My Good School - Where Passion Meets Education

A BOOK FOR ANYONE AND EVERYONE ASSOCIATED WITH SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLING.

This book is for parents to select the school for their child, as the choice can have a lifelong impact on the growth and personality of the child.

A guide for you to look beyond that high-rise building and those perfectly manicured lawns—to go deeper in your search for your good school. It will encourage you to observe, question, and evaluate, and choose a school that will truly prepare your child for a life beyond the campus, a life beyond theory, a life beyond algebra.

This book will help educators, school administrators and management to build and rebuild such institutions and change the future of learning.

Enriched with the knowledge, experience and, most importantly, the wisdom of The Doon School alumnus and school improvement coach Sandeep Dutt, this book will encourage conversations around our education system and help shape the future of education in the world.

THREE KEYS

• The author, Sandeep Dutt, is an alumnus of the Doon School and he has decades-long experience of working with schools to improve their outlook in qualitative terms.

• With the New Education Policy coming in, education has again become a focus area for our country.

• This book caters to a wide audience—from parents to teachers to school management.

Inside the book

Section I The What, the Why and the How of Teaching

1. Why go to school?
2. Quality in education
3. How your child learns the best
4. Performance scores must be honest
5. People, process and outcomes
6. Choice of curriculum
7. Building schools with quality
8. Fun in learning, learning is fun
9. Life is parenting
10. An eager child or an enthusiastic teacher?
11. Why teachers are averse to change

Section II Redefining Education and Learning

1. Reading at the heart of education
2. Innovation and design
3. The art of writing in school
4. The Annual Day at school
5. Schools must provide knowledge, not mere information
6. Value of liberal arts education
7. Humanity must learn humanities
8. New teaching and learning approaches
9. Freedom to perform

Section III Lessons for Life

1. What education does
2. School bell: The first lesson in time management
3. Going to school
4. Learning: From isolation to collaboration
5. Teachers travel with you all your life
6. Personal and social development at school
7. Real-world learning
8. Today is the day when you define for yourself

Section IV School Leadership

1. Leadership begins and ends at the top
2. Principal as the chief learning leader
3. Student leader: Mentor or monitor?
4. Smart teachers make smart classes
5. Conclusion: My Good School—where passion meets education

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SANDEEP DUTT is a school coach, bookseller, runner, mountaineer and social entrepreneur. His work for the International Award for Young People (IAYP) has been widely acknowledged all over the world. As a social entrepreneur, Sandeep works to empower young people and has been a mentor for many. His mission is to ‘help schools deliver better’ with a focus on building professional learning communities at schools. Find out more about the author https://sdutt.com/

Get. your author-signed copies only from The English  Book Depot

ISBN 978-93-90547-40-1
Price Rs 295.00 - By Post, Free Delivery in India only

All earning from the book will go the Learning Forward India Foundation

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Leaders: Get Out of Your Office!

How have you been successful in demagnetising yourself from the office? What do Principals do in their offices all day? There iPhone connects with Google Drive, Twitter, Evernote and Google Hangouts. Embrace the digital tools that empower your Smartphone to be the hub that turns the gears for your school site.

After first hearing about #NoOfficeDay on Twitter last week, it actually made me kind of laugh. The #NoOfficeDay is a Tweeting Challenge a challenge for principals, to spend more time each day in classrooms than their office. This is one of the ways to demagnetise from the office. On#NoOfficeDay; #NoOfficeDay should be about learning alongside teachers and students.

Each week, keep these questions in mind:

• What did I learn? 
• What did I notice? 
• What do the teachers and students want me to learn?

No Office Days should be special. Shouldn’t have supervision or evaluation of teachers; instead, participate actively in learning and teaching as a peer. Sometimes teach a lesson ... Sometimes provide student support... Still other times, simply be present, participating enthusiastically in whatever the activity is. Be highly visible on campus, while staying connected through a plethora of digital tools throughout the day. 

Here is a defining question: Where is the action, in the office or on the campus grounds? If you answered “the office,” you have a better chance of catching a javelin than you do of being a successful principal. The principal should be where the action is, which is where the students are—in the classrooms, around the campus, on the playground, in the cafeteria, and on the swing set. Only by

observing the students in their element can one truly understand their experiences, feel their existence, and know the goings-on of the entire school. And there is no substitute for that knowledge.

It’s such a simple concept -- but it makes a huge impact, Whitaker told Education World. I would tell all administrators, to be in the classrooms -- immerse yourself in the learning of your building. Make it a priority.

How does this help students? Administrators get the opportunity to see students interacting in a classroom environment. Some students need to know that they are safe. When students see administrators, they understand that they are not very far away, when and if, they need them. It also shows teachers that their administrators care about what they're doing in the classroom. A kind word on the part of a principal can help a student stay on track.

Visibility breeds reassurance and familiarity, while at the same time offering a healthy dose of fear and order. It has been said that when a principal walks into a room, it has the same effect as seeing a state trooper pulling onto the highway—the students straighten up and “take their foot off the gas,” even if they weren’t speeding (or, misbehaving). 

I promise that if we make walkthroughs a priority, you will see significant changes in school climate, teacher diligence, student performance, and many of the "issues" that pull you back to the office will disappear of their own accord.

Inspired from the article on edutopia.org “Administrators: How to Get Out of the Office and Into Classrooms”

~ Ms. Rajeshree Shihag is the Principal of The Fabindia School. Her email address is principal@fabindiaschools.in