Prelim Discussions from the WA Group

Here's the unedited transcript of the chat between 08 and 17 November (Media is not captured)

08/11/21, 6:34 pm - Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. No one outside of this chat, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to them. Tap to learn more.

05/09/13, 9:13 am - You created group "Trainers"

08/11/21, 6:34 pm - Padma J added you

08/11/21, 6:40 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I wonder why I ever left.

08/11/21, 6:40 pm - Leslie D'Gama: anyway, I am back.

08/11/21, 6:41 pm - Sanjeev Joseph Bhopal: Nice to see you  back

08/11/21, 6:42 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Sanjeev, there's another group that started today called "Schoolnet Team" - it is not restricted to trainers.  If you want to join that I will post the link here -- in fact, anyone. But this group needs to start working

08/11/21, 6:42 pm - Leslie D'Gama: https://chat.whatsapp.com/AJ5VlGBsK8p88pwDAJL4KD

08/11/21, 6:43 pm - Sanjeev Joseph Bhopal: Schoolnet team means old ILFS Education team!!!

08/11/21, 6:44 pm - Sanjeev Joseph Bhopal: Or it's a group of education professionals

08/11/21, 6:44 pm - Leslie D'Gama: No, it's the original Schoolnet India ... which includes those who transformed into IETS.

08/11/21, 6:45 pm - Leslie D'Gama: but everyone, tech, admin, sales, marketing, content, etc

08/11/21, 6:45 pm - Sanjeev Joseph Bhopal: Ok got it.. thanks

08/11/21, 6:45 pm - Leslie D'Gama: But now that I am back here, let's get all our old trainers together here to share our stories.

08/11/21, 6:50 pm - Sanjeev Joseph Bhopal: Nice..

08/11/21, 6:58 pm - You're now an admin

08/11/21, 7:09 pm - Padma J: Welcome back Les

08/11/21, 7:09 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Padma reminded me that I had started this group long ago and for some unknown reason I left.  Maybe because it was less active?  I actually curate and manage a number of social media groups as part of my work and passion.  The other group has been started by Veda Mohan and Sheela of the content team in BLR.  It is open to everyone. 

I would be happy for us to share training and learning experiences in this Trainers group (though I prefer nicer words to trainer!).  

Also, is this mainly for Schoolnet trainers?

08/11/21, 7:10 pm - Padma J: Yes

08/11/21, 7:11 pm - Padma J: Schoolnet and ilfs Edu trainers

08/11/21, 7:12 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Great.  Let's develop a mission statement for the description first.  Then we can lure others to this group.  I have some ideas for how we can connect.

08/11/21, 7:37 pm - Padma J: Ok

08/11/21, 7:37 pm - Padma J: Improve quality of education across learner segments and learner spectrum 😉😉

08/11/21, 7:38 pm - Padma J: learning* segments

08/11/21, 7:39 pm - You removed Ranjani Vaidyanathan NSDC

08/11/21, 7:40 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I recognize that .. but the purpose of the group as such is to share our own learning .. which will impact spectrums and segments for sure! 😀

08/11/21, 7:44 pm - Padma J: Yup, was joking, we memorised the Mission statement! As was ordered by our bosses!

08/11/21, 7:59 pm - Leslie D'Gama: have invited Nina K and Neelam to join. Others please suggest.  you can also send the invite directly.

08/11/21, 7:59 pm - Leslie D'Gama: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K8MNGkOmLln7UiEHBj45I1

08/11/21, 8:02 pm - Leslie D'Gama: There was a book I read by David Clutterbuck.  It was called Learning Alliances -- in many ways this group could be the result of learning alliances. But I would be happy to hear and relive stories from trainers of those days.  So far no one else is responding. 😳

08/11/21, 8:08 pm - You changed the subject from "Trainers" to "Amazing Educators"

08/11/21, 8:14 pm - Padma J: Sunitha S and Y and Srilakshmi I can invite

08/11/21, 8:14 pm - Padma J: Urvashi as well

08/11/21, 8:15 pm - Leslie D'Gama: do that.

08/11/21, 8:15 pm - Leslie D'Gama: changed the name ... to reflect how I feel about you all. 😀

08/11/21, 8:24 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 8:26 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 8:27 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: Thank you Padma for inviting into the group

08/11/21, 8:27 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Good evening everyone

08/11/21, 8:27 pm - Aishwarya: Very apt name given to t group..hi all..good to connect again with all of u😊

08/11/21, 8:28 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Thank you Padma and Leslie 😁

08/11/21, 8:28 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Hey ..Aishwarya😃

08/11/21, 8:28 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Welcome you guys.  I think we should get started.  Just a quick intro in case someone doesn't know someone else.  But wait for awhile.  I am getting a few more die-hards into the group.

08/11/21, 8:33 pm - Padma J: Hi Aish

08/11/21, 8:33 pm - Padma J: Long time

08/11/21, 8:34 pm - Padma J: Welcome Sunitha S and Urvashi... That was quick!

08/11/21, 8:41 pm - Leslie D'Gama: why am I not able to see the DPs of the people who joined later?

08/11/21, 8:43 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Whatsapp > Settings > Account > Privacy > change profile photo to "Everyone" or "My Contacts".  If I am not on your contacts, I won't see it. 🙁

08/11/21, 8:49 pm - Namita Rao joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 8:49 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Welcome Namita.  Let's get some good thoughts going on this group.

08/11/21, 8:50 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Question: From when to when were you in Schoolnet? Which location?

08/11/21, 8:50 pm - Namita Rao: Thanks Leslie.. looking forward to a lot of positivity 👍

08/11/21, 8:51 pm - Leslie D'Gama: This question is for everyone.

08/11/21, 8:51 pm - Namita Rao: Fro Dec 1999 to July 2011

08/11/21, 8:51 pm - Namita Rao: *from

08/11/21, 8:53 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I'm probably the oldest (in all ways)

Joined 22-11-1999 and left 31-02-2012

Joined in Kolkata but worked across all locations and a few Skills Schools as well.

08/11/21, 8:54 pm - Aishwarya: From 1999 Nov to Jan 2019

08/11/21, 8:54 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Nope Aishwarya bags it

08/11/21, 8:54 pm - Leslie D'Gama: @919820131270  Longest serving.  But not "oldest" 😀

08/11/21, 8:54 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: 20 years!!wow

08/11/21, 8:55 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Stop fishing Leslie..chronological age may more more but you beat us hands down in energy and enthusiasm🥂

08/11/21, 8:56 pm - Leslie D'Gama: At last my fishing worked .. with Urvashi.  I would take a bow but wouldn't be able to straighten up with my bad back! 🤣

08/11/21, 9:00 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: 🤣

08/11/21, 9:01 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: So still dazzling the young and old Leslie!

08/11/21, 9:06 pm - Padma J: I joined on 24 Apr 2000 and left on 31 July 2012. Worked with edu, services hyd, then as location head AP, then as Regional Head West, and towards the end as National Head of Employability Skills for College Graduates and a Contributer as part of the Think Tank of Trainer Development Group.

08/11/21, 9:06 pm - Padma J: 😂😂

08/11/21, 9:07 pm - Leslie D'Gama: And we did some amazing work together for EGMM .. memorable days.

08/11/21, 9:08 pm - Padma J: Yes, and adding dimensions!

08/11/21, 9:08 pm - Padma J: And work champs

08/11/21, 9:08 pm - Padma J: Contributor*

08/11/21, 9:08 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Yeah, of course. And now you're correcting your own spelling. 😀

08/11/21, 9:09 pm - Padma J: Yup, typo

08/11/21, 9:09 pm - Padma J: Auto correct allowed it!

08/11/21, 9:09 pm - Aishwarya: 🤣🤣

08/11/21, 9:12 pm - You changed the group description

08/11/21, 9:21 pm - Tirmal Reddy joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 9:21 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Tirmal.  Welcome to this group.

08/11/21, 9:22 pm - Tirmal Reddy: Hi Sir....my pleasure 👍

😊😊

08/11/21, 9:23 pm - Jyoti Swaroop joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 9:26 pm - Namita Rao: Hi Padma.. good to connect..how're you doing?

08/11/21, 9:26 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Welcome Jyoti.  Now you can share stories you weren't allowed to while on the job.

08/11/21, 9:27 pm - Vidhya Chennai joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 9:27 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hey Vidhya!  Good to have you here.

08/11/21, 9:28 pm - Leslie D'Gama: For everyone's benefit, please put down Month and Year of joining and leaving Schoolnet. 😀

08/11/21, 9:37 pm - Padma J: Hi Namita, Jyoti, Vidhya

08/11/21, 9:37 pm - Padma J: Good to reconnect

08/11/21, 9:38 pm - Padma J: And waiting to listen to the stories

08/11/21, 9:38 pm - Padma J: 😂

08/11/21, 9:39 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Let's get it rolling .. everyone must tell a brief story of something that happened in Schoolnet and at least ONE other person must be named.  That person tells the next story. Agreed?

08/11/21, 9:45 pm - Vidhya Chennai: Hi Leslie, Padma, Namita, Aishwarya, SanjeevJyoti& Meenu .. great to reconnect 😊 

Thanks Leslie for reconnecting all of us

08/11/21, 9:49 pm - Namita Rao: Hi Vidya.. very very long time.. how're you doing? Yes..must thank Leslie 👍😊

08/11/21, 9:49 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Am awaiting some more names to connect.  Have invited Kaurobi, Joona, Sheeja

08/11/21, 9:50 pm - Namita Rao: Poornima?

08/11/21, 9:50 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Please share the link with her.

08/11/21, 9:50 pm - Namita Rao: Is Soma here?

08/11/21, 9:50 pm - Leslie D'Gama: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K8MNGkOmLln7UiEHBj45I1

08/11/21, 9:50 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Not yet.  Will invite. also Samina

08/11/21, 9:51 pm - Namita Rao: Yeah 👍

08/11/21, 9:51 pm - Namita Rao: Purnima.vcf (file attached)

08/11/21, 9:52 pm - Namita Rao: Mukta Prasad.vcf (file attached)

08/11/21, 9:52 pm - Vidhya Chennai: I am fine😊

08/11/21, 9:52 pm - Leslie D'Gama: send them the link.  they need to join on their own

08/11/21, 9:52 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Wow! Guys! Amazing to connect with you all. This is Jyoti Swaroop

08/11/21, 9:53 pm - Soma Choudhury joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 9:55 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Soma!  Welcome aboard.

08/11/21, 9:56 pm - Namita Rao: Hi Jyoti..one your students in Rosary..Amudha..is a good friend of mine 😊

08/11/21, 9:56 pm - Vidhya Chennai: Hi Jyoti mam😊

08/11/21, 9:57 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Hi @919845410134 , Hi, @919840094452 ...

08/11/21, 9:57 pm - Soma Choudhury: Hi all. Vidhya are still with Schoolnet?

08/11/21, 9:58 pm - Namita Rao: Hi Meenu.. missed catching you in Blr..we must..the next time you are here

08/11/21, 9:58 pm - Vidhya Chennai: Yes

08/11/21, 9:58 pm - Namita Rao: Hi Soma..we meet again 😀

08/11/21, 9:58 pm - Namita Rao: Ohhhh 👍👍😊

08/11/21, 9:59 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Vidhya is unique.  She joined, she left, she rejoined Schoolnet.

08/11/21, 9:59 pm - Sheeja Menon BLR joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 9:59 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hey Sheeja!  Welcome aboard.

08/11/21, 10:00 pm - Soma Choudhury: Àmazingily patient

08/11/21, 10:00 pm - Sheeja Menon BLR: Hi Leslie,Thanks !

08/11/21, 10:00 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Please send the invitation to Meera and others. 👇

08/11/21, 10:00 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Where's Meera Krishnappa? Did I get the name right?

08/11/21, 10:00 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Follow this link to join my WhatsApp group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K8MNGkOmLln7UiEHBj45I1

A group of erstwhile Schoolnet trainers who want to share stories with each other .. relive the moments.

08/11/21, 10:01 pm - Soma Choudhury: Principal of a college now

08/11/21, 10:02 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: 👍 Boss lady...she loved to boss it over

08/11/21, 10:03 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Hi Sheeja, I recall you handling the Infosys account! Right?

08/11/21, 10:04 pm - Namita Rao: Meera will kill you Jyoti

08/11/21, 10:04 pm - Namita Rao: 😂😂

08/11/21, 10:04 pm - Sheeja Menon BLR: 😀😀

08/11/21, 10:04 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Ha ha! I've been done in many times!

08/11/21, 10:04 pm - Namita Rao: 😂😂

08/11/21, 10:05 pm - Soma Choudhury: Meera, then me, then Sheeja

08/11/21, 10:05 pm - Sheeja Menon BLR: Yes 😀

08/11/21, 10:05 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Yeah, I know Meera used to handle it but at some point I recall coordinating with sheeja

08/11/21, 10:05 pm - Sheeja Menon BLR: May be at a later stage.

08/11/21, 10:06 pm - Sheeja Menon BLR: Meera was the pillar !!

08/11/21, 10:06 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Oh?!! I was there from 2006 to 2009! That's over a decade ago...

08/11/21, 10:06 pm - Namita Rao: Oh ok.. didn't know cos I was out then..my bad 🙏

08/11/21, 10:07 pm - Soma Choudhury: Remember Meera scolding her team from that corner

08/11/21, 10:07 pm - Namita Rao: 😂😂

08/11/21, 10:07 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Infosys was another book by itself ... Grammar and all. I handled Bhubaneswar

08/11/21, 10:07 pm - Namita Rao: Meera probably left in 2010

08/11/21, 10:08 pm - Namita Rao: Table manners too 😂

08/11/21, 10:09 pm - Namita Rao: This message was deleted

08/11/21, 10:10 pm - Namita Rao: Vidya..Where are you operating from? Chennai?

08/11/21, 10:10 pm - Vidhya Chennai: Yeah

08/11/21, 10:10 pm - Namita Rao: 👍🏻

08/11/21, 10:36 pm - Padma J: Hello Tirmal!!

08/11/21, 10:39 pm - Tirmal Reddy: Hi Padma... happy to connect with all...enjoying reminiscence of the group members...😊😊👍

08/11/21, 10:43 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: Hello everyone.. I am Sunitha Sambaraju. Joined Schoolnet in Aug 2000 and left in Sep 2005. Handled government schools project, handled computer teachers training program and also sold Kayan🤗

08/11/21, 10:45 pm - Padma J: She left much earlier than 2010 (think around 2003-04)

08/11/21, 10:47 pm - Padma J: Sunitha was the pillar for the K-10 Regional Programme and Support in AP

08/11/21, 10:47 pm - Padma J: And double click teacher trg and  implementation

08/11/21, 10:47 pm - Leslie D'Gama: That was when K-Yan was 20kg and required a techie to make it work. 😀

08/11/21, 10:47 pm - Padma J: Haha

08/11/21, 10:49 pm - Vidhya Chennai: Hi Tirmal, Hi Sunitha

08/11/21, 10:49 pm - Vidhya Chennai: 👍

08/11/21, 10:55 pm - Tirmal Reddy: Hi Vidhya...😊👍

08/11/21, 10:56 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: Thank you for lovely words Padma..

08/11/21, 10:58 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: True.. used to take it in a trolley suitcase.. and had to carry to 3rd or 4th floor without lift or any help.. 🙄

08/11/21, 10:59 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: Hi Vidya🤗

08/11/21, 11:03 pm - Anamika Chowdhury joined using this group's invite link

08/11/21, 11:06 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Anamika. Our one and only Lady Lucknow

08/11/21, 11:07 pm - Anamika Chowdhury: Hello sir! 😀

08/11/21, 11:07 pm - Anamika Chowdhury: Hi everyone🙋🏻‍♀️

08/11/21, 11:07 pm - Namita Rao: No way..she left a few months before I did..2011

08/11/21, 11:08 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Meera was there till a few months before I quit in March 2012 .. so Namita is probably most accurate

08/11/21, 11:10 pm - Namita Rao: Meera and Mukta left in quick succession..then I did. 😊

08/11/21, 11:11 pm - Leslie D'Gama: But I am now waiting for the good stories .. not only who left when.  What do you remember most about life in Schoolnet?

08/11/21, 11:12 pm - Leslie D'Gama: The rule is .. you have to tell a story mentioning one other person and then that person has to carry it on, bringing in another person etc.  A sort of a relay.

08/11/21, 11:24 pm - Padma J: Many stories to share... Will start tomorrow... Calling it a (an exhilarating) day now! Good night! 😴😴

09/11/21, 3:44 am - Mahesh Edla joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 6:02 am - Leslie D'Gama: Welcome Mahesh! Bright and early. 😀

09/11/21, 6:04 am - Mahesh Edla: Thank you Leslie... Happy to reconnect😊

09/11/21, 6:43 am - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 6:57 am - Malathy Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 7:08 am - Leslie D'Gama: Hi. Please introduce yourselves, new joinees

09/11/21, 7:10 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Hi.friends .This is Malathy from Chennai.Happy to join the group.🌹

09/11/21, 7:16 am - Tirmal Reddy: Hi Mahesh...😊

Thanks a million Leslie for connecting us... 🙏

Feeling nostalgic... 😊

09/11/21, 7:17 am - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Malathy! Long time

09/11/21, 7:30 am - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet: Jayanti Prasad here from Hyderabad.

09/11/21, 7:35 am - Leslie D'Gama: Welcome Jayanti!

09/11/21, 7:43 am - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet: Thank you

09/11/21, 7:47 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Yes Leslie .

09/11/21, 8:03 am - Shehnaaz joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 8:04 am - Shehnaaz: Hey — GM everyone... good to connect here 😀

09/11/21, 8:06 am - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Shehnaaz. Let's get this focused group alive and active. Stories from Schoonet days.

09/11/21, 8:06 am - Leslie D'Gama: Anyone here from 1998?

09/11/21, 8:09 am - Shehnaaz: I joined in mid-2000 .....

09/11/21, 8:10 am - Jyoti Swaroop: Good morning, everybody! Let me kick off the story chain! It was a day at the office and I called the Commissioner of the Madurai Corporation, a routine sales call, following up on a visit I made the week before. "Yes, Madam," he told me. "We have decided to go ahead with placing an order for K Yans. Please come over today and collect the order!" I didn't want to remind him that I lived in Chennai. I went straight to the airport, bought a ticket, and headed for the Commissioner's office. I moved the papers from desk to desk and managed to get the order. I stayed over in a hotel and visited the Mahatma school and got an order for 3 more Kyans. Before that, I had to buy myself an entire set of clothes to wear! I returned triumphantly that evening to the office ayuda puja with orders worth 25 lakhs. This, in my first year at IETS was a thrill for me.

09/11/21, 8:10 am - Jyoti Swaroop: I nominate @919666732672 to narrate her story!

09/11/21, 8:11 am - Leslie D'Gama: 👍👍👍 The K- "yarns" ❤️

09/11/21, 8:11 am - Shehnaaz: Huge recollection is Mala — for me coming from pure academics ....she was larger than life with her laughter/vision & did impact me as a trainer/person!

09/11/21, 8:12 am - Leslie D'Gama: I've invited her to the group.

09/11/21, 8:14 am - Shehnaaz: Also Sandy & Anita ...

09/11/21, 8:14 am - Shehnaaz: Met Sandy a couple of years back at her home in UK

09/11/21, 8:14 am - Leslie D'Gama: Invite her to join.

09/11/21, 8:15 am - Shehnaaz: Ok

09/11/21, 8:24 am - Padma J: I cannot ever forget the foundation course trg we did for a bunch of teachers who were very slow with their tech skill building. Sunitha was handling that batch and I was handling another batch parallely. Sunitha used to be pensive during that trg , we noticed that, but FC trg being hectic we were all immersed in our own work. On the penultimate day, we had a meeting and decided that this bunch of slow learners would be awarded certificates after a few months as they need to sharpen their skills. One of the teachers was in tears, she said that her husband would divorce her if she did not return home with the certificate as he would think that she was gallivanting somewhere else and was not at the trg. Hilarious! Another teacher reacted and said she did not need our certificate as her family was full of techies from IITs... We had to counsel these teachers and ultimately awarded them their certificates after a few months of support at school. They did appreciate our help! Unforgettable experiences! @919948640006 your turn!

09/11/21, 8:24 am - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Warm welcome to Jayanti Prasad.She brought me into Ilfsets😊owe her all I know.

Jayanti, Padma and Kaurobi groomed us and mentored us newbies.

09/11/21, 8:26 am - Padma J: 👍👍

09/11/21, 8:36 am - S Sunitha Schoolnet: One of the most hilarious one. We had taught a batch about internet and browsing. Had asked them to use Hotmail to create email account. Suddenly I see a teacher covering the monitor with her pallu and looked quite embarrassed. When we finally convinced her to allow us to check.... she had typed "hotmale".. you can imagine.

09/11/21, 8:36 am - Padma J: 😂😂

09/11/21, 8:37 am - S Sunitha Schoolnet: Jayanti your turn👍

09/11/21, 8:37 am - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: 🤣

09/11/21, 8:47 am - Leslie D'Gama: 😂😂😂😂😂

09/11/21, 8:48 am - Leslie D'Gama: You remember I was called OMIT ... only male in training!

09/11/21, 8:48 am - S Sunitha Schoolnet: 😆😆

09/11/21, 9:04 am - Mahesh Edla: Hello everyone....I am probably one of the last entrants to the Schoolnet/IETS family...on 18-June 2007

My entry to IETS was strange and dramatic….

Through a common friend of Kalyan, I got to know about opportunity for part time trainers’ at IETS, so I applied….Post the interview with Padma, I was asked to take a demo session, which I did fairly well…Instead of part-time trainer, I was offered a full-time job…

My first day was to report at Infosys, Hyderabad to co-facilitate with Roja Reddy for the finishing school programme (Articulation Skills, Effective meetings etc. etc.) After 3 days, I was asked to accompany IETS team to Srisailam to create a documentary on MNREGA. 

Only after 4 days of joining IETS, did I actually report to our somajiguda office 😄😄😄

I am thankful to Padma and Leslie for nurturing my facilitation skills… Will always be grateful to them

09/11/21, 9:05 am - Leslie D'Gama: Please nominate the next story teller

09/11/21, 9:07 am - Leslie D'Gama: Kaurobi's daughter, Mishti, is getting married on Nov 20th! She will join this group after her mother-in-law duties settle down. 😀

09/11/21, 9:15 am - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: 😃wow..mishti getting married.

09/11/21, 9:15 am - Jyoti Swaroop: @919051611196 , Leslie, when I had an interview with Alok after quitting Scholastic India, I was keen on joining IETS' content development and training team. Alok was clear that I should head the Chennai and Kerala branch since I came with sales experience from Scholastic. I fought him tooth and nail. He said I could also help with content development and training but I had to deal with  business development first! I had lost the stomach for sales after 8 years of chasing numbers in Scholastic. To this day, I feel I should have called Alok's bluff! Ha ha...Now, as a freelancer, I enjoy content development and training on my terms now!! And I am in touch with Alok, occasionally...

09/11/21, 9:17 am - Jyoti Swaroop: Hi Shehnaz, I recall you and I teamed up for a training session at Aristotle, Hyderabad!!

09/11/21, 9:25 am - Jaya George joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 9:25 am - Jaya George: Hi Les and old friends

09/11/21, 9:26 am - Padma J: Hi and Welcome Jaya

09/11/21, 9:27 am - Padma J: Mahesh I remember this very well. Any idea where Roja Reddy is? Jayanti, would you know?

09/11/21, 9:28 am - Padma J: Alok Bhargava managed to convert us all! 😂😂

09/11/21, 9:38 am - Leslie D'Gama: You bet.  I even became the Location Head (East) for an agonizingly long 3 years or so, while pursuing my first love of training.

09/11/21, 9:40 am - Mahesh Edla: No idea Padma..

09/11/21, 9:43 am - Jyoti Swaroop: Hi, @919848752523 , @919948640006 , I recall you guys from the Hyderabad team with fondness. Kalyan, Sujatha, Kiran...

09/11/21, 9:45 am - Mahesh Edla: Hi Jyoti...I still remember how you ragged me in Pune during one of the ToTs 😄😄

09/11/21, 9:47 am - Srilakshmi Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 9:49 am - Meenu Gulati: Hi everyone! Meenu here. This is getting so exciting. The group has overnight become so vibrant 😊

09/11/21, 9:51 am - Leslie D'Gama: Meenu, you were always there.  Right now we are swapping stories .. later we will think of something new and exciting as well. Just getting more people on board. What about your bevy of young trainers .. forgot most the names, but can recall their faces.

09/11/21, 9:51 am - Srilakshmi Schoolnet: Hi everyone this is Srilakshmi. Feeling excited to connect with all of you🙂

09/11/21, 9:52 am - Leslie D'Gama: Welcome Srilakshmi!

09/11/21, 9:53 am - Meenu Gulati: Yes I will invite them

09/11/21, 9:54 am - Padma J: Hi Srilakshmi and welcome

09/11/21, 9:56 am - Jyoti Swaroop: Don't say! Now I think u have mixed up Sunitha and Srilakshmi! Oh my! I'm older than I thought I was!

09/11/21, 9:57 am - Leslie D'Gama: *Important Information*

Some of us may not be able to see profile pics. This is because of the Privacy settings.  Or because that number is not added to your phone.  Here's how to fix it:

Whatsapp > Settings > Account > Privacy > change Profile Photo to "Everyone" or you could select "My Contacts".  

But if someone is not on your contacts, they won't see it. 🙁

09/11/21, 9:58 am - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet: Last I spoke to her was  a decade ago. She had joined some company in the HR Department

09/11/21, 9:59 am - Madhuri IETS joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 9:59 am - Madhuri IETS: Hello Hello!!! Thank you Padma ma'am for sharing the link with me.. 

Good morning everyone!!!

09/11/21, 10:00 am - Mala Ramadorai joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 10:00 am - Mala Ramadorai: Hi guys, happy to join.

09/11/21, 10:00 am - Padma J: Welcome Madhuri Dadia

09/11/21, 10:00 am - Padma J: Hello Mala

09/11/21, 10:01 am - Madhuri IETS: Thank you:)

Hi Mala :)

09/11/21, 10:01 am - Mala Ramadorai: Hi- so nice to back amongst you again!

09/11/21, 10:02 am - Leslie D'Gama: Warm Welcome, Mala.  Almost as warm as the one you gave me that cold day in November when I wandered into Paville House training and helped Sanjay Joshi get over his butterflies in the FC. 😀

09/11/21, 10:03 am - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Madhuri. Welcome back.

09/11/21, 10:09 am - +91 98212 50012 joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 10:09 am - Madhuri IETS: Awwww

09/11/21, 10:09 am - Madhuri IETS: Thankyou sir!

09/11/21, 10:14 am - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet: Hi all. A chance meeting with Jaya, Sakina and Pradeep on the roadside near Banjara Hills one day( with hugs and hi- s) led me to being in ILFS( The then Schoolnet). Thanks Pradeep, Jaya and Sakina.  One of the MS Excel session had just finished. I was on the rounds helping the participants. One participant from the famous Sanghi Vidyalaya was frantically looking for something interesting screen, clicking all icons and referring to notes. I asked what the problem was. She said that she couldn’t find the black crow anywhere not screen. If I could help. Noticing the sequence of notes I realised that she wanted the black cross which comes when you press the excel icon to click and drag on the spreadsheet.

09/11/21, 10:16 am - Sanjeev Joseph Bhopal: <Media omitted>

09/11/21, 10:23 am - Leslie D'Gama: Hi.  New joinees, please name your WhatsApp profile, put in a profile pic.

09/11/21, 10:26 am - Leslie D'Gama: @919910063963  You need to nominate the next person to share their "Schoolnet Story" 

_I plan to capture all the stories into an online blog and make it available to all.  Maybe some photos would help too._

09/11/21, 10:28 am - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet: Jaya- you are next

09/11/21, 10:39 am - Padma J: Photographs of those good old days would probably be on floppies!

09/11/21, 10:41 am - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet: Maybe emails

09/11/21, 11:08 am - Aishwarya: Hi Mala... I can't forget the chat we had in Paville house in Oct. U went through my profile presentation..( saved in floppy disk).. and after a informal chat  u asked me join FC in Nov  ...and I was there in **Schoolnet* 🙏🙏 it's been a great journey that taught, trained, mentored.....me...can not thank u enough for the opportunity..n if course *The Leslie* for grooming us as *Trainers*🙏

09/11/21, 11:09 am - Aishwarya: Oct 1999

09/11/21, 11:14 am - Padma J: <Media omitted>

09/11/21, 11:15 am - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 11:20 am - Jaya George: Sunita and Padma, do you recall the funny story of our trainees browsing in an internet cafe for the first time?

09/11/21, 11:21 am - Jaya George: The ladies were not so familiar with the keyboard and typed in something like hotmale instead of hotmail and guess what they saw on the screen. They were so flustered that they forgot how to get out or minimize. The solution was to cover the screen with their dupattas😁😁😁

09/11/21, 11:21 am - Jaya George: This is something I've never forgotten 😆

09/11/21, 11:25 am - Madhuri IETS: 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 no way....u serious Jaya!!!

09/11/21, 11:48 am - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Hi Leslie, 

Kudos to you for this brilliant idea !

Thank you Padma for sharing the link with me.

09/11/21, 11:51 am - Mahesh Edla: Hi Padma....happy to reconnect 😊

09/11/21, 11:55 am - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Hi Mahesh ,same here !

09/11/21, 12:11 pm - Tirmal Reddy: Hi Padma...back in the orbit

😄👍

09/11/21, 12:14 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Haha, yeah Tirumal !

09/11/21, 12:37 pm - Padma J: Hello and Welcome Padma Chandrasekhar

09/11/21, 12:40 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Sourish Mitra's illustrations and my design!  Adding Dimensions School Modules. You all know Sourish is now Creative Head of JW Thompson Asia?  He has won several international awards in design and film making.  And it all started with a young, non-English speaking lad who joined Schoolnet Calcutta. 😀

09/11/21, 12:42 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Not me.  Us. 😀

09/11/21, 12:50 pm - Leslie D'Gama: My joining was 'head hunted' by Pritha Ghosh, Mala and then Ajay Kapur in Delhi. I was on sabbatical from my school teaching job and writing furiously for Computers@Home and PC Quest Magazines.  Then Gopal Rajagopalan MD arrived in Calcutta with a printed "contract" for me to sign.  After getting a clearance from the school, I joined on November 22, 1999 (22-11-99) and in a couple of days Mala sent me a ticket to Mumbai.

I lived out of HMATC (Dadar Catering College) for a few months, on an off.  The FC that I attended for half a day was rudely abandoned by Anita and Mala yanking me off to the other building to "develop the IC" ... and then run it in KV Masjid Moth!  Baptism by fire! In December I was sent to Bangalore to train the trainers, I recall.  Meera was there, so was Nina K and Neena P?

And I remember  Mala calling us over to the sea facing house at Worli and treating us to some lovely classical singing (not to mention the South Indian goodies and a chance meeting with the great Ram!)

09/11/21, 1:02 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Thank you Padma!

09/11/21, 1:06 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: 😅 there you go ! 

Can't beat you I say !😍

09/11/21, 1:18 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: Hi Jyothi🤗

09/11/21, 1:22 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: I shared the same story Jaya.. this is like top of mind recall when I think of Schoonet even after so many years😆😆

09/11/21, 1:42 pm - Aishwarya: Yes I remember...the treat at Mala's house...

09/11/21, 1:47 pm - Padma J: I recollect this. Also the hilarious definitions of domestic pet and wild animals!

09/11/21, 1:50 pm - Mala Ramadorai: Everyday presented new learnings. It’s what life should be and fortunately is!!

So nice to reconnect with you all again!

We were so much in the future- Schoolnet is absolutely relevant now.

09/11/21, 1:54 pm - Padma J: Absolutely, Mala. Last 20 months have given us learnings that will last us for a lifetime. Virtual classes are easy now, and back then we were struggling to get a virtual classroom up and running. Schoolnet was ahead of its times, for sure.

09/11/21, 2:02 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 2:08 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Good morning 

Nice one Shahnaaz & Les. Just back from a secret trip to India 😃. It was a my time to reconnect with family after four long years and now this. So happy to be here. Sending love to all 💜. I must say I don’t know a lot of people on here .  Looking forward to getting to know you all. 

Sandhya

09/11/21, 2:10 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Sandy!!  How are you?  😀 

My most embarrassing moment at Schoolnet was falling asleep in the front row during one of those pedagogy sessions in one of those Delhi courses we conducted together. And Sandy trying to wake me up most subtly as I slid down the chair, like Mr Bean in church. 😳

09/11/21, 2:12 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Mridula Rudra was the "account manager" who made those posters that went "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step".

09/11/21, 2:17 pm - Mala Ramadorai: Single sleep???

09/11/21, 2:17 pm - Malathy Schoolnet: Hi Padma Srilakshmi Jayanti Shahnaaz  .Good to connect .Hope you remember me.

Adding dimensions teacher training modules I cannot forget KT of Leslie's and team.I thoroughly enjoyed conducting in Schools with Chennai team .Remember all the yester years spent .

09/11/21, 2:19 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Front row, front chair while Sandhya was expounding the glories of using tech in the classroom!  I've forgotten the name of the school, but it was Delhi.

09/11/21, 2:19 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: OMG … I was so skilled and you old Les 🤣🤣🤣

09/11/21, 2:20 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: 🤔

09/11/21, 2:21 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: I think it was one of the KV schools  … perhaps 🤔

09/11/21, 2:22 pm - Leslie D'Gama: There was KV Masjid Moth (Reena was the manager) and Ramjas (Meera Balachandran) ... that's as far as the old memory will extend. At Schoolnet I got the Old Monk award, so there was always a bit of that.

09/11/21, 2:43 pm - Jaya George: 🤣🤣 Les, did you really?

09/11/21, 2:45 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Jaya!!! How are you?

09/11/21, 2:46 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: I think we need to post current pics to see how far we’ve come 😃

09/11/21, 2:52 pm - Jayanthi Prasad Schoolnet: One from that time and one now.

09/11/21, 2:54 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: 👍🏼

09/11/21, 3:07 pm - Anamika Chowdhury: Looks like I am the youngest" ietian" in group 😀 enjoying all good old stories from my seniors..

09/11/21, 3:08 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Anamiika you can give them interesting stories about I-FACET in Noida and I-TRAIN in Dehra Dun 😀 And then ISTD ...

09/11/21, 3:16 pm - Anamika Chowdhury: I-FACET..was my first inhouse training under the mentorship of Leslie sir and meenu ma'am. And what experience!!

 Still remember Leslie sir's scolding🙈

Post I-FACET I was so scared of sir, that i kept running away from his sessions n meetings🤭😄

09/11/21, 3:17 pm - S Sunitha Schoolnet: Yeah that one again is classic 🤣🤣

09/11/21, 3:18 pm - Anamika Chowdhury: But..that was just a start..I owe my learnings to Leslie sir, meenu,Sheeja and Neena ma'am who mentored and taught every bit of training and much more 🙏

09/11/21, 3:19 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I apologize profusely for the scolding! 🤐

09/11/21, 3:19 pm - Anamika Chowdhury: Absolutely not! That was a spark 👍

09/11/21, 3:21 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 3:24 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Who joined from +44?

09/11/21, 3:33 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: This message was deleted

09/11/21, 5:42 pm - Jaya George: Les, do you have Puja's number?

09/11/21, 5:42 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Hey Les!! That's me.. your World Bank Training buddy in Delhi remember!?😊

Thanks Shehnaaz for creating this group. Am looking forward to some great interaction here.

Am at work right now but will catch up later🙋🏻‍♀️

- Meenal, The Ahmedabad trainer (2000-2004)😊

09/11/21, 5:44 pm - Jaya George: Sandy, twenty years older, twenty kilos heavier and completely grey... You can imagine... Mind boggling😆😆

09/11/21, 6:05 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: <Media omitted>

09/11/21, 6:06 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: I agree. Les you can be scary 😆

09/11/21, 6:21 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Nope. Was looking for it.

09/11/21, 6:21 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hey Meenal! Lovely to hear from you. World Bank! Yes.

09/11/21, 6:26 pm - Padma J: Looking lovely Sandy

09/11/21, 6:27 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I would second that but she just called me "scary". 😢

09/11/21, 6:28 pm - Padma J: I found the jamboree pics when I was doing Diwali Cleaning. Will post a few pics

09/11/21, 6:28 pm - Padma J: 🤣

09/11/21, 6:38 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Hey Padma! Thank you 🙏🏼

09/11/21, 6:38 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Thanks Les 😜

09/11/21, 6:59 pm - Leslie D'Gama: This picture reminds me of the "Margherita nite" at Not Just Jazz by the Bay in Mumbai.  Where Meera wanted to take the glass home and the bouncers followed us to the beach and extracted it from her reluctant fingers!

09/11/21, 7:02 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: And I was just about to ask about Meera 🥰😂 and Lorraine and Yogesh

09/11/21, 9:01 pm - +91 98205 03426 joined using this group's invite link

09/11/21, 9:03 pm - +91 98205 03426 left

09/11/21, 9:38 pm - Jyoti Swaroop left

10/11/21, 12:01 pm - +91 98205 03426 joined using this group's invite link

10/11/21, 12:02 pm - +91 98205 03426 left

10/11/21, 12:04 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Who joined and left twice?  And why did Jyoti Swaroop leave?  Please check.

10/11/21, 12:06 pm - Shehnaaz: Priya Nair joined n left.... will check with her 😅

10/11/21, 12:06 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Ok.  Long time since I met her.

10/11/21, 12:07 pm - Leslie D'Gama: We are waiting for today's stories.  No one nominated?  I nominate Meenal when she wakes up in Old Blighty

10/11/21, 12:09 pm - Padma J: Priya Nair joined twice and left

10/11/21, 12:19 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Jyoti has apologized .. felt she didn't know enough people. Doesn't matter. The rest of us will continue our quest.

10/11/21, 12:27 pm - Jyoti Swaroop joined using this group's invite link

10/11/21, 12:28 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Jyoti is back!! Yay!

10/11/21, 12:28 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Oh Jeez! Don't make me feel worse than I do!

10/11/21, 1:08 pm - Jaya George: 🥰🥰

10/11/21, 1:10 pm - Jaya George: Lorraine passed away many years ago .. She had cancer

10/11/21, 1:11 pm - Leslie D'Gama: That's true.  Several years ago. 🙁

10/11/21, 1:26 pm - Leslie D'Gama: So, here's a question to get you all started:

*What activity from the Foundation Course do you still remember?* You can tell us why as well.

10/11/21, 1:43 pm - Padma J: Mouse maze for mousing skills!!

10/11/21, 1:43 pm - Padma J: Increasing difficulty levels of the mazes!!

10/11/21, 1:43 pm - Padma J: Printing on transparencies

10/11/21, 1:47 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Wow! @919051611196 ,this question is 'out of the portion' for me!! Joined IETS only in 2006. But am awaiting responses. Will sure be good to read...

10/11/21, 1:49 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Well, the purpose was to teach them how the computer works and all the skills required to make it do what they wanted to with it. 

So, the big change was when we used the outcomes approach -- rather than teach skills, we created activities and challenges. Like the Mouse Maze (with MS Paint) for improving mousing skills. Also, Paint was used to create greetings cards and Mini Books so that they learnt spatial geometry as the hidden agenda. 😀

10/11/21, 1:49 pm - Shehnaaz: Remember the little booklet we made at the end .... & the sharings by teachers at end of program ..... all wanted to take us  trainers with them or become trainers themselves at schoolnet 😂

10/11/21, 1:49 pm - Meenu Gulati: I would like to narrate my first ISMP (40 hour program for ICICI sales mgrs)

An extremely difficult to get cleared as a certified trainer and then to implement it in 4 days. The client was very particular about every detail of the logistics as well. Leslie had finalized the venue after much running around by me at the delhi location, along with other requirements. But, at the location we think differently, as every penny saved adds to the profit. Another venue was identified at a much lower rate, so I began my debut session in the basement conference hall of a hotel near our office. As soon as intros are over, it starts raining and before we knew, the basement was a pool with no extra charges.

I immediately called up the first venue and thanks to the Director, she confirmed the room immediately. Now we had to travel 20 km in the rain. We took a few cabs and I drove some participants in my car. With about 2 hours of gap we were in the new location, having tea, very meticulously organized by the venue staff. While struggling in the rain, my sandals broke . This venue is in the middle of nowhere, but I managed to request one staff member to look for a cobbler if available in the rain. I got my sandals by evening. I conducted the rest of the day barefoot.;) I will always remember this day with a smile😍

10/11/21, 1:53 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Lovely, Meenu.  Great memories. ISMP was a daily battle for us. Gujarat, Coimbatore, Mumbai (Chandivili), Bangalore, Jodhpur Road, .. some of the locations.  And Sangli in Pune.

10/11/21, 1:54 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: @919051611196 , Schoolnet was way ahead of its times...that was something that excited me when I joined iets. 'Outcomes' is still not understood well. I do many workshops/webinars on Outcomes and Competency based learning in accordance with the NEP and I still rely on LOFTUSER from Adding Dimensions!! Kudos to you, mate!

10/11/21, 1:56 pm - Leslie D'Gama: 😀  Forgot LOFTUSER!  Will have to root out the notes and check.

10/11/21, 2:07 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Learning Outcomes, Focused Teaching to LO, Using Strategies, Evaluate & Realign...

And there was CLAP context, learning, actions, performance

10/11/21, 2:11 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Ah!  I have transformed that nomenclature now, but the content is similar.

10/11/21, 2:13 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Yes, I work with this and build on it. Today, the context of learning and the competencies students acquire is more important than content...kids are quite capable to acquire information online

10/11/21, 9:30 pm - Puja Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

10/11/21, 9:36 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Welcome Puja. Here's where we share our old Schoolnet experiences and stories! 😀

10/11/21, 9:36 pm - Puja Schoolnet: G8

10/11/21, 9:42 pm - Puja Schoolnet: <Media omitted>

10/11/21, 9:49 pm - Padma J: I have used the stages of competence (Skill Ladder) in many of my workshops

10/11/21, 10:46 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Most of us grew to be unconsciously competent over the years at Schoolnet. 👍

10/11/21, 10:48 pm - Puja Schoolnet: True  could not agree more

10/11/21, 11:15 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Indeed! 👍🏼🙌🏼

10/11/21, 11:29 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Hehe Old blighty it is indeed! Don't even get me started on that😊

I barely get to check messages during the day but weekend is just round the corner!

10/11/21, 11:30 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Cheers Sandhya! Lovely pic! 🥰

10/11/21, 11:35 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Wow! My fav one was blind typing where they write a starter sentence, switch off the monitor and swap seats to carry on adding text and then format the text later. It would turn out to be a funny garbled story.

I guess we were trying to emphasize the difference between thr monitor and the CPU. 

Also their first presentation where every letter would come flying in from left, right and centre with the 'applause' sound😄 - bless them

10/11/21, 11:37 pm - Puja Schoolnet: I found the Horror movie shoot an extremely entertaining one...and the floppy 💾

10/11/21, 11:39 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Aah the floppy!! Imagine carrying a 1KB (or was it 1MB) disc now😄

10/11/21, 11:41 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Great memories Meenu. I remember we used to operate from Sanjay Joshi's living room when I first joined snet - so many stories from rural training programs!!

11/11/21, 2:01 am - Aishwarya: Very true👌👍

11/11/21, 7:13 am - Padma J: EL&CS... Who remembers the full form?

11/11/21, 7:22 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Morning friends.

11/11/21, 7:24 am - Leslie D'Gama: Blast from the past! Was it Education Learning & Customer Services? 🤔

11/11/21, 7:32 am - Malathy Schoolnet: FC IT training for school teachers at Crescent Matriculation  Girls high school was a memorable one for me .All senior teachers who couldn't move the mouse on the 1stday were able to make Presentations and send mails to their sons and daughters. AMRITAVIDHYALAYA COIMBATORE nearly 100 teachers were trained with Jaya George mam .

11/11/21, 7:33 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Adding Dimensions for Acharya group of Schools at Pondicherry for a week was a great experience .

11/11/21, 7:37 am - Aishwarya: I guess education Learning Customer Service 🤔🤔

11/11/21, 7:41 am - Padma J: Yup, that's what we were called until it was changed to Education Services

11/11/21, 7:41 am - Padma J: ✅

11/11/21, 7:49 am - Padma J: Hi Malathy

11/11/21, 7:49 am - Padma J: How are you

11/11/21, 7:49 am - Padma J: Where is Asha?

11/11/21, 7:52 am - Leslie D'Gama: Is that the one who is to Matangi's left in the Madh Island pic? Trying to recall that name. She was an enthusiastic "table drummer" at Jazz by the Bay on the Margherita nite!

11/11/21, 7:54 am - Padma J: Yes. She is also a guitarist if I remember right

11/11/21, 7:55 am - Padma J: Asha Shandilya was the full name?

11/11/21, 8:17 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Hi Padma.Iam fine. At present working on a School project in a village in Vellore  district  run by Arumbugal Foundation.

11/11/21, 8:19 am - Malathy Schoolnet: <Media omitted>

11/11/21, 8:20 am - Malathy Schoolnet: It's a social project for the underprivileged  children initiated in the year 2016.

11/11/21, 8:21 am - Puja Schoolnet: Amazing

11/11/21, 8:21 am - Malathy Schoolnet: <Media omitted>

11/11/21, 8:24 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Sponsors gave snacks for the kids.Its great working with the community and people here are lovable . Happy to share as some of us still active and continue our services .🌹🌹🌹🙏🏽

11/11/21, 8:24 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Thank you Puja

11/11/21, 8:52 am - Jyoti Swaroop: Hi Malathi, great work. You were always good with this. I remember our work with SST. Vidya and you ran it with such passion.

11/11/21, 8:53 am - Jyoti Swaroop: @919841780585 Do you have Mr Joshi's number?

11/11/21, 8:59 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Yes Jyoti thank you . I owe you a lot as you always motivated me and  pushed me in all me endeavors.I remember Rosary Matriculation school  Chennai.and St.Thomas School training in kerala🌹🌹🙏🏽

11/11/21, 9:00 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Will check and send it to you.

11/11/21, 9:22 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Puja.Iam can recognize Balaji Renuka Padma from the Photo.Yester memories.I joined in 2002.

11/11/21, 9:29 am - Puja Schoolnet: 😃 lovely

11/11/21, 9:42 am - Jaya George: Hi all, I'm a bit tied up with my niece's wedding.. Will catch up once the rush is over🙂. I have to say this though; Schoolnet had the brightest , nicest and best people and I made many lasting friendships.. Miss all of you

11/11/21, 9:58 am - Soma Choudhury: Great work Malathy

11/11/21, 10:06 am - Padma J: I don't recognise myself! 😂🤣🤔

11/11/21, 10:07 am - Padma J: I don't think I attended this

11/11/21, 10:13 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Is it Padma may be Iam wrong..

11/11/21, 10:13 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Thank you Soma

11/11/21, 10:17 am - Jyoti Swaroop: I use the skill ladder too, @919666732672 ....from  being unconsciously incompetent to mastery, and then I introduce the concept of mastery learning...

11/11/21, 10:18 am - Soma Choudhury left

11/11/21, 10:20 am - Jyoti Swaroop: I didn't much enjoy being branch head and the business (had enough of that in Scholastic, where sales growth had to be posted week on week, thanks to a Chinese Asia Head!!) but my learning from IETS was exponential! Particularly content development and training. The Facilitators Manuals were impeccable, truly an idiot's guide to training...

11/11/21, 10:22 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Competency Ladder  was the best in Adding dimensions. It made the teachers analyse as which level they are and were ready to work on .Acronyms Pickle Raise Clap were loved by teachers.

11/11/21, 11:27 am - Malathy Schoolnet: <Media omitted>

11/11/21, 9:15 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Have any of you applied the principles of education as defined by Schoolnet's programs to the present online education situation?  I would be interested to know as I have been studying, advising and even training teachers in this space since April 2020. 😀

11/11/21, 9:19 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: I remember them from the original pack. If they haven’t changed they have  definitely helped me to petition and get things started for the Juniors in my children’s school here in the UK.

I think they help me with the therapy and training work I do online as well.

11/11/21, 9:20 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Oops did I cause someone to leave 😬

11/11/21, 9:21 pm - Leslie D'Gama: The original pack? As laid down by the Schoolnet Canada people? That would have been the FC only. The only changes that happened were the focus on the Outcomes Approach which was a huge exercise and then we created Adding Dimensions which was pushing towards the pedagogy and moving away from the computer skills areas.

11/11/21, 9:22 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Nobody left because of you.  Soma left (she told me) because she felt this was a heavily Schoonet group, and she was much later. So she didn't know many people and couldn't understand the references.

11/11/21, 9:23 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Yup. I documented “The Book” so yes I think I still use them very often incidentally.

11/11/21, 9:24 pm - Leslie D'Gama: So, I thought that this group could become "productive" if we shared some stories which are now best practices or influential .. newer people could then get some benefit from you "Amazing Educators" and the rest of us could wallow in nostalgia. 😀

11/11/21, 10:15 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: @919051611196, Les, if I may...

I'm wondering if you could think of something that involved everyone rather than just the Schoolnetters...I'm sure you have something planned... references about things that just a few are privvy too excludes others, me included. Rather than look back, can we look forward/ahead?

11/11/21, 10:18 pm - Leslie D'Gama: That's what this message was trying to do.  But you know how it is. When people meet after a long time, they will exchange memories. But, yes, if people agree, we can definitely build on the learning and feed forward.  It's OUR group, so other than memes and forwards, everything goes.

11/11/21, 10:22 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Ah well! Let's draw the line for memes and forwards, PLEASE! They bombard us from all angles...

11/11/21, 10:24 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Ok, so based on my earlier question (which only Sandy answered) here goes another. _Please quote the question when giving your views. It will help to collate answers down the line_.

question 👇

11/11/21, 10:25 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Q:  What is the most useful thing (or things) you have learnt from the online learning process?  It could be a "how to teach" or "how children learn" or "how we behave" or anything that we can get value from.

11/11/21, 10:44 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: I have been doing a lot of online facilitating for teachers. It's given me tremendous scope to learn, unlearn, and relearn. In a 90 minute session I create 10 to 15 minute chunks and vary the mode of interaction and the aids used...for eg using chat, asking volunteers to speak, 2 or 3 minute videos, quick quizzes, brain break games, and PPT. I realized that it was effective to focus on just one topic with a couple of other supporting ideas. Trying to pack too much wasn't going to work. The most important learning for me was that my online session had to be what I wanted the school's online session to be; engaging, effective, productive.

I do webinars through publishers where there could be a 1000 participants on zoom and a couple more thousands on Facebook and YouTube. I throw open a question at intervals to them active. I welcome responses on chat and Facebook and keep 2 other devices to track responses and respond to them. Sometimes, just reading out the names of the participants would keep them motivated and be involved from start to finish...

Teach once, learn twice...it works for me. Online learning keeps me on my toes...researching, creating new programs...I also view other programs to pick up ideas...

11/11/21, 10:46 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Jyothi have you used Break Away rooms in your sessions for group activities?

11/11/21, 10:51 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Yes. The platform I use depends on the school or the publisher. I use whatever platform they use and use all that it offers.

11/11/21, 10:52 pm - Padma J: Agree with these strategies... They work. I quickly create Google forms and polls and share them in the chat. Have also used the responses on YouTube and chat boxes using two devices. Students love their responses being read out or their names being take and their queries answered

11/11/21, 10:52 pm - Padma J: Have also used break out rooms

11/11/21, 10:53 pm - Padma J: Sadly participants were lost despite nominating a facilitator for the break out room and clear instructions

11/11/21, 10:54 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: And that depends on the numbers as well. If the group is small, there's scope to use a lot more tools, but mostly there are a minimum if 100 participants. The max I have had is between 4 to 5 K.

11/11/21, 10:54 pm - Padma J: 👍👍

11/11/21, 10:55 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Yes. It's possible if it's a single school and the numbers are managable

11/11/21, 10:57 pm - Padma J: I guess it was the first time in a breakout room for the participants

11/11/21, 10:58 pm - Padma J: A strong pedagogical base helps in improvising and manipulation of online teaching-learning tools and methods

11/11/21, 11:00 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: My PPT comes at the very end. It's like a handout to teachers. I put down a lot more extra points and ideas. I share the ppt and videos, poems, worksheets etc as take away material. I tell them this right at the beginning. I encourage them to have fun, listen to eachother and give me 5 things that they will/can implement asap.

11/11/21, 11:01 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Totally agree...

11/11/21, 11:05 pm - Puja Schoolnet: I am working  with youth...mainly engineering and management students and my sole focus every year about 1700 students is Netikets and Soft Skills for walking into the job arena and bridge the industry academic difficulties.

11/11/21, 11:07 pm - Puja Schoolnet: I do a 60 hr FC design somewhat from my schoolnet days and learning experiences and my own Industry Academic experience.

11/11/21, 11:09 pm - Puja Schoolnet: Surprisingly our youth wing of the country lacks employment attributes and skills

11/11/21, 11:09 pm - Puja Schoolnet: From the soft skill front

11/11/21, 11:11 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: @918584099995 , that's great work. How is the interaction? Are they forthcoming or shy. Most of these online sessions are not gratifying if participation and interaction is low

11/11/21, 11:12 pm - Puja Schoolnet: It's was a super difficult task

11/11/21, 11:13 pm - Puja Schoolnet: Last two years my team has been mentoring in smaller batches to overcome the issues of concentration span and focus attention.

11/11/21, 11:13 pm - Puja Schoolnet: My 2022 batch is on it but better

11/11/21, 11:14 pm - Puja Schoolnet: Pace of teaching and learning is the key...

11/11/21, 11:18 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: And a buy in. They need to feel the need to acquire skills. I deal only with teachers. I found a school very unresponsive. They were on some kind of strike mode because of the timing of the program. Half an hour into the session, I signed out. I told them that they would receive all the learning material...

11/11/21, 11:19 pm - Puja Schoolnet: My one cannot do that ...since I hold thir place and Campus Hiring

11/11/21, 11:19 pm - Puja Schoolnet: So a carrot and stick policy

11/11/21, 11:36 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: A good piece of work Puja. I am wondering if the Netikets touch upon the well-being of the young people you work with!? The impact of social media and the virtual worlds on the emotional experiences of our youth !?

11/11/21, 11:36 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: Nice! 👌🏼

11/11/21, 11:38 pm - Puja Schoolnet: Yes it does...the do and don't are very imp part.We can't evade the flip side of the structure

11/11/21, 11:39 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: 👍🏼

11/11/21, 11:40 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: I think this is a powerful platform and opportunity to inform and educate … to keep youth safe from social isolation

11/11/21, 11:47 pm - Puja Schoolnet: My challenge is to prepare these youg adults for the corporate world which is ruthless....Jobs are important but more important is to teach them to learn to be stable..learn to unlearn / relearn.Things that they are not taught in 10+2+4yr of learning

11/11/21, 11:47 pm - Puja Schoolnet: So I start with ...my old schoolnet slide

11/11/21, 11:48 pm - Puja Schoolnet: School Learning Vs Career /Workplace Learning

11/11/21, 11:48 pm - Puja Schoolnet: And Critical Thinking

11/11/21, 11:48 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: So you are teaching them to Become resilient … I think that is the main skill you will be teaching them 😃

11/11/21, 11:49 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: 👌🏼

11/11/21, 11:51 pm - Padma J: After 10 online sessions on employability skills, I have decided to meet my students face-to-face next weekend and conduct a couple of sessions. I am hoping that the online sessions after that will be more productive

11/11/21, 11:53 pm - Sandhya Kelkar Saldanha Schoolnet: My experience is that initial face to face is a necessary rapport building exercise to successful long term online training . Sounds like a great plan!

11/11/21, 11:54 pm - Puja Schoolnet: 👌👌👌

12/11/21, 12:50 am - Leslie D'Gama: This is a great discussion.  I will chip in with some stories after hearing a few more.

12/11/21, 6:27 pm - Aishwarya: I have developed 2 level  vocational skills prog in                *Hospitality & catering*  for differently able youth. Since March 20 t same prog was converted to *online* sessions...this was possible only due to *our Schoolnet experience* and the Training given by *Leslie*

12/11/21, 6:29 pm - Aishwarya: I still remember *ISMP* MT selection session..😩😩😩.OMG..the toughest prog I have deliverer... but Leslie gave t confidence...👏👏👏 n I conducted 5 batches in Mumbai..n lost 2 kg..weight...in 20 days..🤪🤪🤪

12/11/21, 6:31 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Excellent.  What are the main touch points when you *convert to online*?  And please stop thanking me .. it's embarrassing and really not true at all.  All of us put in a lot of effort and enthusiasm, so things got done!

12/11/21, 6:33 pm - Leslie D'Gama: @919820131270 That was not me.  That was ICICI's training head - Sunil Prabhune - who got his training from the Gestapo. 😉  I remember how we almost lost the contract because I sat in a meeting and refused to bow down.  And Laurel & Hardy (forgot their actual names, Kale and ? ) were managing the ICICI Bank deal - they literally yelled at me.  I went out, spoke firmly to Sunil and brought him back into the room and the deal was signed.

12/11/21, 6:34 pm - Padma J: R M Desai?

12/11/21, 6:34 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Yes. Desai and Kale like Laurel and Hardy, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Their names were always spoken together.

12/11/21, 6:35 pm - Aishwarya: I agree ...but can't help 👏👏 conversion on paper was easy..breaking t sessions into capsules ( 45 minutes)... some part of t living room was converted into studio kitchen ...with induction cooking n fancy pots n pans....my younger son who is a chef..helped me a lot in actual cooking sessions....

12/11/21, 6:39 pm - Aishwarya: The best part was students enjoyed n learnt better...then quiz, LC , assignments were sent online n students sent solved assignments..back...😊 even assessment  was conducted throughout a questionnaire...n observation....truly enjoyed it...👏👏

12/11/21, 6:40 pm - Leslie D'Gama: This is great feedback.

12/11/21, 6:45 pm - Leslie D'Gama: For me the greatest liberator in the online classroom was to free myself from the chair. I did this by investing in a set of (very expensive) Sony WF 1000 MX3 earbuds.  They sit in your ear, the microphones are fantastic.  And you CAN MOVE!  Earlier, the mic was on the laptop or even an external with a wire which limited you to the screen area. Now I can move to a whiteboard or flipchart (much better than the electronic kind) and walk a bit and teach. Had to also invest in a better camera.  That's for the tech.  

For the actual delivery - I use a blend of asynchronous activities so that learners are not screen dependent and a few meets where we are all together and chatting.  

Has to be purely modular and modules are never longer than an hour.  If it's a longer programme, then a WhatsApp group helps to clear individual problems.

12/11/21, 6:56 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Great tips Leslie. Nik Peachy does a lot this.

12/11/21, 6:57 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Who's Nik Peachy?

12/11/21, 7:01 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Desai and Kale actually tracked me when I was on vacation once. They caught me as my connecting flight from Pune was about to take off. They wanted my family to go ahead without me and expected me to deplane and meet them in Mumbai! This was for a new venture that didn't take off. I told them that I wasn't abandoning my family and that Vidya and Durga were perfectly capable of doing the TNA. I guess from their bad books, I got blacklisted!!

12/11/21, 7:02 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: His videos are available on YouTube and he's done many webinars on online classes for schools in india. A firang

12/11/21, 7:03 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I should actually add that the technology can make or break your classroom.  My advice to all teachers is

(a) get a space where you have a decent background or get a green screen - available off Amazon.

(b) get a large monitor (27" works well) and use it as a second monitor to your laptop. Shift your participant mugshots there and keep your presentation and whiteboard material on the laptop.

(c) get a decent camera, wider angle so they see more of you - available of Amazon too.

(d) invest in a good microphone-speaker combo or go for a bluetooth headset (it frees you from proximity to screen)

(e) Invest in high-speed, fibre optics, broadband.

_And how will be pay for all this?_

I calculated the cost of local travel per day into 1.5 years, plus cost of snacks and food bought outside, plus savings in time calculated as money would definitely help.

12/11/21, 7:09 pm - Meenu Gulati: Wow, this is amazing Leslie. Good start for a great session- be prepared with your tools 😀

12/11/21, 7:11 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I have many more .. but these work well.  Most importantly, I insist that learners have a laptop with a camera.  If they must use a mobile device, I insist they get a table tripod and keep it fixed at eye height in landscape mode.  But they then have problems interacting with chat and seeing other people in grid mode.

12/11/21, 7:12 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Tripods cost ₹500 on Amazon.  😀

As you can see I have contributed more to Amazon than any other service during the pandemic.

12/11/21, 7:16 pm - Leslie D'Gama: A Boya Lavelier microphone, clips onto your collar/neckline, has a 20 foot cable and costs about ₹750 (on Amazon 🤪) .. plugs into your laptop or mobile.  But the sound quality is amazing and declares your presence as a teacher!

12/11/21, 7:31 pm - Padma J: Thank you for the input on tech tools, Les

12/11/21, 7:31 pm - Padma J: Aish 👍🏻👍🏻

12/11/21, 7:42 pm - Aishwarya: True...some of things that you have will certainly help me in next sessions🙏

12/11/21, 7:43 pm - Leslie D'Gama: this is the first webinar I moderated in July 2020 https://youtu.be/fbSuZYG_RB8?t=692

12/11/21, 7:43 pm - Leslie D'Gama: You might find this interesting.  I moderated this event.

12/11/21, 7:49 pm - Aishwarya: 🙏🙏

12/11/21, 7:57 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Truth be told I've done webinars at the rate of 2 or 3 per week over the since the pandemic, I've started turning them down now. To be honest, it's easy once you get the hang of it but it becomes a burden when you keep wondering what sort of teachers you land up with...

The schools and publishers I work with will start physical interactions in a while and I'll wait for that...

12/11/21, 7:59 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I have some strong statements here https://youtu.be/jJipVGZMcXI

12/11/21, 8:00 pm - Leslie D'Gama: You deleted this message

12/11/21, 8:00 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Please invite people to this group by sharing this link

https://chat.whatsapp.com/K8MNGkOmLln7UiEHBj45I1

12/11/21, 8:12 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: In any case hybrid learning with its  components of physical class, synchronous and asynchronous online classes, and research/self study is going to be the way forward

12/11/21, 9:39 pm - +91 70427 27574 joined using this group's invite link

12/11/21, 9:43 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hi.  Please name your whatsapp profile or put in your pic and make it visible in your privacy settings.

12/11/21, 9:43 pm - Leslie D'Gama: or add me to your contacts 😀

12/11/21, 10:34 pm - +91 95823 34026 joined using this group's invite link

12/11/21, 11:28 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: There's already so much of sharing good practices! Very interesting indeed.

I've been into online teaching and teacher training webinars and rely a lot on Zoom, canvas, dyknow and many many more tools. Almost all of it is a hybrid model but the online advantage is the one to one or small group breakout room differentiated coaching.

I use 3 screens to extend my display, an additional camera for all my science demos and obv headsets.

12/11/21, 11:32 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: I am also a UN volunteer where twice a week i teach science to children in remote Indian villages over google meet. We do science experiments, projects, everything online and its so much fun. During summer i train other UN volunteer teachers globally to upscale their pedagogy and tech skills

12/11/21, 11:33 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: I have found 'canvas' to be an amazing one stop shop software for resource building, assessments, feedback, submissions etc... Practically everything. Great software

12/11/21, 11:34 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Wow! Meenal. This group is beginning to sound like a chapter from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Like I told Sandhya, we all belong together in another universe

12/11/21, 11:35 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: 👊🏻Go Schoolnet!!😊

12/11/21, 11:36 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Btw Leslie - I am parallely making a list of all the movie names you use in references for my bucket list😜

12/11/21, 11:36 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Movies/books

12/11/21, 11:38 pm - Leslie D'Gama: 😂 Atlas Shrugged is a must read for the super intelligent ... Or the gifted, which I think we all are

12/11/21, 11:39 pm - Leslie D'Gama: And Meenal, you will enjoy a very old TV series available on Amazon Prime. It's called Scorpion and is largely about science but there are sub level stories interwoven

12/11/21, 11:40 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Tech can be amazing. Just to quote an example - i shared the ISS viewing timings (from spotthestation) for this small village in Nainital where i teach - one of my students spotted it, captured it on video and shared on our class portal. I was super impressed! (Disclaimer : Im a super Astronomy geek & freak)

12/11/21, 11:40 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Sure😊👍🏼Its in my reading list now

12/11/21, 11:41 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Noted! Its time i move on from the Big bang theory finally😄

12/11/21, 11:41 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: @447490396959 , very impressive work you are doing. Great inputs

12/11/21, 11:41 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Once you finish Ayn Rand you can move to Yuval Noah Harari. Sapiens and Homo Deus, his two books

12/11/21, 11:42 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Thanks Jyothi - all the stories I'm seeing here are just too good and there is so much to learn from everyone

12/11/21, 11:42 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Sapiens - check! Done 

Am on to homo deus next

12/11/21, 11:42 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Harari is a prophet

12/11/21, 11:42 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Agree... Loved sapiens!

12/11/21, 11:44 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Who are the people who joined the group today? No names on their profiles

12/11/21, 11:46 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Actually, right now, 30% of my work is training, the rest is educational publishing as a freelancer. This is an exciting space with both print , e content,  video lessons and lots more...My core strength is ELT, English language training. I record demo video lessons. These serve a dual purpose. Teachers use them as demos and get ideas or play them during online classes.

12/11/21, 11:47 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: If we start a book list and movie recommendations, this group will go crazy 🤪

12/11/21, 11:53 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: The last part reminds me of an educator i follow called Thomas Gibson - so many creative ideas... Honestly this is a great exchange where most of us share the same passion into education!!

12/11/21, 11:55 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: 😊True that!

13/11/21, 7:46 am - Malathy Schoolnet: Great Meenal🌹🌹👌

13/11/21, 7:52 am - Kaviraj Kataria Schoolnet joined using this group's invite link

13/11/21, 8:10 am - Meenu Gulati: Hi Deepika, Nidhi and Kaviraj. Trainers from Delhi. Supported in Delhi Police training, TSEP and the ICICI Youngstars. Not to forget the Amethi training 😊

13/11/21, 8:15 am - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Deepika, Nidhi & Kaviraj. Welcome aboard. Please name your profiles and make your profile pic visible in privacy settings. 😊

13/11/21, 8:17 am - Puja Schoolnet: Fantastic work Menal..would love to hear more form all our experiences...

13/11/21, 8:52 am - Leslie D'Gama: For those who came in later, we plan to capture all these experiences and learning and put them into a  blog online. Will try and get a first cut by Monday of what's happened so fast

13/11/21, 8:52 am - Leslie D'Gama: Far*

13/11/21, 4:59 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: That sounds interesting. Do you have an existing blog or are you looking at creating one?

13/11/21, 4:59 pm - Leslie D'Gama: I have three blogs on Blogger but was thinking of creating a new one for this. any ideas?

13/11/21, 5:01 pm - Leslie D'Gama: What's TSEP? Completely forgot 🤔

13/11/21, 5:01 pm - Meenu Gulati: Toyota safety education program

13/11/21, 5:01 pm - Meenal Buch Schoolnet: Ditto😊

13/11/21, 5:01 pm - Leslie D'Gama: 👍

17/11/21, 12:02 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hi Everyone.  It's been a quiet few days.  Let's have your post-Schoolnet journeys in brief .. especially so many of the newer ones.  Or, raise a question which everyone can engage with. Let's just keep things interesting, informative, inclusive! 😀

17/11/21, 12:53 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Hi Les, as usual I have lots to say!! 🤪

We have covered the  equipment required for online learning. Amomg the acronyms and one liners we used in IETS what stood out to me whole dealing with online learners is: 

• All the minds some of the time

• All the minds all the time 

• All the minds some of the time

To keep the learning interactive and productive I keep the following in mind

1. Chunking - break down the lesson into chunks if 5 to 10 minutes 

2. Recognizing that all brains are different and perceive and receive, differently 

3. Provide a variety of activities online and offline. Offline eg. Collect 3 objects and use 3 adjectives to describe them

4. Include fun activities and brain breaks, many games are available on the internet 

5. Using attention getters, such as Focus Pocus to which kids respond Time to Focus or 1, 2, 3, Eyes on me

6. Value the non learning time eg chatting with kids, sharing stories, ...

7. Create moderate stress; too little can lead to disinterest and too much leads to anxiety 

8. Allow students to to lead the class, give individuals or groups time to prepare

9. Keep the focus sharp with what did I do today, what did I learn

10. Get students to be accountable for their learning. They aren't doing parents and teachers a favour by learning..

Ofcourse as educators we are all quite aware of thr range of multi sensorial and multiple intelligence activities that can be done...

17/11/21, 1:23 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Hi Leslie,

Welcome this wonderful idea.

*Interesting , informative , inclusive*  Amazing alliteration, I say !!

17/11/21, 1:23 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Btw, this is Padma Cs from Hyd .

17/11/21, 1:28 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Jyoti awesome share.

17/11/21, 1:34 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: @919848485015 , @919975822666 , 👍👍. 

My webinars are only for teachers and I apply the ideas...we know what kids teachers can be! The sillier and fun thr game, the more they enjoy it for thr simple reason that it is inclusive...

17/11/21, 1:36 pm - Malathy Schoolnet: Jyoti  your ideas are amazing It will be very useful for all teachers in School .💐🙏🏽

17/11/21, 1:39 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Hi PadmaC There's one more in this list of four "i"s .. I use it for generating Vision and Mission statement checks with corporate startups.*The Four ‘I’s*

Vision and Mission should collectively be 

*INSPIRATIONAL* - reflect the dream of the company

*INFLUENTIAL* - team members and clients should be swayed by it

*INFORMATIVE* - should represent steps and actions to achieve the dream

*INCLUSIVE* - should represent ALL team members and client-partners

(Just modified for this conversation)

17/11/21, 1:41 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: jyoti i have an upcoming workshop for students of middle school..virtual interaction on zoom.one hr..

17/11/21, 1:41 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: communication skills

17/11/21, 1:41 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: tips would be welcome..it needs to be high impact

17/11/21, 1:43 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Will connect away from the group and will share some ideas. Is it on thr dynamics of communication or spoken English? Clients confuse the two

17/11/21, 1:48 pm - Urvashi Shenoy Schoolnet: Will shareon dm

17/11/21, 1:57 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Simply superb!

17/11/21, 1:59 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: @919840044505 ! Interesting indeed.

I know, silly it may be ,  many a time serves as an eye opener !

17/11/21, 2:03 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: Yes, it's about not leaving out thr fun aspect of learning. Once you give them brain breaks, you can gently get your class to do complex tasks and enjoy the learning. I have cues which I use, like, Are we listening? And I expect a loud Yes. We are! They then know that they have to listen up now and engage with Active Listening or Active Notes...

17/11/21, 2:11 pm - Jyoti Swaroop: @919841780585, Malathi, for the past 10 years I've been focused on building a repertoire for CPD. I've worked on modules for sahodayas and for schools on competency based education, brain based learning, phenomena based learning, enquiry based learning, design thinking....its challenging to learn, research, and run it.

That's why all my training is for teaxher education. I don't get distracted by corporate training or any other sector

17/11/21, 2:21 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: My experience : 

A close ended question 'Are you listening?' will invariably got them to say yes but more precisely it just got them to be alert  from that moment.

Ever since I did my CELTA (some years ago)   I began using CCQs n ICQs.

I always think it's a wonderful questioning technique.

17/11/21, 2:22 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: Brilliant . Thanks for sharing !🙏🏻

17/11/21, 2:26 pm - Leslie D'Gama: Must confess, I had to look it up.  But I now know what ICQs and CCQs are. 😀

17/11/21, 2:40 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: 🙏🏻

17/11/21, 2:41 pm - Padma Chandrasekharan Schoolnet: I wish there was a salute emoji. :)