What keeps a teacher going?

Usha Raman

Amidst planning for her lessons, taking care of additional duties in school, handling irate parents, a disgruntled management, and bored and disinterested students, what exactly keeps a teacher going? The answer is the joy and hope she derives when she walks into her classroom and looks at her students each time.

“Let’s make noise!”

Mahananda Pathak

When a new language is introduced in school the concentration is on the reading and writing skills. But what about speech? It is equally important to be able to speak well and if started early fluency in the new language will come easily to the children and they don’t have to struggle to put sentences together at a later stage in their lives. Here are a few activities to get you started on “talking” in class.

Constructivism: A pedagogical conundrum?

Rohit Dhankar

Constructivism is a pedagogy that is gaining in popularity among educationists and practionists of today. But constructivism as defined and explained by theorists does not take into consideration the practice of the pedagogy or keep in mind the ground realities. This is quite evident in the way constructivism is defined as the theory of practice in the NCF 2005 document. In this article the author analyses constructivism as mentioned in NCF 2005 and tells us why while what the document says is worthwhile it cannot be taken as the complete truth.

Embracing constructivism

Satyawati Rawool

From a teacher who had no clue how to teach to a teacher who embraces fully the idea of constructivism, this author narrates her journey to becoming a complete teacher.

‘I am not your Dream Girl’

Aditi Mathur and Ratnesh Mathur

The biggest gift we can give our children is to just let them be. Many of us truly believe that we are good parents if we don’t pressure our children to study all the time or let them choose their own careers. But are we? Answer these questions with all honesty–Have you never wanted your child to come first in that singing competition? Have you never wanted your child to be a model of virtue? We do burden our children whatever our expectations maybe. It is time that we let go and let be.

Are we buying dreams? The ABCs of advertising

Usha Raman

On an average, if your students spend two hours watching the television, they probably watch half an hour of advertisements. There are a lot of learning moments in those half hours. Here’s a fun and educative project which tells you how you can teach children through advertisements and about them.

Conversations, clarity, and comparisons

Geetha Durairajan

Every child is different and each child develops at his/her own pace. Despite this common knowledge young parents often worry when a neighbour’s child reaches a milestone that their own child hasn’t. Instead of worrying over what is not there yet, let us enjoy what we see in our children.

‘Where the child is without fear’

Brendan MacCarthaigh

India has the highest number of student suicides in the world! Shocking isn’t it? These statistics indicate that there is something wrong with our education system. When are we going to wake up and do something about it?

Getting your tone right

Gita Krenek

As a teacher it is extremely important that you are calm and controlled in front of your class. Not just your body language but your voice also alerts the students to your moods. An irritable teacher causes her class to become edgy as well. So be calm and speak to your students from your heart.

Travelling through geography

Jerry Jean Preston

What better way is there to learn about people, places and culture than through travelogues? If you are a geography teacher, whenever you travel to a new place make sure to prepare a travelogue to bring back to the classroom. If you don’t travel very often technology today still makes it possible for you to put together a variety of information that captures the essence of a place of study.