Responsibility and Cooperation - Sukhpreet Kaur

Responsibility and Cooperation are two sides of a coin in cooperative learning. The art of responsibility and cooperation is an ongoing journey for children, all the way into adulthood. Learning to cooperate with respect is an important skill to master, helping children develop good relationships at home and school. Successful collaboration requires students to be respectful, caring, honest, thoughtful, reflective and open-minded. 

Cooperation isn't limited to work, rather it has its roots in every action of a person. Coming together and following a common goal needs cooperation and so cooperation is one of the human resources a man has.

Schools play an important role in teaching children responsibility. By instilling a sense of order and encouraging students to be accountable for their actions, schools help children understand the importance of taking responsibility for their own lives. Through classroom rules and expectations, as well as extracurricular activities and school-wide programs, children learn how to manage their time, set goals, and follow through on commitments. As they progress through their education, children who learn responsibility in school are more likely to become responsible adults.

Responsibility is a key character trait that we focus on every year. How do we teach responsibility? Here are several key ways to focus on student responsibility. There are a ton of little things in my classroom that need to be done on a daily basis.  I give students the responsibility of some of these small tasks, like filing papers, sharpening pencils, and straightening up our library. Spread table mats for each other before lunch break. Peer learning groups-help in sharing the responsibility. 

As Benjamin Franklin once said:

“Tell me and I forget.

Teach me and I remember.

Involve me and I learn”

Learning through cooperation is an instructional method in which students work in small groups to accomplish a common learning goal under the guidance of the teacher. Teacher or facilitator will set a goal and make groups. Students can discuss a question or topic, and then share with the whole class. Teachers often refer to this strategy as “think-pair-share”. Teachers who plan cooperative lessons often make groups of 4 . Students are assigned roles within the group so that they can divide and conquer the learning task at hand. For example, the reporter is responsible for sharing out the new learnings of the task. Often groups are divided into mixed skill groups. This can help students who struggle to have higher-level students mixed with lower-level students so that peer learning and coaching is incorporated. All of the mentioned techniques require planning and coordination on the part of the teacher.

As an enthusiastic teacher, all I wish my students 

• work together for a common goal

• learn to trust others through successful teamwork and collaboration

• increase their social development and interactions

• communicate their needs and listen to the needs of others

• think about the perspectives of others and show empathy

• Work through conflict with others to achieve a successful resolution

Teamwork activities always encourage one to hone their skills to work in a cooperative manner with respect.

Sukhpreet Kaur
Gyanshree School

Simplicity And Trust - Sukhpreet Kaur

Simplicity and Trust

Greater happiness comes with simplicity than with complexity – Buddha

Simplicity is the essence of happiness. 

Happiness is opening the gate of satisfaction and helping us to make our surroundings positive. Simplicity is in our actions and gives reflection to others. This reflection generates trust between two.

Trust is in our actions. 

In a trustworthy relationship, it is easy to convey our thought process without any barriers. Trust means to believe in oneself, others, etc. We need to inculcate these values in our students as it plays a major role in our life.

In grade 5, I did one activity on simplicity. It was my science class and we started with hands-on activities to understand the concept of changes around us. The activity on curd making was the first task which I gave to students. It was simple yet important for everyone in daily life. I gave instructions as a facilitator to my students that we can set curd even in the school. I performed this activity and students learnt the art / technique of setting curd. They learnt about the temperature check, hotness of the milk and necessary conditions to make it possible. They were super excited and happy. These simple activities inculcate values.

Trust

The well-being of students has a direct impact on their progress. So, happy students learn better. As a teacher, we play a crucial role in their social-emotional well-being and development. We can create an engaging classroom environment with collaboration and respect. Team-building activities are perfect for teaching life-skills to students.

Circle time is a time for important social interactions among young children. Ithelps develop positive relationships between kids through engaging and fun activities. During circle time, students of grade 5 did one activity of trust and happiness. Students were divided into pairs. They did the activity of blind-walk. In this activity one student who is in the front will be blind folded and he has to rely on the other partner. The person takes the other for a walk by holding their hand or arm and talking to them as they go. This activity with blindfolds can progress by: Making the route they take more complex with regards to turns and twists. I gave a twist to the activity. In the beginning the activity was done between the friends. Same activity was performed between those who rarely talk to each other. This strengthened a bond among students.

Sukhpreet Kaur
Gyanshree School

Hope and Friendship - Sukhpreet Kaur

 Hope and Friendship

“Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.” – Washington Irving

Every child has the power to succeed in school and in life and every parent, family member and caregiver can help. In school story telling is the best way to hone skills in the students. We have a DEAR reading session.

D- Drop 

E-everything

A-and

R- Read

One day during a library reading session, our school librarian narrated a story to the students where she discussed the life of ocean animals. She narrated a story of a whale- A whale helps smaller sea creatures who are trapped in plastic waste. On land a young boy seeks support to clear the sea in his area. Fishermen come to his aid and many boats start to help clear the plastic from the sea. This story of hope and friendship opens the gate of hope for my students. They themselves made groups and started with the story session. Students gave names to their groups on the basis of colors. Green group shared a short story on hope. There is a beautiful example of sowing a seed of bamboo and fern. Bamboo will take 5-6 years to come above the ground; on the other hand, fern will grow within a year.

Our values and life should have deep roots like bamboo. Never lose hope and be patient.

Red group shared a story on True Friends

The dream of two childhood friends was to grow up and serve the country by joining the army. Both fulfilled their dream and joined the army. Very soon he also got an opportunity to serve the country. War broke out and they were sent to battle. Going there, both bravely faced the enemies. A friend was badly injured during the battle. When another friend came to know about this, he ran to save his injured friend. Then his captain stopped him and said, "There is no point in going there now. By the time you get there, your friend will be dead." But he did not agree and went to pick up his injured friend. When he came back, he had a friend on his shoulder. But he was dead. Seeing this, the Captain said, "I told you that there is no point in going there. You could not bring your friend safely. Your departure was in vain." The soldier replied, "No sir, I was not in vain to go there to pick him up. When I reached him, smiling and looking into my eyes, he said – friend, I was sure you would come. These were his last words. I could not save him. But the faith he had in me and my friendship saved him."

Reading significantly helps brain development and encourages a strong, emotional bond between children. 

Sukhpreet Kaur

Gyanshree School

Injustice - RP Devgan

The worst thing that can happen to a student in a School is injustice from a teacher and injustice to a teacher from the Head of the school or school authorities. Injustice to individuals can leave permanent scars in one’s life. Schools must be transparent and alert.

To guard against any injustice, the people in authority have to be just, kind and considerate. To make sure it doesn’t happen, they need to be very aware of what is going on around them.

Children often are victims of injustice when there is nepotism and favouritism. It usually happens when it comes to appointments made by principals, housemasters and teachers or when it comes to giving individual awards at the end of the term. The instances can be only stopped or conwhen the Heads are fully aware of the facts.

I remember in one  of the schools I headed, the ‘Best Artist’ prize had been announced and it was clear that the deserving student had been overlooked. When I got to know of it I confronted the Art teacher who very sheepishly agreed that he had made a mistake. When I asked him to change his decision and award the Best Artist Prize to the deserving candidate, a class 12 girl, he said it was too late . I would have none of it and insisted that since nothing could be done to change the decision, the two girls should share the prize. It was a pleasure to see the relief on the  second girl’s face who had finally got her due. She would have gone through life with this disappointment and possibly carried a  scar if I had not intervened.

Similarly, in one of my schools, a Head of Department gave a damaging annual assessment report to a teacher she did not like personally. Once again, I confronted the HoD and said that she was being prejudiced and unfair. The junior teacher was being “framed.” I made it very clear that such irresponsible behaviour would not be accepted and made her change the report.

This kind of thing happens in schools all the time if the people responsible are not aware of the facts and truth. So very often, the undeserving are made Captains of games or school prefects because the  Heads/Principals are ignorant of the facts. The least the Head of an Institution can do is to safeguard their staff and students from becoming victims of prejudice and nepotism. Injustice in any form rankles the victim and it should not happen. This is what transparency in a school is all about. It is all about being just and about justice.

My advice to all Principals and people in responsible posts is to take the trouble of getting to know of what is going on in the school by making your presence felt by taking an interest in the children, their activities and everything that concerns them. It’s only then there will be transparency and correct decisions made for the good of students and staff.

Mr RP Devgan is a veteran school leader, currently he is the chair person of Learning Forward India.

Quality and Love - Sukhpreet Kaur

A student who does a shoddy job with classwork and homework

Quality is a parameter to check the excellence of a child. It varies with age. At a certain level, we expect quality work from our students. It is essential to check the well-being of the child instead of the perfection and quality of their work. I am a grade mentor of class 5, a transitional phase in every respect. 

Every year I meet with different souls. This year, my interaction is with a student who is a reasonable observer and a kinesthetic learner. He is blessed with silence and calmness. He is excellent at analyzing and synthesizing. During winter, he came to me and discussed the issue of improvement in his handwriting. He shared that he needs to present his work well due to his shoddy writing. I listened to him patiently and gave him a remedy for his problem. I discussed the matter with his parents too. I told my student to write one paragraph every day without fail. He religiously followed the same. His parents are supportive, and he worked together. The sincere effort of the student gave him a positive feeling and confidence. 

Two underage students in a romantic relationship

Spring is the season for spreading Love in every living being after the harsh winter climate. Love is in the air. Love is in our thoughts, in emotions, and in every gesture. In grade 5, students do talk about crushes rather than romantic relationships. But yes, the pandemic changed the behaviour of grade 5, and they tend to behave and interact like teenagers. Recently, one student came and asked me about my first crush, my first Love and at what age. It was an indicator for me. I asked my students what Love is to them? Many students explained Love to me like– getting a new dress is Love, getting a hug from the grandparents is Love, meeting friends is Love, dancing is Love, and few were only giggling. I thought we teachers inculcate values and passion for learning something through Love. So I thought the Love of learning could be developed and cultivated using simple strategies. They are as follows:

• Help children discover interest and passion

• Help them to visualize and imagine

• Find the child’s learning style

• Help to develop skills in them

• Have more healthy discussions every day

• Be supportive and encouraging

• Give more hands-on work/experiment

Talking to students regularly is Love.

Sukhpreet Kaur

Gyanshree School

Quality and Love - Laxmi Kant Bhatt

A student who does a shoddy job in classwork and homework 

A classroom is a mixture of children having different learning competencies and interests. Each student is special and unique, so some may perform well in some subjects while others may not. Each student will be different from another and may showcase different talents and creativity. In this group of students, some may need to catch up regarding their academic performance. Some students take more time to comprehend learning topics, and some need to write faster.

A new student was admitted to the class. He was a very active and intelligent child. He used to participate in every lively discussion in the class. But when it came to writing or completing the class work or homework, he was at the last of the class. He was too slow in meeting any of his notebook assignments. He was very used to typing away on laptops and Ipads that his writing skills needed to be higher. I explained to him the importance of writing. He should have a habit of writing fast, as in board exams, the children must complete the paper writing in the given time. After that, they are not given any extra time for writing. I advised him to write letters to his parents, friends etc. His family members will also appreciate him for the letters, and it is a great way to work on his writing skills for anyone. Keeping a journal and writing daily can help increase the speed. He followed my advice, and slowly his writing skills improved.

Two underage students in a romantic relationship

Being involved in a romantic relationship at an early age hurts motivation and concentration, and thus also learning. Early romantic relationships are often very emotionally intense, leading teenagers to invest much time and energy in them that would otherwise be devoted to hobbies, friends, family schoolwork.

L.K Bhatt
The Doon Girls' School

Quality and Love - Jaspreet Kaur

“Quality is not an act; it is a habit.” 

A student who does a shoddy job in classwork and homework: - During the teaching-learning process, we face several problems. In grade V, one student came from a government school. Initially, he needed to understand the culture of the school. He is an introvert too, who never shares his worries with anyone. He needed to understand  English properly. At the beginning of the session, he never did his homework and classwork. Even teachers can’t understand his handwriting. We worked on his script. As a teacher, I counselled his mother to buy a notebook to improve his writing. Every day the language teachers gave him one page daily. Gradually,  he improved his handwriting. I usually appreciated him when he gave wrong answers to boost his confidence. I also counselled the students of Grade V not to laugh at him, even if he gave wrong answers or could not make proper sentences. Now, at the end of the session, he improved a lot. He provided answers confidently. I am delighted and thankful to all the subject teachers who played an essential role in his improvement. 

Two underage students in a romantic relationship: - If I will face this kind of situation, Firstly, I would love to talk to the students individually, but not in front of other students. I will handle the situation with great patience and love. I will suggest the students concentrate on their studies. I will also take the help of my parents to counsel them with love, not by scolding them.  

Jaspreet Kaur 

Kamla Nehru Public School, Phagwara

Quality and Love - Roopa Bhattacharyya

A student who does a shoddy job with classwork and homework

The pandemic has had a telling effect on the writing ability of many children. In the last two years, assignments and tests were mainly based on google Forms and multiple-choice responses. The students were rarely required to submit classwork or homework in written form. So, when I started teaching grade three in physical classes last April, most students could not write words and sentences with clearly formed letters, as expected from a third grader. So, in addition to the regular work, I had to make them practice handwriting. While many improved, two children submitted shoddy work after six months. So, I gave them particular practice and motivated them to get a gold star for doing neat work. This has helped improve the quality of the classwork and homework. 

However, only one of the laggard children still needed to improve. Counselling the child showed that his parents could not help him due to their busy work schedule and general apathy towards education. The child was bright and knew all the answers orally. However, he could not write it down neatly; the handwriting needed to be legible. It took almost one year of constant motivation, and finally, the child is writing legibly now. 

Two underage students in a romantic relationship

Since teaching in the primary department, I have never encountered students in a romantic relationship. Nowadays, children are overexposed to TV and OTP platforms thus, they often say things like “I LOVE YOU” to other children, and immediately, some others respond “, HAW”. Some even go to the teacher and report this. So I, as a teacher, explain that love is a great feeling and nothing to be embarrassed by. I explain to them that their parents love them, they love their parents, they love their brothers and sisters, they love their teachers, and the teachers also love them. So, love is a feeling of concern and sharing. It is one of the noblest emotions. 

Roopa Bhattacharyya

Ahlcon Public School

Quality and Love - Preeti Mahajan and Mridula Renjit

     

A student who does a shoddy job with work

A student does unpresentable and shoddy work due to either lack of interest or appreciation. It could also be because of a need for a motivating role model.

After identifying such a child, I will draw that child's attention to the type of work he or she does. Before any written work, the child's attention is drawn towards the presentation and neatness of the work. 

The child will also be asked to redo the work. The importance of putting our total effort and attention into work at hand, any work in general, will be discussed in the class. The notebook of children who have worked neatly will be shown to the child. Any small effort from the child will be acknowledged and rewarded.

The neatness in work in art, craft, and organization of things will also be monitored, and feedback on the same will also be given.

Parents are also roped in this journey of awareness and improvement.

Two underage students in a romantic relationship

Love is a very natural and all-engulfing emotion. Students who spend a lot of time with each other, help each other and work as a united team tend to feel close. We also have to consider that the children are in a development stage with rapid hormonal and appearance changes.

We have to take an underage romantic relationship in a way that sends signals to the children that the matter at hand is not the centre of thought and discussion. That the teacher is just taking it in her stride. Once overreaction is not there, the thrill of getting attention which is a major driving force, is squashed. Half the battle is won by the teacher here only.

Care is taken to keep things as normal as possible. Students are given individual counselling and counselling with each other. Their attention is drawn towards the fact that school time, school years is the crucial time to build a strong foundation for future endeavours. Help the children to have a vision.

Along with the teacher's non-judgemental, always there-for-your attitude, the students will surely get their focus back on their studies.

Mridula Renjit

Preeti Mahajan

Ahlcon Public School

JOL cohort 2022

Quality and Love - Nitin Sharma

Quality:

"Inclusive, good quality education is the foundation for dynamic and equitable Societies."   

                                                                                                                                  -Desmond Tutu

Quality education provides the foundation for equity in society. Quality education enables people to develop all their attributes and skills to achieve their potential as human beings and community members.

Good quality education is essential for gaining the best knowledge and developing modernization in society. The country's future depends on a quality education provided in every school, which plays a significant role in student education.

Through quality education, individuals can seek better job opportunities, progress with sustainable livelihoods, and have a healthy lifestyle. Best-delivered education spurs innovative minds.

In our school, we practice, preach and promote the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the goal of the main focus, along with all others, is SDG4, Quality Education, intending to provide quality education to all. Educators put in their best efforts to make that happen in the classrooms, and no stone is left unturned.

While teaching in the classrooms, we as educators come across different types of students. Some may be excellent at doing their homework and class work, while some may be the 'do-it-later' students. But the teacher has an equal eye for all. All the students are similar, and he/she cannot ignore those who aren't good in the academic aspect or the ones who lag in completing their tasks. To deal with such students, a lot of patience is required.

I'd like to add an instance of when I encountered a situation like this. Some students of a class I taught in the previous years fell into the example of 'never-completing-their-notebooks-on-time' students. It was a challenging task to get their notebooks and check them. Not completing their notebooks and tasks was one thing, but all of them were very active students.

One of them, Sartaj, was good at playing band and headed the school band, while another, Aarush, was an NCC cadet and was great at parade. They are very cooperative students, always ahead in taking any responsibility but the last in submitting their assignments. I was never strict and harsh on them but rather appreciated them for the qualities they had. Instead, we agreed on a deadline by which they would finally make submissions.

Love:

"Where there is love, there is life."

Love is the energy of life. Love has its many forms. A mother loves his child, a teacher loves his students, our love for Mother Nature, a soldier's love for his nation and various other forms. Without love, this life is not possible, and the true joy of life cannot be cherished.

Nowadays, many students somehow engage in similar activities at a very young age, such as meeting at hidden places or exchanging gifts with their young lovers.

Here, I would like to share about two students From IX and XI. Avni and Sagar. They used to meet each other on the stairs or during school recess. Our school counsellor was requested to please counsel these students; she talked so well. Even the class teacher and coordinator tried to make them understand their age was inappropriate. Your aim should be to study and achieve your goal. Later on, you can think about it, and after some friendly sessions with the teacher, they were not seen again at the hidden places, and both started to do well in their studies.

~ Nitin Sharma, KNPS Phagwara