How To Build Every Individual's Self-esteem

Brewing Knowledge Fridays (05/02/2025): Sandeep and Manisha discussed the importance of Friday sessions and Sandeep's book "My Good School," which celebrates children's strengths and achievements in education. They emphasised the need to shift from rote learning to more active and meaningful learning methods, stressing the importance of empowering students with critical thinking skills and life lessons. The discussion also covered the significance of self-dedication, collaboration, and contribution in education and the importance of building a professional culture in schools and preparing for upcoming reading sessions.

Next steps

• Minakshi to train teachers on meaningful learning, associative learning, and active learning techniques.

• Manisha will share the knowledge pyramid graphic with all participants in the WhatsApp group.

• All participants must type one word they absorbed from the session in the chat box.

• All participants must present their school names in the chat box.

• Manisha or Minakshi will insist that participants share what they learned from the WhatsApp Brewing Knowledge group session.

• All teachers should consider implementing rewards for identity discovery, collaboration, and contribution at their school's annual day.

Summary

Friday Sessions and "My Good School

Sandeep and Manisha discussed the importance of the Friday sessions and the significance of the book "My Good School" by Sandeep. Manisha emphasised that the book is close to their hearts and helps them connect with their experiences. Sandeep then began reading the chapter "Annual Day at School" from the book, explaining the method of reading and using a reading sheet. He also mentioned that the book is interconnected with his other writings and that the chapter they were reading was first published years ago.

Celebrating Children's Strengths and Achievements

Sandeep emphasised the importance of celebrating children's strengths and achievements, notably through annual events like the annual day at school. He highlighted the significance of showcasing creativity, connecting with the community, and building self-esteem in children. Sandeep also stressed the need to involve all stakeholders in these events, including parents and alumni. He suggested that schools should provide opportunities for children to excel in various areas, such as service, skill, study, and sport, and that these achievements should be recognised and celebrated.

Celebrating Children's Successes Throughout the Year

Sandeep discussed the importance of celebrating children's successes throughout the year, not just during events. He emphasised that every teacher should find a reason to celebrate one child each day. Minakshi expressed her school's enthusiasm for learning English, despite not fully understanding the content. Sandeep also mentioned the role of music in their activities.

Empowering Young Minds Through Knowledge

Sandeep discussed the importance of knowledge acquisition in education, emphasising the need to move beyond mere information sharing. He highlighted the need for a shift from rote learning to meaningful, associative, and active learning methods. Sandeep also stressed the importance of empowering young people with thinking abilities and life skills. He encouraged teachers to adopt these new learning methods and recognise the power of knowledge in shaping future generations.

Empowering Students Through Active Learning

Sandeep discussed the importance of individual growth and vision in education. He emphasised the need for schools to change and empower students to think analytically, rather than just processing data. Sandeep also highlighted the need for schools to move away from rote learning and towards more active learning. He used the example of the Fab India School to illustrate these points, noting that the school had faced resistance to efforts to improve teaching performance and was now moving towards more active learning.

Emphasising Self-Dedication and Collaborative Learning

Sandeep discussed the importance of self-dedication, collaboration, and contribution in education. He suggested that schools reward students for these qualities, rather than just academic achievements. Sandeep also emphasised the need for a structured learning program to help teachers become self-directed and collaborative learners. He highlighted the importance of building a professional culture in a school, which is a complex and slow process. Sandeep also stressed the significance of collaborative learning and knowledge assimilation, and encouraged thinking about life lessons and soft skills students should learn in school.

Upcoming Reading Session Discussion

Sandeep led a discussion on the upcoming reading session, scheduled for the 9th of May. He emphasised the importance of cross-referencing and asked for any questions about the reading material. Sandeep also encouraged participants to share their schools in the chat box to better understand the group's composition. The conversation ended with Sandeep asking participants to type a word they remembered from the session in the chat box.

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The Doon School days and Dev Anand's life!

 DEV SAAB'S DEHRADUN CONNECTION ❤

It was 80 long years ago when a young man of 20 visited the famous Doon School at Dehra Dun to spend time with his elder brother, whom he idolised. The elder brother was a teacher of history, English theatre and tennis at this prestigious institution, which was then just eight years old.

The young man was none other than the renowned actor and star Dev Anand and the brother was Chetan Anand, who became a well-known director of the Hindi film industry. It was the year 1943 and the country was under the British Raj. Chetan Anand worked at the Doon School from 1940 to 1944.

When Dev Anand visited him and stayed with him at the beautiful house provided to him in the sprawling Chandbagh (Garden of the Moon) campus, he was not an actor yet.

He had just ventured out to Bombay after completing English Honours from Government College, Lahore. He was received in Bombay by Chetan, who was there during the school vacation. In his autobiography, Romancing with Life, Dev Anand fondly recalls the times he visited Chetan at the Doon School.

During his visits to the school, Dev came to learn "the manners of a proper Englishman". He writes that Chetan taught him table manners as "he put me amongst the affluent, pick-of-the-upper class students at Doon School, with their spick - and span-manners - breakfasting and dining on tables laid out for them by uniformed khansamas." (Raj Days!)

His fascination with English manners and education can be clearly felt while reading his autobiography.

Dev vividly recounted in his autobiography the "soft hum of conversation flowing around, on Byron and Shelley and Keats". This must have sounded sweet to him as he was a student of English Literature himself, who wished to do his Masters in the subject and then go to England for a foreign education. However, this dream remained unfulfilled as his father could not afford his further education.

Dev hero-worshipped Chetan, who was a tennis player (he had played at Wimbledon), swimmer, appeared for the ICS (now IAS) exams at England and spoke fluent, flawless English. "I had always looked up to my brother. He was a model of everything I admired, handsome, intellectual, fashionable, England-returned, and now teaching in one of the most elite schools of the country," he writes.

Dev remembers from the Dining Table at Doon School are about latest happenings at Lord's and at Wimbledon. While Dev picked up a lot from the young Doscos during the time he spent at the school, he kept learning how to be stylish from his brother too. He would wear his brother's big leather boots, imported from London, as well as his woollen check-shirt, black and maroon, typically English, "both of which I loved to flaunt".

Dev Anand admits that it was Chetan who inspired a style in him. The Doon School and Chetan together taught him many a thing about personality, and with it he evolved his own unique style that he was perhaps known for as much as he was celebrated for his acting. His scarves, ties, caps, hats, mufflers and jackets always gave him a special look, which created an image so different and much ahead of its time from his contemporaries.

The style Dev Sa'ab picked up as a young man stayed with him till the very end. It was a part of the way he dressed, the way he walked and spoke and the way he delivered his dialogues. The anglicised accent that one noticed even when he spoke Hindi was the result of his early fondness for and fixation with English manners - of speech and conducting oneself.

His love for the great English romantic poets, especially John Keats, is evident in one of the passages in his book where he tells us how he saw, on one of his visits to the English countryside, "all that John Keats must have seen in his times... I walked along the paths, imbibing of the nature that had so inspired Keats to go romancing with his pen."

The Doon School days stayed with Dev Anand all his life.

Dev Anand frequently visited Mussoorie as well. His wife Kalpana Kartik, formerly known as Mona Singha, lived near Christchurch in Library Bazaar. Her father was a commissioner of Garhwal and found Mussoorie to his liking. Another reason for Dev Anand’s visit was that his two children, Suniel and daughter Devina, studied in Woodstock School around mid-sixties.

Gopal Bhardwaj, a local historian further said Dev Anand visited them frequently. Later he also bought a house near Char Dukan in the Landour Cantonment Board and gifted it to his daughter Devina who still lives in it with her daughter.

Dev Sahib was fond of vegetarian food and used to walk for several hours watching the panoramic view of the Himalayas along with his children, added Shiv Singh, the caretaker of the house.

Gopal Bhardwaj reminiscing one incident said Dev Anand was so popular that one day a housewife, who was strolling with her litle baby lying in the pram on the Mall Road, lost her senses after seeing him and left the pram which was later caught by some tourists downhill on the Kulri Bazaar road.

According to another resident from Mussoorie Madan Mohan Sharma, Dev Sahib, on his visit to Mussoorie, attended pageant contests that were held during those days. It was in one such pageant contest that he discovered the famous actress, late Nutan, who had won the Miss Mussoorie Contest in 1960s and later cast her in one of the films that became a hit.

Rupali, a resident of Sisters Bazaar, opines that Dev Anand can never die and will live in their hearts as he was the human being who taught others to live with style and finesse and with an optimistic approach.

Courtesy of a WhatsApp forwarded by a close friend and relation Mr Sudarsan Samay Mangalagiri.

Stories, books, blogs, podcasts, and media about the legend are plenty, one book stands out, get hold of it!