Category: Forum

Forum

Treating children with dignity I would like to thank Zenobia N. Lakdawalla for sharing her experience in ‘We learn from mistakes’ (Notes from a teacher’s diary, March 2010). In her situation, it would have been easy to do the usual thing, which is to snub the child for copying, lecture him on his unscrupulous behaviour, even take him to the principal and call his parents. Instead, the teacher chose to approach the situation with great maturity, something we need to cultivate in our dealings with young people entrusted in our care. The child would have appreciated being ‘related to’ instead of ‘dealt with’. The teacher pointed out his mistake and asked him to mend his ways, but did not violate his dignity. I also find it significant that the teacher responded to the act of copying, instead of passing judgment on the child’s character and upbringing or humiliating him in front of other students. We teachers are often unaware of the damage we cause, and Zenobia’s story is a good reminder. It also makes us see that children will take responsibility for their actions, provided we relate to them with trust and respect. Chintan Girish Modi Mumbai Helping teachers grow The article ‘Get ahead with the news’ in the April 2010 issue throws light on the multi dimensional activities that can be carried out by any teacher irrespective of the curriculum. These activities will help students learn any difficult subject with ease and joy. Apart from academics, articles like ‘Classroom language’ (Ask and Answer, April 2010) will help the teacher inculcate soft skills in students. No doubt reading Teacher Plus will help teachers grow internally and also professionally. Jayalekshmi Rajasekaran Tirunelveli An asset to teachers It’s my immense pleasure to share my feelings about Teacher Plus, a complete magazine for a valuable profession like teaching. I don’t miss out on any section of the magazine and read with interest ideas and experiments to liven up a classroom that other teachers share through this innovative magazine. The quality of the magazine both in terms of looks and content has made it an asset not only to teachers but also to parents and students. Harekrushna Behera Unchahar A good resource The May-June biology special issue from Teacher Plus was a treat to both the eye and the mind. The layout of the magazine was very appealing and attractive as usual. The content didn’t let us down either. There are articles from which teachers can pick ideas and

Read More »

Forum

As a physical education teacher, I sincerely wish you would address some concerns through your magazine. While we all know education is meant to groom children into future citizens, the pressure of the school curriculum, the amount of learning that is involved and rigorous exam schedules are keeping children away from interacting with people at social gatherings and preventing them from participating in physical activities. Earlier, school holidays gave children and parents the chance to spend time with each other, but with holidays also being taken up to complete the syllabus, this valuable time has been drastically cut short. Children today are also not appreciative of our country’s several festivals. If we wish to turn our children into responsible citizens then it requires the combined effort of the school management, teachers and parents to provide ample opportunities to imbibe social values and ethics. Ravi Bhadoria Bharuch Dist., Gujarat Congratulations I want to congratulate you for coming up with such a nice 20th anniversary issue. Enjoyed reading it immensely, specially the article titled “An index finger and his red little tail”. Good Luck and wish you continue the good work decade after decade. Jyothi Padmanabhan Iyer Secunderabad

Read More »