Nivedita Mukerjee
Education consultancy for parents and schools
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.
Nivedita Mukerjee 