Libraries as windows and mirrors

Indu Nair
Extending relational scholar Emily Style’s concept of the school curriculum as windows and mirrors to the library, this librarian shares her experience and challenges of putting together a book collection that she hopes will serve as mirrors to enable readers to see themselves and their reality and as windows to help them see the same of others.

The delicate art of appreciation

Latha Vydianathan
Spoken language is a powerful medium and we must use it to benefit our students and encourage them. While we all praise our students’ efforts and are happy at their success, the words we choose to deliver that praise can significantly change the way our students react to what we are saying.

A task-based approach to second language acquisition

Radhika Chaturvedi
Human beings need language to communicate and understand the world around them and both these purposes are fulfilled by the mother tongue or the first language. This is why second language acquisition usually remains superficial. In order to achieve the same level of competency in second language as in the first, our approach to teaching and learning second language has to change.

Making space for the small greens

Nandini D
Space is a luxury, especially in urban settings. But we don’t always need large open spaces to grow plants. With a little bit of creativity and imagination, those window sills, plain walls and desolate corners can turn into places to grow your plants.

Making time for music

Ranjeeta Prajapati
Listening to music has many benefits. While it is primarily considered a tool for entertainment, music can also help one relax, stimulate the mind and perk you up. Have you considered using music in your classroom?

Talking families

Chintan Girish Modi
The world is changing and so are its institutions, such as marriages and families. And yet when it comes to learning about them in school, we stick to the age-old definitions of these institutions. It is time that we left stereotypes behind and started talking about new-age families. Purnah: the complete parent is a book that nudges us in this direction.

What’s in a name?

Indira Subramanian
This subject is known by different names – social studies, social science, or just plain social, and while it may seem that they are all the same, the approach to teaching-learning the subject will differ depending on what you are calling it. So be alert and know what you are teaching/learning. Is it social, social studies or social science?

Experience and exploration in learning to teach

Sonika Parashar
Competition and the desire to be ahead of others was what drove students once upon a time. Marks and successes in assignments decided relationships that were formed. Today, students seem more selfless. There is genuine desire to help one another and competition rarely raises its head. Growth as a group is as important as individual growth. What led to this change?

Leveraging parental engagement

Meena Sriram
Every child has two worlds – the home and the school. It is widely agreed that when these two worlds come together, the child benefits immensely. Parent-teacher meetings are the time when the parents and the school usually come together. But these meetings are not very effective in building relationships. So how else can schools involve the parents?

Giving children’s literature a fillip

Swaha Sahoo
A lot of us are working to bring children back to the book reading habit and one thing that will help us in this effort is good quality children’s literature. The Parag Honour List, that is put together after a thorough selection process, helps us find good books that children can read, books with contexts that are familiar to them and also tells us how and where we can access these books.