Nivedita Mukerjee
Education consultancy for parents and schools
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #252, 6th May 2025
When our children read literature that is not contextual to them, all of most of the time, what happens?
Some or all of the following:
They may struggle to connect with characters or situations, making comprehension more difficult.
They might miss cultural references, idioms, or historical context that are crucial to understanding the text.
Engagement often decreases when children don’t see themselves or their experiences reflected in what they’re reading.
They may internalize subtle messages about whose stories “matter” in society if they rarely encounter characters like themselves.
While they can still learn from these texts, the extra cognitive load of navigating unfamiliar contexts can detract from deeper analysis and enjoyment.
How can we make stories more relevant? more contextual? include characters that are relatable? I a setting that they are familiar with? Alongside exposing them to world literature? a new academic year has just rolled in. What are your educators, parents, and children picking up to read?
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.”Abraham Lincoln
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”Walt Disney
One Video of the Week
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Why a StoryWalk?
The pandemic challenged all of us to be outside in safe and rewarding ways, StoryWalks have enticed families, classes, and individuals as a perfect way to experience the outdoors together, to get some fresh air, exercise and to share the rewards that stories offer regardless of any setting. StoryWalks have staying power because they invite readers to experience the universality that literature offers. StoryWalks can reflect an individual’s own experience but also deepen this experience through new information or perspectives.
What makes a good StoryWalk book?
· Provide a deeper look or connection into a setting. These might be nonfiction books about ecosystems, history of a place or characteristics of a neighborhood. It offers a way to connect, wonder and imagine in a particular setting.
· Support exploration of a curricular or social goal. A StoryWalk offers the chance to immediately connect local surroundings with literature in the science curriculum.
· It invites readers of different ages and experiences to engage in the book, providing an experience for a broad age range audience. Consider how a book might offer information in varying levels of depth and detail.
These guidelines are to help you choose a book that works for your setting, your students and your community as well. Stay tuned for Where to do a StoryWalk? And Logistics: How to make a StoryWalk? Until then keep reading 😊
Keep reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
From designing to testing
During the egg drop challenge activity, Tara learned about the science of impact and how soft, cushioning materials can help prevent damage. She applied her engineering skills to design two different egg protectors. In one, she used straws, foam, bubble wrap, and tape to create a strong and supportive structure. In the other, she used cotton pads, cloth, cotton balls, and tape to cushion the egg gently. After testing both designs, Tara observed that the eggs remained safe and thought about which materials worked best. This hands-on activity helped her understand real-world packaging and the importance of testing, problem-solving, and making improvements. Tara: 5 years 9 months
And Finally… against all odds
“It is no point thinking about what I don’t have. Rather, I should think about what I have.” Tharika
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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #251, 29th April 2025
If you want to know what society is going to be 20 years hence or even 10 years hence, ask an experienced preschool teacher – said Clifford Stoll in his Ted talk featured in the issue today, in 2008. What do you think? I would agree! I love spending time with preschool teachers, even as I am getting older and humbler, as an educator.
Over the last three decades, I have taught various subjects. I started with teaching communication and news journalism to post-graduates and under graduates. After that, I moved on to teaching life sciences and genetics to highschoolers. This was followed by learning about early childhood years, primary years and middle years with International Baccalaureate while setting up a chain of IB schools. Moral of the story? Most difficult, most enjoyable and most insightful have been the times with preschoolers, preschool teachers, and preschool curriculum.
Let me know what you found out from the preschool educator. Ask them what they think society is going to be like in a few years from now.
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email address here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it.” — Attributed to Confucius
“People learn something every day, and a lot of times it’s that what they learned the day before was wrong.” — Bill Vaughan
One Video of the Week
Clifford Stoll could talk about the atmosphere of Jupiter. Or hunting KGB hackers. Or Klein bottles, computers in classrooms, the future. But he’s not going to. Which is fine, because it would be criminal to confine a man with interests as multifarious as Stoll’s to give a talk on any one topic. Instead, he simply captivates his audience with a wildly energetic sprinkling of anecdotes, observations, asides — and even a science experiment. After all, by his own definition, he’s a scientist: “Once I do something, I want to do something else.”
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Storywalks: With the continuation of last week’s topic, Storywalks is just another way of engaging readers/writers to this ingenious literacy activity. You could encounter StoryWalks by other names such as poetry walks where students can look around various rhyming words and create their own poems, book walks where class can discuss the novel study done collaboratively or even song walks and so on.
What is a StoryWalk? Picture this: It’s spring and everyone is eager to get outside. Your students pick up their clipboards and pencils and head out to the park next to the school. In front of a big tree is the cover of a book, “Mama Built a Little Nest” and page one is visible a few paces away, enticing students to walk along a path that will reveal page by page the ways that different birds build their nests. It’s easy to imagine how this book would compel readers to look carefully at the trees and shrubs around them to see whether they could find any nests.
What is a StoryWalk? Invented by Anne Ferguson with the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Vermont. It is simple but ingenious – invite readers to walk along a path with staked pages of an engagement related to the setting . Like Mama built a Little Nest whose exploration of birds and their nests matches up perfectly with a walk near trees, the best walk books deepen the reader’s understanding of the place. The cafeteria hallways are a perfect place to offer a powerful message about these StoryWalks.
Why are these StoryWalks important to do? What makes a good Story Walk book? Stay tuned for our newsletter next week and will discuss deeper on this thought. Until then…
Keep reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
In this STEAM activity, students learned about crystals through a fun and hands-on experiment.
The lesson started with a magical story about how crystals form deep underground when hot magma cools down. This helped spark their curiosity and made the science easy to understand. They learned that crystals form when certain materials come together and harden, especially inside rocks called geodes.
Using eggshells, warm water, food coloring, and Epsom salt, they created their own crystal geodes. As the water dried, they observed crystals forming and talked about what they saw. They learned that things like heat and the amount of salt can change how big and fast the crystals grow.
This activity helped them explore science through stories, art, and observation in a fun and simple way. Samyuktha & Havishka :7 years old Neev & Mayra: 6.8 years old
Tara:5.8 years old
And Finally… against all odds
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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #250, 22nd April 2025
When faced with evidence contradicting your beliefs, do you revise your thinking or dismiss the evidence?
Do you distinguish between what you know with certainty versus what you believe or suspect?
Do you actively seek out different perspectives and criticism of your ideas?
Do you have a scientific attitude whether or not you are a scientist is the quest. For Scientific Attitude is a life skill, not a curriculum. What do you think?
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“At its heart, what is distinctive about science is that it cares about evidence and is willing to change its theories on the basis of evidence.”
― Lee McIntyre, The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience
“The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.” – Walter Gilbert
One Video of the Week
Teman Cooke hold a Ph.D. in theoretical physics but has no love for the scientific method. He explains a interesting alternative that will challenge your thinking.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Finding ways into outdoor literacy learning:
Let’s continue with last week’s topic and dig deeper understanding on various settings for moving literacy outside the classroom.
For many students, literacy means the reading writing they do in the classroom yet reading and writing happen everywhere we go. Purpose, audience and place are compelling reasons to shape writing and reading when literacy moves out of the classroom and into real world settings, both natural and engineered. Here are some suggestions along the ways that might be helpful for rural suburban and urban schools. We should always consider the space, safety and strategies to support a wide range of literacy and language skills.
Starting places for moving literacy outside the classroom:
There are multiple ways to create experiences outside the classroom that invite students to make discoveries about literacy, particularly about purpose and audience.
· Wood/Natural Area
· School Garden
· Playground
· School Common spaces
· Shady areas around the school
· Broader Community
Once you are ready to do an outdoor literacy session on a beautiful day then “A StoryWalk” might be a perfect way to launch it to your classroom. Stay tuned until next week’s newsletter as we discuss STORYWALKS. Until then… keep reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique STEAM education project for very young learners.
In our STEAM class, the children performed the Egg Inertia Experiment and explored the concept of inertia. They observed that when the tray and tube were swiftly removed, the egg dropped straight into the glass instead of moving with them. This demonstrated that objects at rest stay at rest unless acted upon. The children enjoyed the surprising outcome and learned that careful setup and quick movement were important for the experiment to work. After a few tries, they were thrilled to see the egg successfully land in the glass
Samyuktha 7 years old
Neev & Mayra:6.8 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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #249, 15th April 2025
When you read something from the perspective of another person, you step out of your own head and step into someone else’s and get to imagine you were somewhere else, seeing something else, doing what the person is doing and feeling what that person is feeling.
What does it do to your brain? How does it help your brain to live, laugh and connect? Here are some ideas of setting up reading corner in your classrooms where the child’s brain can find imagination and connections in their very busy childhood. What about a reading corner at home for yourself, as an educator or administrator, or parent?
I think it is a great way of providing a space for mental well-being of both children and adults. Try it.
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” ― Walt Disney
“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax all you need is a book!” ― Dr.Seuss
One Video of the Week
Speaking is already in our genes. But reading is not. Until about 100 years ago most people didn’t do it all. When we read fiction especially, we create new pathways in our brain. Reading 30 pages of fiction every night gets the pathways thicker and thicker. Our brain needs a workout just like our body. Rita Carter is a writer, broadcaster and journalist who specializes in the workings of the human brain. Her books include the first layman’s guide to neuroscience: Mapping the Mind, which has been translated into 14 languages. For seven years she presented London’s nightly news programme, “Thames News”, and has written for magazines and newspapers throughout the world, including the London Times, Telegraph, Guardian and New Scientist. She has a deep interest in bringing art and science together and is a Patron at the influential London-based Foundation “Art and Mind”.
She has won many awards for her work, including, on three occasions, the Medical Journalists Association award for excellence and she holds an Honorary PhD in Brain science from Leuven University – one of Europe’s oldest academic institutions.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Move Literacy Outdoors:
April is Earth month so let’s discuss literacy outdoors as it can happen anytime and anywhere. When Kindergarten students register for their Kindergarten classroom it’s a wonderful opportunity to teach them literacy outdoors. Just start with T for Trowel, D is for Dirt and N is for nest and so on. Once you start with a couple of examples your students would jump right into it and start observing things around them. This way the class walks from post to post, chanting the words aloud and during the course of this literacy based walk they practice alphabetic order. And you will create an outdoor literacy experience that invites your students to consider purpose, audience and discovery. And they will also begin to see that they can take their emerging literacy skills wherever they go.
If you’re wondering what literacy might look like outside the classroom, it’s everywhere. The very first word a young child may learn to read is STOP, a useful directive encountered at crosswalks and streets everywhere. Supermarkets use signage to direct us to items on our shopping lists and once we find them other signs identify the product and price.
Why move Literacy Outdoors?
During pandemic every educator struggled and was compelled to think nimbly and that’s when a lot of our classes moved outdoors. A tough challenge at first, but once new routines were established and curricular adaptations made – think sensory paths, nature journals and phonics treasure hunts – educators discovered unanticipated benefits. During a recent focus group discussion, a teacher actually shared that after having her class outdoors everyone in her class is calm and more settled back in the classroom after being outside for a lesson. Another teacher observed that her students were better able to focus on learning when she balances outdoor and indoor experiences. Also, a science teacher described how twice-weekly nature journal writing has been transformative for her students and their ability to make specific observations is transferring into all of their writing. So for the month of April try to encourage your students to read outdoors!
Happy Reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique project for very young children in STEAM education, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
In this fun and colorful STEAM activity, children explored important ideas through hands-on learning. They identified, described, and compared 2D shapes, learning about sides, corners, and symmetry. Using vibrant Holi colors, they enjoyed mixing shades and designing creative patterns with shape stencils.
They also searched for shapes in real-life objects and nature, building their observation skills. While creating their artwork, they used planning and design skills, just like real engineers. This engaging activity showed children how Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math can come together in fun and meaningful ways.
Neev,Mayra& Tashi:6.8 years old
Samyuktha :7 years old
Tara & Arnav: 5.8 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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #248, 8th April 2025
What is rigor? We often hear in schools that we need more rigour in studies. Sometimes parents come to us and say, teachers need to plan for more rigour in the school… what does it mean as per dictionary? what does it mean in education? here are some thoughts worth giving a thought 🙂
rigor : Medicine
- a sudden feeling of cold with shivering accompanied by a rise in temperature, often with copioussweating, especially at the onset or height of a fever.
- short for rigor mortis.
- The meaning of RIGOR is harsh inflexibility in opinion, temper, or judgment : severity.
- strictness, severity, or harshness, as in dealing with people. · the full or extreme severity of laws, rules, etc. · severity of living conditions
Now, you want to add rigor in education right? as teacher, parent, school management? here are some ways how it might make it meaningful.
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“The main point is first get the right people on the bus (and wrong people off the bus) before you figure out where to drive it. The second key point is the degree of sheer rigor in people decisions in order to take a company from Good to Great.”
James C. Collins
“Grow with discipline. Balance intuition with rigor. Innovate around the core. Don’t embrace the status quo.”
Howard Schultz
One Video of the Week
Barry Lane questions the understanding of rigor in education reform. Barry Lane is a writer, filmmaker, songwriter and author. He has worked in schools in all 50 states and abroad teaching writing. For the last 4 years Barry has been making a movie about education in America called, “What are Schools For?” The film examines the roots of educational reform and questions the mainstream assumptions about the purpose of schools. His latest book for teachers is Force Field for Good: Teaching Kindness through Song and Literature and includes 10 original songs to inspire communities of kindness. His recordings include, More Than a Number: Songs for Sane Schools. Available on ITunes and Bandcamp.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Reader’s Theater
Readers theater is a great oral interpretation strategy that groups can use to portray a key scene in a book. Although students must examine the text carefully in order to create an effective script, the performance only requires dramatic reading, so groups don’t need to spend a lot of time worrying about costumes, props, blocking or memorizing.
The best way to introduce students to reader’s theater is to have them perform a prepared script from a familiar piece of literature. Draft some students to do a cold reading as the rest of the class follows along. Afterward, have students examine the script and together make a list of the typical readers theater conventions for the presentation of a scene from a novel. Also, have the student compare the original text of the novels with the scripted version. Students should notice the following conventions.
The groups must provide an introduction to the books and scene so that the audience understands what is going on.
· Everyone has a part.
· There can be more than one narrator.
· There are coral parts where more than one person reads at the same time.
· The lines and paragraphs are broken up differently for the script.
· It is ok if lines are repeated for emphasis.
Skits are another way for literature circles to bring their characters to life. The challenge in this project is, first, to pick a couple of high interest scenes that someone who has not read the book can still relate to. Then students must write a script that includes some acting but also significant narration explaining plot details and the characters, so the audience understands what is going on.
Reader’s theater and skits are very effective ways of engaging students into the reading world.
Happy Reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Career assessment, guidance, and placement strategies:
Balancing Academic Rigour and Self-Care in Hoste Lifel
Priya’s mother approached us, worried about her daughter, who was finishing her first year in college. During exams, Priya would unconsciously express her unhappiness to her parents through statements like, ‘I have not slept all night’, ‘I did not have time to eat lunch’, and ‘I always wanted to study BCA but you forced me to do law’. These remarks, along with the more disturbing ones, were causing her mother sleepless nights.
Our career expert began with an informal friendly conversation to understand Priya’s mindset. The discussion revealed that she was neglecting her physical and mental well-being, leading to academic stress during exams. The career expert provided her with practical tips on time management, maintaining a balanced diet, and practicing simple meditation techniques to relax her mind.
As parents, it’s natural to worry about our children. The key is to keep the conversations open and seek the guidance of experts like us.
Case study provided by: Team Fermata, www.fermataco.com
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique project for very young children in STEAM education, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
This week, our little chefs had a fun time making Thandai, a yummy Indian drink enjoyed during summer and the Holi festival. They learned why this drink is special and explored ingredients like saffron, which gives a pretty yellow color and a sweet smell. While preparing the drink, the children also picked up many learning skills. They used cups and spoons to measure ingredients (just like in math), noticed how warm milk helped sugar dissolve and saffron release its color (like in science), and used a blender to mix nuts and spices (learning how tools help us). They also used their senses to describe how the drink looked, smelled, and tasted, which sparked their creativity.
It was wonderful to see the children asking curious questions like, “What happens when we mix sugar in warm milk?” Their responses were thoughtful—some said the sugar melts, others said it dissolves. Tara gave a beautiful answer: “When the sun rises, the ice melts. In the same way, when the milk gets warm, the sugar dissolves.” She connected it to the idea of how temperature affects dissolving—a big concept explained in such a simple way!
And of course, the best part was tasting the cool, sweet, and nutty Thandai they made all by themselves! Neev,Mayra & Tashi:6.8 years old Arnav & Tara: 5.8 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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #247, 1st April 2025
What is character, according to you? Personality? Values? Morals? Behaviour? Purpose? Grit? Mindset?Attitude?
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.” – Anne Frank
“A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.” Mark Twain
One Video of the Week
Character Lab Research Director Andrew Sokatch has a sobering yet attainable message regarding the education of today’s youth. While test scores and the reading, writing, math, science behind them are important, we are not properly and wholly educating our children if we aren’t alsoteaching character. Andrew argues character can and should be taught in schools, noting grit, persistence, self-control, courage, and humor, are all critical life skills for successful employment, marriages, and citizenship.
Having taught elementary, middle school, college, and graduate school students, and spending over a decade leading teacher quality research at Teach For America and The New Teacher Project, Andrew Sokatch is currently being humbled and inspired daily as a parent of two young children. All of which is to say he has spent a lot time thinking about what it means to be an effective educator, and has become singularly dissatisfied by the narrow current conversation over teacher quality. In his desire to broaden and deepen the definition of what it means to provide high quality education for all children, Andrew has recently joined the new nonprofit, Character Lab, as the founding director of research.
The “Game Changer” Andrew most admires is Robert Moses (the civil rights icon, not the destroyer of NYC), because he had a singular vision and plan and the courage to make it happen. In a field of giants he is one of the (mostly) unacknowledged truly great ones. Also, Joey Ramone.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Looking at Characterization:
When reading a novel, the biggest turn on (or turn-off) is the characters. If an author creates vibrant characters, we’ll want to finish the book. The characters don’t necessarily have to be people we want to be best friends with, but they at least need to be genuine, surprising, or captivating. Since characterization plays such an integral role in the reader’s experience, how the author crafts the characters is a valuable topic for literature circles.
Ways Authors Create Character:
· How they look
· The way they talk – Slang, accent
· The way they walk, eat or do things
· What they think
· What they say to other characters
· What other characters say or think about them
· The choices they make
· How they get along with other characters.
Various activities can be done around discussing Character’s Resume where you can pull out a character and discuss it in detail. While reading small passages from different books discuss what has been revealed about the character and how that affects the reader’s feelings. When students begin to discuss characterization, remind them to always question the reliability of information that comes from another character. Also, how does each character have a unique perspective of the story events? Do reflect on these questions:
· How has your character changed since the beginning of the novel?
· What strategies has the author used to create the character?
· Why do you think the author made that decision as she wrote?
Keep discussing various characters while reading a variety of texts this will help your class to build up curiosity throughout your reading.
Happy Reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Career assessment, guidance, and placement strategies:
Case study provided by: Team Fermata, www.fermataco.com
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique project for very young children in STEAM education, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
The Holi Colours Tie and Dye activity helped children learn important concepts in a fun and hands-on way. They discovered how colors mix and spread on fabric and saw how different materials soak up liquids. By choosing their own colors and creating patterns, they expressed their creativity and made unique designs. Tying the cloth and adding color also supported their fine motor development and hand-eye coordination. This activity connected them to the joyful festival of Holi and its celebration of colors.
Neev,Mayra,Samyuktha, Tashi & Havishka:6.7 years old
Arnav & Tara:5.7 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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #246, 25th March 2025
1. Is the problem human-centered?
2. Is the problem ill-defined or complex?
3. Does the problem require innovative solutions?
It is end of the academic year and most school teams are getting ready to review last year and plan for the next academic year. If the goal is to create something new, or to drastically improve an existing situation, then design thinking is a good method.
What is design thinking? How can you use it to resolve the challenging situations? Get some clarity on the process first and then carry on.
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“It’s not ‘us versus them’ or even ‘us on behalf of them.’ For a design thinker it has to be ‘us with them’” -Tim Brown
“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.” — Donatella Versace
One Video of the Week
In all the conversations about improving education for children, the voices of students, teachers and community members are often left out. Educational designer Punya Mishra offers a method to shift that paradigm, taking us through new thinking on the root of success (and failure) at school — and how a totally new, different kind of educational system could better meet students’ needs.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
The Envelope Please: Predicting Plot and Character
Smart readers are always predicting. They continually speculate on the answers to key questions: What’s going to happen to the main characters? How will the plot resolve itself? What motifs that appeared early in a book will grow in importance? And, at a larger level, what is this book trying to be about? What is the theme, or purpose that is unfolding as I turn these pages?
Of course, most of us veteran readers do this predicting at an unconscious level. In fact, we only notice how much we have been predicting when a character suddenly does something that makes us say, “Wait a minute! That’s not right! She’d never do that! Our students, however, may not have this prediction predilection built into their cranial hard drives quite yet and so this reading activity shows them how to make predicting very conscious and to give some thought to character and theme as well.
When you have finished about a third of a book – when the key characters have been introduced and all major conflicts set in motion it’s time for “ The Envelope Please” . Surprise is an important element of this lesson. Start by telling students to put their books aside and ask your readers that they are going to predict the endings of their books using The Envelope, Please form. This form will have prediction questions about the ending of the book, character change and various clues in the story. Have students quietly and individually complete the form, recording their best guesses and rationales about the outcomes.
Next, have one or two kids share their predictions with the whole class just for general flavor. This won’t be scintillating since not everyone is reading the same book. If kids want to change their predictions based on what these students say, they can amend their forms but shouldn’t scratch out their original prediction. Who knows? Their first instincts may turn out to be right.
The final step comes several days or weeks later, when books are completed. On the final day of discussion, distribute the envelopes to the groups and invite them to unseal their predictions. There may be a few hoots of triumph as prescient kids congratulate themselves on their good guesses, and groans as wrong predictions are revealed.
The important part of the discussion centers around how people made successful predictions. Encourage kids to ask each other: What made you think that? OR how do you see that coming? What were the clues?
This reading activity keeps the enthusiasm around the class and keeps them engaged with the text. It encourages them to work on their thought process and then share their ideas with their peers.
Happy Reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Career assessment, guidance, and placement strategies:
Balancing Academic Rigour and Self-Care in Hoste Lifel
Priya’s mother approached us, worried about her daughter, who was finishing her first year in college. During exams, Priya would unconsciously express her unhappiness to her parents through statements like, ‘I have not slept all night’, ‘I did not have time to eat lunch’, and ‘I always wanted to study BCA but you forced me to do law’. These remarks, along with the more disturbing ones, were causing her mother sleepless nights.
Our career expert began with an informal friendly conversation to understand Priya’s mindset. The discussion revealed that she was neglecting her physical and mental well-being, leading to academic stress during exams. The career expert provided her with practical tips on time management, maintaining a balanced diet, and practicing simple meditation techniques to relax her mind.
As parents, it’s natural to worry about our children. The key is to keep the conversations open and seek the guidance of experts like us.
Case study provided by: Team Fermata, www.fermataco.com
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique project for very young children in STEAM education, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Children explored ways to save water at home and school. They learned about rainwater harvesting—collecting rainwater for later use—and drip irrigation, which waters plants slowly to avoid waste.
Through a fun hands-on activity, they made their own drip irrigation system using plastic bottles and ear buds. They saw how tiny holes let water drip slowly, keeping plants hydrated while saving water.
This activity helped kids understand the importance of water conservation and how small actions can make a big difference! Neev, Mayra, Havishka & Samyuktha:6.7 years old Arnav:5.7 years old
And Finally…
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
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #245, 18th March 2025
Exams are ongoing and ensuing. Focus is key. Here are some tips that you can use as a student. As a parent and educator, you can discuss with your child or students. You can support them to succeed to the best of their potential.
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
Action is the foundational key to all success. – Pablo Picasso
The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. – Michael Altshuler
One Video of the Week
If you dread doing homework and settling down to study, you are not alone. In her talk, Kiki shares 3 study techniques that will not just reduce your study time, but also make it more enjoyable. Kiki is an 8th-grade student at Lord Byng Secondary School in Vancouver. She loves to paddleboard and often lies down on it in the middle of the lake to gaze up at the sky. She imagines herself as a surfer when the waves come in. Kiki also enjoys reading, playing the piano and guitar, and taking care of her pet goldfish and turtle.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Savoring Powerful Language:
What hooks readers on books for a lifetime? Characters we care about, plots and places we can believe in, ideas that matter to us as human beings. All these are crucial parts of the formula. But what comes first, for many of us is language: We need vivid words, a unique voice, images we can see, taste, feel, smell. We want language that picks us up and puts us down in a whole other place.
If any of us reflect on our own internal responses to books you really love, we may share our sense that distinctive “language and words” is a nonnegotiable component of excellence in literature. One of the forms of literary response that we rarely mention might be called savoring when we simply marinate ourselves in, wonder at and reread amazing feats of language. We also notice this hunger for great language in the negative. For those of us who have been avid readers for many years, encountering a book with lackluster language constitutes a prima facie case for abandonment. Life is too short to read books with no voice. As educators the lesson on any text should be pure simplicity and pure delight. You just find a passage, maybe a page or two with great language and read it aloud to your class. And the conversation right after the read-aloud should be natural, informal and brief i.e. “How did that language strike you”? is as good a prompt as any. We mainly want to send kids into their literature circle discussions with great language ringing in their ears.
When you have these readers from their literature circle meeting you can create a bookend to the opening read-aloud. Simply ask the designated student from each group to read the chosen passage aloud. The students will have to focus carefully on the speaker, since most won’t have copies of the book to follow along. After each reading, allow for a minute to sink in time, and then invite comments from listeners. “What did you think? Did that work for you? What made that language special? Did it remind you of any other authors and their style or voice? This is how us as educators can work on their powerful language skills.
Happy Reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Career assessment, guidance, and placement strategies:
Choosing a Unique Research Topic
Ideating and finalising a research topic is a journey in itself. When Aaryan embarked on this process, his research guide facilitated it by assessing Aaryan on different problem statements and global issues. However, Aaryan had a clear objective in mind.
As a teenager, he is frequently exposed to discussions about mental health, particularly among his peers. While he recognizes that many researchers were already exploring this area, his keen interest lay in an overlooked group – cab drivers in Bangalore. Determined to make a meaningful contribution, Aaryan chose to focus on the mental health challenges faced by cab drivers, a topic that resonated deeply with him.
Now passionately working on this aspirational research, Aaryan is committed to conducting primary research by interviewing 50 cab drivers. His enthusiasm and dedication remind us why we do what we do – guiding students who are eager to create a positive impact on their communities through research. Working with students like Aaryan is both an honor and an inspiration.
Case study provided by: Team Fermata, www.fermataco.com
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique project for very young children in STEAM education, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Students had a hands-on experience making Gujiya while exploring science, math, and tradition. They observed its shape, measured ingredients, and practiced counting while folding the dough. Mixing flour, ghee, and water helped them understand how gluten gives the dough structure. They also learned about khoya and its role in sweets. While frying, they noticed bubbling oil, the golden color change, and how the texture became crispy. This fun activity helped them connect learning with a delicious treat!
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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #244, 11th March 2025
Am I consistently modeling equitable behavior? examine your own actions: Are household chores divided fairly? Do I respect and value the opinions of all family members equally? Am I displaying healthy relationships?
Am I actively encouraging my daughter’s independence and decision-making? Do I provide opportunities for her to take on age-appropriate responsibilities and make choices? Do I support her in pursuing her own interests, even if they differ from traditional expectations?
Am I nurturing her self-esteem based on her character and abilities? Do I focus on her strengths, talents, and efforts, rather than solely on appearance? Do I engage in open conversations about healthy body image and the influence of media?
Happy women’s day!
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.” Maya Angelou, poet & activist
“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
Jane Goodall, primatologist & anthropologist
One Video of the Week
Education activist (and recent Oxford graduate) Malala Yousafzai reflects on the defining moments of her life, how she balances passion with personhood and where the world finds itself during the COVID-19 crisis. With humor and humility, she shares her dreams of seeing social progress in her lifetime, explains why girls education advocacy must not relent during the pandemic and champions youth activists worldwide leading the fight for a fairer future for all. (This virtual conversation, hosted by TED’s current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was recorded July 8, 2020.)
The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Extending Discussion When You’ve Run Out of Stuff on Your Notes but the Clock is still Running:
If you notice that most of your groups are finishing five or ten minutes before the end of the designated discussion time, you may need to repeat some of the earlier lessons on questioning or preparing good notes. However, if a different group finishes early each time, setting up a discussion-stretching back up plan is in order. That way, when the kids complete their conversations more quickly than usual, they’ll still be able to talk about the book for the allotted time.
Before the literature circles meet, explain that you’ve noticed that groups sometimes finish early and then have nothing to talk about. Have the students pull out their journals and brainstorm some answers to this question: When a group finishes early, what are some topics students could discuss in order to keep talking about the book?
1. What’s your favorite part from the story so far?
2. Based on what we’ve read so far, how do you think it’s going to end?
3. Who is your favorite character? Why?
4. Everyone rereads a page and finds a new passage or vocabulary word to share or discuss.
5. What do you think the author thought about or experienced in order to write this story?
6. How do you feel about the story now compared to when we first started reading it?
7. Look through the text for literary devices: simile, metaphor, irony, symbolism, alliteration. After everyone finds one, discuss them.
Once in a while you’re going to run into a truly dysfunctional group. No lesson is going to improve their discussion performance. Rather than trying to nag and cajole them into better performance, settle for civil behaviour and figure out the reasons why they work together so poorly. A shift of turning your student to a reader is not a simple task. So, keep trying over and over again.
Happy Reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Career assessment, guidance, and placement strategies:
Choosing a Unique Research Topic
Ideating and finalising a research topic is a journey in itself. When Aaryan embarked on this process, his research guide facilitated it by assessing Aaryan on different problem statements and global issues. However, Aaryan had a clear objective in mind.
As a teenager, he is frequently exposed to discussions about mental health, particularly among his peers. While he recognizes that many researchers were already exploring this area, his keen interest lay in an overlooked group – cab drivers in Bangalore. Determined to make a meaningful contribution, Aaryan chose to focus on the mental health challenges faced by cab drivers, a topic that resonated deeply with him.
Now passionately working on this aspirational research, Aaryan is committed to conducting primary research by interviewing 50 cab drivers. His enthusiasm and dedication remind us why we do what we do – guiding students who are eager to create a positive impact on their communities through research. Working with students like Aaryan is both an honor and an inspiration.
Case study provided by: Team Fermata, www.fermataco.com
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique project for very young children in STEAM education, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
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.
3-2-1 TUESDAYS WITH MS NIV
Issue #243, 4th March 2025
Am I focused? Or am I always distracted? ask this one question to yourself to get more clarity as a student, parent and/or teacher.
- For Students:
- Question: “Am I consistently able to complete my assignments and study for exams without significant distractions or procrastination?”
- For Parents:
- Question: “Do I find myself regularly prioritizing and managing my time effectively to support my child’s needs and my own responsibilities?”
- For Teachers:
- Question: “Can I maintain a clear and organized lesson plan, and do I stay on track during class sessions without getting sidetracked?”
This is a free newsletter. If you like my content, please subscribe by entering your email ID here.
Three Images of the Week
Two Thoughts of the Week
“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell
“The ability to focus is a defining characteristic of successful individuals.” – Brian Tracy
One Video of the Week
The latest research is clear: the state of our attention determines the state of our lives. So how do we harness our attention to focus deeper, get distracted less, and even become more creative? Chris Bailey, author of the recent book Hyperfocus, talks about how our ability to focus is the key to productivity, creativity, and living a meaningful life. Follow Chris on @chris_bailey Chris Bailey was recently described by TED as possibly “the most productive man you’d ever hope to meet”.
He is the international bestselling author of Hyperfocus and The Productivity Project, which have been published in sixteen languages. Chris works with organisations around the globe on how they can become more productive without hating the process.
To date, Chris has written hundreds of articles on the subject of productivity, and has garnered coverage in media as diverse as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, The Huffington Post, Harvard Business Review, TED, Fortune, Fast Company, and Lifehacker.
Reading with Ms. Meenu: Tip of the week
Books on Tape
If you have a heterogeneous or mixed ability classroom, you will need books on tape as one accommodation (along with properly leveled book choices) for students who read slowly or struggle.
Happily, almost all the popular books for teenage readers, both classics and young adult (YA) literature, are now available on inexpensive literacy platforms. The same tool that many adult readers enjoy, can be the tool that allows a student with reading problems to join fully in a higher order conversation about the ideas in a book. Even kids with learning disabilities in reading accessing the story as an audio book allows them a rare opportunity to shine in the classroom, showing that they can respond to questions, connect, speculate, interpret and judge the same as anyone else in the classroom. For many teachers this is another reason for providing in class reading time for literature circle books to make sure that kids who are using books in any version are getting to the listening mode, keeping up and getting the support they need.
Books on tape aren’t just for struggling readers; they can add a new dimension for everyone, especially when the books are read by a strong reader or by its original author. For example, choose a favorite book as an audio book that’s read by a great author i.e. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, read by Peter Coyote.
Now try this on your students, a little section to read quietly.
Let them think about how the passage might be read out loud. Next ask for a volunteer to read aloud a paragraph or two. Have other students with a different interpretation.
Then play the professional version of the story read by an author and assess on:
· Did the reader sound like you expected?
· What was alike and different?
· Did the reading aloud change your picture of or thinking about the story?
At this point let everyone enjoy it and then conduct some discussions.
Happy Reading!
Meenu Gera, Consulting home and school librarian and reading guide.
Career assessment, guidance, and placement strategies:
A Career Restart: Guiding a Mother-Daughter duo to their True Calling
Ms Meena approached us seeking guidance for her daughter, who was interested in media and acting. After undergoing our career assessment and counseling process, she decided to join Whistling Woods International College for her undergraduate program.
Interestingly, our engagement with the family did not end there. Ms. Meena later returned to seek career guidance for herself. Having put her career on hold after marriage to focus on family responsibilities, she was now looking to restart her professional journey. Through our career counseling sessions, we discovered that she had strong skills in stock trading and a natural aptitude for it, having learned the skill from her father at a very young age.
When our career counselors lead such mature career counseling discussions, the approach is always customized to the client’s needs, ensuring meaningful and valuable outcomes.
Case study provided by: Team Fermata, www.fermataco.com
Showcase:
Thrive Beyond School – A unique project for very young children in STEAM education, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Building an ant colony with carton boxes, cardboard, paper plates, soil, and clay helped kids learn about how ants live and work together. They explored the structure of a colony, including tunnels and chambers, and understood the roles of worker ants, soldiers, and the queen. This activity also taught problem-solving and engineering skills as they designed stable tunnels and experimented with materials. It encouraged creativity in building and decorating the colony while fostering curiosity about nature.
Neev,Mayra,Havishka& Tashi :6.7 years old, Arnav & Tara:5.7 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 