Workshop on Pre-Primary and Primary Teacher Training

The Department of B.Ed., Loreto College, organized a workshop on Pre-Primary and Primary Teacher Training for fourth-semester students on 26th March 2025. The workshop aimed to equip trainee teachers with innovative teaching methodologies suited for young learners. Two distinguished resource persons, Ms. Meeta Chatterjee and Ms. Renu Bagrodia, conducted the sessions.

The first session, Music and Movement: A Powerful Teaching Tool, was conducted by Ms. Meeta Chatterjee. She was introduced by the Head of the Department, Dr. Banerjee, and began by sharing her experiences as a pre-school and primary school teacher in New Jersey, USA. She emphasized the significance of music in early education, highlighting its role in physical and cognitive development.
To make the session interactive, trainee teachers were divided into five groups and asked to collaboratively create a story or a poem for primary school students, with each member contributing a line. Through this activity, Ms. Chatterjee demonstrated how flexibility in teaching can transform even unrelated lines into a meaningful narrative. This was followed by a lively session of singing and performing actions for popular rhymes, reinforcing the importance of overcoming inhibitions while teaching young learners. She also discussed the different stages of music development and the benefits of exposing children to diverse musical experiences. Additionally, she shared research findings on how music aids in overcoming speech disorders like stuttering and supports mental well-being.

The second session focused on Art as a Powerful Teaching Tool and was led by Ms. Renu Bagrodia from the Indian Montessori Centre. She highlighted how art nurtures creativity, imagination, and critical thinking in children and how it can be integrated into subjects like Mathematics, Science, Language, and Geography through visual aids. Ms. Bagrodia and her team demonstrated various art techniques using sponges, dried leaves, earbuds, and thumb impressions. She stressed the importance of simplicity in art and ensuring realistic colour representation to maintain children's connection to reality.

The resource persons were presented with tokens of appreciation. The workshop was an enriching experience, equipping trainee teachers with practical and engaging strategies to enhance their teaching effectiveness in early childhood education. As future educators, we left the workshop with new teaching tools and a deeper appreciation for the magic of childhood learning-where music, movement, and colours are more than just activities; they are windows into a child’s world.