HOW TO DEVELOP A WRITE UP FOR YOUR PH.D. INTERVIEW?

 

"Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it."

                                                                                             -Rabindranath Tagore

Hello friends,

Hope you all are in good health?

In this blog I will be mentioning about the ways in which you can design  a write up for your Ph.D. interview. Often it is seen that you are asked to write in brief  a note relating to the research work that you plan to carry as part of your Ph.D. Important it is to understand about the ways in which you can develop your write-up keeping certain things in your mind while designing it like-the clarity relating to your topic, the terms being mentioned etc. Let's understand what a write -up relating to your research work or research proposal is all about from a researcher's perspective-in this context you should keep in mind that you are not expected to elaborate every part of your research work to be undertaken. Rather the panel of experts wants to see your clarity relating to the work that you wish to carry.

CERTAIN THINGS TO BE KEPT IN MIND WHILE DESIGNING A WRITE-UP

The things which should be kept in  mind while designing your write up are-

1.The title of the study that is to be mentioned in capital letters.

2. A brief note on the title focusing on the importance of the topic being chosen for the purpose of the study.

3.Emphasis on the importance of the idea being chosen.

So overall as a researcher you should work upon your idea in such a way so that when the panel of experts go through the title of your study they get the idea about what the work will be all about. Your idea note should cover the basic understanding relating to your topic.

WORD OF CAUTION

Remember friends, you are not expected to write an essay. Rather you should be very precise about the idea note, be careful in the use of technical terms like for example when you chose your idea as Teacher Education and write a topic relating to the recommendations being made in the National Education Policy  2020 relating to Teacher Education you must be very well aware about the terms like ITEP which refers to Integrated Teacher Education Programme.

The tricky part here is to be mindful of the process in which you can get your seat in the long list of other fellow researchers. What you have to keep in mind is your motive behind writing the idea note, All you want is a place where you can start your research work.

Follow your dreams and before final submission of your idea based write up go through it multiple times.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Here I would like to share my own personal experience which I had while designing my write up. I was very clear with the research topic that I wished to pursue as part of my Ph.D. work. So while designing my idea it was just a cake walk for me and I could do it very easily. So friends what it requires to design a best write up is your clarity and the passion that drives the research work that you wish to carry. My best wishes to each one of you. Feel free to share your ideas and feedback in the comment section.

Until next time

Sayonara!

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THINKERS

 

RABINDRANATH TAGORE

Tagore's Philosophy

-focused on developing the natural emotions of the child

-education according to the needs of the child

-he was a an idealist all throughout his life

-focused upon the concept of forest schools .Children  to be taught in these schools.

-great phiolosopher of the 20th century.

Teacher

teacher holds an important position in his scheme of education.

Methods of teaching

-teaching while walking

-discussion and question answer method

-activity method

Curriculum

-focusing on developing all aspects of an individual

-physical,mental,moral social and spiritual

Aims of education

physical development

mental development

moral and spiritual development

development of all faculties

development of international attitude

Principles of tagore's philosophy

-medium of instruction as mother tongue

-full freedom to the child

-providing opportunities to the child for self expression

-teaching to the child in natural setting

-child to develop social service concept during contact with nature

foreign education cannot be the basis for national  education

national education to be closely connected with national life

letting the child know about the ideals and values of national culture

developing all faculties of the child

giving full freedom to the child

Philosophy of education

-promoting fellow feeling and love

-enjoying frredom

-fear from compulsions

-nature as a powerful teacher

-natural education of the child

Shantineketan

Believe in International brotherhood.He emphasized upon this.

Philosophy of life

-idealist philosophy of life

-absolute and immortal existence of God

-Great humanist

-regarded man as a reflection of God

Universal man

Unity of all

great nationalist

yearned for freedom of motherland

economic and industrial development

social reforms

removal of social discrimination

Life Sketch

Birth -6th May 1861

-West Bengal

Known as Gurudev

Gitanjali-best creation

Nobel prize

1921 22nd September-establisment of Viswa Bharati

keeping of Indian philosophy,arts and literature

-bringing synthesis of east and west through Viswa Bharati

Death-1941

HOW TO PREPARE FOR UGC NET IN EDUCATION?

 

When you feel that everything is lost, remember there is someone waiting to hold your hands and make you travel the murky way. Be open for grace. Spread love and light wherever you go.

Dear friends,

When I meet my juniors and some of my friends who have been preparing for this exam for quite a long period of time I get to answer certain questions from them like How did you prepare yourself for the exam? How much time you devoted for your preparation? What were the different books and the study materials that you followed? These are some of the questions which are common for every aspirant preparing for this exam. Believe me friends it was not really a hard nut to crack. All you need is your belief, hard work and confidence in yourself. I was in the final year of my M.Ed (Masters in Education) course when I prepared for this exam. When we have a good strategy we can be sure of cracking this exam. Here in this post I would be sharing my strategy with you all. Hope it would be of some help to you. Inspired by our seniors who had cleared this exam I  thought why not give it a try? I downloaded the syllabus and took a print out of it. Then I started making notes from one of the topics I find quite interesting and relevant which is inclusive education. The syllabus is very vast but if you plan it well and have a good strategy for it it is a cake walk. I had some very good friends, seniors and juniors who kept me motivated throughout this journey. It is very essential that you have some good people around you to motivate you at times. We often say that people are influenced by the company they keep. Be focused on you goal and the rest will take care of yourself. Self belief that you are capable of doing it  and confidence in oneself is the key.

BOOK LIST

Some of the books that I followed include

Paper 1

The best book I feel that works for Paper 1 is NTA UGC TEACHING AND RESEARCH APTITUDE by KVS MADAAN. The book is very useful to have an overall idea about the type of questions to be expected for paper 1.Continous practice and revision  is the mantra that will help you sail through the exam. This is the only book that I used for my paper 1 preparation. There are lots of practice questions given at the end of each sections. You can practice them at ease after throughly going through the topics included in the syllabus.

From my experience during the preparation for the exam I would like to share with you all that this exam requires  is conceptual clarity. We should be very through with the concepts. When I refer to concepts it indicates to certain important topics mentioned in the syllabus which you have to be very through with. All together the syllabus has been divided into ten units. Every unit has certain topics within it.

Some of the books I followed include

L R Grey

Creswell-Pearson publication

SK Mangal-Research

S K Mangal-Psychology and Education Technology

Philosophy and Sociological foundation -G S Mathur(One of my senior suggested this book though I didn't read it)

These are few names of the book that I followed. In a digital age where everything is available online we have to be very careful in our preparation for competitive exams. We should be able to differentiate all that is important for us and that which is not.

For your help, I would  try listing the Units   topic-wise. The UGC NET Education syllabus is divided into several parts.

Educational Studies.

To prepare for this Unit I went through some of the good books of Philosophy available in my RIE BBSR library, the names of which I forgot. You can as well prepare from the internet for this topic.

Growth and Development

I followed the book written by S K Mangal which I feel is quite good to have a strong base that would help you to understand the topics of this unit.

Teacher Education

I didn't followed any standard books as such and depended upon Internet for this topic.

The remaining units preparation was from the Internet. The Units include-

Curriculum Studies 

Research in Education

Pedagogy, Andragogy and Assessment

Technology in/for Education

Educational Management Administration and Leadership and 

Inclusive Education

Here is a sample note of mine prepared for the topic Contribution of Educational Thinkers. Lot of questions do come in the exam from this portion-you need to prepare it very well and remember the books written by them. It is very essential that you are able to relate their works with the aims of education. That is what is needed for this portion.

Contribution of Educational Thinker

Swami Vivekananda

Birth-1883-Calcutta

Father-Narendra Nath Dutta

Contact with Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Later came to be known as Swami Vivekananda

Established Ram Krishna Mission

in the memory of Guru

preached in Asia, Europe, England and America.

teaching of Vedant

preached gospel of international brotherhood

death-1902

philosophy-to become fearless and through struggle serve humanity

philosophy of education

philosophy of Vedant and  Upanishads

he condemned the education of his time considering it to be bookish and rote memory practice

he suggest an education which develop character, mental powers, intelligence and self confidence and self reliance

focused on practical and experimental education

basic principles of educational philosophy

-only study of books is not education

-knowledge lies hidden in the minds of man. He uncovers and develops it by his own efforts

-concentration is key to all knowledge. For it practice of brahmacharya is essential

-purity of thought speech and deed is self discipline

-provision of technical education for economic  prosperity of the nation

Meaning  of education

-Education is the manifestation of the perfection already reached in a man

Aim of education

1)physical and mental development

Aim

child to stand on own legs

not dependent upon others

physically well developed citizen

2)character development

practice of brahmacharya

development of mental moral and spiritual power leading to purity of thoughts, words and deeds.

3)moral and spiritual development

greatness of nation depends upon moral and spiritual development of citizens.

curriculum

foster material welfare

spiritual advancement

spiritual perfection-religion, philosophy, puranic lore, Upanishads, company of saints.

material-language, geography, science, arts etc.

Methods of teaching

ANCIENT SPIRITUAL METHODS OF TEACHING

-Guru and disciple in close association

to control fleeting mental faculties by yoga

to develop the mind by concentration and deep meditation

to gain knowledge through lectures, discussion, self experience and creative activities

to imitate the qualities and character of teacher by intelligent and clear understanding.

lead the child by individual guidance by the teacher.

Place of child

child centered -child is the store and repository of all learning material.

Place of teacher

"Teacher is philosopher, friend and guide helping the educand to go forward in his own way"

Education of masses

focus on mass education

-emphasis

Philosophy

-Idealism, Naturalism and  Pragmatism

-develop moral and spiritual nature of child

real education possible only through  nature

focus on western education of technology ,commerce etc.

-harmonious synthesis of Ancient Indian ideals and modern Western beliefs.

-focus on international brotherhood

nationalism

focus on common education

physical, mental, moral ,spiritual and vocational development of the child.

idealist at heart

spiritual development focus

material prosperity

safety of life

solving problems of fooding and lodging/clothing.

"Arise ,awake and stop not till the goal is achieved."

-Swami Vivekananda

Its not rote learning and memorization of facts that would help in the long run. Rather in recent years we have seen that there is a change in the way questions are being asked in the exam. It is more of understanding and reflective base. Solving Previous Year question paper is very essential. It helps to get an idea about the type of questions that are asked in the exam.

In this regard I would like to thank my institute Regional Institute of Education for providing me with such good books available in our institute library. Starting from the first semester itself our teachers used to emphasize upon us to develop conceptual clarity for clearing this exam. For paper 2 after going through some books on Research, Psychology and Teacher Education I started solving questions from Previous Year Question Papers. It was done for each of the topics.

I cannot suggest you a perfect strategy for this exam but yes definitely you can get some idea as how to go about  in your preparation after going through this blog. I also relied upon the internet for this preparation. There should not be segregated preparation like emphasizing on one particular portion of the syllabus and neglecting the others. Like there can be some students who like Psychology the most and mostly prepare well from that part. Remember friends you need not be an expert in this subject to crack the exam. All you need to do is have a through understanding of the exam pattern and prepare each topic well. The exam is all about checking your application based knowledge of the subject. There is no one best way to crack this exam. Lord Buddha said Apno Depo Bhabo which means be your own light. Believe in yourself that you can and find out the ways that best suit you. It's your journey. With lots and lots of  well wishes to each one of you my heartiest regards. May grace be with you. Feel free to contact. I would be providing my Email Id at the end.

A WORD OF THANKS

As I celebrate my success I would like to thank all my teachers of Tezpur University, Department of Education and the faculty members of Regional Institute of Education, A Constituent Unit of NCERT, New Delhi for their help and guidance by being my guiding light, showering so much love and blessings, without whom this would not have been possible.

My gratitude to my senior Priyanka Di who helped me immensely by providing all her books starting from Research Methodology to Psychology. I am ever grateful dear sister for your cartoon of books before my exam.

My thanks also goes to my family, my parents and my brother who have and always been an immense source of inspiration all these years and my gratitute would remain incomplete without the mention of my teachers from my alma mater St. Mary's High School, my Head Mistress Sister Asha Paul and all the teachers who have made me believe in the immensity of life and our limitations as humans and to all my friends and well-wishers for helping me to make this possible. I would like to sign off with some beautiful lines from a painting which was of two horses on a race from my school building I remember reading every day after assembly as a child which has a profound impact upon my life

Being with a winner makes you a winner.

Here is my email id

priyankakoch43@gmail.com

Keep Learning and if you feel this blog has helped you in some way do share it with your friends.

Thank you!

RIE BHUBANESWAR EXPERIENCES

 Completed your B.Ed.So what's next that you plan to do?Are you planning to do M.Ed?What are the job opportunities after completion of M.Ed?In this blog I will share my experiences as a M.Ed student at Regional Institute of Education,Bhubaneswar.

To get into the institute one needs to pass in the Entrance exam held.Questions  for selection of candidates for the M.Ed course consist of teaching aptitute,reasoning and english.Marks obtained in the qualifying exam which is B.Ed is also taken along with marks obtained at entrance for the final selection process.

M.Ed trainees get to learn theoretical concepts along with field exposure where they get to interact with students in universities  and colleges.Some other components of field exposure include interaction with SCERT OPEPA staff etc. along with visit to Ashram schools,DIETs etc.This is very enriching.It helps teacher educators to understand and experience real life situations outside classroom and relate classroom  learning to eveyday life.

RIE BBSR is  A Constituent Unit of NCERT New Delhi.RIE Bhubabeswar  is located in the Temple City of India Bhubaneswar in Odisha.It caters to the need of teachers and teacher educators for the eastern zone of India.It was earlier known as Regional college of Education.All total there are five Regional Colleges of Education spread in different places cross the country in Shillong Bhubaneswar,Ajmer Bhopal and Mysore.

RIE Bhubaneswar has different functions as a constituent unit of NCERT.Itorganizes different training programmes  for teachers which include progrms  for Madrassa teachers,pre school  etc.It also runs different programmes  like Integrated B.Ed and M.Ed courses.It caters to the need of both pre service and in service teacher education and works for capacity building of teachers.

The institute is well eqquiped with different ICT facilities and other modern amenities.It is a campus which is located  in the heart of Bhubaneswar.It caters to the need of the north eastern states and to the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Island.

It is actively involved in research and develpment activities related to the field of school education.

The different courses offered include

 4 years B Sc B.Ed

4 years B.A B.Ed 

2 years B.Ed

 2 years M.Ed 

1year DCGC which is Diploma in Guidance and Counselling

 M.Phil in Education and 

Pre-Ph.D in Education.

If  you are someone who is willing to pursue your higher studies in the field of Education this is one of the best  campus in the country.It is a  fully residential campus with hostel facilities for boys and girls.For holistic develpment of the trainees different cultural  programmes are also organized through out the year.It is well connected to different parts of the country.The nearest airport is Biju Patnaik International Airport and the Bhubaneswar train station  is also of easy access from the institute.

The job opportunities include going into the teaching profession as teachers or as teacher educators in B.Ed colleges,Lecturers etc.You can go for Ph.D if you want to go in the field of research.

This is all in this blog.Hope it will definately help all those students and aspirants who wish to enter in to the teaching profession and envision themselves as  future teachers and teacher educators.If you feel like you have some query do  comment.Here is my email id

priyankakoch43@gmail.com

LEARNING IN THE EARLY YEARS

 Learning is unique to the child. Every learner has his/her own ways of learning. Childhood is the best time to explore. This exploration on the part of the child helps them to have their own general view of the world around them. The early years of 0-6 years of age is considered the best time for brain development. Recent studies in brain researches have focused upon this by bringing out the point that about 85% of brain development takes place during these early years. This period is thus considered to be the window of opportunity for the child.

Developmentally Appropriate Practices is a perspective withing Early Childhood Care and Development which aims to promote optimal learning and development of young children in various early childhood educational settings. Developmentally Appropriate Practices take into account important concepts related to the learning of young children like curriculum,theme-based activities, assessment practices, etc . Developmentally Appropriate Practices is integral for the holistic development of the preschool child.

                                                                 An ECCE worker

MY VISIT TO ASHRAM SCHOOL

 The word Ashram refers to the hermitage. When my teacher from the Regional Institute of Education, Bhubaneswar instructed that I should be going to visit Ashram School to interact with the teachers and the students there I couldn't visualize the exact picture of it. And when I finally visited it I came in terms of the functioning of the school. There are several of these schools at different locations of the state. These schools have students from the remote districts of Odisha and are for the tribal students. Odisha is home to many tribes many of which also belong to Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups. The students I met at Ashram School belong to several of these tribes like Munda, Santhal, etc from districts like Malkangiri. When I listen to the tune of Sambalpuri dance I cannot wait. To welcome us amidst them many of the students danced to the beat of Sambalpuri Dance. Both Sambalpiuri dance and Sambalpuri sarees are famous. The  Saree is famous for its intricate design and beautiful motifs. When I interacted with the headmaster I got to understand the functioning of the school. During my visits to several schools in my profession as a teacher educator on numerous occasions, I have got to interact with administrators and officials, Headmaster, and teachers. Often have I seen the dilapidated condition of residential schools with improper infrastructure and lack of appropriate facilities. But in Ashram School the picture was very different. The teachers were very friendly and cooperated with us in exploring the school. The students seemed to excel not only in academics but also in extracurricular activities. The students of the school come from diverse cultures many of whom are home to the indigenous knowledge systems passed through oral tradition. These Ashram Schools in the state of Odisha can definitely provide a platform to help these students to exhibit their local handicrafts and hone their skills better by making it a part of the curriculum. This can work in the direction of making Atmanirvar Bharat or Self Reliant India as is the vision of Prime Minister of India a reality.

RETHINKING THE WAYS CHILDREN LEARN

To quote Howard Gardner

"Wouldn't it be sad if there was only one way to learn and only one way to be assessed and that was the  end of Education?''

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process. There are several forms of assessment, the individual teacher should be left to decide about the ways to access the children. School is considered to be a miniature society where students spent a significant part of their lives. Education aims at bringing out the best in the child. As I say every flower is beautiful, it has to bloom in its own way. There cannot be only one single way of assessing the child. Gardner gave the concept of Multiple Intelligence. The eight different types of intelligence introduced by Gardner are-Logical/Mathematical, Linguistic, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-Kinesthetic, Naturalist, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. There are different ways in which synaptic connections are built in the brain and add to the existing schemas of knowledge. According to Gardner human intelligence are of multiple types and there are several ways in which processing of information takes place. Some students may be good at analyzing information, yet others can be best at identifying different categories of plants and naming them. It is essential that we recognize the ability of our students and make necessary changes in the way content is delivered in our classrooms.  Students in a diverse country like India come from different sections of society. This diversity adds to the beauty of Indian classrooms. Diversity is seen in terms of food habits, culture, religion, and many more. When we as teacher educators and teachers consider having a one -size- fits -all approach for our children it will invariably lead to differences in the classroom and will leave many students behind. Rather we should be more flexible in the delivery of instruction material and pedagogic practices. This would lead to equity and inclusion in classrooms. As educators, it is essential that we think about the varying ways in which we deliver instruction to young minds.