Masterclass on Productive Failure - October 11

Image courtesy of the Conclusion chapter from the book Productive Failure by Dr Manu Kapur

We conclude the Productive Failure book study and reflect on key takeaways from the year-long Masterclass series.

Key Takeaways

  - The book "Productive Failure" emphasises that failure is an essential part of deep learning, not something to be avoided

  - Performance and learning are distinct concepts; high performance doesn't always equal high learning, and vice versa

  - The masterclass series created a valuable community for teachers to read, learn, and grow together

  - Sunbeam Schools played a crucial role in enabling this learning opportunity for teachers

Topics

Conclusion of Productive Failure Book

  - Final chapter read, covering key concepts like performance vs. learning and four outcomes: productive success, productive failure, unproductive failure, and unproductive success

  - Author's personal anecdotes and acknowledgements shared

  - Four big picture takeaways: failure as a mechanism, signal, feature, and mantra

Reflections on the Masterclass Experience

  - Participants expressed emotional connections to the book and learning journey

  - Value found in re-reading the book and revisiting video archives

  - Appreciation for the push to engage in continuous learning, even when initially reluctant

Future Learning Opportunities

  - Masterclass 2026 announced with three new books

  - Ongoing sessions: Brewing Knowledge Friday, Learning Forward Saturday, My Good School Sunday

  - Potential grant to provide 1000 copies of a book to teachers in Good School Alliance member schools

Upcoming Events

  - Sunbeam My Good School Retreat in Varanasi from October 26-31

  - Plans for annual My Good School Retreats at Graminn School (October) and Arthur Foot Academy (April)

Next Steps

  - Participants encouraged to sign up for Masterclass 2026

  - Poll to be created in Sunbeam Masterclass group about meeting on October 25th

  - Teachers invited to continue engaging with My Good School sessions and other learning opportunities

  - Participants encouraged to purchase or obtain their own copy of "Productive Failure" for deeper study

Bye for now!

Transformative Learning: Strategies for Success

Reflection questions based on Chapter 5: Performance Scores Must Be Honest and Chapter 6: People, Scores and Outcomes from My Good School by Sandeep Dutt:

Chapter 5: Performance Scores Must Be Honest

1. How can we ensure student assessments reflect their understanding and growth rather than just test-taking ability?
   (Consider both academic and personal development perspectives.)

2. How does honest feedback, both given and received, influence the learning culture in a school?
   (Reflect on the role of trust and transparency in your teaching or learning environment.)

Chapter 6: People Scores and Outcomes

3. How can we better measure a student's contribution to the school community beyond academic grades?
   (Think about leadership, collaboration, empathy, and service.)

4. What changes can we make in our schools to shift the focus from competition to character and community development?
   (Reflect on how success is currently defined and how it could be reimagined.)

📚 My Good School Reading Session Summary

🌿 A Special Session at Khan Farm

The recent reading session was uniquely held at Khan Farm, near Rajaji National Park, offering a serene and natural setting for a meaningful gathering. The session was designed for our Special Schools and brought together participants from various regions.

The virtual meeting ran smoothly thanks to a smooth technical setup and strong coordination. The peaceful surroundings and collaborative spirit made the session memorable, highlighting the power of learning in harmony with nature.

📖 Chapter Discussion: Reflections on Chapters 5 and 6

The main body of the session was focused on Chapters 5 and 6: Performance Scores Must be Honest and People Scores and Outcomes from the reading material.
Key discussion points included:

• Self-Care and Love: A highlight was the importance of nurturing the self—connecting body, mind, and soul.

• Teacher Reflections: Sandeep Dutt encouraged teachers to reflect on their challenges and share personal stories to build mutual understanding.

• Work-life balance: This theme emerged as a crucial takeaway, emphasizing emotional well-being and balance in professional and personal spheres.

⚖️ Balancing Act: Challenges in Education

The session moved into more profound reflections around the daily struggles teachers face:

• Peer Pressure and Burnout: Discussed as everyday stressors among educators.

• Work-Life Balance: Reiterated by Seema Khare, who introduced the idea of a "Tipping Point", stressing the need to maintain harmony to prevent burnout.

• Group consensus formed around the importance of self-awareness, mindfulness, and time management.

🧠 Key Takeaways

• Self-care is not a luxury—educators need to be effective.

• Building positive connections within oneself enhances professional capability.

• Regular reflections help personal growth and create a culture of empathy and openness in schools.

• Staying connected helps maintain momentum and mutual support among educators.

🏁 Closing & Gratitude

The session concluded with a warm thank you from My Good School Retreat.
Sandeep Dutt and Manisha stressed the importance of:

• Staying connected through WhatsApp groups and other digital platforms.

• Continuing open dialogue around well-being and personal development.

I request everyone to share their learning outcomes by posting a reflection below the post or emailing it to mk@learningforward.org.in. Your thoughts and insights will be valuable to the community! I look forward to applying these strategies and growing through such learning opportunities.

Session highlights

Meeting ID

11 Weeks of Lockdown - Joy Of Learning

Joy Of Learning - Lockdown Season Session 11 - cohosted by Billabong High International School Thane and The Fabindia School. 

Joy Of Learning (11 Sessions) The teachers collaborate and work in groups to explore the 22 values and discover how the values help in the personal and social development of an individual. The values come alive at their school and enhance learning at the classroom level.

Listen to the podcast

With 100 passionate educators who followed the sessions, we discovered our inner self, how we need to live the values and above all the sessions held us with inherent strength in perhaps the most difficult times of our lives. Reflections from the Educators at the final episode on 20th June 2020. #HappyTeachers

Edthena - Virtual Support

PLP3 Better Learning Outcomes

Learning Program (PLP) for Smart Teachers

Maybe you are already considering using videos of teaching in your professional development plans but feel overwhelmed by how to begin, worried about the limited time you and your teachers have to devote to figuring out a new system. Maybe video coaching already plays a role in developing your teachers, but you suspect it could be more effective. Maybe you’re somewhere in between. Wherever you are, this playbook will help you make and implement a plan for how to best use video-powered professional learning with your teachers. If you’re just getting started, our learning program will help you get up and running quickly and successfully, providing insight into techniques that can be used to deepen the learning teachers get from video-based professional learning. It will also expand your thinking about the types of strategies that can be used with a video platform and the opportunities they afford you and your teachers. But first, it’s important to have a clear sense of the goals in mind.

Focus: BETTER STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES (15 Sessions) ­ The Program will help teachers use Edtech for enhancing student learning. The book 'Evidence Of Practice - Adam Geller, will help you adapt video-powered professional learning and prepare you to be a future-ready teacher.

Edthena is the award-winning classroom observation platform for using teaching videos as part of professional development. Teachers upload classroom videos to share with colleagues who leave timestamped comments. Edthena also offers specialized collaboration tools to help organizations implement best practices for video-based professional learning.

”Educators will appreciate that the authors tackle the issue of trust-building while at the same time providing best practice and practical examples that promote successful implementation. An important tool that belongs in every school’s professional library.” STEPHANIE HIRSH, Executive Director at Learning Forward

VIDEO-POWERED PROFESSIONAL LEARNING STRATEGIES Strategy 1 Classroom Tour Strategy; 2 Self-Interview Strategy; 3 Example Analysis Strategy; 4 Pre-Teach Strategy; 5 Video Observation Self-Reflection Partner-Supported Reflection; Strategy 6 Skill Building Sequence Strategy; 7 Video Learning Community Strategy; 8 Virtual Walk-Through Strategy; 9 Video Rounds Strategy; 10 Longer-Range Reflection Strategy; 11 Iterative Investigation Strategy; 12 Online Lesson Study.

”Video can dramatically accelerate professional learning in schools. A primary reason is that video helps educators get a clear picture of reality, which should be an important point of departure for any learning–to move forward, we need to know where we are”. JIM KNIGHT, University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. Contact our School Improvement Coach Sandeep Dutt by email sd@ebd.in

Schools may be closed, but education continues.

If teachers are still teaching, even if it is virtual, 

they still need professional development and support. 

For teachers: Tips for Capturing Online Teaching


Success Guide for recording your video conferences

For coaches: Supporting Newly Virtual Teachers


35-minute webinar

#StayHome
#WashYourHands,

EI Dialogues, we converse with Ashish Dhawan, founder of ChrysCapital

In this episode of EI Dialogues, we converse with Ashish Dhawan, founder of ChrysCapital, a private equity firm, and Central Square Foundation, a grant-making organization and policy think tank. In this conversation, Ashish shares why he made the switch from the corporate sector to philanthropy, his approach to giving, how one can apply management principles in running and scaling a non-profit, and what he believes is the current need of the Indian education sector. Time Codes: @08:45 - Bird's-eye view on the issues in the education sector @16:24 - A framework for philanthropic investments @27:32 - Milestones for achieving scale @37:41 - Changes in the education sector budget for better investing About the Guest: Ashish Dhawan is the founder of Central Square Foundation. He is also a founding member of Ashoka University, a not-for-profit university that aims to offer an Ivy League-quality undergraduate program in India, based on the US liberal education system. About Central Square Foundation (CSF): Central Square Foundation is a non-profit organization with the vision of ensuring quality school education for all children in India. Its mission is to transform the school education system towards improving the learning outcomes of children, especially from low-income communities, and to ensure that all children get equal access to opportunities needed for leading a better life. About the Host: Pranav Kothari is the head of the Large Scale Education Programmes division at Educational Initiatives (EI). He leads EI's work in student assessments and implementation of their adaptive learning software (Mindspark) in vernacular languages in government and affordable private schools across India. He has spoken on various platforms advocating the need to leverage the twin levers of cutting-edge educational research and technology-based solutions to revolutionize how children in the K-12 space learn. About Educational Initiatives: Founded in 2001, Educational Initiatives (EI) is committed to improving learning outcomes and aspires for a world where all children learn with understanding. Large Scale Education Programs is the vertical of Educational Initiatives that exclusively works with low-income government schools, specializing in diagnostic assessments for students and teachers, capacity building of teachers and governments, implementation of adaptive and intelligent e-learning systems for personalized learning, impact assessment studies and exploratory research studies that focus on bringing a systemic reform. This is done in collaboration with state governments, international grantmakers, corporate foundations, and NGOs. To know more, visit https://bit.ly/2OSIeNu For other episodes, check out: www.youtube.com/user/eivideos DISCLAIMER All content and opinions expressed in the conversation are that of the guests and are not necessarily the opinions of Pranav Kothari or Educational Initiatives Pvt Ltd. Views expressed in comments are the personal opinions of the author of the comment. They do not necessarily reflect the views of The Company or the host of the video series. Participants are responsible for the content of their comments and all comments that are posted are in the public domain. The Company reserves the right to monitor, edit, and/or publish any submitted comments. Any third-party comments published are third party information and The Company takes no responsibility and disclaims all liability. The Company reserves the right but is not obligated to monitor and delete any comments or postings at any time without notice.

गुणवत्ता ग्राहको द्वारा परिभाषित होती है

सही शिक्षा की पहचान बालको के द्वारा ही की जा सकती है । बालको के द्वारा ही शिक्षा की गुणवत्ता को पहचाना जा सकती है । शिक्षको को इस बात का ध्यान रखना चाहिए कि वे बालको की न्यूनतम उम्मीदो को पूरा कर सके । बालको की हर छोटी बडी उम्मीदो को पूरा करना शिक्षक की जिम्मेदारी है । शिक्षको के पास बालको के हर प्रशन के उत्तर होने चाहिए । बालको की समस्याओ को शिक्षक को हल करना चहिए । शिक्षक बालको को विवधता प्रदान करे । बालको के लिए हर पल आनंददायक हो । शिक्षको को बालको को आनंद प्रदान करना चाहिए । बालको मे शिक्षा प्राप्त करने मे आनंद आए । बालको को शिक्षा प्रदान करने के लिए नए नए तरीको का प्रयोग करना चाहिए जिससे उनका ध्यान आकृषित हो ।उन्हे कुछ अलग प्रदान करे जिस्से बालको का ध्यान शिक्षा की ओर आकृषित हो सके ।

हमारी  सीख "आइसक्रीम  मेकर" by सुबीर  चौधरी 

शर्मिला विजयरागी  , भारती राव  , ऊषा पँवार  & कृर्तिका राव

The Fabindia School