S. Upendran Hey, why are you reading this article, you dunce? Don’t you have anything better to do, you blockhead? Listen, if you don’t like what I’m saying, just turn the page, idiot. Did the words ‘dunce’, ‘idiot’ and ‘blockhead’ Read More …
Category: 2007
Are You ‘Sinistral’?
S. Upendran explores the quirks of language and of teaching in this monthly column. What is it that we have against left-handed people? Why is it when a student writes with his left hand, some teachers order him to use Read More …
Concepts and Skills
S. Sundaram The most difficult subject at school can actually be made interesting if presented in a visual form with activity materials. Mathematics is universally considered as “the most difficult” subject at the school level, both by students and teachers Read More …
The Rules of Silence
Srijaya Char Silent reading helps in easy comprehension. The technique also reinforces the eye-mind relationship. Speed readings coupled with good comprehension are markers of proficient reading. This can be taught to children when they are very young. One effective method Read More …
New Points of View
Year-end reviews can be strange things. Depending on the specific point from which you decide to look back, or the particular path you decide to take on your wandering backward, you come up with a different sense of the year. Read More …
In the Spirit of Things
As many of us get ready for the half-yearly exams, we are also wondering with trepidation whether we will be able to instill a sense of seriousness in our wards, anxious about completing board syllabi, and possibly, recovering from a Read More …
Lessons to Learn
On a recent trek I came across an old fallen log covered with moss, ferns sprouting out of its various nooks and crannies, its hollow occupied by a variety of wildlife small, tiny and conceivably, microscopic. My more knowledgeable companion Read More …
Beyond Tokenism
Ho-hum. Another Teachers’ Day has come…and gone. In some schools, children perhaps dress up in adult clothes and pretend to take charge of classes for a day. In others, the children entertain their teachers with song, dance and drama. There Read More …
Just Do It!
Having attended a surfeit of meetings over the past few months, I am completely amazed at the confidence with which many people are able to articulate opinions that are–to put it kindly–not particularly original nor well thought out. Restatements of Read More …
Do We Need More Training?
The school year is well under way and our calendars are already set, with the build-up toward unit tests and examinations, school days and sports events. And in the middle of all this are those debatable things called training programmes. Read More …