be integrated for making the teaching learning process a fun filled activity.

Report on Workshop for Pre-Primary Teachers

One-day workshop conducted on 19th April 14 brought together the teachers from both the branches of SHS (Nirvana & Sushant Lok). Conducted at SHS Nirvana, the objective of the session was to discuss ways to improve the teaching methodologies adopted by our teachers and to make them more responsive and attuned to the needs of the Pre-Primary students. It proved to be an interactive platform resulting in free-flow, exchange and sharing of ideas and experiences.

The session taken by Ms Shobhana Venkatesh (HM SHS Nirvana) started with an overview of the vision of our mentor, Dr Lily George, Founder-Managing Director Shalom Group of Schools who has always been a guiding force behind the ongoing process of development in the areas of imparting of knowledge and value education.

The workshop consisted of topics related to the following areas:

• Roles and responsibilities of a facilitator.
• Importance, advantage, requirement & correct usage of Integrated Learning Kit for MI, MII & MIII (designed in-house by curriculum development team at SHS).
• Various activity centers and their importance.
• Time management in classrooms
• Subject wise elaboration of teaching techniques.

Group discussions centered around the main areas of curriculum, syllabus, pedagogy and teaching environment. Many tested and successful best practices were discussed by the teachers with one another along with suggestions culled from the areas of their respective experience and expertise. The participant's views of the workshop were very encouraging as they were full of thanks for the Nirvana team for conducting such a productive, practical and informative workshop.

Report on Workshop for Pre-Primary Teachers

An IT training session on the use of Shalom Hills portal was conducted by Ms.Deepika Dalal & Mr. Siddiqui from the IT department in the Senior Wing, Computer Lab on 19th April, 2014. All the primary teachers from Class I to V attended this session.

The key points covered were:

• How to log in the portal with user id and password.
• The student information to be checked and updated by the respective class teachers.
• Any addition or deletion of student name to be informed to Mr. Piyush.
• The teachers were shown how to add attendance, homework as well as upload photographs for the various activities conducted.
• Communication tab was a new feature which was explained to the teachers. The teachers in future would be using this tab for any communication with the parents.
• A detailed explanation was given for all the respective tabs shown in the portal.
• All teachers were asked to check and verify the student names in their class list.
• Overall it was an informative session for all teachers.

The teachers found the session useful and purposeful as they received detailed information about the links on the portal and how to avail of the components present in the portal to reduce their workload.