Writing is an act of courage and self-discovery

                                            Celebrating the 100th Post on reflectivediary.com

When I look back at the journey, It seems unbelievable. Well, I am a teacher, not a blogger. I am in a profession, where one writing is not counted as an indispensable skill.  Now I wonder…Can teaching be really improved if one is not encouraged to write?

The journey began in 2016. I was always thinking to write, but blogging as a platform to write was very new to me. I still don’t know about the various technical aspects of it. What I don't know, I ask from my friends and what I know I do. I have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a galaxy of amazing friends who extended their support. I remember my discussions about the idea of writing with my friend and Mentor, Ravi Gulati. He encouraged me a lot and he still remembers my 1st blog post…

हालात ऐसे भी है |

http://reflectivediary.com/node/5

In this article, I talk about a context in which some of our students live.

Once the journey began, it continued… Today, it has touched the magic figure of 100. Reflecting on the journey, I find I have written on the range of issues. Coincidently, the journey of  Reflectivediary  is parallel to the journey of major reforms in the Public Education in Delhi.

My blog has 17 articles about the various initiative of the Delhi Government in the field of Education. The most widely read is…A revolution in the making- The story of the turnaround of public education in Delhi

http://reflectivediary.com/node/17

This article was posted on the blog on 28th January, 2018. It was widely shared through various social media platforms. I was thrilled to know that the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Delhi also shared this post through his twitter handle.

I come from the domain of Social Science; my blog has around 7 articles about the various domains of social science. I also wrote about the challenges I face as Social Science Teacher.

Social Science teaching and the challenges

http://reflectivediary.com/node/16

I have also written about Teacher-Student relationship

"हमने मिलकर एक कोशिश की….एक कोशिश यह बात समझने की, कि किताबों में लिखे हुए विषय का हमारे जीवन से गहरा सम्बन्ध है, किताबों में लिखी हुई बातें हमें अपने ही जीवन को बेहतर तरीके से समझने में मदद करती है। मकसद किताबों में लिखी बातों को समझना नहीं है, मकसद है उसको माध्यम बनाकर अपने जीवन और उसको प्रभावित करने वाली घटनाओं के बारे में एक बेहतर समझ विकसित करना।"

http://reflectivediary.com/node/18

The blog has 09 posts on book review.  Here are few lines from the micro politics of the school.

“There’s the group that are very sour about the whole thing, they’ve been teaching for a long time, not going any further, they haven’t got degrees on the whole – Scales 2 and 3 and not going anywhere. Spend a lot of time complaining about things. Very hostile to the headmaster. No influence at all in the school, don’t speak up and if they did wouldn’t be listened to [fatalists]. Then there are a group of women who are not interested in promotion and not interested in the way in which the school is run. See teaching as a part-time job, a secondary thing. Talk about their children and knitting patterns and that sort of thing. Again, no influence at all. Very rarely speak at staff meetings unless they have a moan about an individual pupil [apathetics].… And then there’s the main group, made up of the younger, ambitious teachers, not very radical, willing to go along with the school and the way the school is run. Tend to talk about social things rather than educational things.”

Blog also has 11 posts on various social and political Concerns…

Can we re-imagine the idea of women empowerment?

"I think that the status of women in the society should be seen in terms of their participation in public life"

http://reflectivediary.com/node/44

Guest Columns

The most beautiful aspect of this journey has been the contribution from teacher friends. Around 11 articles were contributed by 8 super amazing teacher writers. I hope more such write-ups will come. The contribution of Alok Mishra needs a special mention. He wrote a series of articles on important educational issues for reflectivediary.  

Accounts of my foreign travel…

The time when people was waiting to read a post was when I was in the US on Fublbright Fellowship. I wrote more than 20 blog posts on various aspects of education in American School and University. Those posts were widely shared by the Ho'ble Dy.CM of  Delhi. There are three articles based on my short educational trip to NIE, Singapore.

This journey is possible because of a close group of friends who read my manuscripts, corrected it and suggested changes. This journey became exhilarating because of a large number of people who read the post and appreciated it. I want to express my deepest sense of gratitude for all my readers. I long for their continued love and appreciation.