The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

Editorial 

July/August, 2017 Vol. 04 No. 03 

DELBIL/2014/55800 

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New Trends in Education 

Greetings from The Progressive Teacher. 

You all must have got back to school after the 

refreshing summer vacation ready to tackle the 

challenges of the new term. 

Do not confine your children to your own 

learning for they were born in another 

time. This Hebrew proverb very aptly sums up 

what ails our education system. 

Unfortunately, today we find most schools and 

education per se stuck in a time warp. Where 

the developed world has moved forward, 

we are living and working in the Victorian/ 

industrial age as far as teaching-learning 

is concerned. As teachers, we must accept 

the fact we are not The Boss anymore in the 

classroom, but we play the role of a coach, a 

mentor, a facilitator; someone who is guiding 

the students in their way of learning and 

showing them how to learn and how to deal 

with knowledge and information available to 

them at the click of a button. We no longer 

teach in a silent, walled classroom where 

students sit straight in neat rows and hang 

on to every word uttered by the teacher. It 

is a classroom where learners sit together 

in groups, brainstorming and working 

collaboratively to solve problems creatively 

through critical thinking, using the skills they 

acquired in the previous lesson. The focus has 

shifted from the teacher to the learner. The 

traditional stand and deliver mode is being 

pushed out by the guide on the side approach 

and the old classroom is being replaced with 

creative, comfortable learning places. We are 

headed towards a time when the Cs are more 

important than the traditional three Rs. 

With the slowly changing role of the teacher, 

arises the need for continuous professional 

development which should include research. 

In countries like Finland, teachers believe 

in the dictum – we teach what we research 

and we research what we teach. Thus, the 

educators not only remain abreast of the latest 

developments in the field of education, but also 

a step ahead of their tech-savvy students. 

Technology is ubiquitous. Currently, it is 

touching almost every part of our lives, our 

communities and our homes. Today, even 

4 – 5 year olds can navigate smartphones 

better than their parents. These are not the 

same 21 st century learners, we came across 

at the beginning of the millennium. For 

this generation of students, listening to the 

teacher is no longer 

enough. They demand 

a whole new level of 

engaging learning. 

With the world, having become a global 

village, teachers and administrators need to 

rethink on the importance of technology in the 

classroom. Technology should be used as an 

instructional tool. The economy has shifted to 

a technological knowledge-based economy, 

and it is therefore important to impart this 

knowledge to students. 

The new-age classroom needs to provide a 

conducive learning atmosphere. This should 

include - 

• An atmosphere of love to cast out fear from 

the students’ minds and provide them with 

a platform to develop their true potential, 

free from any prejudice. 

• An atmosphere of patience to ensure 

balanced emphasis on knowledge and 

the opportunity to think instead of being 

rushed. 

• An atmosphere of understanding the 

students’ needs. 

In this issue of The Progressive Teacher, 

you will come across diverse views regarding 

New Trends in Education today. These views 

spawn a gamut of opinions – from Steve 

Heisler advocating that learning makes one 

smart to Trending Towards Value Education 

by Geeta Gujral, Importance of Theatre in 

Education by Mathew Panamkat, Creative 

Movement in Education by Preeti Sunderajan, 

Copying in Examinations by Jeny Raphael, 

Effective Feedback by Abhijeet Mandve, New 

Trends in Education by A S Guleria, P Ajitha, 

Rupsi Chauhan, Ragini Kaul and others. Plus 

there are many other articles catering to 

varied interests of the readers by our regular 

columnists Dr Shayama Chona, Rashmi 

Prabha, Payal Adhikari and others. 

I would like to invite you to share your 

experiences and views on Instructional 

Tools in the new century with the teaching 

fraternity through the pages of the next issue 

of The Progressive Teacher. I look forward 

to your contribution to The Progressive 

Teacher. 

With best wishes 

Rita Wilson 

ritawilson@gmail.com 

Rita Wilson has over 40 years of rich experience as educationist including over 30 years of experience in school 

leadership positions. She is the former Chief Executive and Secretary Council for the ICSE, New Delhi. 

She is a consultant to a number of corporate houses and educational institutions. She is serving as a Member of the 

Board of Governors/Managing Committees of some of the most prestigious schools and colleges of the country. 

She has vast exposure to the education systems of Japan, Germany, England, Thailand, Singapore, Sharjah, Dubai and 

Finland. She has initiated, conducted and organised workshops for school teachers and principals all over India 

With a B.A. (Hons) English Literature, M.A., M.Phil. (English Literature), B.Ed. to her credit, she has edited three 

series of English readers and work-books for school children. 

Mar/Apr 2017 

www.progressiveteacher.in 3

C O N T E N T 

08 

Creative Movement 

in Education 

Body movement and performing arts as 

a medium of expression to groom and 

teach children lessons for life 

Movement sessions are ideal environments 

for learning in multiple ways. It can help 

one understand the relationship of ones 

body with space and time and make 

deeper connections by enhancing learning 

capacities. 

–Preeti Sunderajan 

16 

THE ROLE OF TEACHER 

I would like to honour the work our teachers do. They must be saluted 

for the sacrifices they make and applauded for their commitment to our 

children. The progress of our nation depends on our education system. 

Unfortunately, our system is still based on rote learning in which there 

is very little interaction and discussion between the teacher and the 

taught. 

–Dr Shayama Chona 

20 

Effective Pedagogical 

Approach to Impart Life- Skills 

Education in Schools 

It is an undeniable fact that the education for the 21st 

century must lay equal, if not more emphasis on imparting 

life skills to children in order to equip them with the 

necessary tools (skills) that would come to their rescue 

whenever faced with what may seem insurmountable 

hurdles that one comes across in life to those without a 

coping mechanism in place. 

–P. Ajitha 

52 

EXPLORING THE SUBJECT BIOLOGY 

When we talk about life, we want to know about its origin, existence of 

diversity in life-forms, right from microscopic bacteria to the giant blue whale. 

We try to identify the interactions that exist between various life forms to 

continue the survival of one’s species on the earth. Human has quest to 

invent and discover microscopic machinery operated in the human cell to the 

changes operated at environmental level such as global climate change. 

–Rashmi Prabha 

4 The Progressive Teacher 

Jul/Aug 2017

Editorial 03 


New Trends 06 

21st Century Skills 

awards 07 

Tata Trusts’ ‘Big Little Book 

Award’- invite nominations 

CREATIVITY 08 

Creative movement In education 

New Trends 10 

Gurukuls and coaching institutes 

COUNSELLING 12 

Why schools need career 

counselling sessions? 

EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING 13 

Importance of theatre in 

the school curriculum 

ETHICS 14 

Copying in examinationjustanother 

shortcut 

MOTIVATION 16 

The role of teacher 

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 18 

A student once more… 

New Trends 20 

Effective pedagogical approach 

to impart life- skills education 

in schools 

HEALTH 22 

First aid guide for school 

Jul/Aug 2017 

Vol 04 I No 03 July/August 2017 

DELBIL/2014/55800 

62 

Principal Q&A 

Principal 

AGNES RITA SEBASTIAN 

56 

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM 

The story so far…There was a time (and in 

many places other than the metros, it still is) 

when technology in the classroom of a school 

meant either having a room equipped with audio 

visual devices, usually a tape recorder and a 

VCR or advertising your school as a smart class 

equipped school with some classrooms fitted with 

projectors connected to a new generation writing 

board called the smart board. It all started with 

using these facilities in regular periodic classes 

showing children educational content. 

–Renu Vashishta 

IN THIS ISSUE 

Planner Pullout 23,42 

Classroom Display Pullout 24, 41 

Worksheet 

Class VI: Geography 25 

Motions of the earth 

Class VI: Geography 

What books and burials tell us 

Kingdoms, Kings and an 

early republic 

Worksheet 29 

Class VII: Mathematics 

Algebraic expressions 

Simple equations 

Exponents and powers 

Ration and proportion 

Worksheet 33 

Class VIII: History 

The changing world of visual arts 

The national movement: 1985-1919 

Class VIII: Geography 

Industry 

Human resources 

Worksheet 37 

Class X: Mathematics 

Circles 

Constructions 

Areas related to circles 

Surface areas and volumes 

New Trends 43 

‘Facing the challenges of 

21 st century learning: experience 

of cms asharfabad’ 

New Trends 46 

New trends in education 

effective feedback 47 

The secret of giving effective feedback 

to students 

VALUE EDUCATION 48 

Trending towards 

value education 

new trends 50 

New educational trends: 

changing pedagogy into 

practicum 

BIOLOGY 52 

Exploring the subject biology 

Career in history 54 

The forbidden land! 

CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY 56 

Technology in the classroom 

From the publisher’s desk... 57 

Resolving conflicts in classrooms 

NEW TRENDS 58 

New trends in art education 

VALUE EDUCATION 60 

Value education in schools 

learning 61 

Learned or smart 

Principal Q&A 62 

Agnes Rita Sebastian 

EDULEARN17 (9th annual International 

Conference on Education and New Learning 

Technologies) 

July 3-5, 2017 

Barcelona, Spain 

https://iated.org/edulearn/ 

2017 International Conference on Gender 

Studies 

July 01, 2017 

Warsaw, Poland 

http://genderstudies.irf-network.org/warsawsymposium 

World Conference on Computers in Education 

July 2-6, 2017 

Dublin, Ireland 

http://wcce2017.com 

The 15th International ICIE conference on: 

Excellence, Innovation & Creativity, Basic- 

Higher Education, and Psychology 

July 3-5, 2017 

Lisbon, Portugal 

http://www.icieconference.net 

2017 International Conference on Education 

and Distance Learning (ICEDL 2017)--EI, 

Scopus, and ISI CPCS 

July 4-6, 2017 

Maldives 

http://www.icedl.org/ 

3rd Asia Pacific Conference On Educational 

Management And Leadership (APCEMaL 2017) 

August 1-3, 2017 

Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia 

http://seminarfpe.wixsite.com/apcemal2017 

Global Active Learning Summit TOKYO 

August 3-5, 2017 

Tokyo, Japan 

http://www.activelearning2030.org 

5th PATTAYA International Conference on 

Literature, Humanities, Education, Business, 

and Corporate Social Responsibilities 

(LHEBC-17) 

August 3-4, 2017 

Pattaya, Thailand 

http://iaohm.org/conference/108 

International Conference On e-learning and 

Distance Education(ICELDE) 

August 4-5, 2017 

Bali, Indonesia 

http://www.urlacademics.com/event_details/23 

BUDAPEST- HUNGARY International 

Conference on Law, Education, Business and 

Corporate Social Responsibilities (LEBCSR-17) 

September 4-5, 2017 

Budapest, Hungary 

http://icehm.org/2017/09/04/100 

2017 International Conference on e-Commerce, 

e-Administration, e-Society, e-Education, and 

e-Technology - Fall Session 


Seoul, Korea (south) 

http://tw-knowledge.org/ecasefall/ 

23rd International Conference on Teaching, 

Education & Learning (ICTEL) 


Bali, Indonesia 

http://adtelweb.org/ 

4th Global Conference on Education, Research, 

and Policy 

September 15, 2017 

Washington DC, DC, United States of America 

http://www.advenaworld.com/education-researchand-policy.html 


new trends 

–Padmini Sriraman 

The word learning has taken 

on a greater meaning 

and significance with the 

realization that the wisest mind 

has always something to learn, 

while people always thought 

of learning as being confined 

to academic endeavors. In the 

process of learning, learners 

absorb knowledge from every 

possible source and at every 

opportunity. Today’s students 

must learn to collaborate, 

communicate and solve problems. 

However, the gap between the 

skills people learn and the skills 

people need is becoming more 

obvious, as traditional learning 

falls short of equipping students 

with the knowledge they need to 

live with. 

The present day generation is 

getting smarter day by day. 

Most parents and teachers 

find themselves at a loss when 

faced with bold and intelligent 

questions from students. With 

technology and social media 

taking our society by storm, kids 

of all age groups today are much 

more informed on various aspects 

of life than ever before. They are 

inquisitive and intelligent. 

Against this backdrop, the 

question that parents and 

teachers need to ask themselves 

is whether they are focusing 

on building the children’s 

abilities and skills to meet their 

expectations? 

Are the parents restricting the 

children rather than taking them 

to higher levels of learning and 

joy? 

21st century curriculum must 

include, in addition to the 

standard core subjects, important 

areas of study such as global 

awareness, civic literacy, etc., 

and skills such as ICT literacy, 

critical thinking, problem-solving 

and life skills. 

Teachers play a significant role 

in helping students develop 

21st century skills by applying 

methods that increase students’ 

capabilities. They should use 

innovative strategies and modern 

learning technologies that help 

integrate cognitive and social 

skills with content knowledge 

as well as increase student 

participation in the learning 

environment in order to promote 

skills. 

There are many strategies that 

enhance both learning content 

and developing skills. 

Today, teachers should give 

students the opportunity to 

engage in various activities such 

‘Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying 

to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by 

really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief 

that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity and skill to do it even if 

I may not have it at the beginning.’ –Mahatma Gandhi 

as projects, problems, design 

and research-based learning that 

promote cooperative learning. 

In these activities, students 

work together which increases 

their participation, achievement 

and motivation to learn. 

Consequently, collaborative 

learning allows students to 

contribute different degrees of 

prior knowledge, abilities and 

aptitudes. The 21st century 

skills are a set of abilities that 

students need to develop in order 

to succeed in the information age 

of today. 

Let us look at the 21st-century 

skills that every student needs to 

survive and succeed in our world. 

The students want to be 

challenged and inspired in 

their learning. They want to 

collaborate and work with their 

peers. They want to incorporate 

the technology they love into 

their classroom experiences 

as much as they can. Hence, 

preparing a child to face the 

world is not an easy task for 

any teacher. Many of these 

skills are also associated within 

depth learning, such as analytic 

reasoning, complex problem 

solving, and teamwork. 

These skills differ from 

traditional academic skills which 

are primarily content –based.The 

set of skills we need to focus on 

is to successfully develop lifelong 

learning. 

They are many and varied and a 

few are listed below: 

Problem solving skills: 

Padmini Sriraman is presently working as the Principal of The Hindu 

Senior Secondary School Chennai. She is double M.A in Economics and 

History and also holds M.Ed. and.M.Phil.degrees. 

She has written social studies books for Classes 6, 7 and 8 and EVS 

for Classes 1 to 5. She has conducted Workshops in Social Science, 

EVS, Classroom Management, etc. in various states in India, and at 

Dubai and Doha She is a recipient of the CBSE National Award from the 

Government of India in the year 2012, and of the First Financial Literacy 

Award instituted by Eduheal Foundation and Bombay Stock Exchange, 

plus other recognitions from various institutions. 

Her personal vision is to create a positive impact and motivate everyone with a ‘can do and 

never give up’ attitude. She is qualified in Carnatic music and veena, in painting and drawing, 

and was a basketball player during school and college days. 

6 The Progressive Teacher Jul/Aug 2017

In the future, problems will 

become more complex. As 

society advances, so will the 

complexities. The more we focus 

on students’ ability to devise 

effective solutions to real-world 

problems, the more successful 

those students will become. 

Problem-solving is a skill that 

comes naturally to them and this 

can be advanced with proper 

engagement in their learning. 

This comes from doing projects 

and meaningful tasks that give 

them challenges to overcome 

them in an imaginative way. 

Lateral thinking skills: 

Students can gain much by 

working out exercises that force 

them to think beyond the text 

book.Training the students to 

think outside the box helps in 

developing self-directed learning. 

Analytic thinking: Students 

need the ability to think 

analytically which includes 

proficiency with comparing, 

contrasting, evaluating, 

synthesizing, and applying 

without instruction or assistance. 

Presentation skills: Being 

able to present information in 

a clear and coherent manner 

so that others can interpret it. 

Learning to interpret both visual 

and written presentations is 

important. 

Communication skills: Learning 

to use social networking as a 

learning tool among students is 

important. While there is much 

concern about proper use of 

social media, we must teach our 

students how to use these tools 

to expand their own learning. 

Students must be able to 

communicate not just with 

text or speech, but in multiple 

multimedia formats. They must 

be able to communicate visually 

through video and imagery as 

effectively as they do with text 

and speech. 

Interpersonal skills: Verbal 

and non-verbal communication 

plus listening and questioning 

skills enable a student to be 

responsible and accountable 

for actions, An awareness of 

social etiquette and expectations 

of self management skills are 

Jul/Aug 2017 

very essential for working as a 

member of a team. 

Confidence building skills: 

Developing an ‘I can’ attitude 

and assertiveness is so very 

important. Education must 

aim to instill confidence in our 

students so that they know they 

can learn, explore and achieve 

success on their own. 

Self-directed learning 

skills: Giving our students 

the opportunity to determine 

what and how they will learn 

is a valuable way for them to 

determine the path of their own 

learning. If teachers set the 

agenda for students, there is 

little scope for them to discover 

the joy of learning on their 

own. They need opportunities to 

become active learners who can 

direct their own learning path. 

Self directed learning can be very 

powerful and can help students 

to practice all skills. 

Collaboration skills: Students 

must possess the ability to 

collaborate in both physical 

and virtual spaces, with real 

and virtual partners globally. 

Connection and collaboration 

with others are essential not only 

to their learning but for their 

mental and emotional health. 

It is a skill that educators must 

exercise with them regularly. 

Planning skills: Students must 

be able to set parameters for 

the scope of work as well as 

setting and sticking to a time 

line for the completion of work. 

This is an imperative skill to 

ensure learning. Needless to say 

that these skills help students to 

gain confidence and self manage 

any situation with courage and 

achieve their goals. 

Above all, teachers must inspire 

students to develop a love of 

learning. By igniting a passion 

and a hunger to learn, educators 

will be setting students upon 

a path of lifelong learning and 

develop all the skills required for 

a successful future. 

‘Every person - with his or 

her own skills, abilities and 

uniqueness - can contribute 

to others and bring great joy 

to those that fortune has not 

smiled upon.’ -Shari Arison 

awards 

Tata Trusts’ 

‘Big Little Book 

Award’- Invite 

Nominations 

• Awards to recognize and honour significant 

contributions of authors and illustrators of 

children’s literature in Indian languages 

• For authors, the language for this year is Bengali; 

For illustrators, it 

is open across all 

languages 

The Big Little Book Award (BLBA), a firstof-its-kind 

award to honour contribution of 

Indian authors and illustrators to children’s 

literature, is inviting nominations for its second 

edition. Every year, BLBA selects one Indian 

language to award an author or illustrator. The 

award has selected ‘Bengali’ as the language of 2017. Authors writing 

extensively for children in Bengali, with significant contribution to 

literature are eligible for nomination, whereas awards for illustration 

are not language-specific. 

The inaugural awards were announced at the Tata Literature Live! The 

Mumbai LitFest in 2016. 

Internationally renowned author-illustrator Ms. Madhuri Purandare 

received the Author award for her contribution to Marathi children’s 

literature, while illustrator and cartoonist Atanu Roy received the 

Illustrator award. 

‘It is the first time in India that creators of picture books – both the 

author and the illustrator, have an award to vie for. Recognition of this 

as mainstream literature and artwork as a distinct genre has been an 

area of extreme neglect in our country. Hopefully this award will go a 

long way to change that,’ said Roy. 

On this year’s choice of Bengali as the language for authors, Ms. 

Swaha Sahoo, who leads the Tata Trusts child literacy initiative Parag, 

said, ‘Bengali literature has a rich history with eminent people writing 

and illustrating for adults and children. Unlike many other Indian 

languages there are still many illustrious names writing for children. 

Some of the contemporary work that has come out in the recent years 

is also noteworthy.’ 

The award aims to recognise and celebrate authors and illustrators 

who have created outstanding children’s books in Indian languages. 

The award seeks to gift every child the joys of reading and reading 

good books in multiple Indian languages, while encouraging new 

authors and illustrators to contribute to the field. 

In 2016, the Tata Trusts’ Parag initiative conducted a series of events 

across Maharashtra. This included book discussions with children 

in libraries, workshops with children by children’s authors and 

illustrators, and panel discussions with students of art and design and 

story reading sessions. This year, Parag initiative will start the ‘Big 

Little Book Talk’, which will be a series of talks across the country on 

children’s literature in India, around rich history of Bengali children’s 

literature, role of illustrations in children’s books to name a few. 

BLBA will also collaborate with major literary festivals to advocate 

for children’s literature in Indian languages and create platforms for 

children’s authors and illustrators to present their work and thoughts. 

‘The events that were conducted in Pune and Mumbai with children 

as part of the Big Little Book Award helped spread the word about 

the award and also Marathi literature. But more people should 

know about this. Since Bengali is the language this year, the events 

should not be limited to West Bengal. Let children across India read 

translations of Bengali authors if possible,’ said last year’s winner 

Madhuri Purandare. 

The ‘Big Little Book Award’ award has been instituted by the Parag 

initiative of Tata Trusts and Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai Litfest. 

It recognises authors and illustrators who have written and illustrated 

stories that connect with children, make them laugh, encourage them 

to think, introduce them to new ideas and cultures, are inclusive and 

balance the traditional with the contemporary. More information can 

be accessed at http://biglittlebookaward.in/ 

The nomination process will close on July 15, 2017. 


creativity 

–Preeti Sunderajan 

Imagine a birthday party of a 

three year old. There is lots 

of colour, balloons, laughter, 

music and movement. At one 

such joyous occasion, Rhea’s 

mother first noticed that her 

child needed some additional 

attention. While all children 

jumped and rolled to music, Rhea 

remained seated at the back with 

her gaze downward. It was as if 

she just wasn’t letting the music 

move her. Rhea’s mother noticed 

this pattern on several occasions 

where Rhea preferred being in 

the background, nearly invisible. 

So she decided to enroll Rhea in 

a creative movement class. The 

objective of putting her in this 

class was to increase her social 

skills. Her parents thought that if 

she interacted with other children 

of her age she may get positively 

influenced. After a few months of 

classes, the impact and change 

was very evident. Rhea was 

now confident, outgoing, funloving 

and social. She got very 

comfortable with herself, made 

friends easily and started dancing 

in parties. This was thirteen years 

ago. Today, Rhea is a classical 

dancer, a basketball player and 

enjoys creative writing. 

There could be several reasons 

why Rhea did not participate in 

dancing activity at parties. This 

could include lack of confidence, 

limited movement vocabulary, 

difficulty in body and movement 

control, poor self-image, or 

fear of being judged. Directly 

Creative Movement 

in Education 

Body movement and performing arts as a medium of expression to groom 

and teach children lessons for life 

Movement sessions are ideal environments for learning in multiple ways. 

It can help one understand the relationship of ones body with space and 

time and make deeper connections by enhancing learning capacities. 

or indirectly creative movement 

deals with these attributes. The 

fundamental principle is mindbody 

connection. 

Movement sessions are ideal 

environments for learning in 

multiple ways. It can help one 

understand the relationship of 

ones body with space and time 

and make deeper connections by 

enhancing learning capacities. By 

adding aesthetics and meaning to 

movement we make it a means 

of self-expression thus bringing 

about a mind body connect. The 

medium of performing arts is 

a wonderful form of expression 

where the performer is able to 

make connections between art, 

culture/ life and society. 

How do we use performing arts 

to move beyond the scope of 

mere entertainment then? 

In order for us to make 

connections between movement, 

dance forms, learning and 

expression, we have to 

understand the process of 

creation versus the end result 

(which in the case of dance 

will be a dance performance). 

It becomes important to 

understand and mediate a 

process that bridges performing 

arts and self development. The 

essence of Indian performing 

arts is the ability to tell stories 

through your eyes, face, gestures 

and body, the ability to multi 

task with different body parts 

and the ability to perform using 

all this to complex rhythmic 

patterns. All this leads to a 

good performance but if we can 

remove the technical side of 

creative movement, we can see it 

having a much larger impact on 

the personality. A few questions 

that come to my mind are: How 

do we break this down? How 

do we move from imitation to 

innovation? 

This can be broken down if 

we give more importance 

to the process of creation 

versus the end result. While 

creating a piece of art we 

use skills like visualisation, 

articulation of thoughts and 

ideas, communication using the 

body as a medium of expression, 

creative thinking, presence of 

mind, team work and most 

importantly creativity. Allowing 

the child to use the medium of 

dance not to learn by rote but to 

create something has a greater 

impact on the personality. This I 

found was the crux of Creative 

Movement and its impact on the 

child’s personality. 

Some of the areas that Creative 

Movement impacts are: 

• Self Esteem: Helps develop 

a positive self-concept in an 


atmosphere that allows for 

free thinking. 

• Communication and 

Expression: Creates a 

scaffolding to develop 

emotional maturity by 

guiding the child to express, 

understand, accept and 

control feelings and emotions. 

• Social skills: Helps the child 

imbibe values, social attitudes 

and manners important in his/ 

her socio- cultural context. 

They learn to share ideas, 

collaborate and wait for their 

turn. 

• Creativity: Pushes 

the children to become 

independent thinkers and 

develop creative thinking 

by providing sufficient 

opportunities for selfexploration, 

improvisation and 

experimentation. Children find 

new ways to move by taking 

risks and many possibilities. 

This skill combined with 

critical thinking capacitates 

problem solving. 

These essential life skills are 

required today more than 

academic excellence in order 

for us to stay grounded, deal 

with and excel in today’s society. 

These skills cannot be taught 

but have to be experienced and 

nurtured from a very young age. 

Creative movement then becomes 

a bridge to facilitate children to 

become comfortable with their 

bodies and in turn with who they 

are. Movement is an integral 

part of learning. Research shows 

that learning and cognitive 

development go hand in hand. 

So if we look at movement and 

add the creative aspect to it then 

we are enhancing meta-cognitive 

aspects of thinking. 

‘Think about Thinking’ is 

something I learnt from 

Mediated Learning Experience. 

This method mediates in a 

way where children begin to 

constantly think about thinking. 

This method of facilitation is 

critical for a child to understand 

Preeti Sunderajan is an accomplished dancer, choreographer, teacher, 

educator and entrepreneur. Preeti’s performing career spans over 

30 years. She has performed at several prestigious festivals across 

India, USA, UK and Australia. In addition to being a classically trained 

Bharatanatyam dancer, Preeti is trained in Yoga, Contemporary dance, 

Chau, Folk Theatre and Kalaripayattu. 

In 2006 she became an entrepreneur and started Shiri Dance Company. 

The aim was to build a dance company of professional dancers and 

artists to create neo- classical pieces of work and to do research in the area of movement 

and learning. She understood the deeper meaning of performing arts and its impact on 

child development and saw the need for an effective Creative Movement in education. She 

successfully launched a structured curriculum called Body Talk. Preeti joined FitKids in 

2014 as CEO of GAIT (Grooming Artistic Innovation and Talent). She has been successful in 

creating, developing and establishing GAIT as the largest and first ever Creative Movement 

in Education programme across schools in India. 

Jul/Aug 2017 

and apply. When we do this 

while using movement to create 

we are empowering a child in 

many different ways. The child 

has to think in order to create, 

find meaning for his ideas and 

has to be able to transcend 

through his actions. This also lays 

the foundation for body mind 

connect and critical thinking. 

In order for this change 

to happen in a child the 

atmosphere we create becomes 

very important in order to 

give an impetus to learning 

through creative movement. The 

atmosphere should be free of 

judgment, where no answer is 

right or wrong, it should ensure 

that the process is given far 

more importance than the end 

result. A curriculum framework 

needs to be developed which will 

give the child a clear pathway 

where success can be seen at 

shorter intervals. This will allow 

us to have clear objectives and 

outcomes. 

It is important as parents and 

educators that we create the 

same atmosphere of learning and 

enrichment at all times for the 

child. Some of the simple ways 

we can create this are: 

• Open ended questions- At 

the end of an activity it is 

important to ask open ended 

questions which allow the 

child to think. These are 

typically ‘Why, What, Where, 

When and How’ questions. 

As adults we are very 

enthusiastic about giving the 

right answer. Instead when a 

child has done a task take a 

step back and enquire about 

what he did. A simple activity 

could be, you play a track of 

music and ask them to move 

in a manner they wish with 

their eyes closed. Then ask 

them why they moved the 

way they did. What was the 

intention of the movement? 

What did they feel? How else 

would they have liked to do 

the activity? 

• Praise the process not the 

result – Often we love to 

praise the child who has given 

us the right answer. Instead 

step back and look at how 

children are arriving at their 

answers. This gives room for 

thinking and analysing the 

process. Give any task with a 

few obstacles. Once they have 

finished it, talk to them about 

how they went about finishing 

the task. What strategies did 

they use and if they felt it 

worked or not. 

• Do not get worried about 

right or wrong answers 

-When children are trying 

something they want to 

usually please the adult. This 

does not allow them to take 

risks and fail. Give activities 

that allow the child to come 

up with multiple ways of 

arriving at a solution. A 

simple example would be move 

from Point A to Point B but 

don’t crawl or use your feet 

to move. Children are at first 

confused but instantly find 

several ways to use their bodies 

to move. This simple activity 

allows the children to take 

risks and not be bothered if 

they fail. 

• Perspectives - When we look 

at responses from children 

from different perspectives 

then we realise it all ‘depends’ 

on how they perceive it. Give a 

child an abstract piece of art 

and turn it around after each 

response. You can see how each 

response is different and how it 

all depends on from where the 

child is looking 

at it. 

Creativity comes when there 

are limited inputs and you 

are required to come up with 

unlimited outcomes. This 

capacitates thinking as a general 

way of living. Expression of 

creative ideas is a beautiful 

outcome of this process. So, we 

can say that using the framework 

of performing arts we can make 

correlations with essential skills 

required for all round child 

development in an inclusive way. 

Creative movement in education 

provides the means to enhance 

ones inner potential in a world 

where the outcomes are largely 

academics driven. It makes 

learning a way of life and the 

child will be able to think reason 

and understand better the world 

around him/her. 


new trends 

GURUKULS AND COACHING INSTITUTES 

It is no wonder that you come across students and parents who know nothing about Nalanda 

and Takshila but know everything about Kota in Rajasthan. Why? It is because Kota has become 

the education capital of India attracting students from every corner for Engineering and Medical 

Entrance Examinations coaching. 

–Satya Ramesh 

Today, one can find more than hundred coaching institutes in Kota 

spawning big business even for locals. People rent out a portion of 

their houses to these students who shack up in groups of two-three 

in a room. City restaurants, too, are happy having assured customers 

whose number runs into thousands on a regular basis. Looking at this 

growing trend, a number of questions come to one’s mind. 

‣ Is CBSE aware of the fact that students coming for coaching to Kota 

get enrolled as regular students in schools which they never attend? 

‣ Can coaching institutes ever be considered as equivalent to schools? 

‣ Assuming that every year one lakh students have taken coaching for 

JEE in Kota and ten thousand have secured admission, what is the 

future of the remaining 90,000? Who takes their responsibility? 

‣ Do education authorities have any control on the student intake by 

these coaching institutes? 

‣ Are these coaching institutes ready to take moral responsibility for the 

increasing suicide rate among students studying in Kota? 

The list is endless and one can never get answers to these questions. It 

is because everyone involved in this business either directly or indirectly 

came to compromise for their own vested interest. Leaving others aside, 

let us think about parents, students and teachers. 

‣ India’s best faculty work in these coaching institutes earning packages 

which no school can match. Imagine how well can our schools function 

if these individuals work as PGTs with the same spirit. Difficulty in 

getting faculty for science subjects especially in classes XI and XII is 

one reason why schools are prepared to tie up with these institutes for 

their survival. 

‣ Students are completely driven by peer pressure to become a part of 

this race and they hardly realize what they fail to get by not going to 

school for two years. 

‣ As long as parents believe that coaching is a must to secure admission 

into IITs or medical colleges, nothing can change and they become a 

potential source of income for these institutes. 

In the light of the above discussion, let us see how different these 

institutes are from the gurukuls of the ancient times in the table given. 

Satya Ramesh Presently working as 

an Assistant Professor of Psychology 

in Amity University, Gwalior, Satya 

Ramesh has been a teacher of both 

Psychology and Mathematics for 

Senior Secondary and Secondary 

classes respectively for the past 

sixteen years. With a qualification in 

Psychology, Education and Counseling, 

he has a keen interest in these fields. 

S.No Gurukuls Coaching Institutes 

1. After initiation 

(Upanayana) all individuals 

before the age of 8 or latest 

by 12, were sent to the 

Gurukul. 

2. Subjects such as Philosophy, 

Grammar, Logic, and 

Astronomy were all taught 

by the same Guru. 

3. The gurukuls were 

supported by public 

donation. A guru did not 

receive any fees from the 

disciple. 

4. Gurukuls were situated in 

peaceful, serene and natural 

environment. 

5. Disciples were given training 

in various areas according 

to their interest, ability and 

aptitude. 

6. Parents and disciples 

considered Guru as a person 

above God. 

7. Gurukuls trained disciples in 

all aspects which facilitated 

them towards dharmic life. 

8. Gurukuls were a classic 

example of centres which 

provided holistic education. 

9. Healthy competition existed 

among the disciples who 

studied in Gurukuls. 

In the 21st century, coaching 

institutes begin with the 

foundation for IIT/Medical 

College when the student 

enters class VI/VII i.e. by the 

age of 12. 

Different teachers teach 

different subjects like Biology, 

Physics, Chemistry and 

Mathematics. 

Coaching Institutes get funds 

in the form of fee collected 

from the students. 

Coaching Institutes mostly 

operate in closed buildings 

situated in noisy surroundings 

of the cities. 

Students are given coaching by 

placing them in batches which 

are solely decided based on 

their marks and grades. 

Parents and students have 

immense faith in the faculty 

members who work in the 

coaching institutes; much 

more than their counter parts 

who work in schools. 

The role of coaching institutes 

in the life of a student is 

very limited i.e. only till the 

competitive exams get over. 

Coaching institutes are 

considered as extended schools 

and in some cases they have 

even become a threat to the 

survival of schools. 

Undue pressure on students 

to secure ranks at all levels 

at the cost of their physical, 

psychological and emotional 

health is prevalent. 

Let us comprehend how things have changed and would continue to 

change further with the way coaching institutes are mushrooming 

all over the country. What would be our role as educators in this 

transformation? Can we continue to remain silent about it? Is this the 

transformation which our great gurus and leaders expected from us? 

Let’s ponder upon it. 


counselling 

Why Schools Need 

Career Counselling 

Sessions? 

Any little child when asked what he wants to become 

when he grows up, immediately replies - a doctor, an 

engineer, a pilot, a teacher, a policeman,a fire-fighter, 

Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan… the list is endless. 

–Meenu Bhargava 

Ask the same person the same question 

when he/she is an adolescent and he/ 

she will shrug his shoulders and say ‘I 

don’t know’ or I haven’t decided yet or I am 

too confused. Choosing a career is a major 

decision and needs good career planning; 

it requires matching a person’s interests, 

aptitudes, skills and personality with the job 

requirements. 

Career planning process involves: 

• Knowing oneself and SWOT analysis 

• Knowing the world of work 

• Developing skills and knowledge suitable 

for the profession. 

Knowing a student’s subjects of interest, 

his abilities, skills and personality is a must 

in career decision. Every student is unique. 

Students can be classified as Picture Smart, 

Word Smart, Sound Smart, Number Smart, 

etc. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT 

helps students explore their interests, skills 

and special abilities, and thus help them 

in suitable stream selection and choice of 

a career. Students require comprehensive 

knowledge on various entrance exams for 

entry to various courses, eligibility conditions 

for courses, nature of exam, etc. 

Attending Career Counselling sessions 

helps students in exploring various 

Mrs Meenu Bhargava is a Post Graduate in Psychology from 

Jodhpur University and did her P.G Diploma in Educational 

and Vocational Guidance from N.C.E.R.T Delhi in 1985 with 

distinction. She has total thirty years of work experience in the 

field of Educational Vocational Guidance and Counselling. 

She is the Founder Director of a counselling centre (Karan 

Consultants),which provides training and counselling at 

Kaushambi, Ghaziabad. 

She was attached to Delhi Administration schools as Counsellor 

for a period of 22 years and with Amity International School, 

Vasundhra as Senior Counsellor for three years. 

Meenu has trained more than 15,000 students and teachers in the last four years 

from play-schools to reputed public schools and colleges on Life-Skills/ Class- 

Management/Smart Parenting/Cyber Safety, Protection of Children from Abuse, etc. 

Graph courtesy: Career Nurturer? 

options, removing myths regarding career 

options, and provides comprehensive 

knowledge which helps them in decision 

making and grooming of one’s personality 

for the job world. 

Knowledge is empowerment and 

schools play an important role 

in providing Career Counselling 

sessions to students and their 

parents. Group Counselling 

sessions motivate students to 

think in the right direction 

and with the help of Individual 

Counselling and Psychological 

Assessment students become 

aware of their interest, abilities 

and personality and are better able to plan 

their future. 

Choosing a career of choice helps students 

in right focus, preparation, resource planning 

and job satisfaction. 


emotional well-being 

–Mathew Panamkat 

How does theatre help students to 

become confident learners, individuals 

and later leaders in their chosen 

professions? My own early life illustrates 

that. At the age of ten, I was asked by my 

teachers to take part in a play, but I refused 

owing to my shyness in appearing before a 

crowd. Just a few years later, I found myself 

in a boarding school and my drama teacher 

forcefully cast me in a play; for what reason 

I still don’t know. This time I didn’t back out 

but performed as well as I could. I earned 

kudos from my classmates and teachers. 

After that, there was no looking back. I 

acted not only in short and long plays, even 

long three-act plays, but also wrote plays, 

one-act, two-act and three-act plays. Some 

of them were performed in different schools. 

A few one-act plays earned prizes in interschool 

one-act play competitions. Theatre, 

therefore, was a positive catalyst for me to 

develop, intellectually, and emotionally. I 

became a reader, actor and writer of plays 

and novels – all in the twelve years of being 

a student and a young teacher. My theatre 

activities had developed my personality. 

Now you might ask: What is drama? What 

is theatre? 

Drama is based on a fundamental human 

faculty - imitation. It is through imitation 

that children learn to walk, talk and do a 

number of other complicated tasks. Children 

imitate their elders; play at being policeman, 

doctors and teachers. This imitative faculty 

found its conscious expression in religion. 

Thus evolved Greek drama, which appeared 

more than two thousand five hundred 

years ago. It was a part of religious rituals. 

Similar were the origins of Jewish drama, 

Chinese drama, all European drama and in 

a way Indian drama. Though originating in 

religion, drama eventually moved out to the 

secular stage. Poetry was then its medium 

of expression, making it a rich and fabulous 

experience for the audience. Let’s recall 

Shakespearean experience, which is one of 

a kind without a rival. Later, poetry gave 

way to realistic prose. Thus, after centuries 

of evolution, drama settled down in its new 

form, the three-act play. 

The one act play, modelled on the earlier 

longer play, has a long history but it received 

popularity in the beginning of the past 

century. Today with the spread of amateur 

dramatics, the one act play has come into 

its own. With the spread of cinema and 

television, dramatic representation has 

become a major form of artistic expression. 

The insatiable hunger of the public for 

drama has made the episodic serialization on 

television the ‘in’ thing of the day. The teleplay 

is another form of a short play in cinematic 

form. Thus, the short dramatic act in its 

varied manifestations has become the ruling 

deity of the day. The hurried pace of modern 

life is hardly conducive to the staging of long 

and leisurely three act plays. School and 

college dramatic societies as well as social 

clubs prefer the one act play as a necessary 

part of the evening’s function. Hence, the 

special niche today for a short, crisp and 

absorbing one act play. 

Jul/Aug 2017 

Importance of 

theatre in the 

school curriculum 

One-act Plays and short or long skits written by professionals or 

by teachers or students themselves have a place in the learning 

sphere.The ever-green film actor and hero, Shah Rukh Khan 

once revealed that he overcame his shyness and developed 

his histrionic talent and thus built up his self confidence on the 

school stage of St. Columba’s School at New Delhi. 

Action, character and dialogue are subject 

to a sort of concentration in the one act 

play. The classical ‘unities’ of action, time 

and place have greater need for adherence 

as there is limited time and space for 

performance. Within the space of a mere 

thirty minutes or so an event must be 

unfolded, characterization made, and the 

plot brought to a satisfying end. Like in a 

short story, not a word or scene must be one 

too many. The ending must be arresting and 

appropriate enough to round off the action 

and perhaps to drive home a message, often 

indirectly. 

What use is drama, one might be tempted 

to ask. All forms of ritual have elements of 

drama: a military parade, a prize distribution 

function, a marriage ceremony, or a reception 

to a dignitary have bits of drama in them. 

The urge for participation in rituals and 

watching it as part of the audience seems to 

be one of our deep social and psychological 

needs. Those who put up plays in schools 

know how healthy an activity dramatics is 

for school students, how well they co-operate, 

learn their lines, and pool their acting talents 

Mathew Panamkat 

holds Master’s 

degrees in English 

literature and 

Linguistics, and 

also degrees in 

Philosophy and 

Education. He 

is Director of Laurel High School, 

Pitampura, Delhi. A writer of 

children’s books, he also conducts 

workshops for teachers, parents and 

students on the inculcation of reading 

habit. Email: mpanamkat@yahoo.com 

and come up to everyone’s expectations as 

a group! And what a satisfying experience 

this is for those involved in the production 

and for the fortunate audience as well! The 

play brings the entire school or community 

together and encourages such social virtues 

as co-operation and responsibility. It 

trains the students in self – confidence and 

poise and improves their diction, voice and 

articulation. 

But the true use of drama is at the deeper 

levels of emotional experience. In the present 

day world, how many of us are able to express 

our deeper emotions? Our daily grind in our 

run down cities and towns tend to make us 

callous and insensitive to others. Good plays 

give us once again an occasion to be able to 

feel and to experience a release of repressed 

emotions. We are moved by imagined painful 

events by sympathizing with a character here 

or being indignant with a character there. 

We cry, shed tears profusely at the suffering 

of innocent characters, or at the cruel play 

of injustice. Who can claim that he or she 

has not shed tears, that they have not been 

carried away by the infliction of cruelty or the 

wanton play of injustice in a scene in a play 

or a film? On the contrary, we are moved 

to laughter at the stupidities of others. The 

net result is that the participant in the play 

looks critically at his own self in the light of 

the imaginary characters he has been deeply 

involved with. Aristotle calls this the true end 

result of watching a play and its deep effect 

on our individual selves - ‘Catharsis’. We all 

need cathartic moments to purge ourselves 

of the unwanted and base elements of our 

emotions. 

This is the true personal harvest one can 

reap from purposeful dramatic activity in the 

present day world. 

www.progressiveteacher.in 13 

Pix curtesy: Vivekanand Vidya Niketan

ethics 

–Jeny Rapheal 

Proliferation of electronic 

gadgets - thanks to the 

technological revolution - 

has redefined the fundamental 

cognitive functioning of the 

human brain in such a way that 

consumption of cognitive energy 

for seemingly complex tasks has 

been transferred to the domain 

of machine world. The brain in 

leisure, left with much free space 

for ruminating, devises more 

and more means for mental 

shortcuts. Shortcuts beget desire 

for more shortcuts. Yes, it is like 

an addiction. 

Two ways of 

burning brain energy 

According to scientific studies, 

of all organs brain consumes 

greatest amount of energy and 

activities in the brain drain 

20% of human body’s total 

haul. On analyzing, one has to 

concede that burning of brain 

energy too follows the pleasure 

principle put forward by the 

19th century psychologist, 

Sigmund Freud. Burning of 

cognitive energy (effort) if 

associated with pleasure, the 

accompanying feeling of being 

‘drained out’ or ‘lethargic’ is 

also pleasing and the person 

indulges in it repeatedly. Mobile 

games are typical ways for 

spending cognitive energy 

in this way. But burning of 

energy for mastering a task by 

persevering and persisting in it, 

if dependent largely on the will 

power or grit of the individual, 

the accompanying lethargy or 

the feeling of being ‘drained’ 

cannot be enjoyed much and 

the task itself can pose as a 

negative reinforcer. Learning of 

several new skills, at least in the 

beginning, resembles this kind of 

burning of cognitive energy. 

This produces two types of 

individuals. The first type avoids 

or escapes from insipid way 

of expending cognitive energy. 

While the second type count 

on the positive outcomes of 

persisting in comparatively 

unpleasant ways of cognitive 

burning. The former group, 

pursuing hedonistic impulses 

finds asylum in their comfort 

zones comprising, perhaps, 

laziness, sloth, inertia, etc. Such 

people are highly susceptible 

to easily available mental 

shortcuts to execute most of 

their cognitive tasks. The second 

type of individuals never succumb 

to the machine world but learn 

to utilize technology to expand 

their innate potential. Their 

COPYING IN EXAMINATION- 

JUST ANOTHER SHORTCUT 

What differentiates cognitive functioning of the present youth from their 

counterparts decades back is their increasing dependence on mental 

shortcuts. There is a fundamental drive for shortcuts in all realms of 

modern life. 

persevering nature does not allow 

machines to dictate their lives. 

Addiction to shortcuts - a 

learned habit 

Preference for shortcuts to meet 

important as well as unimportant 

demands of everyday life has 

been very much ingrained in the 

lives of people today. Whether 

this culture of shortcuts can 

hurt people’s capacity for 

perseverance or hard work or 

sustained effort in the face of 

difficulties is the question. 

Acquaintance with shortcuts 

begins in the home. Life flows 

on pre-determined templates of 

shortcuts provided by electronic 

equipment. From the kitchen 

to bath room, home seems to 

be a gallery for shortcut living. 

Doing something manually is 

an affair of an unknown era 

and the new generation lives 

on instrumentally designed 

recipes for a range of activities 

literally from cooking to sleeping. 

Intimacy involved in face-toface 

communication becomes a 

casualty when gadgets determine 

the time, mode and outcomes in 

connecting with one’s intimate 

kith and kin. Ethical and humane 

values in which relationships are 

imbedded, have been redefined. A 

like in the face book is a shortcut 

not only to express one’s likeness 

but to cut short one’s habitual 

ways of communicating the 

‘liking’. In the absence of face 

book or whatsapp, we have to 

set out to articulate our ‘liking’ 

either by writing/communicating 

in detail or by face to face 

meeting. Now, face to face 

meeting has been cut down to 

face book click. Brevity rules 

the roost. Muscles of the brain 

Jeny Raphael is a higher secondary 

school teacher working in Kerala, India. 

She has 16 years experience in the 

field of teaching. She has published 

more than 15 research papers in 

various national, international journals. 

At present she is doing research in 

adolescent psychology in the Bharathiar 

University, Coimbatore. 

breathe in and breathe out only 

through shortcuts. 

School mimics 

shortcut culture 

‘It is my Math teacher who 

initiated me to my never ending 

love for shortcuts in learning by 

teaching shortcut methods of 

solving problems’, quipped my 

colleague while discussing the 

shortcut mania of our students. 

Students’ ‘homemade’ 

preferences for shortcuts get 

strengthened by many teaching 

methods. Many teachers join 

the bandwagon of utility 

oriented educators who practice 

examination oriented shortcut 

methods of teaching and learning. 

‘End result justifies means’ is the 

watch word of commercialized 

culture invading the scenario of 

present education system. 

Examination oriented teaching 

deprives the student of the 

cognitive burden of imagining, 

researching and indulging in 

deliberate rumination of the 

concepts to be learned. On 

the other hand, it promotes 

and motivates rote learning. 

Learning by rote or learning 

intended merely to regurgitate 

into answer sheets what one 

has mugged up, undermines the 


asic fundamental principles 

of learning - integrating the 

new information to the already 

existing framework of knowledge 

in the learner’s brain. Learning 

pruned to fit into ‘what is 

needed only for examination’ 

cuts down the possibilities for 

right registering of the learned 

material. Act of retrieval of the 

learned material will be flexible 

only if the registration of new 

information is done on the secure 

foundation of prior knowledge. 

A student who has developed 

a habit of learning just before 

the examination has a flaky 

foundation of prior knowledge. 

His ability to retain and retrieve 

information will fail to meet 

the standards of satisfactory 

performance. 

Crash courses crush the 

confidence 

Crash courses, a byproduct of 

shortcut culture, undermine the 

basic guiding principles of the 

process of learning. It is a futile 

exercise if the student has not 

undergone systematic learning 

before entering crash courses. 

Scientifically proved research 

evidence related to fundamental 

basic principles upon which 

cognitive faculties of individuals 

operate corroborates this claim. 

For a student who has not passed 

through the authentic sequence 

of learning process and who has 

not assimilated the qualities like 

regularity, disciplined learning, 

perseverance and grit required 

for it, burning of cognitive energy 

for learning is an insipid and 

boring job. Crash courses crush 

the confidence of such students. 

Standing on the threshold of 

board exams, the template of 

shortcuts provided by various 

teaching agents evades his 

underdeveloped learning skills 

or capabilities. Sudden surge of 

motivation for learning just to 

qualify an important exam and a 

slew of shortcuts supplied for the 

same need not commensurate well 

with his intellectual disposition. 

So the next best choice, for him to 

qualify in the examination, though 

declared as illicit, is a shortcut 

called copying. 

Copying — just one of the 

many shortcuts 

For the youth of new generation 

copying is just another shortcut 

and no more an act inherent with 

ignominy and disrespect. It will 

not be an exaggeration if one 

says that the prevailing culture of 

shortcuts has mellowed down the 

air of indignity surrounding the 

act of copying. Ever mounting 

incidents of exam scams and 

copying in the examinations is 

indicative of this. 

Learning, basically aimed to 

expand one’s boundaries, does 

not allow any space for short 

cuts. It can be pursued only with 

willingness for perseverance and 

meticulousness. For the student 

who has failed to discover the 

joy of learning, the very act 

of learning is a punishment in 

disguise. When learning is just 

mugging up things, copying is just 

a shortcut to victory. Perhaps no 

formal training will be available 

in the skill of copying. But that 

day is not far when everybody 

will reticently approve copying 

with just a word of caution that 

‘one must not be caught red 

handed’. 

Combating copying in 

examination 

As in any illegal act, it is a 

fact that, in copying some fall 

prey to some vigilant eyes but 

others escape due to their flair 

for obscurantism or due to the 

absence of vigilance in the eyes 

of invigilator. China combats this 

culture of shortcuts invading 

the examination system as 

the tendency of the students 

to copy, with more efficient 

shortcut methods for invigilation. 

They replaced invigilators 

in the examination halls by 

sophisticated cameras which 

surpass ordinary perceptual 

faculties of human vision and 

record each and every movement 

of more than 20000 examinees 

at a time from different angles. 

The process of evaluating 

the examination paper is 

complemented with verification 

and assessment of how a student 

behaved at the exam venue. 

In India if students are not 

willing to comply with the 

demands of being honest in 

the examination hall, teachers 

should be ready to be honest 

to themselves as invigilators. 

Interpretation of act of copying 

must be two pronged. Not only 

the dishonesty of the student but 

the slackness of the invigilator 

also must be probed while 

dealing with issues of copying in 

examinations. If somebody else, 

say the evaluators of answer 

sheets, comes out with evidence 

of copying, the invigilator must 

be bound to explain the cause. 

Copying is illegal you may 

inform your students. ‘Copying 

is immoral’ is a statement 

received with increasing amount 

of complacency and leniency by 

the students who have missed 

the sacred purpose behind the 

process of acquiring knowledge. 

Sophisticated technological 

facilities can ensure impeccable 

error free examination system. 

But new ways have to be devised 

to combat students’ increasing 

tendency to cut short the path 

to victory. An overhaul in the 

examination system to make it 

error free will be effective only 

if it is preceded by necessary 

reforms in teaching and learning 

practices. Factors that encourage 

the students to evade the path of 

hard work in learning must be 

probed into. What kills the joy of 

learning is the fundamental query 

to be addressed. Inculcating a 

passion for learning should be 

the aim of all teaching processes 

because one who loves learning 

will never succumb to the 

temptations for shortcuts or 

copying. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


motivation 

–Dr Shayama Chona 

In spite of the rigid examination 

system our teachers make 

every effort to establish 

a rapport with the students. 

However there is certainly a 

paucity of quality teachers. 

Unfortunately, teaching has largely 

become a profession for women. 

One of the reasons for this could 

be the remuneration. Though there 

certainly has been a change after 

the seventh pay commission but, 

still the best of students especially 

the males do not take to teaching 

as a profession and it has become 

one of the last choices. 

There was a time when a teacher 

was considered to be a Guru. His 

respect in society was supreme; 

the students worshipped the 

teachers and sought blessings 

every single morning. Today it is 

a pity that parents discuss their 

children’s teachers with them 

indiscreetly which takes away the 

necessary awe and respect of the 

previous era. 

Teaching is more of a passion 

than a qualification. Above all 

every teacher must love his/her 

profession as well as the children. 

For a teacher, communication 

skills are as important as his/her 

subject knowledge. You could be a 

doctorate but if you cannot deliver 

in the classroom then the students 

lose out on their interest as well 

as on their love for learning. 

Other than possessing good 

communication skills, it is 

essential for a teacher to be child 

centric and have the ability to 

adapt, evolve and change to 

cater to the needs of the child in 

terms of 21st century education 

to enable the child reach his/ 

her highest potential. A quote 

by George P Schutz beautifully 

summarizes the above ‘Use what 

works and throw away that fails 

the child - this simple maxim 

presents a compelling measure 

of the need for change, for to 

follow it would amount to a 

revolution.’ 

To develop such a culture in 

a school we would need the 

following: 

• Access to the best resources 

and access to the accessed 

• Empowerment of teachers 

• CHANGE should be the driving 

force of the schools 

• Education for life-‘Life long 

learning’ 

• Teaching tomorrow today – 

‘Technology’ 

It would be interesting for the 

Principals of all schools to involve 

themselves in teacher training. 

They can play a paramount role 

in uplifting the quality of teachers 

in the school. I still remember 

a game I used to play with my 

staff at DPS where we used to 

THE ROLE OF TEACHER 

I would like to honour the work our teachers do. They must be saluted 

for the sacrifices they make and applauded for their commitment to our 

children. The progress of our nation depends on our education system. 

Unfortunately, our system is still based on rote learning in which there is 

very little interaction and discussion between the teacher and the taught. 

brainstorm the requisite qualities 

of a teacher and discuss on how to 

imbibe and inculcate them in our 

daily life. Following is the A to Z 

of some of these qualities. 

A 

Aware 

Adaptable 

Ambitious 

Articulate 

Attentive 

Aptitude 

Analyser 

Atmosphere: 

Establish a learning atmosphere 

in which students will want to 

participate and learn by forming 

a good rapport with students 

and helping them overcome 

anxiety as an obstacle to 

learning. 

B 

Being human (men and women of 

character) 

Brilliant 

C 

Competent 

Creative 

Communicator 

Collaborator 

Critical Thinker 

Class apart 

Charismatic 

Caring 

Curious 

Composed 

Confident 

Calm 

Compassionate 

D 

Decisive 

Dynamic 

Direct discussions on important 

topics which incorporate students’ 

needs and interests 

Dr Shayama Chona, is the former Principal of Delhi Public School, R K 

Puram, New Delhi; Founder President of Tamana (NGO for physically & 

mentally handicapped children); Founder of Anubhav Shiksha Kendra 

(a school for the under-privileged); she has been a member of 96 

Advisory Boards and Committees; she has been nominated to Managing 

Committees of 46 schools and other educational institutions; she has 

been named in the Limca Book of Records 2007. She has been awarded 

the State Award for Services in Education 1993, National Award for 

Services as a Teacher of Outstanding Merit 1994, National Award for 

Outstanding Performance for Welfare of People with Disabilities 1997, Padma Shri 1999, Padma 

Bhushan 2008, and 49 other awards. She lives at C10/8, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi-110057. Email: 

shayamachona@gmail.com, tamanapresident@gmail.com 


E 

Energetic 

Experienced 

Enthusiastic 

Effective 

Efficient 

F 

Focused 

Facilitator 

Forgiving 

Feedback receptive 

Formidable 

G 

Goals: 

Identify student goals, learning 

needs and learning styles. 

Define course goals in terms of the 

performance expected of students 

and how it is to be measured. 

Implement course goals in 

planning activities geared to 

produce the desired learning. 

H 

Humble 

Honest 

I 

Intelligent 

Inspirational 

Innovative 

Initiator 

J 

Jovial 

K 

Kind 

Knowledgeable 

L 

Leader 

Loving 

Learned 

Literacy Lover: 

Information literacy, technological 

literacy, scientific literacy, media 

literacy, cultural literacy & global 

awareness, critical literacy, 

cognitive literacy and visual 

literacy 

Lifelong learner 

Listener 

Likeable 

M 

Mastermind 

Motivator 

Mentor 

N 

Natural 

O 

Optimistic 

Observer 

Organised: Present and discuss 

material at varied levels of 

difficulty and complexity. 

Ask questions or pose topics 

which will simulate students to 

‘learn to learn’ and become more 

self sufficient. 

P 

Passionate 

Persistent 

Participation: Provide 

opportunities for students to 

participate in class. 

Ask questions or pose topics which 

will engage students’ interests. 

Encourage students to discuss 

topics directly with one another. 

Ask follow-up questions which will 

stimulate students to elaborate, 

clarify and/ or support their 

statements. 

Professional 

Problem Solver 

Q 

Quick responder 

Quotient: Intelligence Quotient, 

Emotional Quotient, Physical 

Quotient, Technological Quotient, 

Spiritual Quotient, Social Quotient 

R 

Responsible: 

This is a story about 4 people 

named Everybody, Somebody, 

Anybody and Nobody. There was 

an important job to be done 

and Everybody was sure that 

Somebody would do it. Anybody 

could have done it but Nobody 

did it. Somebody got angry about 

that because it was Everybody’s 

job. Everybody thought Anybody 

could do it but Nobody realised 

that Everybody would not do it. It 

ended up that Everybody blamed 

Somebody when Nobody did what 

Anybody could have done! So be 

yourself and do not depend on 

others. 

Role model 

Risk Taker 

S 

Scholar 

Smiling 

Sacrificing 

Soft Skills 

Skilful 

Social Media savvy 

T 

Taker 

Tough 

Trustworthy 

Thinker 

Transformational 

Techno savvy 

U 

Unanimous 

Unperturbed 

V 

Visionary 

Viable 

W 

Worthy 

X 

eXtraordinary 

Y 

Youthful 

Z 

Zealous 

Jul/Aug 2017 


classroom management 

–Payal Adhikari 

After joining the graduate 

school in New Hampshire 

role reversal from teacher 

to student was a significant 

change and helped me view 

things from a completely 

different perspective. I have 

tried to cull five major general 

learnings that could be useful to 

others in the profession. 

Physical space matters – 

Classrooms are extremely 

structured both in terms of space 

and purpose. As multi-tasking 

teachers, we are so engrossed 

with our lesson plans that we 

don’t consider enhancing the 

physical settings that we operate 

in. The arrangement of chairs 

and desks is the last thing that 

draws our attention. However, 

minor modifications can have 

a significant impact on the 

classroom interaction. In the 

graduate school, the teachers 

would often re-arrange the 

seating guided by the activity 

of the day. For example, the 

chairs were arranged in a semicircle 

when there was to be a 

discussion in the class. They were 

arranged in rows the day we had 

to compose individual essays. 

As a student, the physical set 

up helped me to psychologically 

orient to the task at hand. For 

example, sitting in a semicircle 

and facing other students 

did help in creating the right 

atmosphere for an informal 

discussion. 

Variety matters – We as teachers 

have a very difficult job as we 

teach the same content year 

after year. We have to constantly 

innovate to maintain freshness in 

our teaching. Besides the lectures 

and discussions, it was wonderful 

to be exposed to a variety of 

teaching methodologies such as 

field trips, videos, interaction 

with subject matter experts, role 

play, etc. Each method brought 

a unique insight because it 

focused on a different aspect of a 

particular topic. I was delighted 

to see that some classroom 

time was allotted for individual 

assimilation. For example, some 

of the teachers often laid out 

books connected to the topic and 

we were given time to browse 

through them. An insight during 

one such browsing session 

germinated into a huge project 

once I was back in my classroom. 

That individual time for reading 

was crucial to digest all the 

information that had come my 

way earlier. 

‘Doing’ matters – Classroom 

study can be mentally rigorous as 

A student once more… 

After fourteen years of teaching I was understandably tired and depleted 

and needed to bring some freshness into my teaching. So, I took some 

time off work and attended a short course on education at a graduate 

school in New Hampshire, USA. 

we tend to focus on the cognitive 

skills of the students, ignoring 

other forms of intelligence like 

musical, kinesthetic, spatial, etc. 

In the graduate school there was 

a lot of activity based learning, 

such as garden landscaping, 

acting, bookbinding, monologues, 

etc. Every activity involved a 

different set of problems which 

required different skills (not 

just cognitive ones). One had 

to use (and develop) one’s 

interpersonal, spatial, kinesthetic 

skills, etc. to deal with the tasks 

at hand. All this made learning 

more engaging, personal and 

interesting. 

‘Human touch’ matters– I was a 

foreign student entering a session 

mid-way and so naturally there 

were some jitters on how I would 

fit in. However, I must say that I 

felt very welcome and safe in the 

classrooms. Both the teachers 

and students were extremely 

kind, considerate and helpful. 

Despite their busy schedules, the 

teachers took time to interact 

with me at a personal level 

and we shared some wonderful 

conversations. In our classroom 

set up we tend to focus on ‘the 

class’ as an entity and not much 

time is spent individually with 

each child. However, a personal 

interaction with each student can 

go a long way in helping the child 

feel accepted and psychologically 

comfortable. A one-to-one 

relationship with each child also 

helps teachers to guide them 

effectively. 

Mindset matters – The single 

Payal Adhikari has been teaching English and History in 

both urban and rural schools for the past 14 years. She is 

keen on enriching the classroom experience and creating 

a holistic learning environment for the children. She can 

be reached at silence1677@gmail.com . You can follow the 

author’s tweets on education, history, culture and heritage 

on Twitter @Payal_swar 

most important theoretical 

concept that I picked up from 

the course is ‘growth mindset’. 

The term was coined by Dr. 

Carol Dweck and describes a 

particular mindset that helps 

people in their development. 

When our underlying beliefs do 

not allow us to move forward 

then we are operating under 

a ‘fixed mindset’. The ‘fixed 

mindset’ promotes status-quo. 

A person with a fixed mindset 

believes that one is born with a 

certain amount of intelligence 

or capacity and they can’t 

do much to change that. The 

feedback from teachers and 

parents is crucial in shaping 

these mindsets. As teachers 

we can help the child acquire 

a ‘growth mindset’ by giving 

them honest realistic feedback 

and at the same time teaching 

them that intelligence and 

capacity are malleable and can 

grow. There are some specific 

feedback strategies that help 

in this endeavour and can lead 

to a marked improvement in 

motivation and achievement. 


new trends 

Effective Pedagogical 

Approach to Impart 

Life- Skills 

Education 

in Schools 

– P. Ajitha 

We live in times 

characterized by 

violence, negativity, 

narrow parochialism, fascism 

in the name of nationalism and 

chauvinistic jingoism. This has 

made our lives very insecure. 

This has resulted in a climate 

of distrust; irrational fears 

bordering on paranoia and 

unmitigated levels of stress. 

Add to all this the ubiquitous 

technology that has permeated 

our lives and revolutionized the 

ways in which we relate to one 

another or do things, has also 

created the dichotomy that exists 

in our lives , more apparent 

and defined. The digital natives, 

on one hand are very adept at 

the use of technology to their 

advantage but on the other hand 

are becoming more and more 

disconnected with reality and 

actual life around them and 

their immediate surroundings, 

leading to a host of psychological 

and social problems. This in 

brief is the world we inhabit 

today! What role does education 

play in helping children of this 

generation to not just negotiate 

their way through the labyrinth 

of life but also chart their own 

path to a healthy, contented and 

fulfilling life? 

It is an undeniable fact that the 

education for the 21st century 

must lay equal, if not more 

emphasis on imparting life skills 

to children in order to equip 

them with the necessary tools 

(skills) that would come to their 

rescue whenever faced with 

what may seem insurmountable 

hurdles that one comes across 

in life to those without a coping 

mechanism in place. 

It is an undeniable fact that the education for the 21st century must lay 

equal, if not more emphasis on imparting life skills to children in order 

to equip them with the necessary tools (skills) that would come to their 

rescue whenever faced with what may seem insurmountable hurdles that 

one comes across in life to those without a coping mechanism in place. 

The World Health Organization 

has defined life skills as the 

abilities for adaptive and 

positive behaviour that enable 

individuals to face the demands 

and challenges of everyday life. 

It has identified and enlisted 10 

core life skills that our children 

need to be taught (from as early 

an age as possible) to foster their 

holistic growth .These 10 core 

life skills are: 

1. Self Awareness 

2. Critical Thinking 

3. Creative Thinking 

4. Problem Solving 

5. Decision Making 

6. Interpersonal Skills 

7. Communication Skills 

8. Empathy 

9. Coping with stress 

10. Managing emotions 

There are different mediums and 

approaches that schools world 

over use to impart these essential 

life skills to students. Whatever 

programme educational 

institutions implement, it should 

be implemented systematically 

and reach every child in the 

ambit of the programme. The 

efficacy of the programme 

depends primarily on the mode of 

engagement used. Remember the 

good old moral science classes? 

Why wasn’t the programme 

successful enough to be made 

an integral part of curriculum? 

How effective were the schools 

in imparting value education and 

how seriously was it taken up 

by schools? The value education 

programmes implemented earlier 

were lacklustre and did not do 

P Ajitha is a teaching practitioner 

who has been advocating for 

‘liberating’ the education process to 

accommodate change and give true 

freedom that enables the teacher to 

create, innovate and experiment 

with notions of learning; a votary of 

teachers’ rights to empower them to 

become the catalysts of change in 

building a national force of informed 

men and women with sound value system and integrity of 

character; a staunch believer in the transformational nature 

of education imparted with true commitment to the larger 

objectives of this noble endeavour. The author presently 

teaches at Delhi Public School, Coimbatore and can be 

reached at ajithapaladugu@gmail.com. 

much in terms of effecting long 

term behavioural and attitudinal 

changes in students. 

I had for quite some time mulled 

over how to infuse enthusiasm 

for the learning process and 

make actual learning in terms 

of life skills acquisition to 

transpire. Having experienced 

the immersive quality of the 

experiential learning method 

recently, I feel the experiential 

learning method is the panacea 

to address the learning gap 

which inevitably occurs when 

taught using conventional 

teaching methods which 

engage just two senses at a 

time and caters to the auditory 

learners (in lecture mode of 

delivering curriculum content). 

My new found experience 

with experiential learning has 

convinced me about the efficacy 

of the approach to meet the 

intended learning outcomes. 

This happened during a six day 

workshop conducted in DPS 

Coimbatore to orient a select 

team of teachers towards the 

new Life Skills programme 

being introduced in the school. 

Through a slew of engaging 

activities the teacher trainees 

where taken on fun filled learning 

ride. Having experienced firsthand 

one could see the great 

potential the approach held to 

impact meaningful attitudinal 

and behavioural changes any life 


skills programme aims for. The 

Student Leadership and Life 

Skills Programme implemented 

in the school has been designed 

and customized by Magic Bus 

Foundation. 

I find a resonance of the key 

pedagogical approaches I have 

been recently practising in the 

pages of The Progressive 

Teacher where educators 

have written about authentic 

learning, immersive learning 

experiences, project based 

learning and experiential 

learning. In the recent past there 

have been columns dedicated 

in The Progressive Teacher 

on the proven effectiveness 

of the S4D (Sports for 

Development) method in the 

overall development of a child’s 

personality by Mona Shipley. My 

intent through this article is to 

delineate how this international 

pedagogy is used effectively in 

imparting life skills to students. 

Must have heard the oft quoted 

line ‘The battle of Waterloo was 

won on the playfields of Eton’, 

attributing the success of the 

British over Napoleon’s forces 

to the superior character of its 

young men built in boarding 

schools while playing games 

like cricket. Eton was one of 

the famous English boarding 

schools that trained English 

boys for careers in the military, 

civil service and the church. This 

perception is grounded in the 

practice of famous public schools 

using team sports like cricket 

not just as outdoor play, but as 

an organised way of teaching 

English boys, the discipline, the 

importance of hierarchy, the 

skills, the codes of honour and 

the leadership qualities that 

helped them build and run the 

British Empire. 

All said and done how does 

one proceed in the direction 

of Curriculum - Creation or 

customizing an existing one to 

impart life skills? 

Now having established the 

primacy of sports and games in 

building character and bringing 

about the desired behavioural 

changes through physical 

activities, let us now explore 

the crucial elements, mode of 

engagement and implementation 

of a structured life skill 

programme. 

Elements: 

1. Safe environment: It refers 

not only to the physical 

environment but also to 

the creation of a conducive 

environment to make the 

participants feel emotionally 

safe and secure to conduct 

activities aimed at their socioemotional 

development. 

2. Rapport building: To ensure 

a learning continuum, a 

good rapport between the 

facilitator and participants 

is of paramount importance. 

Equally important is a 

healthy level of comfort and 

ease among the participants. 

3. Facilitation: The most 

crucial and critical element 

needed for an effective 

learning scenario is a skilled 

facilitator. The facilitator 

is a catalyst who triggers 

the right response from 

the participants and knows 

to when seize the right 

teaching moment to further 

the teaching objective. It 

is vital that the teacher is 

open, unbiased and nonjudgemental 

to win over the 

participant’s trust, without 

which total engagement and 

immersion in the programme 

is not possible. 

4. Immersion: In order to meet 

the programme objective, 

it is necessary to create an 

immersive experience through 

experiential learning, wherein 

the participants experience 

a situation through hands 

on activities / simulations/ 

role plays, etc relate the 

experience to real life. 

During the course of the 

workshop, we the teacher 

facilitators experienced firsthand 

how sports and physical 

activities could be used as an 

optimal medium to impart life 

skills. There are many advantages 

of incorporating S4D approach 

to teach life skills, the first 

being the use of recreational 

physical activity or play ensures 

voluntary participation needing 

minimal coercion. Since play 

equates to fun for everyone 

involved, the learning takes 

places in a stress free context 

(it completely eliminates the 

element of artificial simulation 

or motivation for learning). The 

pivot around which this entire 

exercise revolves is experiential 

learning, thus making learning 

internalized. A few weeks into 

the programme it becomes hard 

to miss the connection between 

experiences on field to real life 

scenario. The most captivating 

component of this entire process 

is children become children 

again! The physical component 

of each session allows them to 

indulge in mirth and they are 

happy to be learning the fun way 

(This is what fun-filled learning 

is supposed to be like!) And 

what keeps the sessions lively 

and interesting is the variety! 

Yes there are different games 

and activities for every session. 

The activities are very varied 

and engaging. In such a learning 

environment, children are 

prone to be less self-conscious 

and are more open to discuss, 

debate, introspect and reflect 

on their own behaviour, values, 

attitudes and those aspects of 

their personalities they were 

either ignorant of or were 

earlier unwilling to even admit 

to themselves. Well take it from 

me - the profound discussions 

I have encountered in the class 

of 14 year olds would intrigue 

anyone interested to pay 

attention to their perception of 

the world! This really came as 

a surprise to me initially. But 

upon a little reflection it became 

crystal clear why it was so. Our 

students are seldom given such 

a learning environment – stressfree, 

non-judgemental and happy 

environs, where they are allowed 

to be their natural selves and 

given a platform to voice what 

they feel, think and perceive. 

After a year of implementing 

the programme, I am really 

excited at the possibility, nay, the 

surety of facilitating the rounded 

development of students. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


health 

–Dr. Santosh Datar 

First aid requirements 

could vary according to 

the different ailments and 

situations the students might 

face in schools. A child spends 

maximum time in school away 

from the supervision of the 

parents and guardians who 

trust the school authorities and 

expect their child to be taken 

care of in the school premises. 

All schools need to have clear 

first aid guidelines in place 

for the teachers and staff to 

handle medical emergencies. The 

purpose of a First Aid Guide 

is to enable people to provide 

help in an emergency situation 

until a medical professional can 

arrive. Schools can take the 

following steps to ensure that 

they are equipped to handle any 

emergency. 

Train teachers 

Training teachers to handle 

medical emergencies is of utmost 

importance. Teachers can be 

trained by medical professionals 

during the summer or winter 

break on how to handle such 

situations. This training can 

help teachers to take care of 

the students who have injured 

themselves or who have fallen ill, 

as well as keep the other students 

calm in the classroom. Teachers 

should also be trained on how to 

use first aid material available in 

the first aid box while attending a 

medical emergency. There should 

be a mandate for school teachers 

and school officials to attend a 

CPR programme. 

Updated Medical records: 

Upon enrollment, schools 

should collect updated medical 

records and medical emergency 

information of each student in 

the school. These records can 

prove useful while rushing to the 

hospital and will help the doctors 

take immediate action in case of 

any complication. Schools should 

also have updated contact details 

of all the students’ parents and 

guardians so that they can be 

notified during an emergency. 

Keeping First Aid Kit and 

supplies ready 

A well-stocked first aid kit 

containing items such as 

bandages, sterile dressings, 

antiseptics, etc. should be 

available. The location of first 

aid kit should be known to 

all. Teachers should be well 

aware of any allergy or medical 

condition that a student in his/ 

her classroom might have. 

They should have the required 

FIRST AID GUIDE 

FOR SCHOOLS 

Various types of medical emergencies 

can occur in schools ranging from 

serious emergencies such as fits, severe 

breathlessness, to health issues like stomach 

ache, headache or a student injuring him/ 

herself on the playground. 

knowledge to deal with 

emergencies that arise in such 

situations. It is suggested that 

teachers meet the parents of the 

students who have a medical 

condition to decide the steps to 

Dr. Santosh Datar, is a Medical Director 

and consultant doctor at Ziqitza 

Healthcare limited. He is trained 

in Occupational Health, Hospital 

Administration and Medico legal 

issues. He comes with an experience 

of 31 years and has a flair for designing 

systems and procedures and making 

continual improvements in the organizations he works for. 

Dr. Datar has an M.B.B.S degree along with a Diploma in 

Anesthesiology and Industrial Medicine. In the past he has 

worked with companies like Larsen & Toubro Limited, The 

Hindustan Insecticides Ltd, Johnson & Johnson among 

other reputed companies. He is also a part of national 

safety council as an auditor and trainer and a member of 

Life Supporters Institute of Health Sciences, Mumbai. He 

has also been the former president Indian Association of 

Occupational Health, Mumbai Branch and is a recipient 

of Best Resource Person award from Indian Association of 

Occupational Health. 

be taken in case any emergency 

arises. Medication for such 

conditions should be kept in the 

school bag or locker for such 

students. No medicine should 

be given unless advised by a 

doctor. Medicines such as oral 

rehydration solution may be kept 

as per advice of school physician. 

Partner with local health 

care clinic 

Though the teachers will be 

trained on how to handle 

medical emergencies, school 

officials should research and 

make a note of public health 

services and local health care 

providers in the vicinity of the 

school and also partner with 

the most convenient option. 

The contact details of the 

health services and medical 

practitioners should be kept 

handy. The contact numbers 

of a basic as well as advance 

life support ambulance should 

be available. There should be 

a doctor on call who will be 

available in case of emergencies. 

Appoint a school nurse 

Schools should appoint a school 

nurse, because even if teachers, 

school staff and students are 

trained, having professional help 

in medical emergencies is of 

utmost importance. 

Train Students 

Last but not the least; schools 

can incorporate first aid as a 

part of their extra-curricular 

activities by providing the 

students with basic training 

on how to handle medical 

emergencies. It will give them 

the confidence to handle such 

emergencies not only in their 

schools but also in their homes 

and neighbourhoods. 

Involvement of Parents 

Medical Emergency preparedness 

protocol followed by the school 

should be discussed in parentteacher 

meetings. Parents’ 

suggestions may be considered 

if feasible for incorporation in 

the protocol. Such measures may 

avoid allegations by parents of 

mishandling medical emergency 

with resultant bad publicity for 

the school. 

Medical emergencies can occur 

anytime and anywhere. Without 

proper First Aid, a simple 

injury could become severe 

and in some cases fatalities 

can occur as a result of lack of 

immediate medical treatment. 

It is a life skill that stays with 

one for entire life and can come 

in handy during emergencies 

around them. 


Pullout PLANNER 

Jul/Aug 2017 



Class VI: geography 

Motions of the Earth 

Tick ( ) the correct answer 

1. The Earth spins at a constant and regular speed. How long 

does it take for the Earth to make one complete rotation? 

a. 24 hours c. 365 hours 

b. 24 days d. 365 days 

2. Scientists describe the Earth as having an imaginary line 

passing through it from pole to pole, on which the Earth 

spins. What is this imaginary line called? 

a. Axis c. Plane 

b. Equator d. Satellite 

3. One Earth day is 24 hours. Some planets have shorter 

days. Other planets have longer days. What determines the 

length of a planet’s day? 

a. Moons c. Rotation 

b. Revolution d. Tilt 

4. A person living on the Earth sees daytime and night time 

every 24 hours. Which of these is responsible for changes 

from daytime to night time on Earth? 

a. Earth’s tilt 

b. Earth orbiting the Sun 

c. Moon orbiting the Earth 

d. Earth rotating about its axis 

5. The following diagram shows the Earth spinning on its axis 

What would happen if the Earth spun on its axis faster than 

it does now? 

a. Earth would be hotter 

b. A day would be shorter than 24 hrs 

c. A year would be longer than 365 days 

d. There would be more than four seasons 

6. The diagram below shows the planet Earth and Sun rays. 

Labels W, X, Y and Z are different locations on Earth. 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

According to the diagram, which point on Earth would have 

the greatest number of daylight hours? 

a. W c. Y 

b. X d. Z 

7. Maya loves to watch the sunrise and sunset. Which of the 

following explains why the Sun appears to rise and set to 

an observer on Earth? 

a. Sun’s rotation c. Sun’s revolution 

b. Earth’s rotation d. Earth’s revolution 

8. When we say something is in orbit, we mean that it is 

travelling around another object in space. Which of the 

following does Earth orbit? 

a. Sun c. Mars 

b. Moon d. Venus 

9. We know that each year has four seasons: winter, spring, 

summer, and fall. Why do we have seasons? 

a. The tilt of the Earth’s axis 

b. The shape of the Earth’s revolution 

c. The shape of the earth’s orbit 

d. The rotation of the Earth about its axis 

10. When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it is summer 

in the Southern Hemisphere. Why do the Northern and 

Southern Hemispheres never experience the same season 

at the same time? 

a. Earth is simply balancing out its temperatures so that no 

part of the planet gets too hot. 

b. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the North 

Pole is closer to the sun. 

c. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the North 

Pole is closer to the moon. When it is summer in the 

Southern Hemisphere, the South Pole is closer to the moon. 

d. When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the 

Northern Hemisphere is receiving more direct rays from the 

Sun. When it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the 

Southern Hemisphere is receiving more direct rays 

from the Sun. 

11. Earth’s movement around the Sun happens at a very 

constant rate. What would happen if Earth took longer to 

travel around the Sun than it does now? 

a. Earth would be hotter 

b. The seasons would be shorter 

c. A day would be shorter than 24 hours 

d. A year would be longer than 365 days 

© DS Digital Private Limited I Photocopying permitted The Progressive Teacher 

25

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

12. The diagram below shows the path of the Earth’s 

movement. 

About how long does it take for Earth to move from point Y, 

its current location, to point Z? 

a. 12 hours c. 6 months 

b. 24 hours d. 1 year 

13. The diagram below shows the positions of the Earth and 

the Sun. 

Class VI: geography 

Which star will appear to remain in the same position in the 

night sky? 

a. Star A c. Star C 

b. Star B d. Star D 

16. Earth’s motions include both rotation and revolution. What 

is the difference between these two types of motion? 

a. Rotation-spinning about an axis Revolution-movement 

around one body 

b. Rotation-24 hours Revolution -365 days 

c. Rotation-Earth’s spin Revolution- one year 

d. Rotation-1 day Revolution-12 months 

17. The diagram below shows the planet Earth in different 

positions relative to the Sun. Labels G, H, J, and K are 

different locations on the Earth’s surface. 

Which of these statements is correct? 

a. In the Northern Hemisphere it is fall, and in the Southern 

Hemisphere it is spring. 

b. In the Northern Hemisphere it is winter, and in the Southern 

Hemisphere it is spring. 

c. In the Northern Hemisphere it is spring, and in the Southern 

Hemisphere it is summer. 

d. In the Northern Hemisphere it is summer, and in the 

Southern Hemisphere it is winter. 

14. If you look up at night in the sky long enough, the stars 

will appear to move across the sky. What is responsible for 

making the stars appear to move across the sky at night? 

a. Earth’s revolution c. Earth’s position in its orbit 

b. Earth’s rotation on its axis d. Earth’s distance from 

the Sun 

15. If you look closely at the night sky, the stars will seem 

to move. However, there is one star that will not appear 

to move no matter how long you stare at it. Look at the 

illustration below. 

According to the diagram, which season would be at each 

of the labelled locations - G, H, J, and K. 

a. G-Spring, J-Autumn, H and K-Summer 

b. G-Autumn, J-Spring, H and K-Summer 

c. At point G, it is summer. At point J, it is spring. At points H 

` and K, it is winter 

d. G-Winter, J-Summer, H and K-Spring 

18. The ‘Circle of Illumination’ can be described as 

a. Sunrise 

b. Sunset 

c. Transition between darkness and light 

d. Dawn 

19. If the Earth’s axis was not tilted, how would this have 

impacted the Earth? 

a. No impact on Earth 

b. No seasonal changes 

c. The eastern and western regions experience one 

season from the Equator to the Poles 

d. Days and nights are of equal duration and all climate zones 

would receive the direct rays of the Sun 

20. Which one of these factors remains constant during the 

revolution of the Earth around the Sun? 

a. Changes in the positions of the hemispheres 

b. Speed of the Earth 

c. Tilt of the Poles away and towards the Sun 

d. Tilt of the Equator towards and away from the Sun 

26 

The Progressive Teacher 

© DS Digital Private Limited I Photocopying permitted

Class VI: history 

What Books and Burials tell us 


1. Which of the following is the time period for the 

Vedic age? 

a. 1500 B.C. to 400 B.C. c. 1500 B.C. to 600 B.C. 

b 1500 B.C. to 300 B.C. d. 1500 B.C. to 500 B.C. 

2. Which of the following is not a part of Vedic 

Literature? 

a. Rigveda c. Atharvaveda 

b. Samaveda d. Yathurveda 

3. Aryans migrated to the Saptasindu basin in the 

a. Early Vedic period c. Later Vedic period 

b. Middle Vedic period d. Proto Vedic period 

4. The Rigveda consists of more than _______ hymns. 

a. 1000 c. 3000 

b. 2000 d. 4000 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

10. Which of the following is the lowest administrative 

division? 

a. Rashtra c. Grama 

b. Jana d. Vish 

11. ___________did menial jobs such as sweeping, 

cleaning, etc. 

a. Kshatriyas c. Brahmins 

b. Vaishyas d. Sudras 

State whether the following statements are true or false: 

12. One of the most important features of the 

Vedic age was the change from semi 

nomadic to settled life. 

13. Wealth was counted in terms of cattle in 

the early Vedic period. 

5. The word Veda means 

a. Learned c. Knowledge 

b. Gracious d. Pious 

6. There are similarities in the names of gods and 

goddesses written in the Vedas and the 

a. New Testament c. Old Testament 

b. Avesta d. Koran 

7. Hindi language belongs to which of the following 

language families? 

a. Indo Dravidian c. Indo Persian 

b. Indo European d. Indo Greek 

8. Vedic society was divided on the basis of 

a. Birth c. Colour 

b. Wealth d. Occupation 

9. The original inhabitants were 

a. Dark skinned c. Called Dasyus 

c. Called Dasas d. All of these 

14. Inamgaon was a Harappan site. 

15. The most important yajna was the 

Ashwamedha yajna. 

16. Surey and Soma was consumed at religious 

ceremonies. 

17. The Megaliths were beautiful palaces. 

18. Fill the boxes given below with the various 

important Gods of the Early Vedic age: 

Early Vedic Gods 

A: B: C: 

Answer Key - Class VI: Geography 

1. a 

2. a 

3. c 

4. d 

5. b 

6. c 

7. b 

8. a 

9. a 

10. d 

11. d 

12. c 

13. d 

14. b 

15. b 

16. a 

17. c 

18. c 

19. d 

20. b 

Motions of the Earth 

What Books and Burials Tell Us 

Answer Key - Class VI: History 

1. a 

2. c 

3. c 

4. c 

5. d 

6. b 

7. c 

8. b 

9. c 

10. d 

11. T 

12. F 

13. T 

14. T 

15. F 

16. F 

1. c 

2. d 

3. a 

4. a 

5. c 

6. b 

7. b 

8. c 

9. d 

10. c 

11. d 

12. T 

13. T 

14. F 

15. T 

16. T 

17. F 

18. a. Agni, the 

fire God 

b. Indra, the 

rain God 

c. Soma, the 

God of 

plants 

Kingdoms, Kings and an Early Republic 

17. a. River 

Ganga 

made the 

region 

fertile, 

b Iron ore 

deposits, 

c. Dense 

forests 

supplied 

wood 

d. Trade 

relations 

with other 

countries 

Algebraic Expressions 

1. b 

2. c 

3. c 

4. d 

5. a 

6. b 

7. c 

8. a 

9. b 

10. d 

11. Constants; 

variables 

12. Algebraic 

Expression 

13. 5 

14. Monomial 

15. Polynomial 

16. T 

17. F 

18. F 

19. T 

20. F 

Answer Key - Class VII: Mathematics 

1. c 

2. b 

3. a 

4. c 

5. a 

6. d 

7. c 

8. d 

9. b 

10. d 

11. Equation 

12. Solution 

13. A non-zero no. 

Simple Equations 

14. Sign 

15. F 

16. T 

17. T 

18. 3X+25=85 

19. 3a+4=40 

20. 4b+40=125 

Exponents and Powers 

1. a 

2. c 

3. a 

4. c 

5. b 

6. a 

7. b 

8. c 

9. a 

10. d 

11. 1 

12. Exponential Form 

13. Base 

14. Subtracted 

15. F 

16. T 

17. T 

18. B 

19. C 

20. A 

Ratio and Proportion 

1. c 

2. a 

3. d 

4. a 

5. b 

6. a 

7. c 

8. d 

9. a 

10. c 

11. Ratio 

12. Extreme; Means 

13. Third 

14. Rs. 90 

15. Fourth Proportional 

16. T 

17. F 

18. T 

19. F 

20. F 


27

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Kingdoms, Kings and an Early Republic 


1. By 600 BC, there were __________ mahajanapadas. 

a. 16 c. 13 

b. 12 d. 15 

2. The capital of the republic of Vajji was 

_____________ 

a. Champa c. Vaishali 

b. Bodhgaya d. Rajgriha 

3. Out of the 16 Mahajanapadas, which was the most 

powerful? 

a. Champa c. Magadha 

b. Bharuch d. Rajagriha 

4. Which of the following features of tribal rajas made 

them different from the rajas of the Kingdoms? 

a. No army c. Both a and b 

b. No palaces d. Pompous titles 

5. What became a major form of power? 

a. Coins c. Cattle 

b. Buildings d. Territory 

6. The rajas performed which of the following yajnas 

to strengthen their position? 

a. Rajsuya Yajna c. Rajeshwara Yajna 

b. Ashwamedha Yajna d. Bandarka Yajna 

7. The word Janapada means 

a. People’s belongings 

d. Land where people settled down 

c. People’s territory 

d. People’s power 

Class VI: history 

9. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a 

Mahajanpadas? 

a. Capital city 

b. Construction of wall around the periphery 

c. Peaceful life 

d. Walls made of wood, stone or bricks. 

10. Which of the following was not a tax collected by 

the rajas of those times? 

a. Taxes on crops 

b. Taxes on hunters and gatherers 

c. Taxes on trade 

d. Service tax 


11. Monarchy is rule by ministers. 

12. The Buddha belonged to the Lichchavi clan. 

13. Magadha became very powerful due to large 

deposits of iron ore. 

14. We have literary and archaeological sources 

for the study of the Mahajanapadas. 

15. The religion of the Later Aryans was Jainism. 

16. Ajatshatru and Bindusara were the powerful 

rulers of Magadha. 

17. Fill in the boxes given below with the advantages 

that Magadha had over other kingdoms: 

Advantages Magadha enjoyed 

over other kingdoms 

8. Which of the following is not a prominent monarchy 

of Mahajanapadas? 

a. Kosala c. Vatsa 

b. Maurya d. Magadha 

A: B: C: D: 

The Changing World of Visual Arts 

Answer Key - Class VIII: History 

1. c 

2. a 

3. a 

4. a 

5. c 

6. d 

7. d 

8. b 

9. a 

10. d 

11. c 

12. c 

13. b 

14. b 

15. T 

16. T 

17. T 

18. Any Three 

a) Landscape 

b) Portrait 

Painting 

c) Historical 

Paintings 

d) Picturesque 

Painting 

The National Movement: 1885-1919 

1. b 2. c 

3. d 4. b 

5. a 6. d 

7. c 8. a 

9. b 10. b 

11. 1917 

12. Bombay,1985 

13. 1905 

14. Surat, Lucknow 

15. 1919 

16. Any Three 

a) Elected 

representatives in the 

provincial and central 

legislative councils 

b) Recruit Indians 

for high government 

posts and holding the 

Indian Civil Service 

examinations in India 

c) Reduction of military 

expenditure 

d) Changes in 

government’s economic 

polices to encourage 

growth of Indian 

industries 

e) Promoting the spread 

of education 

f) Amendment of the 

Arms Act 

Answer Key - Class VIII: Geography 

Industry 

1. c 

2. d 

3. b 

4. d 

5. a 

6. c 

7. b 

8. d 

9. c 

10. b 

11. a 

12. c 

13. d 

14. b 

15. c 

16. a 

17. d 

18. b 

19. c 

20. c 

Human Resources 

1. b 

2. c 

3. d 

4. a 

5. c 

6. b 

7. d 

8. b 

9. c 

10. d 

11. a 

12. c 

13. d 

14. b 

15. c 

16. a 

17. d 

18. b 

19. c 

20. d 

Circles 

1. a 

2. b 

3. d 

4. c 

5. a 

6. d 

7. b 

8. d 

9. c 

10. c 

11. b 

12. d 

13. Nill 

14. 1 

15. 2 

16. Tangent 

17. Point of Contact 

18. Equal 

19. Perpendicular 

20. Infinite 

Answer Key - Class X: mathematics 

1. b 

1. d 

2. c 

2. b 

3. d 

3. d 

4. a 

4. a 

5. b 

6. c 

5. c 

7. d 

6. a 

8. c 

9. b 

7. d 

10. c 

8. b 

11. d 

12. e 

9. c 

13. f 

10. c 

14. b 

15. 90 O 

11. d 

16. 16:25 

12. a 

17. 150 O 

18. Area of Minor 

13. c 

Segment 

π 

19. cm 

8 

14. b 

20. 7 cm 

Constructions 

Areas Related to Circles 

Surface Areas and Volumes 

1. b 

2. a 

3. d 

4. c 

5. d 

6. a 

7. c 

8. b 

9. b 

10. c 

11. b 

12. b 

13. d 

14. c 

15. f 

16. e 

17. h 

18. c 

19. a 

20. d 

28 



Class VII: mathematics 

Algebraic Expressions 


1. Which of the following is not a polynomial? 

a. 

2 

2 x 

5 – 3 

x c. 

b. x 3 + 4x 2 – 2x d. 

8 a –3a 

5 

9 x –2 

2 

5x 

3 2 

2. What is the degree of the polynomial 

5x 3 – 8x + 3x 5 + 4x 2 – 7x 4 + 1? 

a. 3 c. 5 

b. 1 d. 0 

3. 2x 2 + 7x 3 – 4x is a 

a. Monomial c. Trinomial 

b. Binomial d. None 

4. The sum of 9a 2 + 5a – 2 and 2a 2 – 4a + 6 is 

a. 11a 2 – a – 4 c. 7a 2 + a – 4 

b. 11a 2 + 9a + 8 d. 11a 2 + a + 4 

5. The value of expression [3(2x – 5) + 2(x 2 – 3x) + 10] 

for x = – 1 is 

a. –3 c. –15 

b. 3 d. 11 

6. The algebraic expression, when twice the sum 

of the numbers x and y is subtracted from their 

product is: 

a. xy – (x + y) c. 2(x + y) – xy 

b. xy – 2(x + y) d. xy(x + y) 

7. From the sum of 2(5x 2 – 2x + 3) and –7x 2 + x + 3, 

subtract 3(2x 2 – 7x – 4) 

a. 3x 2 – 3x + 9 c. –3(x 2 + 6x + 7) 

b. 3(x 2 + 6x + 7) d. x 2 – 10 x – 6 

8. What should be subtracted from 4a + 3b – 2 to 

get –6a + 2b – 4? 

a. 10a + b + 2 c. –10a – b – 2 

b. –2a + 5b – 6 d. 2a – 5b + 6 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

9. If x = 1 and y = –1, then the value of 2x 2 y 2 – 2xy –3x 

– 4y + 8 is: 

a. –13 c. 9 

b. 13 d. 1 

10. The perimeter of a square of side 2x m is 

a. 4x c. x 

b. 4x 2 d. 8x 

Fill in the blanks. 

11. The numbers having a fixed value are called 

__________ and those which do not have fixed 

value are called __________. 

12. An expression containing constants and variables 

is called an __________. 

13. The degree of the polynomial 

5x 3 – 8x + 3x 5 + 4x 2 – 7x 4 + 1 is _________. 

14. An expression with only one term is called a 

__________. 

15. An algebraic expression with more than one terms 

is called a __________. 

State whether the following statements is True or False. 

16. Unlike terms cannot be added or subtracted 

the way like terms are added or subtracted. 

17. Terms which have different algebraic factors 

are like terms. 

18. A binomial is an algebraic expression with 

two variables. 

19. The degree of constant term is 0. 

1 

20. + 

2 

x 

2 x –1 

is a polynomial. 


29

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Simple Equations 


1. How many sides does an equation have? 

a. 0 c. 2 

b. 1 d. 3 

2. If two-third of three-fifths of a number is 80, the 

number is 

a. 120 c. 240 

b. 200 d. 300 

3. 2x – 3 = 4 is a/an 

a. simple equation c. polynomial 

b. algebraic expression d. all of these 

4. The value of a for which the expression 5a + 9 and 

2a – 3 become equal is 

a. a = –2 c. a = –4 

b. a = 2 d. a = 4 

5. The sum of two consecutive natural numbers is 

411. The two numbers are 

a. 205, 206 c. 206, 207 

b. 204, 205 d. None 

6. After 15 years, Monica’s age will be twice her 

present age. Her present age is. 

a. 10 yrs c. 14 yrs 

b. 12 yrs d. 15 yrs 

7. Which of the following is the solution to the 

equation 8x + 5x – 3x = 17 – 9 + 22 ? 

a. 2 c. 3 

b. –2 d. –3 


equation 5x – 3x – 7(x – 5) = 6 – 3 (x – 9) ? 

a. –2 c. 2 

b. –1 d. 1 


equation 

⎛4x⎞ ⎛7⎞ ⎛x⎞ ⎛x⎞ 

⎜ ⎟ – ⎜ ⎟ = ⎜ ⎟ + 

⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ 

⎜ 

⎝ 

⎟? 

5 4 5 4⎠ 

a. 3 c. –5 

b. 5 d. 2 


10. Grandfathers’ present age is 4 times Ali’s present 

age. Ten years ago his age was 7 times Ali’s age. 

Their present age are 

a. Ali – 13 years; Grandfather – 52 years 

b. Ali – 18 years; Grandfather – 72 years 

c. Ali – 15 years; Grandfather – 60 years 

d. Ali – 20 years; Grandfather – 80 years 


11. An ___________ is a mathematical statement that 

two expressions are equal in value. 

12. A ___________ of an equation is a value of a 

variable that makes the equation true. 

13. We can multiply or divide both side of an equation 

by ___________. 

14. While transposing a number, we change its 

___________. 

State whether the following sentences are True or False. 

15. The process of finding the value of an algebraic 

expression by replacing the variables, by 

their particular values is called transposition. 

16. Same number can be added or subtracted to 

both sides of an equation. 

17. a – 5 = b + 3 can also written as a – b = 3 + 5. 

Set up an equation for the following cases: 

18. Sum of two numbers is 90. The greater number 25 

more than twice the smaller (take smaller number 

as x). ___________________ 

19. Chinki’s father is 40 years old. He is 4 years older 

than three times Chinki’s age (take Chinki’s age 

as a) ___________________ 

20. The length of a rectangle is 20 cm more than its 

breadth. Its perimeter is 125 cm. (take breadth as b) 

___________________ 

30 




Exponents and Powers 


1. Express –343 in power notation 

a. (–7) 3 c. –6 3 

b. 7 3 d. None 

2. What is the index and base in the expression 2 8 ? 

a. index = 4; base = 4 c. index = 8; base = 2 

b. index = 2; base = 8 d. None 

3. (1 0 +2 0 +3 0 +4 0 +5 0 +6 0 +7 0 +8 0 +9 0 +10 0 ) 

a. 55 c. 0 

b. 10 d. 1 

5 –2 

4. ⎧⎛–2 ⎞ ⎛–2⎞ 

⎫ ⎛–2⎞ 

⎨ ⎜ ⎟ × ⎜ ⎟ ⎬ ÷ 

⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ 

⎜ 

⎝ 

⎟ 

⎩ 5 5 ⎭ 5 ⎠ 

is equal to 

a. –1 c. 1 

b. 0 d. 

5. Express 234.5678 in standard form 

a. 2.345 × 104 c. 2.345 × 10 – 2 

b. 2.345 × 102 d. 2.345 × 10 – 4 

6. A number to the 7 th power divided by the same 

number to the 3 rd power equals 256. What is the 

number? 

a. 4 c. 2 

b. 3 d. 5 

7. Find x if 5 6x = (625) 3 

a. 7 c. –2 

b. 2 d. 1 

7 7 

3 × 10 × 25 

8. Simplify 

8 6 

5 × 6 

a. 1 c. 30 

b. 0 d. 10 

9. Express the following with a single exponent 

3 5 

2 –4 

⎛⎛ 1⎞ ⎞ ⎛⎛ 1⎞ 

⎞ 

⎜⎜– ⎟ ⎟ × 

⎝ ⎠ ⎜⎜– 

⎝ 

⎟ 

⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎟ 

3 3 ⎠ 

a. (–3) 14 

b. ⎛ 1⎞ 

⎜– ⎝ 

⎟ 3 ⎠ 

c. 3 14 

d. 

2 

3 5 

2 4 

⎛⎛ 1⎞ ⎞ ⎛⎛ 1⎞ 

⎞ 

⎜⎜– ⎟ ⎟ × 

⎝ ⎠ ⎜⎜– 

⎝ 

⎟ 

⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎟ 

3 3 ⎠ 

3 

⎛ 

⎜ 

⎝ 

–2 

5 

⎞ 

⎟ 

⎠ 

4 

10. Express 0.00009823 in standard form 

a. 9.823 × 10 5 

b. 98.23 × 10 – 

c. 98.23 × 10 4 

d. 9.823 × 10 –5 


worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

11. If base is any number with power zero 

then the value of exponent is ___________________ 

______________________. 

12. An expression of the type x m is a/an _____________ 

________________________________________ for 

x multiplied m times. 

13. The number which is multiplied by itself again and 

again is the __________________________________ 

__________________. 

14. On dividing exponents with the same base, powers 

are _________________________________________ 

___________. 

State whether the following sentences are True or False. 

15. On multiplying exponents with the same 

base, powers are subtracted. 

16. If we multiply exponents with same powers, 

then bases are multiplied but powers 

remain same. 

17. A negative rational number raised to 

even power is positive. 

Match the following numbers with their 

exponential notation 

18. 128 A. (3) 7 

19. 1296 B. (2) 7 

20. 2187 C. (–6) 4 


31

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Ratio and Proportion 


1. The ratio of two numbers is 3:5 and their sum is 40. 

The larger of two numbers is 

a. 15 c. 25 

b. 20 d. 40 

2. Which ratio is different from the others? 

a. 4:3 c. 3 

4 

b. 3 to 4 d. 3:4 

3. If a:b = 3:7, find the value of (5a + b) : (4a + 5b) 

a. 15:44 c. 15:49 

b. 22:35 d. 22:47 

4. A certain amount was divided between A and B in 

the ratio 4:3. If B’s share was Rs. 4800, the total 

amount was 

a. Rs. 11,200 c. Rs. 19,200 

b. Rs. 6,400 d. Rs. 39,200 

5. A sum of Rs. 53 is divided among A, B, C in such 

a way that A gets ` 7 more than what B gets and B 

gets Rs. 8 more than what C gets. The ratio of their 

shares is 

a. 16:9:18 c. 18:25:10 

b. 25:18:10 d. 15:8:30 

6. In a proportion, the extremes are 11 and 35. If one 

of the mean is 7, then the other mean is 

a. 55 c. 11 

b. 45 d. 35 

7. In a school there are 650 students. The ratio of the 

boys to that of the girls is 9:4. How many more girls 

should join the school so that the ratio becomes 

3:2? 

a. 25 c. 60 

b. 50 d. 100 

8. There are 56 teachers in a school. Out of them, 42 

are lady teachers and the rest are male teachers. 

The ratio of lady teachers to male teachers is 

a. 2:1 c. 1:3 

b. 1:2 d. 3:1 


9. In the word MARATHON the ratio of consonants to 

vowels is 

a. 5:3 c. 5:8 

b. 3:5 d. 3:8 

10. The class library has 7 English story books, 11 

Hindi story books, 15 art books, 10 encyclopaedias, 

and 5 health books. What is the ratio of story books 

to all books in simplest form? 

a. 7:48 c. 3:8 

b. 11:48 d. 3:48 


11. A ____________________is formed 

when two quantities are compared 

by division. 

12. Product of ___________ = Product of 

______________________ . 

13. If a, b, c are in continued proportion, 

then c is called ______________________ 

proportional to a and b. 

14. If 1 dozen pens costs Rs. 40, then the cost of 

27 pens is ___________ . 

15. If a : b :: c : d, then d is called the 

___________ to a, b, c. 

State whether the following statements are true 

or false. 

16. A ratio has no unit. 

17. Any equality of two proportions is called 

a ratio. 

18. 2:3 is the simplest form of 12:18. 

19. The ratio 5:8 is greater than 10:12. 

20. The numbers 10, 20, 30 and 40 are 

in proportion. 

32 



Class VIII: history 

The Changing World of Visual Arts 


1. From which century onwards did the European 

artists bring new styles and paintings of convention 

with them, such as portrait painting to India? 

a. 16 th century c. 18 th century 

b. 17 th century d. 19 th century 

2. In the second half of the 19th century which type of 

art movement was rejected by the painters in favour 

of realism? 

a. Romanticism c. Surrealism 

b. Picturesque d. Impressionism 

3. The famous European painter Honore Daumier 

belongs to which category of painting? 

a. Realism c. Surrealism 

b. Picturesque d. Impressionism 

4. Which of the following were famous painters who 

used to create aquatints? 

a. Thomas Daniell and William Daniell 

b. Thomas Daniels and Willis Daniell 

c. Thompson Denning and Warren Dennell 

d. Thoman Dennell and William Denning 

5. Which of the following was not a feature of the 

paintings by the artists who created aquatints? 

a. British rule bringing modern civilisation to India 

b. Traditional life of India as pre-modern and static 

c. The Majestic life of Indian rulers 

d. Majestic European-style buildings and new modes 

of transport 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

9. Which of the following terms describe paintings 

that depict scenes from British imperial history? 

a. Historical paintings c. Portraits 

b. Picturesque paintings d. Murals 

10. Which of the following art forms and techniques 

was not introduced to India by British artists? 

a. Oil painting c. Life-size portrait 

painting 

b. Historical painting d. Murals 

11. Paintings which showed the lavish lifestyles, wealth 

and status of Europeans in India belonged to the 

category of which of the following paintings? 

a. History paintings c. Portrait paintings 

b. Picturesque paintings d. Mural paintings 

12. Who among the following was one of the most 

famous visiting European painters specialising in 

portrait painting? 

a. Thomas Daniell c. Johann Zoffany 

b. William Daniell d. Tilly Kettle 

13. The Storming of Seringapatnam was painted by 

Telly Kettle and showed the defeat of 

a. Hyder Baig c. Siraj-ud-daullah 

b. Tipu Sultan d. Mir Qasim 

14. The famous scroll paintings that had mythological 

themes were associated with 

a. Kalikatta c. Kalital 

b. Kalighat d. Kalika 

6. Which of the following is not a part of portrait 

painting? 

a. An ideal means to display lavish lifestyles 

b. An ideal means to display lavish wealth 

c. An ideal means to display status 

d. An ideal means to display their costumes 

7. Who among the following represented the fusion of 

traditional and European painting? 

a. Jamini Roy c. Nandlal 

b. Abindranath Tagore d. Raja Ravi Varma 

8. Which of the following Indian rulers encouraged 

mural paintings as an act of protest against the 

British? 

a. Siraj-ud-daullah c. Mir Qasim 

b. Tipu Sultan d. Mir Jafar 


15. In the 19 th century, Calcutta Art Studio produced 

lifelike images of eminent Bengali personalities, as 

well as mythological pictures 

16. Mir Qasim and Mir Jafar encouraged their painters 

to use shades and light in their paintings 

17. The portrait paintings of the Europeans were often 

used to display power, wealth and position. 

18. Mention any three types of painting styles of the 

European painters. 

a. _________________________________________ 

b. _________________________________________ 

c. _________________________________________ 


33

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

The National Movement: 1885-1919 


1. Which of the following is not a part of Satyagraha? 

a. Truth c. Non-violence 

b. Active Resistance d. Soul force 

Class VIII: history 

9. The first session of the Indian National Congress 

was presided over by 

a. Gopal Krishna Gokhale c. Mahatma Gandhi 

b. W C Bonnerjee d. Jawahar Lal Nehru 

2. In which year did Gandhiji return to India? 

a. 1914 c. 1915 

b. 1916 d. 1917 

3. When was the call for hartal given by Gandhiji 

against the Rowlatt act? 

a. 6 th July c. 6 th June 

b. 6 th May d. 6 th April 

4. The All India Muslim League was founded under the 

leadership of 

a. Badruddin Tyabji c. Dadabhai Naaoroji 

b. Nawab Salimullah d. Mohammad Iqbal 

5. The Indian Association was founded by 

a. Surendranath Banerjea c. G. Subramaniya Iyer 

b. Ananda Charlu d. Pherozeshah Mehta 

6. Which one of the following is not a political 

association formed, prior to the formation of the 

Indian National Congress? 

a. Madras Native Association 

b. Poona Sarvajanik Sabha 

c. Bombay Association 

d. Bombay Presidency 

7. Who among the following was not a radical leader? 

a. Lala Lajpat Rai c. Khudiram Bose 

b. Bipin Chandra Pal d. Bal Gangadhar Tilak 

8. The Partition of Bengal was designed by 

a. Lord Curzon c. A O Hume 

b. Annie Besant d. Lord Minto 

10. Morley-Minto Reforms are also known as 

a. Government of India Act of 1906 

b. Government of India Act of 1909 

c. Government of India Act of 1907 

d. Government of India Act of 1908 

Fill in the blanks with appropriate words given below: 

1905, Lucknow, Surat, Bombay, 1917, 1919, 1885 

11. Gandhiji started the Sabarmati Ashram in 

………………….. 

12. The venue for the first session of the Indian 

National Congress was at …………………..……….. 

in the year ………………….. 

13. Lord Curzon ordered the partition of Bengal in 

………………….. 

14. The Moderates and the Extremists had split at 

the ………………….. session of the Congress, but 

united for the ………………….. session in 1916. 

15. The Rowlatt Act was passed in………………….. 

16. Mention any three demands of the Moderates: 

a. _________________________________________ 

_________________________________________ 

b. _________________________________________ 

_________________________________________ 

c. _________________________________________ 

_________________________________________ 

34 



Class VIII: geography 

Industry 


1. Which industries depend on the raw materials they use? 

a. Marine based industries c. Agro-based industries 

b. Forest based industries d. Mineral-based industries 

2. Where are most industrial regions of the world located? 

a. Tropical regions, near iron and steel industries . 

b. Tropical regions, electricty and power sources 

c. Polar regions, power sources and non- mineral, and 

electricity mines 

d. Temperate regions, near sea-ports and near coal-fields 

3. Which of these are ‘Emerging industries’? 

a. Iron and Steel Industry 

b. Information Technology, Wellness, Hospitality 

and Knowledge 

c. Textile Industry 

d. Cottage Industries 

4. Why are all sectors of industry dependent on the Iron 

and Steel industry? 

a. Provide raw materials 

c. Availability of machinery 

b. Needed for transportation of goods 

d. Basic infrastructure 

5. After 1950s which of these is considered to be an ideal location 

for Iron and Steel industries? 

a. Flat land near sea ports c. Plateau regions 

b. Mountain regions d. Deserts 

6. What factors are necessary for the emergence of 

Industrial regions? 

a. Large number of industries 

b. Availability of raw materials 

c. Location of industries close to each other and sharing benefits 

d. Availability of transport and communication 

7. Which type of factors have been responsible for the development 

of Pittsburgh and Ahmedabad? 

a. Situational factors c. Emotional factors 

b. Locational factors d. Ownership 

8. What makes ‘Sakchi’ the chosen site for a steel plant? 

a. Raw materials 

b. Market 

c. Transport 

d. Market, raw material, transport and water supply 

9. What comprises the ‘Outputs’ of an industrial system? 

a. Raw materials c. End product and the income earned 

b. Capital d. Income earned 

10. What factors helped ‘Osaka’ to develop as the ‘Manchester of 

Japan? 

a. Labour 

b. Topography, labour, transport, climate, port facilities 

c. Transport facilities 

d. Capital 

11. Why are high technology industries usually located close 

together? 

a. Easy accessibility, exchange of knowledge and efficient facilities 

b. Labour 

c. Availability of talent 

d. Know-how 

12. What are the locational advantages of ‘Silicon Valley’? 

a. Climate 

b. Skilled work force 

c. Transport, markets, skilled work force, climate, close to 

scientific and technological centres 

d. Transport 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

13. Which human resource factor has contributed specially to the 

development of the ‘Silicon Plateau’? 

a. Large population 

b. Large number of Emigrants 

c. Immigration 

d. Large work force of skilled managers with experience 

14. What criteria are essential for the establishment of IT industries? 

a. Capital 

b. Availability of resources, cost and infrastructure 

c. Labour 

d. Transport 

15. The town X is located near a leading iron and steel industry, its 

transportation facilities are located on the banks of a river. The 

people living in the town are skilled craftsmen in metal products. 

Which industry has the potential to develop in town X? 

a. Small Scale industry 

b. Rubber products 

c. Cycles, utensils, brassware or any metallurgical industry 

d. Sports goods 

16. The town Y rears cattle, sheep and goats. What kind of industries 

is this town likely to support? 

a. Pastoral (Leather, dairy farming and woollen textiles) 

b. Agro-based industries 

c. Forest based industries 

d. Mineral based industries 

17. A large-scale industry needs to be set up in town ‘Y’.What are the essential 

criteria needed for the establishment of such an industry? 

a. Large Capital 

b. Heavy machinery 

c. Large workforce 

d. Large machines, large workforce, capital, developed market and 

good transportation facilities 

18. What are the advantages of ‘Cooperatives’? 

a. Can produce goods in large numbers 

b. Goods can be distributed for the common benefit, producers are 

involved in all aspects of industry and protect the producers from 

economic vulnerability 

c. Provide employment to local people 

d. Owned by individuals 

19. Where are the production sites of ‘Multinational industries’ most 

likely to be set up? 

a. Places where they can sell their products 

b. Places from where they can control business 

c. Sites where labour is cheap and availability of a pool of skilled 

labour 

d. Where raw materials are available 

20. In a Joint Sector industry how do both the partners stand to 

benefit? 

a. Raw materials 

b. Capital 

c. Pooling of resources, investments and profits 

d. Capital 


35

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Human Resources 


1. What factors are used by scientists to predict population sizes? 

a. Population density 

b. Age structure, survivorship, fertility rates and migration 

c. Age structure 

d. Population growth rate 

2. Which factors determine the density of a population ? 

a. Climate 

b. Topography 

c. Topography, climate, nearness to water bodies and other 

social, cultural and economic factors 

d. Water bodies 

3. What factor determines future population growth trends? 

a. Growth rate c. Birth rate 

b. Death rate d. Age structure of a population 

4. What kind of a population pyramid is there for ‘Developing 

Countries’? 

a. Broad at the base and narrow at the top 

b. Narrow at the base 

c. Narrow at the base and broad at the top 

d. Broad at the base and broad at the top 

5. Why has there been an increase in the population 

of the world? 

a. Increase in Birth Rate 

b. Decrease in Death Rate 

c. Increase in the natural growth rate 

d. No change 

6. What effect are low Birth rates and low Death rates having 

on the population of developed countries? 

a. Fast population growth c. No growth in population 

b. Slow population growth d. Marginal growth in 

population 

7. What tool is used by demographers to study the 

composition of a population in a country? 

a. Bar graph c. Map 

b. Diagram d. Population Pyramid 

8. What refers to the average number of people who live within 

the boundaries of a specific amount of land, such as a 

square mile? 

a. Birth Rate c. Death Rate 

b. Population Density d. Growth Rate 

9. Which part of the population pyramid shows the number of 

children and births? 

a. Middle c. Bottom 

b. Top d. Centre 

10. Which of these will be considered ‘dependants ‘in a country? 

a. Young dependants c. Elderly dependants 

b. Old people d. Young dependants and 

elderly dependants 

Class VIII: geography 

11. Which part of the population pyramid shows the elderly and 

the number of deaths? 

a. Top c. Bottom 

b. Middle d. Between the top and the middle 

12. Which of these countries has experienced a loss in numbers 

due to ‘Emigration’? 

a. Ghana c. Sudan 

b. Egypt d. Nigeria 

13. Which of these is responsible for change in population 

sizes? 

a. Emigration c. Immigration 

b. Emigrants d. Migration 

14. Which of these is a country whose population has increased 

due to Immigration? 

a. India c. Kenya 

b. Australia d. Japan 

15. Which of these factors determines the migration of 

people? 

a. Employment 

b. Better health facilities 

c. Employment, education and health facilities 

d. Educational opportunities 

16. What are the natural causes of ‘Population Change’? 

a. Births and Deaths c. Births 

b. Deaths d. Migration 

17. Which of these is likely to have a high GDP? 

a. A country which has a large number of dependents 

b. A country having a large working population 

c. A country with no dependents 

d. Country having no working population 

18. The population pyramid of India shows that India has a large 

number of young people, what does this imply? 

a. Large number of dependants 

b. Large number of children 

c. Large number of old people 

d. Strong and expanding labour force 

19. If the Death Rates of a country are decreasing, 

this means that 

a. The elderly live longer 

b. More adults will reach old age 

c. More infants will survive to become adults 

d. Infants will reach the age of 15 years 

20. Why does the population of a country determine the future 

of any nation? 

a. Population size changes 

b. Population decrease 

c. Population increase 

d. People are a resource 

36 



4 cm 

Class X: mathematics 

Circles 


1. At how many points does a tangent touch a circle? 

a. 1 c. 3 

b. 2 d. 0 

2. If PQT is a tangent to a circle with centre O then 

ÐOQT + ÐOQP is equal to 

T 

a. 90° 

b. 180° 

q 

c. 100° 

o 

d. 80° 

3. O is the centre of the circle and BA and BC are 

tangents drawn from an external point B. If ÐAOC = 

125°, the measure of ÐABC is 

a. 100° 

A 

b. 90° 

125° 

O 

B 

c. 60° 

d. 55° 

4. Using the figure given in Q. 3, if the radius of the 

circle is 6 cm and AB = 8.5 cm, the perimeter of 

quadrilateral OABC is 

a. 12 cm c. 29 cm 

b. 14.5 cm d. 17 cm 

5. AB is the diameter of a circle. The tangents drawn 

at A and B are 

a. Parallel c. Intersecting 

b. Perpendicular d. None of these 

6. TA and TB are tangents drawn to the circle from an 

external point T. If O is the centre of the circle, and 

ÐBTO = 35°, then ÐAOB is equal to 

T 

a. 70° 

B 

b. 90° 

c. 180° 

O 

d. 110° 

A 

7. In the following figure, if AP = 3 cm, QD = 4 cm, RC 

= 5 cm and BS = 6 cm, the perimeter of quadrilateral 

A 3cm P B 

ABCD is 

a. 18 cm 

S 

b. 36 cm 

Q 

c. 30 cm 

D 

d. 34 cm 

R 

8. Using the figure in Q. 7, if AB = 9 cm, AD= 8.5 cm, 

BC = 11 cm, the length of CD is equal to 

a. 10 cm c. 11.5 cm 

b. 9.5 cm d. 10.5 cm 

35° 

C 

p 

5 cm 

6 cm 

C 

worksheet 

9. In the following figure, radii of the two concentric 

circles are 7 cm and 9 cm respectively. The 

measure of AC is 

a. 32 cm 

b. 4 2 cm 

O 

c. 8 2 cm 

A B C 

d. 64 cm 

10. A parallelogram circumscribes a circle. The 

parallelogram is a 

a. Rectangle c. Rhombus 

b. Square d. None of these 

Max Marks: 20 

11. ABC is a triangle with sides AB = 5 cm and BC = 12 

cm. The radius of its incircle is 

A 

a. 1 cm 

b. 2 cm 

c. 3 cm 

O 

d. 4 cm 

12. The radius of the circle OP is 7 cm. If OT = 25 cm, 

the length of the tangent PT is 

a. 24.5 cm 

b. 14 cm 

o 

c. 10 cm 

d. 24 cm 

T 

Write the number of tangents that can be drawn to the 

circle from point A in column B: 

Column A Number of Tangents (Column B) 

13. 

14. 

15. 

5 cm 


16. A straight line that touches the circle at a single 

point is called a ……………… 

17. The common point of a tangent and the circle is 

called……………………….…. 

18. The length of the tangents drawn from an external 

point are ………………...… 

19. A tangent to a circle is …………………………….to 

the radius through the point of contact. 

20. A circle can have ………………..number of tangents. 

7 cm 

P 

P 

12 cm 

25 cm 

C 


37

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Constructions 


1. To divide a line segment AB internally in the ratio 

2 : 3, a ray AX is drawn to form ÐXAB, which is a /an 

a. Obtuse angle c. Right angle 

b. Acute angle d. Straight angle` 

2. To divide a line segment AB internally in the ratio 

4 : 7, the number of equal arcs drawn on the ray AX is 

a. 4 c. 11 

b. 7 d. 3 

3. The length of line segment PQ is 6.3 cm. If it is 

divided internally in the ratio 2 : 5 by a point S, the 

length of PS is 

a. 6.3 cm c. 4.5 cm 

b. 5.5 cm d. 1.8 cm 

4. The ratio of the corresponding sides of two similar 

triangles is called 

a. Scale factor c. Equality factor 

b. Scale d. None of these 

5. To construct a triangle similar and larger than a 

given triangle with a scale factor m : n, is possible if 

a. m = n c. m > n 

b. m < n d. None of these 

6. To construct a triangle similar to a given ΔABC, 

with a scale factor of 7 : 5, an acute angle CBX is 

drawn where A and X are on the opposite sides of 

BC. The number of equal arcs drawn on ray BX are 

a. 7 c. 12 

b. 5 d. 2 

7. To construct a triangle similar to a given ΔABC, 

with a scale factor of 3 : 8, an acute angle CBX is 

drawn where A and X are on opposite sides of BC. 

The number of equal arcs drawn on ray BX are 

a. 3 c. 5 

b. 11 d. 8 

8. To construct an isosceles ΔABC similar to 

isosceles ΔPQR, such that the sides of ΔABC are 

1 

2 2 

times the corresponding sides of ΔPQR, the 

scale factor for the construction is 

a. 3 : 2 c. 2 : 3 

b. 5 : 2 d. 1 : 2 

9. A tangent cannot be constructed to a circle 

from a point 

a. Outside the circle c. Inside the circle 

b. On the circle d. All of these 


10. Two tangents PT and PT’ are drawn to a circle, from 

a point P. If PT = 4.5 cm, the length of PT’ is 

a. 9 cm c. 4.5 cm 

b. 4 cm d. 8 cm 

11. If two tangents are to be constructed to a circle, 

inclined at an angle of 45°, the angle formed by the 

two radii at the centre is 

a. 60° c. 120° 

b. 90° d. 135° 

12. A pair of tangents is to be constructed from a point 

P, to a circle with centre O. If the radius of the circle 

is 7.5 cm, the length of OP can be 

a. 9 cm c. 7 cm 

b. 5 cm d. 6 cm 

13. AB is a tangent drawn to a circle from external point 

A. O is the centre of the circle. If OB = 4 cm and AB 

= 6 cm, length of OA is 

a. 52 cm c. 2 13 cm 

b. 5.2 cm d. 13 cm 

14. Two tangents are to be constructed from an 

external point P, to a circle with centre O. If C is the 

mid-point of OP, then another circle is constructed 

with the diameter 

a. OC c. CP 

b. OP d. None of these 

Complete the following as directed. 

Construct a ΔABC with BC = 8 cm, AB = 6.5 cm and 

AC = 6 cm. Construct ΔA’BC’ similar ΔABC with its 

sides 3 5 

of the corresponding sides of ΔABC. The 

following figure represents the construction. Write the 

steps of construction. 

B 

6.5 cm 

A’ 

8 cm 

A 

6 cm 

C’ C 

B 1 

B2 

B3 

B4 

B5 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

X 

38 




Areas Related to Circles 


1. The area of a circle is numerically equal to its 

perimeter. The diameter of the circle is 

a. 1 unit c. 3 units 

b. 2 units d. 4 units 

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

9. In the following figure, sector OAPB is cut off 

1 

from the circle of radius 1 cm. The area of 

2 

the remaining part of the circle is ⎛ 22 

⎜π= 

⎞ 

⎝ 

⎟ 

7 ⎠ 

2. A toy bicycle wheel requires 100 revolutions to move a 

distance of 22 m. The radius of the wheel is 22 

⎜π 

= 

⎞ 

⎝ 

⎟ 

a. 7 cm c. 10 cm 7 ⎠ 

b. 3.5 cm d. 22 cm 

a. 11 cm 

2 

c. 

1 2 

11 cm 

2 

2 

3. In the following figure, two concentric circles are 

b. 11 cm 

2 

d. None of these 

given. If OB= 1 cm and OA = 2 cm, the area of the 

7 

shaded region is 

10. Four cows are tethered at the four corners of a 

square plot of side 100 m, so that they can just 

reach one another. The area grazed by the four 

cows is 

a. 10,000 m 2 c. 2500π m 2 

b. 625π m 2 d. 7500π m 2 

π 

a. π cm 2 c. cm 

2 

2 

Match the following: 

b. 2π cm 2 π 

d. 

4 cm2 

Column A 

Column B 

5 

πθ r 

4. The area of a sector of radius 3 cm is π cm 

2 

. The 

11. Perimeter of a sector of a circle a. 

180 

angle of the sector is 

2 

12. Area of a semi-circle b. πr 

2 

a. 100° c. 60° 

4 

b. 90° d. 45° 

13. Area of a sector of a circle c. πr 

5. The perimeter of a sector of radius 5.9 cm is 

πθ r 

14. Area of a quadrant of a circle 

19.4 cm. The length of its arc is 

d. + 2r 

180 

a. 11.8 cm c. 5.9 cm 

πr 

2 

b. 7.6 cm d. 7.8 cm 

e. 2 

πr 

θ 

6. In the following figure, ABCD is the diameter of the 

f. 360 

circle such that AB = BC = CD = a cm. Three semicircles 

are drawn with AB, BD and AD as diameters 15. The degree measure of the angle at the centre of a 

Fill in the blanks with the correct option. 

respectively. The perimeter of the shaded region is quadrant is …………….. (45° / 90°) 

16. The ratio of the circumferences of two circles is 

4 : 5. The ratio of their areas is …………..(4 : 5 / 16 : 25) 

17. The angle through which the minute hand moves from 

7 : 30 a.m. to 7 : 55 a.m. is…………………(150 O / 100 O ) 

a. 2πa cm b. 2πa cm 

18. Area of the major segment of a circle = Area of circle – 

c. 3πa cm d. 3πa cm 

……………(Area of sector / Area of minor segment) 

7. ABCD is a square of side 4 cm, inscribed in a circle. 19. The length of the arc of a sector of angle 45 O and 

The radius of the circle is 

a. 16 cm c. radius 1 cm =…………………… ⎛π 

π ⎞ 

4 2 cm 

⎜ cm / cm 

b. 8 cm d. 

⎝ 

⎟ 

8 4 ⎠ 

2 2 cm 

20. Using 

8. In the figure given in Q. 7, the area of the shaded 

π= 22 , if the perimeter of a semicircular 

protractor is 18 cm, then its diameter is 

7 

region is (π = 3.14) 

a. 8.12 cm 2 c. 9.12 cm 2 

…………………………. (7 cm / 

b. 25.12 cm 2 d. 16 cm 2 cm ) 

2 


39

worksheet 

Max Marks: 20 

Surface Areas and Volumes 


1. A round bottom flask is a combination of 

a. Hemisphere + cylinder c. Hemisphere + cone 

b. Sphere + cylinder d. Sphere + cone 

2. When a solid is melted and recast to form another 

solid, the volume of the new solid 

a. Remains unchanged c. Decreases 

b. Increases d. May increase or 

decrease 

3. A solid sphere of radius r is melted to form a cone 

of the same radius. The height of the cone is 

a. r c. 3r 

b. 2r d. 4r 

4. A cube of edge 2 cm is melted to form smaller 

cubes of edge 1 cm each. The ratio of the surface 

area of the large cube to the smaller cubes is 

a. 1 : 8 c. 1 : 2 

b. 1 : 4 d. None of these 

5. A toy is in the form of a cone mounted on a 

hemisphere of common base radius 7 cm. The total 

height of the toy is 31 cm. The slant height of the 

cone is 

a. 31 cm c. 24 cm 

b. 7 cm d. 25 cm 

6. The radii of two cylinders are in the ratio 1 : 2 and 

their heights are in the ratio 

5 : 3. The ratio of their volumes is 

a. 5 : 12 c. 5 : 6 

b. 25 : 36 d. 4 : 9 

7. A solid spherical ball of diameter 6 cm is melted to 

form three smaller spherical balls. If the diameter 

of two of the balls is 4 cm and 5 cm, the diameter of 

the third ball is 

a. 1.5 cm c. 3 cm 

b. 2 cm d. 4.5 cm 

8. Three cubes, each of volume 8 cm3 are joined end 

to end. The surface area of the resulting cuboid is 

a. 28 cm 2 c. 72 cm 2 

b. 56 cm 2 d. None of these 

9. The curved surface area of a cylinder is one-third of 

its total surface area. If its total surface area is 462 

sq. cm and the height is twice the radius, then the 

height of the cylinder is ⎛ 22 ⎞ 

a. 

7 

2 

⎜π= 

⎝ 

⎟ 

7 ⎠ 

cm c. 154 cm 

b. 7 cm d. 14 cm 


10. A solid metallic sphere of radius 21 cm is melted to 

form a number of smaller cones of diameter 14 cm 

and height 6 cm. The number of cones formed is 

a. 63 c. 126 

b. 189 d. 100 

11. A test tube is in the shape of a right circular 

cylinder with a hemispherical end. The diameter of 

both the parts is 3 cm and the total height of the 

test tube is 9.5 cm. The volume of liquid that it can 

hold is 

a. 81π cm 3 c. 18π cm 3 

b. 

81 

π cm 

3 

4 

d. 9 

π cm 

3 

4 

12. A hemispherical bowl of diameter 30 cm is filled 

with some liquid, which is poured into 60 cylindrical 

bottles of height 6 cm each. The diameter of each 

cylindrical bottle is 

a. 2.5 cm c. 3 cm 

b. 5 cm d. 6 cm 

13. The height of a frustum of a cone is 24 cm and its 

slant height is 40 cm. The difference in the radii of 

the two circular sides is 

a. 28 cm c. 25 cm 

b. 21 cm d. 32 cm 

14. A bucket is in the form of a frustum of a cone. The 

radii of its two ends are 14 cm and 7 cm. If the slant 

height of the bucket is 20 cm, its total surface area 

is 

a. 420π cm 2 c. 469π cm 2 

b. 420 cm 2 d. 616π cm 2 

Match the following: 

Colomn A 

Colomn B 

15. Total surface area of a cylinder a. 4πr 2 

4 

16. Total surface area of a cone b. π 3 

3 r 

1 

17. Volume of a hemisphere c. π ( 2 + 2 + ) 

18. Volume of a frustum d. 2πr 2 

20. Lateral surface area of a 

hemisphere 

3 h R r Rr 

e. πr(l + r) 

f. 2πr (h + r) 

g. πl (R+r) 

h. 

2 

3 πr 

i. 3πr 2 

3 

40 



classroom display pullout 

Jul/Aug 2017 

www.progressiveteacher.in 25 41

Pullout PLANNER 


new trends 

‘Facing the Challenges of 21st Century 

Learning: Experience of CMS Asharfabad’ 

a small nondescript school in the older part of Lucknow 

I will be sharing with you the experiences and challenges faced by small schools to create an 

atmosphere of creativity and innovation in the teaching learning process. We have engaged our 

learners who are willing to take the responsibility of their own learning and teachers who are 

willing to create lessons which can achieve this. 

–Aditi Sharma 

As we are all aware the 

21st century learner is 

a self directed learner, 

globally aware, a communicator, 

an innovator, financially and 

economically literate, civically 

engaged, a problem solver, a 

collaborator, information and 

media literate and a critical 

thinker. That is a lot that the 

learner of today needs to achieve. 

To create such learners we 

need to take our teaching and 

learning above and beyond the 

basics of knowledge sharing to 

embracing the 4 C’s as they call 

it, the ‘Super Skills’ for the 21st 

Century! 

The first of these is 

Communication - strong 

thoughts, questions, ideas and 

solutions. 

Next is Collaboration - working 

together to reach a goal - putting 

together talent and expertise 

with smart work schedules. 

The third skill is Critical 

Thinking - looking at problems 

in a new way, linking learning 

across subjects and disciplines. 

The last of these C’s is the skill 

of Creativity - creating and 

exploring new approaches to 

getting things done innovatively. 

I head a small school of 760 

children and 35 teachers and 

staff members. This struggle to 

inculcate these 21st Century 

skills in our learners seemed like 

a Utopian task in the beginning. 

Lots of brainstorming sessions 

with the teachers was followed 

Aditi Sharma, a trained teacher and a 

Post-Graduate in Computer Applications 

and Educational Administration with a 

Certificate in Guidance and Counseling, 

joined the City Montessori School 

Lucknow, as a Kindergarten Teacher 

in 1991. After occupying a series of 

administrative positions in the City 

Montessori Schools chain, she was elevated to the post 

of Principal in the Asharfabad Campus in September, 

2014. She has had vast exposure to international teaching 

practices as she has led a number of school delegations to 

Hong Kong, North Korea, Indonesia, etc. 

Jul/Aug 2017 

by my wish to change ourselves 

to facilitators more than just 

dispensers of knowledge. The 

children today are exposed 

to innumerable sources of 

knowledge on the internet. We 

teachers can no longer consider 

ourselves as the only source of 

knowledge for them. They can 

get information with just a click 

of the mouse or a touch on the 

screen of a smart phone. 

The teachers of City Montessori 

School, Asharfabad Campus, 

took up the challenge and yes it 

was indeed a challenge as we run 

our school in a rented building 

with no labs or library. We have 

a small computer lab which can 

barely seat twenty children at 

one go. But that did not stop 

the teachers to experiment and 

exercise their competencies 

to make their lessons more 

interactive, more engaging and 

more experiential. 

Apart from the basic disciplines 

of English, reading or language, 

Arts, Mathematics, Science, 

Geography, History and Civics, 

Computer Science we believe 

schools must move beyond a 

focus on basic competency 

to promoting understanding 

of academic content at much 

higher levels by weaving 

interdisciplinary themes into 

the curriculum to empower our 

learners with the tools essential 

for the 21st century. Some of 

these are - 

1. GLOBAL AWARENESS 

Creating global awareness in our 

learners using the 21st century 

skills to understand and address 

global issues, learning from and 

working collaboratively with 

individuals representing diverse 

cultures, religions and lifestyles 

in a spirit of mutual respect and 

open dialogue in personal, work 

and community contexts and 

understanding other nations and 

cultures is a necessity in these 

times. 

Teachers use the assemblies for 

discussion of global happenings 

in the form of street plays, 

debates, talk shows, presentations 

to make the child become a part 

of the global scene instead of 

just knowing what is in their 

text books. Role plays in the 

classrooms to enact scenes from 

different cultures, wearing the 

costumes of different countries 

helps them to understand the 

people from around the world 

better. We now know that we 

are all a part of this big global 

village and no man can live as an 

island by himself. Participating 

in the mock sessions of the world 

parliaments, praying for unity 

and peace in all the nations of 

the world and the practice of the 

all religion prayer being a part of 

every event of the school further 

creates a bonding among children 

of diverse faiths and religions. 

Interweaving in the curriculum 

Civic Literacy, Health Literacy 

and Environmental Literacy 

is also a must for these 21st 

century learners. These are 

carried out through different 

activities. 

The school organizes walks 

or Sadhbhavana March on 

Interfaith harmony every 

year during the International 

Interfaith Week in February. 


Children participate in drives 

to generate awareness about 

government policies like Swachh 

Bharat Abhiyan, conservation of 

our native bird gauraiya which 

is on the verge of extinction, 

rain water harvesting, etc. 

Health checkups are carried 

out by professional medical 

practitioners who come and give 

their valuable advice to both 

children and parents, talks on 

healthy eating habits, parents’ 

participation in healthy lunch 

competitions are some activities 

to get the learners involved in 

their surroundings and personal 

health. 

Children take individual and 

collective action towards 

addressing environmental 

challenges by participating in 

global actions, tree plantation 

drives, environment awareness 

programmes, designing 

solutions that inspire action on 

environmental issues. 

2. Learning and 

Innovation Skills: 

Learning and innovation skills 

increasingly are being recognized 

as the skills that separate 

students who are prepared for 

increasingly complex life and 

work environments in the 21st 

century, and those who are not. 

A focus on creativity, critical 

thinking, communication and 

collaboration is essential to 

prepare students for the future. 

This was a challenge which 

we had to face as the teachers 

as well as the students were 

content with a system wherein 

the teacher delivers and children 

sit as passive learners. But some 

brainstorming and visits to our 

sister campus The Cambridge 

Section of CMS Gomti Nagar 

extension was an eye opener for 

the teachers that collaborative 

exercise not only developed 

communication skills but also 

taught the children 

in a silent way how 

to assist, empathize 

with fellow learners 

and help each other to 

get a task done. Lots 

of projects, role plays 

and group activities 

started getting done 

in the little class room 

space that we had. They 

did not shift furniture 

to make space as it is 

next to impossible in 

the small classrooms 

that we have but the 

chairs were turned in 

their place and groups 

were formed as and 

when required to 

conduct such activities. 

Slowly but steadily we had 

started engaging the learners 

to think creatively. They 

were brainstorming on tasks, 

elaborating, refining, analyzing 

and evaluating their own ideas in 

order to improve and maximize 

creative efforts and work 

creatively with others. 

They even started to develop, 

implement and communicate new 

ideas to others effectively and be 

open and responsive to new and 

diverse perspectives; group input 

and feedback was incorporated 

into the work. 

Most importantly now we started 

viewing failure as an opportunity 

to learn. 

3. Critical Thinking: 

Teachers started giving 

them ample opportunities 

to exercise various types of 

reasoning (inductive, deductive, 

etc.) as appropriate to the 

situation(experiments were 

conducted in the class room as 

there is no science lab in our 

school). 

Through these practical activities 

the learners learn to analyze how 

parts of a whole interact with 

each other to produce overall 

outcomes in complex systems. 

Getting children to research and 

make models of machines, etc 

also enhances their reasoning 

abilities to make judgments and 

decisions, interpret information 

and draw conclusions based on it 

and ask significant questions that 

clarify various points of view and 

lead to better solutions. 

4. Communication and 

Collaboration: 

Opportunities to communicate 

are provided to enact role plays 

as groups in class, give speeches 

or talks in assemblies, debates 

and group discussions on current 

issues, prepare and explain 

power point presentations on 

different occasions, participate in 

video conferences with different 

schools on global issues of faith, 

culture and diversities. 

They learnt to – 

• listen effectively and use 

communication for a range 

of purposes (e.g. to inform, 

instruct, motivate and 

persuade) 

• utilize multiple media and 

technologies, communicate 

effectively in diverse 

environments, collaborate 

with others demonstrate the 

ability to work effectively 

and respectfully with diverse 

teams. 

• assume shared responsibility 

for collaborative work, 

and value the individual 

contribution made by each 

team member. 

Today we live in a technology 

and media-suffused environment 

with: 1) access to an abundance 

of information, 2) rapid changes 

in technology tools, and 3) 

the ability to collaborate and 

make individual contributions 

on an unprecedented scale. To 

be effective in the 21st century, 

learners as well as teachers must 

be able to create, evaluate, and 

effectively utilize information, 

media, and technology. 

Despite facing different 

challenges our school is taking 

baby steps yet determined ones 

to ensure that the school campus 

is a happy and comfortable place 

for all. 

From the leader to the teaching 

fraternity five key responsibilities 

are a must - 

• Shaping a vision of academic 

success for all students, based 

on high standards. 

• Creating a climate hospitable 

to education in order that 

safety, cooperative spirit and 

other foundations of fruitful 

interaction prevail. 

• Cultivating a spirit of 

leadership and teamwork in 

others so that teachers and 

other adults assume their 

parts in realizing the school 

vision. 

• Improving instruction to 

enable teachers to teach their 

best and students to learn to 

their utmost. 

• Managing people, data and 

processes to foster school 

improvement. 

I wish all my fellow educators 

to believe in yourself and all 

that you are. Encounter every 

challenge with that belief and 

each day will be a motivation 

to innovate, create and spread 

happiness around you. From 

here the way forward is that I 

and my team want to make the 

classroom a place where the 

excitement of learning never 

ends and a place that caters for 

the individual learning styles 

of each learner. We’re aiming 

for each classroom to develop 

into a place where there are 

countless learning opportunities 

to be had. 


new trends 


–Ragini Kaul 

It’s an interesting tag line… 

New Trends in Education. 

Anything that is stagnant 

rusts, we all know this. Similarly, 

in the Education Industry as well, 

if we prolong the same practices, 

thoughts, etc. everything will 

become redundant. We need to 

have a progressive mindset and 

keep generating changes that 

time demands. 

I have been in this industry for 

three decades now and I have 

seen many changes, but none so 

robust as seen now. 

We are entering the 4th stage 

of industrial revolution, we 

are moving towards an era of 

machine learning. Globally the 

trends are changing. Machines 

are taking on humans. There 

are talks about driverless cars, 

robotic surgeries and so on so 

forth. 

Therefore, the focus has to move 

to becoming lifelong learners, 

keeping oneself equipped with 

the changing technology. The 

literary qualifications have to be 

a part of the complete package. 

The present day education that 

the schools are imparting has 

to be necessarily skill based. 

The focus has to be on providing 

the students with a basket of 

skills necessary for survival and 

sustenance. 

Every individual needs to be 

ready to handle the situations, 

find solutions to problems, 

critically think and introspect, 

manage crisis and find means for 

survival. 

Another major change is that 

the modern day education is 

becoming technology driven. 

Thirty years ago, it was a big 

deal when schools got their first 

computers. Today, students carry 

their own laptops. 

According to futurist Thomas 

Frey, in fourteen years students 

will, most probably, learn from 

robot teachers over the internet. 

In fact, Frey even claims that 

by 2030, the largest company 

on the internet is going to be an 

education-based company that 

we have not heard of yet. Google 

has already started developing 

DeepMind, a complex piece of 

machine-learning software. IBM 

is developing Watson-powered 

robots. Amazon is developing 

drone delivery. 

‘Nobody has quite cracked the 

code for the future of education,’ 

Frey contends. 

Education has to be skill based, sans which it will not fulfil its purpose. 

We need to stress on computational thinking. It is going to be useful for 

young persons and adults who believe in being lifelong learners (LLL). 

The future of education is 

going to be bombarded with 

the enhanced version of today’s 

massive open online courses. 

Machine learning too will 

accelerate in a similar fashion in 

the education space. Artificial 

Intelligence (AI) will have the 

same trajectory in the education 

space. 

Technology has revolutionized 

every sphere and impacted the 

education sector robustly and it 

will continue to do so. Therefore, 

only progressive minds will 

survive. 

Dr. Ragini Kaul has been in 

the Education Sector for three 

decades now, out of which 24 

years she globe trotted on behalf 

of DPS Society to several DPSs 

across the globe. She was rightly 

called the ‘Roving Ambassador’ 

by the erstwhile chairman Sh. 

Narendra Kumar. In Delhi Public 

School, she held several positions 

of responsibilities like PGT English faculty, Coordinator, 

Master of Ceremonies, Headmistress and Second in 

command. 

Presently she is heading the Sector 9 Rohini Branch of GD 

Goenka Group of Schools, as Principal. 

The school has grown not only in strength under her astute 

leadership, but has created a niche for itself by becoming 

one of the most sought after school in North West Delhi. 

Dr. Kaul has bagged several State and National Awards 

and believes in lifelong learning. 

As Educationists, we need to 

stress on technology and its 

related components. Education 

has to be skill based, sans which 

it will not fulfil its purpose. We 

need to stress on computational 

thinking. It is going to be useful 

for young persons and adults who 

believe in being lifelong learners 

(LLL). 

About 10 years ago, Jeanette 

Wing had proposed that 

Computational thinking is a 

skill that is required not only in 

IT and computing but would be 

valuable for many: Engineers, 

Doctors, Scientists, Lawyers, 

Managers… 

In fact I am amazed at the 

rapid advances in technology. 

To keep pace, we all have to 

keep ourselves abreast with the 

skill set and more important is 

to pass these skills to the next 

generation under our care, in 

a structured manner. Global 

Education was earlier within the 

reach of a select few but thanks 

to advances in technology, we all 

can and are benefitting from it, 

be it the massive online courses, 

which we can access and enroll 

for while sitting at our home. 

The Digital Libraries are within 

reach, we all know. The world is 

actually a global village and we 

all can see it. 

In future, I can clearly see 

students walking to school with 

just an I-pad that will open 

a plethora in front of them. 

Carrying heavy bags, will soon be 

a thing of the past. 

We all need to gear up for the 

globalized processes, where 

there is a tendency to search for 

immediate results.Whether good 

or bad, it’s become a kind of a 

habit with all of us. I strongly 

feel that future education 

should be an amalgamation of 

the best practices of the past 

clubbed with the changes and the 

required skills of the future. 

Therefore, we need to gear up, 

accordingly for the futuristic 

education. There is a need to 

revamp our systems and ring in 

the new methodologies, so as to 

prepare not only our students 

but ourselves as well for this 

futuristic trend in education. 


Effective Feedback 

–Abhijeet Mandve 

Do you remember any such feedback 

given to you? To be more specific, any 

feedback which taught you a new way 

of carrying out the same activity, with much 

more ease and fun? Well if yes, you might 

want to hang on to that thought. It’s because 

what we are about to see is the science 

behind all the positive feedbacks. 

Let us first understand what feedback is. 

Feedback is essentially any information that 

you give to your students to help them close 

the gap between where they are now with 

their work, and where they could be. The goal 

of feedback is to provide students with insight 

that helps them to improve their performance. 

Giving feedback can be a difficult business. 

Yet when done in the right way and with the 

right intentions, feedback communication 

is the avenue to performance greatness. 

Students need to know what they are doing 

well and not so well. For them to really hear 

your thoughts and suggestions on ways to 

improve, through feedback has to be delivered 

carefully and frequently. Would you all agree 

with me if I say that giving effective feedback 

is a skill? And like all skills, it takes practice 

to improve with each given feedback. 

Although there are no quick or easy answers, 

here are five tips for providing students 

with the kind of feedback that will increase 

motivation, build on existing knowledge, and 

help them reflect on what they’ve learned. 

1. Create safety 

Believe it or not, students who receive 

feedback apply it only about 30% of the 

time. If the person receiving the feedback 

doesn’t feel comfortable, this can cause 

the feedback to ultimately be unproductive. 

Create opportunities to build confidence 

and skills. This is especially effective when 

students are expecting to be graded. Confined 

situations in which they know they are being 

evaluated are good for giving feedback while 

learning skills. 

2. Be specific 

Tell the students exactly what they need to 

improve on. This ensures that you stick to 

facts and there is little room for ambiguity. If 

you tell someone they acted inappropriately, 

what does that mean exactly? Were they loud, 

unpunctual, casual or did they misbehave? 

Remember to stick to what you know 

firsthand. 

3. The sooner the better 

Numerous studies indicate that feedback is 

most effective when it is given immediately, 

Jul/Aug 2017 

The Secret of Giving 

Effective 

to Students 

Abhijeet D Mandve is an engineer by qualification and a 

personality development trainer by profession. Under the 

aegis of his firm A.C.E (Assertive & Combined Education), 

he organises personality development workshops for various 

institutions. These workshops mainly focus on an individual’s 

current set of skills and also help him/her discover new ones. 

Within these programmes, he has worked with a wide range 

of audience right from job aspirants, to students and teachers 

of SSC and CBSCE. His primary motive is to get people ready 

for the inevitable change. He considers himself a millennial, 

and tries to deliver his views through easy going and fun-filled sessions which 

make the learning activity very interesting. These sessions not only provide him a 

platform for improvement but also help him expand his own horizon. Any feedback is 

welcome at mandveabhijeet@gmail.com. 

It seems as if it was yesterday that I was a middle school 

student giving a class presentation on the importance of sports. I 

remember fumbling throughout the presentation. I had prepared 

well but somehow that did not go as the best presentation of my 

school life. However, it is definitely the most memorable one. 

All thanks to my class teacher who gave me the best feedback I 

have received till date. 

rather than a few days, weeks, or months 

down the line. Of course, it’s not always 

possible to provide students with feedback 

right on the spot, but sooner is definitely 

better than later. 

4. ‘I noticed’ 

Make an effort to notice a student’s 

behaviour or effort at a task. For example; 

‘I noticed when you solved the problem step 

by step, and you got it right’; ‘I noticed you 

arrived on time to class this entire week’. 

Acknowledging students and the efforts they 

are making goes a long way to positively 

influence academic performance. 

5. Invite students to 

give YOU feedback 

Remember when you finished a class in 

school/college and you were given the chance 

to ‘grade’ the teacher? Why not let students 

give you feedback on how you are doing as 

a teacher? Try it sometime in your class and 

you might learn a thing or two about your 

students’ perspective of you. Make it so that 

they can do it anonymously. What did they 

like about your class? If they were teaching 

the class, what would they do differently? If 

we are open to it, we will quickly learn a few 

things about ourselves as educators. 

Remember that feedback goes both ways and 

as teachers it is wise to never stop improving 

and honing our skills. 



–Geeta Gujral 

Theodore Roosevelt 

said, ‘To educate a 

man in mind and not in 

morals is to educate a 

menace to society.’ 

Trending now? Happened 

earlier? Or proposed for 

future? 

It is for the Junior School, the 

Pre-Primary and Primary level, 

that I address this issue of 

‘VALUE EDUCATION’ today. I 

firmly believe and so do we all, 

that it is the ethics that keep 

the society intact. This guild has 

people who feel secure and have 

acquired appropriate attitude. 

This issue should trend at all 

times. If we lose sight of morals, 

we have lost the target while 

educating children in schools. 

In this competitive era of marks 

and grades, the demand and 

supply groove, do you think 

we are forgetting the most 

important aspect of education? 

The value system! Yes, this is the 

need of the hour. If not trending 

now, it will be the utmost concern 

in the coming times and has 

been even centuries ago when 

the kings sent the princes to the 

ashrams to procure the skills and 

values to become suitable heirs 

to the throne and be capable of 

taking care of the public and 

pronounce unbiased judgments in 

the courts. 

This should be a concern in our 

times too. It is an awakening 

call, to steer education into the 

runway for students to takeoff 

for their smooth flight to the 

future. 

The needs of students, 

upgradation of educators and 

demand of present and future 

jobs have to be synchronized. 

This starts at the Pre-primary 

level when we start preparing the 

children for the big world. Stories 

chosen and books read out to 

them or read by them should 

not be directed to make a point 

blatantly but in a subtle manner. 

For example, stories from the 

Panchatantra which have moral 

messages could be extended 

for enactment in the form of 

an activity which demands 

application, analysis, reasoning 

and critical thinking before 

arriving at a decision. 

This can have an extension where 

students can then discuss why it 

was the correct or the incorrect 

decision or how it could have 

been modified in a better way. 

By this approach, we allow the 

Teacher 

Reaches 

Engages 

Nurtures 

Directs 

Ignites 

Nourishes 

Grooms 

TOWARDS VALUE EDUCATION 

In this competitive era of marks and grades, the demand and supply 

groove, do you think we are forgetting the most important aspect of 

education? The value system! Yes, this is the need of the hour. 

children to think, support them 

in their efforts and escort them 

by facilitating the process of 

imbibing values. 

Students do need knowledge 

which is the dynamo for 

education. But being 

programmed as a robot is not 

worthwhile. What is required is, 

love and care given by parents 

and teachers which enable the 

student to lead an emotionally 

healthy life and take the right 

decisions at the right time. A 

good decision maker will always 

be a contented person and will 

bring happiness around him. 

A happy educator can do this 

by using various child-centred 

strategies. Do we really buy this 

thought that ‘Moral Science’ 

sermons help the children? I am 

sure we disagree as participation 

always works better than theory. 

Through generations, stories 

have played an important 

role in passing on of cultures, 

values, etc. The lives of famous 

individuals, kings, sportspersons, 

people from ordinary walks of 

life, episodes from ones own 

life, instances narrated by the 

children become live wire value 

modules. But we need to spend 

time on this! They have to be 

equipped to influence the society 

positively in partnership with 

parents, technology, storytelling, 

theatre show presentations, etc. 

The impact, thus, will be gentle 

Ms Geeta Gujral, has been a part of 

the prestigious DPS family since 1992. 

She started her journey from DPS 

East of Kailash (Junior branch of DPS 

R.K.Puram) and is now the Supervisor at 

the Junior branch of DPS International, 

Saket, New Delhi. She is a good orator 

and her skills range from curriculum 

designing, lesson planning to activity based teaching. 

She has conducted live satellite programmes and training 

sessions for teachers at various Delhi Public Schools. 

She had participated in ‘Continuing Professional 

Development Story Competition’ organised by British 

Council and made it to the top five winners at the all 

India level. British Council sponsored her to attend the 

Third International English Language Teacher Educator 

Conference at Hyderabad. Trinity College London had 

organised a ‘Lesson Planning Competition’ for the 

delegates. Geeta’s lesson plan was selected by their 

Teacher Development Panel and was ranked among first 

twenty. 

She was awarded the Second prize for her presentation at 

the ‘Best Teaching Practices Conference’ organized by NIIT 

but lifelong. 

We as educators have the 

liability to prepare ‘citizens’ who 

will be the pride of the country. 

For that it is not important 

to fight a war at the border 

but to tenderly, intelligently 

groom young children to be 

compassionate and have good 

demeanor, tolerance and belief in 

universal brotherhood. 

In the kind of mixed classrooms 

that we have nowadays, where 

we treasure children from all 

sorts of backgrounds, it becomes 

imperative that the curriculum 

designing needs to offer the best 

package to the children for them 

to become socially, intellectually 

and traditionally compatible as 

India is a land of rich and varied 

cultures and has a vast range 

of economic layering. I call it a 

‘range’ and not a ‘divide’. It is for 

us as educators that we bridge 

the fissures by sewing the loose 

ends so that children have a 

smooth sailing into the future. 

Everyday incidents dealt with by 

the teachers and administrators 

become role model examples for 

the children to appreciate what 

could be discarded and what to 

imbibe in a variety of situations. 

This pattern of observing and 

practicing in the classroom and 

home environments becomes a 

habit for them. 

Inclusive education is no more 

just a term but a strategy to 

get ‘all’ involved in all, the 

engagement being of the right 

kind. The interaction here 

needs to be monitored by the 


administrators and teachers. 

The gifted students need to have 

a plan and so do the students 

who are struggling to cope or 

are barely attaining an average 

score. In the process of doing 

justice to our subject (be it 

English, Math, Science or any 

other) are we neglecting or not 

noticing the fact that at times 

the high achievers in the school 

are psychologically overpowering 

the ones who are just about 

coping to reach the grade level? 

This results in bullying and peer 

pressure is built, unknowingly on 

the student who is not scoring 

well. Some values are needed to 

address this aspect, too. 

Have we acknowledged the fact 

that the self-esteem of the under 

achievers or the average children 

has to be taken into account? 

Otherwise, they may grow up to 

be worthless citizens causing 

unrest in society as is prevalent 

in the current scenario. 

The seed is sown in the junior 

school and much before that 

in the homes. When the child 

enters school, he has certain 

preset notions. This is the reason 

why we need to have parents as 

partners in school. They are equal 

stake holders and the connect 

amongst the Teacher-Learner- 

Parent is always important. 

Celebrations in the school in the 

form of assemblies, talk shows, 

presentations by guest speakers, 

parent volunteers should include 

festivals from across religions 

and across the world as the child 

is an important part society. He 

is a global citizen as the world 

is shrinking and coming closer 

as the boundaries are becoming 

hazy with technology, pacts 

between countries, exchange 

programmes, etc. 

Formal and informal 

programmes in the classrooms 

and school to address issues 

like bullying, cooperation and 

compassion do drive the point 

home. Responsible roles given 

to children in school instil 

leadership qualities. Reward 

programme encourages children 

and negative remarks should be 

avoided as they put off the child. 

Our aim is not to hinder the 

child’s progress but to get him 

into the main stream in the most 

amicable manner. 

Gautam Buddha said - The past 

is already gone, the future is 

not yet here. There’s only one 

moment for you to live, and that 

is the present moment. 

Let us today inculcate education 

with values, like a solute and 

solvent to form a mixture and 

in the process, formulate a 

HUMANE BEING, and not just 

a human being. 

The life skills learnt at a young 

age get embedded. This should 

include a spirit of inquiry, 

desired relationships through 

collaborative ties, sensitising 

the children about the burning 

topics affecting our lives for 

example environment related 

issues, following rules within 

the school and society, donating 

unused material to the deprived, 

recycling discarded material, visit 

to a blind school or interaction 

with differently abled children. 

As part of community service, in 

the form of hands-on activity, it 

will leave a long lasting impact 

on these young minds. This will be 

for the betterment of society and 

grooming of the child to become 

a suitable global resident. 

We cannot negate the aspect of 

health and hygiene which too 

goes a long way in redefining 

the moral training we are 

imparting to the children. Yoga 

does wonders to the human 

body and soul by keeping a fine 

balance and produces a healthy 

workforce. Meditation, too, done 

differently for children, gives 

them immense peace, relaxation 

and happiness. 

The new generation needs 

to grow as they are full of 

exuberance. It is our task to 

redirect this powerhouse to 

generate energy in the right 

direction so that it reaches 

the pinnacle comprising a 

combination of a thinker, a 

skilled worker and a person of 

utmost integrity. 

Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam remarked 

–If a country is to be corruption 

free and become a nation of 

beautiful minds, I strongly feel 

there are three key societal 

members who can make a 

difference. They are the father, the 

mother and the teacher. 

Likewise, Mahatama Gandhi said, 

‘By education, I mean an all-round 

drawing of the best in child and 

man in body, mind and spirit.’ 

So all the best to my fellow 

teachers for the future lies in 

your hands. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


new trends 

New Educational Trends: 

Changing Pedagogy 

into Practicum 

In today’s competitive world eagerness to continually improve the educational experience of 

learners has been growing steadily. We are now more aware of how teaching practices help shape 

the student learning experiences and advance motivation and achievement. 

–Ashok Singh Guleria 

When teachers work well together 

they tend to also work well with 

students. So, it has become 

important to encourage teachers to share 

more of their expertise and experience and 

in ways that go beyond the mere exchange of 

information. The time has come that now we 

have to transform pedagogical approaches to 

workable practices. 

Changing Classrooms into 

learning workshops: 

High-quality instruction is often defined as 

the use of a variety of classroom teaching 

practices, allowing for both teacherdirected 

and self-regulated learning. For 

educational policy and teacher education, 

the results support calls for a good balance 

among the three dimensions of classroom 

teaching practices: (a) enhanced activities 

including challenging tasks and content, (b) 

student-oriented, supportive practices and 

(c) teacher-directed practices that provide 

structure and clarity. Now just as the high 

level of workable experiences are expected 

in learning a course of studies, therefore 

it is better to convert our classrooms into 

workshops where young minds try their hands 

and minds on practical experiences more 

than relying on classroom instruction. Thus, 

the construction of instructional quality as 

diversity of practices must go side by side. 

Collaborating Co-Teaching 

Practices: 

Co-teaching is an effective teaching-learning 

practice in which two or more professionals 

engage themselves providing well planned 

and systematic evidence based instructional 

experiences to a group of learners. In our 

schools we with the help of a team of 

efficient teachers organize several teachinglearning 

sessions and it has been seen that 

the instructional outcome of each session 

is far greater in degree than the general 

individualized classroom teaching. We, for 

experimentation, take up several curriculum 

based themes or topics to be done engaging 

teachers and students. This definitely works 

and we get appropriate results and responses. 

Ashok Singh Guleria teacher of 21 years standing is a postgraduate 

in English Literature. He writes on pedagogical 

issues and children’s behavioural concerns. He has worked 

as Head of Department of English, curriculum planner and 

Academic coordinator cum Teachers’ Trainer at the Akal 

Academy Group of Schools run by the Kalghidhar Education 

Trust, Baru Sahib, at Kajri in Uttar Pradesh. Currently he 

works as Principal at Akal Academy, Gomti. 

He strives to develop and facilitate the building of a robust 

and sustainable teaching-learning fraternity embodied with a strong sense of work 

culture. He can be reached at ashok.guleria70@gmail.com 


Student Support System: 

Successful learning, besides many other 

things, requires different levels of support 

depending upon the needs of each individual 

learner. Student support services provide 

not only individual feedback to learning 

community, they provide the learners access 

to counseling support where and when 

required. Schools can start individual student 

support system that can work regularly and 

help children when they are in academic or 

non academic crisis. Student Support within 

the school curriculum can be divided into the 

following areas - 

Literacy Target 

Group: 

Numeracy Target 

Group 

Individual Needs 

Group 

Gifted and 

Talented Group 

For children whose 

literacy acquisition 

skills are poor and 

need Language 

support. 

For children 

whose numeracy 

acquisition skills 

are poor and need 

special remedial 

benefit from extra 

Maths Support. 

For students who 

need special care 

because of their 

educational needs 

as they can’t carry 

on their unmodified 

curriculum. 

For students 

who perform 

exceptionally 

well and need 

enhanced learning 

programmes and 

curricula to do 

superbly. 

Joint Home Learning Agreement: 

Teaching-learning is a joint undertaking 

between teachers and learners. Learning of a 

child is not confined to the school campus and 

it derives value from the home environment. 

Home learning is a shared responsibility 

between the student, teacher and family. In 

our schools we regularly remain in touch with 

parents and family members of our students 

so that a joint agreement is reached. There 

is proved evidence that after establishing 

healthy home-learning environment, children 

learn independently getting support from all 

quarters. Joint Home Learning environment 

provides a child confidence and support to 

enhance learning skills and also provides the 

child and parents timely feedback to counter 

learning challenges. 

Calibrating Collaborative Team Teaching: 

Can having more than one teacher in the 

classroom help students learn better? In 

our schools we regularly transform our 

classrooms into massive learning platforms 

where teachers join in to support children’s 

learning at several levels. Collaborative 

team teaching often occurs in an inclusive 

classroom. In a co-taught class, general 

education and special education teachers 

work together to plan lessons, teach and 

monitor student progress and manage the 

classes. 

Being in a co-taught classroom 

has many benefits. Students 

can spend more time with the 

teachers and get more individual 

attention. And with more than 

one teacher, it’s easier to teach 

students in smaller groups or on 

a one-on-one basis. 

Moreover, students have the 

opportunity to learn from 

two teachers who may have 

different teaching styles, ideas, 

perspectives and experience. In 

Collaborative team teaching, the 

curriculum is divided into several 

chunks and each team member 

takes up different tasks aiming to 

address the learners’ difficulties, 

choices and requirements. 

Replacing Over Testing 

with Learning Measurement: 

In recent years our education system has 

undergone many changes in terms of teaching 

and learning measurement. CBSE and 

many state board schools are now adopting 

standardized teaching learning assessment. 

Junking the CCE pattern the new scheme 

of evaluation aims to bring uniformity in 

educational evaluation. The new scheme gives 

90% weightage to pen and paper tests now, 

including 80 marks to the half yearly or 

annual examination. 10 marks are set aside 

for periodic assessment in each term. 

A word of caution is that all schools or 

boards must be aware of the fact that 

evaluation system should inculcate healthy 

learning spirit not cut throat competition for 

marks, percentage and grades. 

As July has begun and our schools are 

again buzzing with activity, our teachers are 

again gearing up for the new lessons. Let us 

hope that they will bring new pedagogy into 

practice in a more lively and vivid manner. Let 

our children experience the most enjoyable 

and meaningful learning for today, tomorrow 

and always. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


BIOLOGY 

EXPLORING 

THE SUBJECT 

BIOLOGY 

When we talk about life, we want to know about its origin, existence of diversity in life-forms, right 

from microscopic bacteria to the giant blue whale. We try to identify the interactions that exist 

between various life forms to continue the survival of one’s species on the earth. Human has quest 

to invent and discover microscopic machinery operated in the human cell to the changes operated 

at environmental level such as global climate change. 

–Rashmi Prabha 

Biology answers all such questions is 

considered as natural science concerned 

with the study of life and living 

organism. Today it is expanding into various 

branches at tremendous rate due to new 

inventions and discoveries that encompass 

a wide range of studies. It not only satisfies 

human queries but show new rays of hope for 

future. Let’s understand how? 

BRANCHING OF BIOLOGY INTO 

MANY DISCIPLINES 

BOTANY deals with plants, ZOOLOGY deals 

with animal study, MICROBIOLOGY deals with 

nature and ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE 

with nature. The basic structural and functional 

unit in plants, animals and microbes is CELL. 

The study about components and processes of 

cell is called CYTOLOGY. The study of cell done 

at molecular level constitutes MOLECULAR 

BIOLOGY. The structure of primitive cell was 

unicellular which got transformed to multicellular 

over a period of time. The study of 

changes from unicellular to multi-cellular 

comprises EVOLUTION. The primitive cells are 

called prokaryotes and evolved cells are called 

eukaryotes. For a deep understanding of cell, 

the other branches of science are integrated 

with biology. 

BIOLOGY + 

PHYSICES = 

BIOPHYSICS 

BIOLOGY + 

CHEMISTRY = 

BIOCHEMISTRY 

BIOLOGY 

+ENGINEERING = 

BIOENGINEERING 

For example - use of 

spectrophotometer 

in the qualitative 

analysis of protein 

Such as how the food 

is broken-down by 

series of chemical 

reactions in the cell 

to release energy 

How the recombinant 

is produced by 

combining two 

different DNAs 

Humans, being superior beings, exploited all 

forms of life for survival and making life better. 

This depends upon consuming good food and 

maintaining good health. Growing of good 

quality food comes under AGRICULTURE. 

Analysis of physical body comes under 

PHYSIOLOGY and maintaining healthy 

body under IMMUNOLOGY. Today we have 

integrated technology to biology to secure 

human life and for obtaining better output. 

BIOTECHNOLOGY and NANOTECHNOLOGY 

are two such promising branches of biology. 

Insulin which is produced inside the living body 

is now synthesized outside the body with the 

help of biotechnology and used for therapeutic 

purposes. 

HOW TO DEAL WITH SUBJECT 

BIOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM 

It is a subject that builds upon itself and 

cannot be absorbed in a short duration of 

time. So it is essential to understand the basic 

concepts before going for more complex ones. 

Testing of previous knowledge before the 

introduction of topic is one of the important 

aspects of teaching. After the introduction of 

topic invite curiosity from the students. Let 

there be discussion over it and then ask the 

BIOLOGY + 

COMPUTER = 

BIOINFORMATICS 

How to make use 

of computer in the 

analysis of DNA 

fingerprinting. 

The study of diversity of life forms is done 

under TAXONOMY. The interaction of life 

with the components of environment is called 

Ecology. Each species on earth transmits its 

DNA to next generation, the study of which is 

called GENETICS. 


students to look for answers while dealing with 

the subject matter. 

Note taking is very important in biology. 

Certain students may find it time consuming 

but it helps students to review what they have 

covered during the class and a quick glance 

over the notes helps to prepare for the test as 

the subject deals with detail text of each topic 

which otherwise is difficult to go through the 

whole text at a time. Reviewing notes helps 

to synthesize what is being learnt. Rewriting 

notes helps to focus on writing, listening, and 

visualization at a single stretch. This stimulates 

brain centres where active learning occurs. 

Outlines are great way to organize notes 

from general to specific. Try to avoid use of 

readymade notes. 

Diagrams are one of the best teaching aids in 

biology. Drawing and labeling of the diagram 

with functions helps to clarify many doubts 

and imparts good comprehension of the 

topic. Use of charts for teaching is one of the 

traditional practices that still work well in 

modern era of computers. 

Accurate observation and experimentation 

initiates research ability amongst students. 

Experimentation is the physical experience 

of learning where they apply and extend their 

knowledge and understanding of the subject 

in a novel investigative situation that aids in 

learning and creating further interest in the 

subject. Lab work should be pre-planned. 

Students must know what is expected from 

them and they must come prepared to enter 

the lab. 

Rashmi Prabha is Vice Principal in St. Kabir’s School, 

Hisar, Haryana and currently teaching biology to senior 

classes. She obtained a masters degree in biotechnology 

from M.S University, Baroda. She has great passion for 

environment and engages in projects and activities on 

environment awareness and conservation involving students, 

teachers and parents. She is an online teacher and faculty 

in Lund University for evaluating Global Young Master’s 

Programme on Sustainable Development. She conducts 

adolescence classes for students and makes them aware of 

their responsibilities and social challenges. Various organisations have honoured 

her for making outstanding contributions. She received the Derozio Award from 

the Council for ISCE for making quality contribution in the field of education and 

human enrichment, The Educationist Of the Year Award (twice) by Silver Zone 

Foundation, The Best Teacher Award by Bharat Vikas Parishad, Mahilla Jyoti Award 

by Integrated Council for Socio Economic Progress, and Paryavaran Puraskar by 

Paryavaran Mitra Organisation associated with Ministry of Environment Education. 

She writes on a wide range of topics and her articles are regularly published in 

Siksha Saarthi, a magazine of the Haryana Government and Teacher magazine 

published by ACER. 

Projects, assignments and presentation 

help students to reach out of books. They help 

to gain mastery over a particular topic by 

doing detailed research and studies. Visits to 

botanical garden, science parks, zoo and labs 

provide first hand interaction with nature and 

add fun to learning. 

Online biology learning is useful too - one 

can look for original specimens which are not 

available in labs, animations for various life 

processes operated at cellular level, quizzes and 

original pictures which help in self-learning and 

self-assessment. 

QUESTION PAPER SETTING 

The worksheet given after completion of 

the topic helps to assess if the students 

have grasped the root concepts or not. The 

questions for the test are set on the basis of 

memorization ability, understanding, analysis, 

and reasoning abilities. The assessment should 

be based on the actual knowledge gained. 

PREREQUISITE FOR BIOLOGY 

Curiosity, an open mind and willingness to 

think critically about the natural world are the 

prerequisite for any biologist - the more you 

enquire the more you find and more you learn. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


career in history 

–Meera Bhuvanesh 

Even in the so called 

cosmopolitan and which 

are considered as broad 

minded metro cities it was at all 

times considered a social stigma, 

if someone chose to take up any 

subject in the humanities stream. 

Apparently, a recent survey 

suggests that the trauma a child 

goes through by not opting for 

pure sciences is more painstaking 

than studying pure sciences. 

One is considered a mediocre 

or substandard in intellectual 

capacity if one decides to study a 

subject from the Social Sciences. 

And for ever and a day degree 

courses in Social Sciences are 

looked down upon. It’s unusual 

to find a student with the 

conviction to pursue subjects like 

History. Parents do not support 

such decisions. Generally, most 

of the students take up these 

subjects as an outcome of low 

score or may be the failure to get 

seats in other streams and many 

such circumstances; but by no 

means a conscious decision. 

But, here I would like to stop and 

tell all my colleagues and dear 

students that there are a number 

of opportunities for students of 

Liberal Arts and I would further 

have a discussion about them in 

detail. 

The options are more than 

diverse. History majors 

sometimes go to professional 

schools to track library sciences, 

international relations, law, 

tourism, study of ancient and / 

or foreign languages, a linguistic 

expert, archives management, 

or museum studies. In fact, 

it is becoming observable, as 

increasingly businesses realize 

that the strengths in which 

history majors abound (the 

ability to read, write, and think 

critically) are helpful for their 

pursuit. 

Graduation with honors in 

I am an alumnus of SIES School Mumbai, 

with a master’s and a bachelor’s degree 

in Education also from Mumbai. This 

city taught me two traits to excel in my 

field - perseverance and hard work. After 

my wedlock with a soldier in the Indian 

Air Force I was able to teach in various 

schools. In the city of Ambala, a city on 

the border between Haryana and Punjab, 

I got the opportunity to teach in two schools. Here, where 

people experience jolts and jitters to enter the classroom but 

I took it as a variant flavour in my field and could tide through 

it very smoothly. 

After this my encounter with the hills began and I had to 

unlearn a lot to teach at The Blue Mountains School, Ooty. 

Presently I teach History and Political Science in the Delhi 

Public School, Coimbatore. I strive to kindle that spark 

which I believe exists in all children and will illuminate their 

indomitable spirit of the inner self. 

The Forbidden Land! 

Looking at the title one might end up thinking that this is a piece on 

Chinese culture and civilization, but no, it is about ‘HISTORY’, the 

forbidden subject. Many institutions have abandoned humanities and 

made it dysfunctional. Each and every parent wants his/her ward to 

only take up sciences or may be at least prefer commerce stream. 

But, the larger question is can we escape History? 

History opens your way to all the 

jobs with graduation as minimum 

eligibility criteria such as SSC, 

UPSC or IBPS/Bank PO. 

History honors will form the base 

in the subject, irrespective of the 

college and the university. During 

the masters course one can 

choose the area of specialization. 

Hence, it is recommended to 

pursue a master’s degree. 

Career opportunities after 

graduating in History- 

1. Archaeology - After pursuing 

a bachelors degree in History, 

one can go on to study 

archaeology and make a 

career out of it. Working as an 

archaeologist, museologist, or a 

monument conservationist are 

some of the options. If there 

is love for ancient history, this 

can be a dream profile. MA 

in Archeology is most sought 

after course among History 

graduates. On a lighter note 

with increase in production of 

period movies and TV serials 

there is demand of people 

with History background who 

can do research for costumes, 

jewellery, background sets and 

culture-customs. There can be 

a venture on this direction and 

may join production houses 

as Research Assistant. The 

Archaeological Survey of India 

(ASI) a government body 

can also be the aim of many 

students. 

Here I would like to point 

out that within the field of 

archaeology one can specialize 

in fossil studies, dating patterns, 

numismatics (study of coins), 

epigraphist (study of inscriptions 

or epigraphs; that is engravings 

on rocks), cartography, geology, 

etc. It is evident that how 

the subject of archaeology is 

highly scientific. 

I) Museum Curator: These 

are the people who preserve, 

display and also maintain 


ecords by cataloging. 

One can go for a M.A in 

Museology. If one has love for 

the ambience and amazing 

artefacts of a museum, and 

has the passion to create 

one; then unquestionably 

one can actually become 

a museum curator. As a 

museum curator, one would 

be dealing directly with the 

collection of artefacts, their 

display, research on various 

artefacts and objects and 

provide information to the 

general public. There are 

various colleges which provide 

specialization in the field 

during post-graduation. 

II) Conservationist: You would 

have to work for restoration 

of architecture. To become 

a conservationist one has to 

choose to take up a MA in 

Conservation. It is similar to 

architecture restoration, there 

is demand of art and painting 

restoration. If any student 

is inclined towards art then 

Masters in History of Art is 

recommended. Art historians 

are in huge demand in Art 

galleries and museums. 

III) Art Restoration - A 

specialization in Art History 

and work experience with 

museums and art galleries 

to restore paintings and 

other art forms is the core 

of this subject. The basic job 

is to restore and preserve 

already existing works of art 

like painting, sculptures and 

monuments which have been 

damaged or deteriorated. 

Nevertheless, it may sound 

easy and uncomplicated, 

but the job requires utmost 

amount of historical 

knowledge and precision. 

There is specialization in the 

particular field during postgraduation. 

IV) Archivist: The study 

of archival sciences is 

what should be looked at. 

Archivists acquire, manage 

and maintain documents and 

other materials that have 

historical importance for 

individuals, organisations and 

nations. A large part of the 

work is related to making 

information accessible to 

users, increasingly in digital 

format. Archives may include 

books, papers, maps, plans, 

photographs, prints, films and 

computer-generated records. 

2. Please Teach History: If a 

student is interested in the 

subject and more than that, 

if he or she enjoys it, please 

reciprocate the love for the 

subject by teaching. We need 

good teachers! To teach in 

a school, a B. Ed. degree is 

indispensable. To teach at 

university level Masters in 

History with NET is required 

(many universities prefer 

M.Phil /PhD) 

3. Organisations - There 

are non-governmental 

organisations working for the 

preservation of the history 

and heritage of India where 

you may seek work, such as 

INTACH. 

4. Writing work - A historical 

background and right skills 

can get you work with firms 

employing writers; this may 

range from content writing 

for tourism websites to 

magazines and publishers 

requiring article writing, 

proofreading, editing, etc. 

5. Media - Many known 

journalists including Sagarika 

Ghose are history graduates. 

It provides you all the skills 

which you need in journalistic 

work such as analysing facts 

and reconstruction based on 

evidence, looking for evidence 

and shuffling between 

various probabilities, etc. 

A course in media studies/ 

mass communication post 

BA (Hons) History is most 

rewarding. 

6. Film making - Films on 

social, cultural and historical 

aspects are very popular with 

audiences and it is a ripe 

field for students of history 

where they can work as 

writers, editors, and if they 

possess requisite skills then 

as assistants, directors, or 

make their own films. Nongovernmental 

organisations, 

TV channels, media 

companies, independent 

filmmakers are always 

making films and it is beyond 

doubt that a good chance 

exists if one acquires the 

right skills. 

It is always wise to do Masters 

in some field, if you want to 

make a serious career after 

studying history. You may go for 

archaeology and museum work 

or media or anywhere but here 

too I shall state that these jobs 

are not in abundance. There are 

not many jobs for archaeologists 

or museum staff and these jobs 

are rarely there in the private 

sector. Therefore, you should 

be prepared for what you are 

signing up for. 

I believe that one should know 

what one is doing. I see students 

studying history around me are 

not even 10% who are here 

for history. They are here for 

something, which most of the 

time even they do not know. 

Therefore, it is important that 

you know what you want to do 

and what you are signing up for 

and work sincerely; things will 

fall in place and certainly we 

can find our way to a purposeful 

life. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


classroom technology 

TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM 

The story so far…There was a time (and in many places other than the metros, it still is) when 

technology in the classroom of a school meant either having a room equipped with audio visual 

devices, usually a tape recorder and a VCR or advertising your school as a smart class equipped 

school with some classrooms fitted with projectors connected to a new generation writing board 

called the smart board. It all started with using these facilities in regular periodic classes showing 

children educational content. 

–Renu Vashishta 

Those were the days when teachers were 

to be coaxed and sometimes forced to 

make use of the topic wise available 

electronic academic content at least for a 

mandatory number of hours. The content 

sometimes not up to mark but not easily 

recognizably so, did serve the purpose of a 

break from monotonous class schedules for 

both students and teachers. Teachers were 

mostly stuck with the idea of anything to 

do with the computers being an automatic 

referral to the computer teacher! Real 

beneficiaries of the set up were the top level 

students with the gap between their content 

clarity and mastery of a topic being bridged. 

A GOOD START NO 

DOUBT! WHAT NOW? 

Today the ability to use technology is not 

under a scanner at all! Use of smart phones, 

social media and fondness for making home 

videos and picture collages have very easily 

taken care of that hurdle! Most good schools 

today are in a position to use technology 

as an instructional tool rather than just a 

subject of instruction. However, complete 

seamless integration is still a far cry. 

Need of the hour therefore, is to introduce 

technology seamlessly into our school 

lessons and school work by teachers for 

both themselves and students. Teachers must 

comfortably shift from digital to traditional 

and vice versa as and when required. 

Students must employ technology daily in the 

classroom using a variety of tools to complete 

Renu Vashishta an educator - technically on a sabbatical - is 

actually working, researching, blogging, interacting meaningfully 

with children of all ages. She began her career as a primary school 

teacher, rising very fast to become a teacher of mathematics 

teaching senior classes. A winner of a gold medal for preparing the 

best teaching aid, she has worked as a Head of primary and preprimary 

schools and curriculum co-ordinator for a chain of primary 

schools too. 

Her experience of 21 years, other than teaching mathematics 

includes working with the very young as well as young children, 

accommodating and adopting the latest in education, planning and formulating 

curriculum and devising innovative lesson plans and assignments, writing content for 

books as well as e-learning, editing school magazines and managing and organising 

academic events /programmes. 

She has recently finished her MOOC from MIT(US) on LAUNCHING INNOVATION IN 

SCHOOLS 

http://www.questionsforthedriven.com/#!vashishta-educators/ann6t 

http://tutelageviewpoint.wordpress.com 

www.myrendezvouswithhomemaking.wordpress.com 

www.facebook/tuelagefun 


assignments and create projects that show a 

deep understanding of content. 

Technology has to now be just a tool to make 

the real teaching –learning process go on 

smoothly, to enable superior learning to take 

place. 

SOME OF THE WAYS OF 

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION 

IN A SCHOOL CLASSROOM 

• Teacher specific tools 

• Online learning and blended classrooms 

• Project-based activities 

• Game-based learning 

• Learning with mobile devices 

• Instructional tools like interactive 

whiteboards and student response systems 

• Web-based projects, exploration, and 

research 

• Student-created media 

• Collaborative online tools like wiki or 

google docs 

• Using social media to engage students 

• Flipped classrooms 

Most of the above are in use in most schools 

of the metros and in a scattered manner 

in other cities of India. However, for the 

potential to be explored and used fully a 

lot more needs to be done. The reason is 

obvious; for the teaching learning process to 

be of optimal quality the soul – the teacher 

has to be on the technology path from 

within herself/himself. That alone will bring 

about seamless integration of technology 

for optimal success in the teaching-learning 

process. 

SOME REASONS FOR TEACHER 

RESISTANCE TO THE USAGE: 

• It is hard to affect change in the way 

one teaches, especially given that many 

educators work confidently with familiar 

and proven methods. 

• Already working hard, teachers may 

understandably be wary of anything with 

the potential of making their jobs more 

complicated. 

• Using technology or to be more specific 

even only electronic academic content 

requires meticulous planning and time 

even if it is for lower classes. The added 

time might prove to be a deterrent for 

some. 

What might help: 

• Including teachers in the decision making 

processes to evaluate the extent of use and 

what to use helps to a certain extent. 

• Though the planning and execution of 

how new technology will be integrated 

are important, at the end of the day, 

what matters most when selecting 

technology is its ease of use. 

• There can be no substitute for the 

time spent on planning. Planning has 

to be done with the right amount of 

time spent on it. This is where a Head 

can help. Regular integration of time 

slots for academic content planning 

right down to the micro level within 

the school time schedule itself is a big 

help. 

Technology is here to stay and 

students today are coming to class with 

more and more technical know-how whether 

a teacher likes it or not. There are many 

educators, less familiar and less comfortable 

with technology than their students, 

struggling to seamlessly integrate a growing 

Levels of technology integration 

list of technology tools into their regular 

curriculum. 

So it is high time we educators came out of 

our comfortable stupor, stemming out of a 

superiority claimed due to experience. Let us 

decide whether we want to reach the top of the 

pyramid of technology integration or not! 

From the publisher’s desk... 

Resolving conflicts in classrooms 

Unity in diversity is the 

concept that best fits 

India and it is very 

important in the classroom 

as well. Children come from 

different religions, castes and 

beliefs and it is common to 

have disagreements between 

children studying, playing or 

just interacting with each 

other. Some conflicts can 

be rudimentary, but few can 

lead to serious problems in 

classrooms. 

Teachers have a greater role 

to play in such circumstances, 

because he/she should act 

as a role model and help to 

resolve the issues. It is the 

responsibility of the teacher 

to help students deal with 

conflicts in a mutually 

respectable way; and it is a 

skill that teachers can perfect 

with time. 

First of all, teachers need to 

work on good student-teacher 

relationship; watch the way 

students interact with each 

other and try to connect with 

them so that students can trust 

them. Trust is a major factor 

in resolving conflicts. Gain that 

trust and do not reprimand 

the students in the presence of 

their class-mates. Take them to 

another place, where you can talk 

to them in private. Try to listen to 

their point of view, before giving 

your opinion. Get to the core of 

the conflict. 

Once you know the situation, 

you can cite examples of similar 

conflicts and resolutions, possibly 

from their own experiences or 

from others. If things get out of 

hand, press the pause button. Ask 

them to take a deep breath. It 

will certainly calm them down a 

bit and reduce their stress. 

If you think it is more 

complicated that what you 

thought, you can call other 

people who are better able to 

deal with such situations. It could 

be a colleague or fellow teacher. 

Try to involve people who are 

better known to those students. 

Once the conflict is resolved, 

there needs to be a follow up. 

Check in with each student 

individually to know if the matter 

has been resolved completely. 

Give them time; they might 

resolve it on their own. If you 

feel there is still need to resolve 

it further, try it again. This will 

develop their social skills and 

help them better deal with 

Sonal Khurana 

sonal@progressiveteacher.in 

conflicts in their lives. 

Teachers can also learn a 

lot from these differences; 

resolving them amicably 

will strengthen their conflict 

management skills, which are 

very important for being a good 

teacher. Dealing with children is 

an art and those who excel in it, 

excel in the field of teaching. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


New trends 

NEW TRENDS IN 

ART EDUCATION 

E-Learning 

In this ever changing world where technology is 

evolving rapidly to benefit humankind in all the 

sectors, the education domain has also been 

benefitted hundredfold. Technology not only 

supports pedagogical practices of the teachers 

but also helps students to learn how to use it. 

–Rupsi Chauhan 

Art, basically being a 

subject of creativity, 

innovation and therapy, 

explores the essence connecting 

my present class room 

activity to a cherished future 

project in an innovative way. 

Facilitating students through ICT 

(Information and Communication 

Technology) has proved to be 

tremendously helpful as far as 

teaching-learning is concerned. 

We, as teachers and facilitators, 

put in a lot of effort towards 

the development of a child with 

the aim to minimize the child’s 

short comings and enlarge his 

vision of life. My contribution 

towards the aim was significant 

from the moment I came across 

children who evidently lacked in 

concentration and it also made 

Art lessons interesting for the 

few talented ones who require 

more competence. 

Though the periodically 

changeable display of the 

Art Works in the Art room 

is an effective teaching aid, 

but problems like better 

concentration, more ideas 

pertaining to the topics, saving 

time, energy and economical 

demos of a particular Art 

form were the reasons to take 

a decision to use ICT in my 

curriculum of Art Education as 

technology is also an effective 

medium to register the topic in 

the minds in an impressive way. 

With the aim to make young 

minds aware of the causes 

and working in the projects in 

yesteryears like Ethnic Roots, 

Go Global, Cultural Exchange 

Programme, Nurture Nature, 

Save Environment and Swachh 

Bharath etc. ICT has proved a 

boon to this endeavour. Children 

have become more resourceful 

and have been able to reach 

their roots and have been able 

to connect globally. They have 

benefited intellectually and learnt 

new things. 

Preparations for internal and 

external Drawing and Painting 

Competitions from information 

about competitions through 

e-mails till sending the works, 

online competitions, press release 

of Art related articles, paintings, 

etc. are very important aspects 

Rupsi Chauhan is working in 

Kendriya Vidyalaya D.R.D.O Bangalore 

as an Art Education teacher for 

the past 15 years for the promotion 

of drawing skills and creativity in 

children. Her art curriculum consists 

of topics related to current issues on 

Environment and Energy to bring 

awareness in the minds of the young 

ones. She has served as a judge in 

various art competitions and is a member of the panel for 

selection of art teachers in local schools. Twice she was 

invited as art educator from India to the Art Festival held 

in Washington D.C, U.S.A.in 2012 and 2015. 

She has made a 6.38 minute 2D animation film on Nurture 

Nature. She is a science graduate and studied Art from 

Kala Kendra, Dehradun (BFA) . She has served as a 

resource person for the in-service course for art education 

teachers held in January 2016 at ZIET, Mysore. 

She has written six articles on different aspects of art for 

NIE, Times of INDIA in the past four years. 

Drawings on SAVE ENERGY-2016 

Satakshi Tiwari - 8D 

Bhavanjali - 6B 

Namratha APH - 6D 

Suhani Kedar - 7A 

R. Divya - 8C 

Bindsi Sarangi - 10D 

which cannot be ignored. 

As facilitators our aim is to 

instill in students concentration, 

power of observation, ability to 

judge, improve their output in 

the form of their performance 

in academics and other cocurricular 

activities. Art, now a 

co-scholastic subject, supports 

all the subjects and helps the 

child in his all round personality 

development. 

All the above factors motivated 

me to think about a project 

which will be useful to young 

minds to become more creative, 

to concentrate better, become 

more observant, consider fine 

details of everything that they 

see, become more aware of new 

technology and understand its 

benefits for the future. 

CONCLUSION 

As the world advances with the 

advent of new technology, the 

Art Department in the school 

should also adopt new trends 

in education, use technologies 

and keep pace with the changing 

world by making changes in 

the training methods at the 

Art Centre/Art Room in the 

schools. Over the years I have 

Namratha APH - 7D 

DRAWINGS DONE BY THE STUDENTS ON THE TOPIC- 

HAPPINESS SENT TO HONK KONG IN 2015 

K Priyadarshini - 8C 

Parnica - 9D 

been working on many useful 

projects which are supported by 

Information and Communication 

Technology. The outstanding 

results have proved that these 

applications should continue and 

many more projects pertaining to 

the same should be encouraged. 

I have observed that with 

the introduction of ICT in 

the Art room, the attitude of 

slow learners has changed 

tremendously. They have become 

active and have started taking 

part in different activities inside 

and outside the school. 

All children were found to be 

very enthusiastic to know more 

about its applications in other 

subjects also and wanted to learn 

many new things like animation. 

They also want to take it up as 

one of the career options. 

Following suggested projects can 

be taken up under this scheme- 

1. Improvement in concentration 

level of slow learners. 

2. Discovery of ART form which 

is diminished as time passes. 

3. E-Strategy Targets. 

4. ART is a Ventilator (Working 

with especially differentlyabled 

individuals) 



VALUE EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS 

In today’s world, where corruption, violence, unrest have become so prevalent in our society, 

schools have an added responsibility to ensure that value education as a subject is taken 

seriously as a part of the curriculum to produce not just educated but also responsible 

citizens with insightful minds who believe in giving back to the society. 

–Payal Bedi 

Values should be integrated 

in various aspects of life. 

It goes without saying that 

values go a long way in building 

a person’s character. Education 

without strong character is like 

a ship without a captain. Good 

education is inconceivable if it 

fails to inculcate values which 

are indispensable for a holistic 

life. Qualifications and skills are 

essential in the success of an 

individual but without values he is 

incomplete as a person. 

Values are virtues that are 

imbibed by the children from their 

surroundings, the environment in 

which they are brought up, the 

environment in which they live. The 

people around them play a vital 

role in leaving an impression on 

the tender minds of these young 

individuals. With the increasing 

trend of nuclear families, parents 

working round the clock, absence 

of grandparents and elderly in the 

family, children end up spending a 

lot of time with housemaids and 

caretakers. 

Here, role of the school and 

particularly the teacher becomes 

imperative to ensure that values 

are interwoven in all her lessons 

she takes up with her students. 

Values should be a part of each 

lesson, each topic taken up 

irrespective of the subject being 

taught. Here are a few ideas 

which can help the teachers 

in incorporating values while 

designing lessons for their class: 

• Languages are an integral part 

of any curriculum. Various 

skills such as reading, writing, 

listening and speaking require 

a lot of textual material. 

The teacher can make use of 

motivating excerpts from the 

lives of famous personalities 

for the same. Speeches 

delivered by prominent leaders 

can be used as audio tools. It is 

vital to expose the students to 

our rich and valuable culture, 

ideas and vision of our great 

leaders who had the courage to 

break away from stereotypes, 

narrow minded thoughts of the 

society. 

• Dramatics are an essential 

part in any school curriculum 

nowadays. Various inspiring 

instances from the lives of 

different leaders which show 

their determination, courage, 

selflessness can be staged or 

narrated to the students. Even 

inspirational movies can be 

shown to leave a lasting effect 

on the young minds. 

• Social sciences teach us 

about the society. Debates, 

discussions, etc are conducted 

frequently during these 

lessons. These form good 

tools in teaching values such 

as inclusiveness, positive 

interaction, tolerance, 

importance of participation 

and being respectful towards 

others despite difference of 

opinion. 

• Circle time is important as 

the students get a chance to 

express their feelings. During 

this time the teacher can stir 

the minds of the students 

and give them a chance to 

recognise and express their 

thoughts. For example, for 

teaching truthfulness, the 

students can be asked how 

do they feel when they speak 

the truth and how do they feel 

when they don’t. What stops 

them from speaking the truth? 

Do they feel proud when they 

say - I’m truthful, I’m honest, 

etc. It is important on the 

teacher’s part to create an 

affable environment where 

students share their ideas and 

thoughts fearlessly. 

• Field visits to orphanages and 

old age homes present a true 

picture of the situation of 

our society. This can sensitise 

the students towards the 

less fortunate individuals of 

the society. Students can be 

encouraged to donate, may be 

a book, a shirt or a toy and 

share their happiness with the 

less privileged counterparts in 

the society. This will not just 

Payal Bedi started her career as 

a Montessori Teacher in Ryan 

International School, Chandigarh. 

She is a science graduate and holds 

a Masters degree in Sociology from 

the Panjab University, Chandigarh. A 

self motivated teacher with a positive 

outlook joined The Millennium School, 

Mohali in the year 2008. She believes 

that learning is an ongoing process and one needs to 

evolve as an individual with the changing times. Teaching 

gives her immense satisfaction and she looks forward to it 

each day. She has received Shantanu Prakash Excellence 

Award by Educomp for being the best facilitator for the 

year 2014-15. She has taught varying age groups in 10 

years of her teaching career and is currently teaching 

Science at the primary level in the same institute which is 

now the Learning Paths School, Mohali. 

teach them sharing, helpfulness 

but also gratitude for all that 

they possess. 

• There have been many 

scientists who believed the 

unbelievable and worked 

towards achieving the 

unachievable. Their lives display 

their enormous determination 

and tireless efforts. While 

teaching science, the teacher 

must encourage the students 

to try to find out about the 

lives of various scientists. This 

can be done as a part of a 

project too. Whenever taking 

up group activity, it is essential 

to stress on the significance of 

cooperation, acceptance and 

inclusiveness. 

• There can be assemblies 

conducted on different values 

where students can showcase 

the importance of values 

through dance, drama, music, 

etc. 

• Games too are an important 

tool used by the teacher. A 

teacher can be as innovative as 

she wishes to be to create her 

own games which will help the 

students gain what she aims 

at. For example - as part of 

human nature we all tend to 

find faults and negativity in 

others. There can be a game in 

which students can be asked 

to mention one positive thing 

about their partner. In this way, 

students can be conditioned to 

see positivity in others. 

Optimism can be inculcated in 

the students by the efforts of 

the teacher. She should always 

keep her students motivated by 

her thoughts and inspired by her 

words and actions. The teacher 

must practice what she preaches 

as she is a role model for her 

students and students emulate 

their teachers. 

Also, it is extremely important 

to appreciate positive behaviour. 

Students repeat the behaviour 

when appreciated. So, as a teacher 

never leave any opportunity to 

praise the students even for their 

slightest of efforts. This will help 

students to remain determined, 

have a positive outlook and a 

happy demeanour. 


learning 

Learned or Smart 

In trying to encourage students we 

sometimes hold up as iconic those who 

are smart and successful. And we should. 

My motto is that we must always celebrate 

success. But when encouraging, it’s often 

more important to encourage the process 

rather than only the outcome. 

–Steve Heisler 

Often those in possession 

of deep knowledge, or a 

well developed skill, look 

as though they were just born 

that way. Looking like a genius is 

part of the art. A skilled dancer 

or mathematician should look 

as though they accomplished 

with ease what was a complex 

series of skills practiced over 

and over and over again. For 

entertainment, brilliance puts on 

a great show. For teaching, the 

brilliance show alone does not 

always help. 

One struggling reader, perhaps 

echoing the perspective of 

many struggling readers, once 

identified good readers as having 

some kind of a ‘special reading 

gene.’ He went on to note that to 

be a good reader you either had 

this gene or you did not: he was 

quite certain he did not. 

Now I would be remiss if I did 

not note that there are some 

readers simply born to it, who 

internalize skills with greater 

ease. The rest of us get the 

slow, repetitive, sometimes 

demoralizingly lengthy process of 

learning a collection of literacy 

skills that eventually produces 

reading fluency. 

Merely pointing out to a 

struggling reader how well her 

classmate is reading does not 

help. However sharing how that 

classmate practiced recognizing 

site words in order to improve 

just might. 

The same is true with us, as 

teachers, especially as examples. 

Once, while encouraging my 

students to dive into the depths 

of a novel, I was told that of 

course I could see all that 

underlying stuff. ‘It’s easy for 

you. You’re smart!’ 

While full disclosure of personal 

insecurity dictates I must sadly 

admit that I wanted then (and 

still want to) jump on every 

opportunity to be considered 

smart, I was also aware that 

my being ‘smart’ was not a very 

effective teaching tool. Instead 

I made a sincere effort to 

capture that teachable moment 

by showing that my supposed 

brilliance was derived not from 

my abundant intellectual gifts 

but rather an ordinary interest in 

literature and a desire to reread 

the book repeatedly and study 

critical texts to both deepen my 

personal understanding of that 

book and find interesting ways to 

teach it. 

In other words, folks, I wanted 

to teach this truth: that what 

appeared as smart was actually 

just learned. Recognizing 

process and rewarding progress, 

no matter how microscopic, is 

amazingly critical, especially 

when engaging still evolving 

students. The message has to be 

uniquely about process because 

in the end process is all they or 

we can control. 

Make sure your students and 

children know that smart without 

learning is not really all that 

smart. It’s learning that makes 

smart smart, and learned is what 

all of us can be. 

Steve Heisler is the author of The 

Missing Link: Teaching and Learning 

Critical Success Skills. Steve is a 

speaker and professional development 

consultant with a focus on teaching 

and instructional development, 

building student success skills and 

parenting. He is an experienced 

teacher and school administrator 

having worked K-12 in schools in 

New York City and New Jersey. His blog and contact 

information are available at www.sheisler.com. 

Jul/Aug 2017 


Principal Q&A 

Principal AGNES RITA SEBASTIAN 

SMB Matric Higher Secondary School 

Birthday : 08 th April 

Place of Birth : Chennai 

Hometown : Dindigul 

How did you feel on the first 

day being School Principal/ 

Leader: 

As an aspirant in my field I always 

looked forward to accomplish 

my dream: ‘A leader to shape the 

future generation of the world’. I 

accepted my position as Principal 

after a decade of service as a vice 

principal in the same school. I felt 

I was the person responsible to 

prove the truth of the old adage 

‘children are the most important 

assets of a nation’. I could shape 

them into responsible citizens of 

the world. So I started focusing 

on the holistic development of 

children in all their classroom 

ventures. 

The best thing about being a 

Teacher-Leader: 

The best thing about being a 

teacher – leader is the ability 

to develop leadership qualities 

outside the classroom atmosphere; 

promotion of the talents and 

potential of teachers, students and 

to a greater extent parents toward 

achieving common educational 

aims. Being leaders in our field 

directly impacts leadership roles. 

This leadership gives complete 

freedom for decision making 

pertaining to the school organ. 

What are the traits of an 

effective Principal: 

The traits of an effective Principal 

are the possession of high energy 

level with an undeterred aim to 

accomplish ones goals. One must 

be assertive and have emotional 

stability. One must be precise in 

social interactions. One must have 

a strong sense of ethics towards 

work to build integrity in the 

organization. One must also be 

very careful with making decisions 

or determining specific actions. 

To be able to place yourself in the 

other person’s shoes, I would say 

is the best trait of an effective 

principal. 

Please describe the role you 

feel parents should play in the 

operation of the school : 

Parents nowadays refrain from 

involvement in schooling. This is an 

important issue that results in the 

absence of good education for their 

children which begins way ahead at 

home. My school motto is: Parent 

is the first teacher, teacher is the 

second parent. Parents should 

be committed towards shaping 

their own children and participate 

in their children’s schooling. At 

home parents should provide the 

basic care and guidance with love 

towards the upbringing of their 

children. They must be abreast of 

all the information pertaining to 

the education provided to their 

children by the school. 

When you visit a classroom, 

what are the first things you 

look for as signs that the 

classroom is an effective 

learning place: 

The strategies, I would say, that 

determine the classroom as a 

place of effective learning are the 

explanations given by the teachers 

to help the students imbibe the 

topic. This involves knowing what 

the students understand and then 

forging connections between what 

is prescribed and what is new. The 

interaction of students with their 

teacher proves the compatibility 

of the learning atmosphere of the 

classroom as a whole. 

What is your vision 

of Special Education: 

Special education is education that 

has to be imparted to children 

with special needs. It deals with 

the preparation of those children 

to participate and pursue their 

learning towards a productive 

and meaningful life in the society. 

Special education must also 

strive in helping students to be 

self sufficient and self-supporting. 

Special education must be tailored 

to the needs of the children. 

What is your view on e-learning: 

Today’s fast developing nation has 

based its learning on computers. 

e-learning gives a child various 

options that result in exploring 

the unknown and within minutes 

can facilitate easy learning of 

concepts. e-learning saves time and 

money and brings to their desktop 

effective learning materials that 

boost their interest. 

How to make inclusion 

a Reality: 

Being a committed person to lead 

forth an institution that bears 

fruit for the nation, I am open to 

inclusion which is a key part of the 

development of learning around 

the world. We can move forward 

and work with children, parents 

and staff who play a major role 

in shaping the policy that is laid 

forth. Any kind of inclusion that 

contributes to the betterment 

of the school must be made a 

reality. This kind of inclusion will 

contribute a great deal towards 

the growth of the children. 

The most touching things that 

School Children have done for 

you: 

Many issues have made me feel 

proud about my children. The place 

Students of SMB Matric Higher Secondary School indulging in extra curricular activities 

that a teacher occupies in a child’s 

heart can never be compensated 

with the monetary satisfaction. 

Sundar, a 16 year old boy, fights all 

odds in the family and perseveres 

because I have helped him in his 

academics. When the laurels he 

attained garlanded him, he leaves 

his family behind and surrenders 

them to me who he says is more 

than his mother - what else can be 

more touching than this. 

‘Children may forget what teachers 

have said but they will never forget 

how you make them feel’. 

Best conference/seminar that 

you have attended: 

World – Class School & PRIDE 

Personal Responsibility in 

Delivering Excellence organised 

by Confluence Training & 

Development. It was one of the 

best workshops I have attended. 

Your favourite Book: 

My favourite 

book is Who 

Moved My 

Cheese by 

Spencer 

Johnson, an 

amazing way 

to deal with 

change in your 

life and work. It is a book every 

leader must possess and read. 

What are the major qualities 

you seek in a new teacher: 

Dedication to their relationship 

with children of today. A teacher 

must be accountable and 

compassionate. In today’s 

world we need teachers who 

are selfless. 

One piece of advice that you 

want to give to new teachers: 

I would advise the new teachers 

to aspire to be teachers first and 

foremost. They must have the 

ability to empower their students 

and help them imbibe values 

from education. They must be 

able to pursue their own interest 

and incorporate strategies that 

are challenging in today’s world. 

Teachers must consider work as 

worship. Great teachers must have 

a living mission. It is true that only 

a great teacher inspires.

The Progressive Teacher Vol 04 Issue 03

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