At TSUS, the teaching learning process is designed to ensure that the focus is not just on the “what” of learning but also on the “how” of learning. With the belief and conviction that experiential learning results in creating lifelong learners, the methodology and best practices at school include specially designed and well acclaimed programmes such as the following:
Choice Time Activities Children are free to move to different activity corners and choose to work on an activity of their choice. They could choose to look at a story book, play with blocks, draw or colour, play with dough and fulfill their curiosity in the discovery room.
Circle Time is a single or double period per week wherein the Class Teacher uses this time to bond and connect with her students. This is also a time that is used to provide a platform for the issues and problems that arise within the class group. It is a great time to work towards instilling the Core Values of the school.
Wonder Time is an activity that develops one of the most important skills a child would need through his/her learning years, and that is Observation. Children have an innate curiosity to explore things around them. By providing many different materials to touch, observe and manipulate, they will learn to observe, record, infer and arrive at a conclusion.
Show ‘n’ Tell in the Elementary and Lower Primary grades is a teaching learning strategy used to develop language, confidence and presentation skills in early learners. Moving from structured to unstructured sessions, Show ‘n’ Tell provides children a platform to speak amidst encouragement and positivity. This activity is the child’s first step towards facing an audience and making a presentation, both of which are important skills out in the real world.
DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) is a reading programme that has 15 minutes slotted in the time table for Kindergarten to Grade V. This is a time slot over and above the Library periods allotted for each Grade.
Research and Referral is a programme that works towards honing not just the research skills of children but also encourages them to ask out of the box questions in an attempt to get to the root of an issue or problem. Where research topics are related to people, genres of Literature, Performing or Visual Art, the children channelize their research skills towards arriving at the various facets of the topic under discussion/review. Research and Referral results in a 360° learning by the child as they approach the topic from all perspectives and arrive at their own conclusions based on their findings.
Writer’s Workshop provides an individualized curriculum that caters to all types of learners. It is extremely fluid and all curriculum objectives can be met through it.
Writers’ Workshop is a method of teaching children to write. Instead of giving children worksheets and essay topics to write on, Writers’ Workshop encourages them to write original and personally meaningful pieces, which are then polished and improved upon, by drafting and redrafting. This programme is an essential part of the Grades IV and V English Curriculum.
The Shri Reading Programme is a graded comprehensive reading programme from Nursery to grade V which aims at developing effective readers not by chance but by design. Closure activity is integral to this programme as it informs the teachers about the child’s level of comprehension and gives the child an opportunity to express his/her views, think creatively, dramatize and make connections.
Jig Saw Learning is a cooperative learning strategy that helps children create their own learning. A strategy used to optimize learning, it enables children to learn as per their individual learning styles and pace. It capitalizes on the strength of each individual child and promotes collaboration. A very effective teaching-learning tool, Jig Saw learning provides the setting and equips the learners to graduate to a Flipped Classroom environment.
“EQUBE”, the Life Education Programme at TSUS, is a double period once a week for students of Grades V to X. A specially designed curriculum that focuses on reflection and self-empowerment, Eqube works with the children to enable them to carve out a vision for themselves and their lives. With an objective to create sensitive, thinking and caring individuals who work proactively towards bringing about change and making a difference both to their own lives and to society as a whole, Eqube strengthens the child’s decision making skills and emphasizes on the importance of taking responsibility for oneself and one’s actions