‘Academic-year-starts’ are crucial periods of transitioning #students from their previous year learning milestones in another grade to their current ones. Even more so with physical classes resuming, these initial 3/4 months or Quarter 1 becomes a huge opportunity for #teachers to rebuild and reboot. Invited to observe processes as part of the ACE Sports Edu #schoolaudit vertical, we are repeatedly mentoring teachers to prioritise goals for their students, and the base for this lies in documenting through #preassessment strategies. ‘What do your children already know (chances are many are about ‘remembering’ facts not the conceptual understanding) and use that to customise learning using smaller group dynamics, one to one engagement, reenforcement work at home and perhaps scaling the curriculum targets to ‘revisit’ some concepts that lack understanding. The classic error is to march forward because ‘lesson plans’ have been designed! This leads to class room management challenges not to mention a widening gap, noticeable across K-12. Ideally, the summer should have had some continued activity for students, but even if that has not happened, and I am one for periods of downtime for students, teachers need to cleverly bring children up to speed. Writing is a big worry for children used to submitting work online, and therefore build their muscle memory by smaller tasks over a period of time that is ‘guided’, use of graphic organisers and mindmaps to begin with and gradually move them into ‘long writes’. These ‘short-writes’ work brilliantly, as the teacher becomes the facilitator who helps the students ‘break-up’ their thoughts, providing feedback in a timely manner and creating confidence as the short-write scaffolds into a long one which then happens independently (yes, our goal as #educators is this ownership we hope #students have but for that we need to demonstrate to them how it can be achieved). Our advice to teachers is also to spell out expectations and share the ‘check-list’ for students to review their own work before a submission deadline. Presentation, title, spacing, grammar, spell check, key points, conclusion etc …. We have got to create ‘pathways for success’ for these students, and simply acknowledge and accept that this is important. Communicate to #parents who are tied to ‘syllabus’ goals (daily updates on what was achieved) and explain the rationale that to create a solid foundation that can then increase pace, the period of transition will be a slow but important bridge to cross. #customisinglearningmilestones must be subject specific and planned quarter-wise. This time tested strategy has worked for many of our ACE powered #consultancy #schools, and hope this #monday morning reminder gets you to incorporate it as well! #education #teachertraining #teachinglearning #principals #parenting
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Fatema Agarkar, Founder , Agarkar Centre of Excellence (ACE)
Veteran of 3 educational start-ups , now Founder of the Agarkar Centre of Excellence, Fatema’s passion for teaching-learning and children defines the different roles she has crafted in 20 years – as an edupreneur, educator and mentor.
Fatema who is a State and University topper as part of the prestigious Mumbai based Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics, holds a degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Birmingham (UK), apart from her B.ED and ECCE degrees amassed when she decided education was her calling. Having kick-started her career in the corporate world and working with premier organizations like Commerzbank, Times of India and Egon Zehnder International, she always had an inner urge to bring about an enhancement in the sphere of education..
As an educationist and life-long learner, she has come a long way to intertwine modern methods of learning, teaching and customizing education as per the student’s intellectual requisites thus eradicating stress that stems from the education system. She has been sedulous in making comprehensive alterations in the education field in India. Being a risk-taker, Fatema has been focusing on the generation of innovative educational modules and her in-depth academic know-how, nothing but truly defines her ceaseless passion. Her name is synonymous with successful education models of the country and she is adjudged as Education World’s top 50 Educators in the year 2020. Adding more feathers to her hat, she has also been the recipient of several prestigious awards for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in the years 2013 and 2015.
Fatema has been awarded by Giants Group for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in 2012, the Young Achiever’s Award in the year 2017, Singapore based, Best of Asia’s, ‘Enterprising Educator in the year 2018 and as an entrepreneur ‘Best Edupreneur 2019 and Best Leadership’ by Progressive Academic Excellence India (Maharashtra 2019) and one of the 10th finest inspirational educators in 2019 by TKR, India . Her name is synonymous with successful education models of the country and she is adjudged as Education World’s top 50 Educators in the year 2020. Adding more feathers to her hat With close to 2 decades of experience in education, Fatema is the recipient of several honours including the Indian Achiever’s Award 2021. In July 2023, Fatema was also awarded the ‘Mumbai’s top Women Leader’ award by the CMO Asia National Awards’ (10th edition). Fatema is also a Jury Member for Cambridge School Recognition Awards 2025.
Having being associated with leading high school brands like DRS International, Hyderabad, NSS Hill Spring International, Mumbai, The Gera School, Goa, D Y Patil High School, Talegaon (Pune), SVM, Ratnagiri by the Gadre family, The Excellere World School, Gurgaon, JBCN International Schools, Mumbai, Fatema has now close to 40 pre-schools and high schools that she has set up from the grassroot level including a school for special needs’.
Fatema is on the Advisory Board of several Trusts including EduTech India, Wockhardft Foundation as well as a jury member, Education World Awards, a platform that recognizes the efforts of educators pan India. Fatema is also the Vice President for Early Childhood Association (ECA) and the Mumbai Territory Head for Association for Primary Education & Research (APER) in India. Fatema has been appointed as the global ambassador of the Commonwealth Entrepreneurs Club. . Fatema is on the advisory board of the All-India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and currently appointed as the National Council Member for Financial Literacy & Management by WICCI. Given her access to parents and her ability to provide age appropriate strategies to enable them to make more informed choices, Fatema’s passion remains counselling in the hope that effective parenting will enable children to benefit the most.
Fatema is also the special advisor of the Child Chapter Association (CCA), a non-governmental organisation registered as a Section 8. company under the Companies Act, 2013 whose mission is to spread awareness and eliminate child abuse, including child sexual abuse. Her role as a special advisor of CCA includes providing advice and guidance for their special outreach programs for Schools and teachers that tap into the child psyche and help them raise their voice against abuse. Fatema also played an instrumental role in the development of the CCA comic books and characters for their global campaign for child abuse awareness and prevention.
Currently, Fatema is the Advisor & Mentor to Finland International School, Race Course and on course to start her own school in 2026. As a TedX speaker, and a avid blogger, Fatema is passionate about sharing her knowledge amassed and inspiring stakeholders be it teachers, parents or students.
Her vision includes set up up of Soup Kitchens, Foster Homes and a community centre for the elderly under the Agarkar Foundation in time.
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