Quality And Love - Shalini Solanki

Quality is preferred to get appreciation, and appreciation creates love for Quality. One needs to spend more to get Quality in life, be it anything. The same goes for writing. One needs to spend time and patience to get the desired Quality in work. Quality in writing is not only about beautiful handwriting but also error-free work. It requires dedication and adaptability. Anyone ready to adopt criticism and feedback can positively change their task. We all want everyone to love us and our work, as it motivates us to do better in life, but when we love ourselves and our work, it brings Quality to our lives.

 

Situation 1
A student who does a shoddy job with classwork and homework

 

A student in my class joined our school this year only in Grade 2. He was introduced to cursive writing in Grade 1 in his previous school. When he was asked to write the answer in school for the first time, He wrote something, but I couldn’t understand a word. For him, there were no capital letters, no use of margins, and no giving finger gap between words. He used to start his written work from the middle of the page. Even the Follow-up work used to make my task difficult. I spoke to the parents, but the previous school never spoke to or guided them on the written work, so they never found it essential. I made him sit next to my table and guided him to write with the rules I made for him. But the day he would sit at a different place, he would make the same mistakes again. I started rubbing his work so that he would realise his mistakes. He had to redo the work, which I wanted, to make him serious about the classroom performance. His work started getting better, but not as per my expectations. I started making dots as per the placements of the date, heading, sentences, and numbers in the margin. This helped him to get an idea about the different lines and spaces given in the notebook. His work came out really well. He learned to write capital letters and their usage. One day I took English spell check in my class, and this time his work amazed me. His work was beautiful, and he got appreciation from his peers and mentor. This love and appreciation motivated him to bring Quality to his regular classwork and follow-up work. Whenever he completes his work, he stands next to my table and waits for his work to get checked. He waits for appreciation every time, pushing him to do better. He is in love with the Quality of his own work.

Situation 2
Two underage students in a romantic relationship

I deal with Grade 2 students, and romantic relationships are experienced infrequently. But yes, I have heard them using words like love, like, and marriage. A few weeks ago, I heard two children saying ‘’I love you” to each other. Other students heard and started discussing that they both love each other and now must marry. I didn’t interfere as I wanted to read the little minds. One child raised a hand and, on permission, told me that both these children love each other and they will marry now. I very casually said…Then what is wrong with loving each other? I asked them a few questions: Don’t we love each other? Don’t you love your parents? Don’t you love your teachers and friend? For every question, they answered ‘Yes’. So I explained to them that we all love each other because we are together and care for each other. Love everyone, including plants and animals, is always good, as they love and care for us. The students were happy and didn’t discuss it further.

My approach in the first situation was-

-          To understand the reason

-          Dealing with patience 

-          Appreciation and love

-          Creating trust, yes, I can.

In the second situation- 

-          Understanding the approach

-          Not creating hype about anything

-          Dealing with emotions

-          Explaining everything

-          Didn’t avoid the situation, which could confuse little minds.

 

Shalini Solanki

Gyanshree School, Noida

स्तर और प्रेम - Jyoti Tadiyal

  परियोजना कार्य  11 - स्तर और प्रेम

मनुष्य स्वयं में अनेक गुणों की खान है परंतु सभी मनुष्यों में इस योग्यता का स्तर भिन्न भिन्न है। यह भिन्नता प्रत्येक को अलग व्यक्तित्व व पहचान देती है। विद्यार्थी भी ऐसे ही अलग अलग गुण व योग्यता से भरे होते हैं जो उनकी विशिष्ट पहचान होती है।

परिस्थिति १

कक्षा कक्ष में विद्यार्थी द्वारा कक्षा कार्य व गृह कार्य में लापरवाही दिखाना।

इस प्रकार के विद्यार्थी प्रायः कक्षा में होते हैं जिनमें कार्य को “ कर लेंगे” ऐसी प्रवृत्ति होती है, यद्यपि ये कार्य तो पूरा करते हैं परंतु यथा समय और उचित प्रकार से नहीं। जब ऐसे विद्यार्थियों के साथ कार्य करते हैं तो सर्वप्रथम दिमाग में यही विचार आता है कि किस प्रकार इनका सर्वोत्तम निकलवाया जाए और जो कार्य ये करेंगे वे केवल “रटन्त” न हो कुछ सकारात्मक हो, जिससे विद्यार्थी कुछ सीख लें। ऐसी परिस्थिति में मैं लिखने से ज्यादा समझने पर ज़ोर देती हूं। आवश्यक नहीं मैं उनसे उतना कार्य अपेक्षित रखूं जितना बाकी विद्यार्थी करते करते हैं । कार्य पूरा करने पर इनका उत्साहवर्धन व प्रोत्साहन किया जाए ऐसा मेरे द्वारा प्रयास रहा। अंततोगत्वा परिणाम सकारात्मक रहे और विद्यार्थी में परिवर्तन देखा गया।

परिस्थिति २

प्रेम प्रकृति में सर्वत्र व्याप्त है।प्रत्येक जीवधारी इसे अनुभव करता है। घर, परिवार, विद्यालय सभी जगह प्रेम व्याप्त है और कोई भी इससे अछूता नहीं रह सकता। विद्यालय में जहां सह शिक्षा व्याप्त होती है कभी कभी विद्यार्थियों के मध्य इस प्रकार की भावनाएं बलवती हो उठती हैं। वे परस्पर प्रेम व लगाव को अनुभव करते हैं। मेरे समक्ष भी इस प्रकार की परिस्थिति आ गई। इस पर सर्वप्रथम मेरी कोई तीखी प्रतिक्रिया नहीं रही। मैंने इसे कोई इस प्रकार नहीं लिया मानो आसमान टूट पड़ा हो या धरती हिल उठी हो। सर्वप्रथम दोनों विद्यार्थियों के साथ मेरा व्यवहार सहज ही रहा कोई परिवर्तन मैंने उसमें नहीं किया। 

दूसरी बात उन्हें भी सबके समक्ष असहज अनुभव नहीं होने दिया। सही अवसर व समय पर दोनों को साथ बैठाकर यह समझाया कि इस समय दोनों के लिए आवश्यक क्या है? इस समय किसे और क्यों प्राथमिकता देनी है? माता पिता व परिवार की उनसे क्या अपेक्षाएं हैं, उन पर वे कितना विश्वास करते हैं, उन्हें माता पिता के सपनों को साकार करना है, जीवन में सफ़ल बनना है। इस प्रकार समय समय पर उन्हें समझाया गया । साथ ही कोशिश की गई व्यवहार को सामान्य रखने की। कुछ समय बीतने पर परिणाम सामने आए परिस्थिति थोड़ी बदली व दोनों का व्यवहार भी सुधर गया। इस तरह दोनों ही समय व्यवहार को सहज रखा गया। प्रेम की शक्ति अदभुद होती है प्रेम द्वारा कठिन से कठिन समस्या भी सुलझ जाती है।

Jyoti Tadiyal
The Doon Girls' School Dehradun

KNPS Learning Academy - Icebreaker JOL Cohort 2023-24

ICEBREAKER

Icebreaker questions are different ways of getting the people in your small group to talk about themselves. An easy way to encourage friendships to form in your group as you help everyone get to know each other. 

Adapted from COURAGE TO TEACH by Parker Palmer

"When I am teaching at my best, I am like a _____________________."

Fill in the blank.

For example, if I fill in Sheepdog, I add a few words why?

Sheepdog

It maintains a space where the sheep can graze and feed themselves; it holds the sheep together in that space, constantly bringing back strays; it protects the boundaries of the space to keep dangerous predators out; and when the grazing ground is depleted, it moves with the sheep to another space where they can get the food they need.

My task in the classroom parallels this imaginative rendering of the Sheepdog's task. My students must feed themselves—that is called active learning. If they are to do so, I must take them to a place where food is available: a good text, a well-planned exercise, a generative question, and a disciplined conversation. Then, I must move them to the next feeding ground when they have learned what to learn. I must hold the group within those places, paying special attention to individuals who get lost or run away - and all the while, I must protect the group from deadly predators, like fear.

Charu Chhabra, [Feb 12, 2023 at 4:15 PM]

When I am teaching at my best, I am like a light, illuminating the path of knowledge, skills and understanding for my students. Light of hope facilitates the clarity of thoughts and insight, helping students see connections and make sense, positive energy and enthusiasm to the classroom, and creates an environment that ignites curiosity, creativity and critical thinking.

Shikha Vaid, [Feb 12, 2023, at 4:33 PM]

When I am teaching at my best, I am like a skilled leader. Unlike administrative leaders, the effective focus is on shared decision-making, teamwork, and community building. This sense of leadership to students provides opportunities for each of them to assume leadership roles.

Jyoti Bhardwaj, [Feb 12, 2023, at 4:40 PM]

When I am teaching at my best, I am like an explorer, exploring the knowledge of my students and providing them with a platform to come up with their new ideas and thoughts, encouraging them to show their innovative and creative skills, which ultimately makes them confident of overcoming their problems.

5315191398, [Feb 12, 2023, at 4:54 PM] - please post with your name!

When I teach at my best, I am like a Polaris, navigating my students to the right path and making them learn everything creatively—encouraging a brighter outlook and developing their motor skills. I always make a friendly and fun-loving relationship with my students.

Sukhpreet, [Feb 12, 2023 at 5:17 PM]

When I am teaching at my best, I am like a *pro* (ap*pro*achable). Being light-hearted and having a positive attitude helps me quickly understand even complex core concepts for my students. An approachable attitude helps students easily connect with classmates and teachers and makes them feel more confident to face the world and difficult situations.

Shikha Vaid, [Feb 12, 2023 at 5:44 PM]

When I am teaching at my best, I am like a learner—learning with an inquisitive mind. I am trying my best to create interactive learning opportunities. The teacher can change lives with the right mix of chalk and challenges.

Shveta, [Feb 12, 2023 at 5:47 PM]

When I am teaching at my best, I am like the Spectrum. I am ready with the versatility to impart the ultimate colours that expand the learning capacity indulging my little ones into hope, and surprise, imparting knowledge, good values, tradition, modern-day challenges and ways to resolve them within students. I strive to reach every ward so that no child is left behind. I am open to learning which gives me time to analyse. I love my profession. It gives me immense pleasure and the opportunity to be more than just what I am.