Curriculum Approach & Instructional Design

Developing instructional design and curriculum frameworks for foundational stage and primary grades for all domains of development and disciplines.

Read Along has been designed to improve reading fluency and reading comprehension in children. After reviewing and analysing the app against a comprehensive and balanced theoretical approach to language learning, I designed an ID to help Google Read Along achieve foundational literacy goals which are part of the NIPUN Bharat Mission. The ID is organised around universal principles on langauge learning and is informed by how children learn to read.

PALEC (Projet d’Amélioration de la Lecture-Ecriture et du Calcul) was introduced in Ivory Coast, West Africa, to bring about pedagogical changes focused on improving learning outcomes in early grades. Partnering with TRECC (Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities) which has been in operation since 2015, schools were set up in cocoa communities which followed the multi-grade-multi-level pedagogy. I was part of the curriculum and pedagogical team from TIDE Learning which ideated, designed, implemented, and monitored the academic side of the programme in 5 cocoa plantations along with Ivory Coast's education department.

I set up and led the academic team at https://tidelearning.com/, a for profit educational company, that works on making quality learning accessible, affordable & sustainable. They have implemented the muti- dimensional- multi- level (MDML) pedagogy in Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Ivory Coast, West Africa. As part of my work, I was responsilble for setting the curriculum framework from K to 5, across domains and disciplines, and lead a team of subject experts on designing pedagogical practices that aligned themselves to the MDML philosophy.

I designed a history programme for middle schoolers at Farmhill Learning Community. At Farmhill, learning moves beyond traditional and conventional frameworks of fixed and time bound syllabi. Centred around doing and nature, learning is seen as continuous and inter-connected. Our history sessions focussed not on acquiring content knowledge as much as on developing skills such as researching, asking the right questions, analysing historical sources, evaluating and presenting well-formed arguments.

PROGRAMME LEAD

Leading and designing learning programmes and initiatives, working with stakeholders, monitoring and evaluating.

I was part of a 3 member team that designed a programme for a private, low cost school in urban Bangalore, right from a theory of change and action framework, to a curriculum framework, training modules and a monitoring framework. Our work saw a considerable increase in student learning outcomes and perceptible changes in teacher attitude towards learning and teaching.

I led the KhuShi programme in Goa. KhuShi or Khushal Bharit Shikshan was a programme launched in 25 primary schools in Goa, covering all 12 districts. I designed the curriculum for grades 1 & 2 around principles of multi-grade-multi-level learning, trained the teachers, provided on ground support through real time visits and observations, worked with the operations team to ensure material delivery, and supported the tech team in generating reports.

As the head of the academic team TIDE Learning, I worked closely with the Teacher Training and Capacity Building vertical in designing training programmes. I was part of train the train model in Andhra Pradesh, and trained around 50 teachers in Goa in the TIDE methodology which was implemented in 25 primary schools in the state.

CONTENT SPECIALISATION

Designing and reviewing academic content for publishing houses and ed-tech companies.

I designed a history programme for middle schoolers at Farmhill Learning Community. At Farmhill, learning moves beyond traditional and conventional frameworks of fixed and time bound syllabi. Centred around doing and nature, learning is seen as continuous and inter-connected. I designed history sessions which focussed not on acquiring content knowledge as much as on developing skills such as researching, asking the right questions, analysing historical sources, evaluating and presenting well-formed arguments.

I have written chapters for the Social Sciences textbooks for grades 3-5, for FortunaPIX.

I have created content for EVS for primary grades, and for literacy and numeracy for ECCE as part of my role at TIDE Learning .

I have written chapters for Social Sciences textbooks, workbooks and teacher handbooks for Oxford University Press.

EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH & STRATEGISING RESEARCH

Helping education organisations strategise road maps for their projects and designing monitoring and support frameworks.

Read Along has been designed to improve reading fluency and reading comprehension in children. I designed a gap analysis framework to review the app to identify its strengths and weaknesses. As part of this, data was collected from the field, and analysed against a theoretical framework derived from universally accepted principles on reading and how children learn to read. I used an exploratory and descriptive methodology to analyse the interviews of various stakeholders, and the content on the app. The gap analysis report covered what was found, and recommendations to help achieve its goal of reading fluency.

I have worked closely with the team at Vikramshila Education Resource Society to help in writing concept notes and strategy road maps for their partner states (such as Rajasthan) on achieving universal foundational learning goals as outlined by the NIPUN Bharat Mission, India. For their pilot work on ECCE in Assam, I helped the field team bring together their learnings in the form of a learning document and helped draft their scoping study as well.

In 2012-13, I was awarded a Teacher Fellowship by the Regional Resource Centre for Elementary Education, CIEto research how children learn and engage with history teaching conducted through field visits. My work was published in, as Field Visits: Working towards an Educative Experience: In RRCEE, Voices Unheard: Teacher Research and Reflections (pp. 148-155). Delhi: RRCEE.

TEACHING AND TEACHER TRAINING

Teaching history and political science to middle & high schoolers, conducting reading fluency and comprehension sessions, training teachers in effective teaching strategies.

I designed a history programme for middle schoolers at Farmhill Learning Community. At Farmhill, learning moves beyond traditional and conventional frameworks of fixed and time bound syllabi. Centred around doing and nature, learning is seen as continuous and inter-connected. Our history sessions focussed not on acquiring content knowledge as much as on developing skills such as researching, asking the right questions, analysing historical sources, evaluating and presenting well-formed arguments.

I taught history to middle and high schoolers two private schools in Delhi. I taught both CBSE and IGCSE boards.

From 2017to 2019, I worked with two partners in designing, implementing, and monitoring an ECCE programme (K to 2) at a low budget private school in Bangalore. As part of the programme, I trained the teachers in an activity based, domain focused, learning by doing programme at the school. Our training model involved co-creating plans and co-teaching them with the teachers to create more empowered and agentive teachers.

As the head of the academic team TIDE Learning, I worked closely with the Teacher Training and Capacity Building vertical in designing training programmes. I was part of train the train model in Andhra Pradesh, and trained around 50 teachers in Goa in the TIDE methodology which was implemented in 25 primary schools in the state.