Copy or Not to Copy & Fear vs Courage

 Learning Forward Saturday

Continue reading “Wanted Back-bencher and Last-ranker Teacher” and discuss its themes.

Key Takeaways

• Roma’s Strategy: To motivate her difficult class for a presentation, Roma shared her own past struggles with stage fright and low confidence. This humanised her, building trust and showing that overcoming fear is possible.

• Cheating Dilemma: A student’s detailed advice on how to cheat effectively prompted a discussion on integrity, highlighted by Roma’s decision to refuse a leaked exam paper in high school.

• Public Speaking as a Skill: Roma reframed the upcoming assembly as a crucial opportunity to develop critical thinking, verbal skills, and confidence, directly addressing students’ anxieties.

• The “Air Hostess” Experiment: To cure her stage fright, Roma applied for an air hostess job. She passed the interview by mastering facts, proving that deep knowledge, not a memorised script, is the key to confident communication.

Topics

Context: “Wanted Back-bencher and Last-ranker Teacher” by Kavita Ghosh

• The group is reading a book about Roma, an unconventional teacher who joined the profession for a certification, not by choice.

• The book’s title comes from a school advertisement, reflecting Roma’s non-traditional background.

Chapter: To Copy or Not to Copy

• During exams, students asked if Roma ever cheated.

• Roma admitted to being caught once, prompting a student (Jeevan) to offer detailed advice on how to cheat effectively.

• The Dilemma: Roma’s best friend, Rubina, offered her a leaked Class 12 board exam paper.

• The Decision: Roma refused to look at the paper, choosing integrity over a guaranteed high score.

• The Outcome: She never regretted the decision, finding deep satisfaction in earning her marks honestly.

• Invigilation Tactic: Roma used a non-confrontational approach during an exam, returning dropped papers to students without accusation.

  • Rationale: This gave students the “benefit of the doubt” while subtly signalling she was aware of their attempts to cheat.

Chapter: Fear vs Courage

• Staff Room Discussion: A colleague (Sumita) expressed doubt that Roma’s difficult class could deliver a successful assembly presentation.

  • Topic: “A Leader knows the Way, Goes the Way, and Shows the Way” (John C. Maxwell).

• Student Anxiety: Roma’s students were anxious, recalling a “disastrous” presentation last year that left them feeling ridiculed and humiliated.

• Roma’s Framing: Roma reframed public speaking as a vital life skill for:

  • Developing critical thinking

  • Fine-tuning verbal and non-verbal skills

  • Overcoming stage fright

• Roma’s Personal Story: To build trust, Roma shared her own history of stage fright.

  • The Failure: At 15, she froze during an inter-school debate, unable to recall her prepared speech.

  • The Experiment: To overcome this, she applied for an air hostess job.

    • Method: She mastered all facts about the airline and aviation industry.

    • Result: She passed the interview, proving that deep knowledge, not a memorised script, builds confidence.

  • The Insight: Public speaking is about connecting with people using relevant information, not just delivering a speech.

• Arctic Air Interview: Roma later faced a group discussion (GD) for a corporate internship.

  • Topic: “Women deprive men of jobs.”

  • Challenge: She had to navigate a competitive environment with 35 other applicants, including university debaters.

Next Steps

• Participants: Reflect on personal experiences with public speaking or integrity and share them with the group.

• Group: Meet next Saturday at the same time to continue reading.

• Group: Note the time change for the session after schools reopen in July.

Love Learning vs Hate Learning

Learning Forward Saturday, March 28, 2026, with Brinda Ghosh and Sandeep Dutt

Today’s session was deeply thought-provoking, focusing on the emotional journey of a student who struggles academically. The passage highlighted how stressful and painful the waiting period for results can be, especially for students who lack confidence in their abilities. The line “The two months… had been sheer torture” clearly reflects the anxiety and fear students experience.

What stood out to me was how the student actually knew some answers and had put in effort, yet the rigid evaluation system failed to acknowledge partial understanding. This made me realise how important it is for teachers to appreciate students’ efforts, rather than just focus on final results.

The session helped me understand that many so-called “weak” students are not incapable, but often discouraged by the system and a lack of support. As a future teacher, I feel it is important to create a classroom where mistakes are valued as part of learning and where students feel encouraged rather than judged.

Overall, the session was insightful and reminded me to be more empathetic, patient, and supportive toward every learner.

Ankita Mishra

The reflection on ‘Love learning and hate learning’ resonates deeply. In this context, the role of a teacher is crucial. They can nurture the love for learning by creating a supportive environment, celebrating small wins, and making learning enjoyable. They can also help students navigate the struggles by providing guidance, scaffolding challenges, and fostering a growth mindset. By doing so, teachers can help students see learning as a journey of growth rather than a source of stress.

Monika Ojha

Today’s session was thought-provoking, highlighting the emotional struggles of academically weak students. The line “The two months… had been sheer torture” clearly showed the anxiety they faced. It made me realise that students often put in effort, but rigid evaluation fails to recognise it. I learned that “weak” students are not incapable; they are just discouraged. As a future teacher, I will focus on being empathetic and supportive, and on valuing effort over results.

Neha Pandey 

Today’s session gave me a deep insight into the emotional challenges faced by students who struggle academically. The line “The two months… had been sheer torture” strongly conveyed the stress and frustration such students go through during their learning journey.

It helped me understand that many students make genuine efforts, but traditional assessment methods often overlook their progress. Being labelled as “weak” can lower their confidence and motivation. In reality, these students are not less capable; they simply require more guidance, patience, and encouragement.

As a teacher, I want to adopt a compassionate and understanding approach. I will try to create a classroom environment where every child feels safe, respected, and encouraged to learn. 

Jyoti Pandey

The distinction between “loving ”and ‘hating’ learning is a powerful one. It highlights why the teacher’s role is so vital; by fostering a supportive environment and celebrating incremental progress, educators can transform challenges into growth opportunities. When teachers provide the right scaffolding and encourage a growth mindset, they effectively shift the student’s perspective from stress to a genuine love for the journey.

Jyoti Mishra

Fear VS Courage - Sunbeam Bhagwanpur

Fear vs. Courage highlights two contrasting yet interconnected emotions. Fear is like when your heart races, your palms get sweaty, or you feel shaky before doing something that scares you. Fear can impact a person’s life in both positive and negative ways.

Negative:

1. Physical Health leads to chronic stress, high B.P., sleep deprivations, tension, fatigue

2. Anxiety and Depression decrease self-esteem, panic situation

3. Fear can lead to avoiding situations or activities

Positive: 

1. It increases awareness, can sharpen focus, and helps people to stay alert.

2. Fear is a natural, subjective feeling; there is no place for objectivity in it. Everyone has this feeling at some point in life.

Courage can be used to handle fear. People believe that courage is the absence of fear. But I think that courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it is the ability to deal with it.

Courageous people do feel fear, but they can manage it. Courage is the willingness to act despite fear.

Finally, fear is normal, but courage is what helps us grow.

Sneha Singh
Sanyogita Dubey
Reeta Tiwari
Sunbeam School Bhagwanpur

Fear Vs Courage - Sunbeam Schools QCR&D Team

"Don't fear the exam; make the exam fear you". The QCR&D Team has done a fantastic job of explaining the anxiety that young people experience before exams and how they can support the students.

Understanding Fear and Embracing Courage

This concept is pivotal for educators as it encourages everyone to take risks, push their boundaries, and discover their true potential.

Honesty and Respect - Jaspreet Kaur

1. What are the most common instances of dishonest behaviour shown by students in class? (Pick 3 such instances and try to analyse the reasons behind such behaviour)

One day I gave a class test on English in Grade IV.

I observed one student looking here and there while taking the test. I had doubts, I checked his desk, and to my surprise, he had opened a fair notebook inside the desk. I counselled that child about honesty. The reason can be performance anxiety and fear of failure. As educators, we should counsel the parents not to compare their kids with other students. The best way is to compare the child with his/her own previous performance.

Second, I was teaching in Grade V, and one of my students came to me and was very sad. I asked her why she blamed her co-partner for taking her pencil without permission. I asked her co-partner about this. She denied it, and both students started arguing. I told them to honestly let us know about pencils, but all in vain. I had no option; I divided the pencil into two pieces and gave them to both students. The reason can be peer pressure; students want everything their classmates have.

Finally, after the Pandemic, when offline exams were taken, few students allowed other students to see their answer sheets. That is also dishonesty, and the reason could be performance anxiety.

2. How far is it true that you must show respect to earn respect in a classroom? Give an instance where you saw this play out?

It is observed that when one student respects another student, that particular student definitely helps that person when he/ she is in need. As educators, when we respect the student’s needs, feelings and emotions, they automatically connect to us. When we earn respect, then students share their every problem with us. 

Jaspreet Kaur
Kamla Nehru Public School, JOL Cohort 2022

Handling Pressure - Nikita Rajpurohit

You might have come around terms like depression, stress, anxiety, or any other similar negative terms. You might have read many intellectual articles reflecting the reason behind these negative feelings, but the only key reason common in all of them is Pressure or Stress. 

Pressures are of various types:- 

Physical pressure

Emotional pressure

Psychological pressure

Psycho-spiritual pressure

Everyone is going through some or other kind of pressure. The pressure of academic performance, the pressure of earning a good living in society, the pressure of feeding family, the pressure of making your own life successful, etc. And the fact is that no remedy can help you escape the pressures in life; you have to fight daily with these pressures and overcome them.

Some people become a conqueror and win over these pressures, while others lose their willpower and kneel before them.

Students are handling mainly three pressures in life:-

To achieve great academic results

To chase their aim and work accordingly.

To balance their skills between academics and other practical skills.

Learning healthy ways to cope and getting the right care and support can help reduce stressful feelings and symptoms. The symptoms may be physical or emotional. For example, if you are emotional and nervous or have trouble sleeping or losing appetite, it can all be normal reactions to stress.  It's very much important to handle stress to live a healthy life. 

Follow some tips to relieve yourself from the stress.

Take good care of yourself:- Eat healthily, exercise daily, sleep well and give yourself a break if stressed out.

Talk:- Talk about your feelings with your friends, parents, or the one you trust. Taking time to share your feelings and to listen and support others will go a long way.

Entertain yourself:- Watch a TV show, listen to music or podcast, watch a comedy show that makes you laugh.

Cook or bake something:- Just the thought of having something delicious to eat can bring you enough joy. 

You can't feed your mind well if you don't feed your body well. So during this unprecedented time, let us support and be there for each other.  Stay fit, Stay healthy, Stay strong. 

Nikita Rajpurohit

nra@fabindiaschools.in

The Fabindia School

Simple Living and High Thinking - Bharti Rao

Modern Times has brought a change in the lifestyle of the people. They have changed their way of living. The emergence of technology and new inventions has made their life easier and materialistic. This has confined them in the four walls of their office or home.

They have lost their simple joys somewhere like spending time with families, friends, relatives etc. They do not go and spend their time in the natural environment or play outside or read books. This is destroying their ability to think high. The new lifestyle has led to various diseases like obesity, diabetes, cancer etc.

Due to this, people are overburdened, stressed, full of anxiety and negative thoughts. To maintain a lavish lifestyle, one spends more than he earns. To meet his lavish lifestyle, he has to take a loan or make compromises. One who lives a simple lifestyle doesn’t have to compromise or take a loan or be stressed about monetary joys. If you live simply, you will get time to think about the other important aspects. You will not be stressed. Instead, you will be peaceful at heart. High thinking means to think positively and for the betterment of oneself and humanity. 

If you are not stressed or worried, it will positively affect one’s life, so you should always live simply. If you eat healthy food, exercise properly, think positively, stay happy, it will lead to happy & healthy life. I would like to end by quoting, ‘A person should never be judged by his clothes; for simplicity lies in simple living & high thinking.’  

Bharti Rao

The Fabindia School

bro@fabindiaschools.in