The Progressive Teacher Vol 03 Issue 05

‘A person with a strong character does
not get disturbed by the upswings and
downswings of life. He develops a greater
sense of equanimity and gets engaged in his
chosen field of activities undistracted,’ says
the philosopher.
Life skills include psychosocial competencies
and interpersonal skills that help people
to solve problems, think critically and
creatively, communicate effectively, develop
decision making ability, build healthy
relationships, empathize with others and cope
with managing their lives in a healthy and
productive manner.
Character is the ROOT SYSTEM that
supports your entire life and Life skills
are the NUTRIENTS that support the root
system to keep it alive.
Life Skills
They are based on fundamentals of individual
development.
Thinking Skills- Associated with cognitive
development and deal with problem solving,
creative and critical thinking.
Social Skills- Associated with social
relations such as effective communication,
interpersonal skills and empathy with others.
Emotional Skills- Associated with feelings
and emotions. They deal with resisting peer
pressure, resilience, managing stress and selfawareness.
Developing self-awareness can help us
recognize if we are stressed or feel under
pressure. It is often a prerequisite to effective
communication and interpersonal relations,
as well as for developing empathy with others.
Without empathy our communication with
others will amount to one-way traffic. Our
ability to regulate our emotions in turn affects
how we are perceived by the people around us.
Education is all about training the mind to
think. The quality of life depends upon the
quality of thought. Critical thinking can help
you to question your decisions and to look
at yourself and the people around you in
an objective way. It also helps you to learn
how to remain level headed and prevent an
argument from escalating. It enables us to
think in an open minded manner outside the
box and foster the ability to solve problems.
Role of Teacher
Character building and life skills must
be integrated in classroom teaching and
curriculum so that it forms a strong
foundation for all round development of the
child.
A teacher must -
→Inculcate a sense of ‘believe in yourself’
→Regulate thought processes of students.
→Promote questioning in the classroom
based on understanding, reasoning and
analysis.
→Inculcate good listening skills
→Encourage students’ participation in
activities.
→Tell about time management and stress
management.
→Act as a role model for the students.
Role of Parent
Character building does not take place
through specific activity but it requires
complete value system. Therefore,
participation of parents is vital. During
childhood, children tend to trust adults and
believe in morals laid down by the parents.
But as soon as they enter the adolescent
stage, they develop their own logic to face
challenges. In childhood, if good virtues
have not been practised, a child is likely
to develop poor logic that may result in
confusion. He is unable to understand the
ethics of cooperation and complexity of
moral issues. He is unable to develop a
healthy set of values and will not be able
to stand for right things in life. Therefore,
attitude and behaviour of parents play an
important role in shaping the character of
children.
Parents have the opportunity to interact
with teachers on PTMs, to find out about
the progress of the child.
For parents it is important to-
→Relearn new perspectives with the child
→Spend quality time with the child
→Check and eliminate sources of distraction
→Let the child be emotionally strong
If there exists a good partnership between
parents and school, I am sure we will be able
to produce good citizens for the future who
will be capable of making right decisions and
are able to deal effectively with challenges of
everyday life.
From the publisher’s desk...
Parent-Teacher Relationship
Many teachers
would agree that
some parents
have a ‘not-so-impressive’
perception about teachers.
They feel that their child
is not getting adequate
attention or he is not able
to follow the teaching/
learning at school.
Sometimes, children also
have behavioural issues
and parents feel that
teachers are not able to
deal with them. There
are many more negative
perceptions which parents
have about schools and
teachers. What they fail
to understand is that
teachers can only provide
academic education, while
the impact of home goes
a long way in the learning
success.
This can change if parents
are involved in day-to-day
Nov/Dec 2016
learning. Teacher-parent
relationship should not be
limited to periodic teacherparent
meetings because a
child’s academic success
enhances when teachers and
parents are partners in the
process.
So, how can you build such
partnerships? During open
house, parents should be
encouraged to talk and
share their concerns; make
them understand your
viewpoint as well; tell them
what is likeable about their
child and what are the
areas where there is scope
for improvement. Make a
contact log and document
when you met the parents
and what was the topic of
discussion. Though it may
sound a lot of documentation
but it goes a long way
in developing a healthy
relationship.
Teachers can also make
phone calls or send emails
to parents to apprise
them of their child’s
achievements in school.
Believe me every parent
likes to hear good things
about his child. Have open
communication, wherein
parents have the liberty
to voice their concerns.
Inform them about the
teaching practices you follow
and what you are planning
to achieve. Let them know
what and how their child is
learning and take feedback
on the same.
Another way to keep
in touch and get more
information is to conduct a
brief survey -- like asking
about the child’s strengths
and weaknesses, his
hobbies, etc. This will help
to know students better
and will help gain respect
Sonal Khurana
sonal@progressiveteacher.in
from parents. Teaching
is a profession where
you have to deal with
children and parents
- some who like you
and some who don’t.
Nevertheless you
need to have a strong
relationship with parents.
A good parent-teacher
relationship goes a long
way in the development
and nurturing of students.
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