Scarlet Writes

  Dear Chora Last night when we were reading 'The Giving Tree' by Shel Silverstein, you said that the tree was sad. I never explain the texts for you or translate it for you to understand because I think it is important you learn to interpret what you read and add your own meanings to it so when you said that the tree was sad, I was very pleasantly surprised because it meant you were starting to understand the emotions of the characters in the books that you read. I may do a lot of things wrong but I know for sure that deciding to read to you everyday has been the best decision in life.  I am writing this letter about books today. I started reading books when I was in high school. I started with Sidney Sheldon and other crime thrillers. It was a good start for me because it kept me hooked. Then when I was in college, I started reading Paulo Coelho and other books that my brother would buy for me. I'd borrow some books from his shelf and read them. It is only after college t...

 Dear Chora It is such a joy to see how you fond you are of Pumba. We are so glad that we decided to bring Pumba home. You two share a wonderful bond and we hope it continues to grow and two of you become the best of buddies.  I am writing this letter about love today, the kind of love that helps us grow, prosper and that helps us stand up when we tumble and fall. I was reading a book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie where she'd written about how it is important to love someone and be loved in return. And I hope that's the kind of love you seek for in life. When I say love, I don't necessarily mean a romantic love affair. Well, that's also very important but I am taking about all forms of love that we experience in life. To love someone for me means to find someone who makes us feel safe and valued. We love our friends, we love our pets and our family members and they love us in return. There's nothing like one-sided love. If you like or love someone but that person does...

The first year of teaching online was challenging and there were moments when I felt like a failure but along with it, there were also a lot of opportunities to learn and grow myself personally and professionally. Towards the end of last academic year, I spent some time reflecting on my classroom practices and how I could make a greater impact in this new academic year. While exploring some learning ideas on the internet, I came across this four weeks’ course on edx titled ‘ Deep Learning through Transformative Pedagogy ’. I signed up for it and although it took me more than four weeks to complete the course, not because the course was not planned well but because I had other commitments that sidelined the course, I am so excited to share what I have learned from this course with you all.  While waiting for my final grades, I thought I would write this post because there is no better way to learn than through peer teaching. In this blog post, I will summarize some of the key lear...

I just finished grading the last paper for this academic year and now I think is the perfect time to reflect upon the academic year that's almost over.  What a year! I remember the initial days of how we transitioned to online classes so suddenly. So unaware of the fact that this was going to last longer that we'd imagined. I was very nervous and excited at the same time. I was nervous because we'd never done this before and I didn't know how I'd fix the many technical challenges that lay ahead of me. I was excited for the fact that I very well understood teaching online opened up new ways of engaging students and I wanted explore these ideas and activites.  I attended a few trainings to get some knowledge and skills applicable for virtual classes and it often felt like I was completely new in this profession and I had to start from the scratch. We were making lesson plans differently and finding new ways to assess students and giving feedback. Not all ideas worked....

One winter morning, JoJo woke up alone in bed. He looked around but didn’t see his parents anywhere. He started to look for his mother. Just then, he saw his grandmother preparing breakfast in the kitchen. He asked for his mother but his grandmother replied, ‘Your parents have gone out for the day. It’s just us today and we are going to have a good day ahead!’ JoJo was excited to spend the day with his grandmother. They started by eating apples, scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast. JoJo asked, ‘What next?’ Then they went out to the garden to feed the pigeons and they chased butterflies and followed ants, picked up the flowers that had fallen on the ground to make garlands and did some cycling. Then he asked again, ‘What next?’ Then they ate lunch together and took a quick nap under the warm winter sun. As he woke up from his nap, he was surprised to find his grandmother ready with some of his favorite books and crayons and sketch books. They spent the next few minutes...

I teach Social Studies in Grade 8 and after teaching two lessons about Óur Past', I came to the conclusion that it was getting very boring. So me and my colleague decided to do a quick tour to Nuwakot and gather some more information by talking to the locals there and collect some photographs and videos to show the students in the zoom class. I knew that the palace was destroyed by the earthquake and it still hadn't been reconstructed so we were not sure if this was going to be a productive trip. However, the school management was very positive about us doing the trip and made necessary arrangements for us to go.  We designed a pre-trip sheet for students to fill in so that we could check their pre-knowledge about the place and its poilitical and historical significance in Nepal's history. It took us about 4 hours to reach the durbar square and upon reaching there, we spent about an hour talking to the priestess, Gyani Dangol, at the ancient Bhairabi Mandir and an offical w...

My favourite part of the day is when I go out for a walk with my son in the morning. Most days, that's the only time when I actually step out of the house. If we are lucky and have some spare time, we even come back from the walk and spend some more time playing outdoors.  The other day, we chased a lady bird and it was the first time that Chora had actually seen a ladybird so he was quite excited. Yesterday, a dog followed us and he wanted to play with it but of course I didn't let him. This one time I kicked a stone and he wanted to do the same but he just couldn't and I found it really funny.  Today, a shopkeeper asked him to come with her and he just went with her without even giving it a second thought. He even waved me goodbye happily. We also met two cats with green eyes who looked unperturbed by our attention. I find cats very strange. These walks are hardly 15 minutes but I really look forward to it everyday and I can tell you for sure that my son enjoys them too. ...