TEACHING TALES, LEARNING TRAILS

How do the dynamics of a school spill over into the seemingly unconnected events at home, in the community, the nation, the world? Do they? How often do we, as parents or teachers, act like our own parents/teachers? How often do we as students, experience a disconnect between what we are taught to do and what is implicitly expected of us? How much of those influences do we carry with us, as we start families and choose careers? Surely the ambitious CEO as well as the lackadaisical vagabond both went to some school that shaped them - in no small way? What were the teachers of today like - as school goers? What made them turn into teachers? How do parents experience the schools that they send their children to? What can happen if there is an attempt to create a dialogue between teachers and other teachers, teachers and parents, students and teachers?Are such things even possible?This is a set of ten stories based largely on events that actually unfolded but do not serve to depict entirely accurate portrayals of what transpired - fictionalised fact. The intent is not so much to produce memoirs as it is to set the reader off on an exploratory journey. The stories are followed by rich discussions between groups of principals, parents, students, teachers, teacher educators and pre-service teachers, as they reflect on the questions raised by these stories.Neeraja Raghavan, Vineeta Sood and Kamala Anilkumar are teacher educators working with THINKING TEACHER, and this is a THINKING TEACHER publication.