…for early years students. Hello all. Welcome to the 149th edition of TEPS Weekly ! Read the following sentence: Teblin drepped mav nosset boxen, ro plimful rivet nifter glen. Did you pronounce all the words correctly? Most probably, yes. That is reading fluency. Did you understand what you read? Most probably, no. That is a lack of reading comprehension . And this is exactly what we see in many kindergarten classrooms (and even primary classrooms) across the country – childr

…in Teacher Professional Development. Hello all. Welcome to the 148th edition of TEPS Weekly ! We have been working with teachers for more than 5 years as an organisation, and we have members who have been working with teachers for more than 15 years. Over the last 5 years, we have observed multiple patterns with schools getting their teacher professional development (TPD) right or wrong. We had earlier written about why TPD fails  or how TPD is effective when it is continuou

…to build understanding. Hello all. Welcome to the 147th edition of TEPS Weekly ! Ms. Roy has 58 students in her Grade 6 classroom. She has just completed teaching a Civics chapter on ‘Local Self-Government’ using the Direct Instruction approach. Before moving onto written exercises, she asks, “In one sentence, who can tell me what a Gram Panchayat is?” She cold calls Aman, who reluctantly answers, “It is the police station in the village that makes rules and punishes people.

...of Things Education. Hello all. Welcome to the 146th edition of TEPS Weekly ! Things Education is now 5 years old. YES! We have passed a huge milestone for a bootstrapped startup! We have reached your inboxes every Friday with ‘something useful’ from various branches of school education for another year. The newsletter in its 4th year now, focused on Classroom Management, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Assessments, Foundation Learning and Teacher Wellness. We also wrote ab

…the what and the how. Hello all. Welcome to the 145th edition of TEPS Weekly ! Ms. Shubhangi is a Grade 5 English teacher in a government school in Pune. The topic for the day is active and passive voice. Ms. Shubhangi writes two sentences on the board: The boy kicked the ball. The ball was kicked by the boy. She underlines ‘kicked’, circles ‘boy’ and ‘ball’, and starts explaining what changes. She says unfamiliar words as she teaches: subject, object, verb, past participle.

…in the early years. Hello all. Welcome to the 144th edition of TEPS Weekly ! It’s 9:30 am in a Balvatika classroom. Children sit in neat rows. The first half of the day is called ‘whole-child time’: 20 minutes of reading aloud after the teacher, then 10 minutes of exercise in the corridor, then a video on shapes, and finally a worksheet. The day has a little bit of everything, so it feels  like whole-child development, like the NEP 2020 and NCF-FS have emphasised on. Yet, al

…for shaping self-discipline. Hello all. Welcome to the 143rd edition of TEPS Weekly ! In one of the previous editions  of our newsletter, we discussed an interventionist or reactive approach to managing student behaviour. This approach is about having clear consequences (reinforcement and punishment). However, even if punishments are appropriate and given with a positive attitude, this approach may not work for building character.  Character-building means good behaviour nee

…by understanding the brain. Hello all. Welcome to the 142nd edition of TEPS Weekly ! The Concept of ‘Discipline’ For a long time in Indian schools, the word ‘discipline’ was almost the same as ‘punishment’. Many of us grew up in classrooms where fear was used to keep order, and this shaped what we later expected from students. When the RTE Act (2009) banned corporal punishment, it was an important step forward. But it also created an immediate gap – teachers were suddenly to

…in the foundational years. Hello all. Welcome to the 141st edition of TEPS Weekly ! As per the NEP 2020, the Foundational Stage spans five years, from Pre-K to Grade 2. It specifies that during this period, the pedagogy must be flexible, multilevel, play based and activity based. The NCF for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) emphasises holistic development, stating clearly that learning in the foundational years spans multiple domains – including physical-motor, cognitive, lan

… an MCQ . Hello all. Welcome to the 140th edition of TEPS Weekly ! Multiple-choice questions or MCQs are the workhorse of the ‘assessments’ part of teaching and learning. MCQs are omnipresent – whether it is a teacher checking student understanding just after they have finished a topic or a school conducting unit tests or an educational board doing diagnostics of how well students are learning or even in high-pressure and high-stakes entrance tests and qualifying tests. Give

…starts with ‘Essential Ideas’. Hello all. Welcome to the 139th edition of TEPS Weekly ! A recent newspaper article  about competency-based assessments brought back into focus the CBSE’s shift from rote learning – it has increased the percentage of competency-based questions in Class X Board Exams to 80%. (We dug deeper and found that the CBSE circular about this  is actually more than a year old, published on 3 April 2024.) The circular states that 50% (not 80%) of the quest

...and the role they play. Hello all. Welcome to the 138th edition of TEPS Weekly ! When we think of teaching, we think of a teacher standing in front of a classroom and explaining concepts to students. But is that all there is to teaching? Let’s take a look at what all a teacher is actually required to do on a daily basis. A main part of their job is going into classrooms, explaining concepts to students, facilitating active learning, engaging them and building relationships

...need attention. Hello all. Welcome to the 137th edition of TEPS Weekly !   Last week, we wrote a little about whether teachers are leaving their profession in India, and if they were leaving, what the potential reasons for this could be. This week, we focus on teacher salaries and working conditions. Just as in the previous edition, we will try to dive into available data and make inferences.  No salary? Teachers’ salaries are high and competitive.  Teachers’ are paid too

…or staying and teaching? Hello all. Welcome to the 136th edition of TEPS Weekly !   A few days ago, we came across a newspaper article asking why teachers are leaving their profession. The article started by asserting that teachers are moving away from teaching for various reasons, which included school tasks and social issues. It cited a report jointly written by UNESCO and the ILO. This article did a few rounds on the professional circles in public (LinkedIn) and also in m

…are important for learning. Hello all. Welcome to the 135th edition of TEPS Weekly !   If we think back to our school days, we can...

... the process, not the product . Hello all. Welcome to the 134th edition of TEPS Weekly !   In classrooms, learning can sometimes look...

... for every classroom. Hello all. Welcome to the 133rd edition of TEPS Weekly !   It has been three months since Sagar School started...

... as a pedagogy. Hello all. Welcome to the 132nd edition of TEPS Weekly !   Ms. Davar teaches Grade 7 Geography. Today’s lesson is...

... into every subject. Hello all. Welcome to the 131st edition of TEPS Weekly !   The above is a short excerpt from the Curriculum...

... or Teachers’ Decade? Hello all. Welcome to the 130th edition of TEPS Weekly !   Every year, Teachers’ Day comes around with a...