December 2022 | Resources
Books on Climate Change
Bookworm
If you are looking to introduce children to climate change and hope to inspire them to work with the topic, here is a list of books that can help you nudge them in that direction.
December 2022 | Interventions
How a lake was saved
Seetha Anand
While primarily it is the job of the government to maintain public spaces, as citizens we cannot wash off our hands from doing our bit. Here's how a group of citizens came together to clean up a lake and its surroundings in Hyderabad.
Event | November 2022
Celebrating the library
Sarwesh Pareek
With not many children interested in reading or holding a book these days, it is becoming increasingly important to lure them to the world of books. Here is how this school is trying to revive the reading habit.
November 2022 | School Management
Good management: key to progressive schools
Seema Satti
Teachers are the heart of any school and the least we can do for them is to provide them with an environment that allows her the freedom to do her work and one that treats her well. Here are a few management practices that schools can follow to create a happy work environment.
Comment | November 2022
Education for peace
D. Balakrishna and R Venkatesh
Education is possible and thrives under peaceful circumstances, but can we use education to promote peace? Here are a few suggestions.
October 2022 | Teaching Practice
Reflecting to learn
Latha Vydianathan
To be an effective teacher, the practice of reflecting on one's teaching methodology is extremely important. Here are some tools to help you take up reflective practice.
October 2022 | Webwatch
Spin the wheel to decide
B. Nagalakshmi
A helpful tool for teachers when they have to make choices.
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | 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.
Comment | September 2022
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.
Review | September 2022
Getting to know the inter-tidal zone
Ravindranath G
If you are looking for a fun yet educative book to teach about organisms living in the inter-tidal zone, pick this one up.
August 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Nurturing human values
N Sai Prashanti
Nurturing is a big part of school education now than ever before. Here are some ways in which human values can be inculcated in children.
August 2022 | Teaching Practice
SEL: An essential tool for healthy development and meaningful learning
Lorea Martinez
Social and Emotional Learning is extremely important in a world filled with strife, discontent and hatred. Usually when we talk of SEL, it is mostly the student that we are thinking about, but we should also be concerned about the social and emotional needs of the teacher if she is to care for the student. Read on for suggestions.
August 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Time to go back to the old teaching methods?
Latha Vydianathan
PBL, hands-on learning, experimental pedagogy are all very well, but have we done the right thing by ignoring learning by memory all together? Here is why sometimes memorization is also a good learning technique and why we must bring it back into our teaching methods.
August 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
The parent-teacher partnership
R Jeyatheerthan
Parents and teachers have to work together to turn our children into responsible, well-adjusted and balanced young adults. Let us come together for the sake of our children.
August 2022 | Focus
How can teachers’ abilities be enhanced?
Hemen Dutta
A teacher’s job is not easy at all. But that doesn’t mean that she can hide behind this fact and use it as an excuse for a less than satisfactory teaching. Teachers need to be supported and policies need to be changed to help the teacher do her best.
July 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Play: outdoors vs. indoors
R Jeyatheerthan
Two years of COVID, two years of indoors, it is time to go into the outdoors now. With children addicted all the more to the indoors and staring at screens for long hours, we have to put the spring and jump back in their steps and lead them outside so that they are both physically and mentally fit.
In Conversation | July 2022
Food for thought
Chintan Girish Modi
Pinkoo Shergill Pastry Chef by Vibha Batra is a delightful and funny book about a young boy, Pinkoo who loves baking. How he fights gender stereotypes and his journey to becoming a pastry chef is what this engaging book is all about. Ideal for seven to eleven year-olds.
April 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Are we bringing up our children the right way?
swapna Deepak
What is the easy accessibility of electronic gadgets doing to our children? Can we restrict their use?
April 2022 | Profile
The story behind the storyteller
Chintan Girish Modi
Geeta Ramanujam’s new book, Tales from the World, is an excellent resource. In this book, she has compiled stories from different countries across the world . Here is an interview with the author.
April 2022 | Review
When trees, animals and birds talk about climate change in verse…
Archana Natraj
Indian children’s literature is warming up to climate change and this book is a wonderful and much needed complement to school EVS texts.
March 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
What is my role as a teacher?
Ranjeeta Prajapati
As teachers is it our job only to teach our students the syllabus? A small and seemingly insignificant incident gave this teacher the answer to the above question.
March 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
The ‘little’ lessons of life
Latha Vydianathan
Little kids, very often, can surprise us. While they may be dependent on us for many things, they are also capable of teaching us a thing or two.
February 2022 | Review
Making friends at the library
Chintan Girish Modi
The book under review is a tribute to the institution of the public library, which offers a space, a service and a sanctuary. It provides human connection to the misfits and the marginalized, and to readers eager to discuss the books that they adore.
February 2022 | Resources
Conservation awareness through an audio book
Stories are a great way of teaching children many things. Here's how an audio book was used by teachers and students in different schools to learn about conservation.
February 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Math can be fun!
Sadaf Sayed
When you introduce math to children through interesting and fun facts, children will find it easier to like the subject
February 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Learning through reflections, working from strength
Varun Gupta
Reflections are a wonderful way for teachers to learn and grow in their profession. As they observe their students in different situations and their own interaction with their students, teachers become better at what they do.
Comment | January 2022
Pre-primary education: balanced approach, need of the hour
Anil Kumar Gona
Are we shirking our responsibilities as parents? Do children as young as 2 and 3 need to go to schools? While these may be playschools in name, we must realize that these schools do more than just make our children play building unnecessary stress in little children.
January 2022 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Stories: a way to know and live life
Varun Gupta
Stories are not just meant for entertainment. They are a means to learning about life and how we can live it.
January 2022 | Teaching Practice
The power of teacher collaboration
Nikisha Kotwal
We are all aware of that proverb, 'Unity is strength'. When we come together we can achieve great things than we can individually. It is not just the students but teachers too can and should collaborate to teach.
January 2022 | Review
Bittersweet memories of Tagore’s Shantiniketan
Chintan Girish Modi
Rabindranath Tagore is a big name in the field of education. Most of us only know Tagore through his writings and of course Shantiniketan. But what was it really like learning and living under the care and guidance of Tagore?
Book Talk | January 2022
Books for the library, about the library
G Aruna Kumar
We talk about reviving libraries, drawing students and adults alike to the library. We have brought in art and craft and converted libraries into activity centres. How about introducing children to books on libraries and librarians, as a means of inviting them into the library?
January 2022 | Review
A useful resource despite a few shortcomings
Geetha Iyer
Teaching resources on the natural world are hard to come by and that is why the book, Handbook for Bird Educators is an extremely important addition, even though there is room for improvement, to the very short list of resources that teachers can lay their hands on to teach about nature and its creatures.
December 2021 | Library In Practice
E-library for teachers: Integrating AI-assisted self-learning resources
Betty Obura Ogange and Walter Buyu
With the closure of schools due to the pandemic, there has risen a need for skills development among teachers so that they can support distance and online learning. Self- learning approaches are now on the increase as it helps more teachers to access quality learning resources. The E- library for teachers project is a platform that is currently helpin
December 2021 | Library As Place & Space
Library for everyone
Sujata Noronha
If a library is for all, how does one design such a library and practice inclusion? Here are a few instances.
Comment | December 2021
Can the National Education Policy 2020 change India’s educational landscape?
Y Udaya Chandar
NEP 2020, India's most recent policy on education. A commentary.
December 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Where there is a will…
Seema Satti
Libraries have always been physical spaces we can go to, to learn and lose ourselves. But COVID has now forced us to rethink libraries. Here's how a resourceful school librarian made sure that her students always had access to books during the pandemic.
Classroom Management | November 2021
‘Blending’ learning
Bindu Subramaniam
Today we are still in the midst of a global pandemic but we are also ready to slowly start living our lives. Schools across the country have slowly started to reopen, testing the waters. But we are not yet ready to return to the pre-COVID times. In this situation blended learning is the best way forward.
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | November 2021
Six ways to improve your child’s communication abilities
Damayanti Bhattacharya
Communication skills are one of the most important skills in life that we need to pass on to our children. Here are a few tips from an experienced educator on how we can do that.
November 2021 | Review
Learning from a master: The art of S. H. Raza
Chintan Girish Modi
Students and teachers of art are very luck today. Unlike earlier, they have many resources at their disposal to explore and learn from, especially easier access to works of Indian artists. A book on the life and works of S H Raza, something art teachers will find extremely useful.
November 2021 | Teaching Practice
Fostering choices
Latha Vydianathan
If this pandemic and the resultant lockdown has taught us one thing it is that children can and should learn autonomously. So how do we change to allow students to make their own learning choices?
November 2021 | Resources
Nriching our virtual classrooms!
Krittika Hazra
Finding good resources for classroom use is not easy when there is so much available on the internet. Therefore, when we find good resources it is important that we share them. Here is a website you will find useful in the math classroom.
October 2021 | Things To Think About
Let’s get moving
Shruti Shankar
The pandemic has given us the opportunity to rethink several aspects of education. Can healthy behaviours be incorporated into and taught through the education system? Despite several states permitting schools to operate in offline mode, many schools continue in the online and hybrid modes. While the online mode presents its own set of challenges, it is especially vital th
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | October 2021
Are we ready for ‘hybrid education’?
Kiran Sangeeta Murali
With schools reopening across the country, will students be able to adapt to the new routine? Reorganizing and restructuring a student’s day bit by bit, a small step at a time will help them deal with their offline time-table gradually.
October 2021 | Resources
The marvellous world of chemical compounds
Hanza George, Mursaleen Shaikh and Savita Ladage
Chemistry is one subject that is delinked from everyday life when it is taught in formal schools. Most textbooks are abstract in nature and students have very few opportunities to explore experimental activities and materials. As a solution, here are some resources in the form of leaflets about some interesting chemical compounds and highl
October 2021 | Thinkers And Educators
A mirror to education in our times
Jayapadma R.V.
The pandemic has catapulted teaching learning processes into the online world. During such a time it would be good to remind ourselves of some of the concerns Tagore and Krishnamurti had about education. For in them we may find ideas for the way forward.
Comment | October 2021
An endangered species?
Shubangi Rajput
Teaching is fast losing even the little respect that it had. Why is this so? A teacher presents her views.
October 2021 | Things To Think About
What do marks tell about students?
Radhika Chaturvedi
No matter the way we teach, ultimately everything in all educational spaces culminates in exams. Are we going about teaching children to learn the right way?
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | October 2021
Bringing science home
N Sai Prashanthi
Science is a practical subject. How then do we adapt it to the online mode? Here's how a teacher thought up experiments that children could do at home with easily available ingredients to learn scientific concepts.
Focus | October 2021
Why 20th century syllabus in 21st century education?
Rajesh Kumar Thakur
If we want our students to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers in the global world, it is high time that we overhauled our curriculum.
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | September 2021
A letter to fellow educators
G Gautama
In a day and age where automation in every sector is being celebrated, a teacher writes a passionate letter saying why human teachers will always be more valuable.
In Conversation | September 2021
The school principal who wrote a novel
Chintan Girish Modi
Not everyone has the courage to pursue what they love. But there are also those who dare to take the plunge. Zarin Virji is a school principal but at the age of 53, she decided that she could no longer suppress her desire to write for children.
September 2021 | Teaching Practice
Zing thing: ways of a teacher
Latha Vaidyanathan
In the 21st century, a teacher is no longer someone with sole authority whose duty it is to impart knowledge. What then is the role of the new-age teacher? How can she play this role?
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | September 2021
Learning from life
Varun Gupta
Learning and understanding become easy when we relate what we have to learn with life.
August 2021 | Teaching Practice
Seven wonders: Seven essential good practices for early years educators
Jessica Manglani
The early years of every child's life are the most important years for they lay the foundation of the kind of person this child will turn into. As a result early years educators have the toughest job there is. Here are a few things that early years educators must keep in mind.
August 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Don’t always stick to your lesson plans
Varun Gupta
Lesson plans are a necessary tool in any teacher's teaching toolkit, however, they needn't be sacred aids that cannot be changed. Remember lesson plans are a guide only. As teachers we have to observe and adapt the lesson plan according to how our class is going.
2021 | August 2021 | Things To Think About
Helping children find themselves
Sanjhee Gianchandani
The pandemic has abruptly uprooted children from their safe and secure environments, leaving them feeling confused and anxious trying to cope with the stressful times. During this phase the support and guidance of teachers and parents is crucial.
2021 | August 2021 | Last Word
Reassembling the assembly
Nimesh Ved
A brief account of what teachers did with their time during the lockdown last year when schools were closed.
August 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Teaching vocabulary: A daunting task
Unnati Ved
Teaching vocabulary is not an easy task . There is a constant need to improve and learn new words. Learners must not stop with just knowing the meaning of a word. The form and use of the word is also important.
Event | July 2021
Is online learning redefining education? A discussion
Ananya Pathak
Today are we witnessing a changing world of education. While this change has been forced upon us, it certainly seems like this new way of transacting teaching-learning is here to stay in some form or other. So how do we prepare for it?
July 2021 | Teaching Practice
Using assessments to inform classroom instruction
Shilpi Banerjee
Assessments are a major part of the teaching-learning process for they are the tools that help teachers decide how to take their lessons forward.
Interventions | May-June 2021
Teachers beyond classrooms
Ananya Pathak
A good teacher is not satisfied with just teaching her subject, she goes beyond to aid the child in life’s trials. Volunteer teachers at Shiksha Swaraj, a resource centre for children, show us how they go beyond their regular duties during this pandemic.
May-June 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Unlearn to learn
Meera Bhuvanesh
Teaching is a lifelong journey of learning. Only if you are willing to learn, unlearn and relearn will you make a good teacher. The author reminisces about the school that taught her to become a better teacher.
May-June 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
March is here again
Shylaja Pillay
A teacher expressing the thoughts of a student in the form of a poem.
Classroom Update | May-June 2021
The joy of teaching poetry
Vandana Srivastava
Poetry is the most expressive form of writing there is. It is also the medium that can most touch readers and bring out in them a range of emotions. Because of its complex nature, poetry is also considered the most difficult to teach and learn. But it needn’t be. Here are a few tips.
Did You Know? | May-June 2021
Themes that go unnoticed
Aishwarya Ramesh
The books that we read have a lot to say to us. While some of these messages are clearly written out, others are more subtly woven in and will only reveal themselves to the careful reader.
Debate | May 2021
Board exams 2021 cancelled — Are we better off with or without them?
Praveen Kumar S
With the pademic continuing to gather steam and showing no signs of slowing down, the Central Board of Secondary Education has decided, for a second year in a row to cancel the class X exams. State Boards are following suit. It is perhaps time that we asked ourselves the purpose of these exams and how better we can assess our students’ learning.
May 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
What I learnt in class
Latha Vydianathan
As teachers we are always in the front of our classrooms, talking, discussing, teaching. For once take time out to walk to the back of a class and observe a fellow teacher teach. You will be amazed to find how much there is to learn from such an exercise.
Comment | May 2021
Technology in education: What we are missing out on
Loveina Joy
Technology has a lot to offer us in the field of education. In this pandemic, we have relied on technology to be able to continue teaching and learning. Flowing with the tide, everyday we find that technology has something new to offer the teacher or the student. However, with all the benefits that technology offers and all the good it is currently doing are we forgetting th
May 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Education in theatre
Nandan Bhattacharya
Drama or dramatic plays have a lot to offer both those who are watching it and those who are performing in it. With moral values, model behaviour and tolerance on the decline see how drama can help our students imbibe valuable lessons.
April 2021 | Classroom Update
Multidimensional word building activities for the classroom
Akshay Kumar
Vocabulary building activities are aplenty. But this set of activities will not only help children enhance their vocabulary but also aid in the development of other skills and abilities.
April 2021 | Comment
NEP 2020 and the role of the teacher
Anil Kumar Patnaik
The new education policy finally recognizes the teacher and proposes to put in measures that will enhance the position of the teacher in the country.
March 2021 | Teaching Practice
Every child learns differently
Vaidehi Sriram
A teacher shares her experience of practicing differential teaching with students of mixed abilities. She also shares how we can do this with limited resources at hand.
Ecowatch | March 2021
Connecting with nature in a virtual learning mode
R. V. Jayapadma
Moving online to teach and learn has not been easy for most teachers and students. And if you are a school that has built nature walks, bird watching, and other outdoor activities into your daily routine, how can you do it online? A teacher shares her experience of how she and a colleague solved the problem and continued their bird watching programme online.
March 2021 | Resources
For your bookshelf
Chintan Girish Modi
Animal stories always catch children's attention. Whether to introduce them to the nature around, or to initiate them into the habit of reading or to teach them about animals here are three books that will be useful.
March 2021 | Technology And Education
In ‘Keep’ing with the times
Komal Mahajan
With the pandemic continuing to spread, albeit at a slower rate, online classes it seems will stay on for longer than we assumed. Here's is one more tool to help ease a teacher's online class session.
March 2021 | School Management
What it takes to make a good school
Atul Bhandari
It takes a lot to keep a school running smoothly. All the cogs in the wheel have to work properly to help the wheel move in the right direction. A look at some of the things that can go wrong in the running of the school and how we can take care of these problems.
February 2021 | In Conversation
Teaching history through fiction
Chintan Girish Modi
History textbooks are very limited in their approach to the subject and history reference books are too cumbersome to read through unless you are a history aficionado. In such situations historical fiction then becomes the best way to gather more knowledge in the subject.
February 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
My learnings as a teacher
Sweety Rastogi
A teacher now for many years, Sweety shares what she has learnt over all these years.
February 2021 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Corona conversations
Krittika Hazra
A primary teacher, struggling with online classes, finds some timely help in the form of a worksheet published in Teacher Plus. She shares her experiences.
Classroom Management | January 2021
Taking care of children with special needs in an inclusive classroom
V A Jyothi
Inclusive classrooms are a tough challenge even for the best teachers. But by following a few of these suggestions, you can make it a little less difficult to handle such classes.
January 2021 | Things To Think About
Engage to eliminate ennui
S Bhuvaneshwari
Repetition is boring but it is also important for learning to happen. As teachers, therefore, it is our responsibility to make sure that repetitive tasks are made fun for the students.
January 2021 | Teaching Practice
Unravelling word problems
Swarna Krishnan
One of the most feared aspects of primary math is the word problems. Students find them confusing and difficult to wrap their heads around word problems. A lot of this problem comes from the way we teach word problems. This teacher tried a different approach to teaching word problems and was quite successful as well.
December 2020 | Notes From A Teacher's Diary
Online teaching: what I think
Shefali Sompura
A page from another teacher's Covid diary. The author shares her experience of teaching online.
December 2020 | Teaching Practice
Nurturing scientific thinking through stories
Sai prashanthi Neelda
Stories make for a wonderful teaching aid not just for the language teachers but for the science teachers too. Here are a couple of examples of how and why science teachers should start using stories to teach.
December 2020 | Review
Introducing India’s environmental concerns to young readers
Chintan Girish Modi
Conservation and protection of the environment is a concern that everybody including young children should be aware of. But how does one introduce this topic to them? How do we make them realize the magnitude of the issue? How do we get them to start thinking about the environment? Meghaa Gupta’s new book is a good way to start.
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | November 2020
The parent trap
Latha Vydianathan
A corollary of the virtual classrooms has been that parents are now able to watch the teacher’s every move hawk-eyed and what is more they don’t think twice before interrupting the teacher or pointing out her flaws and mistakes. But as the parents are watching the teachers so also the teachers are gauging parents. Here is a teacher’s fun list of the kind of pare
Notes From A Teacher's Diary | November 2020
Imbibing the ‘never say die’ spirit from children
Anwar Hussain Rayma
Children are younger than us in terms of age but they end up teaching us many things. In these extremely difficult times of the corona virus, it is the never-say-die spirit of his students that helped this teacher change his outlook towards the situation.
October 2020 | Technology And Education
Simulating in-class experience when teaching remotely
Dhaval Shah For a few months now, virtual classrooms have become a reality and it looks like they will continue to be so for a few more months moving forward. While educational transactions have continued without too much of an interruption thanks to applications like Zoom and Google Meet, the fact of the matter is that these applications were designed primarily for business use and do not
Interventions | October 2020
Books as a solution to teen issues
Nikhil Eyeroor
These days there is a lot of focus on the mental well-being of students. With more and more young adults falling prey to depression and social isolation, their emotional wellness is something that schools have to take care of. Reading or listening to stories can be a great way to heal. Here’s how bibliotherapy can help emotionally troubled students.
Comment | October 2020
The role of a teacher amidst the pandemic
S S Verma
The pandemic has hit everybody hard. We have all had to reimagine the way we work and live and surely it has been most difficult for the teachers. Several teachers have lost their jobs, new teachers are not finding jobs and yet as a community they have not let their students down. No matter how difficult the circumstances they have worked and it is our job to support them in a
October 2020 | Technology And Education
What teachers need to know about conducting assessments online
Shantanu Rooj
Half the academic year has gone by and with little respite from COVID-19, it seems like it will be a while before schools can reopen. Under the regular academic schedule, this is assessment time. Schools would have been gearing up for half yearly exams. More and more it looks like, assessments too will have to be conducted online, at least for now. So what should teachers
October 2020 | Resources
How to teach critical thinking
Chintan Girish Modi
We all like our classrooms to be peaceful, quiet and harmonious. As far as possible, we discourage dissent, disagreement and arguements especially related to the lessons they are learning. But then, are we training our students for life? By being passive and obedient listeners in class, are we crushing their spirit of enquiry? Let us give our students a voice in the