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.

To Copy or Not to Copy Part 1

Learning Forward Saturday

The meeting centred on reflections and discussions on adolescent behaviour, particularly the chapter “Right vs. Wrong” and the upcoming chapter “To Copy vs. Not to Copy.” Sneha Pundir shared reflections on alienation, emphasising that punitive measures such as detention can exacerbate disconnection. Anurag Tripathi’s reflection underscored the importance of empathy and trust in schools to prevent high-risk behaviours. The discussion also addressed the impact of peer pressure and the need for healthy coping mechanisms. Roma’s story in the chapter illustrated the importance of honesty and effective learning techniques, such as associating information with personal milestones.

To Copy VS Not To Copy- Sunbeam Bhagwanpur School

Copy vs Not to Copy: A Moral Lesson

In a thought-provoking and engaging scene enacted by three teachers, students are taught the importance of integrity and the consequences of dishonesty during examinations. The short play "The Choice is Yours" explores the dilemma of copying versus honest effort and leaves a lasting impact on everyone who watches it.

The scene is set in a classroom during an examination. Teacher 1, known for strict but fair demeanour, reminded the students about the importance of honesty, urging them to rely on their preparation and trust in their abilities. Shortly the teacher stepped out, leaving the students under the supervision of Teacher 2, a lighthearted and mischievous character. Teacher 2, pretending to represent the tempting voice of shortcuts, humorously encouraged the idea of peeking at a friend’s answers, suggesting it was a harmless and quick solution.

However, Teacher 3, the calm observer, questioned this mindset, and pointed out the deeper implications of such actions, asking whether copying truly helped in the long run or merely set students up for failure when no one was there to assist them.

The turning point came when Teacher 1 returned and caught a student (imagined) red-handed in the act of copying. They sternly explained the consequences, underscoring that dishonesty leads to failure and regret. Teacher 2, acting as the enabler, tried to defend the action, suggesting that it was common and insignificant. Teacher 3, in a composed manner, delivered the moral of the story, stating that true growth comes from hard work and honest effort, not shortcuts.

The scene concluded with a powerful message from all three teachers. They highlighted the importance of choosing integrity over dishonesty, even when it feels challenging. The enactment ended with a meaningful quote:

“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” – C.S. Lewis

The impactful performance a reminder to the students that while the path of honesty may be difficult, it is the only one that leads to true success and self-respect. It encouraged everyone to embrace integrity as a core value in their academic journey and beyond.

Reeta Tiwari, Sneha Singh and Sanyogita Dubey 
Sunbeam English School Bhagwanpur, Varanasi

Who is a child and who is a teacher? Part 2

Yesterday five years old Amrita came home and opened her tuition notebook. She said, “Mother told to ask you to help me do this.” I looked into the book. Her tuition teacher had scribbled A, B,C,D…till L. She was supposed to copy it in the empty lines. I asked her, “Do you know this?”

Holding her breath, she said, “She just gives me to write. She doesn’t teach anything. (Likhati hai. Padati nahi).” For some time I was stuck. There was a truth in her message. The child knew there’s a difference between just writing and actually learning.

I wasn’t happy that I have to make her do something that she and I don’t like. Her mother was sending her to tuitions and I was being forced to make her do her tuition’s homework.

So I thought of making it fun. We started to sing – A, B, C, D…..after singing few times, Amrita started to dance; I asked her to do so. Sometimes like a bird, sometimes like a butterfly! But after her D, every time, she would said F,G,G….We sang many times, but it remained F,G,G. I was feeling irritated and was conscious that my irritation shouldn’t reflect on her. I didn’t want my irritation to touch her. That would be so much against the compassion, I practice! So we let it be F,G,G ☺

While taking out her eraser from her bag, Amrita’s money fell out – few one rupee, two rupees and a five rupee coins; she said, “I’m saving them. When I go to my village, I’ll give to my sister.” And then she told me that all her sisters (cousins) live in the village.

When that day her mother came to pick her up, she told me how Amrita doesn’t spend her pocket money. She said, “The younger one wants everything for herself and this one doesn’t want anything.”

Then she went about describing how she bought a Johnson’s baby soap for her baby brother. I said, “Amita, why did you not buy soap for yourself but your brother?” She became a little hesitant, her head bent down, a little embarrassed as if she didn’t like this being told, a little irritated. She said, “I already have for myself.”

An educator would understand this child has a compassionate heart and this becomes tricky when the younger sibling seeks attention. For parents start to draw comparison as Amrita’s mother has started to do and feel irritated with her younger daughter. She’s just not like Amrita!

Let’s get back to the homework. As soon as Amrita finished it, she said, “Yesterday you mentioned that we would draw my dad.” I said, “Ok, we’ll draw.”

“We’ll draw a flower also,” she continued. Amrita has been to school just for a month before the summer vacations and her teacher had taught her number digits till 10. “She has taught us to draw a flag and to draw a flower,” Amrita said.

Amrita’s mother has never been to school and wants a better future for her children. Polio disabled her husband when he was a child. He now works as a sweeper and though the couple understand that the tuition teacher is not teaching well they have no way to identity that and help their child. Millions of parents in India are like that. They don’t know how to help their child as their world changes.

Amrita told me that the tuition teacher beats her. “She hits with a stick at the back. Bahoot dukhta hai (it hurts badly),” she said. Later her mother told me the tuition teacher is a middle aged woman with three grown up kids and at times, she makes her children teach the little ones and asks her son to beat up the little girls. I wonder how many children she would have mistreated like this in her life – how many wounds she would have inflicted on their psyche. Doesn’t it hurt her to hurt such tender, small children?

I handed over a cushion and a wooden big spoon to Amrita and asked her to show me how the teacher beats her. She put the cushion in front of her like a drum and beat it four times, the last one being the one when she raised her arm the highest and the strongest.

Trauma gets deep rooted in the psyche of a child, as much as love does!

The next day when Amrita came home, she had on her own learned to say E,F,G. I was glad in two hours she had learned through play all that the tuition teacher couldn’t teach her through stick. Next day I made her mother understand that Amrita has no need to go to the extra tuition class.

Before she left for the day Amrita said pointing at the lonely five rupee coin in her purse, “My mother doesn’t have bindiya. I’ll buy her one (sachet) with this. These days, she put a dot on her head with the nail polish.”

While mentioning this, her five years old face was intensely innocent, very deep in thoughts, concerned and sensitive about her mother’s situation.  She’s a child – observant, kind, and responsible. No one has taught this to her. An educator’s responsibility is to nurture it and strengthen it. Build her character on these foundations; teach her to rely on her strengths when her own fears threaten her sense of belief.

~ Venus Upadhayaya
Email: venusupadhayaya@gmail.com