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

Philip M Burrett "I am passionate about Education...

https://vurbl.com/listen/to-Philip-Burrett

Episode #88: Sandeep Dutt in an honest chat with Philip Burrett, an ex-school master and deputy Headmaster at The Doon School, with 43 years of teaching experience. Now a school consultant, trainer, coach, school mentor and traveller. He was taught in co-ed and single-sex boys schools in Delhi and Mumbai until he arrived at The Doon School Dehradun (India) in 1985. He believes that boys end up in trouble; when we look around, we see many reasons. He is very concerned about handling boys and how we can best educate them. His efforts are to move them away from the pseudo masochism that most boys think is needed to become new warriors-men with empathy and kindness. Now retired seeks to take boys into the outdoors to train, coach and mentor. The need of the hour is to help boys become men and make these rites of passage enjoyable. Once a teacher, always a teacher, works to help colleagues and live well with his family. Philip's father served in the forces, and this is where he learnt the meaning of colour, the need to respect women and persevere. His passion for the outdoors must be his DNA, and he finds that learning is only outside the classroom, beyond the closed spaces and boxed mindsets. Finds that boys in particular call for trouble, and the prisons are full of men. This happens because they lack role models. It is time now for 'men empowerment, and this gives due credence to the Mankind Movement he once followed. We can not make half-baked men; there is a definitive need for rituals, routine and rhythm to help reform the world in distress.

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Pandemic Diaries - Every challenge is a Lesson Learnt : Nidhi Jain

A few days back, early in the morning, my phone rang while I was asleep. The call was from the mother of one of my students. Hearing the news made me feel as if the wrath below my feet had slipped away. She had lost her husband and my student, her father!  They had lost him to the deadly ongoing pandemic.

I was surprised and shocked at the same time to see my student in the class on the same day. It was tough for me to face her as I had no words to console her. Her camera went on and off several times.  I had assured the student's mother that if the little girl needed to take some time off to be with her family, she might surely do so without worrying about missing classes. I would later work with her to help her catch up with what she would miss. But she didn’t want to. In fact, she said that being in class will help her forget about her loss.

I was quite convinced of her reason. As a student, and even now as a teacher, being in class has always given me the feeling of being safe and protected. A place where I could engross myself with like-minded people who are interested in seeking knowledge. I was happy that I could somewhere make this little girl feel the same kind of security. 

The nation continues to deal with the impact of COVID-19. As I look behind, I find that we have focused mainly on the technology and tools for making our teaching effective and interesting. Technology has taught us how to virtually connect with our students. But, I feel that we need to maintain an emotional connection along with the technical connection, especially in this unpredictable and unreliable time. 

The affective domain plays a vital role in today’s teaching and learning. The current situation has affected everyone deeply, and I often think about its influence on the students and the teachers emotionally, psychologically and even physically. 

So we teachers should ensure that we help and guide our students to maintain emotional balance and positive mental health. We must let our students know that we are always there for them, and they can reach out to us whenever they need. This will also certainly help to strengthen the bond between the teachers and the students.

Each of us dreams of going back to school, and we are eagerly waiting for all the conversations that we used to have with our students and colleagues. Till then, we as teachers shall leave no stone unturned to keep the river of learning flowing, and we will keep the spirits high of the little hearts we connect with day in and day out.  

Nidhi Jain
Gyanshree School

Role of a Father is tremendously important in the child’s development

Research has indicated that the #Role of a #Father is tremendously important in the child’s development from birth through adulthood. Children whose fathers were involved in their education were found to get better grades, better verbal and problem-solving skills. They also were found to achieve better grades, achieved more in extracurricular activities and displayed higher tolerance for stress. Children as young as three were found to have better attention spans and lower levels of tantrums. Early research has also indicated that the earlier fathers became involved with their children's learning and socialization, the better...

Schools are encouraging ways of participation of fathers in their child’s early childhood education settings which are often children‘s first significant experience outside of the family.

Dads were invited for a day to the school to participate with their child and do fun, meaningful and impactful education activities catering to each learning style – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc. For e.g. fathers and children were made to dance together thus appealing to a child preferring kinaesthetic mode of learning; fathers were made to paint with their kids appealing to visual mode of learning etc. Various games were played like threading beads, playing with blocks, solving puzzles etc. 

Dinesh Shetty, a senior software engineer with a leading IT company whose three-year-old daughter, Avanti goes to Kangaroo Kids Kandivali, said, “It felt wonderful. Although I try my best to spend whatever time I can, it is her mother who is more actively involved and getting an opportunity to spend time with her and see a typical day at school along with fun activities was like revisiting my childhood. I was amazed at the way the teachers knew every child – his/her nuances and that was very reassuring!”

The importance of having fathers involved in the child’s early education cannot be of more consequence than right now!

Rekha Shahani "While the role of a father is very important in a child’s life, it does not necessarily mean only involved in SCHOOL. It also depends who the father is. We find children confused because the thought process of both the parents differ. They see & hear their parents not being on the same page many times & it becomes difficult for them to understand us, adults. Today parenting is one new journey. I feel having both parents accepting the responsibility of bringing up the kid is more important than comparing the role of a mother or father. 
When we were growing up the roles were clear. Mom a house maker & dad the man who went out to earn. Today both are going out & many tines the mothers have long working hours. So there are cases where dads spend more time with their kids. 
It depends on situations & the choices today’s parents are making. "
Evolved males redefining fatherhood
With the inexorable disintegration of the traditional Indian joint family, especially in urban India, and rapid multiplication of nuclear households in which both parents go to work, male parents are increasingly beginning — American style — to share parenting duties and household chores – Mini P. & Cynthia John
June issue of Parents World shared courtesy Summiya Yasmin - Click here

Kusum Kanwar

Director Principal at Kangaroo Kids Preschool, Mumbai, Lokhandwala
Managing Director at Kangaroo Kids Kandivali
Convenor at Chuppi Todo (A campaign against Child Sexual Abuse)
Former Chairperson at Shield Yourself
Former Principal at Billabong High International School Santacruz Mumbai
Former Principal at Billabong High International School Malad
Former Head of School Operations: Head Curriculum, QAG, Special Needs at Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd and Billabong High International School, Malad
Former Awareness Campaigner at Karuna Vihar
Kusum’s Profile: linkedin.com/in/kusum-kanwar-aa303864
Websites: kusumkanwar.blogspot.in/  (Blog)
kangarookidskandivali.com/  (Company Website)
Email: kusum.kanwar@hotmail.com
The post is courtesy Kusum, and is reproduced from her Facebook profile, with her kind consent,

“When I am teaching at my best, I am like a _________ .”

When I am with my Angels I am like a  mother to them helping them to grow up to be good human being taking care of all there needs with love kindness and patience being with them is a joy and a privilege  I wish all my little angels to have a  bright future ahead. - Corrine  Gomes

When I am teaching at my best I am like a mother. I do not only impart bookies knowledge but also teach good manners.  I try to inculcate good values in these children. I want them to feel loved and wanted in this home away from home. Sincerely hope that I make them grow up to good human beings. - Deepa Kharga

When I am teaching at my best, I feel like a programmer. I try to program the teaching and events in a much simplified manner. For me, teaching is like coding a program which is to be done in a proper way to get the best output. - Arvind Jha

When I am teaching at my best I feel like an "Architect", who design, develop and construct a house to provide the maximum utility of space and make the living happy and comfortable. Similarly, my job is somewhat like an architect who is in "man making industry". I design, develop and construct the study programme to cater the needs of every individual in my classroom, provide them with the maximum utility of space to grow, derive the maximum out of them, develop sense ownership and responsibility, living behind a memorable and happy moment. - Rakesh Kumar Das

When I'm with my boys, I play the role of a father, a brother and a guide, where they feel free to share their feeling, thoughts and difficulties so that I may be able to guide them in the right path to be well behaved and make them a good human being. I Ralston Hurley a pastoral member taking care of boys from classes 9 & 10. - Ralston Hurley

The post is inspired by Palmer Parker's work Courage To Teach.