TEACHING TALES, LEARNING TRAILS

by Neeraja Raghavan, Vineeta Sood, Kamala Anilkumar

How do the dynamics of a school spill over into the seemingly unconnected events at home, in the community, the nation, the world? Do they? How often do we, as parents or teachers, act like our own parents/teachers? How often do we as students, experience a disconnect between what we are taught to do and what is implicitly expected of us? How much of those influences do we carry with us, as we start families and choose careers? Surely the ambitious CEO as well as the lackadaisical vagabond both went to some school that shaped them – in no small way? What were the teachers of today like – as school goers? What made them turn into teachers? How do parents experience the schools that they send their children to? What can happen if there is an attempt to create a dialogue between teachers and other teachers, teachers and parents, students and teachers? Are such things even possible? This is a set of ten stories based largely on events that actually unfolded but do not serve to depict entirely accurate portrayals of what transpired – ‘fictionalised fact’. The intent is not so much to produce memoirs as it is to set the reader off on an exploratory journey. The stories are followed by rich discussions between groups of principals, parents, students, teachers, teacher educators and pre-service teachers, as they reflect on the questions raised by these stories. Neeraja Raghavan, Vineeta Sood and Kamala Anilkumar are teacher educators working with THINKING TEACHER, www.thinkingteacher.in and this is a THINKING TEACHER publication.

Genres: Nonfiction

Kindle Edition

Published August 20, 2018

Reviews

[Swati Gautam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful work. This shouldn’t be just read, one should sit and work with this book. One can learn so much about teaching and learning practices. I loved each chapter of this book. Teachers can draft their own ideas and learn from every single experience of this book. It shows mirror and helps us to understand different perspectives. Best part is book is just narrating the incidences without judging anyone.”Success and failure” talks about both the sides of the story. Teacher as well as Parents. One can see the clearer picture through both the lenses .
Story ‘The stuff of staff meetings’ is amazing. I kept on laughing with the ideas teachers had come up when Mister Ghorpade asked them to think about new dress code for teachers. How brilliantly he had put the sense of dressing into the place without lecturing anyone about it.
Story ‘TheFire’ Reena Kumar’s struggle to run the pre primary school for all was truly inspiring and emotional.How some people reacted in her neighbourhood and withdrew children when she gave space for special children in her school.
Her thoughts about ‘ good education’ and poetry when she receives new child in her school is beautiful.

“How do you know I’m capable?
Of steering it through joy and strife?
I will give you all my precious!
I’ll be with you you through the flow!

Must read for all the teachers and parents who want to understand what real education is.

[Dharmabum · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half has some interesting stories involving students, teachers, school leaders and parents. The trials and tribulations of each of them in relation to school education are beautifully brought out through these engaging stories.
I found the second half tedious, both in terms of content and presentation. The conversations (real ones) about the stories among various stakeholders are presented verbatim. This was difficult to read and consume. Perhaps a summary would suffice.

[Yadav Priyanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://thenewleam.com/2018/10/teachi...