Seroond Interventions

The Seroond model is built around the belief in keeping the well-being of children and the communities at the forefront. Several interventions are integral and unique to the Seroond School Model that helps in making this belief come alive. These interventions support learning and development and create an environment of care, collaboration, and ownership that supports the individuals and the collective to thrive. 

School-wide events bring together the students, their caregivers, teachers, and school staff to engage in a series of activities and conversations that help them appreciate and learn about each other.  

In December 2022, Alaverdi school organised a talent show for students, caregivers, teachers, and the school staff. The event had people from all age groups involved in a wide range of activities from reciting poetry to singing songs, and playing the piano. It created an atmosphere of joy, celebration and togetherness. Since then multiple events have been organised on a termly basis and this has strengthened the relationship between the students, the caregivers, teachers, and the school staff.

Action research is a structure for educators that enables them to be continuous learners. Through this, they experiment with solutions to address their challenges, observe their own practice, reflect on the process they followed, and share the learning with their peers. 

Gayane, a 2nd grade teacher from Takhta, observed that her students needed personalised feedback during their reading lessons. She realised that having each student read in class was not the best use of time. She designed a new protocol for reading practice where each student had to practise reading at home, record a short video of them reading and share it with her for feedback. She would then watch each of the videos and share feedback directly with them. All her students use this protocol for their reading practice. Gayane is now able to use the time in class for other learning activities. 

Astghik, a 10th grade Armenian Literature teacher from Ijevan, observed that many of her students struggled to read. She learnt that the students had felt unsuccessful for a long time and they now disliked reading. When she searched for solutions to address this, she came across the practice of Bibliotherapy. She experimented this in her classroom and motivated the students to create a library of books they liked to read. Many of her students started making efforts to get better at reading and engaged in consistent practice. Their progress was celebrated by all in the school. 

Co-teaching with caregivers reinforces that families can contribute towards effective education. It forges partnerships with caregivers and includes them as active participants in the school ecosystem. 

The elementary teachers in Takhta realised that it was necessary to teach arts and digital literacy but they did not have the bandwidth and experience. When they shared this with the families, they identified two of the caregivers, a software engineer and a tailor, who had the qualifications and experience to teach these content areas. Based on their availability, the school created a schedule for the caregivers to teach once a week in each of the grades. The caregivers learnt about the process of planning and facilitating lessons from the teachers. Eventually, they started adopting project based learning in the classrooms. The students have been actively engaging in these lessons. Post the co-teaching experience, the caregivers share that they feel a sense of belonging and shared ownership towards the school.