Kochi: Suma Paul, head of the department of computer science at Rajagiri Public School, Kalamassery, who is among five teachers from the state bestowed with the CBSE Award to Teachers this year, is adept at experimentation driven by technology. She makes use of blogs, YouTube and flipped classrooms for improving the academic performance of her students.
The citation by CBSE says Suma Paul also computerised the school election system and initiated a computer event 'Techwizard' to encourage budding programmers. Under her guidance, the students have created games and animated videos using scratch and Greenfoot. She has also developed an app for updating the knowledge of her students on current affairs.
The CBSE Teacher Award which carries a certificate of commendation, a shawl and purse of Rs 50,000 was presented to her by Union Minister of State for HRD, Upendra Kushwaha, in New Delhi on September 6.
"When I joined Rajagiri Public School, Kalamassery, in 1997, I was the only computer science teacher in the school. It had classes only till IX standard. I grew up along with the school. In those days, the computer science curriculum for classes 1 to 10 was framed by our department. Every year we brought about changes in the curriculum by introducing new software. Now we are using the Chrysallis Curriculum, but still we decide on the modules to be taught in each class," says Suma Paul about her journey.
In 2011, as part of the student exchange programme, she got an opportunity to visit Hwa Chong Institution in Singapore and observe the ICT integrated projects there.
"As part of the school quality improvement programme, ICT integrated projects are mandatory for every subject. The students use the ICT tools learnt in the computer science classes for developing integrated projects with other subjects. The students are learning Java programming in Class IX. Using this they developed a simple app for calculating Pythagorean Theorem and presented it for 'SAVISHKAR,' the all -Kerala maths and science exhibition. During 'VISTA' the interschool event conducted by the school, our department hosted 'TECHWIZARD,' the animation video creation contest using the programme Greenfoot. Through this programme, we rewarded the budding programmers from Class 6 to 8," she said.
Suma's Flipped Classroom is where students do research on a selected topic. After the brainstorming session in the class to clear their doubts, online assessments using hot potatoes or proprofs are conducted. Vidcasts are created for teaching various topics in informatics practices. Study materials are uploaded in the eBook form on her blog. She uploads the blueprint of the question paper and the answer key on the blog. This is particularly helpful for the weak and dyslexic students. In 2012, she was awarded the Global Teacher Accreditation with a commendation by Cambridge Education Foundation, United Kingdom.
"Suma Paul has played a key role in the seamless integration of technology into the school curriculum. She is involved with a lot of activities of the school like summer camp, quizzing, inter-school competitions and school elections. She truly deserves the award,” said Fr. Varghese Kachappilly, principal of the school.
"Suma has worked alongside me for various projects of the school. She spearheaded the School Quality Improvement Progr-amme successfully and has taken the lead in imparting 21st century skills of creativity, problem solving, invention and innovation in her classroom teaching,” said Ruby Antony, vice-principal.
