On September 28, 2024, some members of our faculty who opted in and all members of our management team gave of their time to enhance their professional knowledge and skills. We commend them for their interest in learning and commitment to Continuing Professional Development.
Developing Reading Skills in Children
Reading and sharing stories with children has always been part of our culture. However, this is changing with the increasing use of gadgets. This particular shift has created a ripple effect, which we observe when children join our school in Year 1; many of these children face challenges in reading and following instructions.
To learn how to address this issue more effectively, ten teachers from Years 1-3, including Ms. Saima Shiraz, Head Primary Section and Ms Sarah Ladhani, Asst. Head Academics Years 1-3, attended a seven-hour workshop, led by Ms. Mona Qaiser, a professional teacher trainer.
The workshop focussed on developing reading skills in children. It provided invaluable insights about the process of learning to read along with the strategies to employ in order to teach children how to read fluently.
Some common challenges were discussed along with the techniques on how to deal with them. Teachers explored both the phonics and the whole-language approaches, learning how to balance these methods for maximum impact. Equipped with new techniques and ideas, our teachers and heads are eager to bring this knowledge into our classrooms and help our children develop stronger reading skills. We look forward to making this aspiration a reality!
Strategizing Technology and Data-Informed Decision Making
The Notre Dame Institute of Education, Karachi and Monash University, Australia, co-hosted an interactive webinar titled ‘Strategizing Technology and Data-Informed Decision Making in Educational Leadership’.
Dr. Venesser Fernandes led the session. The webinar emphasized the critical role of data-informed decision making for continuous school improvement. The following members of our Management Team attended: Ms. Bushra Nasir, Headmistress, Secondary, Ms. Amtul Islam Sabri, Assistant Headmistress, Secondary, Ms. Fauzia Edward, Admin. Head and Ms. Qurat-ul-Ain Syed, Head of Support for Learning Unit.
As the title suggests, the workshop addressed the importance of making informed decisions. A Handbook titled ‘Using Data-Informed Decision Making for Continuous School Improvement’ was shared with the participants, and some activities in it were used during the workshop.
The workshop leader discussed how education systems are exhausting themselves collecting all sorts of data and why it is important to address the need for collecting only the data that is required, based on what we plan to do with it. The areas under discussion centred around: getting organised for data collection, being aware of the needs of one’s school and taking ownership for it, looking at the decisions we take based on the data and evidence that we collect, and most importantly, asking ourselves what if anything needs changing and why – there ought to be a worthy need for change!