A thoughtful and enriching Retreat.

Dear Good School Alliance Team,

The Good School Alliance Learning Forward Retreat in Dehradun was a very enriching and memorable experience for me. It gave me a chance to step away from my usual routine and think more deeply about what makes a school good.

Reading My Good School by Sandeep Dutt was one of the highlights of the Retreat. The book made me think about education beyond textbooks and the curriculum. It helped me reflect on the importance of values, freedom, relationships and the overall environment in which children learn. The discussions also encouraged me to look at my own role as a teacher in a new way.

I especially enjoyed the flip-chart activity. We worked together to present our understanding of the book through drawings, words and ideas. It was interesting to see how everyone interpreted the same thoughts differently. The activity was creative and enjoyable, and it also gave us a chance to share our ideas and learn from one another.

Our stay at Fig Tree Cottage made the Retreat even more special. The warm hospitality and peaceful surroundings made us feel comfortable and welcome. It was a lovely setting for reading, reflection and meaningful conversations.

I returned from the Retreat with many thoughts about my teaching and how I can help create a happier, more meaningful learning environment for my students. The experience reminded me that teachers, too, must continue to learn, reflect and grow.

I am grateful to Sandeep Dutt and the Good School Alliance for organising such a thoughtful and enriching Retreat. I will carry the memories, conversations, and lessons from these days with me on my journey as an educator.

Warm regards,

Jaya Sharma
Mayoor School Jaipur

Simplicity and Trust - Jaspreet Kaur

                                            Simplicity and Trust

Simplicity is living a life that is less hectic and shallow. When you understand Simplicity, you begin to have an appreciation for things you may not have noticed in the past. The little things in life become significant because they create some of the biggest joys.

By living a simple life and focusing on the things that matter, you're almost guaranteed to be happier. Without the distractions, noise, and stress brought upon us by cluttered surroundings, too much technology, processed foods, and endless noise, it's easier to feel happy.

Exercise on Simplicity – 

I showed the students a picture of a garden and asked them to write a short paragraph with five senses on it.

Impact on students- 

Students imagine themselves in a garden. They also showed their creativity by making drawings along with the paragraph.

Teacher's Role- Facilitator

Trust: - assured reliance on the character

"To trust means to rely on another person because you feel safe with them and have confidence that they will not hurt or violate you". 

Exercise on Trust – 

In the English period, I taught Commands with blindfolds. One of the students came in front of the class to give commands to the blindfolded students to reach the Library from Grade IV. Although the Library was not so far, the students had trust in each other, so they got to the destination only because of trust in their classmates.

Teacher's Role-   facilitator and guide.

Impact- Each student learnt Team spirit, unity, communication skills and cooperation.

Jaspreet Kaur

Kamla Nehru Public School

Unity and Caring - Nikita Rajpurohit

Unity and caring are the two important values which we must imbibe in our lives to live a

happier and healthier life. Unity means working together for a common goal. We all are familiar with this proverb, "Unity is Strength"  which implies that when we stay united we stay stronger and can withstand almost any problem. On the other hand, if we keep fighting and become selfish in our endeavours we often fall flat. Where there are teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.  

Caring simply means that you care for others. It means being compassionate and supportive in tough times.  When you care for someone, it makes a huge difference in their lives. These two values can be seen while competing in sports. As we know,  a single player cannot make a match win, the teamwork of the whole team is required. Sometimes, just because of a single mistake of any player, the match goes out of hand and there comes the role of unity, when the whole team needs to go hand in hand to bring the team into the winning slot. Now when the unity comes into action, sometimes the match may take a violent face, when the team 'A' starts harming team 'B' to win. And this is when caring ideology is needed in the players. Because no matter, it's a victory or a defeat, they must care for each other.

There are numerous stories of the past as well as real-life incidents which can be shared with the students to show how important these two values are. Another best example of Unity which can be shared with students is India's freedom struggle where the citizens of India stood together to drive the Britishers out of the country.

Nikita Rajpurohit

The Fabindia School

nra@fabindiaschools.in

Happiness and Tolerance - Bharti Rao

School is a place to learn where we don’t just learn grammar or geometry but also building

community and social interaction. For these schools along with the curriculum also help the students to inculcate moral values. Happiness and Tolerance are the foremost values which are necessary for the School Environment.

To create a happier, healthier and productive environment in the school, faculty and students should be happy and tolerant. As an educator I always want my students to be happy. If we want our students to be happy we should be tolerant of them. We should listen, understand their problems and try to solve it so that they may be happy and be comfortable with us.

Caring, loving and personal connection with each student is good for their brains, learning and improving their behaviour. Students are always happy when we organize activities or excursions for the students.  School Picnic was organized to Thandi Beri in Ghanerao. All the students and teachers along with the Principal were going to go for the picnic but Class XI was exempted to join the picnic. All the students were happy, excited and eager for the picnic and discussing what they would do and bring for the picnic.

Class XI was very unhappy and sitting quietly. Seeing them unhappy even their teachers were unhappy. They wanted to find a way so that the Principal would give them permission. The students behaved properly from that day and their performance was satisfactory in their Term I.

Everyone showed their patience, tolerance and gave good results. This behaviour helped them to change the decision of the Principal and she allowed them to be a part of the picnic. They behaved properly even in the picnic, helped the juniors and exhibited leadership qualities. The happiness of the teachers lies in the happiness of the students.

Bharti Rao 

The Fabindia School