Category: September 2022

Learning with pleasure

Rajesh B Patil, Narendra D Deshmukh, Vinita Shrouty, and Nivedita Deshmukh
Hobbies are a good way to spend our spare time effectively. They give us pleasure and at the same time are educative.

What is wrong with the Indian education system?

Rajesh Kumar Thakur
If education in this country has to improve then the quality of teachers we produce has to improve, people with a flair and passion for teaching have to join the profession. Teachers build the future of a country and that is why it is extremely important that we train and select our teachers with great care.

Tackling the tsundoku

Usha Raman
Do you have books piled up on your shelf that you intend to read later? In that case, you would most likely be part of a tribe that engages in tsundoku. Tsundoku, a Japanese word, is a practice that has been around forever but was recently popularized by social media. Most of us who are bookworms cannot resist buying books with a promise to ourselves that we will certainly read them all at ‘some time’. The books get piled up and although we do manage to read one or two books, we know that there is always more to pick from the pile.

Two teacher friends and a visionary principal

Sheela Ramakrishnan
Can working professionals ever be friends in the true sense of the word? Most would agree that this could be next to impossible. However, the education space begs to be different. In a school, when colleagues become friends, the relationship moves to a new level, bringing with it a sense of satisfaction and achievement that would not have been possible otherwise. Our September special issue in view of Teacher’s Day unfolds many such stories of friendships. From experimenting with pedagogies to putting together fresh material for textbooks that are still going strong, to sharing ideas that work and also being role models in collaboration rather than competition, there is much to read and learn.

Panchranga – the five flavours of friendship

Anand Krishnaswamy
A school as a workplace is in no way different from other workplaces. People or staff work together and support each other. This article talks about five kinds of friendships that exist between adults in a school. These relationships were consciously forged and blossomed over time. They not only helped students but also helped the adults in their own growth in the school.

Stronger together

Anupama Raj
Can peer collaborations and professional friendships lead to a positive impact on student and teacher performance, teacher retention as well as improvement in school culture? If school leaders can build a conducive environment where teachers’ professional needs are prioritized and there is a genuine effort towards teacher collegiality, then a vibrant knowledge base can be developed.

Professional kinship

B. Ajitha
Friendship has no boundaries whether at the academic level or non- academic level. If you are on a journey towards becoming a better teacher, look no further than your colleague in the staffroom. The collaborative nature of teaching can provide the right impetus and framework to look objectively at teaching practices, join hands with your peers for feedback and design interventions to address the most pressing classroom issues. A teacher narrates her memorable story.

A ‘critical’ workplace friendship

Nupur Hukmani
A teacher shares her experience as a ‘struggling’ new teacher, how she found a friend, a mentor and a guide and the outcome of this ‘critical’ friendship at the workplace. Here are some interesting observations.

The joys of teaching and learning together

Jayapadma R. V.
Economics as a subject draws extensively from resources that are available in geography, history, sociology, psychology, political science, mathematics and more. Teaching economics so that children can learn to appreciate the interconnections between all these subjects requires a teacher to rely on her colleagues. This is where collaboration and trust and friendships come into play for the larger good of the students. This narrative gives a glimpse into the magic that can happen when the curriculum moves out of the classroom.