Professional Resume

Profile
I, Anitha Ramkumar, am an education consultant, based out of Hyderabad, India.

I have a degree in Early Childhood Education and in Engineering. The two backgrounds help me visualize education related services in a professional manner. When I see a need in education related products or services, be it a workshop for parents, reading program for children, teacher training, I can identify the target market segment, think of the service as a product module and go through the design, deployment, testing, delivering and marketing the product.

I am passionate about children’s literature, promoting reading habit among children and age appropriate educational practices.
Experience

 

• TreasureHouse, Hyderabad, India — April 2012-present.

Decentralizing the library program in order to bring the library experience to communities.

What better ways to promote reading than to take an effective library program to school communities? Instead of tying children and their families to one physical location, I visualize an high quality reading service implemented in school libraries.

• TreasureHouse, Hyderabad, India — Feb 2012- present.

Designed and implemented SUMMER BUGS, 2012 – SUMMER READING PROGRAM.
The program is a stand alone module intended to promote best reading practices in children of varied age group. Handled documenting specifications, program design, marketing, networking with authors and publication houses, media promotions.

• Sloka, The Hyderabad Waldorf school — Oct 2011 – dec 2011

School library set up.

SLOKA is a Waldorf school based in Hyderabad, with a strength of about 400 students. The Waldorf philosophy requires that certain kind of books be introduced at certain grade levels and in a specific order. I did an extensive one month study of the curriculum and came up with a suitable book list. Currently working on building a core committee to raise funds for procuring books.

• SaffronTree — nov 2007 – Present

Reviewing children’s literature.
I have been part of SaffronTree and worked as a team with 15 other like minded members to construct a well organized review data base of about 700 children’s books. The books we review are an eclectic mix of children’s books primarily from India and the US, plus a host of others from around the world, in order to enable children to connect with their cultural roots as well as help them understand and appreciate other cultures.

As a team organized CROCUS, SaffronTree’s online book festival every Oct. I have contributed ideas on making lesson plans using books, extending the use of books through activities and forming.

• Curriculum Webs and lesson plans

As part of my course work, work experience, articles for SaffronTree and for my personal blog, I have written numerous lesson plans and curriculum webs. (Available on request)

• Experience Working with children — feb 2007 – dec 2010

Active classroom teacher, worked with children up to five years of age, in centers following various educational philosophies. Have a through working understanding of Montessori philosophy, Waldorf philosophy and play-based curriculum implementation.

• Other Teaching related experiences

Tamil language teacher, teaching elementary level children
California Tamil Academy, San Jose, CA. Sept 2009 – June 2010.
Responsibilities include but not limited to curriculum planning(within the given frame work) and execution, giving lessons on Tamil alphabet sounds and writing practice, lead children in classroom activities, create opportunities and inspire them to converse in Tamil, assessing children’s progress and conduct parent – teacher conferences.

Tamil classes at the Indian Community Center. Jan 2007 – Aug 2007.
I was involved in curriculum development for the Tamil Language classes. I also authored a Tamil book for children, for aiding and enriching the classroom experience, targeting children in preschool through kindergarten. I was actively involved in the committee to plan the structure of the class, teaching techniques and teaching aides.

Parent and Me classes at the Indian Community Center. June2007 – Aug2007
Children age group 1 through 3 attend the class with a parent. The classes are offered once a week, for 90 minutes. I have experience coming with themes, planning activities and setting up the environment. The class is organized in to four sections – free play time, circle time, reading and activities. We have a theme for every month and the activities, books are tied in to the theme. Though the classes are for children of all ethnicity, there are activities that offer the child an introduction to India.

Teaching Yoga
I have experimented on using Yoga for children diagnosed to have attention problems. I have more than 100 hours of experience teaching yoga for both children and adults. I volunteered part of this time for a Bay Area non-profit organization Yogabarathi that works to provide yoga awareness in the US.

Skills
Curriculum design, organization,  implementation.
Lesson plans segregated by curricular areas.
Age appropriate best practices.
Classroom set up, preparing and maintaining a safe, clean and orderly indoor environment.
Involve group of children in purposeful activity.
Parent – teacher conferences.
Documenting children’s progress.
Preparing individual portfolios for children.
Keen interest in children’s literature.
Book recommendation based on reading level, topic, age and interest.
Book clubs for children.
Story telling.

Education
Associate of Science in Early Child Education. May2010.? Special focus on Program Director specialization.? Named to the Dean’s list for excellent academic standing.

B.S in Electronic and Communication Engineering. July97.

Referrals
Available on request.