The Guru Within: My Path to Teaching and Learning

Adults often express frustration that children are unresponsive, secretive, or even manipulative. This behavior often stems from a lack of trust. One of the biggest challenges in building trust is how adults handle children's concerns. Rather than addressing issues with maturity and fairness, many engage in gossip, exaggerate matters, or allow personal biases to influence their approach. Casual discussions of sensitive issues can create unnecessary conflicts and distance children from the very people meant to support them. A common double standard exists—adults justify their own mistakes while amplifying those of children. This approach erodes trust, leading children to hide their struggles rather than seek guidance. Teachers, in particular, face challenges when their credibility is undermined by gossip or inconsistency. Children are observant; they notice contradictions in adult behavior and may exploit these inconsistencies. When teachers lose authority, students may disengage, t...

Friday, September 28, 2012 The Child Today - The Collective Product of the Societal Values Whenever I think of people like Adolf Hitler, Osama Bin Laden and other extremists - the thought that strikes my mind is "How can one be so inhuman?" At the other end the people like Gandhi,  Mandela and other progressive people the question I get is "How can one endure so much pain?". The central question I face are many. How can two individuals be so different? What if the Mahatma had taken the path of Hitler and vice versa? How can Adolf Hitler and Charlie Chaplin, belonging to the same country, the same stature deal so differently to the adversities? The world was tough to both of them but the former decided to avenge the world by making it laugh and the latter - to cry to death. All I can understand is the difference is in the choices one makes, in the way one thinks which shapes one's attitude. The profound fact is that, though few,...

I saw Aadhya, a child from 1st standard (name changed) today while walking back from the school throwing a nice and capturing smile at me. It just warmed my heart. It just moved me, thinking how this child was just a day before. Just yesterday, her mother came to me very disturbed and told that Aadhya has become very restless and continuously pleading her to request her class teacher to send her to section A. She wanted the change desperately as her closest friends were all put in section A when her Montessori class was divided into sections in class I. She was missing her friends very badly. I was also told that sleep talking has become common for her from last 15 days and gradually she has become so reserved, very angry about her mother for not fulfilling her demand. She was always complaining to her father, who works in Bengaluru, over phone about her mother not coming to the school. As I continued listening to the mother, the first thing that came to my mind was to talk to the ch...

Language learning follows a natural order—listening, speaking, reading, and writing . Just as babies first listen, then speak, before learning to read and write, children should also be taught in this sequence. However, many educational systems reverse this process , prioritizing writing and reading first, making learning difficult and stressful. This matters even more when children are learning a second or third language , as their comfort with the new language develops gradually. Why Start with Listening and Speaking? Children absorb language best when they hear it frequently and use it in conversation . Listening and speaking are natural and spontaneous , while reading and writing require more effort. If children first understand words through speech , reading and writing become easier. But if they are forced to write before they fully grasp the language, they may feel overwhelmed and lose interest. When learning a second or third language , this sequence is even more crucial. If a ...