Workshops on offer

Bichitra Pathshala is involved in providing workshops for parents,teachers and children across a range of themes such as : Physical sciences - Physics & Chemistry, Environmental sciences, Bio diversity, Art, Craft & Language, Mathematics, Life Skills, History & Geography, Environmental awareness, Media education, Film appreciation, Creative writing, Pedagogy & Good Parenting.


WORKSHOPS
FOR TEACHERS:

Tools in Schools
A workshop to discuss and fine tune methodologies of using cinema in the classroom,   at these workshops, lecture demonstrations given by teachers will be critiqued and evaluated by the experts on our panel and the best lesson plans will be rewarded.

Film Appreciation
For teachers who use cinema in the classroom, we offer an in depth understanding of cinema as an art form as well as resource material. A week long intensive workshop, preferably during the summer vacation will be held for teachers, to discuss the aesthetics and language of world cinema.

Skill Enhancement
On request from sufficient number of teachers,(at least 15) we offer workshops to develop the technical skills of video editing, web publishing, the use of graphics software etc

FOR CHILDREN
- Project based summer workshops
Workshops on exciting topics that are not necessarily part of the curriculum, but linked to it, will be announced for children of various age groups. In these workshops we offer a thorough exploration of the project topic through field visits, experiencial learning and group activities for making the final presentations. The children will be encouraged to video record their explorations and make simple films.

Other activities:
BICHITRA UTSAVA festival of films & a media mela for children
BICHITRA JOURNALAn online journal to explore pedagogical aspects of learning with moving images

PRODUCTION
- Production Pool workshopsThere is an acute shortage of short films for children in India. Through the Production Pool workshop, we encourage media and cinema students to develop ideas for short films and pitch their ideas to heads of funding organizations.
- Productions on requestOn request from organizations, we shall produce video documentations of unique educational techniques and methodologies for easier dissemination of these methodologies.


A sample list of the types of workshops, we can conduct is given below. To know about the upcoming workshops, please look up our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/toolsinschools/

We can also design custom made workshops on request. If you are interested in any of the workshops, please write to us : toolsinschools@gmail.com

Workshops on environmental awareness :

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Plants & trees	Children get an exposure to the diversity of the plant kingdom through field trips and film clippings.	Environmental Awareness	Classes I & II	5 days
	They understand the functioning of different parts of a plant through hands on activities and craft interesting artifacts using the parts of a plant		(5 to 8 years)	(2  hours each day)
Home Sweet Home( Life on earth series)	An awareness about homes of different animals through film clippings, activities like musical chairs etc	Environmental awareness	Classes I, II	2 hours
			Can be adapted for classes III, IV & V also
The delicate balance	Conservation ethics and environment awareness through nature walk, activities and showing film clippings	Environmental awareness	Classes III to V	4 hours
			This workshop has also been taken with children who have never been to a school
Know your world	Developing an understanding of the interdependence of life in one’s environment through film viewings and games	Environmental awareness	Classes VII & VIII	2 hours
Water water everywhere	Experiencing water through sound, visuals and simple activities; showing film clippings on rain, water cycle and rainwater harvesting	Environmental awareness	Classes III to V	2 to 3 hours
Ganga	A virtual tour along the Ganga through film clippings, reading of travel diaries, recitation of poems and shlokas	Geography, environmental awareness, literature	Classes VI. VIII, IX	2 to 3 hours

Film Appreciation

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Between the frames	Understanding the language of cinema and how it makes meaning through its artifacts	Film appreciation	Teachers	3 to 5 days
Spin a story	Watching short films and deconstructing structures of their stories;	Film & media appreciation/ creative writing	Classes VIII to XII	1 day to 3 days depending on the desired output

General

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
My family	Reinforcement of family values, particularly respect for elders, through viewing of film clippings, role play and writing/ craft exercises	General	Classes II, III, IV	2 to 3 hours
The idea of an Indian	Re examining one’s national identity after viewing The Little Terrorist and clippings from a documentary	General	Classes X, XI, XII and college students	2 hours
Sare Jahan Se Achha	Reexamining the ideas of patriotism and nationalism through films like Rang De Basanti	General	Classes X, XI, XII and college students	3 hours
Public speaking	Learning to speak with confidence and conviction	General	Classes VIII to XII	2 days
Learning spaces	Designing alternative learning spaces that would foster children’s creativity	General	Classes IX to XII	3 hours

Good Parenting
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Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Keep the dialogue going	Understanding the changing needs of your adolescent child and bridging the communication gap with him/her	Good parenting	Parents	2 to 3 hours
Authority vs. autonomy	How much freedom is too much and how much control may break your child’s personality? Where does one draw the line?	Good parenting	Parents	2 hours
Stress in a child’s life	Explore the various causes for stress in a child’s life.	Good parenting	Parents	2 hours
Actualizing your child’s true potential	Every child need not be a Ramanujan in maths or a Zakir Hussain on the tabla but maybe very good at interpersonal relations, or sketching birds or even baking cakes	Good parenting	Parents	2 hours

History

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Encounter with an ancient land	Understanding Egypt through film viewings, treasure hunts and plays	History	Classes VIII to XII	5 days

Life Sciences (Bio - diversity)

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Journeys of the seed	An exposition of diverse ways of seed dispersal using David Attenborough’s film	Life science (Bio diversity)	Classes VI to X	2 hours
Merrily myriad	An appreciation for the need of bio diversity using an animation film Anders Artig	Life science (Bio diversity)	Classes V to VII	2 hours
Monkey business	An exposition of diversity in the kingdom of primates	Life science (Bio diversity)	Classes III, IV	2 hours

Life Skills

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Being human in modern times	Clinging on to humanity in our increasingly technology dependent lives - through activities and introspection, taking inspiration from the film Modern Times	Life skills	Classes VIII, IX, X	2 hours
Ten Commandments of Living	How to control the negative emotions in oneself and lead a more positive life – through activities triggered by appropriate film clippings	Life skills	Classes VII to X	2 hours
Run Forrest Run	Understanding the meaning of success in like through clippings of Forrest Gump	Life skills	Classes VI to VIII	2 hours
Friendship	Appreciating various kinds of friendship and the need for a friend in one’s life through viewing film clippings, poetry reading, writing poems, letters, diaries and stories and eventually enacting a play	Life skills/ creative writing/ dramatics	Classes VII to X	6 days (if the final output is to be a play)

Maths

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Fun with Fractions	Children get the basic concept of fractions through film viewing and hands on exercises with coloured papers	Maths	Classes V & VI	2 to 3 hours
The magic fraction	The idea of golden ratio is introduced to children through films, pictures of monuments and studying flowers, leaves and the human body	Maths	Classes VI & VII	2 to 3 hours
Techno - maths	Teachers are introduced to methods of teaching maths using gadgets of everyday use like calculators and mobile phones	Maths	Teachers	3 to 4 hours
Fun Maths	Teachers are introduced to ways of eliminating maths phobia in the primary classes	Maths	Primary school teachers (Upto class V)	3 to 4 hours

Media Education

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Deconstructing media	A workshop on developing media education modules for different classes	Media education	Teachers	3 days

Pedagogy

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Tools in Schools	Ways of using cinema in the classroom	Pedagogy	Teachers	1 day

Physics

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Hinges and screws	Simple machines and the urge to invent - using clippings from Home Alone	Physics	Classes VII to IX
Striking with lightning	If we could harness lightning, much of our energy problems will be solved. But can we? (A workshop using clippings from Back to the Future)	Physics	Classes VIII, IX, X	4 hours
Up	An activity filled workshop on Archimedes Principle using clippings from the animation film Up and other clippings	Physics	Classes VII to X	3 to 4 hours
Popular films in the Physics classroom	How a Physics class may be enlivened through the use of appropriate clippings from popular films	Physics	Teachers

Science, Art & craft and Language

Name of the workshop	Description	Subject	Target group	Duration
Five senses	Through film viewings and activities, children understand the functioning of the five senses and how we perceive the world through them	Science, arts & craft, language	Classes III, IV, V	5 days (2 to 3 hours each day)