Wanted Back-bencher Last-ranker Teachers Chapter 1 - Sunbeam School Ballia

Learning Forward Saturday with Brinda Ghosh and Sandeep Dutt on February 14, 2026.

The session was insightful and well-structured, focusing on continuous learning and self-reflection as educators. It encouraged us to adopt innovative strategies and remain learner-centric in our approach. The learnings will be thoughtfully implemented in classroom practices.

- Pooja Chauhan 

I learned how to maintain discipline in class and to make a good seating arrangement so that no student can see the board or hear the teacher, which helps students understand the lesson properly. The session also taught me that we should be patient and keep working hard to achieve any goal we set.

I also learned that it is not important that giving punishment to any child or student creates fear in them; rather, the punishment could lead them down a path where they do not repeat the same mistake, as in the future they will be thankful to those Teachers who scolded or knocked them for their mistakes.

- Monika 

The session was successful and meaningful. We reflected on changing student mindsets, especially the idea that backbenchers are equal learners. We discussed maintaining classroom decorum before teachers enter, building respect, fostering interaction, and cultivating an eagerness to learn. The session highlighted that today’s classrooms thrive on rotation, inclusion, and shared responsibility.

- Ada Singh

The session reminded me that backbenchers are not behind — they are simply waiting to be discovered. With encouragement and belief, they rise with confidence and shine brightly. Every child has hidden greatness; as teachers, it is our duty to bring it forward.

- Sunita Gupta

The session was very affirming for me as a teacher. This session changed our thinking for backbenchers. Many of them created new things, which we never thought of 🤔, and we recognised the hidden potential of those students.

- Shivangi Gupta

The Learning Forward Saturday session was very informative and inspiring. It helped me understand the importance of continuous learning and reflection in teaching. The session encouraged me to think about improving my daily classroom practices. I learned that small changes in teaching methods can make learning more effective. The ideas shared were practical and easy to apply. Overall, the session motivated me to grow professionally and support my students better.

- Kajol Chauhan

The session motivated me and was inspiring. As a teacher, I see our backbenchers as confident, creative, and full of potential. They bring energy and a unique perspective to the classroom. With proper guidance and encouragement, they actively participate and show wonderful improvement. Their growth reminds me that every child shines in their own special way, no matter where they sit.

- Ritu Rai

The session changed my thoughts about benchwarmers. Backbenchers are frequently labeled as inattentive or less capable, but such assumptions can be misleading. Many of them possess creativity and original thinking that enrich the learning environment. This session reinforced my belief that intelligence and ability are not determined by seating position. As teachers, it is our responsibility to look beyond stereotypes, encourage participation, and recognise the hidden potential in every learner. 🌟

- Abhi Singh

The session truly touched my heart. It gave my thinking a new direction and helped me understand that a child’s value is not determined by where they sit, but by their thoughts and qualities.

I realised I must encourage every child, listen to them, and help them grow with confidence. I will support each student and make them feel special in my class.

 🌟

Gauri Singh

In the session, I loved how intelligence isn't about where you sit but about the ideas you bring to the table. As teachers, we have a huge responsibility to nurture and bring out the best in every child, regardless of their position in the class. 🙌

All words have changed my perspective, and I'll make sure to keep an open mind and give every student a chance to shine! 🌟

- Ekata

The session was equally impactful and inspiring for me. It gave my thinking a new direction and helped me understand that every student is unique. Often, we underestimate some children, even though they may possess remarkable talent and creativity.

As a teacher, this session motivated me to provide equal opportunities to every student and to make a conscious effort to recognise and nurture their hidden potential.

- Neha Pandey

It was an insightful session that changed my perspective on backbenchers. They are often underestimated, but many of them think creatively and have unique, out-of-the-box ideas. This session reminded me that intelligence is not defined by where a student sits, and as teachers, we should recognise every child’s hidden potential.

- Jyoti Pandey

The session was a powerful reminder that a classroom is not defined by its front rows, but by the potential in every corner. It has deeply motivated me to look beyond academic labels and connect with " backbenchers " who often carry the most creative sparks. I am committed to making my classroom a space where every child, regardless of where they sit, feels seen, valued, and empowered to lead.”

- Jyoti Mishra

Productive Failure - Swati Tripathi

Introduction

Failure is something that most people want to avoid. We all like to succeed, but sometimes failure can teach us more than success ever could. The idea of Productive Failure shows that making mistakes and struggling with problems can actually help us learn deeply and understand better.

In schools, teachers use productive failure to encourage students to think hard, explore ideas, and discover answers on their own. Instead of giving the correct answer immediately, teachers let students try, fail, and learn from their errors.

Meaning of Productive Failure

The term Productive Failure means "learning from failure in a useful way." When students try to solve a problem and do not succeed at first, that struggle becomes productive because it helps them think deeply. Later, when the correct method is explained, students understand it more clearly and remember it for a long time.

In simple words, productive failure means learning through struggle. It teaches that failure is not the end, but the beginning of better understanding.

Purpose of Productive Failure

1. To help students become independent thinkers.
2. To make learning more meaningful and practical.
3. To build problem-solving and creative skills.
4. To teach students that failure is a natural part of learning.
5. To develop confidence and patience.

Process of Productive Failure

The productive failure approach usually has four main steps:

1. Challenging Task:

The teacher gives a problem that is new or difficult, so students have to think in different ways.

2. Independent or Group Work:

Students try to solve the problem individually or in small groups. They may make mistakes or fail, but they discuss and explore ideas.

3. Reflection and Guidance:

After the students' attempts, the teacher discusses their methods and explains the correct way to solve the problem.

4. Deep Learning:

Because of the earlier struggle, students now understand why the correct solution works. They remember it better.

Example from Class 8

Imagine a Class 8 maths class. The teacher gives a problem:

"Find the area of an irregular shape that looks like a half circle attached to a rectangle."

At first, students try to use different formulas but get confused. Some try the wrong formula, and some calculate only part of the shape. They do not get the correct answer.

Then, the teacher asks them to share what they tried and discuss their methods. Finally, the teacher shows that the problem can be solved by dividing the shape into two parts: first, find the area of the rectangle, then find the location of the half circle, and add both.

Now the students understand clearly why their earlier attempts failed and how to approach similar problems in the future.

Their failure was productive—it helped them learn deeply.

Three-Layer Framework of Productive Failure

1. Task Layer:

The task should be challenging but not impossible. It should make students think and explore.

2. Participation Layer:

Students should actively take part, discuss ideas, and share their reasoning with classmates.

3. Social Surroundings Layer:

The classroom atmosphere should be positive, where students feel safe to make mistakes and learn from them.

Importance of Productive Failure in Learning

It helps students think critically instead of memorising answers.

It builds teamwork and communication skills.

It makes learning more interesting and long-lasting.

It teaches that making mistakes is normal and valuable.

 Example

In science class, students can make a simple water filter using sand, pebbles, and charcoal. The first time, their filtered water is still dirty. They try again, changing the order of materials or adding more layers. After several tries, they succeed. This is productive failure — their early failures helped them understand how filtration actually works.

Conclusion

Productive failure is a powerful way of learning. It shows that failing is not a sign of weakness but a step toward success. When students face challenges, make mistakes, and then learn from them, they become stronger thinkers and more confident learners.

As the saying goes, "Every failure is a lesson, and every lesson brings success closer." Productive failure reminds us that learning is not about being perfect — it's about trying, failing, learning, and growing.

Swati Tripathi 

Sunbeam Gramin School

The Scottish Incubator: Masterclass Saturday March 08, 2025

Chapter 17 The Scottish Incubator: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow by Naga Tummala

Q1. "There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less" – Kurt Hahn.

Actual growth often comes from overcoming one's own doubts, fears, and limitations rather than external challenges. As educators, how can we create environments that empower students to push past self-imposed barriers and reach their full potential?

Q2. Imagine you are designing a school curriculum where students learn as much outside the classroom as inside. What real-world experiences would you incorporate to develop resilience and leadership skills in students? 

Q3. A student in your class consistently misses deadlines and avoids responsibilities. At Gordonstoun, students are expected to self-report mistakes and take corrective actions. Instead of punishment, how would you create a system that encourages students to take accountability for their actions?

Q4. Hahn advocated for placing students in controlled, challenging situations to build resilience. How can we design safe yet challenging learning experiences that prepare students for real-world problem-solving?

Gurdeep Kaur
Ambassador The Teacher's Academy

Be a Dreamer - Prakash Dangi

Everyone has a dream in his life which they want to achieve when they grow up. Some kids want to become rich to buy anything ande want to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. But only you know that for achieving these goals, you have to work hard and stay attentive to them. In this essay on my dream, we will discuss the basic things that will help achieve my dream.

Some dream requires time, and they follow a process without following it you cannot achieve that dream.

1. Staying Motivated

Lack of motivation is one of the main causes that force a person to leave his dream behind. So, staying motivated is also part of the goal. And if you can’t stay positive, then you won’t be able to achieve the dream. There are many people out there that quit the journey of their dreams mid-way because they lack motivation.

2. Keep Remembering Goal

For completing the dream, you have to keep your dream in mind. And remind this dream daily. There come hard times when you feel like quitting. At those times, just remember the goal. It helps you stay positive. And if you feel like you messed up big times, then start over with a fresh mind.

3. Take Some Breaks

Working towards your goal does not mean that you work day and night without stopping. Apart from that, due to continuous efforts, people soon start to become de-motivated. So, taking a break will help your body and mind. For doing so, take a break in between your schedule for some time and Take Some Breaks.

4. Don’t Hesitate to Make Mistakes

We human beings fear making mistakes but e forget an important point that is a mistake that that helps us learn. Whenever you make a mistake, you face a tough time, but these tough times helps you to polish yourself and be more determined.

Prakash Dangi

pda@fabindiaschools.in

The Fabindia School

Humility - Manisha Deora

Courtesy: fordhaminstitute.com

Humility is the state of being humble. It is a virtue. It is the quality of keeping one’s self under control. It is the opposite of being proud. A person who possesses this quality is humble and meek. A humble person is the master of himself. He is not stubborn. He is ready to accept other people’s advice and learn from their experience. He is not annoyed with anybody. A proud person gets angry easily when something offends him. 

A humble person does not get angry easily. He admits his mistakes and shortcomings politely. A proud person does not admit his faults easily. He gets annoyed and blames others for his own mistakes. A proud person is stubborn and angry. He does not value another person’s suggestions and ideas. We must make our children humble in life because it spreads harmony among people. Humility makes a person more sensitive to understand other situations. So first we have to be humble towards children if we want them to be humble with others.

Courtesy Source: 

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/

Manisha Deora

The Fabindia School

mde@fabindiaschools.in

Important Gift For Oneself Is Being Honest - Kavitha Devda

Courtesy: beaninspire.com

What do you mean by ‘To be honest to ourselves’?

 Why one should be honest to themselves?

 

Being honest with ourselves is actually a great thing. If we will not be honest to ourselves then how can we expect from others. When we lie to others or if we cheat them then they will not know at that time but we ourselves know the wrong thing done with them. After doing anything wrong if we regret or apologize even then it makes us feel guilty and ashamed. Though we can hide from others but cannot hide anything to ourselves. 

In life, you can cheat others by fooling them but when it comes to cheating yourself, it is quite impossible. You cannot hide anything from yourself, as your inner person will remind you of all your mistakes. We can imbibe many values in us at any age. It is never too late to do anything or anything in life. It is not difficult to say that I am honest or I never lie, but when you try to do that it still makes you feel think. 

“The most important thing is always to be honest with yourself without hesitating about things that matter a lot”

Kavitha Devda 

The Fabindia School 

kda@fabindiaschools.in

Honesty and Respect - Richa Solanki

Honesty is one of the important assets for all of us. Honesty doesn’t come naturally, but it is an internal process of adopting it through a self point of view. It is the responsibility of educators to the guild and gives our children the benefit of an excellent character. Instead of angrily speaking with a child for dishonesty. It is important to let them know that they can count on each other to speak the truth, no matter how difficult it may be. It is essential for a child to know that once trust is broken, it is hard to get it back. So a clear statement should be given on honesty rather than punishment for immoral behaviour.

They should be motivated for their reliability and should be encouraged to tell the truth. 'Honesty is the best policy’ should be taught to children with high moral values. It will make a huge impact on society. An educator should make them understand that honesty is the key to success. Tolerance, patience, analysis, and trust are the best tools it can be used to help kids adopt honesty. You can help your child to correct their mistakes with forgiveness that can result in self-realisation and help them to take steps to correct their mistakes on their own. Parents and teachers should make children understand the difference between such lies and honesty by having a discussion when they are in need. 

When building trust through honesty, be prepared for the other person to share their honest thoughts about your work and how it affects them.  Students will not grow in an environment where the teacher oversteps their authority. And it is also important that students must also respond to what their teachers taught them and learning to listen is a part of learning  and self-respect involves respecting the beliefs of others. Students must understand the value of good manners and exercising good manners properly.

First, to become an honest person, you must be honest with yourself and with others also. And another thing is to learn to apologise and accepting responsibility for apologizing for mistake and wrongdoing. It makes you feel good from another's point of view. We should allow each other to have and express our own views, whether we agree with them or not because it shows respect for others views and it doesn't mean that we are always right. We must respect others decision also.

Richa Solanki

The Fabindia School

Honesty and Respect - Kavitha Devda

Honesty means being truthful. It is very important, to be honest at all times. Telling lies does

not get you anywhere except in more trouble. Honesty builds trusts. When someone lies it means the trust is broken. Once the trust is broken it is very hard to get it back. Being yourself means you accept yourself for who you are and by being an honest person, people will believe you and trust you. When we make some mistakes, we should accept it. Making mistakes always helps us to learn and correct our mistakes.

Honesty is always appreciated by everyone. Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. An Honest person shows good behaviour, always follows rules and regulations, maintains discipline, speaks the truth, and is punctual. An honest person is trustworthy as he always trends to speak the truth. Honesty helps in developing good attributes like kindness, discipline, truthfulness, moral integrity and more.

Respect begins with listening. Listening to what another person has to say is a basic way to respect them. Until you listen to another person’s concerns, you will not know who they are and what’s important to them. Life on earth is about serving others. In fact, our professions, our careers, and our jobs should revolve around a desire to serve others. We can serve without being kind. But it’s very difficult to be kind without serving. Kindness is an expression of respect. 

Respect for the fact that someone else is simply in need. We have all been in need. And what a relief it was when someone showed us kindness. Kindness is a tangible way of showing respect. Respect doesn’t always require thankfulness. But it often does. It’s just another way we show respect. It’s just another way that we feel respected. Everyone wants respect. Everyone should show respect. So hopefully everyone will receive the respect they’re due, and they’ll grant the respect due to others.

Kavitha Devda

The Fabindia School

Courage and Patience - Optimizer BHIS

Every teacher has a series of stories to share, so do I. My first teaching job was that of a primary teacher, though teaching was not new to me. I have been teaching for a very long time. I taught math and science to 4th and 5th graders then. When I went to this particular group of 4th graders to take my math class, everyone seemed happy to see me. There were greetings all around except Aman. I went up and greeted him as he looked down, ignoring me. I started teaching and solved a few questions on the board and while kids were writing in their notebooks I got the time to look into each student's work. Everyone was quick in writing down solved questions from the board, except  Aman.

Later I inquired about him and his behaviour. His class teacher informed me that he was a first-generation learner and had a learning disability. That very day during the dispersal I saw  Aman scribbling on the board with a smile. I got an idea of seeing this. Next day, I solved a sum on the board, explained a particular concept and later divided the board, using chalk, into three sections.

I called three students randomly to solve similar questions, every child was excited to solve the sums on the board and awaited their turn, eagerly. I saw Aman writing in his notebook. It was filled with many mistakes.  I corrected them and asked him to write the answer on the board. He hesitated but agreed to copy it from his corrected notebook. I appreciated his work and asked everyone to clap for him. I could see the smile of achievement on his face. After this, we continued doing this every single day. He was appointed the homework monitor. One part of the board had been assigned to him for solving homework answers on the board. Of course for a math teacher to give time for homework solving in class is time-consuming and frustrating. Yet, I was PATIENCE and the whole class co-operated. So I feel in this process of teaching we all learnt the art of PATIENCE.

I could see a drastic change in Aman's behaviour. He began to greet me with a smile whenever I entered the classroom. In fact, he waited for the math class, where he felt like the star of the class. Moreover, he became a happy child, more confident than he was before, and was enthusiastic to come to school. He started showing COURAGE. Every child in the classroom got a chance to solve sums on board, but for  Aman, it became a symbol of his achievement. A permanent column was made on the board for him to solve the sums. He started doing his homework regularly, knowing he had to do it on board every day.

" A little patience can make a timid child courageous".

If you love and care for someone you have to have patience and understand their behaviour. When you do that to bring in some positive change in your students it makes you feel happy and this happiness translates into a more interacting and enthusiastic class.

Optimizer @ Billabong High International School Thane.

- Rupal Trivedi, Kalyani Chaudhari, Madhubala Saji, Kshama Rajgor, Momita Banerjee, Ajita Bhoir & Sanket Patel

Mistakes Are Beautiful

Mistakes play a very important role in determining all relations -  relationships with others and also with oneself, ones work as well as our overall approach towards life.

We often bring up children with rules that are strict, it's good to have rules but it's important to be realistic. Mistakes are important for success and growth. Breaking rules happens, even if we try not to because there's nothing absolute or 100%. Inventions, innovations, reflection, introspection, learning, relearning - won't happen if there's no room for making mistakes.

Let's stop to put strong mental boundaries in relationships. Let's stop to expect everyone to match our intellectual capacity or our expectations. Let's be open to diversity, be open to others making mistakes and let's fill in the gaps with patience, compassion and tolerance.

So next time when one of your student breaks a rule or makes a mistake, let's see it differently. Let's hold ourselves from reacting, let's step back within our mind from holding judgements and labelling the child bad, silly, unintelligent or good-for-nothing - let's instead become aware of our own aggression, intolerance, irritation. Let's give space to people to grow, let's point out mistakes but let's not point out at people. People are dynamic, ever changing.

However please don't make this concept an excuse to adhere to your 'blindness' or as a means to escape from reality. Mistakes are beautiful if they are accepted with compassion and reflected  upon with wisdom.

Thought provoking piece by Venus Upadhayaya, a contributing Blogger and inspiring individual.