The morning assemblies at school have been overtly rigid and boring . Thanks to Corona it has been done away with.

A standard format of the morning assembly is a prayer song, followed by thought for the day, a speech by the teacher, performance by a group of students and on special occasions – Principal’s address.

A Morning Assembly can be approached with an open mind.Students who play different instruments – like Guitar, Violin could definitely carry one to the school on a Monday morning – this could lead to impromptu signing – group signing – what a wonderful way to begin a week.

Students could be asked to bring a book – fiction – age appropriate for a ‘Silent Reading Session.’

A Morning Assembly, could also begin with students tying their wish on a wishing tree/aspiration tree.

A Morning Assembly where students can pin an appreciation note to some one on campus.

An Assembly where they could be thanking the non-teaching staff – just to make them feel they are part of a community, where students could do a Zumba dance.

Morning Assembly should be surprising and energizing to the students.

Dear sir/ Ma am,

I have been pursuing B. Ed Spl. Ed. I initally, joined the course with enthusiasm – hoping to learn theory, new techniques of teaching and hands – on learning about teaching hearing impairment students.

The first year really went well. I got to learn new theories, self – learnt while doing assignment and online classes which were informative.

I was excited about the teaching practice too. I am working with an ISC school which requires me to travel an hour up and down each day. So handling classes and being a student elsewhere was quite a challenge.

I liked the mentors from my learning Centre, visiting me and giving me a feedback.

I had 16 records to complete as part of teaching – learning practice. I took that as a challenge – cut down on my sleep, used up all my spare time to do the records within the scheduled date announced.

on the first date of submission, all my records were rejected for want of reasons like :

1. One page in a 142 page record was upside down.
2. Tests and Measurement records – should have minimum of 30 students. Even if I did not have 30 students in my class, I had to fake names and marks. So do I teach students that being fake is acceptable.
3. Action Research and Case – Study records should have photographs of students who had learning challenges.
4. Teaching Learning Methodology (TLM) records had to have miniature 3 models which I had used in class, while teaching. Though I had the models right in front, not finding them in the record seems to have been a big issue.
5. I had to make Albums for both mains and optional subjects – Economics and English – where I had to colour print of images pertaining to one topic from each of these subjects – stick the pictures and write about it.

Dear UGC chairperson,

in this century, does these mistakes or such kind of records make any sense to you.

when the entire India is waking up to POCSO Act – asking photographs of my students with learning disability is criminal. Surprisingly, the learning Centre to which I am attached has not even heard of POCSO Act. Am I with the right mentor?

From enthusiasm; I have moved to a sense of betrayal.

I happen to visit a school to sign their projects as ISC External Examiner. When I went to the office, I was given a fountain pen to sign on the projects, though I carried my ball point pen. The school believed that fountain pen was re – usable unlike ball point – which when used once had to be thrown away. It was not re – usable and this adds to the trash or landfill.

A simple act of replacing fountain pen with ball point pen and an effective one.

What is the right way of holding a pen?

The pen/pencil should lie on your pointing finger and it should be held with the thumb and the middle finger. check yourself the next time you are holding a pen/pencil.

We begin all our emails, letters with the word DEAR. DEAR actually means Drop Everything And Read. Which is right? Drop all your work and read the letter or the mail. How many of us want to still use the word?

Distance Education is a boon to the working adults who are keen to learn and grow professionally. The only disadvantage is that it eats up our weekends – classes, exams, assignments, workshops…… the list is never-ending. The most coveted weekend goes for a toss. But it is worth the sacrifice.

The rain brought an unusual visitor home – a skink. I had never once seen such a visitor before. Thanks to the rain gods! It took a while for us to know what it was. We thought it was a huge lizard with a tail. But the movement and the way it lay curled under the table, under the bed, behind the cupboard led us to understand that it belonged to the reptilian family. Two days of battle, one sleepless night, and finally, the maid nailed it down -she crushed it and threw it out of the balcony. The poor skink met its end.

When we are still angry with someone with regard to some event in the past, it shows that we have not healed from inside. We stick to the past as that is convenient for us. We find a sadistic pleasure in that past event.

news these days are not facts and figures – it is about placing the facts and figures in the way it generates interest. A half- truth placed as headlines – followed by question …. piques the readers interest. comment by leader/celebrities are placed next to the headlines …… to garner the readers attention.

The content – below the headlines – repetitive and biased. This happens …. increase in supply of newspaper, e-newspapers – lower the quality – the real news gets diluted.