The Progressive Teacher Vol 02 Issue 01

Editorial
Mar/Apr, 2015 Vol. 2 No. 1
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Editor:
Rita Wilson
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Editor : Rita Wilson
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The journey which
began a year ago
Greetings to all our readers of
The Progressive Teacher on the
completion of the first year of
publication of this journal. The journey which
began a year ago with the first tentative,
unsure steps has turned into one of triumph
with the unstinted support of our contributors
and 20,000 plus readers across the country
and overseas. I hope you have enjoyed reading
The Progressive Teacher as much as I have
enjoyed my association with it. Through this
endeavour, we have tried to establish our
commitment towards providing a credible
academic resource for the K-12 educators. The
creative expedition of every new issue is a time
of excitement, anticipation and also a little
nervousness regarding the outcome. The entire
team of The Progressive Teacher joins me in
thanking you for your encouragement during
this initial year.
Since we are at the end of the academic
year and this is the time of examinations and
assessment, this issue of The Progressive
Teacher has a number of pieces dealing with
these aspects of education. Stiggins, a wellknown
educationist, has remarked that the
assessment world has become steeped in stress
and anxiety fuelled by fear of examination.
During the better part of the academic year, the
school heads, teachers and students abandon
learner-engagement practices to pursue the
examination agenda. According to the 2009
Save the Children Report students are unable
to acquire important and basic life skills
because of the dominance of traditional rote
teaching and learning methods, unreflective
and teacher-centred pedagogy leading to
examinations, making learning a straight
jacket. These practices do not teach students
‘how to fish but only to get fish’. The teachers
seem to believe that maximum anxiety on the
part of students will lead to maximum learning
and desired results in the examinations. Our
preponderance towards passing an examination
on regurgitated material is harmful for the
students’ intellect and an affront to quality
education. Looking at quality from a narrow
‘tunnel approach’ in terms of examinations has
created dysfunctional systems where students
pass with flying colours but fail to prepare
themselves to participate meaningfully and
effectively in their own development and that
of the nation as a whole.
In this issue, Ajay Agarwal and John Victor
tell us how to conquer exams and exam day
jitters; Kanchan Shine and Priyanka Ohri help
students in examination preparation and also
apprise us of digital detox; Meenal Arora
offers students some smart tips to excel in the
examinations; Neera Chopra in School Based
Assessment laments ‘we are a nation obsessed
with failing students’; R K Sharma in Value
based Education is committed to ethics and
excellence in education; Tanvi Parwal apprises
us of the child’s journey from the spoken word
to the written language; we have the usual
column on parenting by Dr Shyama Chona
where she advises parents how to help their
children overcome the first-day blues of school
while Aditi Sharma enlightens us on how to
handle our Tweens; Dr N Bhardwaj warns us
against smoking and tobacco consumption and
Sarita Mathur helps with the educational and
academic concerns of educators.
I take this opportunity to invite all our readers
to The Progressive Teacher Conclave which
will be held on 25th April, 2015 at the FICCI
Auditorium in New Delhi, to celebrate the spirit
of teaching. Please send in your registration to
enable us to send you the invites. The Conclave
will conclude with Teaching Excellence
Awards. I call upon you to send your
applications/nominations for these Awards. You
will find the form for these Awards in this issue
ofThe Progressive Teacher.The last date for
sending your entries is 31st March. Please do
apply for these Awards.
I look forward to meeting you at The
Progressive Teacher Conclave.
Rita Wilson
rita@progressiveteacher.in
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 and Dubai.
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 two
series of English readers and work-books for school children.
Quotable Quotes
‘It is the supreme art of the
teacher to awaken joy in creative
expression and knowledge.’
–Albert Einstein
‘A teacher who is attempting to teach
without inspiring the pupil with a desire to
learn is hammering on cold iron.’
–Horace Mann
‘Teachers can change lives
with just the right mix of
chalk and challenges.’
–Joyce Meyer