Nivedita Mukerjee
Education consultancy for parents and schools
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms Niv
Issue #310, 9th June 2026
Phone-based childhood. Social media influenced teenagers. What is it doing to our children’s growing brains and to each of us as social beings when we already know that much of our social bonding involves bodies? When we eat food together. When we laugh together. We are ultrasocial beings; even the shiest and most introverted of us need to be in the company of other humans more often than we think we do.
How early is too early for putting one-to-one devices in children’s and adolescents’ hands in schools and homes? What do short videos and scrolling do to the neural connections in the brains that are trying to grow into adult brains from those of a young child?
What good or harm does ed-tech do to your child’s growing brain? Should it be on a group computer? Should there be internet or pre-loaded programs? When is a good time to put a device in your child’s hand which has an internet connection? How is it impacting the rising anxiety and depression levels of our students?
What is our plan with AI now? Would we let them take over our education spaces? Are students learning machines, or is school a social space?
How can we matter in this world if there is no human connection?
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Sean Parker, one of the early leaders of Facebook, admitted in a 2017 interview that the goal of Facebook’s and Instagram’s founders was to create “a social-validation feedback loop . . . exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”
― Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
There’s a danger in the internet and social media. The notion that information is enough, that more and more information is enough, that you don’t have to think, you just have to get more information – gets very dangerous. Edward de Bono
One Video of the Week
Humans aren’t just social — we’re ultrasocial, wired like bees and ants for deep connection. So what happens when smartphones take over childhood, tablets replace textbooks and AI companies infiltrate our kids’ lives? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out three principles of technoskepticism — and explains why, two years after sounding the alarm in “The Anxious Generation,” he’s more concerned (and hopeful) than ever before.
Reading with Ms Meenu: Tip of the week
How Library Professionals Build and Develop Library Collections
A library collection is much more than a group of books placed on shelves. It is a carefully planned, thoughtfully selected, and regularly updated collection of resources that reflects the needs, interests, and learning goals of its community. Library professionals play an important role in creating collections that are useful, inclusive, engaging, and relevant for readers of all ages.
The process of building a library collection is known as collection development. This involves selecting, organizing, evaluating, and maintaining books and resources so that the library continues to serve its users effectively. In a school library, this means understanding the needs of students, teachers, and the curriculum. Library professionals consider students’ reading levels, age groups, interests, languages, cultural backgrounds, and learning needs before choosing materials.
When selecting resources, library professionals use many different tools and sources. They may look at trusted book reviews, publisher catalogues, award-winning book lists, curriculum guidelines, teacher recommendations, student requests, and current reading trends. A strong school library collection includes a wide range of materials such as fiction, non-fiction, picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, biographies, reference books, digital resources, magazines, and books that represent diverse cultures and experiences.
An important part of collection development is making sure the library is inclusive. Students should be able to see themselves, their families, and their communities reflected in the books they read. At the same time, books should also introduce students to different perspectives, traditions, places, and experiences. This helps build empathy, curiosity, and respect for others.
Library professionals also review the collection regularly. They check which books are being borrowed often, which topics need more resources, and which materials may be outdated, damaged, inaccurate, or no longer useful. Removing old or unused books is called weeding. Although it may seem difficult to remove books from a library, weeding helps keep the collection fresh, accurate, attractive, and easier for students to use.
Organization is another key part of collection development. A well-organized library allows students and teachers to find what they need quickly and confidently. Clear labels, displays, cataloguing systems, age-appropriate shelving, and themed sections all help make the library more welcoming and accessible.
Building and developing a library collection is not a one-time task. It is an ongoing process that requires listening, observing, planning, and responding to the changing needs of the community. A strong library collection grows with its readers and supports learning, imagination, research, and a lifelong love of reading.
In the end, library professionals do not simply collect books. They create meaningful spaces for discovery, learning, creativity, and connection.
Keep Reading!
– Meenu Gera Consulting home and school librarian, a reading guide placealibrary.ca
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
Curriculum and Environment Education: A Reflection
Every year, World Environment Day arrives with familiar activities—planting saplings, making posters, and taking pledges. While these initiatives are valuable, the deeper question is- How are we helping children truly connect with nature throughout the year?
One way to reflect on this is through the lens of the curriculum. If we begin with the written curriculum- the syllabus, textbooks, and learning resources, what stories about nature are children engaging with? Much of the content focuses on understanding the utility of nature: the uses of plants, the importance of forests, or the need for conservation. While such knowledge is important, connection often precedes care. Before children learn how to save nature, they need opportunities to experience it, observe it, and build relationships with it…
Next is taught curriculum. How does environmental education come alive in classrooms? Are children learning about biodiversity only through diagrams, or are they observing insects in the school garden? Are lessons confined to textbooks, or do they extend outdoors under a tree, into the neighbourhood, or through projects that encourage inquiry and action?
Another important dimension to consider is the assessed curriculum. Are we assessing only what children know about the environment, or also what they can do? Skills such as planting, composting, observing ecosystems, documenting changes, collaborating on environmental initiatives, and reflecting on responsible choices are equally important indicators of learning.
Finally, there is the hidden curriculum. What messages does the school environment communicate? Do the corridors, classrooms, and outdoor spaces invite interaction with nature? Are sustainable practices visible in everyday school life through waste management, energy conservation, environmental audits, and responsible resource use? The hidden curriculum often teaches more powerfully than any textbook.
Perhaps this Environment Day, the question is not how many trees we plant, but how deeply environmental education and sustainability are woven into what we teach, learn, and live every day in our schools.
Three questions for you…
- As educational priorities change, what happens to areas such as environmental education that may not be directly linked to high-stakes assessments?
- In what ways can environmental education be embedded into a school’s everyday practices, routines, operations, and physical spaces?
- What indicators tell us that environmental education is deeply embedded within the culture and ethos of an institution?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
Building the Agentic Learner: The Antidote for a Tired Teacher
Being a teacher means constantly being on your toes. There are days when we feel it would be better if we had ten hands like the Goddess Durga, just so we could keep up with the endless multitasking. Unsurprisingly, at the end of the day, we often end up feeling tired, overworked, and overwhelmed.
From my years in the classroom, I have realized we can completely turn this dynamic around. The secret lies in creating an environment that breeds energetic, self-driven learners.Recently, I was leading a discussion with a group of teachers about our school’s reading program. They raised a very common, valid concern:
“Our students all read at completely different paces. Some are extended readers, some are at grade level, and others are emerging readers. How do we plan reflection time when they all finish their books at a different pace?”
For me, the solution was simple because it went back to our primary goal: to imbibe a genuine love for reading. To ensure we hit that goal without burning out our staff, we implemented a few student-led strategies that are working beautifully.
1. Voice and Choice in Selection
We gave students the autonomy to select their own books. While we might guide them to a specific genre or a particular author, the ultimate choice of what to read belongs to them.
2. The Self-Guided “Choice Board”
To handle staggered finishing times without the teacher needing to micromanage, we designed a Choice Board. Displayed prominently as a printed matrix in the classroom, it outlines creative tasks students can automatically transition to the moment they finish reading. Because the options are clear and self-guided, students don’t need to ask the teacher, “What do I do next?”
Our Choice Board features fun, low-prep, high-cognition activities like:
- Social Media Profile Page: Design a profile page for a favorite character, complete with a creative bio, a profile picture, and three recent status updates.
- The Alternate Illustrator: If you were the illustrator of this book, what would your new cover page look like?
- The Character Interview: Imagine you get to interview one character. Write down the five questions you would ask them.
- The Plot Twist: Write an alternate ending to the story. What changes if things go differently?
- Setting Sketch: Draw or vividly describe a major setting where the story takes place.
- Letter to the Author: Write a letter praising one specific choice the author made (like a plot twist or dialogue) and questioning another choice that confused or frustrated you.
This approach isn’t limited to reading. In any everyday classroom scenario, when we build choices into the routine and allow students to work at their own pace, learning becomes more meaningful. The teacher is freed from constantly repeating instructions, and the students transform into autonomous, agentic learners.Designing lessons that give students a voice in what they learn and choice in how they demonstrate that learning doesn’t just create a better classroom—it is the ultimate antidote to “Tired Teacher Syndrome.”
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #309, 2nd June 2026
How does my phone work? How does my hotel key card work? How does my smart ring work? How does my induction cooktop work? How do things around us, which we interact with every day, all the time, irrespective of our age or even economy, work? Do we understand these things? Or are we mere consumers of these things?
What do these questions have to do with education? With school? With parents and educators? With curiosity? Children approach the world with wonder and curiosity. They are sensory motor scientists. When does this attitude disappear? Can we consider starting this school year with curiosity? The foundation of all learning and knowledge? What do you think? What are you curious about today?
We want to develop student agency for their learning. Let us begin with curiosity.
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.” Albert Einstein
“It’s not a silly question if you can’t answer it.”
― Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
One Video of the Week
Curious how stuff works? Do a hands-on experiment at home, says physicist Nadya Mason. She shows how you can demystify the world around you by tapping into your scientific curiosity — and performs a few onstage experiments of her own using magnets, dollar bills, dry ice and more.
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
From Vacation Memories to Classroom Learning
After the vacation, as teachers returned to school, we made a conscious effort to pause and reflect on our experiences. Rather than simply asking, “How was your holiday?”, we asked: What elements of our vacation experiences can find a place in our classrooms and curriculum?
As educators, reflection is an important professional habit. Experiences become learning only when we take time to think about them, make meaning of them, and connect them to our work. Without reflection, experiences often remain just as experiences.
We brought photographs and shared stories from our vacations. What emerged was far more than a display of holiday memories. It became an exercise in learning how to consciously bring authentic experiences into teaching. Themes of family surfaced naturally, cultural traditions such as Suggi dance could become part of music and movement experiences. Visits to sericulture centres could support discussions on life cycles. Archaeological sites, art forms, beaches, mountains, and forests could offer opportunities to enrich lessons across subjects.
Authentic experiences have a unique advantage over textbook examples. Our photographs come with stories, emotions, and personal connections. Also, when children see teachers sharing their own stories, they are encouraged to do the same. Gradually, we begin to know our students through their stories rather than merely through their names.
By design, this activity also developed skills in writing and organizing content. We learned to filter experiences, identify what was most relevant, and communicate our ideas in concise and meaningful ways.
An activity becomes truly powerful when it extends beyond itself and influences how we think, teach, and connect with learners.
Three questions for you…
- What authentic experiences from your own life have enriched your teaching?
- In what ways do you extend an activity beyond the activity itself?
- How can schools create opportunities for teachers to connect personal experiences with curriculum?
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
Podcast Episode: 3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Pip: Nivedita Mukerjee is at a street art festival in Bristol, thinking about classrooms in Karnataka, and somewhere in between she's also recommending AI tools for exhausted teachers — which is either a very wide newsletter or a very honest map of how education actually works.
Mara: This week's episode follows that same range — street art as a gateway to expression, what it takes to bring art meaningfully into schools, and how AI might give teachers some of their time back. Let's start with the newsletter itself.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Pip: The throughline here is access — who gets to experience art, and what happens when the people teaching it were never really taught to see it either. That's the real tension the issue opens with.
Mara: The newsletter sets the scene from Upfest 2026 in Bristol, and the framing is personal: "Growing up in small towns in India, exposure to art, artists, and art galleries was very limited and felt quite inaccessible."
Pip: And that's not just autobiography — it's the diagnostic. If the person writing the curriculum had the same blank spot, the curriculum probably has it too.
Mara: That's exactly what the contributor piece from Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami at Vijaya School, Hassan, works through. Teachers at her school started by trying to recreate artworks exactly — imitation first, interpretation later. The shift only happened through deliberate reflection and discussion, moving art "from imitation to interpretation."
Pip: Which is a longer journey than a single professional development session usually allows for.
Mara: Right. And the issue pairs that with a very different register — the piece from Suchismita Ray Gupta at Capstone High tackles teacher burnout directly. The framing is blunt: "The to-do list of a teacher never actually ends. It just rolls over to the next day."
Pip: That sentence will be recognized by every teacher who has ever graded papers at eleven at night and still had station activities to plan.
Mara: The argument is that AI tools — MagicSchool AI, Canva for Education, Google NotebookLM, Diffit — can absorb enough of the prep load to free teachers for the work that actually requires a human: emotional scaffolding, real relationships, seeing individual kids. The closing line puts it plainly: good teaching will always depend on human connection.
Pip: So the newsletter holds art access and teacher capacity in the same hand, which is either elegant or just Tuesday.
Mara: The issue also carries the week's two quotes — Picasso on art washing "the dust of everyday life" from the soul, and Merton on finding and losing yourself simultaneously — alongside a video from curator Katerina Gregos on contemporary art as one of the last frontiers of free expression.
Mara: All of it circles back to the same question the newsletter puts directly to readers: how do you make art and artists genuinely accessible in everyday learning?
Pip: Access keeps coming up — to art, to time, to the kind of teaching that's actually possible when the prep list isn't infinite.
Mara: And the street art angle is a useful reminder that expression finds a way regardless. More next time.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #308, 26th May 2026
I am at Upfest 2026 this week. The street art Biennale in Bristol UK. We had visited this town in 2019, and while going on a walking tour themed on graffiti – writings and drawings made on the walls, shutters, public surfaces with spray paint – it dawned on me that while graffiti sits in the gray area between vandalism and art, Upfest has taken it to a completely different level of expression and a vocabulary that is both artistic and provocative.
Growing up in small towns in India, exposure to art, artists, and art galleries was very limited and felt quite inaccessible. Most of my drawings would be scientific, accurate, clearly labelled, and grounded in principles. Or just filling in colors in some outline. Over the last couple of decades however, travelling to art festivals, visiting many museums and interacting with artists and art teachers, a whole new way of seeing the world has opened out for me.
Where are you taking your child/children this summer to experience art as parents? What about you, educators? How are you planning to include art in your curriculum and integrate in your subjects? What about school leaders – how would you incorporate possibilities of art for art’s sake in the school timetable?
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
Pablo Picasso: “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
Thomas Merton: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
One Video of the Week
Katerina Gregos is convinced that contemporary art has an important role to play in society, as one of the last frontiers of free expression. Today, artists and cultural practitioners, rather than politicians, are leading some of the key discussions about the state of the world. Contemporary artists challenge each and every one of us to reinterpret social and political events, and crack cemented opinions as well as dominant narratives propagated by the media and those in power. As an internationally respected curator, Katerina has curated a number of exhibitions dedicated to exploring the relationship between art, politics, democracy, the new global production circuits, and human rights.
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
Making Art- Artists Accessible in the Classroom
Coming from a small town, school learning was largely centered around science and mathematics. For many of us, art meant drawing neatly, getting the strokes right, and sketching exactly as shown. The focus was often on reproducing what already existed rather than creating something of our own. Over time, art became less about expression and imagination, and more about accuracy and correctness.
For many educators like us, artists and their work also felt distant and inaccessible. We rarely had opportunities to engage with art deeply, understand the perspective of an artist, or use art as a medium to think, question, and express. As we reflected on our own schooling experiences, we realized that the same gap continues to exist for many children today.
The first step, therefore, was becoming aware of our own conditioning, before bringing art into classrooms meaningfully, we had to experience it ourselves. Teachers began exploring artists, their styles and intent. Initially, many teachers naturally approached the artworks by trying to recreate them exactly as they were. However, through deliberate reflection and discussion, there was a gradual shift in perspective. Teachers began adapting ideas, experimenting with styles, and contextualizing them. Through this process, art slowly moved from imitation to interpretation, enabling teachers to design more meaningful and art-integrated learning experiences within the curriculum.
Three questions for you…
- What were your own early experiences with art and creativity?
- How can artists and art forms become more accessible in everyday learning?
- In what ways does art integration help children connect their thoughts, emotions, and experiences with learning?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
AI: A Teacher’s Productivity Partner
The to-do list of a teacher never actually ends. It just rolls over to the next day.
You finish grading a mountain of assessment papers, only to realize you still need to map out the station-based activities for tomorrow. Then there’s the task of creating three different versions of the same worksheet so your struggling readers and your fast-finishers both get what they need. Throw in a backlog of parent emails and prepping materials for the upcoming school event, and suddenly it’s late evening.And somehow, the list keeps growing.
The biggest hurdle teachers face today isn’t a lack of dedication or creativity. It’s simply the lack of time. We constantly juggle a dozen roles at once, often driving home wondering if we actually managed to see, hear, and support every single kid in the classroom that day. Over time, that constant weight leads straight to burnout.
But what if you had an assistant sitting next to you? Someone who could whip up differentiated activities, draft level-based reading passages, design a quick quiz, or suggest a lesson game in about two minutes flat—all based exactly on how you want to teach?
Now imagine what you could do with some of that time back.Instead of being buried in paperwork, you could spend those minutes helping a student regulate their emotions, scaffolding a tough concept for a struggling learner, building real relationships, or just taking a breath to focus on your own growth.
That “assistant,” as you’ve probably guessed, is Artificial Intelligence.When we use it thoughtfully, AI can cut down hours of prep while keeping the quality of your instructional materials high.
If you want to test the waters, here are four tools worth looking into:
A powerful all-purpose teaching assistant, MagicSchool AI can generate lesson plans, differentiated instructional materials, rubrics, feedback comments, professional emails, and much more within seconds. It is designed specifically for educators and is extremely beginner-friendly.
Canva is excellent for visual storytelling and classroom creativity. Teachers can design visually appealing presentations, posters, infographics, worksheets, and videos with ease. Its AI features also help simplify content creation for lessons and school events.
One of the most interesting AI tools currently available, NotebookLM works with source-based learning. Teachers can upload textbook chapters, PDFs, research papers, or notes, and the tool can generate summaries, presentations, study guides, assessments, and even podcasts based on the uploaded material. Since it works directly from the provided source, it also reduces the chances of inaccurate information.
Diffit is particularly useful for differentiated instruction. It offers ready-to-use templates for choice boards, station rotation activities, science lab tasks, graphic organizers, and reading materials adapted to different learning levels.
You don’t need to master all of these overnight. Just pick one or two that target your biggest daily headache and play around with them. Most are free or very generous with educator access. Good teaching will always depend on human connection. AI can simply make the workload more manageable. Maybe extra time saved is exactly what teachers need to become not just more productive but also more impactful and engaging in their classroom.
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #307, 19th May 2026
When you walk into a school, how do you assess its environment? What makes some schools more optimised for learning? What are some of the key markers of a learning community and a learning environment you are looking for as an educator to work in and/or a parent for your child? What weightage do you place on school culture, evident from the dynamics amongst the school staff and students, the administrators, and the teachers? What weightage do you place on the overall maintenance of the infrastructure of the school? What about the playgrounds, laboratories, auditorium, and/or amphitheater? Does landscaping and student/staff hangout spaces call out to you? Parking of vehicles, personal and school – does that matter to you? What about school architecture – clusters and/or rows and cells? long corridors and/or levelled and meandering learning spaces?
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
Earth and Sky, Woods and Fields, Lakes and Rivers, the Mountain and the Sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
John Lubbock
Sugata Mitra
One Video of the Week
You may think your childhood was normal: you had friends your age, attended school to learn from teachers, and maybe even slept in your own bedroom. Evolutionary anthropologist Dorsa Amir shows that these everyday occurrences in Western cultures are actually strange new experiences in human history that may have significant consequences for child development. Learn more at http://www.tedxcambridge.com Dorsa Amir is an evolutionary anthropologist interested in how differing cultural and ecological environments shape the developing mind. She is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Psychology at Boston College and received her PhD in Anthropology from Yale University. Her research adopts a cross-cultural and developmental perspective to explore the role of the local environment in adaptively shaping behavior and preferences. She is currently investigating cross-cultural variation in the development of risk & time preferences, early life socioeconomic effects on behavior, and the role of scarcity in cognitive development.
Reading with Ms Meenu: Tip of the week
Creating a Reading Culture at Home and School
Reading is more than a skill children learn; it is a habit, a comfort, and a doorway to imagination, knowledge, and confidence. When reading becomes part of a child’s daily life at home and school, books begin to feel familiar, enjoyable, and meaningful. A strong reading culture does not happen only through assignments or reading logs. It grows when children see books as a natural part of their world.
At home, families play an important role in shaping a child’s relationship with reading. What matters most is access, encouragement, and routine. Having books within reach, setting aside a few minutes each day for reading, and talking about stories together can make a powerful difference. Even simple moments, such as reading before bedtime, visiting a library, or sharing a favourite childhood book, help children understand that reading is valuable and enjoyable.
Parents and caregivers can also support reading by giving children choice. When children are allowed to choose books based on their interests, they are more likely to feel excited about reading. Some children may enjoy adventure stories, while others may prefer comics, nonfiction, poetry, picture books, or books about animals, space, sports, or art. All reading matters. The goal is not only to finish a book, but to build a positive connection with books.
Schools also have a special responsibility in creating a reading culture. A school that values reading makes books visible, accessible, and celebrated. Classrooms, libraries, hallways, and reading corners can all become spaces that invite children to explore. Teachers and librarians can recommend books, read aloud with expression, introduce different genres, and create opportunities for students to discuss what they are reading. When children see adults enjoying books and speaking warmly about reading, they begin to see reading as something meaningful, not just academic.
Read-alouds are one of the most powerful ways to build a love of reading in school. Through voice, pauses, expression, and thoughtful questions, a read-aloud can bring a story to life. It allows children to listen, imagine, predict, question, and connect. It also creates a shared experience where every child, regardless of reading level, can participate. Read-alouds help develop vocabulary, listening skills, empathy, and critical thinking.
A strong reading culture also includes diverse books. Children need stories that reflect their own lives, families, cultures, and experiences. They also need books that introduce them to different perspectives, places, and ways of thinking. This is often described as books being mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Books can help children see themselves, understand others, and step into new worlds with curiosity and compassion.
Creating a reading culture does not mean forcing children to read. It means surrounding them with opportunities, encouragement, and joy. It means making reading feel less like a task and more like an invitation. When homes and schools work together, children begin to understand that books are not only for marks, tests, or homework. Books are companions, teachers, and sources of wonder.
In the end, a reading culture is built through small, consistent actions. A story shared at bedtime. A teacher reading aloud with excitement. A librarian placing the right book in a child’s hands. A classroom that celebrates book talk. A parent listening patiently as a child reads. These moments may seem simple, but together they help children become confident, curious, and lifelong readers.
Keep Reading!
– Meenu Gera Consulting home and school librarian, a reading guide placealibrary.ca
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
Classroom Furniture Stuck in the Past
Furniture in schools is perhaps the one piece of infrastructure that has stubbornly remained unchanged even as approaches to teaching and learning have changed. Walk into many classrooms today and we still find long benches and desks, all facing the board with children mostly looking at the backs of one another’s heads. It made sense in an era where teacher-centred instruction dominated education, where learning was viewed largely through behaviourist ideas- the teacher delivered knowledge, students listened, repeated, and reproduced. But classrooms today are no longer meant to function that way. We now understand that learning thrives when children collaborate, explore, question, move, and create.
The transition in pedagogy and the resulting shift in furniture is neither quick nor easy, especially across all grades at once. Naturally, this change began in the Early Years. Young children naturally engage with spaces in different ways, some prefer sitting on the floor, some kneel, some stand while writing, some enjoy working at tables, while others choose quieter corners. Furniture that allows movement, flexibility, choice, collaboration, and has varied seating levels to support engagement and learning is far more effective than rigid rows of fixed desks ever.
Perhaps we also need to rethink our obsession with bright-coloured furniture in preschool environments. Neutral tones often create calmer classrooms, reduce overstimulation, and allow children’s work and not the furniture to become the visual focus.
Three questions for you…
- Are our classroom choices driven by how children learn, or by trends and habits we have simply inherited?
- If pedagogy has changed, what other classroom structures remain outdated today?
- How can schools transition from fixed furniture to flexible environments, repurposing the existing resources?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
PD in Your Pocket: Staying Afloat in the Teaching Game
It’s that time of year again. Across the country, schools are gearing up for a fresh academic session, and the excitement in the air is palpable. Teachers return re‑energized, eager to try out new classroom management strategies, experiment with innovative pedagogy, and design specialized remedial plans for those students they’re determined to help this year. The opening weeks are packed with professional development (PD) sessions, carefully designed to empower and inspire. Hopes are high, and the future feels bright.
Then mid‑year arrives. Inevitably, that initial enthusiasm takes a back seat. The daily grind of syllabus completion, standardized tests, school events, PTMs, remedial classes, and endless portfolio updates takes over. Teachers juggle a hundred unseen tasks just to keep the show running, and the sheer volume can quickly become overwhelming.
The hardest hit are often those new to the profession. Feeling overworked, stressed, and out of control becomes more common than not. By this point, everyone from coordinators to principals is so tied up with their own demands that finding someone to turn to for mentorship or quick guidance can feel impossible.
This is where the collective expertise of the global educator community becomes a lifesaver. Countless experienced teachers and trainers across the world regularly share free, bite‑sized content that speaks directly to the hurdles teachers face daily — time management, classroom displays, assessments, differentiation, and lesson planning. Think of it as “PD in your pocket”: accessible anywhere, anytime, right from your smartphone.
Here are five high‑quality, free online resources — blogs, videos, articles, and podcasts — that can serve as your guide when you need fresh ideas, direction, or simply reassurance that you’re not alone:
- Edutopia
Published by The George Lucas Educational Foundation, Edutopia offers phenomenal articles and videos written by expert K‑12 practitioners. From classroom inspiration to school administration, it’s a treasure trove. Their Teacher2Teacher platform is especially valuable, allowing you to post dilemmas and receive real‑world advice from educators worldwide.
- Cult of Pedagogy
Run by Jennifer Gonzalez, this site is a goldmine of blogs, podcasts, and videos focusing on the psychology of teaching and learning. It’s the ultimate go‑to for innovative lesson designs, instructional strategies, and understanding the “why” behind student behavior.
- The Unteachables Podcast
Hosted by Michelle Vance, this podcast zeroes in on practical classroom management strategies that thrive in inclusive environments. It’s geared toward empowering teachers of tweens and teens to lead with calm, clarity, and confidence.
- Truth for Teachers
Created by Angela Watson, this podcast speaks directly to teachers well‑being. With a focus on time management, productivity hacks, and work‑life balance, it’s designed to help educators prevent burnout and sustain their passion.
- Shake Up Learning
Curated by Kasey Bell, this blog and podcast offer practical tips for seamlessly incorporating digital tools and EdTech into the classroom. Perfect for teachers eager to transform learning from static consumption into dynamic, interactive experiences.
Teaching is one of the most rewarding professions in the world, but it can also feel lonely when the mid‑year slump hits. Sometimes the best professional development isn’t another workshop — it’s knowing that somewhere, another teacher has already found a way through the exact challenge you’re facing. These free, accessible resources can help every educator find their tribe. They’re a vital reminder that you are not alone on this journey, making the profession more sustainable, manageable, and joyful for the long haul.
Showcase: Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
– Pooja Khatter, facilitator, Thrive, Hyderabad
Over the past 9 exclusive workshop sessions of THRIVE @ T-Works, the children explored the exciting world of Rube Goldberg Machines, where one small action creates a chain reaction of movements. Through hands-on building, testing, observing, and redesigning, the children learned important science and engineering concepts while developing creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving skills.
During the workshop, the children explored concepts such as force and motion, kinetic and potential energy, friction, gravity, balance, sequencing, energy transfer, and cause and effect. They also applied their understanding of simple machines such as ramps, pulleys, levers, wheels, and tracks while creating their own chain reaction setups using materials like dominoes, pipes, cups, toy cars, planks, cardboard, and foam.
The children were encouraged to think like scientists and engineers by observing where reactions stopped, discussing possible reasons, and improving their designs through teamwork and reflection. They also explored the ARP Lab and 3D Printing Lab, where they learned about different materials, digital design, laser cutting, and 3D printing technologies.
The workshop concluded with the children successfully combining their individual setups into one large collaborative Rube Goldberg Machine with multiple triggers and connected mechanisms, showcasing their creativity, observation, teamwork, and scientific understanding through hands-on learning.
Tara – 6 years 10 months
Neev – 7 years 10 months
Tashi – 7 years 10 months
Mayra – 7 years 10 months
Havishka – 8 years 1 month
Samyuktha – 8 years 1 month
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #306, 12th May 2026
When do you read? Which are your favourite places to read in? How do you read – paper books, e-books, or audiobooks? What makes you pick what you read – a friend’s or a teacher’s recommendation? a book review? a Booker short-long list? the local book store owner? I, for one, enjoy reading in short-haul flights that I take a few of every month on my school visits, where no food or media is available, and it is an hour of great escape into a book. I also like to ‘read’ audiobooks of classics as the reader makes the classic come alive with his/her intonations. At home, I like to read in my study on a bed, which is a great relaxation for my back after hours of sitting in meetings online. What about you?
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
‘Books are a uniquely portable magic.’ Stephen King
‘Books don’t just go with you. They take you where you’ve never been.’
One Video of the Week
It seems like students today only ever get more and more homework, more writing, and much more reading. Teachers and parents alike force kids to read but the benefits are rarely explained, the truth is that reading is not purely an academic activity but one that holistically improves the lives of consistent readers. Jade is a seventeen-year-old junior whose love of literature has inspired her to speak today about the benefits of reading.
Reading with Ms Meenu: Tip of the week
Libraries Are Open to All Ages Open shelves and quiet corners do more than hold paper pages. A place waits inside many towns where anyone walks in without needing money or status. Little ones touch picture books while older folks sit nearby checking news. Learning happens slow sometimes, other times fast, depending on who shows up that day. These rooms stay steady even when outside changes often.
Little kids find magic inside libraries. Through story hours, shared reading, rhymes, colorful books, word games – language grows along with attention and wonder. Walking into one means stepping into a place full of tales plus chances to question, dream, make things up, feel proud. Books become friends. Ideas start buzzing. Confidence quietly takes root.
Young learners find extra help at libraries when school lets out. Books just for fun sit beside ones needed for reports and projects. Homework gets easier because quiet spots exist to focus without noise. Some rooms let kids build things, tinker with tools, or try coding games. Digital tools open doors – online databases wait ready for curious minds. A child might fall into astronomy one week, drawing monsters the next. Questions grow stronger here; answers come through practice, not shortcuts. Figuring out what’s true online takes time – it happens on these shelves too. Using tech wisely? That lesson hides inside every guided search session. Interests spark fast when choices stretch wide across many topics.
Grown-ups find libraries useful, often in more than one part of life. Not only do they stock books and daily newsprints, but also guide people through resumes or online job portals. When tech feels confusing, staff step in – patient, clear, ready to explain. For those shaping a fresh path at work, tools appear exactly when needed. Learning another tongue? Programs exist that meet learners where they are. Parents discover guides on child growth, safety tips, emotional development. Workshops bring neighbors together around shared interests. Even just sitting with a novel in peace counts as value. Judgment stays outside the door; inside, curiosity moves freely. Open arms define the quiet strength found inside library walls. Whoever shows up matters less than the fact they showed up at all. Access begins without questions about income, origin, or age. Shared space grows when fairness, belonging, and support meet naturally. The weight of being accepted lands softly here.
These days, libraries keep shifting shape because what people need keeps changing too. Digital books sit alongside old paper ones, while audio versions play quietly on library devices instead. Online research tools open doors just as much as physical shelves do now. A person might walk in needing Wi-Fi, then leave having printed job forms thanks to desk help nearby. Quiet corners host study groups; louder spots welcome storytellers every Thursday morning. New residents often find guides here who speak their language and point them toward starting over. Everyone gets a turn – wheelchairs roll easily through wide gates, screens read aloud for tired eyes, noise-canceling zones soften chaos outside. Kids show up after school for puppet shows or science games nobody expects but everyone enjoys. Behind it all stands a quiet effort: making sure no one drowns in the rush of new tech piling up faster each year. . Deep inside, libraries feel like home. There, a child hears tales while sitting on the floor. A young learner finishes schoolwork at a quiet table. Someone fresh to town picks up tips and directions. Parents uncover tools they did not know existed. Older adults share thoughts over novels in cozy groups. People gather – not forced – just drawn by something steady. These spaces whisper: growing your mind isn’t just for kids. Growth tags along through every decade.
Libraries keep showing up, day after day, in neighborhoods everywhere. Because they care, they change when people’s lives shift. Listening closely comes first – then action follows. Comfort grows there, along with books, ideas, and shared moments between neighbors. What feels like a room full of shelves turns out to be something deeper: proof that belonging includes reading, sharing, help, and being seen.
Keep Reading!
– Meenu Gera Consulting home and school librarian, a reading guide placealibrary.ca
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
When Too Much Learning Becomes Too Heavy
Last week, in my article, I reflected on how the authentic environment of children can guide curriculum planning, scope, and sequence. This week, I want to share another important consideration that often goes unnoticed while designing curriculum- cognitive overload.
In many school contexts, stand-alone subjects are still the norm. Different subject teachers plan independently, with very little interaction or integration across disciplines. During our curriculum audit this year, two things became very visible: the same concepts were appearing across different subjects in the same grade, but they were being taught in isolation. At the same time, certain months carried “heavy” concepts in multiple subjects together.
For children, especially those who struggle with processing and retention, this becomes overwhelming. Learning does not happen merely through exposure to concepts; it also depends on the learner’s ability to process, connect, and make meaning from the information being presented. Cognitive Load Theory as proposed by John Sweller, tells us that working memory is limited and children can process only a small number of new pieces of information at once. When too many demanding concepts are introduced together, learning becomes fragmented rather than meaningful. This understanding helped us to rethink curriculum planning itself. We attempted to integrate concepts across subjects, remove redundancies, and intentionally space difficult concepts across the academic year. Sometimes, helping children learn better is not about adding more strategies inside the classroom, but about designing the curriculum differently from the beginning.
We hope this shift will reduce stress for students, create more intentional teaching for educators, and allow for deeper understanding instead of rushed coverage. The science of learning should not remain a theory alone; it should shape the way we design learning experiences for children.
Three questions for you…
- What indicators in our classrooms suggest that students may be experiencing cognitive overload?
- How often do we examine the cognitive load created across the entire academic year across subjects?
- In what ways can teachers across subjects collaborate to space complex concepts more intentionally?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
Curing Reading Apathy: A Reading List Curated by Teenagers
In a recent Grade 8 survey conducted in my school Capstone High , only 15% of students chose reading as their go-to leisure activity. In an era of instant-access gaming and viral TikToks, “reading apathy” is real. But as J.K. Rowling famously said, “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.” So I sat down with students who do read – to find out which stories actually compete with a smartphone. If you’re looking for a way back to the page, one of these student-vetted titles might be your “Right Book.”
1. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
The Vibe: High-stakes survival and rebellion.
Why it clicks: It’s an adrenaline-fueled rush that mirrors the intensity of a video game. Beyond the action, it hits home by tackling reality TV culture, social inequality, and the courage it takes to stand up against an unfair system.
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Vibe: A heartbreakingly beautiful look at humanity.
Why it clicks: A moving and authentic story of a girl in Nazi Germany that is sweet and heartbreaking all at once. It features a depiction of teenage friendship so real that the characters are easy to love and get attached to, making the emotional stakes feel deeply personal.
3. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
The Vibe: A chaotic comedy about a failed bank robbery.
Why it clicks: It’s fast-paced and hilarious, but its secret weapon is the “Adulting Myth.” It reveals that grown-ups are often just “faking it,” giving teenagers a much-needed sigh of relief – it’s okay not to have everything figured out yet.
4. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
The Vibe: Interconnected stories of hope and perspective.
Why it clicks: The plot is developed through bite-sized, interconnected stories following characters who feel down on their luck. It centers around a powerful question from the librarian: ‘What are you looking for?’ It offers a comforting message that to move forward, you don’t need your entire life chalked out—the answer often lies in a small shift in perspective found in an unexpected place.
5. Project Hail Mary & The Martian by Andy Weir
The Vibe: Survival in outer space.
Why it clicks: For the fans of science fiction and logic, these books are thrilling. They follow lone survivors using science and humor to beat impossible odds. It’s realistic, technical, and incredibly rewarding.
6. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Vibe: A lush, magical competition.
Why it clicks: It perfectly captures the teenage feeling of being a “pawn” in a world built by adults. It’s a dreamlike love story that proves you can find your own agency and meaningful connections even when the rules are set by someone else.
7. The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie
The Vibe: The ultimate “whodunnit” puzzle.
Why it clicks: If you love trying to outsmart a plot twist, this is for you. Miss Marple is the ultimate underdog – she is constantly underestimated by authorities but wins because she understands the one thing teens are experts at: observing the complexities of human nature.
In conclusion, reading shouldn’t feel like homework. Whether you want to lead a revolution, solve a murder, or survive on Mars, your next great adventure is waiting on the shelf. Which one will you pick up first?
Showcase: Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
– Pooja Khatter, facilitator, Thrive, Hyderabad
The fourth session of the Rube Goldberg machine workshop at T-works in Hyderabad focused on planning, designing, and building chain reaction setups. The children came prepared with ideas after exploring materials at home and watching videos on chain reactions. They shared their thoughts and discussed how different materials could be used to make one action lead to another. Mr. Poshan also spoke with the children about different types of materials and how they help in creating successful chain reactions.
The session was filled with teamwork, creative thinking, and problem-solving as the children worked together to build their designs. Using pipes, pulleys, cups, tracks, dominoes, planks, cars, boxes, and other materials, they carefully arranged each step and tested how one movement could trigger the next. Through this hands-on experience, the children explored concepts such as force, motion, gravity, balance, sequencing, and simple machines like ramps and pulleys. They also learned the importance of testing, improving ideas, and working together as a team.
Children who participated in the workshop:
Tara – 6.9 years
Neev, Mayra & Tashi – 7.9 years
Samyuktha & Havishka – 8.1 years
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #305, 5th May 2026
How can we create a summer that is equitable for education for children who are underserved? How can we have a summer program that supports the children who are taking time to catch up or cope with the regular school curriculum? How can we enable teachers and peers such that they are coaches and support groups for the students who need it the most? What can the parents do to spend time that supports and enhances their children’s knowledge and understanding of the world around them? You will find some tips and some thoughts to ponder upon in this news letter. Have a great vacation all of you!
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“In the summer, every moment is a chance to create everlasting memories with friends and family.”
“Summer: When the biggest decision of the day is whether to jump in the pool or eat ice cream.”
One Video of the Week
In the US, most kids have a very long summer break, during which they forget an awful lot of what they learned during the school year. This “summer slump” affects kids from low-income neighborhoods most, setting them back almost three months. TED Fellow Karim Abouelnaga has a plan to reverse this learning loss. Learn how he’s helping kids improve their chances for a brighter future.
Reading with Ms Meenu: Tip of the week
Summer Reading: A Celebration of Indian Authors
Summer is a beautiful time to slow down, pause, and return to the joy of reading. With longer days, quieter afternoons, and a little more space to breathe, books become wonderful companions for children and families. This summer, one meaningful way to build a rich reading culture is by reading text by Indian authors and the many stories they bring to life.
Indian children’s literature is full of colour, warmth, imagination, humour, and wisdom. It carries the sounds of busy streets, the comfort of grandparents’ stories, the beauty of festivals, the mystery of forests, the rhythm of everyday family life, and the courage of young children discovering the world around them. These stories help children see familiar experiences on the page while also opening windows into different places, languages, traditions, and ways of living.
Summer reading should not feel like homework. It should feel like discovery. A child can read under a tree, beside a window, during travel, before bedtime, or with a grandparent. Families can create small reading rituals such as reading one picture book after lunch, visiting a bookstore or library, keeping a summer reading basket, or sharing one favourite line from a book each day.
Most importantly, summer reading should celebrate joy. It should invite children to laugh, wonder, ask questions, make connections, and dream. By placing Indian authors at the heart of summer reading, we give children stories that are rooted, diverse, and alive with meaning.
This summer, let us encourage children to pick up a book by an Indian author, turn the pages slowly, notice the details, talk about the story, and carry its warmth with them. Every book can become a small journey, and every story can help a child feel more connected to their world.
Happy Reading!
– Meenu Gera Consulting home and school librarian, a reading guide placealibrary.ca
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
From Surroundings to Syllabus
Yesterday, after weeks of relentless heat, the rain finally arrived. It carried me back to my school days. I remembered running out to play, making paper boats, wearing oversized raincoats, and holding onto umbrellas that danced with the wind. After the rain, there was a certain joy in shaking a tree branch just to feel the droplets fall again. And then, of course, the hot snacks after returning home, made with ingredients that somehow belonged especially to the rainy season. In our village, the first rain was a marker of time; people welcomed the rain with small rituals and gestures of gratitude to the rain gods.
Now, as I reflect on this as an educator, I cannot help but see this as a rich, interdisciplinary unit. The rain is not just precipitation; it is science, culture, memory, food, community, and emotion seamlessly woven together. Yet, in many classrooms, seasons remain confined to textbook chapters. Winter is illustrated with snow that many of our children may never experience. Festivals are tucked into isolated units, disconnected from lived realities.
Our environment offers us an authentic and ever-evolving context—seasons, festivals, elections, astronomical events, local markets, community practices, migrations, conflicts, changing occupations, news events, technological shifts and many more… These are not interruptions to the curriculum; they are the curriculum. What we need is intentional planning, sequencing concepts in ways that feel natural, meaningful, and connected to life as it unfolds around us.
Three questions for you…
- What anchors guide your curriculum planning?
- How can you bring the living environment into everyday learning?
- What experiences from students’ lives are currently missing in your curriculum?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
Why Great Teachers are Great Storytellers
My earliest memory is of my mother’s voice, weaving tales from Thakumar Jhuli—a beloved collection of folklore that served as my first introduction to morality and life lessons. Even when she was exhausted, jumbling characters like Shuku and Dhukhu in her sleepiness, I would eagerly correct her. I knew the stories by heart, yet the ritual was sacred.
This is the fundamental human inclination- long before we could read or write, we drew on cave walls and spoke around fires. We are, at our core, a storytelling species. For an educator, tapping into this primal instinct isn’t just a “bonus” skill—it is the key to transforming a classroom from a room of passive listeners into a captive audience.
The question is – how do we bridge the gap between a dry syllabus and a riveting experience? I recently found inspiration in an unlikely place: Pixar in a Box on Khan Academy. Hearing Disney Pixar’s storyboard artists discuss their creative process was a revelation.As teachers, our greatest challenge is capturing and holding attention. The solution? Stop seeing yourself as a lecturer and start seeing yourself as a storyteller. If a story is simply a series of sequential events with a beginning, middle, and end, then every lesson plan is a potential plot.
A Five-Step Framework for the Story-Driven Classroom
To turn your curriculum into a page-turner, consider this narrative arc for your next unit:
Step 1: The Hook : Every great story or a film starts with a “disruption.” Start your lesson with something powerful that shatters the status quo. Force your students to be curious. Don’t just announce the topic, create a mystery that they feel compelled to solve.
Step 2: Characters and Setting : Data and formulas don’t live in a vacuum. Introduce the “characters”—the scientists, mathematicians, and rebels behind the theories. Give them a setting: What was the world like when they made their discovery? What were the stakes? By humanizing the pioneers, you make the subject matter relatable.
Step 3: The Rising Action : Treat your 45-minute sessions as individual chapters in a novel. Don’t give away the ending in the first five minutes. Develop the “plot” gradually, building complexity and tension as the week progresses.
Step 4:The Power of the “What If?”: A compelling story doesn’t just provide answers; it instigates imagination. We can unlock critical thinking by introducing “Alternative Histories” or hypothetical crises:
- What if the Nazi party had won World War II?
- What if the Earth’s gravitational pull suddenly ceased?
- What if the world runs out of potable water by 2050?
Step 5 : The Grand Finale: Every story needs a resolution. Use your final lessons for reflection—the “Aha!” moments. This is where students cement their understanding into long-term memory, finding the meaning behind the journey they’ve just taken.
At the end of the day, storytelling is about connection. When we share an engaging experience or a personal anecdote, we break the ice and form an authentic bond with our students.Compelling stories unlock the deepest human emotions. By reimagining yourself as a storyteller and your students as an audience, you move beyond the “pedestrian” delivery of facts. You aren’t just teaching a class; you are inviting your students into a world they will never forget.
Showcase: Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
– Pooja Khatter, facilitator, Thrive, Hyderabad
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #304, 28th April 2026
Summer vacation for me growing up in the 70s looked something like this. Cycling to the swimming pool, swimming some, springboard diving, and playing water polo more, late mornings in the children’s library, afternoons inside home in a darkened and cooled room reading story books and memorising times tables, learning to read and write Bengali from grand parents, then long evenings playing in the cool sand dunes behind the university teachers’ residences where we lived in the small city of Jaipur in the big state of Rajasthan, western India. Nights were for hanging out with neighbours on the cool terrace of our homes, drinking roohafza, orange squash, eating kulfi icecream from the hawker passing by, role-playing with children of all ages and making shadow puppets with hands and torches… as the night grew colder, even in peak summers, drifting into sleep, gazing at stars in the cots laid out with mosquito nets on bamboo sticks… nostalgia strikes, remembering the summer vacations of my school years. Screen? We did not even have television back then! Our parents had it easy, I think 🙂
How are you planning your grand/child’s summer vacation? Do you have a book list? Some board games? Some cool summer treats? Some number puzzles to solve? Some stargazing and finding characters in the clouds?
How are you thinking of keeping them from summer slide in learning and keeping yourselves from being engulfed by social media and/or video games/binge-watching thrillers…
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
― John Lubbock, The Use Of Life
“Come with me,’ Mom says.
To the library.
Books and summertime
go together.”
― Lisa Schroeder, I Heart You, You Haunt Me
One Video of the Week
Do you want to prevent your child from experiencing the summer slide? Learn the secrets to successful prevention in this informative video! Find out what the summer slide is, why it happens, and how to effectively fight against it – all in under 5 minutes! Discover simple tips and tricks to ensure your child isn’t disadvantaged when they return to school after their summer break.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Summer Reading: How can we replace technology with summer reading let’s be realistic?
Summer reading is the most meaningful gift you can give to your child. But in today’s day and age screens are part of everyday life, they do offer entertainment, convenience, and a quick connection. Realistically, we do not replace technology completely. Technology often wins as it is immediate and entertaining, so reading must feel pleasurable rather than pressure. The goal is to reduce screen time and make reading a natural part of summer, not by forcing children to give up devices overnight.
Strategy is to set clear boundaries around screens instead of banning them.A practical approach is to create small daily routines for 15-20 minutes each morning, before bed or even during the day. Kids like to read books about space, sports, animals cooking and graphic novels. We should not force heavy text reading until unless they are ready for it.Reading should not be presented as a chore or a replacement for fun, children may resist it. We should make it more inviting, accessible and connected to their personal interests. It is important to remember that reading does not look the same for every child. Some may enjoy picture books, while others may prefer non-fiction.
Reading should feel rewarding, relaxing and pleasurable. Let children choose their own books by allowing them a variety of texts. How about starting from a newspaper at home. It should be a leisure pleasure rather than like extra school work. Be a role model for it. Try to read along, have discussions around the topic. By doing this process everyday, this would lead to a child’s everyday reading routine, create imagination and enjoyment for them.
Summer reading is not about rejecting modern life. It is about protecting space for imagination, curiosity and meaningful learning in a season that feels both joyful and restorative. When books provide us warmth, choice and intention they just become more than an academic tool. They just become our companions forever.
Happy Reading!
– Meenu Gera Consulting home and school librarian, a reading guide placealibrary.ca
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
From Workshops to Classrooms: Not Everything at Once
Professional development workshops often leave us with full notebooks and fuller minds. As leaders, we return from workshops both energized and slightly overwhelmed, holding ideas that are inspiring, but not all immediately usable in our context. The real work begins after the workshop ends.
The question is not what did we learn, but what will we implement and how. This requires deliberate filtering. Not every idea needs to be carried forward, some need to wait, some need reshaping, and a few are ready to enter our classrooms right away. Our role is to distil, to translate, and to make the learning accessible for our teams.
One approach that has helped is starting with the simple, the low-hanging ideas where resistance is minimal and adoption feels natural. These early successes build confidence and create a sense of movement. From there, the 30–60–90 framework helps, in the first 30 days, introduce and pilot; by 60 days, refine and deepen practice; by 90 days, embed and reflect on impact. It allows change to settle rather than rush.
In this process, there is a shift in leadership as well- moving away from acting on instinct alone to being intentional. Not reacting to every new idea, but responding with clarity, asking what fits, for whom, and when. Implementation of new ideas is rarely easy. But when approached thoughtfully, even small shifts can go a long way.
Three questions for you…
- Which ideas from recent learning truly align with our context?
- What is one low-resistance change we can begin with?
- What support do teachers need to move from awareness to practice?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
A Mother’s Checklist Before Letting Go
May is just around the corner, and for many parents, the dust has finally settled on college admission decisions. Whether your child is staying in India or heading overseas, we’ve reached that bittersweet milestone- it’s time for them to leave the nest.
As a mother of a high schooler, this has been a deeply emotional season for me. Beyond the pride of their academic success, I have found myself in a quiet state of reflection—and, if I’m honest, a bit of a panic. I started wondering: Have I actually given my child the tools to survive on their own?
Culturally, we tend to make a massive fuss over academic readiness. We celebrate the high marks and the prestigious university logos. But in our effort to help them succeed, we often fall into the trap of “helicopter parenting.” We manage their schedules, monitor their diets, and handle the laundry. We’ve created a beautiful, well-oiled machine of a household where chores seemingly happen by magic.
The realization hit me hard – by shielding them from the “mundane” tasks of life, we might be sending them into the world completely unequipped. Once I processed that initial wave of mom-guilt, I decided to focus on five non-negotiable life skills. Here is what I believe every student needs to know—and how we can start creating “mini-opportunities” for them to practice before move-in day.
1. Situational Awareness
College dorms are a melting pot of different cultures, value systems, and social cues. Situational awareness is the ability to perceive and anticipate risks in a new environment. It’s about teaching our kids to keep their “head on a swivel”—to make informed decisions that keep them safe without living in fear
Mini Opportunity to practice : Next time you’re out in a crowded space, ask them what they notice about the environment or the exits. Encourage them to trust their gut.
2. Home Management
Basic housekeeping is a survival skill. Before they leave, they need to know how to scramble an egg, sauté a few vegetables, and cook at least one “comfort meal” for when the dining hall food gets boring. They also need to know the physics of laundry—specifically, how not to turn their favorite white t-shirt pink or shrink a wool sweater to half its size
Mini Opportunity to practice : Hand over the “Home Manager” badge for one weekend. Let them handle the grocery list, the cooking, and the cleaning.
3. Financial Literacy
In college, money can disappear into a black hole of late-night pizzas and weekend outings. Even with a meal plan, students need to understand the difference between “needs” and “wants.” They should learn to look for student discounts and manage a weekly allowance.
Mini opportunity to practice : Sit down and build a mock budget together. Use “buckets” for different expenses so they see exactly where the money goes before it’s gone.
4. Mental Health
The first year of college is a sensory and emotional overload. Homesickness and academic pressure are real, and sometimes the climate itself (especially for those moving abroad) can take a toll. We need to have open conversations that normalize these feelings. They should know how to spot the signs of burnout and feel empowered to use the campus counseling services
Mini opportunity to practice : Share a story of a time you felt overwhelmed and how you asked for help. Make it okay to not be “okay” all the time.
5. Interpersonal Boundaries
Living in a shared space is an exercise in diplomacy. Setting boundaries—like a roommate agreement on noise levels, guests, and cleaning—is essential for peace. Most importantly, teach them that “No” is a superpower. Being able to decline a social invitation to prioritize sleep or a deadline is the ultimate sign of maturity.
Mini opportunity to practice : Role-play a difficult conversation where they have to say “no” or address a boundary being crossed. It feels silly, but it builds muscle memory for the real thing.
In conclusion, when a student steps out of our controlled home environment into a world full of variables, these five skills are their true armor. They might not be on the final exam, but they are exactly what will help our children turn a daunting transition into a successful, independent life.
Showcase: Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
– Pooja Khatter, facilitator, Thrive, Hyderabad
Bottle Raft Experiment. Before beginning the bottle raft activity, the teacher initiated a discussion by asking students what a raft is. Students responded that a raft floats on water like a boat and is lighter in nature. When prompted further, they explained that it floats because it is lighter than water.
Students showed great enthusiasm and engagement while building their rafts using popsicle sticks and rubber bands. They worked thoughtfully on their designs and actively participated in the hands-on learning experience.
Following the activity, students documented their process in their notebooks by drawing and writing the steps they followed. The activity will continue the next day, when students will test their rafts and explore the science behind floating and sinking. Rudra & Krisha – 4 years
Maira – 6 years
Tara – 6.9 years
Mayra, Tashi, Neev & Yuvaan – 7.9 years
Samyuktha – 8 years
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #303, 21st April 2026
I am a good parent, I was having a bad day. I am a good teacher, I was having a bad day. I am a good colleague, I was having a bad day. I am a good student, I was having a bad day. I am a good friend I was having a bad day. You get the drift… right? One bade action or reaction does not make one a bad person. We have to walk away from blaming ourselves and have to teach our children/students to do the same, consciously and visibly. It is a life skill. We must know how to repair our mistakes authentically without taking extreme steps.
One of the schools that I work with, whose school founder and principal I respect and admire, recently faced the worst kind of loss. That of a student harming himself. A student who was scoring at the top in science and humanities, a student who was popular amongst his peers, a student whose parents could easily be called progressive. Why was the extreme step taken?
How can we work on the stories we tell ourselves over and over about an incident? Can we stop the spiral of identity into groundedness of behaviour and think again of what can be done better next time? Not sinking into despair or depression with blame, but thinking about REPAIR?
Name what happened. Take responsibility. State what you can do better next time.
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Of most dreadful suffering, I am the cause.”
― Euripides, Electra
“Of all the horrid ramifications of child abuse, the self-beliefs formed by the child reap the greatest destruction. Abuse is the most penetrating and permanent communication possible, and it always conveys to the child one or more of several messages: ‘I caused it to happen. It’s my fault because I am bad. I don’t deserve any better.”
― Heyward Bruce Ewart III, Am I Bad? Recovering from Abuse
One Video of the Week
Everyone loses their temper from time to time — but the stakes are dizzyingly high when the focus of your fury is your own child. Clinical psychologist and renowned parenting whisperer Becky Kennedy is here to help. Not only does she have practical advice to help parents manage the guilt and shame of their not-so-great moments but she also models the types of conversations you can have to be a better parent. (Hint: this works in all other relationships too.) Bottom line? It’s never too late to reconnect.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Raise a little Reader
Stamina means sticking to something for a longer time. How often do we stick to our routines that are too challenging or just easier to give up. When you become a new parent many new routines, habits and ways of living come along. We tend to do things that involve less effort with great results. And we all know it doesn’t work.
So, let’s not take any of those routines or habits as a chore or part of a checklist. Let’s actually start enjoying it. Reading is one of the routines you might want to start with your child, and it is the best gift that you can enjoy with your little one.
Read from day one: Start a reading routine in those very first days with a newborn. Even very young babies respond to the warmth of a lap and the soothing sound of a book being read aloud.
Reread favorites: Most children love to hear their favourite stories over and over again. Rereading books provides an opportunity to hear or see something that may have been missed the first time and provides another chance to hear a favorite part.
Joys of literacy: Pick books that you know are going to be contagious! Read them in an interactive way!
Find Reading everywhere: Take time to point out letters, signs, numbers and symbols everywhere you can find them. This is so much fun when they are young! This leads to active interactions with your child, and interactions play an important role in their development.
Library visits or have a personal library: Libraries are great resources for books. Choose recommended books that are engaging to your child and develop a home library.
More Interactions: Language plays an important role in their overall development. While you read it leads to active interactions with your child and that’s where you create a bond of belonging to each other. A safe place where you share, interact and express.
Start developing these little routines and you would actually start enjoying it. And when your child comes to you holding a book and asking you to read, you will know that this simple habit has become a lifelong habit. Years after that precious moment would become your own “Once upon a time”.
Happy Reading!
– Meenu Gera Consulting home and school librarian, a reading guide placealibrary.ca
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
The Power of Summer Vacation
Teaching is perhaps the only profession that comes with structured breaks. We often say children need these pauses to rest and reset; teachers need them just as much.
If we reflect carefully, this time is not just a luxury- it is a requirement. Teaching is not merely about completing a syllabus or meeting deadlines. It is also about observing, connecting, and transforming everyday experiences into meaningful learning moments. For that, we need to be enriched as individuals.
Vacation time offers that space—to relax, to rejuvenate, and more importantly, to experience life beyond the classroom. And how we choose to spend this time truly matters. It shapes how we return- our energy, our perspective, and the stories we carry back.
When it comes to planning vacations for children, we are thoughtful. We sign them up for summer camps, plan visits to relatives, and fill their days with activity. But as educators, we seldom extend that same intentionality to ourselves. Our vacations often become a series of social obligations—family functions and travel routines —with little thought given to personal or professional renewal.
I believe that when we consciously choose experiences that help us connect with the self, engage with society, and appreciate nature, it brings a deeper sense of joy and a richer understanding of the world. It can be visits to archaeological sites, nature trails, museums, local markets, cultural festivals, farms, or even exploring a new place. And when we return to school, they find their way into our conversations, our classrooms, and our way of being…
Three questions for you…
- What experiences during this summer break truly help me feel renewed and inspired?
- How can everyday travel or visits be turned into meaningful learning moments?
- What stories or insights do I want to bring back to the classroom after a break?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
From rote to reason: Implementing the CBSE 2026-2031 roadmap at Capstone High
The 2026–27 academic session feels different. There’s a quiet but definite shift in the air. As CBSE moves more decisively in line with NEP 2020, schools are being asked to rethink something fundamental: not what we teach, but how deeply students understand it.
For many educators, this shift—from finishing the syllabus to building competencies—can feel overwhelming. At Capstone High, though, we’ve been trying to treat it less as a mandate and more as an opportunity. Not a checklist to complete, but a chance to reimagine what everyday classroom learning can look like. Here’s what that has meant for us in practice.
1. Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence Curriculum:
There’s a lot of excitement around AI in schools right now. But CBSE’s push to introduce Computational Thinking and AI from Grade 3 is really about something more basic: how children learn to think.
We’ve found that jumping straight into coding tools doesn’t work unless the thinking is already there. So, we start much earlier—right from Sr. KG—with puzzles, patterns, and logic-based activities. Tools like LogIQids’ adaptive Thinksheets help, but what matters more is the mindset they build. I remember watching a Grade 2 student confidently explain why a pattern worked, not just what came next. At Capstone High we are intentionally trying to build unplugged computational thinking from foundation years – as a precursor to AI skills.
2. Competency-Based Assessments:
The move toward 50% competency-based questions in board exams is probably the most talked-about change—and for good reason. It forces all of us to rethink assessment at a very basic level. At Capstone High, this hasn’t meant adding more tests. It’s meant asking better questions. Instead of “Describe photosynthesis,” we might ask: “What would happen to a plant in a carbon-rich but oxygen-poor environment?”- and instantly you can see the students are challenged to think deeply- sparking a meaningful classroom discussion. Ideally, every class should end with students analysing, evaluating, or even creating something of their own.
3. Mandatory Vocational Skill Education :
Vocational education becoming mandatory from Grade 6 is a big step. But its success depends entirely on how it’s implemented.
When treated as a separate subject, it often feels forced. When it’s integrated, it comes alive.
Some of our most interesting student work has come from collaboration across co-curricular clubs. A coding student is working with someone from the culinary club to design a nutrition tracker. Students from fashion and craft clubs teaming up with the entrepreneurship club to actually sell what they create—and figuring out pricing, budgeting, and marketing along the way.
Through such transdisciplinary projects, students aren’t just completing tasks; they’re solving problems that feel real.
4. Three Language Framework:
The three-language policy often gets reduced to logistics—what language to teach, how many periods to assign. But its intent is much richer: to build fluency, confidence, and cultural awareness.
At Capstone High, events like our annual CapLit Fest (our annual literature festival) bring literacy to life through performances, debates, and storytelling in all three languages. Our school magazine, CapsChronicle, gives students a space to write creatively—in English, Hindi, and Kannada. What stands out is not just improved language skills, but the confidence with which students switch between languages depending on context.
In conclusion, the CBSE 2026 Roadmap is a call to action for every educator to reclaim the classroom as a space for curiosity. By focusing on competency over content, we aren’t just helping students pass an exam—we are helping them navigate a complex, technology-driven world with confidence and cultural rootedness. And perhaps that’s the real goal. Not just preparing students for an exam, but helping them make sense of a world that is changing faster than any syllabus ever could.
Showcase: Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
– Pooja Khatter, facilitator, Thrive, Hyderabad
Wind-Up Car Activity
The children were very excited and focused during the wind-up car activity. They made a car from scratch using cardboard, bottle lids, straws, paper, glue, and sticks to understand force and motion.
They also learned about potential and kinetic energy and recorded their learning in their journals.
During testing, they noticed that the cars did not move as expected. This helped them understand that when something doesn’t work, we need to fix it and try again.
Overall, the class went well. The children were actively involved and learned through hands-on experience.
Age Group:
Rudra & Krisha – 4 years
Maira – 6 years
Tara – 6.9 years
Mayra, Tashi, Neev & Yuvaan – 7.9 years
Samyuktha & Havishka – 8 years
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
Professional development with Ms Niv : Click below to find the teacher and student workshops and trainings I currently offer:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ypWO8KpVh56vhYqAMH4XoytLRKMXvwpCAfv3l3fryJQ/edit?usp=sharing
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv
Issue #302, 14th April 2026
The academic year is coming to a close in most of the schools I am working with across curricula of IB, IGCSE, ICSE, CBSE, and State board. This is the time to work with school leaders on end-of-year teacher evaluation.
- What is the purpose and mindset of doing teacher evaluation? I like it to be a guide for myself to evaluate what training I should provide for the team next year, and who amongst the team can mentor which other member.
- Next in the list is the evidence and bias check. What am I basing my judgments on? Since I work with the teacher teams in the schools year-round, I look at it not as an evaluation but for clarity, motivation, and future possibilities, and try to avoid recency bias, considering the challenges that the teacher faced this year and checking on the teacher’s own growth trajectory. Do I truly understand their journey? Can I work with the school leadership to make it smoother, better next year, such that it has a definite impact on her lesson delivery as well as student and parent relationships?
- Finally, what is working well and strengthening those areas more? So that they operate more from their strengths and not over-focus on the gaps unless the teacher seeks clear support in any area s/he has identified her/himself.
Over the years, I have tried to use these opportunities to do a self-reflection as a leader, as an advisor to figure if I have been able to support and enhance my colleague’s experience and competency. How will I improve my own coaching and support systems next year? What can I do to help the teacher/s grow and not make them feel judged.
What are your thoughts? Please share with me how I can improve the news-letter to better support the community of teachers, parents and students?
This is a free newsletter for parents, educators, and students. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Those who know do. Those that understand, teach.” – Aristotle.
“I am not a teacher, but an awakener.” – Robert Frost.
One Video of the Week
Until recently, many teachers only got one word of feedback a year: “satisfactory.” And with no feedback, no coaching, there’s just no way to improve. Bill Gates suggests that even great teachers can get better with smart feedback — and lays out a program from his foundation to bring it to every classroom.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Are there any challenges that members of Generation Z encounter when reading?
The statement that some members of Generation Z experience difficulties with intensive reading does not imply that the entire Generation Z cannot read. Recently, evidence has shown a dramatic decline in reading literacy skills, raising concerns among parents and educators. Motivation to read, especially for teenagers, poses an additional challenge.
One reason for it is fragmented attention caused by social media platforms. The OECD-linked PISA shows that students whose attention is disrupted by digital devices during classes achieve lower academic results; moreover, their leisure activities with the device typically result in poor academic performance.
Additionally, the reason for it might be a lack of extensive reading practice. According to data gathered by OECD analysis, it was found that frequent reading of fiction and extended texts correlates positively with reading performance. Students who mentioned being assigned to read long texts for their school assignments scored higher in reading texts on average. Thus, the shift towards brief texts and reading posts, captions, messages, and videos inevitably affects reading motivation.
It is also worth considering motivation for reading. For example, according to the NAEP reported in 2024, only about one-quarter of US 12th graders had a high level of interest and enjoyment in reading. When students read mostly for academic tasks instead of curiosity or pleasure, reading often starts to feel slow and tiring (National Center for Education Statistics)
How do we fix this?
· Bring back long-form reading gradually.
· Make reading social and engaging.
· Create distraction-free reading time.
· Teach students strategies to read deeply.
· Give extra support to struggling readers.
· Start at home too.
The goal is not to blame Gen Z, but to create conditions that help them practice focused and meaningful reading again.
Happy Reading!
– Meenu Gera Consulting home and school librarian, a reading guide; For more information please visit: placealibrary.ca
I Think, I Wonder, I Ask
–Dr. Shreelakshmi Subbaswami, Academic Director, Vijaya School, Hassan, Karnataka
Rethinking How We End Learning
On what note do we end our classes- a lesson, a day, a week, or even a year? We often plan how to begin, but rarely think about how we end. Yet, endings matter more than we realize.
Studies suggest that people remember experiences largely based on how they felt at the peak and at the end. In classrooms, this means the last few minutes can shape how students remember the entire learning experience. Studies also indicate that ending on a positive note can improve motivation, engagement, and willingness to return to the task.
In our lesson plans, do we consciously design this ending? If formative assessments are made accessible to all learners, they build confidence and a sense of completion. When every class ends with only challenge or correction, students may feel overwhelmed or discouraged. A small moment of success, reflection, or appreciation can make a significant difference.
This extends beyond lessons. How do we end a school day? Is it with unfinished homework or reprimands, or with a moment of gratitude or reflection? What about weekends—do students leave with pressure or with curiosity to return? Even on results day, instead of dispersing immediately, creating space for conversation can help students process and plan ahead.
Endings matter for teachers too. Difficult conversations or decisions at the end of a week often leave little room for reflection or support.
It’s not always the beginning that defines the experience, but the feeling we create at the end. Being intentional about how we end- our lessons, days, and interactions, can shape experiences in lasting ways.
Three questions for you…
- How can we end each day with a sense of meaning or reflection?
- What message do our endings leave with students about learning?
- How can schools design endings that support both students and teachers emotionally?
From the Principal’s Desk
– Suchismita Ray Gupta, Head of School, Capstone High, Hoskote, Karnataka
Teacher Appraisal : A Shift from “Judgment Day” to “Feed-Forward”
This year, we decided to try something different. We moved away from the traditional performance appraisal—the dreaded “Judgment Day” where a Principal delivers one-way feedback and replaced it with a reflection-based conversation. We asked our teachers to look inward and answer the following questions.
- What were their true successes?
- Where did they see room to grow?
- Who among their peers did they identify as mentors and how would they like to leran from them?
This small shift transformed the entire energy of the process. It stopped being an audit and started being a meaningful dialogue about impact.
The stories that emerged were incredibly moving. One teacher shared that on the last day of term, she asked her students to name their favorite classroom activities. She admitted to being “pleasantly surprised” by the variety of examples they gave. “I had actually forgotten how many meaningful engagements we have done,” she told me. In that moment of reflection, she wasn’t just looking at a checklist; she was feeling astounded by the progress she had made all year.
Perhaps most impressive was the openness regarding growth. Another teacher candidly shared her discomfort with technology. She explained how a peer had mentored her in using Canva to create engaging presentations for her classes. Rather than hiding this gap, she was inspired: “I want to learn more EdTech tools and use them regularly next year.”
Because the teachers identified these areas themselves—whether it was time management, classroom culture, or organization , they weren’t defensive. Instead, they were hungry for tips and suggestions to bridge the gap.
As the Head of Institution, this process was a revelation. It provided more than just a summary of the academic session; it gave us a “feed-forward” for the coming year. By listening to their self-set goals, we now know exactly where the institution needs to step in and provide support. We didn’t just finish an appraisal cycle; we built a roadmap for success, powered by the teachers’ own voices.
Showcase: Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
– Pooja Khatter, facilitator, Thrive, Hyderabad
During this learning journey, the children enjoyed exploring simple and compound machines through movement, discussion, drawing, and hands-on building. They first used their bodies to act like simple machines such as a wheel, lever, pulley, and ramp, which helped them understand how machines make work easier. They then planned their own models by drawing and labelling two to three simple machines in their notebooks and sharing their ideas with friends.
The children were focused and excited as they built their compound machines using recycled materials. They used simple machines such as the wheel and axle, lever, wedge, inclined plane, and screw, showing a good understanding of how machines can work together. During sharing time, each child confidently explained their model and how it worked, while also helping their buddies. Through this experience, the children learned about simple and compound machines, teamwork, creativity, planning, and problem-solving. Rudra, Krisha: 4 years old. Maira: 6 years old. Tara: 6.9 years old. Mayra, Tashi, Neev, Yuvaan: 7 .9 years old Samyuktha, and Havishka : 8 years old
Dear reader,
I work with the school leadership team as an advisor and collaborate with teachers as a pedagogical trainer. I also help parents as a parenting counselor and regularly engage one-on-one with students as a personal guide and mentor. This weekly newsletter shares what I read, learn, and experience.
3-2-1 Tuesdays with Ms. Niv is a newsletter you can subscribe to and enjoy your learning journey with me.
Nivedita Mukerjee 