Uncovering a theme

Cover story ideas come to us in a variety of ways. This month’s cover story idea came to us in the form of a letter. Once the idea takes seed we set about nurturing it, looking at it from different angles. And while it is impossible to visit every single road leading to the issue in focus, at Teacher Plus it is our hope that we have opened up for you enough points of discussion on a particular issue.

A garden of their own

Everyone agrees that especially with young children, learning by doing is the best way to go about teaching. We have pulled out from our archives an article that introduces you to how you can get children to create their own garden and learn a lot while doing it.

Speak up!

Sheela Ramakrishnan

Silence is golden they say. Teachers take pride in ‘pin drop’ silent classes. But it is time that we woke up to the idea that sometimes noise is good and even important. Speaking a language is as important if not more than learning to write it. Here are a few suggestions on getting children to make some productive noise in class.

The Uncounted tasks of a teacher

Kanupriya Jhunjhunwala

When a person joins the teaching profession, is he/she ever given a job description? Apart from a vague mention of the responsibilities the school expects from the new teacher, there is nothing concrete said or written. Does the state have rules and guidelines about the teachers in its schools? Are there stipulated work hours for teachers? What is a teacher actually meant to do and what does he/she end up doing in the course of his/her work as a teacher?

The reality of overburdened pedagogues

Mounik Shankar Lahiri

That teachers are overworked is nothing new but in our interactions with teachers what we realized is that it is not so much the volume of work assigned to them that bothers teachers. What bothers them is the way schools assign this work. School managements take teachers for granted and believe that it is absolutely fine for them to do so. And this is where the problem lies.

One teacher, too many roles

Hriday Ranjan

What do parents expect of teachers? How do children see their own teachers? How wide is the gap between the expected duties of a teacher and what the teacher actually does?

Let’s nurture our teachers

Chintan Girish Modi

Schools unfortunately seem to have their priorities all skewed up. Instead of taking care of their most important assets—the teachers, schools have the time and money for everything else. It is high time that we took care of our teachers.

No one way

Aditi Mathur and Ratnesh Mathur

Is there a right way or a best way to teach? No, there are no set rules that one can follow to become a good teacher. A good teacher is one who can assess situations and adapt his/her ideas or teaching methodologies accordingly.

Let’s get personal with education

Steven Rudolph

The education system has to recognize that students are not workers in a factory and that in schools they are not being trained to work in industries. Education is meant for the individual child and we have to ensure that every child gets the education he/she deserves and not some mass produced knowledge.

Tangrams for classrooms!

Monica Kochar

Tangrams–a simple 7 piece puzzle but a wonderful teaching aid. Learn how you can use tangrams to as a teaching aid.