Reflection Sunday 10th November 2024

Reflection of the week 

-From My Name Is Cinnamon- 

1. What was your takeaway from the session today?  

2. What were the key points in the chapter? 

3. Journey of self-discovery

4. Being honest with ourselves

5. Importance of reflection and clear thought 

6. When you write a poem how do you feel? 

7. How do you think Cinnamon would feel if he met his birth parents

8. Between the head and the heart

- From The Hidden Life Of Trees –  

1. Why is the chapter named "Not just a commodity?"

2. What is your takeaway from today’s session? 

3. What did you learn from this book?

4. Do trees have a life of their own? How can humans learn to respect that? 

5. Life from the eyes of trees

6. Taking care of trees and nature with dignity

7. We aren't a part of nature, we are nature

8. Lessons from this book

"I think writing a poem is oddly fulfilling and a unique art itself. Its unique how we're able to express our thoughts about something in a set of lines. I think it brings us to think deeper about what we're writing because we aren't just writing a paragraph but writing about our feelings and ideas about something in a few lines, choosing the right words at every step. And when you're done writing that poem, there's a sense of fulfillment when you read it again because it just opens a new perspective about it. 

I don't write blogs that often now but when I'm bored at home, I take out a paper and pen and write poems because it truly is something that's so unique." - Rishona Chopra

These are some suggestions you can choose from. Looking forward to seeing your wonderful and thoughtful reflections!      

      

You can email your reflections at -      

mk@learningforward.org.in

My Good School 10th Nov 2024

Reading My Name Is Cinnamon - complete the chapter 8; and complete reading the book "The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben, as well as plan for an upcoming retreat and initiate an "Impact Study" project.

Key Takeaways

• Trees are highly interconnected through underground fungal networks, forming a "Wood-Wide Web" that allows them to communicate and support each other. 

• Helping children like Cinnamon from the book deal with difficult emotions requires providing a supportive environment, encouraging reflection, and engaging them in enjoyable activities. 

• The upcoming retreat will involve spending time in a forest, connecting with underprivileged children, and continuing the group reading experience. 

• The "Impact Study" project aims to assess how the Teacher's Academy program is developing students' 21st century skills like critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. 

• Practices like writing poems, maintaining reading logs, and reflecting on readings can enhance personal growth and reading comprehension. 

Topics

Reading and Discussing "The Hidden Life of Trees"

• The group continued reading and discussing chapters from the book, exploring how trees communicate and support each other through underground fungal networks. 

• The discussion focused on understanding Cinnamon's emotional journey and ways to help him deal with his feelings in a healthy manner. 

Upcoming Retreat

• The group discussed the plans for an upcoming retreat, where participants will spend time in a forest, connect with underprivileged children, and continue their group reading experience. 

• The retreat will also involve a visit to the "My Good School" studio and a city tour. 

"Impact Study" Project

• The group initiated an "Impact Study" project to assess the impact of the Teacher's Academy program on the development of students' 21st century skills. 

• The project will involve gathering feedback from teachers and students, and analyzing data to understand the program's effectiveness.

 

Next Steps

• Gurdeep will connect with Kunal to obtain the data from the previous impact study and use it as a starting point for the new project. 

• The group will work together to develop a set of questions to gather feedback from teachers and students on a monthly basis. 

• The findings from the impact study will be shared and discussed in future meetings, and the next meeting will be on the 24th of November 2024.

How your relationship with your parents has evolved with time ? - Saikiran Sahu

 

"A father's goodness is higher than a mountain. A mother's goodness deeper than a sea."
-Japanese Proverb

Every child has an extraordinary bond with his/her parents. Even if they scold, punish, or even sometimes ignore you for teaching you a lesson, they do this for our betterment. I have loving parents, who I sometimes want to get away from, but I know they will always be in my heart and soul.

When I was a baby or even when I was a toddler, what I could remember, they used to get me a lot of gifts and toys for me to play with. They used to coddle me a lot, and even now, as circumstances have changed as I have grown up and have a lot of burden for my studies, they have always given me what I want and shown support for every decision I made. I have many loving relationships, like with my mother and my grandparents, but the one I have an extraordinary place in my heart is of me and my father's relationship. My bond with my father is very unique. We are called a fantastic duo in our family. His opinions have always mattered to me a lot. My father rarely scolds me, and if he does, it is basically due to my academics, but if he has told me to do something, I make it my mission to improve it and make him proud. After all, even if a child becomes an adult, he/she will still be their parents' small children.

Saikiran Sahu

Class-IX, Gyanshree School

How did you repair a broken relationship? - Veda Varshita Marivada

Firstly, a relationship is a way through which people or things are connected. People can have relations with family, friends, animals, nature and even things.

The critical elements for a strong and healthy relationship are mutual Respect, Understanding, Communication, Compromise, and Trust. We should first understand the person and respect their opinions; giving them a chance to speak and putting in their shoes is important too.

Being an 11-year-old child, I have never experienced a broken relationship, but let me tell my story with my best friends. My parents and I have lived in Bangalore since my birth. Over there, I met Ridhi and Tanishka on the first day of school. We became best friends. They were kind, affectionate and caring. They would cheer me up when I was not in a good mood. 

One day, my father said we had to shift to Hyderabad for his job there. I was distressed to leave my friends and head for a new life. It was tough for me to adjust to the situation because we spent quality time together over weekend outings, playdates, birthday celebrations etc. I also had a good scoop of opportunities to learn activities like art, chess, and karate with my friends at “The Indian Heritage”, an activity centre. I also had a strong connection with nature over there. The weather was cool and pleasant, and the city was wooded and full of greenery. 

After relocating to Hyderabad, I took time to accept my new life. Days passed, and it was my friend’s birthday. I was flustered because I wanted to convey my wishes to her. I gathered courage and started texting her anxiously. But to my surprise, she replied immediately, saying she was delighted and missed me. I was pleased and relieved as I thought she might be furious for not being in touch with her. I also texted my other friend. I had a good time talking with my friends. From then onwards, we have been staying in touch regularly. How could I forget such good friends? I am fortunate to reside in a peaceful, green, and safe colony which helped me to acclimate to the new locality and make new friends. Hmm! But I still miss those memorable days and keep recollecting those sweet memories.

Why should we have a relationship? We would be depressed and lonely if we did not have anyone to spend time with. Therefore, try to have more relations as they say, “The More the Merrier”.

Here is a poem in Hindi that says:

This carries a lot of meaning. It says, “If something is broken, then learn to repair it. If someone is angry, then learn to convince and please them. Relationships are destined; just learn to handle them beautifully.” So, make sure you have a solid and good relationship, whether it is a person, animal, nature, or thing.   

VEDA VARSHITA MARRIVADA
Grade 5 Hyderabad Public School Begumpet

Listen to my Blog Post on the Learning Forward Podcast.

Life is a beautiful journey to death - Tenzin Jambey

I saw this quote hanging on the wall of my class classroom. Every day I used to see it, and I used to think and ask myself, is life a beautiful journey to death? Then my consciousness would say it's in our hands whether if you do good things, then you will get a peaceful death, but if you do sin, then obviously you'll face a terrible death. But, sometimes, it happens that kind-hearted people die.

If we look into the world around us and see the recent deaths, we will find that a good person dies first. There is the story of a man and son; once, a boy asked his father why good people die first, then the father said to the child think you are going to a garden, and there are many flowers and which flower would you pluck. The child told the most beautiful one then the father said that god also wants to take the good person with him. 

Sometimes things become so complicated that we are unable to predict the output. Peole say you are not good, she is like this, he is like that, they are not good but sometimes our  life itself becomes a cause of great destruction of ourselves. 

Many people desire to become rich whereas some people are happy being poor. Rich people face as many problems as other people do. Behind every negativity there is a positivity and behind every smily face there is a sad face.

Tenzin Jambey

Pestalozzi Children’s Village India

Image from The Little Book Of Values

Totto-Chan's Life - Anvesha Rana

Chew, Chew, 

Chew it well, 

Everything you eat, 

Your rice and fish and meat 

Little Totto-Chan

Can make a soldier

 Cry happy tears

Totto-Chan can 

Comfort an Importuned

Father

She can make Tomoe a good school, 

For she is a really good girl, 

She is Totto-Chan. 

Anvesha Rana,

Grade 10-B,

Gyanshree School

National Reading Day - Arav Agarwal

19th June is celebrated National Reading Day in India to honour the Keralite teacher P.N. Panicker. Puthuvayil Narayana Panicker is the father of the library movement in Kerala. As a tribute to the legend, we celebrate National Reading Day.

We, the children at My Good School, love reading books in the Sunday School. Our Sunday School is fun and full of lifelong learnings. Join us every Sunday at 11AM and experience the absolute joy of learning.

Name: Arav Agarwal

Grade: 6A

Billabong High International School, Thane

Happy Father's Day! - Rishona Chopra

This is for my father,

Who always stood up for his daughter,

He cared for me,

Like family.

He told me to brush my teeth,

And stay tidy and neat.

He played with me all sorts of games,

He stood with me through my little pains,

We have lots of fun,

Yet I don't realize he loves me more than anyone.

We often talk about the unconditional love of a mother,

But in the world, there is the love of a father,

He often scolds me, and I sold him,

He allowed me to go to the gym and for a swim,

He was there with me to help me face my fear of dogs,

He is my father and my god.

I say I don't love him,

But really, I do love him more than anyone in the world, yes, I do.

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

The Dark Past - Coming Back And Letting Go!

As I turned back, I found myself in the corridors of Max Hospital at Dehradun. I had checked my phone just before I came here; it was 15:07 PM, 10th April 2022, but now, when I checked the time, it was 20:17 PM, 6th October 2019, and I was like, “What the hell!” I was back in the time when my mom and I had met with a severe accident!

As I walked, I recognised all the doctors and nurses and waved at them, but they were all in a rush, so they didn’t see or hear me. When I went to the fourth floor of the Neurology Department, I saw my family from my mom’s house and my dad’s house sitting there, weeping. I went near them, kneeled down near my grandparents and asked them, “Why are you crying?” They didn’t answer. I touched my younger sisters’ faces to see if they could feel my touch, which they couldn’t! My father wasn’t there, and neither was my mother. I shivered at the thought of being back in our dark past, advanced towards COMA and saw my father sitting on the bench with tears flowing down his eyes. When Dr Thakur came there, Father stood up immediately and asked, “Will they survive?”

That was the time when I was sure about the fact that I had travelled back in time! My father told me that he kept on asking this from my doctors. I could see myself past the glass, still not believing that I could not be seen by anyone at that time. I had machines all around me and a gauze tied around my head. Suddenly, I was going backwards, and after a split second, I found myself sitting on the same bench in the same park, back in the real world.

Though the whole situation was sad, this was a totally different experience, and I made the most out of it, but now, it’s time to let go of the dark past!

-“Temper us in fire, and we grow stronger; when we suffer, we survive...”

Reveda Bhatt
My Good School, Dehradun

Photo courtesy Dr Neeraj Kumar Singh

A day in a Bird's life - Aanya Kumar

Hello, world! I am Tutu and I am a bird. Have you ever wondered if birds went to school? We do and participate in activities that most humans do in their schools. We have to wake up at six and reach school by 7:00 am every morning. It is located in the gardens. The clock strikes 7:15, and we are off to music class. I think I should be in the school choir. Anyways, humans find it disturbing, which is why our music classes last for only ten minutes. 

We move to our respective classes at bird school and take out twigs and sand (pen and paper). We need to take endless notes. We don’t learn English and Maths or other such subjects at bird school. We learn cool stuff like flying and chirping and making nests. I have many friends at school. Tweetee is my best friend. She is the best flyer in the whole school. We call her Miss Pilot. I ace at my language skills, though.

Next comes PE class. We stretch our wings and warm up a bit for sports. We have races and more such fun activities. Then we make nests. We collect twigs, roses, leaves, and so much more stuff that humans mostly abandon. We make a circle with them and then make our walls. Once again, Miss Pilot stole the show and made the perfect nest. Later, we have lunch. My mother sends me with worms. Sometimes if she gets lucky, she catches fish.

Did I not tell you what kind of bird I am? I am a Seagull. I have a huge beak. Helps in finding and hunting fish. Survival class is the next class. Not to brag, but I am like a pro in it. We learn how to escape from human dangers and fly on the wind’s back. Then we head back home at 2.00 pm. After that tiring but adventurous day, I take a warm bath and get ready for homework.

We need to practise making nests and study some survival moves. Then, I watch some TV with my sisters, Lyra, Tyra, Samaira and Mayra. We fly downstairs and play for a while… well, maybe a lot of time. We get carried away. Lyra and Tyra are twins. Although their choices clearly tell us who is who.

Now, about Mamma. Mamma is an excellent chef. She is a master at about… everything! Soon after, our tummies start to grumble. We fly and gather the food that humans waste. Sometimes we catch that yummy brown thing. Ummm… Chico… no chocolate. We talk about our day at school and eat our yummy snacks. Later we have a family game night… evening. Finally, we slept after having some dinner. While I do not want to give my father credit… he snuggles us in with a beautiful bedtime story.

Aanya Kumar moves from Gyanshree Noida. However, she continues her learning experience at My Good School.

Podar International School, Grade 6 B

Making Others Happy - Yashraj Sharma

  "True happiness comes only by making others happy."

- David O. Mckay

Happiness. What is happiness? How do we get happiness? What do we need to do to obtain happiness? Well, the answer to all these questions is a simple one. By making others happy. The feeling of contentment we get by bringing a smile on anyone's face by our actions is the greatest triumph of our lives.

Let me apprise you about a sweet incident which my father and I experienced.
A few months ago, my father and I went to the grocery store to buy some vegetables when we came across an underprivileged girl about 8 years old walking on a rocky road barefoot. I saw her and sank away in pity, watching her. I pleaded to my father to do something; he had an idea to buy her a pair of slippers. We talked to her and took her to the nearest shop and bought slippers for her. The moment she actually realized what we gave her, a 20,000-watt smile on her face made my day. That day I couldn't resist and took a picture of her with her new pair of slippers.

Whenever I see her walk by us, I get reminded of her broad smile and get quite ecstatic. By this, the thing I learn is that "Happiness is rather contagious."

With this moral, I am reminded of another one of my experiences. A person I want to tell you about is Doctor Nana. I call him Nana because he is my uncle from my maternal side. Well, by now, you already know that he is a doctor. Since my mother's old school days, he has given our whole family very effective cure remedies for many illnesses' cures. But, I admire most about him because he always has a cheery good smile on his face no matter how tense the situation may be. Also, whenever I fall ill, and he comes to give us the remedy, half my illness is already cured, seeing his confident body language and his " no - worries smile."

So, in the end, I would like to give you a message. If you genuinely want to be happy, try doing something that brings an automatic smile on someone's face, which again, after all, means that happiness is instead a chain reaction.

Yashraj Sharma
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

Appreciation - Asmi Patankar

 

Appreciation

I quite vividly remember the first time I needed some appreciation. Many years ago, when I was in Playgroup, I heard my teachers say that I could not scribble properly like the other children in my class. Later, when I came home, I told my father all about what I heard. He said, "Asmi, I know you tried your best. Now, please show me your drawing."

 After I showed him, he replied, "But these are beautiful! You can really improve once you are older."

And honestly, with the help of my art teachers, now I can draw much better than anyone could have expected from a girl who once could not even scribble! I am sure that this could not have happened without my father appreciating me or without the support of my art teachers.

Asmi Patankar

Grade 5

Billabong High International School, Thane