“All the world is my school and all humanity is my teacher.” ― George Whitman
There’s no denying that the past decade has witnessed as much a sea change in the mode of learning as in the teaching methodology. There has been a conscious shift from an approach that focuses solely on classwork, assignments, and syllabus completion to the one where the emphasis is more on ensuring the holistic development of each child. This is particularly gaining significance in the current times as the growing competition no longer needs the young brigade to merely possess the knowledge they might need at some point in time. It instead requires them to possess the skills they can bring to use to attain the know-how themselves.
As Anthony J. D’Angelo rightly said, “Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” The thought can be very well observed in the modern education framework, which is more driven towards interactive and experiential learning instead of rote learning, and rightly advocates the need for grooming the young minds into self-inspired, lifelong learners.
Self-inspired learners are the ones who direct their own learning by taking control of what and how they learn. The approach removes the need for forcefully pushing the kids into the learning process and instead enables a more engrained and effective imbibition of knowledge. It is because of the multiple benefits of self-inspired learning for the young minds that Excelsior American School, one of the Best IGCSE Schools in Gurgaon, has openly embraced and implemented the same for all its students.
School Director at Excelsior American School, Mrs. Geeta Sachdeva, firmly believes in the fact that every child has a boundless thirst for knowledge within. And the same can be nurtured to the core when ‘self-inspired learning’ is encouraged. Mrs. Sachdeva opines that self-inspired learning is indeed the key tenet of achieving excellence in the modern-day scenario. It benefits the young minds in a number of ways by ensuring the following for them.
Offers students the ability to learn more effectively
Exploring the theories and ideas on their own inspires the children to actively engage with the information. Such self-learners can think more deeply about topics and establish connections between the things they are learning. Consequently, when children are excited about and completely engaged in what they are learning, they gain the ability to remember it better.
Self-inspired learning paves the way to build crucial skills
One of the foremost benefits of becoming a self-learner is that it helps in building study skills that kids can use to explore other topics and assignments. In fact, time management, prolonged attention span, goal setting, and the likes are the qualities that are found to be present in all self-inspired learners. These skills not only aid the learners in tackling schoolwork with ease but also come as a big-time aid in their future lives when they will be required to handle even more complex tasks.
Ignites the zeal to discover and know more about the topics
Self-inspired learning not only helps to satiate the curiosity of young minds but also rekindles in them the desire to explore more and know more. We can thus expect such kids to go searching for new avenues to gather information on topics that interest them. It enables the kids to expand the horizons of knowledge rather than limiting themselves only to textbooks.
An assured way of boosting self-esteem in the students
Self-learning is also a lauded method of teaching as it aids the students in becoming more confident learners. They are able to perceive themselves as independent individuals who have the ability to learn new theories and ideas on their own. Having such an ability serves as a major motivation boost for students that helps them in other arenas as well.
An effectual way that suits varied types of learning abilities
Regardless of the pace of studying that the kids are comfortable in, self-study is for everyone. The accommodative nature of this mode of acquiring knowledge lets children take learning at their own pace, focusing on the areas that they feel the need to put more work in. Thus, there is never a dull day or feelings of frustration of not being able to grasp any subject.
Excelsior American School: Taking steps to ensure self-inspired learning among its pupils
With ‘self-inspired learning’ being the school’s motto, the management and teachers at Excelsior American School have left no stones unturned to lay a strong foundation of learning for its students. And here’s offering a brief glimpse of the steps taken by this IGCSE school in Gurgaon in this regard.
Key emphasis laid on experiential learning
The Founders of Excelsior American School have always been big believers in the multivariate benefits of experiential learning. And one such benefit pertains to creating self-learners. When the teachers at the school inspire the fervor among the pupils to acquire knowledge through varied hands-on activities, it essentially caters to encouraging them to expand their knowledge horizons and be on the quest for answers. The interest towards learning thus grown in the young hearts stays with them for a lifetime.
Taking knowledge beyond the classrooms
The digitally empowered classrooms are only one of the many spaces for the students of Excelsior American School to engage with different subjects. Classroom learning at the school is well supported through laboratories, excursions, a well-stocked library, and loads of online resources. The young budding geniuses of the school are thus constantly provided with ample opportunities to help their minds grow and gain as much awareness as they seek in any topic.
Assignments and projects to inspire creativity
The assignments and projects given to the students at Excelsior American School are meticulously and precisely planned by a panel of dedicated and experienced mentors. The aim of each assignment is to bring out the real-world application of knowledge and make the children think. This helps to encourage the creative and curious sides of the young learners and motivates them to head on to the journey of growing into lifelong learners.
Learning support to ensure the progress of each child
The school very well understands the fact that children have different pace of learning, and as such, conventional ways aren’t enough to accommodate their diverse learning needs. To that end, Excelsior American School has introduced a Learning Support Unit for its students. It consists of a multidisciplinary team of educators and school counselors who work to aid children through the various learning hurdles they are facing and help them turn into self-learners.
Personal guidance ensured for each student of the class
One of the many things that set Excelsior American School apart from most of the other schools in the region and have earned it the position of one among the top IGCSE schools in Gurgaon is the favorable student-teacher ratio the school has always maintained. To ensure that the learning needs of each student get appropriately addressed, the school maintains a low student-teacher ratio of 15:1. This enables the mentors to pay personalized attention to each student in the class and motivate them towards active participation, whereby they can wholly showcase their self-learning attitude.
The zeal and the efforts to acquire knowledge is something that drives an individual at every stage of his/her life and even helps write his/her success story. By showing the kids the right ways to channelize their innate enthusiasm and hard work, Excelsior American School is consistently enabling its young buds to grow into self-learners and thereby prepare them for greater accolades in life.
