All posts by : Little Millennium

Much as we may want to shield our children from topics like war and terrorism, the fact is that children will end up hearing about it from social media, Television, School assemblies and peer talk.

So if your child ends up asking you a question about Ukraine or the war between Russia and Ukraine, the best strategy is to answer as honestly as possible.

Ignoring such questions or brushing them under the carpet does more harm.

Responding to their queries with reverts like, “You are just a child / you are too young to talk about war / We will talk about it when you are grown-up”, does more harm than good.

HOW TO TALK ABOUT WAR TO YOUR PRESCHOOLER?

• If your child asks you a question about war, to begin with, try to probe the child about what he/ she knows about it already.
• You may explain war as – a situation where two countries are fighting for their land.
• Instead of focusing on geopolitics, try to bring the focus on how children in Ukraine are suffering and we need to develop empathy.
• Do not terrorise your child about war. Instead, talk briefly about the situation on the ground. Talk about the consequences of war, instead. How some people will go hungry, thirsty, and without a school in case of a war. Avoid gory details about the war. Age-appropriate talk is crucial.
• You may use an actual map or a globe to explain the crisis to the child.
• Avoid watching disturbing visuals of war on television and WhatsApp, in front of your child.
• Assure them that they are safe though children in Ukraine are in pain.
• Talk about how people around the world are trying to help the Ukrainian children caught in the war. Some are sending food and medicines and some are teaching them Online.
• Your child may feel anxious and stressed. They may have heard about Indian students stranded in Ukraine. Talk about how the government is trying its best to bring them home safely.
• Make your child feel heard and understood. Validation is very important for Preschoolers.
• You may have an opinion on the war, but do not impose your views on the child. You don’t want your child to build stereotypes, do you?
• Should we encourage children to pray for those affected? Yes, we definitely should.
• War is the outcome of situations that we are not able to solve amicably. You may round up your talk with your child by probing them on situations where they sort out differences through dialogue. It could be at school or the playground. Who gets to take the swing first? Who gets to take a ride first?
• Use it as an opportunity to talk about kindness and co-operation building, within family and friends.
• Your child may sum up the talk with a tricky statement like – “So the adults failed to find a solution to the problem ?”
• In such a case, it is ok to admit that we all make mistakes, at times. Sad, but true.

This question has plagued me for ages – Why do we wait for a science teacher and a Science period to teach children rudimentary science facts?

To be honest, this attitude has been daunting me ever since I realized as a young adult that I wasn’t made up of the mettle that ‘Science teachers’ are made up of.

Nor was I fortunate enough to be mentored by a senior who could lead me to see the science inherent while teaching a language class.

So I concurred that as a result, the children I teach or have taught so far have probably also not imbibed a spirit of scientific enquiry through me.

What a colossal loss!

If the word ‘science’ were to be broken up into a layman’s term, it simply means a systematic and logical observation or study of certain phenomena, which is based on research and experimentation.

Not a tall order at all!

For long, we have demarcated academics into subjects, like stand-alone Geography, EVS, Maths, Language, Third Language and so on.

While a detailed and focused study of a subject with the aid of a subject matter expert (Subject teacher) is essential, we need to break down the strict boundaries that exist in the school curricula. There is science behind maths and language behind the science.

So what I learnt through my experiment years as a young teacher was that all we need to do is, to bring in this ‘science searching’ attitude into the child’s everyday learning.

Right into the rhymes, stories, history, maths, music and all subjects in fact.

We have been talking about a multi-disciplinary approach for long and the NEP 2020 has now penned it in black and white and that is a great step forward, no doubt.

But we don’t need to wait for the NCF (National Curriculum Framework), Staff meetings and Management meets to bring this attitude to life.

We need to begin right away, bringing out the science in a fun and interesting manner in every concept that we deal with.

Here are some simple strategies and conversations that we can initiate with our children during every Teaching – Learning opportunity:

⦁ When we sing the rhyme – It is Summer, It is summer, Oh so hot, the Educator can steer the conversation to, ‘Why are Summers hot and Winters cold?

Initiate a conversation saying -The Earth is like a ball that revolves around the Sun, so some parts of the Earth will always be facing the Sun and some will be away.
So the part facing the Sun gets a lot of heat energy.

And of course, the teacher can carry the conversation further as she deems fit!

Point in case – Why think that it is too early to talk about Science to young children?

⦁ While singing Wheels of the Bus go round and round, the Educator can steer the conversation to ‘Why are wheels of a Bus round in shape?’

Initiate a conversation saying -The wheels are round to make the bus go faster and roll smoothly. A tyre with edges will make the ride slower and bumpy.

And of course, the teacher can carry the conversation further as she deems fit.

Point in case – Scientific inquiry can also be initiated through rhymes.

⦁ While talking of Seasons, the educator can steer the conversation to, ‘Why do clothes dry faster on a windy Day?’

Begin a simple conversation as to how the wind helps the water vapour move along fast along with moving air, so they dry faster.  

And of course, the teacher can carry the conversation further as she deems fit.

Point in case – There is no fixed class or level at which we should begin a talk around condensation/evaporation.

⦁ While talking of Family setups, the educator can steer the conversation to, ‘Why does Grandma forget where she keeps her glasses?’

Begin a simple conversation as to how with age certain muscle functions slow down and the brain also needs exercise to keep fit. So children must play puzzle games, memory games etc with their grandparents to keep them healthy.

And of course, the teacher can carry the conversation further as she deems fit.

Point in case – Even the Socio-Emotional concepts can nurture scientific inquiry thereby leading to a better understanding of our value systems.

⦁ While talking about Food, the educator can steer the conversation around to, ‘Why does everyone love chocolate?’

Initiate a simple conversation as to how eating chocolates releases the feel-good hormones. But since it has high sugar content, we should eat other food and fruits that also release feel-good hormones like crispy apples, almonds & walnuts, cherry tomatoes or even a glass of milk!

And of course, the teacher can carry the conversation further as she deems fit.

Point in case – If children see the science behind habit formation, they are likely to develop better habits during Formative years.

⦁ While talking about Maths & money, the educator can steer the conversation around, ‘Why are coins mostly round in shape?

Initiate a simple conversation by saying that round shape coins are easier to mint and when they change hands from vendor to customer, the chance of injury is lesser as the round coin has no sharp edges.

And of course, the teacher can carry the conversation further as she deems fit.

Point in case – Aha! Maths & Science are so closely intertwined!

So I concluded long ago, that cultivating a scientific inquiry mindset requires everyone – parents, teachers and guardians, to get down to such conversations.

It is not rocket science at all.

And it is not the job of the Science Teacher alone!

Very often, educators struggle to get their class hooked on to Reading! And that’s when I say – Anticipation of joy is the key to all learning.
While introducing a reading task, be it a paragraph, a poem or a chapter, build up the anticipation. The reader (the child) must get excited to read further.
Why do children read? It is either to get entertained or to get more information/knowledge. So when the run-up to a Reading Class is like a trailer teaser, children get that urge to open up the text and find the answers.
SUGGESTIONS FOR INTRODUCING A READING TASK:
⦁ For starters, you could just rustle up an instant rhyme or a song before introducing the chapter or book that has to be read. If I am introducing a Reading task based on rhyming words /Animals/ Forest/Wildlife/animal habitats & food, I could just whip up a 6 liner introductory rhyme that goes like this :
A deer I found one day, my dear
Smelling the flowers in my garden, so near
I thought he was grazing on the dark green grass
When I went closer, I think I heard a laugh
I am just sniffing the grass, the deer said with a pout
What I love to chew, is the tender shoots that sprout.

⦁ Ask the reader to simply focus on the word patterns for 5 minutes. The text, spellings, grammar, punctuation etc. And then ask them to begin reading.
⦁ Ask the students to focus on the text & highlight 5 rhyming words. And then begin the reading task
⦁ Ask the children to focus on the text and draw 2 related images by the side of the text. And then begin the reading task
⦁ Ask the students to feel the picture that appears alongside the text, with their hands and eyes. Dwell on the picture for 2 minutes. And then begin to read.
It’s worth sharpening the axe before initiating the reading task. The results are fruitful and engaging.

In an era of tantalising screen animations and instant gratification, our children are losing out on the time tested and well-proven strategy called Re-Reading.

The task becomes even harder when you consider the fact that very few children are Reading these days, forget Re-Reading!

Well, that is another topic for another day. But the advantages of Re-Reading are humongous and have far-reaching positive Learning Outcomes.

Children love repetition or alliteration.

That is one reason why we have rhymes that go Twinkle Twinkle Little Star …Row Row Row your Boat ….Mary had a Little Lamb, Little Lamb…and many more.

Repetition offers a degree of safety to young learners.

They feel they are on safe and familiar grounds. Repetition gives them a familiarity and a sense of ownership and mastery over words.

They use these repeatedly getting familiar words to learn new vocabulary and thereby become better Readers.

Benefits of Re-Reading:

1. Re-Reading a text, rhyme or story makes it much clearer. The second time around Reading process gives the child a better focus and a sharper eye for detail.
2. Re-Reading leads to better pronunciation. Very often children tend to ‘eat’ the words they find difficult to pronounce. Re-reading the text containing those tricky words encourages them to decipher the new words and attempt to pronounce them better during the second read
3. Re-Reading gives a deeper understanding of the context of the text. When re-reading a story or a rhyme, children pay more attention to the characters, settings, costumes, vocabulary and the setting per se.
4. Re-Reading has a huge advantage for the teacher/ educator. The Teacher Educator is better able to assess the Desired Outcomes of a learning task. The child is more relaxed, deliberate and comfortable. The Teacher Educator can then provide Formative assessment Remarks in a more lucid manner
5. If the Rereading happens in a relaxed and stress-free environment, children can fall in love with Reading. Very often we see that children also have deadlines for their Reading tasks, in addition to facing peer scrutiny and teacher scrutiny while they read in class. Re-Reading at leisure can help in doing away with the ‘fear of reading’ syndrome.

Reading & Re-Reading can happen in a variety of settings:

1. The Teacher can read a poem, story or a text piece in class and have the children do chorus reading, which in simple words means to repeat the text after her. Chorus Reading is safe since it is group Reading. The fear of being pointed out is eliminated and the children can auto-correct themselves after hearing the others speak.
2. Paired Reading or Reading with a partner is also a great strategy to bring in reading fluency while nurturing collaborative skills. The Pairs or partners divide the text among themselves and read together as a team
3. Theatre Style Reading is a really fun strategy to make Reading more exciting and experiential. In this strategy, the text is divided among the Readers and they do away with the ‘He said’, ‘They said’, ‘Mr Rao said’ etc. The readers focus on the delivery of words, intonation, pause and effect.

So perhaps it would be wise, to sum up Re-Reading as a second encounter with characters, plot & settings.

Several interactions between the text and the Reader is always sure to lead to fluency, deeper understanding, play with word sand can very likely lead to a lifelong happy affair with letters, words and text!

There is a fine line that a parent sometimes ends up crossing during the parenting journey and moves over to what we call Helicopter Parenting.

Every parent is a concerned parent, a learner and forever over-anxious to give the best to his/ her child.

And in this passionate journey, many of us often end up crossing the line without intending to.

In our quest to be a 24/7, 21st-century parent, we end up believing that we must have the answer to every problem concerning our child.

And one such problem that we happily undertake to fulfil is –“I am Bored. What do I do?”

The minute the child brandishes this question, the parent turns into a salesman of sorts –selling every possible option to the child.

Such as, Eat this, play with this, watch this, read this, unscramble this, paint this and so on.

And this is how a child gets conditioned or habituated to instant gratification. The child  starts believing that is the duty of the parent to solve and resolve every issue the child’s faces.

Let us try to unscramble the Helicopter Parenting problem

• Every time the child says, I am Bored! 

          Try saying, ‘What do you mean by bored? What do you want to do?’

• Every time the child says, I have already read this story. I am bored!

         Try saying,  ‘Re-Read it. And show me your favourite character.’

• Every time the child says, I don’t want to play with the same toys. It is boring!

         Try saying, ‘Just think how can you make them look different?’

• Every time the child says, I don’t have friends to play with, I am bored!

        Try saying, ‘Just look around. It is not just boys and girls who can be your friends. That’s a hint, can you find 5 friends within the home?’

To start with, we may need to offer a few suggestions every time a child comes up with the complaint of being bored. Consider it as a teaser to a movie or like the first set of books or toys that you hand picked for your child. Similarly, you may want to handpick some thoughts and place them in your child’s mind to chew upon.

These suggestions could be:

• Try pasting some stars on your old toys to make them look new.
• Try drawing the story of the Olympic gold medalist with your colours.
• Here is the bread, here is the butter. Can you make me a special sandwich?
• Why don’t you try making a new label for wrapping your toys? The same one in which your toy came gift wrapped. You could do a better one!
• It’s a good idea to begin volunteer practise with your child, say once a week. You could begin by volunteering at an Animal shelter, a blind school or a senior citizen home. Children love to be of service!

Every once in awhile, it is good for children to spend some time with their selves. Children are always in a high energy zone, so a short break in trying to think, imagine and resolve an issue does wonders for their creative and critical thinking habits.

As the world and its people inch towards the Post Covid era, there are umpteen coping strategies that rise to the fore.

Huddle together, Less is more, develop an attitude of thankfulness, be flexible in your thoughts, inculcate lateral thinking and so on.

Each strategy has its merit and rationale. So let’s raise a cheerful toast – to each their own. When it comes to children and Reopening of Schools, there is immense focus on covering up for lost time.

Educators and Caregivers are busy formulating strategies for helping kids cope up with learning loss with a fair amount of focus on paying attention to curriculum completion, annual assessments and so on.

Being an educator, I completely understand the value of a structured learning approach and am a strong believer of the same. At the same time, Covid and the resultant Lockdown have considerably re-shaped the pattern of my neuron connections. My neuron synapses have been screaming out loud to me that the children have learnt a whole lot in this year, which can perhaps be put down as out of syllabus.

What children have been through in the past year, has no parallel in world history, in child pedagogy and behavioural science.

Their neurons never went into lockdown. Rather, they have been busy assimilating the present day scenario and trying to make sense of it.

No child had heard of social distancing before. In fact the warm Indian culture had only taught them that, the more the merrier. Teachers and parents had always stressed on ‘sharing is caring’ and holidays were always meant to be spent with extended families, friends and travel.

So how did their young minds make sense of a topsy turvy world in lockdown with no flights, cars or buses running?

Why did they need to be suddenly masked up all the time?

When did doctors start giving a virtual check up on screen and when did birthdays turn into virtual celebrations?

I am very sure that each young mind would have found a peculiar logic to these equally peculiar situations. Did anyone really listen to their logic, their young rationale?

Did anyone listen to their version of history in the year 2020?

So dear friends when the schools re open, let us not be in a hurry to pick up the text books and complete the syllabus. There’s a lot more that needs to be done, along with it.

Let us allow large chunks of time in just listening to our children.

Listen to themListen to all the new rhymes, songs and stories they created in the year gone by. Make time to listen to their chatter about how they spent these months. Try to answer the million questions that will in all probability be raised to you. Listen to the stories of their families and friends and how they fared in the year gone by.
Make audio anecdotes and save it in your library. Year after year, children can listen and learn from it.

Read to themRead stories about pandemic heroes. Let the children listen to stories of hope, courage and valour. Let them see hope even in tragic stories of loss, relocation and illness due to the virus. Choose your stories well. Choose stories that are real yet not without hope. Feed the hope in them. Read stories that will help them make sense of the upside down world.

Dance with themLet the children express themselves freely. Have periods for performing arts liberally spread out through school the time table.
Some will perform, some will applaud. Yet all stand to gain

Let them drawGive them paper, colours and crayons to scribble, doodle, paint and draw, whatever they want to. Give them that window for expression. Yes, that’s right – help them express themselves using any medium. Some will speak, some will act, some will dance and some will draw.

Integrate laughter in your classes.Crack a lot of jokes. Release some feel good hormones. Begin the day with Laughter yoga. Dress up silly one day, just to tickle the stress out of the kids. Remember, it is extremely stressful even for kids to be without a routine. They may show outward calm but inwardly, every child craves for a routine.

Make them your partners in establishing safety protocols in your schools & classrooms.Do not brush the safety concerns under the carpet. Let your children know that these concerns are for real. Let them know that there are some rules which are non-negotiable and safety is one of them. Let them know that safety is a joint responsibility and not the job of the teacher / parent alone. Put up posters in the class that talk about safety, have children do role plays talking about safety. Let them talk about the new vaccine and how it will impact their society and school.

Have the courage of conviction to alter your curriculum planners. Make it inclusive of all that stands valid in the post pandemic world.Don’t worry too much about your students not matching up to your idea of where – they – should – be. Lets first get to know where – they – are at the moment. Savour that moment with them. Lets get comfortable with their persona at the moment. Once we know clearly where they are, the journey gets much easier.

Do not be in a hurry to write Progress Report Cards.Let us re-look at our rubrics, what are we assessing them on? It is quite possible that they would have learnt more of science than maths in the year gone by. They may know more about vaccines, about migrant workers, about immunity, about physical fitness, about making videos at home, about Zoom calls etc. These may be out-of-syllabus, but they have been new learnings for them nonetheless. Accept this new learning curve.

Remember, that our attitude as educators will set the pace for learning in the post Lockdown era.

And what children learn at school, they are very likely to emulate at home.

Tons of happiness and sunshine to all those who work so dearly with children.

More power to you!

Through the park for my much cherished evening walk I sight a cherub little boy, maybe six or seven year old, busy in solitary play with a few blades of grass and some cups and saucers.
As I walk past him with measured treads, he is distracted from his symbolic play and shouts across to me, in a merrily concerned voice.
“Ma’am, do you think Santa Claus will need a sanitiser to clean his hands before coming into my home?”
The question threw me off track and I halted my purposeful strides.
“Why do you ask that?”
The little boy replied, “Well, because my Mom & Dad have put up this rule everyone has to follow it. Be it our Vimlesh didi or Amazon bhaiya or any aunty or uncle coming in.”
Hmmm, that’s a question that had not tickled my adult brain as yet. I turned around and answered him with an open ended question.
“Well, do you think he will need a mask as well?.” I must admit that the little boy had tugged my curiosity to a greater height than the pollution level in Delhi.
He replied, “Of course. It’s a combination, mask and sanitiser. But ma’am how will he travel? Papa says that there are very few planes and trains running?”
Our banter was turning serious now.
“Good question. We need an expert to answer this. Whom should we ask?”
“My teacher.”
“Why, your teacher? “
“Because mummy says so. Every question of mine that she cannot answer, she says, ask your teacher!”
My heart swelled with secret pride at the awesome respect in the little boy’s heart for his teacher. But before I could fly on wings of unadulterated praise, I gave a jolt to my fanciful flight.
“Why did you call me ma’am and not aunty?”
“Because I have heard all mommies discussing in the park that you are a teacher!”
Oh my my! So even in this pandemic the gossip mills were churning at full speed but what tugged my neurons was the little boy’s train of thoughts.
His imagination was running as fast as a deer.
His curiosity was so high that he was questioning the movement of a fabled character like the Santa.
His questions were infinite in count, Covid or no Covid.
His urge to get attention was as robust as a toddler learning to walk. His energy was totally focused on getting the answers to his zillion questions.
Amidst the Covid, the pandemic, the lockdown and the closure of schools, nothing had dimmed his neurons.
That really set me thinking. How were children at large coping up in the year of no school?
How were they expending their humungous energies? At what rate were their neurons connecting or were they not connecting at all?
Were all of them as curious and as hungry for answers, as the little boy in conversation with me.
The school doors have been locked since March 2020 and children have been deprived of a school routine ever since then.What all have the children lost out on? What does this loss encompass?
According to the World Bank, around 1.6 billion school children were affected by Covid-related school and childcare centre closures, which is close to 90 % of the world’s school age children.
Most of us look at the school as a place for text book learning, testing, grading, examination and a Report Card stamping authority.
But if you look beyond the school bags, syllabus and examination, you will see a lot more.
If you look at it from a child’s perspective, you will see even more!
And if you see it from a child’s lens during times of lockdown, social distancing and fear of Corona, you will sight an unprecedented view.
Have we thought of what the school playgrounds teach?

The team games, the leisurely walks, the swings and the eager queue outside the Sports Equipment room? The whistle of the PT teacher to line up to go back to class, to participating in Inter School Sports Events and the thrill of winning a trophy.
They teach you to feel a thrill, an excitement, team spirit and a survival of the fittest attitude, that becomes a part of the child’s DNA.
It’s not a text book that teaches you the above, It’s the experience.
Surely, children must be missing that?
History tells us that even at the Time of the Second World War, Britain closed its schools only in the urban areas where heavy bombing raids could be expected. Schools in rural Britain continued to function though they had to share their grounds with urban evacuees. Universities in Britain remained open throughout the War.
The School Assembly, the march past, the drill and standing ‘saavdhaan’ to the tune of our National Anthem.
The School fete, the Principal’s address, the early morning adrenalin rush because you know you are late to school and the gates may close!
They teach you that there are certain aspects of life that need an order, a sequence, an innate discipline.
I had often heard my school Headmaster quote, “The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton”. (It meant that the games and sports played on the sportsfield of Eton college had made the men great soldiers)
Surely, children must be missing that?
Deciding to close schools for a longer period of time is a “delicate balancing act,” more so now than it was 100 years ago when, for example, it was much less common for mothers to work outside the home.
The corridors of the school is the place where camaraderie springs up between class sections and never met before faces.
A walk in the corridor is equal to hearing a news bulletin or the All India Radio broadcast. You get a whiff of what’s brewing by just a friendly peek here and there. It trains your senses and nurtures your gut feel.
Surely, children must be missing that?
What happens to children when schools close in developing countries?

Previous experiences have shown that the longer children are out of school, the less likely they are to return (UNICEF, 2015a).
The school canteen and the jostle for that samosa is no less an ordeal than – a survival of the fittest.
Perhaps children get their first lesson in spending pocket money at this edible joint and get a fair taste of inflation, pricing, demand & supply. (The samosa now costs one rupee more!)
Surely, children must be missing that?
What happens to children when schools close in developing countries? During past epidemics, school closings often led to lower graduation rates. This was mostly because teenagers started jobs and did not return to school even after they were open.
That slanting look into the staffroom as you walk towards the water cooler for a drink, is actually ventured to find out which teacher is on leave?
And the thrill of being the first one in class to announce that a free period is coming up, is nothing short of a Captain Marvel moment.
The planning that goes into wrangling a free period from your Maths teacher, I think that’s when negotiation skills are learnt.

The ringing of the school bell and the grudging respect that the child learns to give to this steely authority, teaches them that the day needs to be planned and perhaps compartmentalised.

Surely, children must be missing that?

The feel of sitting on a desk with a classmate and discussing your day, isn’t that what peer learning and sharing is all about?
The Project work, the Flipped classrooms, the Robotics class, the validation look and assurance from the teacher – are so much a part of school routine.
Surely, children must be missing that?
Global data shows that prolonged school closures could lead to increased loneliness, anxiety and depression. With loss of supportive routines and structures, healthy behaviours could decline dramatically.
Undoubtedly, the Covid 19 has been a tremendous loss year
Children need to be safe and back to school. Both.
No compromises on either front.
As parents, Teachers, Educators and Caregivers , let us push our collective energies to ensure that our children get back to safe schooling.
Meanwhile, I still don’t have an answer to the little boy’s questions.
Will the Santa need a sanitiser and a mask in the year of 2020?
Happy parenting!
W

Parent waiting at the reception for one to one meeting, a substitute teacher who is unable to handle the class, a team meeting to be chaired within the next 15 mins, lunch time is already over, a student got hurt while playing in the field, an expected high profile visitor has already reached the campus” – welcome to the world of a school leader.
School leaders have a tough operational job which is all about balancing priorities. A typical school day is mentally and often emotionally draining for the school administrators. A clear outcome of that is that most of their time gets spent in the first qudrant of “The Eisenhower Matrix”, the urgent – important quadrant.

*https://www.developgoodhabits.com/eisenhower-matrix/
Let’s take a look at another set of scenarios. A teacher, who was doing very well as an individual contributor, messed up a new across the school inclusion initiative that was close to the Principal’s heart. Nobody knows what went wrong; the Principal gave complete freedom to her for the initiative. Another senior-school teacher, who had been in the school for 15+ years was hand-holded personally by the Principal on a new academic senior school initiative. However, 1 month into the implementation, she quit citing personal reasons. There were speculations in the school over her disagreement with the Principal on the ways of working but again no one really knows what went wrong. If we look at it objectively, two great resources, who had all the right credentials, failed miserably in something new that was assigned to them.
How could have the Principal handled it better. Could the “Situational Leadership” model have helped her?*https://toughnickel.com/business/What-is-the-Situational-Leadership-Theory
Maybe the first teacher under discussion needed a lot of “Coaching” since she was in S2-D2 segment. She needed a lot of direction and may not be great at handling inclusion specifically. The other teacher under discussion possibly was an S4-D4 but was handled with a S2 approach leading to her resignation. A lof of times school leaders end up judging a person, a teacher and generalize both positive and negative thoughts about them. However, what’s really important is being able to dissociate the situation and the individual. This is one of the key pillars of situational leadership model which mentions that we all may be at various levels of development depending upon the task at hand and the level of commitment and therefore need different directive behaviours depending upon the situation. Maybe the first teacher under discussion needed a lot of “Coaching” since she was in S2-D2 segment. She needed a lot of direction and may not be great at handling inclusion specifically. The other teacher under discussion possibly was an S4-D4 but was handled with a S2 approach leading to her resignation. A lof of times school leaders end up judging a person, a teacher and generalize both positive and negative thoughts about them. However, what’s really important is being able to dissociate the situation and the individual. This is one of the key pillars of situational leadership model which mentions that we all may be at various levels of development depending upon the task at hand and the level of commitment and therefore need different directive behaviours depending upon the situation.
Imagine the hundreds of transactions like this that take place in a school on any given day. Be it interactions between the top leadership and the middle managers, or between the middle managers and the foot soldiers (the teachers) or between the leader of the class (the teachers) and students or their parents. Now throw into the mix the constant churn across the school leadership, teachers and students leading to a highly dynamic environment. Therefore, a school can’t get success by just the quality of the teaching-learning, the academic performance or student placements. What differentiates a great school from a good school is the ability to systematically handle these interactions to generate the best possible outcome for the school. Basically, avoiding sub-optimal decision making.
The reason I mentioned these examples was to bring out the importance of “Leadership Training and development in schools”. The idea should be extended to the students at school as well but my note today keeps that out of the mix for now.
School administrators are often assumed to know it all as they are experienced individuals. However, just like in any other field, there is a constant need to train and re-train the leadership team. I would refer back to the cliched “sharpening of the sword” adage here. So how should a school design the professional development plan of their top and middle leadership for taking care of their leadership needs. Here are some pointers: –

What may look like a significant investment actually delivers the desired results very quickly. Not only does investment in leadership development lead to better leadership alignment but also makes the school a happy place for the students, teachers and parents.
After all, that’s what we all want. Don’t we?

Written by-
Avneesh Singh,
Director – Schools for Little Millennium Education Pvt. Ltd