Exploring Impressionism Through Music, Art, and Poetry

Thoughtful Thursdays

Impressionism in Motion: Poetry, Paint, and Performance

In this session, we explored how Impressionism manifests across the creative spectrum—from Shakespeare's timeless poetry to luminous paintings and the dynamic rhythms of music. Through thoughtful discussion and multimedia, the group reflected on how artists in all media seek to capture the fleeting, the emotional, and the ineffable.

🌿 Shakespeare in Bloom: A Literary Tribute Through an Impressionist Lens

To honour William Shakespeare's birthday (April 23), the session opened with a tribute to his poetic genius. The group read and reflected on Sonnet 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"), noting its evocative imagery, rhythmic progression, and emotional depth. These qualities mirror key aspects of Impressionist art:

• Sensory language creates a vivid, almost painted scene: golden sunlight, rough winds, and the passage of summer days.

• The sonnet's structure—three quatrains and a concluding couplet—was likened to visual layering, gradually building to a moment of emotional clarity.

• Shakespeare's emphasis on beauty, time, and transformation parallels the Impressionists' focus on fleeting moments and shifting light.

This tribute positioned Shakespeare as an early master of capturing ephemeral emotion, much like the painters and musicians explored later in the session.

🎨 Brushstrokes of Light: The Evolution of Impressionism in Art

This segment explored how Impressionist painters broke away from classical norms to portray everyday scenes with immediacy and feeling. The discussion touched on key developments:

• Artists began working en plein air (outdoors) to observe and quickly depict natural light and atmosphere.

• Synthetic paint pigments allowed for brighter, more varied colour palettes and techniques like juxtaposition, where side-by-side hues create optical blending.

• Impressionism responded to the rise of photography, shifting the artist's role from documentarian to emotional interpreter.

• The conversation also noted the transition into Post-Impressionism and Expressionism, built upon Impressionist freedom with deeper abstraction and symbolism.

Participants appreciated how Impressionist painters aimed to convey how a moment felt, not just how it looked—a goal shared across many creative forms.

🎼 Sound Made Visible: Beethoven and the Music of Emotion

The session concluded with a visual representation of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, using colour and motion to animate the music's structure. This inspired a discussion on how music can be experienced visually:

• Motifs and dynamics were shown through animated visuals, highlighting rhythm, tension, and contrast.

• This multi-sensory approach helped participants better understand musical form and recognise how repetition and variation create emotional impact.

• The concept of a "motif" was compared across disciplines: in music, as a melodic phrase; in painting, as a recurring visual element; and in literature, as a repeated symbol or theme.

This final section emphasised how technology allows for richer, layered learning experiences, bringing abstract concepts to life across media.

🔗 Takeaways: A Unified Artistic Language

• Impressionism is about more than technique—it's about expressing the inexpressible and capturing moments of emotion, movement, and light.

• Whether in a sonnet, a symphony, or a sunset on canvas, artists across disciplines use symbolism, structure, and sensory detail to shape meaning.

• Exploring these connections encourages deeper appreciation and cross-disciplinary creativity.

📚 Looking Ahead

• Next week's topic is symbolism, a natural progression from Impressionism's focus on perception and mood.

• Continued exploration of intersections between art, music, and literature.

• Plan to refine online presentation tools for a smoother participant experience.

We hope you enjoyed our creative journey through Impressionism in art, literature, and music. Let the colours, sounds, and stories inspire you—and don't forget to share your thoughts in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you!

Unity and Caring - Sukhpreet Kaur

The significance which is in Unity is an eternal wonder. – Rabindranath Tagore

Unity or teamwork occurs when diverse abilities and insights join together to achieve a common goal. It is sustained by concentrating energy, accepting and appreciating the value of the array of participants and the unique contribution each can make and remaining loyal to one another and the task. It inspires more substantial personal commitment and more extraordinary collective achievement. The nature of society is different. Each individual who grows up is separate, unmixed and non-repeatable.

Unity:-

In Grade V, I conducted one activity on The United Nations (UN) based on Unity. Students were divided into 5 teams. Students researched various works of the United Nations in India. Topics for the teams were:- 

TEAM-1 Poverty and Urbanisation

TEAM-2 Health, Water, and Sanitation

TEAM-3- Education and Employability

TEAM-4 Gender Equality and Youth Development

TEAM 5 Climate Change, Clean Energy and Disaster

Each Team was divided into roles. Buzz (Team), Affinity (Questionnaire), Teach and talk (presenting conclusion) and Critics.

The task was given to them during winter vacations. The presentation was in the second week of January. I was happy to see the work presented by them. Even I asked them what they learnt from this activity? I would like to share the learning shared by a few participants of Team -2:

It was a great acTeamty. I learned about how the United Nations manages Health, Sanitation and water for needy people worldwide. I discovered my team member's hidden qualities and learned to manage them together. I learned how to work in Unity, also. This was my best activity in 5th grade. Thank you, Ma'am, for giving us such a great activity!

Thank you, Ma'am, for this activity. I liked the group work and how Parvi properly managed all of us. I would like to be in Parvi's Team in future, also. I learned when people me shouting how to manage them politely from Parvi. And thank you, Ma'am, for this united activity.

I was excited to hear about our topic when we presented the activity. I found this activity to be unique because of its Unity. I learned that Unity makes our work easy too. Thank you, Ma'am, for this great activity.

As a facilitator, I guided my students about the topics and explained the value of a team. Students worked well in the Team. I was amazed to see the handholding of each Team during the presentation. Students who were critics used their power and role for the betterment of everyone. With maturity and self-reflection, more research work will happen in future. I would like to share one quote from Rabindranath Tagore "Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time."

Caring:- 

Indeed this quote speaks the truth of life. The picture was my assignment for the students. I displayed this picture, and I felt silence in my class. Suddenly one student wrote the word kindness on the whiteboard. This was the trigger for our discussion. While discussing values in my class, I observed different views and opinions. Then I shared another picture which was related to success.

I asked what is most important to them– achieving at a high level or achieving at a high level and caring for others. I received mixed responses. I did this survey with the age group of 10-17 years old children. I was distraught to see the result when I observed 75 per cent chose to achieve at a high level, and 25 per cent decided to perform at a high level and to care for others.

The 25 per cent age group was 10-12 years old children. So it is essential to inculcate values from the initial phase of life. I would like to end with the English proverb - As you Sow, So Shall you Reap. Sukhpreet Kaur
Gyanshree School, Noida Happy Teachers JOL Cohort 2022

Importance of Writing in our life: Byju Joseph

We can express our own ideas and opinions in different ways. It is possible by expressions, by signals, by communication, by writing or by speaking. It is not necessary to select only a particular way to express them but perfection is important. Writing is one of the powerful modes of expressing ideas. Writing helps us to communicate better.  If we want to become a good writer we must be a good read which will help us to improve vocabulary, sentence structures and grammar.

We all have ideas but the way of presentation of them will lead to identifying the personality. It is not an easy job for everyone because a lot of mental exercises are needed for writing. It is the work of our brain to analyze and arrange our own ideas, imagination, feelings, knowledge and information to present before others. When we write anything most of the parts of the brain involve accomplishing it. This will help to improve memory which will lead our imagination into reality.  Writing helps to stimulate the brain especially the left hemisphere which is the dominant part that controls all the related activities. Both the hemispheres have lobes, out of which the frontal lobe mostly regulates writing and speaking in association with other lobes.

As the human brain develops at an age of early childhood it is very important to teach the children how to write everything properly. The first step in this regard is to write and learn alphabets and then to words. Gradually they attain the knowledge of forming sentences. Developing a writing skill will help them to gather and analyze their ideas in an effective manner. Children should get the freedom to write whatever they want to. More and more interest will develop and that will direct them to form creative ideas. Creativity will surely lead to better output in their academic areas. Handwriting is another aspect which improves by continuous practice. By seeing the handwriting we identify the nature and confidence level of children.

The overall writing is a skill which should be practised and improved by all.

Byju Joseph

bjh@fabindiaschools.in

Kavita Devda: Speaking

Speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth. Speech can flow naturally from one person to another in the form of dialogue. It can also be planned and rehearsed, as in the delivery of a speech or presentation. Speaking can be formal or informal.

Informal speaking is typically used with family and friends, or people you know well. Speaking occurs in business or academic situations, or when meeting people for the first time.

The four main important skills are Fluency, Vocabulary, Grammar and Pronunciation.

1. Fluency is about how comfortable and confident we are in speaking English. Whatever is spoken by us should be understood by the listener.

2. Vocabulary- If we don't have enough words then you cannot speak. So vocabulary is a must. Being a good speaker means constantly growing our vacabulary. If we know more interesting words then our speaking skills will be stronger. The best way to grow our vocabulary is to read more and make a note of new words.

3. Grammar- If we know the grammar properly then we do fewer mistakes while speaking. Though we should not be worried about mistakes. A good speaker does not have to use perfect grammar.

4. Pronunciation- Pronunciation is also a skill that can be practised. If we simply listen carefully to the person who is speaking and try to imitate them as closely as possible.

Kavitha Devda, The Fabindia School kda4fab@gmail.com

My Good School: The Sanskar School Koselao

An Orientation Programme for introducing the My Good School Program was held at The Sanskar School, Koselao. The team constituted of Mr Ajay Vijaywargi (AVI), Dean Learning Forward, Mrs Kusum Sharma (KSA), Dean My Good School, LFIN Intern Ms Ishu Chouhan (ICN) and two students from The Fabindia School, Bali, Devika Choudhary /XI C and Kinjal Rao /XI C.

The programme started with the Introduction and Welcome by AVI Dean Learning Forward. Then “Why the My Good School Programme (Necessity)” by KSA Dean My Good School. PowerPoint Presentation was shown on “How the programme will be implemented?  And the meaning of My Good School Logo was explained. Both PPT`s were explained with interaction with parents in English (By KSA) and in Hindi (By AVI). Explanation of My Good School Report Card by Devika and Kinjal (Class XI C).

They had an Interactive Session with the Parents and two questions were put up:
‘What you want your child to be?’; and
‘Is your child ready to face the world?'

Mr Yogendra Mertiya addressed the gathering.

The programme ended with Vote of Thanks by AVI.       

My Good School

The My Good School designation shows the value a school places on professional learning and student achievement. The school works for the personal and social development of an individual, by subscribing to our philosophy of quality in education, offering an environment where experiential learning is made possible through activities beyond just study; this brings to life learning that would otherwise be theoretical and uncoordinated.
www.MyGoodSchool.IN  Twitter @MyGoodSchool  #MyGoodSchool

- Ajay Vijayvarji, Dean Learning Forward

The Fabindia School

Email avi4fab@gmail.com

Please connect with AVI if you would like your school to be designated as My Good School