KathaVana 2023 | The Mela
KathaVana 2023 | Teachers Writing for Children
Explore writing as a process and ways to include it in a classroom
The theme for the 12th edition — KathaVana 2023— is Teachers Writing for Children.
Teachers who identify writing as a process, and not as a product, go beyond the usual practices of copywriting, writing answers to questions, maintaining good handwriting and grammatical and spelling conventions. They make opportunities for writing for a purpose and audience, where writing for communication, meaning-making, self-expression, pleasure, and reflection takes centre stage, and support students along the way. Thus, it is imperative that teachers are encouraged to look at writing as a process and find ways of bringing this aspect of writing to their classroom practices.
In order to do this, considering the performative nature of writing, it is important that teachers themselves experience what it means to write. Teachers who have experienced this process are able to take this back to their classrooms with newer insights into the process, and better support children in engaging with the wonderful world of writing.
To write well, teachers also need to read well, making a case for teachers to read children’s literature more. Such an exposure, thus, will not only make teachers better readers and writers, but will also pave the way for them to explore different children’s literature that they could perhaps take back to their classrooms in creative ways.
To meet these aims, the scope of work planned for KathaVana 2023 is as follows:
1. Residential Teacher Professional Development (TPD) Workshop | Sept and Dec 2023
The participating government school teachers were divided into two batches:
| Dates | Venue | Batch 1 | Batch 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 September 2023 | Azim Premji University, Bengaluru | ✔ | |
| 8 to 11 September 2023 | Azim Premji School, Kalaburgi | ✔ | |
| 13 December 2023 | Azim Premji University, Bengaluru | ✔ | ✔ |
A 5‑day online children’s literature festival will be organised from 6 to 10 November 2023 for children in government schools in 12 districts of Karnataka, namely Bagalkot, Bengaluru, Ballari, Bidar, Kalaburgi, Koppal, Mandya, Raichur, Ramanagara, Vijayanagar, Vijayapura, and Yadgir.
3. The Mela | 14 December 2023
- 850 Children
- 250 Teachers
- 22 Stalls
Azim Premji University campus will once again host KathaVana’s in-person mela for around 1100 people (including 850 children) on 14 December 2023. Children and teachers from the surrounding community, with whom our Community Engagement Initiative and Education Practicum programmes work, will be invited to the Mela.
Teachers participating in the TPD workshop will also be invited. They will set up a stall with poster presentations of the work done by children in their classrooms.
Other than this, around 22 stalls will be put up that will have authors, illustrators, theatre performers, storytellers, poets, publishers, folk art performers, and much more, to introduce children in-person to different ways of engaging with literature.
Keep visiting this space for more updates.