Concept to Creation - Masterclass 25th January 2025

Q1. Life rarely moves in a straight line. How can teachers support students in adapting to new environments or systems, drawing parallels to the resilience demonstrated by the founders in navigating different cultural contexts?

Q2. The situation where "all that mattered was how to crack the test, and learning was secondary" has been described. Does this still prevail today? How can educators balance the focus on exam preparation with fostering a genuine love for learning?

Q3. "You are a respected teacher, but everybody makes fun of you. Still, you have always remained cheerful." As a unique teacher, how do you maintain positivity and resilience in the face of criticism or challenges? What strategies do you use to stay focused on your purpose as an educator despite external opinions, and how can this help you inspire your students?

Q4. Like the founders of Vikas Junior Residential College, you strive to create a unique environment in your classroom. How do you differentiate your teaching to inspire critical thinking and creativity in your students?

Hope and Friendship - Nitin Sharma

 
A student who has lost all hope

As we know, hope sustains life. Without hope, darkness seems to be all around.

I would like to share one incident from my teaching experience about an encounter with a child who lost all hope in life. Minki was a thirteen-year-old girl studying in the class tenth and was an average student. It was the time of Diwali break that the school was closed. But then, even after the break, Minki didn’t come to school for quite long. Later, I got unprecedented news from one of my colleagues about the sudden demise of Minki’s father due to a silent attack.

A month passed, and she still didn’t attend school. Being in the board class, the main concern was her academic lag. So, I called her mother and talked about her absence from school. She kept on saying that Minki would attend the school soon, but...

Having passed another week, One day, I finally decided to see her and know why she did not come to school. Upon meeting her, I came to know that after her father’s death, this girl had lost all her hope to move ahead due to her bond with him; moreover, he was the sole bread earner. Minki’s mother had tried to console Minki many times that she would make the best possible effort to run the family and not let them suffer. But the girl had lost all her faith and wanted to discontinue her study. With all my best possible efforts, I persuaded that girl to join the school and continue her study to eventually support her family. She then joined the class the next day, but she kept saying she wouldn’t be able to clear the exam. Since she was the very lovable daughter of her father, she couldn’t cope with the significant loss. She always seemed to be disturbed. Seeing her this way, I consoled Minki and motivated her to do something for her father’s sake. All her teachers were supportive of her and encouraged her to move ahead. Whenever she needed help, all were ready to assist her. Even some of the students were quite helpful to her. They helped Minki to complete her work and even during revision time. Eventually, She appeared in the exam and got good marks in the board exam.

Impact: The child was able to come out of a challenging situation with consistent efforts by the teacher.

The teachers dealt with the students with love, care and encouragement.

Advice to the Educators: Values like Patience, love, and care help deal with such situations.

A student with no friends in the school

“A real friend walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” — Walter Winchell.

Here I would like to share the story of a girl.

Sara was a new student in her class. She joined the school during the Remote Learning Era. After the pandemic guidelines were eased, schools reopened, online classes were no more, and all students were called for offline classes. It was observed that Sara used to stay alone, and even during the lunch break, she would sit and eat alone. She always had complaints about other students in her class. Later, when the students were asked about the complaints against them, they were all found innocent. And it was found that Sara was not able to adjust herself in the class due to social immaturity. She couldn’t talk well with a group of students. In this context, the School counsellor was involved, and she had taken some counselling sessions for Sara. Later, some improvement was seen, and we saw Sara moving with her friends in the school playground and during Lunch time. She started sharing her food with others. Her mother was also requested to help her cope by taking her to some social gatherings and letting her spend some time in the park or with her nearby friends to overcome this hesitation.

Impact: Sara became confident and a cooperative student.

Advice: Please try to help the child adjust to new surroundings. Be empathetic, helpful and kind.

Nitin Sharma Kamla Nehru Pubilc School, Phagwara

Honesty and Respect - Welham Boys' School

A. What are the most common instances of dishonest behaviour shown by students in class? Pick three such examples and try to analyse the reasons behind such behaviour.

Dishonesty comes from not only students but parents also. I have encountered some of these instances, which I am mentioning in this essay. One of my students, X, was tampering with her test scores due to her family pressure. Her family expected her to score well in exams, but she performed poorly, changed her scores, and was caught. Her parents did not accept that she could do something like this, but later, when they showed proof, they were distraught with their daughter.

In one of the instances, the parent was found supporting their child while he was lying to his teachers. The kid wanted to go on a family vacation to Mauritius with his parents and therefore submitted a fake covid report to the school, which his parents approved of. He bunked school for the trip and gave an unreal excuse that was fully supported by his parents. In some situations, not only the students are dishonest, but they also have the full support of their parents to lie to the teachers and the faculty.

In another instance, one of the kid's friends made a prank call to me, stating how bad the kid was and listing many negative points. He talked to me as a family member of the kid and said some nasty things about him. I immediately caught the kid lying and called his parents to tell him about his son's endeavours. His parents denied that their kid does not have my number, which is not valid. All the parents and kids have a teacher's number who teaches them.  B. 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.

Mutual Respect is a value we must adopt to live in a society. Moreover, Respect is essential to interpersonal relationships and personal identity. 

There have been numerous examples of receiving and reciprocating Respect in a classroom scenario. However, I vividly remember one of them. Once while I was teaching grade 8, a student of mine volunteered to solve a question on the board. While I watched him solve, I kept cross-questioning him at every step of the solution, thinking why would he use a different method which has never been taught in the classroom. Before he could finish solving the question, I stopped him and asked him to use the usual way of solving the question. The child sat back in his seat politely, saying, "okay, ma'am." The next class had started as the bell rang, but the thought was never-ending, hovering in my mind. After researching and solving the question with a different method, I came to a realisation of understanding my student's perspective. So, when I returned to teach the same class, I apologised and told him that none of the methods was wrong. Just as we all are individuals, we look at things differently. We all have different perspectives, and there are no correct or incorrect answers. The lesson I took from this incident was mutual Respect, how the student politely and respectfully sat down on the chair without answering, and how I realised my mistake and apologised. 

Neelima Parmar, Vandana Sahay and Monika Gupta
Welham Boys' School 
JOL Cohort 2022