Thoughtfulness and Understanding- Prachi Jain

We meet these people almost every day in our life, whenever we step out of our house.

They are important, but we underestimate them because their hard work is not packed up in some expensive and decorative wrappers and then labelled with some big brand names. Even after knowing this fact, we try to low-ball these vendors in price, we bargain with them while we pay EXTRA very much when it comes to brand name. 

If we talk about a classroom, the same thing happens with the children also. We always go after those children who can fetch our attention towards them. But what about those who actually need attention and are not able to express it. Most of the times, they are missed out, their need is also underestimated, and their emotions are bargained with.

So, on the part of a teacher-

Ø Thoughtfulness is the quality of thinking carefully about how to do something which is effective for every child.

And, for a student-

Ø Thoughtfulness are showing kind and considerate regard for those who showed the right path to them and helped them reach their goal. For them,

It’s THOUGHTFULNESS that inspires them to send a “thank you” note to –

§  Their grandparents for the birthday gift.

§  Their teachers on Teacher’s Day and much more….

We should always be thankful to the people at the previous steps who taught us how to move up, how to grow before we move to the next one.

Thoughtful people pay attention to the people around them, reflects on the situation and then choose to react and act purposefully and lovingly which takes a bit more consideration & time and most important-

A lovely quote that fits here-

                   “Never underestimate the power of thought; it is the greatest path to discovery.”

It shows that – Thoughtfulness and Understanding work in a cycle. If we start with Thoughtfulness, we come with a better understanding all the way and when we start with Understanding, we make an arrangement about actions to be taken.

Thoughtfulness has the power to change/improvise our thoughts, and Understanding gives us the power to take action for an effective outcome.

- Prachi Jain, The Doon Girls' School, Dehradun

Thoughtfulness and Understanding - Reah Sikand

Thoughtfulness and understanding are two values that go hand in hand. Thoughtfulness means to be considerate towards others. Children start interacting with others at a young age. Thus, this value should be instilled in them from a young age. Kids should understand the meaning of thoughtfulness as this makes them caring individuals.

My grandmother always taught me that we must put ourselves in the other person's place before we judge them or react to their actions. This made me realise that circumstances make people behave in a certain way. Everyone needs love and care.

One day I entered the class and started teaching the kids, and a few of the kids came to me after class and asked me if I was doing okay since they noticed I wasn’t myself in class that day. I was surprised to realise that the kids had noticed I was sad.

We need to treat kids like adults and communicate with them. We need to tell them to help others and care about others. Kids learn this quality very quickly because they are pure souls. When children visit NGOs, they become more sensitive towards others. Thus, schools must encourage their kids to do social work.

Understanding is to feel an emotion another person is feeling. We must understand individuals, and we must learn to empathise with others. We tend to become selfish and only think about ourselves, but if we only think about ourselves, no one will think about us as well.

If there is open communication between children and adults, these values will be easy to understand for kids. Being a good human being is very important for a better world, and for that, teaching kids moral values are the most important thing. When adults are happy and calm, and peaceful, kids will automatically develop this attitude.

- Reah Sikand
The Doon Girls' School, Dehradun

Thoughtfulness and Understanding - Bharti Dangwal

Understanding

Understanding is deeper than knowledge. Many people know you, but very few understand you.

This is one of the many thoughts that tells us that it is not necessary to have a lot of knowledge when understanding others. As nothing makes you a better person than being understanding towards others. A knowledgeable person doesn't need to always understand you. It needs a lot more than knowledge to understand others.

Understanding comes through communication, and understanding we find the way to peace. 

Also, if you need people around you and your surroundings to be happy, you first need to understand them and empathize with them. Then, only you will be able to figure out their problems and needs. 

As a member of the staff of my school, I know my students. I understand them, their behaviour, their mood, their problems, their attitude and their anger. Everything they are going through. I can do it as I try to understand them and think according to their perspective. 

I am also fully aware of the behaviour changes of my family members. Their needs and problems. I know when my sons are happy or sad or angry. I am also able to figure out why they have those mood swings. 

I also know how my cows are doing. What they need and why they are behaving strangely. 

This is all because I am staying with them from the start. I have been taking care of them since I found them. I have always tried to understand them. 

Understanding is fundamental and why it is important is because we live in a world that has become selfish and only thinks about ourselves. The emotions like anger, happiness, sadness, irritation, compassion, and understanding are part of the social world. 

To maintain balance in the world, it is essential to have an understanding of nature. 

Understanding brings kindness, happiness, compassion and cares to others. Understanding can also help us to reason out our anger also and keep ourselves and the other calm. All the emotions are interlinked with understanding.

Thoughtfulness

To be thoughtful means to be full of thoughts, and it also means to be considerate of others. It also indicates that we are kind or sympathetic towards each other.

We could also say that thoughtfulness includes doing good things for others without any selfish motive and expecting something in return. Sending flowers or gifts to others to make them happy, smile, or wish them whenever you meet them shows your thoughtfulness towards them. Thinking about others is also a part of thoughtfulness. It also means helping others in their difficult times or taking care of your family. Students need to have sympathy, kindness and care towards others, which can only come when they are thoughtful and think about others. For inculcating thoughtfulness in the student's many activities can be done in class, making a student kind, motivated, and helpful. 

The activities such as teachers can narrate them moral stories or stories related to kindness or watch movies that motivate them or be aware of others. We can ask them to do role plays where they can show some kindness or the act of caring for others. 

Teachers can have fun games for students regarding thoughtfulness. They can make a kindness tree in their class to write good things about their classmates every day. Each day they can write for different people. By doing such activities, they will know what others are doing for them and what they are doing. 

Motivation can be inculcated in students through rewards or praises. For example, whenever the students answer in class, they can praise them or provide stars or stickers.  The students can also appreciate the kid by giving positive feedback or giving applause to the student. Also, if a student gives a wrong answer, the teacher should not criticise him for the wrong answer but appreciate an answer, and the other students should not laugh or humiliate each other. In this way, students enjoy the class, but they get motivated to answer more and interact more.

So being thoughtful towards your surroundings is the best thing to make the world a better place for you and the people.

- Bharti Dangwal@JMMS, John Martyn Memorial School, Salangaon, Dehradun

Thoughtfulness & Understanding - Super7 BHIS

HELPING HANDS

Different people see the world from different perspectives. Very often people do not see eye to eye with one another which leads to misunderstandings. Some choose to mope, groan, and even get angry about the way that themselves or others are treated while some decide to try and do something about it. Still, there are others who think to themselves that maybe the best way to deal with disagreements is to try and comprehend what others mean. This can be done only by the power of understanding. This is a very powerful virtue - if one is understanding enough, he can win the world very easily. An understanding person has more friends than foes and in case of any predicament, he will always have his well-wishers stand up for him as a wall of strength.

Thoughtfulness and understanding are two sides of the same coin- you possibly cannot be one without being the other. A thoughtful person is always considerate about others - he will never spell out anything that might be a cause of pain for someone else.

Thoughtfulness can also describe the intellectual depth - we have all read poems, stories and essays which speak of the thoughtfulness of the writer. Such works can be inspirational - they can motivate others to tread the same path. Only if the members are compassionate enough, can the society progress.

A perfect example to illustrate this would definitely be the current scenario - the unprecedented pandemic has perhaps been the greatest test of the two virtues. This is the time when we had to be thoughtful of each other's needs and work together to combat the disaster. We have seen workers from several sectors such as healthcare, police, emergency workers working on the front line to help others. Each member of the society had to understand the need of the hour and work accordingly. In the field of education, the teachers needed to quickly learn the various facets of technology in order to facilitate uninterrupted learning. Teachers also had to be understanding of the needs and restrictions of the learners and modify the curriculum accordingly. In most sectors, workers tried their best to work from home and employers had been considerate about the requirements of the employees. These are the two virtues which helped the society to move forward even during the phase of lockdown.

Online classes have proved to helpful for the children - the classes reduced their boredom and tried to bring about a little colour and cheer in their lives. Students were enthusiastic about trying on the new platform and could quickly adapt to the change from real to virtual. Students were able to devote time to learning new things without having to visit the schools. They were excited at being able to meet their peers and teachers, albeit virtually. Apart from studies, schools have also planned several Co-Curricular Activities, Yoga Sessions, Motivational Talks to keep the young minds happy and fresh. Rudransh Awasthi, a student of BHIS Thane, will share his views on this topic.

Super 7 @ Billabong High International School, Thane - Sayantani Mukherjee, Dimple Awasthi, Ritu Chitnis, Manjusha Saji, Jyoti Ramdhave, Vijaylaxmi Ramesh & Sumati Muthukumar

Freedom & Peace - Penta BHIS

                                                   

             FREEDOM                         &                                  PEACE

                                               
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” -----Malcolm X

In a class of 25, the teacher looks at each students’ skills - reading, writing and listening, emotional and academic abilities. She then puts her energies to nurture and nourish them. Some students in the class are good at academics and some are strong emotionally. In a peaceful classroom, every student has the freedom to express himself/herself without being judged. Everyone enjoys the freedom of expression, but not the freedom to hurt or ridicule. Freedom entails responsibility – this is exemplified by the teacher.

A young class is always energetic and raring to go. However, Saanvi is quiet in her ways, never

giving in to be a part of her playful and noisy peers. Saanvi never shows agitation or adds to any chaos that claims the class during breaks or P.E. classes. She is always poised and composed. The teacher watches out for her personality traits. Is Saanvi shy? An introvert? Incapable of holding her own in an argument? Does she have difficulty in expressing herself? Thankfully, the answers are in the negative. In today’s World of widespread commotion and one-upmanship, Saanvi does not want to steal anyone’s thunder. She awaits her turn, quietly helps others and does not crave for acknowledgement. If appreciated, she looks contented, and chirps a polite ‘Thank you, Miss.’
No teacher can find anything to complain about a child who is so composed and considerate to others. On the PTM day, the teacher wants to find out more about Saanvi. Is she so troubled that she has nothing to say?

During the PTM, the lobby and the class are crowded with parents. Every parent, while awaiting their turn, is talking. Soon the conversation of adults assumes a rising crescendo. Most parents do not take the trouble of keeping their phones on the silent mode. Adding to the cacophony, are the numerous ringtones as are the loud instructions to domestic help or the formal talk given to a colleague at the other end. Of course, no teacher has the wherewithal to step into this space to rein in the disturbance. In spite of their surroundings, a couple continues to wait patiently. Their phones do not ring for anyone to hear, they do not complain about a fellow parent breaking the queue or compare children’s performances loudly. When it is their turn to meet the teacher, they begin with a smile and a compliment to her.

During the conversation, they smile at each other and the teacher a lot, appreciate the work of the teachers and discuss areas of improvement to make their child a better human being. Needless to say, the teacher recognizes them as Saanvi’s parents. The apple has not fallen far from the tree. Often parents forget that their children carry their implicit attributes to the outside world.



The teacher could see that PEACE was a state of mind, irrespective of one’s surroundings.
In a classroom where a teacher teaches and students learn, there are some days when students teach, and the teachers learn.

Every year when students get promoted to a higher class, there is a state of anxiety in the students and parents with regard to the new teacher and how he/she will be. But as the school reopens and days pass by, the teacher begins to know the class well. It is when the student has the freedom to express and knows that he/she would be heard and cared for in any situation, does the classroom acquire a sense of contentment, even peace.

Saanvi taught her teacher “Do not let the behaviour of others destroy your inner peace.” (The Dalai Lama)
Without this peace, a sense of freedom is not possible.

Penta @ Billabong International High School, Thane

- Jeeji Sanjeev, Sanika Joshi, Arpita M.G., Muskaan Menda, Radhika Anand, Supriya Naravankar & Bhavani Swamy.