Coping with classroom tensions

Classrooms can be volatile spaces interspersed with periods of harmony depending upon the kind of issues that one is dealing with. Tackling children’s fears and anxieties so that the outcome is positive both for the teacher and the child is a huge task. Schools therefore need to become supportive structures emphasizing cooperation and dialogue rather than surveillance and punishment.

Education of the self

It is now admission time and there is anxiety everywhere about making the final cut. What of the students that don’t make it? Who don’t get into colleges they want? Who don’t get the courses they want? This is where school education and the values they receive in school come to play.

Editorial

History is a subject that has been relegated to the backburner and therefore its teaching has been largely uninspiring. There is a need to restate and rediscover its relevance and the best place to start this is in the classrooms.

Summer projects

The holidays are upon us again and most of us are looking forward to the long break. While some of us would like to sit back and relax, some others would like to learn new things. However it is we decide to spend our vacation we should realize that in everything we do, see, and observe there is something there that we can learn from and take back to the classroom.

Names on a mailing list…

In bringing out the magazine every month, Teacher Plus tries hard to make connections with all its readers. Some of our readers come from little known places like village pathshalas in Rajasthan and Bihar, principals and librarians from all kinds of schools. We make an appeal to everyone to write to us and send us their feedback.

Can we stem the rot?

In the context of upheavals in the Indian political space, it is time to revisit and reappraise how a moral and ethical fibre can be woven into the consciousness of children during their schooling years.

Designing learning spaces

Desks, chairs, walls, and windows all have an impact on both the way we learn and the moods they create. Therefore it is extremely important that we design physical learning structures with utmost care.

Gearing up for the second term

As schools resume after a short holiday and a period of festivities, it is time to hit the books again and gear up for a second term of study, cultural activities and a race to complete the syllabus.

Understanding the larger context

While we are all tied up with our own classrooms, textbooks and schools, it is important now and then to step back and look at the changes taking place in the field we are working in. Are these changes for our benefit? Who are these changemakers? Are they going in the right direction? Questions like these keep us alert and ready to embrace or confront the change taking place.