Raghavi's Student Portfolio Record

07.12.2022. It was my last working day as a student-teacher trainee at the Ganapathy GHSS. The whole journey was more of a roller-coaster ride with a lot of learnings and new insights. The students of grades 6 and 9 helped me evolve myself, although, the interest showed by the grade 6 students was all the more higher. For all the love and respect they showered, I decided to write a personalized card for each one of them as a token of love. It was a day filled with mixed emotions. The last two pictures are with my two guide teachers who helped me immensely in transforming myself from a student-teacher to a teacher-in-progress.   

On the second of December, winners of the Zonal level cultural competitions were awarded prizes in front of their peers. Following the prize distribution, the headmaster appreciated the efforts taken by the student teachers in guiding and teaching the students in bringing out their talents efficiently. 

It is vital for a classroom session to be two-way and not monotonous. All my classes are highly interactive with students taking part in most of the classroom discussions. It is quite common for me to make students speak out in the classroom about their opinions on a specific topic. Below are pictures that were shot on one such day when the students were actively sharing with their classmates their favourite trip/picnic ever. It is equally interesting to find that all their peers show even more curiosity and eagerness in listening to each other and not remain judgmental about one another.   

Students of Ganapathy GHSS took part in an awareness campaign on Inclusive Education for differently-abled students on 28.11.2022. Our Principal-in-charge led the campaign. They went around the streets and spread awareness among the public.  

On the 25th of November, students and teachers of Ganapathy GHSS took an oath on encouraging sport activities among students. Teachers pledged to let students explore their sport abilities, and students pledged to bring out their latent abilities in sports, and also to stay rejuvenated by playing various sport activities which would, in turn, impact positively on their academics, too.  

The Education Department of Tamilnadu conducted various cultural competitions across all schools in Tamilnadu that come under the state government. We, student-teachers, tried our best in helping the students by choreographing various dance performances, writing and teaching essays for the oratorical competitions. On the 24th of November, we had a selection contest within the premises of Ganapathy GHSS in which many students performed dance, drama, song, speech, etc. Below are two pictures out of which the first one is a performance given by a physically challenged 10th grade student (who later won the first place at the Zonal level) and the second one is a role-play based on the famous Ponniyin Selvan.   

During our school internship, we student-teachers were given the task of creating a classoom-garden in front of each classroom in the ground floor. The idea was to form a huge medicinal-plant garden in the school premises. So, it was our responsibility to make students bring different medicinal herbs and plants, till the soil and plant the saplings. Students showed great interest in bringing them and planting them the next day. The planting of saplings took place on the 21st of November, 2022.  

On the occasion of Children's Day 2022, we had numerous cultural programmes at Ganapathy GHSS performed by the students. Kamali, a co-training teacher of mine, and I were compering for the programme.  It was a great experience to look at students come up with extraordinary performances.   

During my School Internship, I was handling grades 6 and 9. In the grade 6 textbook, there is a lesson titled 'Trip to Ooty' which is an anecdote of a group of school students going on a school excursion in the Ooty Toy Train.  After I finished teaching the lesson, I had asked the students to make models of the Toy Train using whatever resources they had. Many students had contributed to it out of which two were outstanding. One was a boy who made a large model of the train using many different carton boxes, while the other one was that of a boy who made a smaller one, but more of a working model. In fact, his model operated on the principle of repulsion between two magnets which was quite commendable at that age to achieve.  

Students of grades 6-8 were demonstrated how to wash hands in a proper and hygienic manner. A doctor from the nearby Primary Health Centre came to the Ganapathy GHSS and showed the students how to wash hands and also emphasized on its importance. It was held on the 7th of November, 2022.  

Members of faculty from Aditya Group of Institutions conducted a career guidance programme to the higher secondary students of Ganapathy GHSS. They explained to the students the various streams of higher studies and their respective scope. They also informed students about their own scholarship programme they offer and motivated students to aspire for better scores in their board exams. 

On the 14th of October, Grade 6 students of Ganapathy GHSS were screened a Kannada movie that emphasized the importance of bird's nest. Although the students could not comprehend the language, they were able to make out the essence/theme of the story by watching the visuals. It was an experience for us student-teachers to learn how to manage a large group of students and also to help them understand something that was incomprehensible.   

Owing to the auspicious occasion of Aayutha Pooja and Saraswathi Pooja, we, at Ganapathy GHSS, celebrated it by lighting lamps and worshipping the God of Learning on the 30th of September just before we all dispersed for our quarterly vacation. All the staff members and the training teachers were given chickpeas and sweets by the end of the day.

By the end of every Friday, students of Ganapathy GHSS are assembled and instructed by the P.T. teachers to perform yoga asanas. All students from 6th to 12th take part in the yoga session. It helps them relieve their physique and mind after a long week of academic and other activities.  

On 05.09.2022, we had an inaugural ceremony at our college to welcome the first year students. Our Principal Ma'am, Dr.Vandana Devi, gave the Presidential Address, which was followed by other staff members addressing the gathering and welcoming the first year students to the college. A few second-year students gave cultural performances to entertain the audience. Towards the end of the day, a couple of first-year students opened up their thoughts about how they day went and stated their expectations about their upcoming days at college.  

One of the best things about being a teacher is that we get to teach as well as explore. On the occasion of Teachers' Day, 2022, we, the student-teachers at Ganapathy GHSS, performed a dance to celebrate the 'becoming of teachers'. It was a fusion dance that had songs emphasizing the significance of a teacher.   

On the 31st of August, we celebrated the Ganesh Chathurthi in our college premises. Our Principal, Dr.Vandana Devi, lighted the lamp and decorated the deity by showering flowers, and sought the blessings of Lord Ganesha for the welfare of all of us. It was a divine day, indeed.    

 On the 27th of August, we, the second year students of Dr.G.R.Damodaran College of Education, paid a visit to the Regional Science Center, Coimbatore. It was, indeed, a great experience for us as we learnt a lot of things through the visit. In fact, we even learnt the mechanism behind some of the most basic things we use on a daily basis, such as, wheels, zip, etc. There were four sections: First, a handloom section where life-like mannequins of looms and weavers were displayed; second, a section filled with astronomical displays and explanations; third, a series of button-operated instruments; fourth, a section called 'How things work' in which they mechanism behind everyday things were explained. There was a 3D-theatre, too. On the whole, the entire visit was informative and interesting. 

 The practice of school assembly in schools has been there since time immemorial. This helps in channeling and regulating the young minds in following the right path. We observed the school assembly at Ganapathy GHSS and learnt something new every single morning. All the class students from 6th to 12th took scheduled turns in conducting the assembly every week. It makes them break out of their shells and talk in the open in a confident way. 

Our college (Dr.G.R.Damodaran College of Education) conducted a set of Independence Day competitions and events out of which I took part in the poetry writing competition. It was held on 16.08.2022.  

On the Independence Day (15.08.2022), we had a number of dance performances, songs and a drama at our Internship school. We trained the students in dance and made sure they tried their best in bringing out their latent talents. The dances included traditional and western, while the drama was based on the the most popular scene from the story of Kattabomman.