Reading is a good habit - Nikita Rajpurohit

Reading is a very good habit that one needs to develop in life. Good books can inform you, enlighten

you and lead you in the right direction. There is no better companion than a good book. Reading is important because it is good for your overall well-being. Once you start reading, you experience a whole new world. When you start loving the habit of reading you eventually get addicted to it.  It is important to read a good book at least for a few minutes each day to stretch the brain muscles for healthy functioning.

Following are the benefits of reading:

1. Self Improvement: Reading helps you develop positive thinking. It is important because it develops your mind and gives you excessive knowledge and lessons of life. It keeps your mind active and enhances your creative ability.

2. Communication Skills: Reading improves your vocabulary and develops your communication skills. It helps you learn how to use your language creatively. Not only does it improve your communication but it also makes you a better writer.

3. Increases Knowledge: Books enable you to have a glimpse into cultures, traditions, arts, history, geography, health, psychology and several other subjects and aspects of life. You get an amazing amount of knowledge and information from books.

4. Reduces Stress: Reading a good book takes you in a new world and helps you relieve your day to day stress. It stimulates your brain muscles and keeps your brain healthy and strong.

5. Boosts your Imagination and Creativity: Reading takes you to the world of imagination and enhances your creativity. Reading helps you explore life from different perspectives. While you read books you are building new and creative thoughts, images and opinions in your mind. It makes you think creatively, fantasize and use your imagination.

6. Develops your Analytical Skills:  It involves questioning what you read. It helps you develop your thoughts and express your opinions. New ideas and thoughts pop up in your mind by active reading. 

The habit of reading is one of the best qualities that a person can possess. So it is very important to develop a good reading habit. We must all read on a daily basis for at least 30 minutes to enjoy the sweet fruits of reading. It is a great pleasure to sit in a quiet place and enjoy reading. Reading a good book is the most enjoyable experience one can have.

Nikita Rajpurohit

The Fabindia School

nra@fabindiaschool.in

Thoughtfulness and Understanding - Optimizers BHIS

Lessons are not always taught by teachers; they are sometimes taught by students too.
It was the year 2009. Old grades had moved to the new. Grade VIII F was eagerly waiting for their new yet not so new teacher on the first day of the new session.

‘Hey Megha, didn’t this teacher leave the school to go abroad a few years ago’? asked Ryan.

‘I have heard so. She was then a primary school teacher. Teaches English well, though, that’s what I could gather from Ms Sangita when I tried to run a BGC on her’, replied Kavya

.
‘Can we extend a unique welcome to this new teacher?’ suggested Riyaz.

‘No, not again, Riyaz. Keep your fanciful ideas to yourself or else we will have to make multiple visits to the Princy’s office for those dreaded permissions, stern looks, and a sneer. You know we are not a popular class’, whined Megha.

Undeterred, Riyaz went on proposing the same to each student of the class till the assembly bell rang, and it was the moment of truth. The class lined up in the corridor to move to the quadrangle, as was the practice. They waited with bated breath and fast-beating hearts for the first glimpse of their new teacher. And, when the teacher arrived, Riyaz started clapping. The class had no choice but to clap with him. Other grades lined up in the corridor turned to see the one more ‘Great Indian Tamasha’ of this unpopular class.

Such was Riyaz’s thoughtfulness. A value of a very high order had already germinated and bloomed in this young teenager. He belonged to an affluent business family, was an ordinary-looking boy who no one would notice in the crowd of popular, intelligent, and smart students. Yet, no one could deny his existence as the most philanthropic student at the school.

Riyaz would not let go of any opportunity to help the class or teachers. He offered his services to carry notebooks to the staffroom, would not mind carrying the correction bag for a teacher who may never have taught him. He could also double up as the fastest fund generator of the class whether it was a surprise party or a calamity.

He hardly completed his homework, even if the teachers were fortunate to be handed over his books for correction sometimes, the teachers would end up writing more than Riyaz in his notebooks. Passing tests was never his cup of tea. Somehow, he scraped through rein his final exams and managed to move up.

The sweetest thing about this boy was that he never stopped smiling. And he never stopped indulging in his passion for service. This made the class respond to Riyaz’s whimsical ideas with unity. He was well understood by his peers and teachers. He was a man of his words from his early childhood days. Dependable, proactive and a go-getter. He tried to understand everybody’s needs and never hesitated to offer solutions to the problems knowing fully well that the wiser ones of the class may reject his ideas.

He was the habit of the class. They hated him yet loved him for his quirkiness. He was clumsy yet adored by his classmates. He was academically weak but probably the strongest in socio-emotional developmental traits. He knew how to keep fights at bay and take everyone along in the journey of life. He understood others but never expected to be understood.

He is an entrepreneur today. His business is thriving. He is the first one still among his grown-up classmates who never forgets to wish his teachers on their birthday or send them invitations for family events. Charity and social work are now his way of life. He has proved that marks do not matter to be a highly successful human being. What matters is thoughtfulness and understanding.

‘Thoughtfulness is the way to deathlessness, thoughtlessness the way to death. The thoughtful do not die: the thoughtless are as if dead already.’ - Gautam Buddha

https://anchor.fm/sanket-patel81/episodes/Thoughtfulness-and-Understanding-efjb8j

Optimizer @ Billabong High International School Thane.

- Kalyani Chaudhari, Madhubala Saji, Momita Banerji, Kshama Rajgor, Ajita Bhoir, Rupal Trivedi, Sanket Patel

Humility & Appreciation - Penta BHIS

Humility

‘I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.’                                                                             –Socrates

Ms. Cooper

The young Ms Cooper started on her first teaching job. On the first day at school, she thought that she knew it all. Not in the sense that she had mastered the art of teaching, but she was well aware of the dos and don’ts. Ms Cooper was very careful about ‘going by the book’. In the staff room, she could easily gauge whom she would like to have as a mentor to look up to.

In the days that followed, she comes across a no-nonsense Math teacher, Mr Iyer. Despite his strict manner, he was greatly appreciated by his students. The way they greeted him or made it a point never to bunk his lessons, made Ms Cooper want to learn from him. How was the class able to appreciate this highly learned teacher? Were the teenagers not alienated by his immense knowledge?

She came to glimpse a part of the answer, one day. Mr Iyer was so immersed in the task at hand that

Mr Iyer

he did not hear the bell ring. His students came to the staff room to call him. Embarrassed at his own late-coming to class, he apologized to them in a courteous manner. Neither did he presume that his students should accept his delay in coming to class nor did he excuse himself for this lapse. This humility was a part of his moral make-up. No wonder, his students reached his class on time!

He also gave Ms Cooper friendly advice, “It is not necessary that students have to like me, but it is necessary for me to like and accept all of them. That is important.”

She was humbled by his words.
He even told her of his ‘happy folder’ where he kept all the notes, thank-you cards, work from a challenging student, letters or emails from former students and so on. Even if his house were on fire, the ‘happy folder’ would be the thing he would save first.

Happy Folder😊

Ms Cooper followed his advice and created her own happy folder which grew in size over the years. She was lucky to learn from the best and the more experienced teachers around her. She remembers her starting days - no idea how to control her class consistently, or plan lessons in challenging situations or teach students effectively while engaging them or deal with daily conflicts in the classroom.

Appreciation

But who said Rome was built in a day?

She soon found something good in every student and appreciated it, owned up to an honest mistake (without making excuses!) and found appreciation from her colleagues.

She always remembers to mention Mr Iyer, now that she mentors new members in her team.

Penta @ Billabong International High School, Thane
- Jeeji Sanjeev, Sanika Joshi, Arpita M.G., Muskaan Menda, Radhika Anand, Supriya Naravankar & Bhavani Swamy.