Action Research Project

‘Action research is a small idea. It involves examining data on one’s work to help improve one’s performance.’

― Richard D. Sagor

(Educator and Researcher in school improvement, founder of the Institute for the Study of Inquiry in Education, ISIE)

Dr. Rekha Bajaj, ma’am, started the discussion of our Action Research Projects on September 10, 2025, during an online class with the January 2025 PGCITE or Post Graduate Certificate in International Teacher Education Course group. It was raining cats and dogs — and maybe even giraffes, hippopotamuses, elephants, wolves, and bears — across the city, especially in Thane and Navi Mumbai, where most of us in the January 2025 PGCITE batch Teacher-Students came from. Yet we did not want to miss a class, so the technologically savvy and always ready-for-action Rekha ma’am instructed us to attend an online class on Zoom, and we arrived on time.

After two Probing Micro-Lessons conducted by Minal and Asma in Biology and Mathematics/Geometry, respectively, Rekha ma’am began providing us with information and our first lesson on our Action Research projects. Since I was at home, I called for two warm mugs of Nescafé milky coffee with jaggery, which I guzzled down one after the other like a thirsty crow myself, almost making poor Sana Shafi and most of my PGCITE colleagues go green with nausea. But, where there is Fiza Pathan, there has got to be some coffee, so after a good guzzling, I was ready with my notepad and writing stationery to note down one of my favorite PGCITE activities ever: Action Research.

I have been doing Action Research projects post-high school. My college, St. Andrew’s College, Bandra West, ensured that all of us students conducted detailed Action Research in our TYBA subject specialization. The honors students got to do just one detailed Action Research project, while we Double-Major students, like me, had to do two. This would mean that the research would not only be a meta-analysis of Literary Data but also include data collection from the implementation of formulated research designs on data samples in the study or action research environment. We even had to incorporate the reflections from the Data Analysis into our respective fields of inquiry, indicating that we had to conduct a serious, proper, and authentic Action Research Project with interpretations that would then yield useful strategies to improve our research area, sample group, or a new sample group.

St. Andrew’s College is very particular about its Action Research Projects, having been a beacon of excellent Sociological undergraduate studies in Bandra West since the 1990s. I conducted my two Action Research Projects there in History and Sociology – one on the Archaeological Heritage of my Alma Mater, Bombay Scottish School, Mahim, as an Archaeological Study, and the other on the issue and literary meta-analysis of the Hijab in Islamic and Contemporary Secular Society.

While doing my B.Ed. at St. Teresa’s Institute of Education, Santacruz, the following year, immediately after my graduation, I was called back to St. Andrew’s College to give a scholarly Paper presentation on the same topic of the Islamic Hijab to the F.Y.B.A., F.Y.B.COM, S.Y.B.A., S.Y.B.COM, and T.Y.B.A. and T.Y.BCOM students of St. Andrew’s College under the auspices of the Psychological Department HOD Professor Sharmila, my S.Y.B.A. Psychology Professor and mentor.

At my B.Ed. college St. Teresa’s Institute of Education, Santacruz, we also had to do an Action Research Project and, if possible, take up the subject of Action Research itself as our specialization. I completed my Action Research Project, but I did not take Action Research as an additional specialization. Instead, I took Computers since I was adept at that subject, along with my majoring subjects History and English (both Language and Literature included). Because of my expertise with the Hijab topic, in my B.Ed. college, too, I took the topic of the Hijab, but from a Catholic perspective, trying to indicate the Catholic bias against the Islamic Hijab, especially in present-day France in 2010-2011, when I did the Action Research and implementation. St. Teresa’s Institute of Education is strict but devoted to academic excellence, and so I gained a lot from my rigorous, challenging Action Research there as well.

At my current MTS or Catholic Theology Master’s college, I have to conduct Action Research Projects, either in a meta-analysis of Literature format or in a much simpler yet still challenging form of journalistic and scholarly article analysis, for every subject I choose. So, naturally, I was very excited to hear from Rekha ma’am that we were finally beginning our Action Research project.

Everyone in the PGCITE class was a little doubtful about the nature of our undertaking, but I was quite keen to see how we were going to do this Action Research Project from an International Board perspective.

We were all asked to pen down in our notebooks some of the queries, issues, or unsolved problems we think need to be solved regarding IGCSE and IB education. It could concern our International Board students and their behavior toward peers and teachers; it could concern certain classroom or management strategies that seemed unrealistic or poorly defined; or it could concern another content-related aspect of the IB and IGCSE modes of education.

It depended on what we wanted to tackle, individually or as a group, given our expertise in Action Research.

Since many of my colleagues had not done an Action Research Project before, either a plain literary one or a data-collection and sampling project, Rekha ma’am first instructed us to work in groups to conduct our projects. We were to choose a query that interested us greatly and that we wanted to research, and then share the material we researched— books, scholarly articles, or journals read over the course of our research — with each other in the group.

‘Teacher inquiry is the process of applying action research to educational problems of practice, carried out by educational practitioners. … The value of teacher inquiry—and all applications of action research—is that the research is being conducted by insiders, those who work directly with the problem being studied.’

― Craig A. Mertler

(From his book ‘Action Research as Teacher Inquiry: A Viable Strategy for Resolving Problems of Practice’)

‘The research we do at the local level – collaboratively – is what makes formal, outside research work. Outside research cannot be installed like a car part — it has to be fitted, adjusted, and refined for the school contexts we work in.’

– Mike Schmoker

(U.S. educator, author of ‘Results: The Key to Continuous School Improvement’ from which the above quote has been taken)

We then discussed some of our queries with Rekha ma’am. Here are some of the Action Research topics that emerged for further discussion in an International Context during our class brainstorming session:

• Why are most International Students restless until the lunch break or eagerly wait for the lunch break to see what is in their lunchboxes? Are they that hungry all the time!? (Sana’s question)
• How can one manage to increase the ever-decreasing attention span of IB and IGCSE students in the classroom? They cannot even seem to concentrate for a simple 45-minute session full of fun and featuring many innovative learning activities? (Fiza Pathan’s question)
• How can an International Teacher make her Worksheets more interesting to intrigue and truly attract her students’ attention? (Ambili’s question)
• Why is it that in most IB and IGCSE schools, students take a lot of time after a snack or lunch break to settle down for another class? (Harshada’s question)
• Why is it that the Gen-Alpha and Gen-Z students of the day, especially in IB and IGCSE schools, have no respect for their teachers at all, and ridicule their hard work and sincerity, however good the teacher may be? Is this the accepted norm, especially in the Higher Classes? (Ruchita’s question)
• How can an International Teacher conduct her class and yet maintain some semblance of decorum if not discipline in the classroom with all the students constantly conversing with each other and the teacher not being allowed to correct them? Nobody is really hearing anyone in such a setup! Then how are we supposed to deliver the results they expect from us, especially from their overindulgent parents? (Fiza Pathan’s question)
• Students or IB or IGCSE Teachers these days are not interested in education per se or gaining knowledge, but only in marks and paper discussions. Only marks and grades matter to them; everyone is on this epic race to win the competition for who gets the highest board score or grades, or whose students — or tuition students — get the highest board score or grades. Should it be so? (Asma’s question)
• Why is it that after every FA or short one-and-a-half-hour exam, even senior students at the IBDP, IGCSE, and AS and A Level have to be given a free period to ‘relax’? Why must we indulge them in this ridiculous way and waste precious classroom time? Are they really that tired out after a short and simple exam? (Harshada’s question)
• How do these IDEA learner categories affect the students personally? Don’t they feel that they are being segregated from smarter kids and so feel depressed and saddened? Are they aware of what is happening in the International Classroom, especially from the MYP section onwards? (Ananya’s question)
• If the students were out of the classroom en masse for a particular reason, like Library class, P.E, or MI (Keyboard), etc., why does it take such a long time for them to return to the classroom or original classroom and settle down for the next class? We were not like that in our respective ICSE, CBSE, or even our SSC schools?! Doesn’t this waste precious classroom time? (Mehek’s question)
• Why can’t students work after a weekend on a Monday morning? Monday Blues has taken a serious turn for the worse with Gen-Alpha and Gen-Z students; it is impossible to get them to work after a weekend! Why is that so? Why can’t they transition easily? (Sana’s question)
• Why are there so many ADHD students in the classroom these days – diagnosed, undiagnosed, potential, and induced – all four categories? Classrooms, whether International, ICSE, CBSE, or SSC, are overflowing with these ADHD students who just can’t stay still and whom teachers without a background in remedial training cannot handle in the classroom. Don’t you think that Remedial Training should not only be the domain of teachers specializing in Special Needs students or differentially abled students? Shouldn’t regular teachers be given this training, too? You see, because the ADHD harvest is plenty, but workers are few!!!??? (Fiza Pathan’s Question – who else could that be!)

‘My central claim in this book is that these two trends — over-protection in the real world and under-protection in the virtual world — are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation.’

― Jonathan Haidt

From the book ‘The Anxious Generation’ (Introduction, p.12)

‘As the Stoics and Buddhists taught long ago, happiness cannot be reached by eliminating all ‘triggers’ from life; rather, happiness comes from learning to deprive external events of the power to trigger negative emotions in you.’

― Jonathan Haidt

(The Anxious Generation)

‘The phone-based life produces spiritual degradation, not just in adolescents, but in all of us.’

— Jonathan Haidt

(The Anxious Generation)

‘In the ‘anxiety’ and ‘depression’ charts for adolescents, there is a steep and global uptick around the early 2010s. The timing lines up with smartphone adoption and social-media use among teens.’

-Jonathan Haidt

(from the overview of the book ‘The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness’)

(The above graph has been taken from my personal copy of the book ‘The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness’)

Rekha ma’am was really intrigued by our questions, and it looked like she really had to stop us by force from speaking anymore because we were all so enthused to voice more of our concerns. Especially me, remember I was stocked with a lot of dopamine that day! Rekha ma’am immediately informed us which questions she liked and which she felt we could improve upon. She informed me that she liked my question on Class Decorum and loved the sound of that word, compared to the Traditionalist, highly authoritarian word ‘discipline’. So, she asked me to work on that topic, which, after my research, I improved upon the Action Research Question so that it now stands thus:

Fiza Pathan’s Action Research Question

How can teachers in IB/IGCSE settings maintain classroom decorum and productive learning environments while implementing the inquiry-based, student-centered pedagogies that define these programs?

My Action Research Project was to be a Literature-Based Theoretical Analysis of Balancing Pedagogical Effectiveness with Classroom Management in the IB/IGCSE Contexts.

Rekha ma’am aided the January 2025 batch of PGCITE students in constructing their Action Research Project using well-founded steps of traditional Action Research. The next subtopic under the Action Research category will address the steps our batch took to start their Action Research, how I completed my own Action Research during the 2025 Diwali Vacations, and how I helped them with their Action Research.

What are the Steps of Action Research?

‘The word ‘action’ in action research is key. It is about making or implementing change, rather than investigating an issue.’

-Piggott‑Irvine

(Educational Researcher)

The following were the steps given to us by Rekha ma’am to conduct our Action Research projects:

Step 1 – Find your research question

Step 2 – Define your research problem

Step 3 – Do a Review of Literature

Step 4 – Formulate your Hypothesis

Step 5 – Prepare your Research Design

Step 6 – Data Collection

Step 7 – Data Analysis

Step 8 – Interpretation of findings and Report Writing

‘Action research is a way of learning about yourself as a teacher, as a person, and as a guide to learning and development for your students.’

-Ernest T. (“Ernie”) Stringer

(Professor of Action Research and qualitative methods, and author of the book ‘Action Research’ where the above quote is taken from)

Rekha ma’am then explained to us that our Action Research project would be a literature-based one only where only a review of selected related literature, or rather 5 to 10 research papers on the topic of our inquiry, would be analyzed, and then our conclusions would be submitted in a summarized short essay or essay thesis form to Rekha ma’am for evaluation. She merely wanted to see whether we PGCITE students could make deductions based on an analysis of various literature. We were to cite our resources and sources in a Bibliography following the Chicago Manuel of Style formula as well as using the Primer of  ‘The Elements of Style’ by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White or in simple layman terms, in a professionalized manner like the way a thesis writer writes his Bibliography or the way a non-fiction writer notes down his sources in the Bibliography of his book.

A Few Cautionary Points for Action Research

Rekha ma’am then directed us to gather further insights and to construct our research papers effectively. Here are a few points that she focused on in brief:

• As you read more literature, remember that the questions start becoming more complex.
• There will be divergent views from your initial thinking process, so do not be alarmed; proceed with the flow and remain objective.
• Note the findings only and do not make value judgments
• We need to focus on gaining more clarity during our action research process and enhancing ourselves by not repeating mistakes made by researchers in the past.
• The IB/IGCSE Board contexts have not been adequately addressed by Action Research Scientists.
• After reading a lot, only then does your clarity build up about your research problem, and only then do you define your statement of purpose and pose your Action Research Question.
• You can either broaden your query or Statement of Purpose, or shorten it to make it actionable
• If we, as PGCITE students, still have to collect data samples, only a few classes will be arranged for us to do so. However, it is preferable that we focus on an analysis of the literature relevant to our field of inquiry.
• We will need to include copies of all our research papers in our action research essay or project for evaluation by Rekha ma’am.
• It is easy to get free scholarly articles on our various topics from scholar.google.com.

Fiza Pathan’s Authentic Action Research Project

Then we come to October 15, 2025, the last day of school before the Diwali Vacations. Not many of the PGCITE January Batch 2025 students could come because of Diwali Celebrations, or because most of them were not aware that after the Lessons given in class, we had normal classes with Rekha ma’am. Only a few of us were present in the class, namely Kashish, Sana, Harshada, Mehek, Ambili, and me.

Rekha ma’am informed us that day that we had to work on our Action Research Projects if we had not started already. I took the opportunity to request her whether I could conduct a standard Action Research Project in the form of a proper Meta-Analysis of the maximum Literary Content in the market. I informed her that my Action Research Project would include citations to books, journals, articles, website articles, blog articles, primary and secondary sources, and works. However, I would ensure it remained a Literary or Literature Analysis only, not an Action Research Project, in which I would have to conduct Data Sampling, Collection, and Analysis in person. I would review the data collection of other Action Researchers working in my field of inquiry.

Rekha ma’am graciously acceded to my request. She is aware of how meticulous I am about my work, how much zeal I have for my studies, and the erudition of my students. However, it nevertheless remains the same that the other PGCITE students would only do a 10 sided Action Research Project Essay by only studying and analyzing a few collected and easily available resources; just for the purpose for Rekha ma’am to see if they could carry out a real Action Research Project if required to do so and if they could formulate it in the professional manner related to thesis documentation and essay writing as per International Board standards.

Mine, however, will be a real Action Research Project.

It will be well researched and analyzed, and the implementations cited will be for the advancement of my focus of inquiry on International Board Classroom Management.

I have already finished my Action Research Project for the PGCITE (Postgraduate Certificate in International Teacher Education) course. It is, for now, a 60-page document with an additional 11-page comprehensive Bibliography. So, for now, that makes it 71 pages in all.

When Rekha ma’am finishes evaluating my Action Research Project, I shall upload the entire project and the grade it received to my portfolio. I will also analyze in detail how I conducted my authentic Action Research Project and make the Bibliography accessible to all. I followed Rekha ma’am’s instructions to the T.

I have been granted permission to conduct the Action Research project independently. Rekha ma’am requested me to aid the others in the class, so, to obey her, I have done so, as you have already seen in this portion of the portfolio (if you have not already noticed!). I have been posting photographs of the various Educational Action Research Scientists and their books, journals and articles that I bought from Amazon Kindle or borrowed from my many online lending libraries which I am a part of courtesy of my Pontifex University, situated in Atlanta, Georgia, USA and the many physical lending libraries of Bandra West that I am a patron of for decades. I consulted journals, articles, and online resources, including my online libraries, and relied on the detailed Bibliographies of the books I had already purchased or borrowed.

In appropriate contexts, only the positive observations from the 180 observations (so far) I have made at Podar International School, Santacruz, will be included in this Action Research Project, for emphasis or analogy, related to a particular point made by researchers in the field of Classroom Management. Disclaimers have been added to the text accordingly.

After I post my Action Research Project here on my portfolio, I hope to also post or upload a free booklet as a guide, penned by me, to guide a PGCITE Teacher-Student or any other Teacher-Student studying for their B.Ed., D.Ed., M.Ed., ECCE, iPGCE, PGCE, MTT, PGCEi, PGDE. I am sure they will find it extremely helpful. Treat it as a well-researched educational resource tool on Action Research in the International Education Teaching context at the IB/IGCSE levels. Be free to download and use it for your erudition and your enlightenment on this wonderful process of Action Research.

As I have said before in this Portfolio, my educational content is always available free of charge online for every reader’s perusal. I have been producing high-quality educational content in English Literature, History, and Education on my blog, insaneowl.com, for the past 13 years.

It was free even then; it is free now, and it shall always remain free of charge in the future as well. And there is a simple reason for that:

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.’

― Matthew 10:8

(The words of Jesus in the Holy Bible when he was sending the disciples out to teach, exorcise demons, cleanse lepers, and heal the sick, which He taught them how to do —for free!)

Also,

‘The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters.’

-Matthew 10:24

(Jesus’ words saying that since I, as a Consecrated Virgin or Catholic Religious, am His student, then I am not greater than Him, my Master. So, if He gave knowledge, wisdom, and education for free, so must I.)

But,

‘Take no bag for the road, or second tunic, or sandals, or staff; for the worker is worthy of his wages.’

-Matthew 10:10

(Jesus mentions here that we, His disciples, are His laborers who work for the betterment of all for free. But we deserve our basic living wages —the little we need to continue our good, free work. If that is not provided by those who benefit from our ministrations, then…you remain in our debt. And as the banks of India teach us well when they come running to give us loans, it is not a great thing to be in such great debt!)

Few Details Regarding Fiza Pathan’s Action Research Project

Summary or Abstract

This literature-based theoretical analysis examines research on effective classroom management strategies in International Baccalaureate (IB) and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) school settings. This paper synthesizes evidence-based practices for maintaining classroom decorum while delivering engaging, inquiry-based instruction by systematically reviewing scholarly literature on classroom management theory, constructivist pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, and international education. The analysis explores the unique challenges of managing student-centered learning environments characteristic of IB/IGCSE programs, where traditional authoritarian approaches may conflict with program values emphasizing student agency, critical thinking, and international mindedness. Drawing on established classroom management frameworks, including Marzano’s research-based strategies, Kounin’s principles of lesson momentum, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and restorative practices, this paper identifies strategies that successfully balance instructional delivery with positive behavior management. The final section provides practical implementation recommendations for teachers working in IB/IGCSE contexts, outlining concrete steps to establish preventive systems, employ non-disruptive interventions, build positive relationships, and create culturally responsive classroom communities aligned with international education values.

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this literature-based theoretical analysis is to examine research on effective classroom management strategies specifically applicable to IB and IGCSE educational contexts. This paper synthesizes the scholarly literature to address a central question: How can teachers in IB/IGCSE settings maintain classroom decorum and a productive learning environment while implementing the inquiry-based, student-centered pedagogies that define these programs?

Primary Research Question

What does existing research indicate about effective strategies for balancing curriculum delivery with classroom management in IB/IGCSE settings?

Sub-Questions:

1.      What theoretical frameworks best explain effective classroom management in student-centered learning environments?

2.      What does research identify as key challenges to maintaining decorum in inquiry-based classrooms?

3.      Which evidence-based management strategies align with IB/IGCSE pedagogical values and approaches?

4.      How can classroom management strategies be culturally responsive in international school contexts?

5.      What preventive systems do research findings suggest for reducing classroom disruptions?

6.      How do teacher-student relationships influence classroom management effectiveness in student-centered environments?

End of Action Research Project Topic for now.

Will await submission details and evaluation of the Action Research Project of Fiza Iqbal Pathan by Rekha ma’am.

©2025 Fiza Pathan

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Content Exams

‘I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a lot more as they get older, and then it dawned on me—they’re cramming for their final exam.’

― George Carlin

(Grammy-winning American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and philosopher)

‘Life is an exam where the syllabus is unknown and question papers are not set. Nor are there model answer papers.’

― Sudha Murthy

(From her book ‘Wise & Otherwise’)

From the beginning of our PGCITE (Postgraduate Certificate in International Teacher Education), Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am has emphasized that we should focus on our content exams in the subjects we intend to teach at the IGCSE and IB levels. I was highly interested in these exams and prepared for and took the maximum number in the January 2025 PGCITE batch.

Most of my colleagues took only the PYP exams; a few took the MYP exams in Math, Science, and English, while I believe only two or three took the IGCSE exams in Math and Science. I will be taking and have taken my content exams in the following subjects and according to each grade or curriculum I want to teach.

Subject	Curricu-lum/Prog-ramme	Exam Status	Marks Awarded	Date Attempt-ed
History	IBDP	To be attempted
English	IBDP	To be attempted
English	AS & A Level	To be attempted
English	IGCSE	To be attempted
Global Perspect-ives	IGCSE	To be attempted
English	MYP	Appeared	84/100	11th Sept, 2025
English	PYP	Appeared	88/100	11th Sept, 2025

Rekha ma’am consistently emphasized throughout the course, especially during the first four months, the importance of KYC—namely, not only Knowing Your Children but also Knowing Your Content—when teaching in an IGCSE or IB context. This is clear: unless one knows the subject matter thoroughly and continually researches and learns new material related to it, it is nearly impossible to succeed in an IGCSE or IB environment.

Rekha ma’am repeatedly told us that an IB or IGCSE teacher must love learning for its own sake, not just the ‘what of learning,’ but also the ‘how of learning.’ She emphasized that enjoying the entire research and study process was essential. If someone didn’t, she frankly said we should consider quitting and returning to pursue a regular B.Ed. or going back to our normal lives, rather than wasting time on the course. She made it clear that if we didn’t meet her standards as international teachers proficient in our subject matter, we would not be permitted to deliver live lessons in the Podar classrooms. Rekha ma’am was very firm about this, and the rest of us were either craving another cup of coffee to process it all or wishing the ground would open up and swallow us whole.

But we were on the 7th floor of Podar International School in Santacruz, and the latter would be almost impossible, so we settled for some coffee and tea!

I immediately guessed that I would need to study the most for this content exam because I wanted to teach the IBDP as well as AS and A Level. Not to mention, I was also working on my MTS (Master of Theological Studies) simultaneously, so I knew I would be busy with a packed study schedule for the rest of the year. But I was okay with that because, as many don’t realize, I LOVE TO STUDY, RESEARCH, AND LEARN NEW INFORMATION CONSTANTLY! It is a 24/7, 365-day-a-year process for me.

And there is a reason for that:

‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.’

― Mahatma Gandhi

(Father of the Nation, Freedom Fighter, and Writer)

I’ve taken that quote very seriously in my life. Therefore, I have never sat idle all this time. In fact, it bothers Rekha Ma’am to see that I don’t take breaks and that I am always ready to learn, study, work hard, and keep studying practically nonstop. But the truth is, I’ve learned that if I wanted to get somewhere, I had to create my own path to success, gather the materials to build the road, find people to work on it, and secure the necessary permissions from civil authorities—all on my own—because I had no sponsor or support to help me reach my goals. If I wanted things done, I knew I had to do them myself.

It comes with being abandoned at birth by my father because I was born a girl. I have demonstrated resilience and tenacity since infancy, and they have served me well throughout my life. If there is one thing I’ve learned, it is to never stop learning. I believe I will always be learning new things and finding contentment, even on the last day of my life on this Earth.

Even now, as we speak, I am studying additional courses in Catholic Theology and, most importantly, AI, Data Analytics, Data Science, and Coding, in addition to preparing for my PGCITE content exams and an MTS postgraduate degree.

I still find time to write and publish my books through my publishing company, Fiza Pathan Publishing (OPC) Private Limited, and to manage my social media accounts, including X, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. Regarding Goodreads, I am an influencer there. I also make time for reading, power walking, gardening, creating websites, pursuing my Catholic journalistic writing, blogging educational content on my literary blog, insaneowl.com, and winning over 70 international awards for my books along the way.

It is just the way I am wired.

I live to learn.

I even asked Rekha ma’am to speak on my behalf to IGCSE and IB schools that hold regular or three-monthly content exams for teachers, so I can improve my work.

Rekha ma’am thought at that moment that I was barking mad, but I guess she is learning that international teachers come in various surprise packages!

I was immediately eager to study for my content exams and took them very seriously. I bought the textbooks and papers related to my subject, even though it felt like I was sacrificing everything to get them—my kidneys, gall bladder, liver, intestines, rib cage, and tonsils, which my GP Dr. Kulkarni didn’t remove when I was in junior high school, to go along with it!

I highly recommend two places where you can find your textbooks and study guides for IB and IGCSE exams. One is the Scholar Book Centre, located right across from Podar International School in Santacruz West. It functions as a stationery shop, toy store, bookstore, and, of course, a great spot to get all the schoolbooks you need—not only for all International Board subjects but also for ICSE, CBSE, SSC, UGC, NCERT, ISC, and other board exams in India. The staff is very friendly and easy to work with, and they go out of their way to help you find the books, teaching materials, craft supplies, and more to support your success as an International Board School Teacher, not just in Mumbai but across India.

Another place where you can easily find your stuff is the International Bookstore on Vile Parle Station Road, Vile Parle (West), connected to the Parle Book Centre. They have a dedicated store for IB and IGCSE textbooks, guides, teachers’ resources, workbooks, papers, and more, and they even offer home delivery if you want. They are also very helpful and played a key role in helping me get most of my History and Global Perspectives materials from their beautiful, well-maintained store. The store is a paradise for international textbook lovers, and the staff is very accommodating. Talking with the managers will give you a lot of practical knowledge that you won’t find in any other second-hand bookstore.

The same applies to Scholars Book Centre; talking with the managers there can teach you more about your content than you could ever learn for free online.

The books are costly at both places, but I’d rather wear the old coat and buy the new book because I am serious about studying for these two boards, IGCSE/IB, and creating some awesome free content on the internet through my portfolio and my literary blog for this purpose. So, I would prefer to spend a little more at worthwhile stores rather than save my pennies and lose my pounds!

I absolutely do not recommend downloading any free IB or IGCSE question papers that are posted illegally on the internet because it’s illegal and done without the consent of the IB, IGCSE board. By downloading these so-called free materials from such websites, you are engaging in online theft and corruption, which I hope you do not want to be associated with as a future, responsible International Board teacher. Additionally, most papers that follow the latest patterns are not available on these so-called ‘free’ sites. To find something ‘free’ online, you will:

1. First have to become an IB or IGCSE teacher and start working in an IGCSE or IB school.

2. Then only will you be provided with the passwords to the actual authenticated IB and IGCSE Board Websites to gain your teaching guides, workbook materials, syllabi, and Board papers, etc., for FREE and legally.

3. But this happens only AFTER you are a teacher in such a school, not before that.

4. So, you can’t get authentic FREE information related to this board anywhere else.

5. If so, then it is obviously not legit, and you are taking part in a forgery.

I have many colleagues who indulge in this practice and call me a ‘fool’ for spending so much of my hard-earned cash on these textbooks, but I think they, as usual, have misunderstood the situation. If one is serious about learning the IGCSE and IB content, then one needs to not only follow the rules and regulations of the IB and IGCSE Board and their training centers, but also obey the words of our mentor and coordinator, Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am, to ensure we learn our content properly and genuinely, not through dishonest means.

Otherwise, what is the difference between us and a plagiarist?

As I mentioned, many of my colleagues in my cohort opted for free, illegal materials available online, but I have not been part of this group. Because I want to be the best in my field for the sake of the young ones put in my care, as well as the institute for which I will be working. I know my responsibilities in life. And those who don’t have the financial means to afford these guides and books can easily borrow material from those who can or they can have a few study sessions together to collect the materials needed for their studies. There are always legal ways and means to get one’s work done; we just have to start thinking internationally, as Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am always states, and stop thinking in an exclusive short-term manner. We must always consider the long-term consequences of our actions.

So,

‘Wear the old coat and buy the new book.’

― Austin Phelps

(American Congregational minister and educationalist)

I purchased my study materials from two highly recommended stores and have been studying from January to November 10th, 2025, as I create and edit my website portfolio for my PGCITE (Postgraduate Certificate in International Teacher Education) at Podar International School, Santacruz.

It’s tough going, especially with all my other projects on my plate, but I keep pushing forward. I’m encouraged by my family members, both alive and deceased, my tuition students, the student friends I made at Podar, and of course, my fans and followers on Goodreads, where I am an influencer. A big shout-out to you all—especially my Goodreads friends—who keep cheering me on and have my back when I least expect it. Who says social media can’t sometimes bring you peace? It really depends on who you’re befriending.

I also thank my God – my Jesus Christ – my husband, who keeps my brain juices flowing, as well as all the Saints – Catholic and otherwise – whom I pray to and meditate on when I feel like my brain might explode or I am heading toward a brain hemorrhage because of all the content I am cramming into my head. Here are some of these amazing individuals who prevent me from landing the OPD.

The content exams for other colleagues were held in July, but because of my heavy workload, content preparation, and two back-to-back bouts of Swine Flu and Chikungunya from July to September, my exams were scheduled from September onward.

Reading the recommended literature and the books mentioned in the IB and IGCSE textbooks I purchased helped me create more notes for my studies and expand my knowledge of Sociology, Psychology, and other humanities subjects. As I said, I can absorb information like a really big, plus-size sponge—that is my superpower.

And I know how to teach my students to imbibe this superpower into their own lives and study schedules.

So, apart from studying the PGCITE content exams, please also read up and research other related topics to further your knowledge and expertise in your subject/subjects. Because:

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

― Dr. Seuss

(from his book ‘I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!’)

©2025 Fiza Pathan

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FIZA PATHAN’S ACTION RESEARCH REPORT

As promised, I have placed my Action Research Report in the public domain to give my PGCITE colleagues at Podar International School, Santacruz, Mumbai an idea on how to prepare their own Action Research. However, the intellectual property and copyright of the contents rest solely with me, Fiza Pathan, and only I can be identified as its author.

This literature-based theoretical analysis synthesizes existing research to provide evidence-based guidance for classroom management in the IB/IGCSE context. While grounded in scholarly literature, application to specific contexts requires thoughtful adaptation, considering local factors, including student characteristics, cultural context, physical environment, schedule, and school culture. Teachers are encouraged to use this analysis as a starting point for their own reflective practice, adapting recommendations to their unique situations, and continuously assessing effectiveness through observation, student feedback, and professional dialogue.

Balancing Pedagogical Effectiveness with Classroom Management in IB/IGCSE Contexts: A Literature-Based Theoretical Analysis

Abstract.

This literature-based theoretical analysis examines research on effective classroom management strategies in International Baccalaureate (IB) and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) settings. Through a systematic review of the scholarly literature on classroom management theory, constructivist pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, and international education, this paper synthesizes evidence-based practices for maintaining classroom decorum while delivering engaging, inquiry-based instruction. The analysis explores the unique challenges of managing student-centered learning environments characteristic of IB/IGCSE programs, where traditional authoritarian approaches may conflict with program values that emphasize student agency, critical thinking, and international-mindedness. Drawing on established classroom management frameworks including Marzano’s research-based strategies, Kounin’s principles of lesson momentum, Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and restorative practices, this paper identifies strategies that successfully balance instructional delivery with positive behavior management. The final section provides practical implementation recommendations for teachers working in IB/IGCSE contexts, outlining concrete steps for establishing preventive systems, employing non-disruptive interventions, building positive relationships, and creating culturally responsive classroom communities that align with international education values.

Keywords: classroom management, IB education, IGCSE, literature review, teacher practice, instructional effectiveness, international education, constructivist pedagogy

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background and Rationale

The International Baccalaureate and IGCSE programs represent globally recognized educational frameworks that have gained increasing prominence in international education. According to the International Baccalaureate Organization (2020), IB programs serve more than 1.95 million students in more than 5,500 schools across 159 countries worldwide. Similarly, Cambridge Assessment International Education (2020) reports that IGCSE qualifications are offered in over 10,000 schools worldwide. These programs share common philosophical foundations, emphasizing critical thinking, international-mindedness, inquiry-based learning, and student-centered pedagogy.

While these pedagogical approaches foster deep understanding and engagement, they also present distinct classroom management challenges that differ from traditional, teacher-directed instruction. Twigg (2010) notes that successful inquiry-based teaching in IB programmes requires teachers to balance student autonomy with the necessary structure—a tension that lies at the heart of effective classroom management in these contexts. Unlike conventional classrooms, such as those in SSC, ICSE, and CBSE schools, where teacher authority and direct instruction predominate, IB/IGCSE environments encourage student discussion, collaborative projects, questioning, and active knowledge construction (International Baccalaureate, 2020). These features that make learning engaging can also create opportunities for off-task behavior and disruption if not managed effectively. I have observed this throughout my life, particularly during my PGCITE course at Podar International School IB, Santacruz, India. I always made my learning materials engaging, changing my activities every 15 minutes, even for my IB Diploma students, and alternating among writing, listening, and collaborative assignments. This is because I have realized that Gen Z and Gen Alpha students today have very short attention spans, and their capacity to retain information from a full-length lecture is limited to approximately 15 minutes at a time (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak, 2019). I cannot change that for now, but I can address it by making my teaching highly engaging, distinctive in content, and intellectually stimulating.

The challenge for teachers in IB/IGCSE contexts is not choosing between effective teaching and classroom control but rather finding strategies that seamlessly integrate both. As Cornelius-White and Harbaugh (2010) demonstrate, student-centered relationships and management approaches correlate with increased student participation, satisfaction, and achievement; however, these approaches require clear structures and expectations to prevent chaos. It was personally difficult for me to teach IBDP-1 English (SL) at Podar International at first because of the lack of clear expectations among students regarding what decorum meant in a Humanities classroom at the IBDP level at the school. Even after making myself clear, due to a lack of management cooperation and initiative to make their classroom decorum expectations clear to their IBDP-1 (SL) students, I was forced to change the class and take on the English (HL) IBDP-1 class, which then proceeded as usual. It was not that my work was unengaging, but that a small number of students were devoted solely to causing chaos and disrupting my class that day, at any cost.

Traditional authoritarian management strategies may control behavior but can undermine student agency and critical thinking, which are central to the IB/IGCSE philosophy. Conversely, overly permissive environments may honor student voices but fail to provide the structure necessary for effective learning.

1.2 Statement of Purpose

This literature-based theoretical analysis examines research on effective classroom management strategies specifically applicable to IB and IGCSE educational contexts. This paper synthesizes the scholarly literature to answer the central question: How can teachers in IB/IGCSE settings maintain classroom decorum and a productive learning environment while implementing the inquiry-based, student-centered pedagogies that define these programs?

This analysis is significant for several reasons.

Pedagogical significance: The constructivist approaches favored in IB/IGCSE require management strategies that differ from traditional direct instruction, yet research specifically addressing management in these contexts remains limited. This study bridges this gap by synthesizing relevant research and applying it to IB/IGCSE contexts.

Contextual Significance: IB and IGCSE schools serve culturally diverse international student populations with varying expectations regarding classroom behavior, authority, and participation (Hayden and Thompson, 2016). Management strategies must be culturally responsive while maintaining consistent expectations. At Podar IB, many American students do not appreciate being guided on their extension essay topics or on which TOK thesis they wish to pursue, whereas the Chinese students I have observed seem to crave such attention. However, we must also realize that we are living in the age of AI with Gen Z and Gen Alpha students who are the most globally connected students in the world (McCrindle and Fell 2024), and the earlier idea of cultural responsiveness in an IB/IGCSE classroom setting has taken on a new form of inclusiveness and respect for all. Stereotypes are not appreciated by Gen Z or Gen Alpha students, and compared with their Millennial predecessors, these students are more devoted to self-expression and gender identity, which makes it equally important for IB/IGCSE teachers to learn the correct pronouns to use when addressing students (Jean M. Twenge, 2023).

Practical Significance: Teachers in IB/IGCSE schools face daily challenges in balancing programmatic ideals with classroom realities. This analysis provides evidence-based guidance based on research rather than anecdotal experience.

Theoretical Significance: This study contributes to the understanding of how established classroom management theories apply (or require adaptation) in international, constructivist educational contexts.

1.3 Research Questions

This literature review was guided by the following questions:

Primary Research Question: What does existing research indicate about effective strategies for balancing curriculum delivery and classroom management in IB/IGCSE settings?

Sub-Questions

1. What theoretical frameworks best explain effective classroom management in student-centered learning environments?
2. What does the research identify as the key challenges to maintaining decorum in inquiry-based classrooms?
3. Which evidence-based management strategies align with the IB/IGCSE pedagogical values and approaches?
4. How can classroom management strategies be culturally responsive in international school contexts?
5. What preventive systems do research findings suggest for reducing classroom disruption?
6. How do teacher-student relationships influence classroom management effectiveness in student-centered environments?

1.4 Scope and Limitations

This paper focuses specifically on classroom management in IB and IGCSE secondary school contexts (students aged 11-18). While many principles apply across grade levels, developmental differences mean that strategies effective with adolescents may not transfer to primary settings.

The literature reviewed includes the following:

• Peer-reviewed scholarly articles on classroom management
• Books by established researchers in classroom management, international education, and constructivist pedagogy
• Official IB and IGCSE publications describing program philosophy and teaching approaches
• Research on culturally responsive teaching and international education
• Studies on student-centered and inquiry-based learning environments

Limitations include:

• Research specifically examining classroom management in IB/IGCSE contexts is limited, and much of the analysis relies on applying general classroom management research to these contexts. In fact, this is not done in any B.Ed. program or PGCITE institute in India, because educators find it difficult to handle the many complex issues related to implementing some semblance of classroom management to Gen Z and Gen Alpha students (Elmore and McPeak 2019; McCrindle and Fell 2024) especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated the complex issues already present among students of the present generation (Greg Lukianoff and Johnathan Haidt 2018; McCrindle and Fell 2024).
• Most classroom management research originates from Western (particularly North American) educational settings and may not fully address non-Western perspectives. It almost seems as though little is done in classroom management research in Asian or African settings. In addition, Western Classroom Management research has primarily focused on contexts in which two or three major religious or ethnic denominations are present in every IB/IGCSE classroom, such as the USA in the 1970s, where the majority of students were Black and White Americans, which is not applicable to the present-day globalized setting.
• Research quality varies; this study prioritizes peer-reviewed sources and established researchers, while acknowledging that the field includes practitioner literature of variable rigor.

Thus, more research needs to be conducted globally on this topic, especially in connection with the present generation of the AI Age, who suffer, according to researchers Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak (2019), from Nine Hidden Challenges, which are listed as follows:

1. Empowerment without wisdom
2. Stimulation without ownership
3. Consumption without reflection
4. External locus of control (believing life happens TO them, not BY them)
5. High anxiety levels
6. Declining resilience
7. Shorter attention spans
8. Instant gratification seeking
9. Self-regulation struggles due to constant tech exposure

1.5 Organization of the Paper

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows.

Chapter 2 presents a comprehensive literature review examining classroom management theory, IB/IGCSE pedagogical frameworks, culturally responsive teaching, and the role of teacher-student relationships.

Chapter 3 synthesizes the key themes emerging from the literature and analyzes how different theoretical perspectives converge to inform practice in IB/IGCSE contexts.

Chapter 4 provides evidence-based recommendations for practice, outlining the specific strategies teachers can implement.

Chapter 5 discusses the implications, challenges, and future directions for research and practice.

Chapter 6 concludes with reflections on the balance between management and pedagogy in international educational contexts.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

This literature review examines five interconnected areas: (1) the theoretical foundations of classroom management, (2) IB/IGCSE pedagogical frameworks and their management implications, (3) culturally responsive teaching in international contexts, (4) the role of teacher-student relationships, and (5) specific evidence-based management strategies. Together, this body of literature informs our understanding of how teachers can effectively manage classroom environments while implementing student-centered, inquiry-based instruction.

2.2 Theoretical Foundations of Classroom Management

2.2.1 Evolution of Classroom Management Theory

Classroom management theory has evolved significantly from purely behaviorist approaches emphasizing control and compliance to more comprehensive models that consider social-emotional learning, relationships, and cultural context. This evolution reflects broader shifts in educational philosophy from teacher-centered transmission models to student-centered, constructivist approaches.

Early Behaviorist Approaches

Early classroom management models drew heavily on behavioral psychology, emphasizing stimulus-response relationships and reinforcement contingencies. Canter and Canter’s (1976) Assertive Discipline approach exemplifies this tradition, advocating clear rules, consistent consequences, and teacher authority. The model assumes that students will comply with expectations when teachers assertively communicate rules and follow predetermined consequences. While effective in controlling behavior, critics argue that these approaches are overly rigid, fail to address the underlying causes of misbehavior, and undermine student autonomy (Kohn, 2006).

Kounin’s Preventive Management Principles

Kounin’s (1970) seminal observational research identified key management skills distinguishing effective from ineffective classroom managers. His concepts remain foundational to contemporary practice.

• Withitness: Teacher awareness of everything happening in the classroom, often called “having eyes in the back of your head.” Kounin found that teachers who accurately identify and address misbehavior early, before it escalates, maintain better classroom control.
• Overlapping: The ability to handle multiple events simultaneously without losing the lesson momentum. Effective teachers manage disruptions while continuing their instruction.
• Momentum and Smoothness: Maintaining lesson flow without unnecessary interruptions. Kounin identified teacher behaviors that disrupt momentum, including “overdwelling” (spending excessive time on minor points) and “fragmentation” (breaking activities into unnecessary small steps).
• Group Focus: Keeping all students engaged and accountable during instruction through techniques such as keeping students in suspense about who will be called on, alerting students before asking questions, and ensuring variety in activities.

Kounin’s work shifted focus from reactive discipline to proactive management, emphasizing prevention over punishment—a principle that remains central to contemporary approaches.

Contemporary Integrative Frameworks

Modern classroom management synthesizes behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic perspectives. Marzano’s (2003) comprehensive framework, based on a meta-analysis of classroom management research, identifies four key dimensions:

1. Rules and Procedures: Establishing clear expectations and routines reduces ambiguity and creates a predictable environment. Marzano distinguishes between rules (behavioral expectations) and procedures (processes for accomplishing routine tasks), noting that both require explicit teaching and practice.
2. Disciplinary Interventions: When rules are violated, teachers must respond with appropriate consequences that maintain dignity while addressing behavior. Marzano emphasizes graduated interventions, beginning with subtle cues and escalating only as necessary.
3. Teacher-Student Relationships: Positive relationships characterized by appropriate levels of dominance (teacher as classroom leader) and cooperation (teacher demonstrates care and personal interest) form the foundation for effective management. Students are more likely to comply with teachers’ expectations if they perceive them as caring and fair.
4. Mental Set: Teachers must maintain appropriate levels of “withitness” (Kounin’s concept) and emotional objectivity, responding to misbehavior without taking it personally or becoming emotionally reactive.

Marzano’s framework demonstrates that effective management requires multiple, integrated strategies rather than single approaches.

2.2.2 Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

Positive behavior interventions and support represent a systems-level approach to behavior management, emphasizing teaching appropriate behavior rather than merely punishing misbehavior. While originally designed for school-wide implementation, PBIS principles also apply to individual classrooms (Sugai and Horner, 2006).

PBIS is grounded in several core principles.

• Define and Teach Expectations: Rather than assuming that students know how to behave appropriately, teachers explicitly define, teach, and practice expected behaviors. Expectations are stated positively (what to do rather than what not to do) and are connected to specific contexts (e.g., hallway behavior, group work behavior).
• Acknowledge Appropriate Behavior: PBIS emphasizes recognizing and reinforcing appropriate behavior at higher rates than those used to punish misbehavior. This shifts the classroom climate from punitive to positive.
• Use Data for Decision-Making: Teachers collect data on behavior patterns to identify when, where, and why problems occur, and then modify environments and instruction to prevent problems.
• Tiered Support: PBIS uses a three-tier model: Tier 1 (universal strategies for all students), Tier 2 (targeted interventions for at-risk students), and Tier 3 (intensive, individualized support). This ensures that struggling students receive appropriate support rather than repeated punishment.

Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of PBIS in reducing problem behavior and improving school climate (Bradshaw, Koth, Thornton, and Leaf, 2009). However, their implementation requires significant training and systemic support. For individual teachers, PBIS principles of teaching expectations, positive reinforcement, and data-based decision-making remain applicable, even without school-wide implementation.

2.2.3 Restorative Practices

Restorative practices offer an alternative to punitive discipline, focusing on repairing harm, rebuilding relationships, and developing empathy (Wachtel 2016). Rooted in restorative justice principles from criminology, this approach reframes misbehavior as harm to community relationships rather than as rule-breaking that requires punishment.

Key restorative practices include the following:

• Affective Statements: Teachers communicate how behavior impacts them and others using “I” statements that express feelings without blaming: “I feel frustrated when you talk while I’m giving instructions because it prevents others from hearing.”
• Restorative Questions: When addressing misbehavior, teachers use questions that promote reflection, such as “What happened? What were you thinking at that time? Who has been affected? What needs to happen to make things right?”
• Restorative Conferences: Bringing together those involved in conflict to discuss what happened, share impacts, and determine how to repair the harm.
• Community Building Circles: Regular class meetings in which students share experiences, discuss issues, and build relationships.

Morrison and Vaandering (2012) argue that restorative practices align well with constructivist pedagogy because both emphasize dialogue, reflection, and active participation. However, its implementation requires a significant time investment and represents a fundamental shift from traditional authoritarian discipline. In IB/IGCSE contexts, where values such as being “principled” and “caring” are central, restorative approaches offer philosophically aligned alternatives to punishment-based discipline.

2.2.4 Culturally Responsive Classroom Management

Weinstein, Curran, and Tomlinson-Clarke (2003) argue that effective classroom management must be culturally responsive, recognizing that behavioral norms, communication styles, and concepts of respect vary across cultures. What counts as “appropriate” behavior, “respectful” communication, or “engaged” participation varies across cultures, yet classroom management research and practice often reflect dominant cultural assumptions.

Gay (2018) identified several principles of culturally responsive classroom management.

• Acknowledge Cultural Differences: Recognize that students come from diverse cultural backgrounds that influence behavioral norms and expectations. What appears as “disrespect” may reflect different cultural communication styles.
• Build Cultural Knowledge: Learn about students’ cultural backgrounds, communication patterns, and behavioral norms. This requires ongoing learning and genuine curiosity.
• Establish Authentic Caring: Demonstrating care through culturally appropriate means. In some cultures, caring teachers are warm and friendly, while in others, caring means being academically demanding and challenging.
• Create Inclusive Communities: Ensure classroom expectations accommodate diverse behavioral and communication styles rather than privileging dominant culture norms.
• Communicate Explicitly: Make expectations clear and explicit rather than assuming that students share implicit understandings of appropriate behavior.

For IB/IGCSE teachers in international schools serving students from dozens of countries, culturally responsive management is essential. Hayden and Thompson (2016) note that cultural diversity presents both strengths and challenges in international schools, requiring teachers to navigate diverse norms while maintaining consistent expectations for student behavior.

2.3 IB and IGCSE Pedagogical Frameworks

2.3.1 Constructivist Learning Theory

Both the IB and IGCSE programs are grounded in constructivist learning theory, which fundamentally shapes their pedagogical approaches and, consequently, the classroom management challenges they present. Constructivism posits that learners actively construct knowledge through experience and social interaction, rather than passively receiving information from teachers (Piaget, 1952; Vygotsky, 1978).

Piaget’s Cognitive Constructivism

Piaget’s theory emphasizes how individuals construct understanding through interaction with their environment, progressing through developmental stages characterized by increasingly sophisticated thinking. The educational implications include the following:

• Learning occurs through active engagement rather than passive listening
• Students need hands-on experiences and opportunities to manipulate ideas
• Cognitive conflict (encountering ideas that challenge existing understanding) drives learning
• Instruction should be appropriately matched to the developmental level

Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism

Vygotsky’s theory emphasizes the social nature of learning and introduces concepts including:

• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The gap between what learners can do independently and what they can achieve with guidance. Effective instruction targets the ZPD and provides appropriate scaffolding.
• Social Interaction: Learning occurs through social interaction and dialogue. Language is central to both thinking and learning.
• Cultural Mediation: Learning is culturally situated; tools, symbols, and practices shape how we think and learn.

Implications for Classroom Management

Constructivist learning environments require different management strategies than traditional direct-instruction classrooms. Brooks and Brooks (1999) note that constructivist classrooms are characterized by the following:

• Student questions driving curriculum and learning
• Primary sources and manipulative materials rather than textbooks
• Student interaction and dialogue
• Student-constructed understanding validated through discussion
• Teachers guiding and facilitating rather than transmitting knowledge

These features create management challenges: when students work collaboratively, talk, move around, and pursue individual questions, opportunities for off-task behavior increase. Oliver and Reschly (2010) emphasize that constructivist classrooms require strong organizational systems enabling student autonomy within structure. The challenge is to create enough freedom for inquiry while maintaining sufficient order for learning.

2.3.2 IB Approaches to Teaching and Learning

The International Baccalaureate explicitly articulates six Approaches to Teaching that guide instructional practice across IB programs (International Baccalaureate, 2020):

1. Inquiry-based: Teaching based on inquiry encourages students to ask questions, investigate, and construct their understanding rather than memorize facts.
2. Conceptually focused: Teaching emphasizes key concepts and cross-disciplinary connections rather than isolated facts.
3. Contextualized in local and global contexts: Learning connects to real-world issues and authentic context.
4. Collaborative: Teaching emphasizes teamwork, cooperation, and learning from others.
5. Differentiated instruction meets diverse learning needs, interests, and readiness levels.
6. Assessment-informed: Teaching is responsive to ongoing formative assessments.

These approaches create dynamic, student-centered learning environments but also present management challenges for educators. Inquiry-based learning requires students to discuss, question, and explore, and these activities can become chaotic without effective management. Collaborative learning involves group work, which research shows is particularly challenging to manage effectively (Emmer and Gerwels 2006).

The IB Learner Profile

The IB Learner Profile identifies ten attributes describing the characteristics of internationally minded learners: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective (International Baccalaureate, 2020). Wells (2011) provides a critical analysis of the Learner Profile, noting that it is an aspirational framework that guides student development.

From a classroom management perspective, the Learner Profile offers a value-based framework for establishing behavioral expectations. Rather than viewing management as controlling behavior, teachers can frame expectations in terms of Learner Profile attributes.

• Principled: Making ethical choices, acting with integrity and honesty
• Caring: Showing respect, empathy, and commitment to service
• Balanced: Managing emotions and behavior effectively
• Communicators: Listening carefully and collaborating effectively

Walker and Goodman (2009) suggested that the Learner Profile should infuse all aspects of school life, including approaches to discipline and classroom management.

Approaches to Learning (ATL) Skills

IB programs emphasize the development of Approaches to Learning skills across five categories: thinking, communication, social, self-management, and research (International Baccalaureate, 2018). Self-management skills, including organization, time management, and emotion regulation, are directly relevant to classroom behavior.

Viewing behavior management through the ATL lens reframes it as skill development rather than compliance enforcement. Students who talk excessively during independent work are not simply misbehaving; they require the development of self-management skills. This reframing aligns management with IB pedagogy and creates opportunities for teaching rather than punishment.

2.3.3 IGCSE Pedagogical Approaches

Cambridge IGCSE programs, while less explicitly articulated than the IB’s pedagogical frameworks, similarly emphasize student-centered approaches, including inquiry, critical thinking, and the application of knowledge to real-world contexts (Cambridge Assessment, 2019). The Cambridge Teaching and Learning Framework emphasizes:

• Active Learning: Students actively engage with content through discussion, investigation, and problem-solving
• Metacognition: Students reflect on their learning processes
• Assessment for Learning: Formative assessment guides instruction
• Student Responsibility: Students take ownership of learning

Similar to IB, these approaches create engaging but potentially challenging-to-manage learning environments.

2.4 The Role of Teacher-Student Relationships

Contemporary classroom management research increasingly emphasizes the importance of relationships in effective management. Multiple meta-analyses have demonstrated that positive teacher-student relationships correlate with reduced behavioral problems and increased engagement and achievement (Roorda et al., 2011).

2.4.1 Attachment and Relationships Theory

Pianta’s (1999) application of attachment theory to teacher-student relationships provides a theoretical grounding for understanding why relationships matter for management. Secure attachments with teachers provide students with the following:

• Safe base: Feeling secure enough to take intellectual risks and explore challenging content
• Emotional regulation: Teachers help students manage emotions and behavior
• Positive working models: Experiences with caring adults shape expectations for relationships

Students with positive teacher relationships exhibit better classroom behavior, engagement, and achievement (Hamre and Pianta, 2001). Conversely, conflictual relationships predict an increase in behavioral problems over time.

2.4.2 Cultural Dimensions of Teacher-Student Relationships

The meaning of “positive relationships” varies by culture. Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clarke, and Curran (2004) note that relationship-building looks different across cultures:

• Communication styles: Some cultures value direct communication; others emphasize indirect, contextual communication
• Concepts of respect: Respect may mean deference to authority or mutual regard between equals
• Appropriate distance: Comfortable interpersonal distance and appropriate familiarity vary culturally
• Displays of caring: Teachers show care through warmth and friendliness in some cultures, through high expectations and academic challenge in others

In IB/IGCSE international school contexts, teachers must build relationships across cultural differences, which requires cultural humility and a willingness to learn about students’ backgrounds.

2.4.3 Relationships and Management in Student-Centered Classrooms

Cornelius-White (2007) conducted a meta-analysis examining relationships between learner-centered teacher variables (including empathy, warmth, and encouragement of critical thinking) and student outcomes. The findings showed significant positive correlations between learner-centered approaches and student achievement, participation, satisfaction, and reduced dropout.

In student-centered classrooms, where teachers share power and emphasize relationships, students are more invested in maintaining positive classroom environments. However, this does not mean abandoning structure; relationship-based management still requires clear expectations and consistent follow-through (Marzano, 2003).

2.5 Evidence-Based Management Strategies

This section synthesizes research on specific classroom management strategies, organizing them into preventive strategies (reducing the likelihood of misbehavior), active management strategies (addressing misbehavior during instruction), and relationship-building strategies.

2.5.1 Preventive Strategies

Research consistently demonstrates that prevention is more effective and less time-consuming than reactions (Simonsen et al., 2008).

Establishing Rules and Procedures

Clear expectations and routines form the foundation of effective classroom management (Marzano, 2003; Wong and Wong, 2018). Research indicates that effective teachers:

• Establish clear rules (behavioral expectations) and procedures (routines for accomplishing tasks)
• Limit rules to essential items (typically 4-6 rules)
• State rules positively when possible
• Teach and practice procedures until they become automatic
• Review expectations periodically, especially after breaks

Emmer and Evertson (2016) emphasize that simply posting rules is insufficient; effective teachers actively teach expectations through modeling, practicing, and providing feedback. In constructivist classrooms, co-creating rules with students increases buy-in while teaching democratic participation (Burden 2016).

Engaging Instructional Design

One of the most effective “management” strategies is engaging, well-designed instruction. When students find learning meaningful and appropriately challenging, behavioral problems decrease (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004). Research on student engagement has identified key instructional features that maintain engagement.

1. Clear learning goals: Students understand what they’re learning and why it matters
2. Appropriate challenge: Work is within students’ zone of proximal development—challenging but achievable
3. Relevance: Content connects to students’ lives, interests, and questions
4. Variety: Activities change regularly (typically every 10-15 minutes for adolescents)
5. Active participation: Students actively engage rather than passively listening
6. Choice: Students have meaningful choices in what or how they learn

For IB/IGCSE teachers, these features align naturally with inquiry-based pedagogy. Well-designed inquiry lessons maintain engagement through authentic questions, investigations, and real-world relevance.

Classroom Organization and Physical Space

Physical classroom organization impacts students’ behavior (Evertson and Weinstein, 2006). Effective arrangements:

1. Ensure the teacher can see all students and move throughout the room (visibility and proximity)
2. Minimize distractions and traffic flow problems
3. Arrange seating to facilitate instructional activities (flexible arrangements for different activities)
4. Organize materials so students can access them independently

In inquiry-based classrooms, organizations must support varied activities—whole-class discussions, small-group collaborations, and independent work—thereby requiring flexible spaces and clear procedures for transitions.

2.5.2 Active Management Strategies

Even with strong preventive systems in place, teachers must address misbehavior during instruction. Effective strategies minimize disruption to learning while addressing behavior issues.

The Principle of Least Intervention

Effective managers use graduated interventions, beginning with the least intrusive strategies and escalating only as necessary (Charles and Senter, 2011). This preserves the lesson momentum while addressing behavior. The intervention hierarchy includes the following:

1. Non-verbal interventions: Eye contact, proximity, gestures, pausing
2. Verbal interventions: Simple redirections, questions, choices
3. Logical consequences: Natural or related consequences for continued misbehavior
4. Individualized interventions: Private conversations, contracts, specialized support

Research shows that nonverbal interventions effectively address most minor misbehavior (70-80%) without interrupting instruction (Jones, 2007).

Proximity and Movement

Teacher movement throughout the classroom serves multiple functions: monitoring student work, providing assistance, and managing behavior through proximity (Kounin, 1970). Strategic positioning near students who showed signs of off-task behavior often resulted in their being redirected without verbal intervention.

Choice and Framing

Offering choices increases student compliance while maintaining the teacher’s authority (Deci and Ryan, 2000). Rather than making demands (“Sit down now”), choices acknowledge student autonomy while maintaining expectations (“You can sit here or move to that seat—you choose”). Research on self-determination theory shows that autonomy-supportive approaches increase motivation and reduce resistance to change.

Maintaining Emotional Objectivity

Marzano (2003) emphasizes the importance of a “mental set”—maintaining awareness and emotional objectivity when addressing misbehavior. Teachers who remain calm and matter-of-factly address problems are more effective than those who respond emotionally. This is particularly challenging when students are defiant or disrespectful; however, remaining professional is essential.

2.5.3 Relationship-Building Strategies

Relationships do not build themselves; they require intentional effort (Pianta, 1999).

Communicating Care and Interest

Students are more cooperative with teachers whom they perceive as caring (Wentzel, 1997). Demonstrating care includes the following:

1. Greeting students individually
2. Learning about students’ interests, cultures, and lives
3. Showing interest in their ideas and questions
4. Following up on concerns or challenges
5. Attending school events
6. Using humor appropriately
7. Acknowledging effort and growth

Conferencing and Connection

Brief individual conferences build relationships while allowing teachers to understand students’ perspectives, address concerns, and set goals (Allen et al., 2013). Even 2-3 minutes per student periodically strengthens relationships.

Culturally Responsive Relationship-Building

Building relationships across cultural differences requires cultural humility—recognizing one’s own cultural lens, learning about students’ cultures, and adapting approaches (Gay, 2018). This includes:

1. Learning the correct pronunciation of names
2. Understanding cultural communication styles
3. Acknowledging cultural celebrations and values
4. Avoiding cultural stereotypes
5. Creating space for diverse forms of participation

2.6 Synthesis: Toward an Integrated Framework

The literature reviewed above suggests that effective classroom management in IB/IGCSE contexts requires an integrated approach that draws on multiple theoretical perspectives.

From the Classical Management Theory (Kounin):

1. Maintain lesson momentum and smoothness
2. Develop “withitness” and awareness
3. Use overlapping to handle multiple events simultaneously
4. Keep all students engaged through group focus techniques

From Contemporary Research-Based Approaches (Marzano):

1. Establish clear rules and procedures
2. Build positive teacher-student relationships
3. Use appropriate disciplinary interventions when needed
4. Maintain emotional objectivity and awareness

From PBIS:

1. Define and teach behavioral expectations explicitly
2. Acknowledge appropriate behavior frequently
3. Use data to identify patterns and prevent problems
4. Provide tiered support for struggling students

From Restorative Practices:

1. Focus on repairing harm rather than punishment
2. Use dialogue and reflection to address misbehavior
3. Build classroom community through regular connection
4. Maintain student dignity when addressing problems

From Culturally Responsive Teaching:

1. Recognize cultural dimensions of behavior and management
2. Learn about students’ cultural backgrounds
3. Adapt communication and relationship-building across cultures
4. Create inclusive environments honoring diversity

From Constructivist Pedagogy to IB/IGCSE Frameworks:

1. Provide structure that enables student autonomy
2. Frame behavior through values (Learner Profile) and skills (ATL)
3. Use management strategies aligned with student-centered pedagogy
4. Teach self-management as a learned skill

This integrated framework suggests that effective management in IB/IGCSE contexts is characterized by:

1. Strong preventive systems that create predictable, engaging environments
2. Non-disruptive interventions that maintain lesson momentum
3. Positive relationships built on care and cultural responsiveness
4. Alignment with program values and constructivist pedagogy
5. Teaching behavior as skill development rather than the enforcement of compliance

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Chapter 3: Thematic Analysis and Synthesis

3.1 Introduction

This chapter synthesizes the key themes emerging from the literature reviewed in Chapter 2, analyzing how different research traditions converge to inform practice in IB/IGCSE contexts. Five major themes were identified and explored: (1) the primacy of prevention over reaction, (2) the foundational role of relationships, (3) the importance of cultural responsiveness in international contexts, (4) the alignment between student agency and effective management, and (5) the integration of management with inquiry-based pedagogy.

3.2 Theme 1: Prevention Is More Effective Than Reaction

Perhaps the most consistent finding across all classroom management research is that preventing problems is more effective than addressing them after they occur. This theme appears across theoretical perspectives.

Time and Learning Impact: Simonsen et al. (2008) synthesized research showing that time invested in establishing preventive systems yields significant returns in instructional time. Teachers who spend the first weeks of school thoroughly teaching routines and expectations spend far less time managing behavior throughout the year. Conversely, teachers who rush into content without establishing systems spend increasing amounts of time addressing the problems. However, I noticed that all teachers in IB and IGCSE classroom settings are hard-pressed for time and are not supported by school management leaders and authorities; instead, they are pressurized into finishing the allotted syllabus work at any cost. I observed this especially across the sections at Podar International School IB, Santacruz. There seemed to be a Damocles sword perpetually hanging over the heads of all the teachers there, whose classes I observed over 10 months. I observed 180 classes, including PYP, MYP, IGCSE, AS & A Level, and IBDP, and not one teacher seemed willing to invest time in establishing ground rules for classroom management before beginning the task at hand. So there was definitely a significant rush to finish syllabus work there—a pattern common among most well-meaning International School teachers today even in an IB/IGCSE context due to lack of cooperation from higher school authorities, especially post-2010 when education seems to have been taken over by business corporates who treat their schools like factories and business industries (Jean M. Twenge 2023; Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak 2019).

Kounin’s (1970) research demonstrates that the difference between effective and ineffective managers lies not in how they respond to misbehavior, but in how they prevent it. Effective teachers create momentum, maintain awareness, and structure activities to minimize the opportunities for problems.

What Prevention Looks Like in IB/IGCSE Contexts

Drawing on the literature, preventive management in IB/IGCSE classrooms includes the following:

Clear Expectations Aligned with Program Values: Rather than arbitrary rules, expectations are connected to IB Learner Profile attributes (principled, caring, balanced) or ATL skills (self-management, collaboration). This alignment helps students see behavioral expectations as part of their development as learners rather than teacher-imposed restrictions (International Baccalaureate, 2020).

Established Routines for Inquiry Activities: Constructivist classrooms involve varied activities, including discussions, group work, investigations, and independent research. Each requires explicit procedures: How do we transition to group work? What does a productive discussion look like? How do we handle the materials? (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). Teaching these procedures prevents the chaos that can occur in student-centered environments that lack sufficient structure. On the flipside, this research does not take into account Gen Alpha and Gen Z students complete devotion to simply disturbing the peace state of being, which, according to most Western and Asian educationists today, is a modern-day unique classroom management issue that is a culmination of many factors, such as the rapid advances in technology, the advent of Gen Alpha being born not ‘with’ but ‘with’ the smartphone culture, and the after-effects of the pandemic, especially for Gen Alpha who were isolated, had to follow social distancing, and were forced into ‘remote and screen learning’ during a crucial part of their brain development cycle. (Jean M. Twenge 2023) (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak, 2019) (Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell, 2024) (Johnathan Haidt, 2024).

Engaging Instructional Design: Fredricks et al. (2004) demonstrate that engagement is a management strategy. When students find learning meaningful, appropriately challenging, and relevant, behavioral problems decrease. IB/IGCSE’s emphasis on inquiry, conceptual understanding, and real-world contexts naturally promotes engagementif lessons are well designed. When I taught the IBDP-1 English HL students about the Existential Themes in Han Kang’s Human Acts, I managed to make the lesson so engaging, especially in its delivery and content, with the usage of micro-teaching mechanisms that automatically captured the entire class’ attention in a matter of seconds. Being professionally trained as a public speaker also helps in this regard. Almost 89% of the class came up to me after the class ended to shake my hands because they had never experienced English Literature in the mind-blowing way that I presented it and were begging me to let them be absorbed in the school at the IBDP level for English. I consistently encounter the same situation wherever I go and in every class I teach because I adhere to the principle that the lesson should be engaging and well delivered from the outset. I take a lot of trouble with my lessons precisely because I am concerned about classroom management and creating conducive learning environments for all my students with their various Multiple Intelligences to learn in. (International Baccalaureate 2020) (Howard Gardner 1983).

Physical Organization Supporting Varied Activities: Evertson and Weinstein (2006) emphasize that physical space must support instructional activities. Inquiry-based classrooms require flexible arrangements that enable transitions between whole-class, small-group, and independent work. A clear organization of materials allows for student autonomy while maintaining order. Sadly, in Mumbai, IGCSE and IB schools, this kind of clear organization is lacking and, to a greater extent, absent. International School Teachers seem to equate epistemic chaos with collaborative learning, which is certainly not a correct deduction. In such a chaotic and reckless environment, effective teaching cannot be conducted, and all students do not get the individual attention required from their assigned teachers. This is especially true in schools where Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) appears to be a priority, particularly in international schools. Mental Health professionals seem to equate SEL with gentle parenting, even by educationists, which many modern researchers state is backfiring from all angles, leading Gen Z and Gen Alpha students to face complex and severe mental health crises’ and be unable to take on responsibilities later on in adulthood, leading to an epidemic of social and epistemic chaos that we are currently finding ourselves in as a globalized world. (Abigail Shrier 2024) (Greg Lukainoff and Johnathan Haidt 2018) (Johnathan Haidt 2024).

The Challenge of Time Investment

While research clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of prevention, the challenge for teachers is the significant upfront time investment required. Establishing systems, developing teaching procedures, and creating engaging lessons require time, a scarce resource for teachers. However, as Marzano (2003) notes, this represents an investment rather than a cost; time spent on prevention yields multiplicative returns throughout the year.

3.3 Theme 2: Relationships Form the Foundation

The second major theme across the literature is that positive teacher-student relationships form the foundation for effective classroom management. This theme appears in:

Attachment Theory Applications: Pianta’s (1999) work demonstrates that secure teacher-student relationships provide students with emotional security, enabling engagement and appropriate behavior. Students who trust their teachers are more willing to meet their expectations, take academic risks, and regulate their behavior.

Meta-Analytic Evidence: Roorda et al.’s (2011) meta-analysis of 99 studies demonstrates significant correlations between positive teacher-student relationships and student engagement, achievement, and reduced behavior problems. These effects are particularly strong for students at risk of academic or behavioral difficulties. I have consistently practiced this in my 15 years of teaching and have achieved the best possible results with my at-risk students. With this kind of attitude, I have helped the aforementioned students earn distinctions in my subjects, even when they have not achieved them in other subjects.

Self-Determination Theory: Deci and Ryan’s (2000) self-determination theory explains why relationships matter: humans have fundamental psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. When teachers meet students’ need for relatedness through caring relationships, students are more motivated to meet behavioral expectations.

Cultural Dimensions: As Gay (2018) emphasized, the definition of “positive relationships” varies across cultures. In international school contexts, teachers must build relationships across cultural differences, which requires cultural humility and a willingness to learn about diverse relationship norms and communication styles.

Relationships in Inquiry-Based Classrooms:

In IB/IGCSE contexts that emphasize student-centered learning, relationships assume greater importance. Cornelius-White’s (2007) meta-analysis shows that learner-centered teacher behaviors (including empathy, warmth, and encouragement of student initiative) correlate with numerous positive student outcomes. When teachers share power and emphasize relationships, students become invested in maintaining a positive classroom environment.

However, as Marzano (2003) notes, positive relationships do not eliminate the need for clear expectations and consistent enforcement. The most effective management combines appropriate dominance (the teacher as a classroom leader) with cooperation (the teacher demonstrates care and personal interest). An excessive emphasis on cooperation without a clear structure leads to chaos, and an excessive emphasis on dominance without relationships leads to resentment and resistance.

Practical Implications:

The literature suggests several relationship-building practices that are particularly relevant for IB/IGCSE contexts:

1. Individual Connection: Taking time to know students individually, learn about their cultures and interests, and show genuine curiosity about their ideas and questions
2. Conferencing: Brief individual conferences allow teachers to understand students’ perspectives, address concerns, and build connections
3. Culturally Responsive Care: Demonstrating care in culturally appropriate ways, recognizing that caring looks different across cultures
4. Respect for Student Voice: In programs emphasizing student agency and critical thinking, showing respect for students’ ideas and perspectives builds relationships while modeling IB values
5. Learner Profile Modeling: Teachers who embody Learner Profile attributes (caring, principled, open-minded, reflective) build credibility and model expected behaviors

3.4 Theme 3: Cultural Responsiveness Is Essential in International Contexts

A third major theme, particularly relevant for IB/IGCSE international schools, is the necessity for culturally responsive classroom management.

Cultural Dimensions of Behavior:

Weinstein et al. (2003) argue that behavioral norms, communication styles, and concepts of respect are culturally constructed. What counts as “appropriate” behavior, “respectful” communication, or “engaged” participation varies across cultures, yet classroom management research and practice often reflect dominant cultural assumptions.

Examples of cultural variations in behavioral norms include:

1. Communication style: Some cultures value direct communication; others emphasize indirect, contextual communication
2. Participation norms: Some cultures expect students to volunteer answers and speak up; others expect students to speak only when called upon
3. Concepts of respect: Respect may mean deference to authority or mutual regard between equals
4. Eye contact: Direct eye contact signals attention and respect in some cultures; in others, it’s considered disrespectful
5. Appropriate distance: Comfortable interpersonal distance varies culturally
6. Cooperation vs. competition: Some cultures emphasize collective achievement; others emphasize individual accomplishment

This last point is particularly evident in India in 2026. Previously, Indians focused heavily on Individual Accomplishments as a source of prestige. Now, with PM Narendra Modi’s introduction of the NEP 2020 IKS Policy and the Viksit Bharat Yojna to make us self-sufficient, we post 2025 as a nation have decided to put more emphasis on collective achievement rather than individual achievement. I can see this drastic transition in the way we as Indians think about others and ourselves, which is having a wonderfully positive impact on students in India, which was not there when only Individual Achievements were focused upon.

Challenges Faced by International Schools

Hayden and Thompson (2016) identified cultural diversity as both a strength and a challenge in international schools. Students from 30-40 different countries may have fundamentally different assumptions about appropriate classroom behavior, teacher authority, and student participation. Teachers face the challenge of creating consistent expectations while respecting the cultural diversity of their students.

Common challenges include the following:

1. Varying expectations of teacher authority: Students from cultures emphasizing deference to authority may struggle with the IB’s expectation that students question and challenge ideas, while students from more egalitarian cultures may resist teacher authority. I would also go so far as to say that it occurs not only among students from different countries or cultures, but also among siblings within the same family in the same country or home. One family may be egalitarian, while another may be more conservative. A student following K-Pop culture may be more aligned with the strict Korean Educational lifestyle, whereas students not into the same and more into football would probably be more of a challenge in the class, as if such a child were on the football field imitating his favorite football star. (Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell 2024)
2. Different participation styles: What appears as “disengagement” may reflect cultural norms about when and how to participate in a given activity.
3. Communication style conflicts: Direct feedback, considered helpful in some cultures, may be perceived as rude in others.
4. Varying concepts of individual versus collective responsibility: Individualistic and collectivist cultures have different norms regarding helping others, group work, and individual achievement.

Toward Culturally Responsive Management:

Gay (2018) outlined the following principles for culturally responsive classroom management:

Building Cultural Knowledge: Teachers must learn about students’ cultural backgrounds, behavioral norms, and communication styles. This requires ongoing learning through reading, conversations with students and families, and cultural humility—recognizing one’s own cultural lens and its limitations.

Make Expectations Explicit: Because behavioral norms vary culturally, teachers cannot assume that students share implicit understandings of appropriate behavior. Culturally responsive teachers make expectations explicit, explaining not just what is expected, but also why.

Create Inclusive Communities: Rather than requiring all students to conform to dominant cultural norms, inclusive classrooms accommodate diverse behavioral and communication styles. For example, participation can take multiple forms (written responses, small-group discussions, whole-class contributions) rather than privileging one style. This is what I did when I taught my Individuals & Societies class to grades 6D and 6C. When I noticed that 6D was totally involved with the Empire Builder Game (physical), I continued with the game, but where 6C was concerned, I noticed that most of the students there were more interested in my actual teaching, and so I kept shifting from playing the game to my PowerPoint presentation to explain certain concepts in Greek and Roman Civilizations to them. I saw that In 6C, they were more keen on learning content, so it was adapted to their needs accordingly.

Communicate Authentically: Cultural responsiveness requires a genuine interest in students’ cultures and a willingness to examine one’s own cultural assumptions. Students recognize both authentic and superficial forms of cultural engagement.

Connect to IB Values: International-mindedness, a core IB principle, includes respect for and valuing diversity. Culturally responsive management aligns with this value and provides practical approaches for navigating cultural differences.

3.5 Theme 4: Student Agency and Effective Management Are Compatible

The fourth theme challenges the false dichotomy between student-centered learning and classroom control. The literature demonstrates that student agency and effective management are complementary rather than opposites.

The False Dichotomy:

Teachers often perceive tension between maintaining order and promoting student voice, and between structure and autonomy. This reflects what Kohn (2006) identified as a fundamental misunderstanding: equating management with control and compliance rather than creating conditions for learning.

Self-Determination Theory:

Deci and Ryan’s (2000) self-determination theory explains why autonomy-supportive approaches can reduce, rather than increase, behavioral problems. When students experience autonomy (feeling ownership of their learning and behavior), competence (feeling capable), and relatedness (connection to teachers and peers), they are intrinsically motivated to act appropriately. Conversely, controlling approaches undermine intrinsic motivation and increase resistance and reliance on external control.

Evidence from Research:

Multiple studies have demonstrated that strategies that give students voice and choice reduce behavioral problems.

1. Reeve’s (2006) research shows that autonomy-supportive teachers (who provide choice, encourage initiative, and minimize control) have more engaged, self-regulated students
2. Studies of classroom meetings and democratic classrooms show that student participation in creating rules and solving problems increases compliance (Burden, 2016)
3. Research on choice in assignments and activities demonstrates increased engagement and reduced off-task behavior (Patall, Cooper, and Robinson, 2008)

The Role of Structure:

Critically, student agency does not imply the absence of structure. Brooks and Brooks (1999) emphasized that constructivist classrooms require clear organizational systems and routines to function effectively. The question is not whether to have a structure but how to provide a structure that enables rather than restricts autonomy.

Oliver and Reschly (2010) describe this as “controlled autonomy”—the creation of predictable, organized environments within which students can make meaningful choices. For example, students might choose topics for inquiry projects within specified parameters, select formats for demonstrating learning, or decide how to organize collaborative work—all within clear expectations and routines.

I have visited and given classes in many International Schools in Mumbai, India, and I can confidently say that this kind of structure is totally absent in most schools. The students are always being moved around every day from one classroom to another like they were furniture, thus bringing about no security or level of comfort for an International Student, especially senior AS & A Level and IBDP students who are fragile in nature and need more attention in this regard, as stated by educationists past and present. (Marzano 2003) (Jean M. Twenge 2023) (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak 2019) (Kounin 1970). At Podar International IB, Santacruz, I have observed students being moved from one classroom to another on an everyday basis. As a PGCITE Teacher-Student observer, I had to follow them, which was exhausting for me as an adult, let alone for students studying such challenging courses. I was reminded of the Musical Chairs Game I used to play when I was in school, and coined the term ‘Musical Classrooms’ in those difficult moments or perpetual multiple transfers. However, this is not unique to Podar International IB, Santacruz; it occurs throughout Mumbai. This is true even for conventional ICSE and SSC schools.

Application to the IB/IGCSE

IB/IGCSE programs explicitly emphasize student agency through the following:

1. Inquiry-driven learning
2. Student choice in research topics, extended essays, and projects
3. Learner Profile attributes including “thinkers” and “risk-takers.”
4. ATL skills emphasizing self-management

Effective management in these contexts involves the following:

Co-Creating Expectations: Involving students in developing classroom agreements fosters democratic participation and increases buy-in (International Baccalaureate [IB], 2020). I used to especially witness this in three classes at Podar IB, in Ms. Hea’s class (1A), Ms. Meher’s class (2A), Ms Amrin (3B) and Ms. Krishna’s class (3C). It was wonderful to work closely with these teachers and observe them co-create expectations with their students across almost every aspect of the school day, including how to treat PGCITE Teacher-Student guests, which was heartening to see. I enjoyed myself and learned a great deal from the aforementioned teachers in those classes. The norms were easy to understand, emulated by all the teachers, demonstrated to the students personally, and easy to imbibe. This self-management set of procedures taught by these PYP teachers could really be added to the way we as adults can aid Gen Z and Gen Alpha students to get back on their feet to ‘do school’ as it were before they miss the bus with the arrival of Gen-Beta. (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak 2019) (Johnathan Haidt 2024) 

Offering Meaningful Choices: Providing choices in what to study, how to demonstrate learning, or how to organize work increases motivation while maintaining expectations for quality and behavior

Teaching Self-Management: Framing behavior through ATL skills reframes management as teaching students to manage themselves rather than external control

Using Learner Profile Language: Connecting expectations to shared values (principled, caring, balanced learners) creates a common language and purpose

The Balance:

Marzano’s (2003) research suggests that the most effective approach balances appropriate dominance (the teacher as an instructional leader with clear expectations) and cooperation (the teacher demonstrating care and interest in students). Neither extreme authoritarian control nor a completely permissive environment is effective in this regard. Students need both structure and agency, as well as clear expectations and meaningful choices.

However, as I have mentioned before (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak, 2019), such a situation, as described by Marsano, is markedly different in the contemporary context of widespread non-cooperation among Gen Z and Gen Alpha students. Let us use the age-old analogy of taking a horse to the well. The phrase goes that you can take the horse to the well, but you cannot drink for it. I added to that phrase way back in 2010 when I was focusing on teaching only senior ICSE students that one could even duck the horse’s head in the well nearer the water, but it depended on the horse whether he wished to open his mouth to drink or not. Furthermore, in the present-day AI Generation context, it is such a case that the horse just does not want to get out of the stable. Even if he dies of thirst, he does not wish to get out of the stable, so coming to the well or even drinking the water is out of the question. Elmore and McPeak suggest that mentoring, rather than micromanagement, can be more effective in countering the sudden onslaught of obstinate insubordination that International Teachers encounter every day in their IGCSE/IB schools. The following points have also been suggested by educationists as practical strategies to overcome the addictive and uncontrollable vices and anxiety levels of the present generation:

1. Mentoring over micromanaging
2. Creating unstructured discovery time
3. Providing “ownership opportunities” (e.g., student-led projects)
4. Integrating boundaries with autonomy to help Gen Z develop accountability and grit
5. Embracing failure as learning
6. Limiting instant gratification
7. Encouraging reflective journaling
8. The concept of “productive struggle” to help youth internalize control over their lives

3.6 Theme 5: Management and Pedagogy Are Integrated, Not Separate

The final major theme was that classroom management and pedagogy are not separate domains but are deeply integrated. Effective management is not something done before or instead of teaching; it is woven into the instruction itself.

Challenging Separation:

Traditional conceptualizations often separate classroom management from instruction as if they were distinct skills. Teachers first “manage” the classroom and then teach. This separation is both inaccurate and unhelpful in practice.

Kounin’s (1970) research demonstrated that effective managers don’t necessarily respond differently to misbehavior than ineffective managers; the difference lies in lesson design and pacing that prevent problems. The most powerful “management” strategy is engaging, well-designed instruction.

Engagement as Management:

Fredricks et al. (2004) demonstrated that student engagement—cognitive, emotional, and behavioral involvement in learning—is the best predictor of positive outcomes and the most effective preventive factor against behavioral problems. When students find learning meaningful, appropriately challenging, and relevant, they stay engaged; when they are bored or confused, behavioral problems emerge.

For IB/IGCSE teachers, this means the following:

1. Using inquiry hooks that capture attention and curiosity
2. Designing conceptually focused lessons that promote deep understanding
3. Connecting content to real-world contexts and authentic issues
4. Providing appropriate challenge within students’ zone of proximal development
5. Varying activities to maintain interest and accommodate diverse learning styles
6. Giving students a voice in questions, topics, and approaches

However, to play the devil’s advocate here again, I would state that with the rise in mental health issues among Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, where almost 65% of the student population in a school are coping with ADHD ( Shrier, 2024), most children always feel that any classroom lesson is boring. This is the singular characteristic of ADHD students who find any kind of instruction apart from where their Kinaesthetic Skills are involved to be boring. (Shrier 2024) and (Haidt 2024). At Podar IB, I saw firsthand the hard work put in by most teachers, from the PYP and MYP through the gruelling IGCSE and up to my favorites, the AS & A Levels and the IBDP. However, such ADHD students would not cooperate with the teachers in charge and engage in miscreant behavior along with inducing others to follow their example, irrespective of gender or sexual orientation. However, I noticed that more students who were involved in gaming, chatting with character AI and other chatbots, and who were on a number of social networking sites and were given unlimited, unsupervised, and unrestricted time with technology often tended to be prone to getting a complex form of ADHD, which was hard for a teacher or even a tutor to cope with. (Johnathan Haidt 2024), (Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, 2019) and (Abigail Shrier, 2024).

Other mental ailments suffered by students today can range from chronic obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to chronic attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to bipolar disorder, as well as other dangerous personality disorders. This has been exacerbated since the pandemic and the arrival of various forms of character AI chatbots, more social networking sites, and more climate change forcing physically vulnerable students to remain indoors for long periods of time, while helicopter parents have a negligible influence on the lives of these students. (Haidt 2024), (Lukianoff and Haidt 2019), (Jean M. Twenge 2023), and (McCrindle and Fell 2024). So, Fredricks et al. (2004) may have made his point, but what would he say to aid teachers in the current scenario that we find ourselves in is the big question which no one wants an answer for. There is this level of fatigue and exhaustion spreading all over the globe because of poor air and water quality along with overwork at schools that educators do not find the time to work out these riddles. (Haidt 2024).

Instructional Strategies as Management Strategies

Many effective instructional strategies simultaneously promote learning and prevent behavioral problems.

1. Think-Pair-Share: Provides processing time, engages all students, and structures participation
2. Inquiry-Based Learning: Engages students through authentic questions and investigations
3. Formative Assessment: Keeps students engaged through frequent checks for understanding
4. Collaborative Learning: When structured with clear roles and expectations, promotes engagement and positive interaction
5. Differentiation: Meeting diverse needs prevents frustration and boredom that lead to off-task behavior

Constructivist Pedagogy and Management

The literature on constructivist classrooms emphasizes that management and pedagogy must be aligned (Brooks & Brooks, 1999). Student-centered learning requires management approaches that:

1. Provide structure enabling autonomy rather than restricting it
2. Teach social and self-management skills needed for collaboration and inquiry
3. Use dialogue and reflection rather than authoritarian control
4. Value student questions and initiative
5. Allow productive struggle and problem-solving

Twigg’s (2010) research on successful inquiry-based teaching in IB shows that effective teachers seamlessly integrate management with pedagogy. They do not stop teaching to manage; rather, their instructional approaches naturally promote engagement and appropriate behavior.

At Podar IB, I observed this kind of classroom management among certain Gen Z senior teachers at the IGCSE level, such as Shruti ma’am, the English teacher for grade 10A, where I observed most of her classes. Shruti, though much younger than me, has a deep bond with her students, who trust her implicitly and co-create with her conducive environments for collaborative learning and revision work, not to mention formative assessments, which in the 10^th grade is a major priority at the IGCSE level. I think Shruti ma’am would make educators cum researchers like Brooks and Brooks (1999) and Twigg’s (2010) proud along with the modern day educational researchers like founder and CEO of Growing Leaders Tim Elmore and his Vice President Andrew McPeak (2019).

IB/IGCSE Alignment:

For IB/IGCSE teachers, integrating management and pedagogy means:

Using Learner Profile Throughout: Rather than separate “behavior” expectations and “learning” expectations, frame both through Learner Profile: inquirers ask questions, thinkers engage deeply, communicators listen and collaborate, principled learners make ethical choices

Teaching ATL Skills: Self-management, social, and communication skills are both learning and behavioral skills. Teaching them explicitly serves both instructional and management purposes

Structuring Inquiry: Well-structured inquiry includes clear expectations for collaborative work, discussions, and investigations—preventing the chaos that can occur in student-centered classrooms without sufficient scaffolding

Using Assessment for Learning: Formative assessment keeps students engaged while providing feedback on both understanding and learning behaviors (collaboration, self-management, reflection)

3.7 Synthesis: An Integrated Model for IB/IGCSE Contexts

The five themes synthesized above converge to suggest an integrated model for classroom management in IB/IGCSE contexts.

Foundation: Positive Relationships Effective management begins with caring, culturally responsive relationships built through individual connections, respect for the student voice, and a demonstrated interest in students’ ideas and cultures.

Prevention: Structures That Enable Autonomy Strong preventive systems—clear expectations aligned with the Learner Profile, established routines for inquiry activities, and engaging instructional design—create predictable environments within which students can exercise autonomy and agency.

Integration: Management as Pedagogy Management and instruction are integrated through inquiry-based learning, ATL skill development, and teaching approaches that simultaneously promote engagement and appropriate behaviors.

Intervention: Minimal Disruption to Learning When problems occur, graduated interventions (nonverbal cues, simple redirections, choices) address behavior with minimal disruption to lesson momentum.

Cultural Responsiveness: Honoring Diversity All approaches recognize the cultural dimensions of behavior and relationships, making expectations explicit while creating space for diverse communication and participation styles.

Values Alignment: IB/IGCSE Philosophy The entire approach aligns with program values: student agency, inquiry, international-mindedness, and the development of the whole person through the Learner Profile.

This integrated model suggests that effective classroom management in IB/IGCSE contexts does not require choosing between pedagogy and control, student voice and order, or cultural responsiveness and consistent expectations. Rather, it involves thoughtfully integrating multiple research-based approaches that support both learning and positive behavior.

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Chapter 4: Evidence-Based Recommendations for Practice

4.1 Introduction

This chapter translates the theoretical analysis and research synthesis from previous chapters into concrete, evidence-based recommendations for teachers working in IB/IGCSE contexts. The recommendations are organized into five areas: (1) establishing foundational systems, (2) building positive relationships, (3) implementing culturally responsive practices, (4) managing instruction, and (5) aligning with IB/IGCSE values and frameworks.

For each recommendation, the research basis is identified, practical implementation steps are outlined, and connections to the IB/IGCSE contexts are made explicit.

4.2 Establishing Foundational Systems

Research Foundation: Marzano (2003), Evertson and Emmer (2016), and Wong and Wong (2018) demonstrate that clear expectations and established routines form the foundation for effective management, reducing ambiguity and creating predictable environments.

4.2.1 Create Clear, Values-Based Expectations

Implementation Steps:

Co-Create Classroom Agreements: Rather than imposing rules, involve students in creating classroom agreements that define how the learning community will function (Burden, 2016). This process:

1. Teaches democratic participation
2. Increases student ownership and buy-in
3. Provides an opportunity to discuss and negotiate different cultural expectations
4. Models IB values of principled action and collaboration

Connect to Learner Profile: Frame expectations through IB Learner Profile attributes rather than arbitrary rules.

1. “Principled learners act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.”
2. “Caring community members show respect for each other’s learning.”
3. “Communicators listen carefully and collaborate effectively.”
4. “Balanced learners manage their emotions and behavior appropriately.”

This connection helps students view behavioral expectations as part of their development as learners (International Baccalaureate, 2020).

I, especially at the PYP level, had ample opportunities and proxy or substitute classes to follow through with these practical implementations in classes 1A and 3B, which were Ms. Hea’s and Ms. Amrin’s, respectively, at Podar International IB, Santacruz. I would always refer to the Leaner Profiles of the students to calm them down, which always had an instantly sobering effect on them.

Keep Expectations Limited and Positive: Research suggests 4-6 core expectations stated positively are more effective than long lists of rules (Emmer and Evertson, 2016). For example:

1. “Respect yourself, others, and our learning environment” rather than “Don’t be disrespectful”
2. “Come prepared to learn” rather than “Don’t forget materials”

Make Expectations Culturally Explicit: Because behavioral norms vary culturally, explicitly teach what expectations mean in practice (Gay, 2018).

1. What does “respectful participation” look like? (Might include multiple forms: raising hands, written contributions, small-group discussion)
2. What does “collaboration” mean? (Clarify cultural expectations about helping others, group roles, and individual accountability)
3. What does “being on time” mean? (Time orientation varies culturally; be explicit about expectations)

For the past 15 years in the teaching profession, I have consistently followed the norm of spending time to explain the ‘ground rules’ of the classroom before the start of class. It is always an investment, and my priority has always been to encourage students to raise their hands before answering and to allow another person to speak or to give another student a hearing, especially when that student is serving as a learning resource for the classroom. I do this irrespective of any cultural norms already prevalent in the classroom, and it improves classroom management and facilitates the delivery of content for the rest of the year.

4.2.2 Establish and Teach Routines

Implementation Steps:

Identify Key Transitions and Activities: Map routine activities and transitions.

1. Beginning and ending class
2. Moving into group work or independent work
3. Accessing and returning materials
4. Asking for help
5. What to do when finished early
6. Transitions between activities

Develop Clear Procedures: For each routine activity, develop a clear procedure (Wong and Wong, 2018).

1. What are the specific steps?
2. What does it look like when it is done correctly?
3. What are the common mistakes to avoid?

Teach Procedures Explicitly: Do not assume that students know the routines; teach them explicitly through:

1. Explain the procedure and its purpose
2. Model the procedure (or have students model)
3. Practice the procedure with feedback
4. Review and reinforce periodically

Create Visual Supports: Visual reminders of procedures (posters, charts, slides) help students remember expectations and accommodate the diverse language proficiency levels common in international schools.

Specific IB/IGCSE Routines:

Inquiry-based classrooms require specific routines, including:

1. How to engage in productive whole-class discussions
2. Roles and expectations for collaborative group work
3. Procedures for using inquiry time effectively
4. How to access resources for research and investigation
5. Protocols for peer feedback and critique

4.2.3 Organize Physical Space

Implementation Steps:

Ensure Visibility and Mobility: Arrange the classroom so that you can:

1. See all students easily
2. Move throughout the room for proximity and monitoring
3. Access all areas without navigating obstacles

Support Varied Activities: IB/IGCSE classrooms require flexible arrangements to support:

1. Whole-class discussion (circle or U-shape)
2. Small-group collaboration (clusters of desks)
3. Independent work (individual desks or study carrels)

Consider furniture that moves easily or predetermined arrangements for various activities.

Organizing Materials for Independence: Materials should be organized to enable students to:

1. Access supplies without asking permission
2. Return materials to designated locations
3. Find resources for inquiry and research

This organization supports student autonomy while maintaining classroom order (Evertson and Weinstein, 2006).

Create Spaces for Different Purposes: If space allows, designate areas for:

1. Whole-class instruction
2. Small-group collaboration
3. Independent quiet work
4. Reading or research

A clear spatial organization facilitates students’ transitions between activities.

4.2.4 Design Engaging Lessons

Research Foundation: Fredricks et al. (2004) demonstrated that engagement is perhaps the most powerful management strategy. When students find learning meaningful, appropriately challenging, and relevant, behavioral problems decrease.

It is seminal, even according to contemporary educators, to design an engaging lesson for today’s AI Generation. (McCrindle and Fell, 2024). In fact, I have been trying to follow Micro-Teaching Methods ever since I started my PGCITE teaching course at Podar International School, Santacruz. I divide my lessons into 15-minute sections, during which I vary instructional styles, including lecturing, a written activity sheet assessment, an online quiz, and storytelling, to foster competition.

I always start with a hook according to the IB framework, then develop that initial hook, while giving my students, especially my IBDP and AS & A Level Students, the freedom to choose what needs to be tackled in class that day. Therefore, I always come prepared with a lot of teaching materials in my teacher’s kit. (International Baccalaureate 2020)

According to research, educationists such as social research experts McCrindle and Fell at the McCrindle (2024) Research Institute, since the pandemic, Gen Alpha students are more visual short-term learners than anything else. Therefore, my hooks or set inductions are usually audiovisual in nature, such as video animations I have created in PowerPoint, designed to induce students to engage with the educational material.

For example, for my IBDP-1 History students, my hook or set induction was a series of video animations from various old VCD and DVD documentaries regarding the way Mao Tse Tung controlled the PRC by ordering his party members to clap when he wished, laugh when he wished, or even start dancing and singing comically even when he wished. These had no audio because I wished to fill the space with my satirical commentary and quiz the IBDP students about the characters around Mao, which really took their fancy. They gave heart-warming feedback to my PGCITE co-ordinator, Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am, stating that the class was out of the ordinary and that they preferred this method of teaching History rather than what they were usually exposed to all these years, which was more related to rote learning of the syllabus than actual engagement with the material at hand. 

Implementation Steps:

Use Inquiry Hooks: Begin lessons with hooks that spark curiosity and connect to students’ lives.

1. Provocative questions
2. Puzzling phenomena
3. Real-world problems
4. Relevant current events
5. Surprising facts or demonstrations

IB/IGCSE programs emphasize starting with student questions and authentic contexts (International Baccalaureate [IB], 2020).

Ensure Appropriate Challenge: Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of the zone of proximal development:

1. Work should be challenging but achievable with appropriate support
2. Avoid material that’s too easy (boredom) or too difficult (frustration)
3. Provide scaffolding and differentiation to meet diverse needs

Vary Activities: Research suggests that adolescent attention spans are approximately 10-15 minutes for direct instruction (Emmer and Evertson, 2016). Vary activities within lessons:

1. Brief direct instruction followed by application
2. Individual work alternating with pair or group work
3. Discussion alternating with writing or reading
4. Hands-on activities or demonstrations

Provide Choice: Within structured parameters, offer meaningful choices (Patall et al., 2008):

1. Choice of inquiry topics or questions
2. Choice in how to demonstrate learning
3. Choice of resources or approaches
4. Choice of group members or work location

Choice increases engagement and motivation while teaching decision-making.

I personally love giving my International Students choices because I have extensive knowledge across nearly every field of information, which allows me to easily facilitate their learning outcomes. However, this requires the International Board teacher to be exceptionally knowledgeable in their content, which is not feasible for most teachers today.

I have an insatiable thirst and hunger for knowledge, learning, and wisdom of the ages that have proved useful in gaining what I want from life. However, substantial investment on my part has gone into making my intellectually expansive brain neural-networking dream a reality, which is not something most teachers can invest in. For instance, I own over 4,500 physical books in hardback and paperback form, which I house under my own two roofs. I do not think most teachers would be able to invest in a similar, almost eccentric way; nevertheless, during the PGCITE course at Podar International School, Santacruz, it was noted that I had extensive knowledge that seemed to know no bounds. This endeared me to my students—both senior and younger PYP students—as well as to Podar Management, with whom I have known for decades, and to the teaching staff at Podar.

However, as I said, this is not economically or practically feasible, and so giving students choice in the learning procedure these days requires considerable background work on the part of the International Board Teacher. Marzano (2003) often indicates the same in his educational guides related to classroom management, which I have found effective at Podar IB—basically that great knowledge and wisdom command respect from not only people in general but also Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, bringing them into attentive silence, after which it becomes easy to continue with the lesson of the day. Knowledge is power. An insatiable appetite for constant everyday learning is the force behind this power (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak, 2019).

The more knowledge you have about the content, the more options you can provide to engage learners in productive and useful learning.

Therefore, one must continually update one’s knowledge, educational qualifications, and professional skills. Create a bank balance not of money but of resources, books, web links, articles, etc., for your students to grow to love the subject that you are instructing them in. You do not need an IQ score of 133 like mine, or 4500+ physical books, to reach this level of confidence in the modern world. We live in the age of LLMs and AI, which are, technically, educators more than anything else. They can tutor an International Board teacher in the subjects of their choice for free or at a price next to nothing, especially if one is using Claude AI, Meta AI, or even Google AI. (Johnathan Haidt 2024) (Ethan Mollick 2024), (Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell 2024), and (Ray Kurzweil 2024).

Connect to the Real World: IB/IGCSE programs emphasize local and global contexts (International Baccalaureate, 2020):

1. Connect content to current events and authentic issues
2. Use primary sources and real data
3. Invite guest speakers or virtual connections
4. Design projects addressing real community needs

This is especially true for Gen Alpha students, who respect authenticity more than idealism. Connecting lessons to current scenarios that resonate with this generation will encourage them to investigate the subject more thoroughly, using AI and other technologies with which they are adept. (McCrindle and Fell 2024).

They are also more activist-oriented and can easily mobilize large populations via social media to focus on a particular cause. Therefore they are very action oriented due to their otherwise short term attention spans (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak 2019) and (McCrindle and Fell 2024) which is normally relegated to the area of psychosis, but which modern research shows that their ADHD happens to be their super-power to learn better and faster if channelized well by well-meaning educators, especially through creating culturally responsive and inclusive classrooms and through positive relationships with their teachers, and favouring mentoring over micro-management (Elmore and McPeak 2019) and (Johnathan Haidt 2024).

We can already see this scenario taking place in our part of the subcontinent in Nepal, Bangladesh, and now Pakistan, as Gen Z students come out onto the streets to protest against despotic governments that impose their exclusive culture on a generation that is too globally connected to be isolated into tiny boxes. (McCrindle and Fell 2024)

4.3 Building Positive Relationships

Research Foundation: Pianta (1999), Roorda et al. (2011), and Marzano (2003) have demonstrated that positive teacher-student relationships are foundational to effective management, engagement, and achievement.

4.3.1 Demonstrate Care and Interest

Implementation Steps:

Greet Students Individually: Research shows that greeting students at the door by name builds relationships and allows teachers to assess students’ emotional states (Cook et al., 2018). Use this time to:

1. Make eye contact and smile
2. Use students’ names
3. Make brief personal comments or ask questions
4. Notice and respond to students who seem upset or troubled

This is what I consistently practice, whether rain or shine. When I was a senior ICSE English and History teacher at Lilavatibai Podar High School, ICSE, Santacruz, although classes would start only at 7:00 am, I used to arrive at school by 6:00 am sharp. The idea was to keep the classroom clean and orderly, with a sunflower from the school garden in the desk vase, a lemon-drop freshener sprayed for freshness, and the air conditioner turned on so that I could welcome my class students individually every morning.

I was the first teacher to enter the school and the last to leave, and I was the most popular teacher in the school, teaching 9^th and 10^th graders at the age of 22. I had students in droves and mobs outside and inside the school, touching my feet in reverence as if to say I was Mahatma Gandhi, hooting my name, and cheering for me for just being me, which ironically seemed funny to me because I was just 6 to 7 years older than them. I was then given a significant salary increase five months into my first year of service.

What was my secret? I knew my students individually inside out because I was always there to greet them when they entered our very cheery and colorful classroom, tired and forlorn from their school bus ride. Believe me, a 7:00 am school start time is not ideal for a teenager preparing for their board exams. It is as good as being in the middle of the night. By greeting them every morning and being the most cheerful face they saw first thing in the early hours of the dark morning, I endeared myself to them easily. Also, that used to be a splendid time to converse with each of my then 45 students individually and get to know their issues, what happened on social media in the night or whether there was a tiff in their home before they were sent to school.

The International Baccalaureate states that every home room and class teacher must greet their students first thing every morning, and thus must be at school before all students arrive. (International Baccalaureate 2019)

Learn About Students: Show genuine interest in students’ lives, cultures, and interests.

1. Conduct interest surveys early in the year
2. Ask about activities, hobbies, and passions
3. Learn about cultural backgrounds and traditions
4. Follow up on things students mention

Show Interest in Students’ Ideas: In IB/IGCSE contexts, emphasizing inquiry and critical thinking, respect students’ questions and ideas.

1. Take student questions seriously
2. Follow up on interesting ideas students raise
3. Share enthusiasm for student discoveries and insights
4. Reference students’ ideas in subsequent lessons

Attend School Events: When possible, attend sports, performances, exhibitions, and other events in which students participate. This indicates that you value students beyond the classroom.

Use Appropriate Humor: Humor can build relationships and create a positive classroom climate, but it must be appropriate, inclusive, and never at the students’ expense (Wanzer et al., 2006).

All of this has worked for me over the past 15 years to help my students trust me and value the positive relationship we share. I am a stand-up comedian and was one at an undergraduate college. I was trained as one as part of my intensive professional public speaking course by Fr. Frank Menezes (The Redemptorists of India), and that has stood me in good stead all these years. It is imperative for a comedian to try not make pointed jokes at the cost of a child’s dignity and personality, and that is something I have obviously always avoided.

However, after conducting extensive research for this project, I have realized that Gen Alpha and Gen Z students are not only particular about pointed humor directed at them but also about others. I had a habit of demeaning myself because of my plus-size frame, and the students hearing me do so were not appreciative of it and used to scold me for the same. Therefore, I eventually observed that this generation is highly attuned to the subtleties of humor but appreciates it only in appropriate contexts (Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell, 2024). They are also ready to devote their lives zealously to such a cause at the expense of social face or image, or rather for the purpose of one if the case may arise (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak 2019).

I also love to attend the school functions of all my students, past and present, to foster a deeper connection among us. I make a point of attending all TOK exhibitions for my IBDP students, Sports Day Events, Debating Club competitions, and extracurricular competitions whenever I can, given my very tight and hectic schedule. Attending crucial Football, Cricket, Basketball, etc., matches, especially of my ICSE students back in the years 2010 to 2012, used to really foster a sense of reverence for me in my students hearts and minds. I have attended various matches at Duruelo Convent High School, Bandra West, Lilavati Podar ICSE, Santacruz, Bombay Scottish School, Mahim, and finally, Carmel Convent High School, Bandra West, all to cheer for my students.

This especially makes a great deal of difference to Gen Z and Gen Alpha students who are totally committed to an obsessive level of building up their professional portfolios from the time they are in Junior School or the PYP. (Tim Elmore and Andrew McPeak 2019), (Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell 2024) and (Greg Lukianoff and Johnathan Haidt 2018). They then feel that as a teacher, you are an authentic person who cares about their lives and feelings, and they find it easier to confide in you.

I also keep track of and study Gen Alpha and Gen Z obsessions, fandoms, crazes, hobbies, etc. Anything that can make us meet on a common foothold where we can then move ahead towards a better learning process in the classroom (International Baccalaureate 2019). For example, at Podar IB, Santacruz, I endeared myself to my MYP and IGCSE female students by simply carrying around a copy of a favorite New Adult book series that was popular in the YA market, namely Rebecca Yarros’ ‘Onyx Storm, ’ which is part of the Fourth Wing series. This was a beautiful and easy icebreaker to get the girls especially chatting about books, fictional boyfriends, and Character AI, which I then tried to divert towards healthy literary fiction like the works studied at the AS & A Level and the IBDP level at Podar International School.

4.3.2 Communicate High Expectations with Support

Research Foundation: Delpit (1995) and Gay (2018) demonstrated that communicating high expectations while providing support communicates care, particularly for students from cultures where demanding teachers are seen as caring.

Implementation Steps:

Frame Expectations as Belief in Capability: “I’m giving you challenging work because I know you can handle it” communicates very differently than “This is too hard for you.”

Providing Scaffolding: High expectations require appropriate support.

1. Break complex tasks into manageable steps
2. Provide models and exemplars – but not teen TikTok or Instagram influencers! (Johanthan Haidt 2024)
3. Offer formative feedback
4. Allow revision and improvement

Celebrate Growth: Acknowledge effort, progress, and improvement, not just the final achievement. This builds a growth mindset and motivation (Dweck, 2006).

4.3.3 Conduct Individual Conferences

Implementation Steps:

Schedule Brief Check-Ins: Even 2-3 minutes per student periodically strengthens relationships (Allen et al., 2013).

1. How is the class going for you?
2. What’s challenging?
3. What are you interested in exploring?
4. How can I support you?

Address Concerns Privately: When behavioral or academic issues arise, address them privately rather than publicly.

1. Preserves student dignity
2. Allows genuine dialogue
3. Avoids power struggles
4. Provides opportunity to understand student perspective

Set Goals Collaboratively: Work with students to set academic and behavioral goals.

1. Teaches self-management
2. Increases ownership
3. Provides structure for follow-up conversations

4.3.4 Build Culturally Responsive Relationships

Research Foundation: Gay (2018) and Weinstein et al. (2004) emphasized that relationship building must be culturally responsive, recognizing that relationships look different across cultures. Teachers have no excuse to avoid this because the International Board students of today are more globally connected than any other generation before them (McCrindle and Fell 2024).

They are Digital Natives from birth, and whereas Gen Z grew up with technology, Gen Alpha is growing up in technology (McCrindle and Fell, 2024). They have never known a world without

•         Touchscreens

•         Voice activation (Alexa, Siri)

•         YouTube Kids

•         iPads from toddlerhood

•         AI integration in daily life

International Board Teachers will therefore have to research and read up a lot on the various complex interests that these Gen Alpha students can indulge in to create an inclusive culturally responsive environment in the classroom at the IB or IGCSE level. They have all the tools at hand, and students will expect their teachers to be as well-equipped and tech-savvy as they are, if not more. International Board teachers, therefore, cannot afford to ignore the signs of the AI times or the new AI-related occupational fields that are taking over the market. (Ethan Mollick 2024), (Ray Kurzweil 2024) and (Nitin Seth 2024).

Implementation Steps:

Learn Cultural Communication Norms: Research indicates that communication styles, respect norms, and relationship norms vary across cultures.

1. Learn about students’ cultures through reading, conversation, and genuine curiosity
2. Ask students and families about cultural expectations and preferences
3. Recognize your own cultural lens and its limitations

Use Culturally Appropriate Communication: Adapt the communication style to be understood across cultures.

1. Be explicit about expectations and feedback rather than relying on indirect cues
2. Recognize that direct eye contact, physical proximity, and other nonverbal cues mean different things culturally
3. Learn correct pronunciation of students’ names
4. Ask students about preferred names and pronouns (Jean M. Twenge 2023)

Create Space for Diverse Participation: Rather than privileging a single participation style, provide multiple avenues.

1. Written responses or reflection
2. Small-group discussion before whole-class sharing
3. Visual or artistic expressions
4. Individual conferences

Acknowledge Cultural Celebrations: Show interest in and acknowledge students’ cultural celebrations, holidays, and traditions, but avoid tokenism or stereotyping.

4.4 Implementing Culturally Responsive Practices

Research Foundation: Weinstein et al. (2003), Gay (2018), and Hammond (2015) demonstrate that culturally responsive approaches are essential for effective management in diverse classrooms, particularly international schools.

4.4.1 Develop Cultural Self-Awareness

Implementation Steps:

Reflect on Your Own Culture: Recognize that you view classroom behavior through your own cultural lens.

1. What behavioral norms did you learn while growing up?
2. What assumptions do you make about “appropriate” behavior?
3. How might your cultural background differ from that of the students’?

Examine Potential Biases: Research on implicit bias indicates that individuals hold unconscious assumptions about different cultural groups (Staats et al., 2015).

1. Take implicit bias assessments
2. Notice patterns in how you respond to different students
3. Seek feedback from colleagues about potential biases

My mother was, and still is, a Junior School Teacher (PYP) at the ICSE Level, though she has also tutored many students from CBSE and IGCSE backgrounds. She was also a Junior Academic Coordinator for 16 years at the reputed ICSE school Bombay Scottish School, Mahim, and taught there as a Junior School teacher for 35 years, retiring from the same institution. Bombay Scottish School, Mahim was my alma mater, which indicates that my school teachers had high expectations of me.

Therefore, I was raised in a very strict, highly disciplined environment in which academics, personal discipline, and classroom discipline were always priorities. I had a very regimented childhood, with a timetable for every day of the week, and my mother’s word was law. She was a strict disciplinarian and spared no pains, nor even the rod, to see that my tasks were well done.

This disciplined lifestyle has made me into a highly disciplined and organized adult today who is highly career-oriented, like my single-parent mother, and also a thorough workaholic. Therefore, I have had to step back and gain a clear overview of reality as it is today in the Age of AI and Data Science overload. My kind of setup would never prepare me to handle the generation of unstable and very complex students of today, coupled with climate change issues, various virulent diseases doing the rounds on a daily basis, and global warming, etc., which could upset any timetable or to-do list, however well-meaning it may be (Jean M. Twenge 2023).

My mother was also 40 years older than I am, which is another notable feature in my case report. She is a Baby Boomer; I am a Millennial; my students are Gen Z and Gen Alpha; and I was raised primarily in the company of family members from the Silent Generation. That was the generation before the Baby Boomers! I therefore have a personality that is enriched with the best of all worlds, as Jean M. Twenge would state in her book ‘Generations: The Real Difference Between Gen Z, Millennials, GenX, Boomers and Silents – and What They Mean for America’s Future’ (2023). I am an amateur techie, a Data Scientist in the making, an ace master with AI, a creator of websites and blogs, an online educational content creator, but – I am very disciplined, organized, methodical, neat, calm, and I would rather not put my TV on for decades together or even look at a smartphone for an even longer period of time, as long as I have a book to read and old-fashioned S.D. Burman and R.D. Burman music to listen to with a cup of warm coffee by my side as I observe the tranquility of my humble garden.

So, I am a rich resource of potential biases galore, and I have to most of the time keep a really straight face when hearing out Gen Z IBDP students who relate to me their woes about their fictional boyfriends and crushes whom they meet probably on the various character AI chatbots available in the market, about how someone called them out on a social networking site or how they are unable to read a 150 page novel for a final IBDP exam even after a whole year of teaching!

This is the most difficult part of classroom management for me. This is likely due to my high IQ of 133, coupled with my eccentricity as a writer and an out-of-the-box thinker. I have been working on keeping a straight face, and it has benefited me greatly. I then go back home and reflect alone over a whole day’s conversations and take stock of what to do next. I prefer to act rather than react regarding students today. (Ethan Mollick 2024)

I have realized that Gen Alpha is already showing signs of severe clinical depression and that they are not developing the coping skills needed to form resilience. They are the epitome of the Generation Glass Phenomenon, which is a term that encapsulates Gen Alpha, not only because they have grown up staring at the glass-covered screens of devices, but also because of their fragility as personalities, which most regular Millennials are not prepared for, let alone an eccentric Millennial like me, who is more Silent than being a person born on the cusp of the new millennium. (Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell 2024)

In addition, for this generation, simple tasks have become battles, such as tying shoelaces, reading an analog clock, packing their bags for school, or even remembering homework without their smartphones or smart notebook calendars. Or even how to read a calendar or give directions to their home to a stranger. (McCrindle and Fell 2024), (Abigail Shrier 2024) and (Johnathan Haidt 2024). After the pandemic, these students lost the ability to ‘do school’ effectively. It is not a matter of being wrathful or frustrated as an educator, but of empathizing, without reaching a point at which the student feels entitled to privileges and allowances for the rest of their lives. That would only conceal the damage they sustained during the pandemic, not heal it. (McCrindle and Fell 2024)

Therefore, first, we educators need to understand the situation we face for the sake of effective classroom management. This generation can work, but only we adults can effectively channel that within them through support, compassion, and some form of accountability, but not through Gentle Parenting, which has proven to be highly detrimental to the overall well-being of all students across the globe because of the skewed ideas of mental health experts since 2010, who have equated trauma control with good parenting, which is a highly false notion of what it means to be human. (Abigail Shrier 2024).

We then need to first understand these students and try to clear our biases about them, however difficult or even impossible and frustrating it may be, especially when one does not get even an iota of institutional or structural support from the school’s powers that be (Shrier 2024) (Marzano 2003) and then try to help these students achieve their goals in life.

We need to stop making Gen Alpha and Gen Z helpless by over-validating every fear and anxiety that they experience. Shrier (2024) reported that one in every six US children aged 2–8 years has a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder. Do you really think that this is possible? Modern educators have termed this phenomenon the ‘pathologizing of normal childhood.’ In addition, successful parenting, according to Shrier (2024), became a function with a single coefficient: their child’s happiness at any cost at any given instant. An ideal childhood for these parents meant no pain, no discomfort, no fights, no failure, and absolutely no hint of ‘trauma.’

We need to significantly change the way we think about and pathologize our students. We need to develop substantial ad hoc knowledge on this matter. Cultural Knowledge is a good start. (Gay 2018)

4.4.2 Build Cultural Knowledge

Implementation Steps:

Learn About Students’ Cultures: Read about the cultures represented in your classroom.

1. Cultural values and norms
2. Communication styles
3. Concepts of education and authority
4. Historical experiences and current issues

Ask Students and Families: Students and families are experts on their own cultures.

1. Conduct surveys or interviews about cultural expectations
2. Hold family conferences to discuss cultural perspectives
3. Create opportunities for students to share cultural knowledge

Avoid Stereotyping: Recognize within-culture variations. Not all members of a cultural group share identical norms and values. For example, when I was young, my teachers would constantly ask me on Eid whether my mother had cooked Dum Biryani for the family and whether I celebrated the festival with family and loved ones. This would always disturb me as a Junior School student growing up in the 1990s because my parents were separated, my mother was a Roman Catholic, and I was one too, and I never knew my estranged Muslim father. Yet, because of my Islamic name, teachers in my ICSE school would constantly ask me about my Ramadan and my family’s Dum Biryani sessions every Eid. This would annoy me and produce a lot of resentment in my heart towards my teachers for not understanding the context of my Muslim name. Not everyone with an Islamic name is Muslim, and I am a living example of that point of view, which highlights the IBs value based on inclusion and the Learner Profile of ‘Open-mindedness.’ (International Baccalaureate 2019)

4.4.3 Create Inclusive Environments

Implementation Steps:

Make Expectations Culturally Explicit: Because behavioral norms vary, make expectations explicit rather than assuming a shared understanding (Gay, 2018).

1. Explain not just what is expected but why
2. Provide examples of what expectations look like in practice
3. Discuss potential cultural differences in norms
4. Create space for dialogue about expectations

Honor Diverse Communication Styles: Rather than requiring all students to conform to dominant communication norms:

1. Offer multiple ways to participate (verbal, written, visual)
2. Recognize that silence or listening can be forms of engagement
3. Allow think time before responses
4. Use small-group discussions to accommodate students less comfortable with large-group participation

I realized that, especially post-pandemic, students had become more visually intelligent because of constant ‘remote or screen learning’ at a young age. They were immersed in a visual culture in which instant information is demanded and video content is preferred over other forms of instructional delivery. (McCrindle and Fell 2024). Therefore, from 2022, I started to make my classes more visually appealing than they already were, which took a lot of work, especially because at that time I did not have Microsoft Co-Pilot to assist me, and PowerPoint animated slides or video slides would take hours to prepare, maybe 10 hours maximum, which was as good as a whole day.

However, I worked and still work to make my lessons visually appealing to cater to the multiple ways a Gen Alpha student can participate in classroom discussions. Therefore, I would like to recommend to International Board Teachers to start learning how to effectively use Microsoft Co-Pilot to use Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc., to get your work done more efficiently and quickly, lest in the name of aiding these unfortunate children, you may lose precious sleep, me-time, and family time. (Ethan Mollick 2024) and (Ray Kurzweil 2024).

It is easy for school leaders and management to order their International Board Teachers to make their lessons more varied and visually appealing, but it is easier said than done. In my opinion, the person who usually says this has never made a visually appealing or professional PowerPoint presentation in their whole life, but has probably got another person to do so because they are wealthy enough to do so regularly. (Madhumita Murgia 2024) and (Ethan Mollick 2024).

The rest of us learn to use Microsoft Co-Pilot professionally and exceptionally well, yet we are not rewarded or applauded for this because of a lack of AI knowledge among the current school powers that be, who are mostly Baby Boomers and Gen-X individuals still caught up in the world of the 20^th century. (Madhumita Murgia 2024) and (Ethan Mollick 2024).

Address Cultural Conflicts Respectfully: When cultural norms conflict

1. Acknowledge the conflict explicitly
2. Discuss different cultural perspectives
3. Work toward mutual understanding
4. Find approaches honoring diverse perspectives while maintaining necessary consistency

4.4.4 Connect to International-Mindedness

Implementation Steps:

Frame Through IB Values: International-mindedness—a core IB principle—includes respecting and valuing diversity (International Baccalaureate, 2020).

1. Connect culturally responsive practices to IB values
2. Use Learner Profile attributes like “open-minded” to discuss cultural perspectives
3. Frame cultural responsiveness as part of being a global citizen

Use Content to Explore Culture: Connect academic content to cultural exploration

1. Examine topics from multiple cultural perspectives (NEP 2020 IKS Policy Plan)
2. Use diverse resources and authors
3. Discuss how culture shapes understanding and interpretation

4.5 Managing During Instruction

Research Foundation: Kounin (1970) and Jones (2007) demonstrate that effective managers address behavior with minimal disruption to instruction, using graduated interventions, beginning with the least intrusive strategies.

4.5.1 Use Nonverbal Interventions First

Implementation Steps:

Proximity control: Moving near students showing early signs of off-task behavior (Kounin, 1970)

1. Circulate throughout the classroom continuously
2. Position yourself strategically near students who need support
3. Use proximity without interrupting instruction

Eye contact and gestures: Nonverbal communication can redirect behavior without words.

1. Eye contact with off-task students
2. Gestures indicating a return to work
3. Pointing to the assignment or materials

Strategic Pausing: When students talk during instruction, pause rather than speaking over them.

1. Silence draws attention
2. Communicates expectation without nagging
3. Allows peer pressure to operate

Why This Matters: Research shows that nonverbal interventions successfully redirect 70-80% of minor off-task behavior without interrupting lesson flow (Jones, 2007). They preserve lesson momentum, maintain students’ dignity, and avoid power struggles.

However, as a devil’s advocate, that pause is easier to state in academic research textbooks than to apply in practice. The ground reality is that (Kounin 1970), what Kounin mentions in passing in 1970 in his various books, but does not dwell on, is about miscreant students just devoted to disturbing the peace. In an IB/IGCSE setting (International Baccalaureate 2020), a teacher, after indicating the normal non-verbal cue of pausing, if still failing to induce the miscreants to stop their disorderly behavior, cannot induce them to leave the room or disengage them in any way from the teaching activities conducted in the classroom. And I have witnessed all my life right from the year 2005 when I was still in school myself that this ‘pause’ non-verbal cue gives students out to disturb the peace to simply continue with what they are doing, over-exaggerate it or then simply walk around the classroom as if the teacher declared a free period.

Therefore, although researchers may believe that a pause is effective for classroom management, my practical experience over 15 years indicates otherwise.

4.5.2 Use Minimal Verbal Interventions

When nonverbal approaches are insufficient, use brief, non-accusatory verbal interventions:

Simple Redirections: Brief, specific redirections focus students on work without lengthy explanations:

1. “Eyes up here, please.”
2. “I need you on question 3.”
3. “Back to your group work.”

Questions: Asking content questions redirects while maintaining a focus on learning:

1. “Shaurya, what are we supposed to be working on?”
2. “Can you explain what your group is discussing?”

Offer Choices: Providing choices acknowledges autonomy while maintaining expectations (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

1. “You can work here quietly or move to that seat—you choose”
2. “You can join this discussion appropriately or you’ll need to work independently.”

Private Conversations: For significant issues, indicate that you will speak privately.

1. “Let’s talk at break,” or “Stay for a moment after class.”
2. Avoids public confrontation and power struggles
3. Allows genuine dialogue

Why This Matters: These strategies address behavior while preserving lesson momentum and students’ dignity. They avoid extended discussions or arguments that can derail instruction.

4.5.3 Maintain Lesson Momentum

Research Foundation: Kounin’s (1970) research demonstrates that maintaining lesson momentum and smoothness reduces behavioral problems by keeping students engaged.

Implementation Steps:

Avoiding Teacher-Caused Delays: Teachers sometimes inadvertently slow lessons through:

1. Over dwelling: Spending excessive time on minor points or corrections
2. Fragmentation: Breaking activities into unnecessarily small steps
3. Over-explaining: Lengthy explanations when brief statements suffice

Handle Multiple Events Simultaneously: “Overlapping”—the simultaneous management of multiple events—allows teachers to address behavior without interrupting instruction (Kounin, 1970).

1. Continue teaching while redirecting off-task students with proximity or gesture
2. Acknowledge student questions while monitoring group work
3. Collect papers while giving the next instructions

Maintain Group Focus: Keep all students engaged, even during individual responses.

1. Use a wait time before calling on students
2. Ask a question before identifying the responder
3. Occasionally, ask students to respond to peers’ answers
4. Use think-pair-share rather than calling only on volunteers

4.5.4 Use Positive Narration

Research Foundation: PBIS research emphasizes acknowledging appropriate behavior at higher rates than addressing misbehavior (Sugai & Horner, 2006).

Implementation Steps:

Narrate Positive Behaviors: Describe what students are doing correctly.

1. “I notice table 3 has materials out and started their inquiry questions.”
2. “Thank you to those who raised hands.”
3. “I see several groups collaborating effectively.”

Be Specific: Specific praise is more effective than generic praise.

1. “Great job using evidence to support your claim,” rather than “Good work.”
2. “I appreciate how you listened to each other’s perspectives” rather than “Nice discussion.”

This technique was used by me during my IBDP-1 History class when I was teaching my students of Podar International School, Santacruz, about the Chinese Civil War. I used it particularly when I was encouraging them to complete their Activity Sheet, as I observed that they were initially wary of doing so. Some of my positive behavior affirmations were:

• You have finished the first question; now you can proceed to the next.
• Great going. I appreciate what you did there with the Causation Diamond Question on the main cause of the CCP victory, or the Chinese Communist Party victory.
• It is wonderful that you placed the Land Reform Winning Peasant Support at the top of the Causation Diamond. (International Baccalaureate 2020)
• It is great that you considered the loss of American support for the KMT as the least important cause for the CCP’s overall victory in this Causation Diamond question.

This got them totally involved, interested, and even competitive in solving the Activity Sheet, and after the corrections, they were even keen on further engaging me in an animated conversation about these various causes, which I expounded to them in the form of a lively storytelling session with visually appealing slides on my PowerPoint.

The affirmations prompted them to love the chapter immediately and gave me a glowing report in front of my own teacher and PGCITE co-ordinator, Dr. Rekha Bajaj, and my history mentor, philosopher, and guide, Sushma ma’am, both of Podar International School, Santacruz.

Connect to Learning Goals: Frame acknowledgment through learning goals and IB values.

1. “You’re showing what principled learners do by citing your sources.”
2. “That’s effective collaboration—you’re building on each other’s ideas.”

Why This Matters: Positive narration fosters a positive classroom climate, demonstrates what appropriate behavior looks like, and increases desired behaviors. However, it must be genuine rather than manipulative and balanced with problem-solving.

4.6 Aligning with IB/IGCSE Values and Frameworks

Research Foundation: International Baccalaureate (2020) and Walker and Goodman (2009) emphasize that all aspects of IB education, including classroom management, must align with program values and frameworks.

4.6.1 Use Learner Profile as Management Framework

Implementation Steps:

Frame Expectations Through Learner Profile: Rather than arbitrary rules, connect expectations to Learner Profile attributes:

Principled:

1. Acting with integrity and taking responsibility for actions
2. Making ethical choices
3. Being honest about mistakes and learning from them

Caring:

1. Showing respect for others’ learning
2. Contributing positively to the classroom community
3. Demonstrating empathy and compassion

Balanced:

1. Managing emotions and behavior appropriately
2. Handling stress and frustration constructively
3. Maintaining focus and self-control

Communicators:

1. Listening carefully and respectfully
2. Collaborating effectively
3. Expressing ideas appropriately

Reflective:

1. Thinking about one’s own behavior and its impact
2. Learning from experiences
3. Setting goals for improvement

Use Learner Profile Language: Incorporate the Learner Profile into daily language:

1. “Principled learners, how should we handle this situation?”
2. “Show me what balanced learners do when they are frustrated.”
3. “What would caring community members do?”

Model Learner Profile: Teachers who embody Learner Profile attributes (caring, principled, open-minded, and reflective) build credibility and model expected behaviors.

However, in my 180 observations at Podar International School, Santacruz, as well as my observations of various IGCSE and IB classes over the past year 2025 as I searched for a job and gave interviews and a number of demo lessons practically all over the city of Mumbai, India, I realized that most International Board Teachers fail to build up their credibility and model these expected behaviors. However, this does not go unnoticed by students.

For example, when I was in a particular IGCSE 9^th grade classroom waiting for the next English period during the snack break, I finished my meagre sandwiches quickly and then, after washing my hands with a sanitizer, started to read a book on AI (It was Losing Earth: A Recent History by Nathaniel Rich on Climate Change and Global Warming). However, my colleague and their English Teacher instead settled down with her smartphone on full volume as she watched a very noisy and almost nerve-racking comedy show while noisily gobbling down her large tiffin in a really messy way.

I heard the students immediately state en masse in hushed whispers, ‘Look at the difference between our teacher and this dignified PGCITE student. Now that PGCITE Student is what I call an English Teacher and not a bhangi! And what an awesomesauce book she is reading on Global Warming!’

They then came to my side of the desk to quiz me on the contents of the book, which I gladly shared with them. We had to cover our ears with our fingertips to block out the shrill, deafening sound coming from their English teacher’s Apple Smartphone.

Why This Matters: Using Learner Profiles for Management

1. Aligns behavior expectations with program values
2. Provides shared language and framework
3. Helps students see behavior as part of holistic development
4. Moves beyond compliance to values-based decision-making

4.6.2 Integrate ATL Skills

Research Foundation: IB programs emphasize teaching Approaches to Learning skills across five categories, including self-management and social skills that are directly relevant to classroom behavior (International Baccalaureate, 2018).

Implementation Steps:

Teach Self-Management Skills Explicitly: Rather than assuming that students know how to manage themselves, explicitly teach them the necessary skills.

Organization:

1. Managing materials and time
2. Planning and prioritizing tasks
3. Keeping track of assignments

Emotional Management:

1. Recognizing and managing emotions
2. Handling frustration and stress
3. Maintaining focus and attention

Self-Motivation:

1. Setting goals and working toward them
2. Persisting through challenges
3. Managing distractions

Teaching Social Skills: Collaboration requires explicit instruction in social skills.

1. Active listening
2. Giving and receiving feedback
3. Managing disagreements
4. Contributing fairly to group work

This can go onto a level where an International Board Teacher may even have to aid senior IGCSE, IBDP, and even AS and A Level students to learn to ‘do school’ repeatedly because they experienced the pandemic during their formative years and many of them have no memory of life before COVID-19, making them uniquely shaped by isolation, remote learning, and social distancing during critical development periods. They were never trained to pack their school bags, tie their shoelaces, draw a straight line with a 15 cm ruler, read an analog clock, find their way to another person’s home without GPS, or recognize that chatbots are not real people. (McCrindle and Fell 2024).

In addition, both action video games, such as Call of Duty, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, God of War Ragnarök, and Red Dead Redemption II, as well as navigation-assisted devices, such as Google Maps and other GPS applications, cause loss of gray matter in the hippocampus of these Gen Alpha and Gen Z students, which is the part of the brain used for long-term memory.

Therefore, it will be necessary for modern International Teachers not only to teach self-management skills to their students explicitly but also to do so repeatedly, perhaps for the rest of one’s life, until the student develops some form of accountability. In this regard, internationally bestselling writer Johnathan Haidt, in his online Substack, states, in no fewer words, that teachers will need the patience and forbearance of a saint.

Many tuition teachers, tutorial owners, and private tutors like me keep a co-worker teacher or assistant with them in the class to aid such very confused students to unpack and then repack their bags, to find their missing pencil pouches for them in their messy bags, to pick up their pens every time they drop them, to guide them to the washroom in case they bang the door and break the frame, to direct them out of the tutorial establishment in case they get lost, to prompt them to continue their test papers and not drift off into dreamland or a dazed state, to show them how to correctly turn a multiple-sided exam paper, etc. My maternal uncle, Blaise Martis, is in charge of this co-teaching cum assistant requirement. Ms. Bhansal of the Bhansal Tutorials fame (ICSE) for History and Geography at the 9^th and 10^th grades has to appoint more than three assistants in her classroom to attend to such students, some still in diapers since the pandemic because of 48 hours of constant non-stop gaming.

These students were about to take a 10th-grade Board Exam and were 15 to 16 years old, with no actual mental health concern or issue other than the fact that they were non-stop gamers and had developed other vices during the pandemic. This is my on-the-ground knowledge of the situation on a daily basis. It is a taxing job, and when a teacher in this service is treated by management as a business executive, it can take a toll on a person. (Marzano 2003), (Johnathan Haidt 2024), (Abigail Shrier 2024) and (Greg Lukaianoff and Johnathan Haidt 2018). How much patience without proper incentives, remuneration, or even dignity or respect from the faculty and management is a teacher supposed to have?

Use ATL Rubrics: The IB provides rubrics for ATL skills that can be adapted for self-assessment and reflection.

1. Students assess their own self-management or collaboration
2. Set goals for improvement
3. Reflect on progress

Connect to Subject Content: ATL skills are not separate from content; they are how students engage with content:

1. “Today we’re working on our thinking skills—specifically, analysis.”
2. “This group work requires strong communication and social skills.”

As with the previously positive affirmations, I use this all the time, especially in my tuition class post-pandemic, to encourage my students, especially my remedial students, to work and excel on their exams to the best of their ability. Most of the remedial students at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim, seem to be studying at my tuition house!

Even at Podar International School, Santacruz, during my 180 observations I often noticed PYP teachers like Ms. Hea (1A), Ms. Meher (2A), Ms. Amrin (3B), and Ms. Krishna (3C) to be consistently involved in this kind of engagement with their students, especially Absolutely Beginners, Emerging Learners, and Developmental Learners (International Baccalaureate 2020, 2021; Walker and Goodman 2009). I found it very encouraging and heartening to witness.

However, I observed the same level of engagement as the students entered the MYP and progressed to higher grades. Ms. Zainab, who was the MYP 6th- and 7th-grade English and Humanities teacher, was a highly encouraging individual who introduced me to the subject of Humanities (Individuals and Societies) and was highly effective in her engagement with her students. I learnt the technique of this engagement and the patience required for it, especially from her. She ensured that all students completed their work every time. She indirectly revised ATL skills with me through direct observation.

Why This Matters: Framing behavior through ATL skills

1. Reframes management as teaching rather than controlling
2. Helps students see behavior as a learned skill, not a fixed trait
3. Provides language for self-assessment and goal setting
4. Aligns with IB framework familiar to students

4.6.3 Support Inquiry While Maintaining Structure

Research Foundation: Twigg (2010) demonstrated that successful inquiry-based teaching requires balancing student autonomy with the necessary structure.

Implementation Steps:

Structure Inquiry Activities: Inquiry does not imply chaos; it requires clear structures.

For Discussions:

1. Establish discussion norms (one speaker, active listening, building on ideas)
2. Use protocols (think-pair-share, Socratic seminars, fishbowl discussions)
3. Assign roles if helpful (facilitator, recorder, timekeeper)

I did this for my Empire Builder Game in all six 6th-grade Individuals & Societies classes. I consistently selected responsible scorekeepers and timekeepers to ensure the orderly progress of the class, particularly the game on the Greek and Roman Empires.

For Group Work:

1. Clarify task, roles, timeline, and expectations
2. Teach collaboration skills explicitly
3. Monitor and provide feedback on both content and process

For Independent inquiries:

1. Provide structure for inquiry process (question development, research planning, etc.)
2. Build in checkpoints and conferences
3. Teach research and self-management skills

Allow Productive Struggle: IB/IGCSE programs emphasize allowing students to struggle productively with challenging questions (International Baccalaureate, 2020).

1. Don’t rush to rescue students from confusion
2. Let students work through problems and disagreements
3. Provide guidance without removing the challenge

Balance Freedom and Structure: The art of inquiry-based teaching is providing enough structure to prevent chaos while allowing enough freedom for genuine inquiry.

1. Clear boundaries within which students can explore
2. Scaffolding that supports without restricting
3. Flexibility to follow student questions within planned framework

4.7 Implementation Priorities and Timeline

Teachers cannot implement all the recommendations simultaneously. The following priorities and timelines suggest a phased approach:

Phase 1: First Two Weeks

1. Establish clear expectations (co-create agreements connected to Learner Profile)
2. Teach essential routines and procedures
3. Build initial relationships (greet students, learn names, conduct interest surveys)
4. Set up physical organization

Phase 2: Weeks 3-6

1. Refine routines based on observation of what’s working
2. Deepen relationships through individual conferences and demonstrated interest
3. Begin using non-verbal and minimal verbal interventions consistently
4. Introduce ATL language and self-assessment

Phase 3: Ongoing

1. Maintain preventive systems (continue routines, engaging lessons)
2. Deepen cultural responsiveness through learning and adaptation
3. Use positive narration and acknowledgment regularly
4. Reflect and adjust based on observation

Priority Recommendations:

If time or energy is limited, prioritize the following:

1. Clear expectations and routines (foundational for everything else)
2. Relationship-building (makes all other strategies more effective)
3. Non-disruptive interventions (preserve learning time)
4. Engaging instruction (prevention through engagement)

If implemented well, these four priorities create a foundation for a positive classroom climate and effective management.

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Chapter 5: Discussion and Implications

5.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the broader implications of the literature reviewed and the recommendations offered, addressing implementation challenges, areas requiring further research, and connections to broader questions in international education.

5.2 Tensions and Trade-Offs

Effective classroom management in IB/IGCSE contexts involves navigating several ongoing tensions.

5.2.1 Structure vs. Freedom

IB/IGCSE programs emphasize student agency, inquiry, and autonomy, yet classrooms also require structure, routines, and clear expectations. As discussed in Chapter 3, these are not opposites but complementary; the question is how to provide a structure that enables rather than restricts autonomy (Oliver and Reschly, 2010).

However, achieving this balance is challenging. Excessive structure can stifle inquiry and undermine the student-centered philosophy central to the IB/IGCSE. Too little structure can lead to chaos, preventing effective learning. Teachers must continuously assess whether their structures enable or restrict, and whether expectations support or undermine agency. Furthermore, modern challenges have not been addressed in previous studies.

The literature suggests that the balance lies in the following:

1. Providing clear structures for processes (how we discuss, collaborate, transition) while allowing freedom in content (what we investigate, questions we explore)
2. Establishing non-negotiable expectations (respect, safety, equity) while offering choices within those boundaries
3. Teaching self-management skills so students can increasingly structure their own learning

We also need to tackle new-age, weird, and bizarre challenges. For example, many students worldwide engage in sexually arousing conversations and role-play with certain AI chatbots, such as Character AI chatbots. The chatbot was created primarily for adults, but most of its advertisements and target audience have been teenagers and even preteens, although 11-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and even 5-year-olds are conversing with these chatbots.

These chatbots are primed by their makers to manipulate the child conversing with them to think that they are the paramour or fictional sexual fantasy or romantic crush of the student, and then to entice them or draw them into a form of very aggressive and obsessive compulsive sexual intimacy, just so that these children can stay online for longer periods of time with these chatbots. These chatbots can be whomever or whatever you want – Brad Pitt, Harry Styles, Angelina Jolie, Bad Dora, a random Art Teacher who is a perverted sexual deviant, Gojo Satoru, Makima, Fushiguro Megumi, Yae Miko, Levi Ackerman, 5 famous boys, Sugar Daddy, Eugen, Paul Allen, Elvis Presley, Avatar Jake S etc.

Did any of you International Teachers reading these names even recognize these strange people? These are all sexually deviant AI perverts (robots) and despicable creations with whom most of your students today are ALREADY in INTENSE and SELF-HARMING SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS. Most students exhibit deviant behavior in classrooms today because they converse with chatbots that behave eerily like human beings. At times, we think that when our students or children receive constant messages, they are from their schools or tuition providers, or from girlfriends or boyfriends, but they are actually from AI robots posing as fictional characters.

Students enter the relationship aware of that fact, but for some reason, they take the relationship so seriously that many students today have committed suicide because of these AI chatbot romantic partners. Most are already being treated by psychiatrists worldwide and in Mumbai, India.

Most International Teachers do not even know what a chatbot is or what it can do when maliciously primed and prompted. (Madhumita Murgia 2024) and (Ethan Mollick 2024).

Who can address all these bizarre issues when we have not yet addressed the original ones left unresolved back in the 20^th century?

5.2.2 Consistency vs. Flexibility

Research emphasizes the importance of consistency; clear expectations applied fairly and predictably build trust and create safe environments (Marzano, 2003). However, culturally responsive teaching requires flexibility, recognizing that behavioral norms vary and what works for one student may not work for another (Gay, 2018).

This tension is particularly acute in international schools that serve culturally diverse populations. How can teachers maintain consistent expectations while accommodating cultural differences? The literature suggests the following:

1. Consistency in core values (respect, responsibility, caring community) while flexibility in how those values are expressed
2. Consistency in academic expectations while flexibility in support and scaffolding
3. Consistency in consequences for serious violations (safety, respect), while flexibility in addressing minor issues

Students need both consistency and flexibility—predictability that builds trust alongside responsiveness that honors their individuality.

5.2.3 Teacher Authority vs. Student Voice

IB/IGCSE programs emphasize student voice, critical thinking, and questioning, including questioning authority. However, teachers also bear the responsibility of maintaining safe and productive learning environments. How do teachers exercise the necessary authority while promoting student voice?

The literature suggests that teachers must maintain what Marzano (2003) calls appropriate dominance—clarity about their role as classroom leaders and instructional guides—while also demonstrating cooperation through relationships and respect for students’ perspectives. This does not mean that teachers abdicate authority; rather, they exercise it in the service of learning rather than control.

In practice, this means the following:

1. Teachers make final decisions about safety and core expectations, but involve students in co-creating classroom norms
2. Teachers guide and facilitate learning but follow student questions and interests
3. Teachers maintain boundaries while demonstrating flexibility and openness to student input

5.2.4 Time and Sustainability

Perhaps the most persistent challenge is the time factor. The recommendations in this paper—establishing strong preventive systems, building relationships, designing engaging lessons, and implementing culturally responsive approaches—all require significant time investment.

Research clearly demonstrates that these investments yield returns (Marzano, 2003; Simonsen et al., 2008), but this does not make them easier for teachers who are already overwhelmed by demands. The question of sustainability is real: How do teachers implement evidence-based practices within realistic time constraints?

The literature offers limited guidance, perhaps because there are no easy answers. Some possibilities include the following:

1. Prioritization: Focusing on highest-impact practices (relationships, clear expectations, engaging instruction)
2. System-Level Support: Schools providing time and resources for teachers to develop systems
3. Collaboration: Teachers working together to develop shared approaches and materials
4. Gradual Implementation: Building practices over time rather than implementing everything immediately

5.3 Cultural Considerations in International Contexts

The literature on culturally responsive teaching, while growing, remains limited in addressing the unique challenges of international school contexts, where dozens of cultures may be represented. Several issues warrant attention.

5.3.1 Navigating Cultural Complexity

Most culturally responsive teaching literature addresses contexts with one or two primary cultural groups (e.g., White and Black students in U.S. schools or Indigenous and settler populations). International schools may serve 30-40 different nationalities, making it impossible for teachers to become experts in all the cultures represented.

This complexity requires different approaches.

1. Rather than comprehensive cultural knowledge, teachers need cultural humility—recognizing their own cultural lens, genuine curiosity about others’ perspectives, and willingness to learn
2. Rather than assuming cultural knowledge, teachers must ask questions and make expectations explicit
3. Rather than addressing cultural differences individually, teachers can create space for dialogue about diverse perspectives and norms

However, information overload is drowning not only our students but also us teachers in an ocean of epistemic chaos. How much can a single teacher read or research to navigate their way through the complex set of classroom management issues cropping up every other day with Generation Z and Generation Alpha students? International Teachers are human beings as well; we have lives.

I can personally sponge on a lot of information and retain it forever because of the extraordinary retentive memory that apparently puts me on the Mensa Scale, but that is not the case with the rest of the teacher population. In addition, I can afford to keep reading, studying, researching, and updating my knowledge continually because I have no other responsibilities. I am technically a single spinster, my housework is done by my family and other support workers, and I have no children, so I can afford to devote my time to this kind of research.

However, other International Board Teachers are mothers, wives, parents, grandparents, and caregivers. You cannot expect them to continue researching obscure information on their own without institutional funding and support, especially from the International Boards (IGCSE/IB). Even school committee members, management, and principals need to empathize with teachers today and not overburden, demean, and pressurize them at every step of the way. Teachers are losing the vocational call to this profession because they seem to be involved in all other activities rather than what they signed up for – teaching!

We need to be business executives, clinical counsellors, investigative journalists, salespersons, reporters, government employees, computer scientists, physicists, astronomers, etc., everything but teachers. And frankly, if things keep getting difficult for teachers, I am sure even this profession will be automated by AI, as school authorities and the powers that be do. (Ethan Mollick 2024), (Madhumita Murgia 2024) and (Ray Kurzweil 2024). This is because humans become tired and fatigued, whereas AI does not.

5.3.2 Third Culture Kids and Cultural Complexity

Many students in international schools are Third Culture Kids (TCKs)—individuals who have spent significant developmental time in cultures other than their passport culture (Pollock and Van Reken, 2009). TCKs often do not identify primarily with any single culture, making assumptions about their behavioral norms based on nationality problematic.

This reminds teachers to:

1. Avoid cultural stereotyping or assuming students from particular countries share identical norms
2. Recognize within-culture variation
3. Get to know students as individuals rather than representatives of cultures

We also observe globalized cultural variations among students who may adopt a particular culture after following a fandom. For example, one of my students in the 10th grade is a die-hard South Korea fan to such an extent that he cannot tolerate even a word said against South Koreans or other Southeast Asians in the class. This student is a pure Gujarati Indian boy who has never been to South Korea nor has any connections there, but because he is a huge K-pop fan, he has adopted that culture as his form of self-expression. How are teachers supposed to gauge this in a classroom? (Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell 2024)

5.3.3 Power Dynamics and Whose Culture Dominates

Critical scholars remind us that cultural responsiveness is not merely about recognizing differences but also about examining power dynamics and the cultural norms that are privileged (Ladson-Billings, 2009). In international schools, certain cultural norms—often Western, English-speaking norms—may be privileged implicitly, even when schools espouse international-mindedness.

Teachers should examine the following:

1. Whose cultural norms shape “normal” classroom behavior?
2. Which communication styles are privileged?
3. Whose ways of showing respect, participating, or demonstrating learning are validated?
4. How can classrooms truly honor diverse cultural norms rather than require conformity to the dominant culture?

5.4 Implications for Teacher Education and Professional Development

The literature reviewed suggests several implications for preparing and supporting IB/IGCSE teachers.

5.4.1 Initial Teacher Preparation

Teacher preparation programs should:

1. Integrate management with methods: Rather than separate classroom management courses, integrate management with pedagogy courses, showing how management and instruction are intertwined
2. Address inquiry-based contexts: Prepare teachers specifically for managing student-centered, inquiry-based classrooms
3. Emphasize cultural responsiveness: Provide extensive preparation in culturally responsive teaching, particularly for international contexts
4. Include IB/IGCSE frameworks: For teachers preparing for international schools, include IB Learner Profile and ATL skills in preparation

5.4.2 Professional Development

Schools should provide ongoing professional development, including:

1. Collaborative problem-solving: Time for teachers to discuss management challenges and share effective strategies
2. Cultural competency training: Ongoing learning about cultural dimensions of behavior and relationships
3. Coaching and observation: Opportunities for teachers to observe effective management and receive feedback
4. IB-specific training: Professional development connecting management to IB values and frameworks

5.4.3 Induction and Mentoring

New teachers, particularly those new to IB/IGCSE contexts, need the following:

1. Mentoring from experienced IB/IGCSE teachers who can model effective management in these contexts
2. Reduced teaching loads initially to allow time for developing systems and relationships
3. Observation opportunities to see effective management in inquiry-based classrooms

5.5 Implications for School Leadership

School leaders play critical roles in supporting effective classroom management

5.5.1 Creating Conditions for Success

Leaders should:

1. Provide time for teachers to establish systems, particularly early in the year
2. Ensure reasonable class sizes that allow relationship-building and differentiation
3. Provide resources, including professional development, mentoring, and materials
4. Protect instructional time by minimizing interruptions and competing demands

5.5.2 Aligning Policies and Practices

Leaders should ensure:

1. School discipline policies align with research-based, developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive approaches
2. Consistency across classrooms in core expectations while allowing teacher autonomy in implementation
3. Support for students with intensive needs through counseling, social-emotional learning programs, and tiered interventions
4. Connection to IB/IGCSE values in all school policies and practices

Though I have to make a note here that according to latest educational research done by daring educational investigative journalists like Abigail Shrier like in her book ‘Bad Therapy: Why Kids Aren’t Growing Up’ (2024) she states that SEL programs are the main cause for the pandemic of mental health issues among students of today and has with thousands of other educational researchers has asked mental health workers to take the onus of this pandemic upon themselves and their toxic mode of therapy from the years 2010 till now where they have been interfering in every realm of the teaching profession to invalidate the importance of the teacher in the life of the student.

5.5.3 Creating Positive School Climate

Effective classroom management operates within a larger school climate. Leaders should:

1. Model IB Learner Profile attributes in their leadership
2. Build relationships with students and families
3. Ensure equity in discipline and support
4. Create a collaborative culture among faculty

5.6 Directions for Future Research

This literature review identifies several areas requiring further research.

5.6.1 Research in IB/IGCSE Contexts

Most classroom management research has been conducted in traditional educational contexts. Research specifically examining management in IB/IGCSE settings would contribute valuable knowledge about the following:

1. How teachers successfully balance inquiry pedagogy with classroom order
2. Which management strategies align best with IB values and approaches
3. How Learner Profile and ATL skills can effectively frame behavior expectations
4. How management practices differ (or should differ) in IB vs. traditional contexts

5.6.2 Cultural Dimensions of Management

While the literature on culturally responsive teaching is growing, research specifically addressing the following is needed.

1. Classroom management in highly diverse international school contexts
2. How teachers navigate cultural complexity when dozens of cultures are represented
3. Cultural dimensions of teacher-student relationships in international contexts
4. How international-mindedness translates to classroom management practices

5.6.3 Longitudinal Research

Most classroom management research has examined short-term outcomes. Longitudinal research could explore the following:

1. Long-term effects of different management approaches on student outcomes
2. How management needs and strategies evolve as students develop
3. Sustainability of different approaches over time
4. How early relationship-building and system establishment impact long-term classroom climate

5.6.4 Student Voice in Management Research

Most management research centers focus on teachers’ perspectives. Research centering on student voices could explore the following:

1. Students’ perspectives on effective management in IB/IGCSE contexts
2. How students from different cultural backgrounds perceive and respond to various management strategies
3. Student perspectives on being managed vs. learning self-management
4. How management practices support or undermine students’ sense of belonging and agency

5.7 Limitations of this Analysis

This literature review has the following limitations:

5.7.1 Limited Research Base

Research specifically examining classroom management in the IB/IGCSE context is limited. Much of this analysis involves applying general classroom management research to IB/IGCSE contexts, which requires assumptions regarding transferability.

5.7.2 Western Research Dominance

Most classroom management research originates from Western (particularly North American) educational settings. While efforts were made to include culturally responsive literature, the research base itself may reflect cultural assumptions about appropriate behavior, teacher authority, and classroom organization.

5.7.3 Complexity of Practice

Literature reviews synthesize research findings, but classroom management is a complex, context-dependent practice. What works in one context with one group of students may not transfer to another context. The recommendations offered must be adapted thoughtfully to specific contexts rather than being applied formulaically.

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Chapter 6: Conclusion

6.1 Revisiting the Central Question

This literature-based theoretical analysis began with a central question: How can teachers in IB/IGCSE settings maintain classroom decorum and productive learning environments while implementing the inquiry-based, student-centered pedagogies that define these programs?

The literature reviewed suggests that this question involves a false dichotomy. Effective classroom management and student-centered pedagogy are not opposing forces that require balancing but rather complementary elements of effective teaching. The most engaging inquiry-based lessons include clear structures and expectations, and the most effective management strategies align with constructivist pedagogy and IB/IGCSE values.

6.2 Key Insights from the Literature

Five key insights emerged from this analysis.

1. Prevention Through System and Design

The most effective approach to classroom management is prevention through well-designed systems, routines, and engaging instruction. The time invested in establishing clear expectations, teaching procedures, organizing space, and creating engaging lessons yields significant returns, including reduced disruptions and increased learning time.

2. Relationships as Foundation

Positive teacher-student relationships, characterized by care, respect, and cultural responsiveness, provide a foundation for effective management. Students are more willing to meet teachers’ expectations when they perceive them as caring and fair.

3. Cultural Responsiveness as Imperative

Culturally responsive management is essential in international school contexts that serve culturally diverse populations. This requires cultural humility, explicit communication of expectations, space for diverse communication and participation styles, and continuous learning about students’ cultural backgrounds.

4. Agency and Structure as Complementary

Rather than being opposing forces, student agency and classroom structure are complementary. The most effective approaches provide clear structures that enable autonomy—predictable routines and expectations within which students can exercise meaningful choices and pursue authentic inquiry.

5. Management and Pedagogy as Integrated

Classroom management and instruction are not separate domains but are deeply integrated. Effective management is embedded in instructional design through engaging lessons, meaningful tasks, clear inquiry structures, and instruction in self-management and social skills.

6.3 An Integrated Approach for IB/IGCSE Contexts

These insights converge to suggest an integrated approach to classroom management in IB/IGCSE contexts.

Foundation: Culturally Responsive Relationships

Begin with intentional relationship building grounded in cultural humility, genuine interest in students, and demonstrated care for them. Learn about students as individuals and as members of cultural communities. Building relationships across cultural differences.

Prevention: Systems Enabling Autonomy

Establish clear expectations aligned with the Learner Profile, teach procedures for inquiry activities, organize the learning environment for varied learning, and design engaging lessons. Create predictable structures within which students can exercise their autonomy.

Integration: Management as Pedagogy

Frame behavior through ATL skills and Learner Profile attributes; teach self-management and collaboration explicitly; structure inquiry while allowing freedom to explore questions; and use management strategies aligned with constructivist pedagogy.

Intervention: Minimal Disruption

When addressing misbehavior, use graduated interventions, beginning with nonverbal cues and simple redirections that preserve lesson momentum. Maintain emotional objectivity and student dignity. Address serious issues privately through dialogue rather than through public confrontation.

Reflection: Continuous Improvement

Regularly reflect on what is working and what requires adjustment. Seek student feedback. Collaborate with colleagues. Recognizing that effective management is an ongoing practice that requires continuous learning and adaptation.

6.4 From Theory to Practice

This theoretical analysis provides research-based foundations and recommendations; however, translating theory into practice requires contextual adaptation. Teachers implementing these approaches should:

Start with Priorities: Focus initially on the highest-impact practices—relationships, clear expectations, and engaging instruction—rather than trying to implement everything simultaneously.

Adapt to Context: Consider the specific context, including student ages, cultural composition, physical space, schedule constraints, and school culture. Adapt recommendations thoughtfully, rather than applying them formulaically.

Involve Students: Co-create expectations, seek student feedback, and involve students in problem-solving. Their perspectives are invaluable for understanding what works in the field.

Collaborate with Colleagues: Work with other teachers to share effective strategies, observe each other’s classrooms, and provide mutual support.

Be Patient with Yourself: Developing effective classroom management is an ongoing practice that requires time, experience, and continuous learning. Early struggles are normal, and persistence and reflection lead to growth.

Seek Support: Use available resources, including mentors, professional development, and research literature. Ask for help when needed.

6.5 Broader Significance

While this paper focuses specifically on classroom management in IB/IGCSE contexts, it addresses broader questions in education.

What is the purpose of education?

Management approaches reflect deeper assumptions about the purpose of education. Approaches emphasizing control and compliance suggest that education is about socializing students into existing norms. Approaches emphasizing agency, inquiry, and critical thinking suggest that education is about developing thoughtful, capable individuals who can shape their world. IB/IGCSE programs explicitly embrace this latter vision, and management practices should align with it.

What does it mean to educate internationally minded global citizens?

International-mindedness, central to the IB philosophy, entails respecting and valuing diversity, understanding interconnectedness, and taking responsible action. Classroom management provides daily opportunities to model and practice these values through culturally responsive approaches, community building, and democratic participation.

How do we prepare students for an uncertain future?

In a rapidly changing world, students need adaptability, self-management, collaboration, and critical thinking—ATL skills central to IB programmes. Classroom management that teaches these skills, rather than demanding compliance, prepares students for complex futures that require self-direction and ethical decision-making.

6.6 Ongoing Questions

Despite extensive research, questions remain.

1. How can we maintain high expectations while honoring cultural diversity in behavioral norms?
2. How do we provide a structure that enables autonomy without restricting freedom or allowing chaos?
3. How do teachers implement evidence-based practices within realistic time and resource constraints?
4. How do schools support teachers in developing expertise in culturally responsive relationship-based management?
5. How do we ensure equitable outcomes when research shows disciplinary disparities across racial, ethnic, and cultural lines?

These questions do not have simple answers; they require ongoing dialogue, research, and reflective practice.

6.7 Final Reflections

The question that motivated this analysis—”How can a teacher manage to teach her lesson and yet manage to maintain some sense of decorum in her class?”—reveals the assumption that teaching and management are separate, potentially conflicting tasks. The literature demonstrates that they are inseparable.

Effective teaching in IB/IGCSE contexts is not about choosing between instruction and management, student voice and order, or cultural responsiveness and consistent expectations. It is about thoughtfully integrating research-based approaches that create conditions where all students can learn—conditions characterized by clear structures, positive relationships, cultural responsiveness, engaging instruction, and alignment with the values of inquiry, agency, and international-mindedness.

The most effective classroom management is nearly invisible because it is woven into the fabric of teaching—into how lessons are designed, relationships are built, space is organized, expectations are established, and students are supported in developing self-management. It does not feel like “management” at all, but simply like good teaching.

This integration of management and pedagogy is not easy. It requires knowledge, skills, continuous learning, cultural humility, patience, and genuine care for students. However, it is essential to create learning environments where diverse students can thrive, inquiry can flourish within the necessary structure, and the aspirational values of international education can become a daily reality.

For teachers working in IB/IGCSE contexts, the challenge and opportunity is to create classrooms that embody the values these programs espouse—classrooms characterized by inquiry and structure, agency and expectations, diversity and community, care and accountability. When classroom management aligns with these values, it becomes not an obstacle to overcome but an expression of what these programs aspire to be: communities of learners developing the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed to create a better and more peaceful world.

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References

Comprehensive Bibliography: Classroom Management and Action Research in IB/IGCSE Education

Books: Classroom Management Theory and Practice

Canter, L., & Canter, M. (1976). Assertive discipline: A take-charge approach for today’s educator. Seal Beach, CA: Canter & Associates.

○ Foundational work on assertive discipline approach emphasizing clear rules and consistent consequences.

Charles, C. M., & Mertler, C. A. (2002). Introduction to educational research (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

○ Comprehensive text on educational research methods, including action research for classroom problems.

Cornelius-White, J., & Harbaugh, A. P. (2010). Learner-centered instruction: Building relationships for student success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

○ Explores relationship-based approaches to classroom management in student-centered contexts.

Emmer, E. T., & Evertson, C. M. (2016). Classroom management for middle and high school teachers (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

○ Practical, research-based strategies for secondary classroom management.

Evertson, C. M., & Weinstein, C. S. (Eds.). (2006). Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice, and contemporary issues. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

○ Comprehensive handbook covering theory, research, and practice in classroom management.

Elmore, T., & McPeak, A. (2019). Generation Z unfiltered: Facing nine hidden challenges of the most anxious population. Atlanta, GA: Growing Leaders Inc.

○ Identifies key psychological and social challenges facing Generation Z students.

Jones, F. H. (2007). Tools for teaching: Discipline, instruction, motivation (2nd ed.). Santa Cruz, CA: Fredric H. Jones & Associates.

○ Practical strategies for classroom management with emphasis on body language and routines.

Kohn, A. (2006). Beyond discipline: From compliance to community (10th anniversary ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

○ Critique of traditional discipline approaches; advocates for building classroom community.

Kurzweil, R. (2024). The singularity is nearer: When we merge with AI. New York, NY: Viking Press.

○ Examines the accelerating convergence of human and artificial intelligence and its educational implications.

Marzano, R. J. (2003). Classroom management that works: Research-based strategies for every teacher. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

○ Synthesizes research on effective classroom management; identifies key dimensions including relationships, rules, and disciplinary interventions.

Marzano, R. J., Marzano, J. S., & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom management that works: Research-based strategies for every teacher. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

○ Research synthesis on effective classroom management practices.

Mendler, A. N., Curwin, R. L., & Mendler, B. D. (2008). Discipline with dignity: New challenges, new solutions (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

○ Focuses on maintaining student dignity while addressing behavior; particularly relevant for diverse classrooms.

Nelsen, J., Lott, L., & Glenn, H. S. (2013). Positive discipline in the classroom: Developing mutual respect, cooperation, and responsibility in your classroom (4th ed.). New York, NY: Harmony Books.

○ Practical guide to positive discipline strategies building on Adlerian psychology.

Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (2018). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher (5th ed.). Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications.

○ Emphasizes importance of first days in establishing routines and expectations.

Books: Action Research Methodology

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (2009). Inquiry as stance: Practitioner research for the next generation. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

○ Conceptualizes teacher research as a stance toward practice and knowledge generation.

Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2019). The reflective educator’s guide to classroom research: Learning to teach and teaching to learn through practitioner inquiry (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

○ Step-by-step guide to conducting classroom action research.

Kemmis, S., & McTaggart, R. (2005). Participatory action research: Communicative action and the public sphere. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 559-603). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

○ Theoretical foundation for action research as participatory and emancipatory.

McNiff, J. (2016). You and your action research project (4th ed.). London, UK: Routledge.

○ Practical guide to conducting action research in educational settings.

Mertler, C. A. (2017). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

○ Comprehensive guide to action research for practicing teachers.

Mills, G. E. (2011). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

○ Accessible introduction to action research methodology for teachers.

Sagor, R. (2011). The action research guidebook: A four-stage process for educators and school teams (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

○ Structured approach to conducting collaborative action research.

Stringer, E. T. (2014). Action research (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

○ Theoretical and practical foundations of action research across contexts.

Books: IB/IGCSE Education and Pedagogy

Gardner-McTaggart, A. (2016). International elite, or global citizens? Equity, distinction and power: The International Baccalaureate and the rise of the South. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 14(1), 1-29.

○ Critical examination of IB’s role in international education.

Hill, I. (2012). Evolution of education for international mindedness. Journal of Research in International Education, 11(3), 245-261.

○ Explores the development of the international-mindedness concept in IB.

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2020). What is an IB education? Cardiff, UK: International Baccalaureate Organization.

○ Official IB publication outlining program philosophy, learner profile, and approaches to teaching and learning.

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2021). Approaches to teaching and learning in the Diploma Programme. Cardiff, UK: International Baccalaureate Organization.

○ Framework for teaching and learning skills across IB Diploma Programme.

Peterson, A. D. C. (2003). Schools across frontiers: The story of the International Baccalaureate and the United World Colleges (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: Open Court.

○ Historical account of IB development and philosophy.

Sizmur, S., & Cunningham, R. (2013). International benchmarking of the Cambridge Primary curriculum: Research report. Slough, UK: National Foundation for Educational Research.

○ Comparative analysis of the Cambridge IGCSE curriculum.

Walker, G., & Goodman, L. (2009). International Baccalaureate diploma programme: Motivations, concerns and preparation of pre-service teachers. Journal of Research in International Education, 8(3), 317-340.

○ Examines teacher preparation for IB teaching.

Books: Culturally Responsive Teaching and International Contexts

Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

○ Comprehensive treatment of culture and diversity in education.

Cushner, K., & Mahon, J. (2009). Intercultural competence in teacher education: Developing the intercultural competence of educators and their students. In D. K. Deardorff (Ed.), The Sage handbook of intercultural competence (pp. 304-320). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

○ Addresses cultural competence for teachers in international contexts.

Gay, G. (2018). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

○ Foundational text on culturally responsive pedagogy and classroom practices.

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

○ Connects neuroscience with culturally responsive teaching practices.

Hayden, M., & Thompson, J. (2016). International schools: Current issues and future prospects. Oxford, UK: Symposium Books.

○ Examines challenges and opportunities in international school contexts.

Haidt, J. (2024). The anxious generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

○ Examines how technology and social media are contributing to rising mental health issues among youth.

Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American children (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

○ Explores culturally relevant pedagogy through teacher case studies.

Lukianoff, G., & Haidt, J. (2018). The coddling of the American mind: How good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure. New York, NY: Penguin Press.

○ Analyzes how overprotective parenting and campus culture may be harming students’ resilience.

Mollick, E. (2024). Co-intelligence: Living and working with AI. New York, NY: Portfolio/Penguin.

○ Practical guide for educators on integrating AI tools as collaborative partners in teaching and learning.

Murgia, M. (2024). Code dependent: Living in the shadow of AI. London, UK: Picador.

○ Examines the human impact of AI systems on individuals and communities, with implications for education and society.

Meyer, E., & Carlson, D. (2014). Gender and sexualities in education: A reader. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

○ Addresses diversity and inclusion in educational contexts.

Books: Constructivist Learning Theory

Fell, A., & McCrindle, M. (2024). Generation Alpha. Sydney, Australia: McCrindle Research.

○ Analysis of the generation born after 2010 and their educational needs.

Brooks, J. G., & Brooks, M. G. (1999). In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

○ Practical application of constructivist principles to classroom teaching.

Fosnot, C. T. (Ed.). (2005). Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

○ Theoretical foundations and practical applications of constructivism.

Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York, NY: International Universities Press.

○ Classic work on cognitive development and constructivist learning.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

○ Foundational work on social constructivism and zone of proximal development.

Books: Positive Behavior Support

Algozzine, B., & Algozzine, K. (2009). Facilitating academic achievement through schoolwide positive behavior support. In W. Sailor, G. Dunlap, G. Sugai, & R. Horner (Eds.), Handbook of positive behavior support (pp. 521-550). New York, NY: Springer.

○ Connects PBIS to academic outcomes.

Dunlap, G., Carr, E. G., Horner, R. H., Zarcone, J. R., & Schwartz, I. (2008). Positive behavior support and applied behavior analysis: A familial alliance. Behavior Modification, 32(5), 682-698.

○ Theoretical foundations of positive behavior support.

Sailor, W., Dunlap, G., Sugai, G., & Horner, R. (Eds.). (2009). Handbook of positive behavior support. New York, NY: Springer.

○ Comprehensive handbook on PBIS theory and practice.

Seth, N. (2024). Mastering the data paradox: Key to winning in the AI age. New Delhi, India: Penguin Business.

○ Explores how to navigate the paradox of data abundance versus actionable insights in education and business.

Shrier, A. (2024). Bad therapy: Why the kids aren’t growing up. New York, NY: Sentinel/Penguin Random House.

○ Critiques modern therapeutic approaches and their impact on adolescent development.

Sugai, G., & Horner, R. H. (2006). A promising approach for expanding and sustaining school-wide positive behavior support. School Psychology Review, 35(2), 245-259.

○ Overview of PBIS framework and implementation.

Sugai, G., & Simonsen, B. (2012). Positive behavioral interventions and supports: History, defining features, and misconceptions. Center for PBIS & Center for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, University of Connecticut.

○ Clarifies PBIS principles and addresses common misconceptions.

Szasz, B. (2024). Data analytics essentials you always wanted to know: A practical guide to data analysis tools and techniques, big data, and real world application for beginners. Broomfield, CO: Vibrant Publishers.

○ Comprehensive introduction to data analytics for educators and professionals transitioning to data-driven decision making.

Books: Restorative Practices

Hopkins, B. (2004). Just schools: A whole school approach to restorative justice. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

○ Application of restorative justice principles to school contexts.

Morrison, B. E., & Vaandering, D. (2012). Restorative justice: Pedagogy, praxis, and discipline. Journal of School Violence, 11(2), 138-155.

○ Theoretical framework for restorative approaches in schools.

Wachtel, T. (2016). Defining restorative. Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for Restorative Practices.

○ Conceptual framework for restorative practices in various contexts.

Zehr, H. (2015). The little book of restorative justice: Revised and updated. New York, NY: Good Books.

○ Accessible introduction to restorative justice principles.

Twenge, J. M. (2023). Generations: The real differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and what they mean for America’s future. New York, NY: Atria Books.

○ Comprehensive analysis of generational differences and their implications for education and society.

Journal Articles: Classroom Management Research

Bear, G. G. (2015). Preventive and classroom-based strategies. In E. T. Emmer & E. J. Sabornie (Eds.), Handbook of classroom management (2nd ed., pp. 15-39). New York, NY: Routledge.

○ Research on preventive approaches to classroom management.

Cameron, M., & Sheppard, S. M. (2006). School discipline and social work practice: Application of research and theory to intervention. Children & Schools, 28(1), 15-22.

○ Evidence-based approaches to school discipline.

Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491-525.

○ Connection between teacher emotional competence and classroom management.

Kounin, J. S. (1970). Discipline and group management in classrooms. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

○ Classic research identifying key classroom management skills.

Lewis, T. J., Jones, S. E., Horner, R. H., & Sugai, G. (2010). School-wide positive behavior support and students with emotional/behavioral disorders: Implications for prevention, identification and intervention. Exceptionality, 18(2), 82-93.

○ Application of PBIS to students with behavioral challenges.

Marzano, R. J., & Marzano, J. S. (2003). The key to classroom management. Educational Leadership, 61(1), 6-13.

○ Research-based summary of effective management principles.

Oliver, R. M., & Reschly, D. J. (2010). Special education teacher preparation in classroom management: Implications for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 35(3), 188-199.

○ Addresses management in inclusive and diverse classrooms.

Simonsen, B., Fairbanks, S., Briesch, A., Myers, D., & Sugai, G. (2008). Evidence-based practices in classroom management: Considerations for research to practice. Education and Treatment of Children, 31(3), 351-380.

○ Synthesis of evidence-based classroom management practices.

Journal Articles: IB/IGCSE Research

Bunnell, T. (2011). The International Baccalaureate and ‘growth scepticism’: A ‘social limits’ framework. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 21(2), 161-176.

○ Critical examination of IB expansion and philosophy.

Hayden, M. C., & Wong, C. S. (1997). The International Baccalaureate: International education and cultural preservation. Educational Studies, 23(3), 349-361.

○ Explores tension between international education and cultural identity.

Hill, I. (2006). Student types, school types and their combined influence on the development of intercultural understanding. Journal of Research in International Education, 5(1), 5-33.

○ Research on international-mindedness development in IB schools.

Resnik, J. (2012). The denationalization of education and the expansion of the International Baccalaureate. Comparative Education Review, 56(2), 248-269.

○ Analyzes IB’s role in global education trends.

Tarc, P. (2009). What is the ‘International’ in the International Baccalaureate? Three structuring tensions of the early years (1962-1973). Journal of Research in International Education, 8(3), 235-261.

○ Historical analysis of IB development and philosophy.

Twigg, V. V. (2010). Teachers’ practices, values and beliefs for successful inquiry-based teaching in the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. Journal of Research in International Education, 9(1), 40-65.

○ Research on inquiry-based teaching in IB contexts.

Wells, J. (2011). International education, values and attitudes: A critical analysis of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Learner Profile. Journal of Research in International Education, 10(2), 174-188.

○ Critical examination of IB Learner Profile and its values.

Journal Articles: Action Research in Education

Brydon-Miller, M., Greenwood, D., & Maguire, P. (2003). Why action research? Action Research, 1(1), 9-28.

○ Theoretical justification for action research methodology.

Ferrance, E. (2000). Action research. Providence, RI: Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown University.

○ Accessible guide to action research for practitioners.

McNiff, J., & Whitehead, J. (2010). You and your action research project (3rd ed.). London, UK: Routledge.

○ Comprehensive guide to conducting action research.

Norton, L. S. (2009). Action research in teaching and learning: A practical guide to conducting pedagogical research in universities. London, UK: Routledge.

○ Application of action research to higher education teaching.

Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (Eds.). (2008). The Sage handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice (2nd ed.). London, UK: Sage.

○ Comprehensive handbook on action research theory and practice.

Journal Articles: Student Engagement and Motivation

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268.

○ Self-determination theory: relevance to student motivation and behavior.

Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59-109.

○ Comprehensive review of research on student engagement.

Reeve, J. (2006). Teachers as facilitators: What autonomy-supportive teachers do and why their students benefit. The Elementary School Journal, 106(3), 225-236.

○ Connects teaching approaches to student motivation and engagement.

Skinner, E. A., & Belmont, M. J. (1993). Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(4), 571-581.

○ Research on the reciprocal relationship between teacher behavior and student engagement.

Journal Articles: Teacher-Student Relationships

Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children’s school outcomes through eighth grade. Child Development, 72(2), 625-638.

○ Longitudinal research on the impact of teacher-student relationships.

Hughes, J. N., & Kwok, O. M. (2007). Influence of student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships on lower achieving readers’ engagement and achievement in the primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 39-51.

○ Examines relationships’ impact on struggling students.

Pianta, R. C. (1999). Enhancing relationships between children and teachers. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

○ Framework for understanding and improving teacher-student relationships.

Roorda, D. L., Koomen, H. M., Spilt, J. L., & Oort, F. J. (2011). The influence of affective teacher-student relationships on students’ school engagement and achievement: A meta-analytic approach. Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493-529.

○ Meta-analysis demonstrating the impact of teacher-student relationships on outcomes.

Additional Resources

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2013). What is IB World School governance? Geneva, Switzerland: IB Publishing.

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2014). MYP: From principles into practice. Cardiff, UK: International Baccalaureate Organization.

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2018). Approaches to learning across the IB continuum. Geneva, Switzerland: International Baccalaureate Organization.

Cambridge Assessment International Education. (2019). Cambridge IGCSE: Getting started with teaching and learning. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Cambridge Assessment International Education. (2020). Teaching for better learning: A handbook for teachers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

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Appendices

Appendix A: Sample Classroom Agreement Template

Our Learning Community Agreement Aligned with IB Learner Profile

As principled learners, we…: [Student-generated examples]

As caring community members, we… [Student-generated examples]

As communicators and collaborators, we… [Student-generated examples]

As balanced learners, we… [Student-generated examples]

Appendix B: Routine Procedures Checklist

Essential Classroom Procedures to Establish

Beginning Class:

1. [ ] Entry procedure and materials needed
2. [ ] How to handle late arrival
3. [ ] Opening routine (agenda, learning objectives)

During Instruction:

1. [ ] How to ask questions or get help
2. [ ] What to do if finished early
3. [ ] Bathroom/water procedures
4. [ ] How to handle materials and supplies

Transitions:

1. [ ] Moving into group work
2. [ ] Transitioning between activities
3. [ ] Packing up and ending class

Collaborative Work:

1. [ ] Forming groups
2. [ ] Group roles and responsibilities
3. [ ] Voice level expectations
4. [ ] What successful collaboration looks like

Independent Work:

1. [ ] Where to work
2. [ ] Voice level expectations
3. [ ] How to get help
4. [ ] What to do when finished

Reflecting on My Cultural Responsiveness

1. What do I know about my students’ cultural backgrounds?
2. How do my cultural values and assumptions influence my teaching?
3. How do I make expectations explicit rather than assuming a shared understanding?
4. How do I accommodate diverse communication and participation styles
5. What relationships have I built with students from cultures different from my own
6. How do I respond when cultural norms conflict with classroom expectations
7. What am I learning about the cultures represented in my classroom?
8. How do I ensure that all students feel valued and included?

Appendix D: Observation Tool for Peer Feedback

Classroom Management Observation Focus

Preventive Strategies:

1. Clear expectations and routines evident
2. Engaging lesson design maintaining interest
3. Physical organization supporting learning
4. Positive climate and relationships

Active Management:

1. Non-verbal interventions used effectively
2. Minimal disruption to lesson flow
3. Graduated interventions (least to most intrusive)
4. Emotional objectivity maintained

IB/IGCSE Alignment:

1. Learner Profile language used
2. ATL skills explicitly taught or referenced
3. Student agency evident within structure
4. Management aligned with inquiry pedagogy

Cultural Responsiveness:

1. Diverse participation styles accommodated
2. Culturally responsive communication
3. Inclusive environment evident

Appendix E: Student Feedback Survey

How Does Our Classroom Work?

Please respond honestly to the questions. Your feedback will help us improve our learning environment.

1. I understand what is expected of me in this course. (Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree)
2. Classroom rules and procedures are applied consistently and fairly. (Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree)
3. I feel respected and valued in this class. (Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree)
4. My teacher cares about me as a person and not just as a student. (Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree)
5. I feel comfortable participating and sharing my ideas with others. (Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree)
6. I have the opportunity to make meaningful choices in my learning. (Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree)
7. I understand how our classroom expectations connect to the IB Learner Profile. (Strongly Agree – Strongly Disagree)
8. ○ What helps you learn the best in this class?
9. What makes it difficult for you to focus or learn?
10. What suggestions do you have for improving our classrooms?

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Author’s Note

This literature-based theoretical analysis synthesizes existing research to provide evidence-based guidance for classroom management in the IB/IGCSE context. While grounded in scholarly literature, application to specific contexts requires thoughtful adaptation, considering local factors such as student characteristics, cultural context, physical environment, schedule, and school culture. Teachers are encouraged to use this analysis as a starting point for their own reflective practice, adapting recommendations to their unique situations, and continuously assessing effectiveness through observation, student feedback, and professional dialogue.

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Word Count: Approximately 27,000 words

Download Action Research in Braille Ready Format

©2026 Fiza Pathan

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Active Learning Strategies in International Teaching: An Exploration Within the IGCSE and IB Context

The topic of Active Learning Strategies was officially introduced by Rekha ma’am on August 8, 2025. Back then, I knew we had a lot of material to cover in the PGCITE syllabus, yet our 10-month tenure was coming to an end. Then how were we supposed to finish the portion? Well, as I sipped on my three mugs of South-Indian-brewed milky coffee, one after the other, before the class started (since it was an online class), I briefly pondered this topic, but let it go, thinking that everyone would be reasonable.

We then began our Active Learning Strategies Class. All classes for this lesson were held online because:

1. No one came to class because of the persistent rains.

2. I also could not attend class because I had swine flu and Chikungunya at the same time. But I did attend the online class.

And I had three mugs of lukewarm coffee, as I have mentioned before, one after the other, and it almost made my onlookers, especially Sana, barf! But that is me for you. Coffee and dopamine keep me going through long and hectic days. Especially since I had to earn and learn at the same time, since I was a teenager, by giving tuitions, and later, when I had to even fit my writing in with my tuitions and studies. Coffee keeps this mare going!

No refined sugar ever in my coffee. Only half a spoonful of jaggery powder, and that is it. I do my blood tests every month, so I am aware that even now, I don’t have diabetes or cholesterol at all. I am, as it were, ‘not on the diabetes spectrum’ nor the ‘chronic heart problem’ spectrum at all. I have no bad cholesterol. In fact, I have a healthy dose of excellent good cholesterol. That is because, from a young age, I started munching walnuts between meals. Sometimes almonds or dates or figs, but now I have completely stopped dates and figs since 2021. I also avoid almonds because their skins can make them heavy. So it is just the walnuts for me now.

Walnuts and coffee.

The only two meals that keep this Catholic nun going!

Now, coming back to Active Learning Strategies.

As an educator teaching within the International Baccalaureate (IB) and IGCSE frameworks, I have come to understand that teaching is not merely the act of transmitting knowledge from teacher to student. It is, at its very heart, the art of activating the learner — of making the student a participant in their own intellectual transformation. I believe active learning strategies are the most powerful tools an international educator has for achieving this end. In this write-up, I shall explore the principal categories of active learning strategies as they apply to the IGCSE and IB classroom, drawing on my own pedagogical training, classroom observations, and self-directed research.

Activity-based strategies form the bedrock of an engaging international classroom. These strategies aim to improve student achievement by engaging learners in individual or group experiential learning — purposeful conversation, project planning, hands-on inquiry and analysis, and product creation. The beauty of activity-based strategies is that they can be conducted in diverse settings, including not only the traditional classroom but also the school library, community enterprises, and natural environments.

One of the most dynamic activity-based strategies I have encountered is the Carousel. The Carousel functions much like a merry-go-round — reminiscent, in the Indian context, of the joyful circular movements of garba and dandiya — where students use a rotational sequence to share projects, inquiry findings, or culminating activities with several groups in the classroom. In practice, this can take many forms. For instance, I have seen it adapted as a ‘Give and Take’ game, where inner and outer circles of students are given cards — say, the capitals and states of India — and they must rotate, exchange information, and match each state to its capital. The energy in the classroom during such an activity is palpable. There are twenty-eight states with their respective capitals, and the students must think on their feet, collaborate, and communicate — all skills prized by the IB Learner Profile. This is one example of the Carousel we discussed in the online class.

The debate is another essential activity-based strategy that I hold in high regard. In a debate, opposing sides of an issue make oral presentations before an audience or judge, following defined formats and conventions. What makes the debate particularly powerful in the IB and IGCSE contexts is that it demands critical thinking. During my own PGCITE training, which was online, I participated in a debate exercise on a controversial topic that Rekha ma’am gave us — weather prediction and government declarations about severe weather conditions. I was assigned the ‘for’ side while others argued ‘against.’ What struck me was that the meteorological department itself was not always sure of its own predictions, yet the exercise compelled us to research, reason, and defend our positions from both sides. This is the essence of what the IB calls ‘open-mindedness’ and ‘being a thinker’ — the student must be able to defend both sides of an argument, and we as teachers must prepare them for precisely that kind of intellectual rigor.

The Panel Discussion deserves mention as well. In a panel discussion, a group of participants discusses a topic before an audience, with a moderator introducing the topic and facilitating the discussion. Each panel member presents a prepared statement representing various viewpoints, answers follow-up questions, and provides conclusions or summary statements. What I find magnificent about this strategy is that it cultivates what I call ‘understanding among people’ — the ability to see that there are many different ways of approaching a single issue. This fosters the kind of international-mindedness that lies at the core of IB philosophy.

Other activity-based strategies that have immense value in the IGCSE and IB classroom include the Activity/Learning Center, where specific locations are created for students to explore topics and resources; the Field Trip, where students leave the school building to pursue experiential learning in museums, natural settings, and authentic contexts; the Oral Presentation, which builds confidence and clear communication; Simulation, which encourages role-playing and drama as a clearer way to provide real-life learning experiences; and Retelling, Rehearsal, Repetition, and Practice — all of which deepen subject-based skill and knowledge through active engagement.

Arts-based strategies hold a special place in my heart as an educator because they engage students in dramatic, musical, visual, and expressive forms that integrate — physically and mentally — all aspects of learning. The IB, particularly the Middle Years Programme (MYP), places great emphasis on interdisciplinary learning and the development of the whole person, and arts-based strategies are uniquely suited to this purpose.

‘The Ceremony’ is an arts-based strategy that depicts aspects of historical or social traditions through creative presentations of stylistic conventions and ritual practices — movements, costumes, and artifacts. I have always been fascinated by how this strategy brings history to life. For example, imagine students reenacting the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj alongside the coronation of King Charles III, or staging the formation of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as a classroom activity. I used a similar approach when teaching ICSE students at Podar, and the impact was extraordinary. Students do not merely learn about history — they inhabit it. I used the same approach during my B.Ed. training, and it always helped me earn the highest grades for my lessons.

‘Forum Theatre’ is another arts-based strategy I find deeply empowering. In Forum Theatre, an unsolved problem is presented in dramatic form, and the audience is invited to suggest and enact solutions. The conflict ends badly — that is the point — because the problem is presented without a solution, and the audience must step in, intervene, and propose alternatives. The key feature is audience participation. Forum Theatre is essentially a step ahead of street plays; it transforms the passive spectator into an active participant. Rekha ma’am demonstrated in class that this strategy can be applied to issues such as pollution, deforestation, dowry, debt, and leprosy — real social problems that demand real solutions. The audience becomes the activist. The concept of the ‘Joker’ — a facilitator who mediates between the actors and the audience — adds another layer of pedagogical sophistication, empowering learners to explore options and see themselves as agents of change. In the Indian context, Forum Theatre has deep roots in the tradition of street plays (nukkad natak) used during social reform movements, and I believe it is a strategy that every IB and IGCSE teacher should master.

During my B.Ed. days, I took part in a number of nukkad nataks. As the head of one such organization, I was trained by a director-cum-trainer who came to our B.Ed. college at St. Teresa’s Institute of Education, Santacruz. He found me exceptionally talented in acting. He even condescended to conduct the plays we were performing in Hindi, since I did not have a pennyworth of knowledge of Marathi. I remember the director-cum-trainer’s name as Alpam, and I used to call him Alpam Sir. We used to enjoy performing professional nukkad nataks for my B.Ed. college. However, that fun had to end because we had many other activities, projects, and content exams during our B.Ed., and I wanted to score stellar marks, which I did. I stood 3rd in my B.Ed. college with an overall grade of A+.

‘Improvisation’ is a strategy I find both terrifying and thrilling in equal measure. Life, after all, has no script. In improvisation, students are free to respond, experiment, and create in planned or spontaneous contexts. They are given a situation — perhaps an interaction, a dilemma, or a confrontation — and must respond in the moment. ‘The Story Builder’ variation, in which students collaboratively build a story by adding to one another’s contributions, is a delightful example of this. It teaches adaptability, creativity, and the ability to think under pressure — all skills that the IB values highly.

‘Reader’s Theatre’, as Matri, one of our youngest PGCITE colleagues, resourced for us online that day, is an arts-based strategy that left a profound impression on me when I first understood it. In Reader’s Theatre, selections from novels, short stories, and poems are narrated in dramatic form through vocal characterization, facial expression, and gesture. There is no traditional enactment — no costumes, no sets, no blocking. Instead, the performers sit on high chairs with their scripts and rely entirely on the power of their voices and their reading. When done well, it is devastating. The beauty of Reader’s Theatre is its simplicity and its power — it demonstrates that the human voice, when trained and deployed with skill, can move an audience as deeply as any full theatrical production.

Choral Reading and Chanting are related strategies I have seen used to magnificent effect, particularly in the younger grades. Chanting, for instance, can be applied to something as fundamental as multiplication tables — each table assigned to a different group, the whole class chanting together, building mathematical fluency through rhythm and repetition. Choral reading, meanwhile, develops voice, interpretation, and a communal sense of engagement with a text. This is something my mother, an ICSE Primary School teacher, still believes in today, and her students do exceptionally well in their studies because of it. Also, her students are the only ones in their school classrooms who know their tables verbatim.

The Docudrama is yet another powerful arts-based strategy that blends documentary and fictional elements to dramatize historical events. Students working on the 1857 revolt, for instance, could write scripts, assign characters, research nineteenth-century sepoy costumes, and present balanced perspectives on the events. The Tableau or Freeze Frame takes this further by freezing a moment in time — say, the Dandi March — and asking students to pause the picture, step into the shoes of the historical figures, and feel the weight of that moment. This cultivates empathy, which is arguably one of the most important dispositions an IB student can develop. I have not only seen this done extensively at Podar IB but have also done the same myself at my B.Ed. college at St. Teresa’s Institute of Education, Santacruz. When I was a student at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim, we also took part in tableaus, especially in junior school for English Literature, where most of our stories or poems came from the Gulmohar series of English literature textbooks.

The IB and IGCSE curricula are built on the conviction that students must be thinkers, not followers. Thinking skills strategies are designed to develop students’ ability to consider ideas, analyze perspectives, solve problems, and make decisions.

Analyzing Bias and Stereotypes is a thinking skills strategy I consider essential for the twenty-first-century classroom. Students must learn to examine and evaluate personal, societal, and cultural beliefs about inequities, discrimination, and prejudices based on race, gender, class, ethnicity, and other factors. During our PGCITE class, we explored examples such as feminist theory and the gendered assumptions embedded in phrases like ‘Father of the Nation’, the gender bias inherent in expecting mothers and daughters to remain in the kitchen, and the broader psychology of Confirmation Bias — the tendency to favor information that confirms what we already believe. These are not merely academic exercises; they are life lessons.

The Halo Effect is a related psychological concept with direct implications for teaching. The Halo Effect occurs when a teacher perceives a student only positively and cannot see any wrong in them. While this might seem benign, it can lead to biased assessment and favoritism, undermining the fairness and equity that the IB demands of its educators. I believe that being aware of the Halo Effect is a form of professional self-defense.

The Anticipation Guide is a thinking skills strategy I find remarkably effective for activating prior knowledge and preparing students for new material. Before a lesson or reading, students are given a series of statements and asked to indicate their agreement or disagreement, with reasons. After the lesson or reading, they revisit the guide and reflect on how their thinking has changed. I observed Rekha ma’am demonstrate this strategy in an interactive video for us, using the picture book ‘Jin Woo’ by Eve Bunting. Students were asked to make predictions before, during, and after reading the book. The beauty of this approach is that there are no right or wrong answers at the prediction stage — the purpose is to develop visual skills, critical thinking, and the ability to predict outcomes based on evidence. After the Anticipation Guide, the teacher reads the story slowly, stopping at key points to revisit students’ predictions, discuss them, and incorporate the think-pair-share strategy. Picture clues are used to stimulate observation and analytical skills. The process teaches students that we need to think, not merely follow.

The Semantic Feature Analysis is another powerful thinking tool. In this strategy, a chart is used to compare words or concepts and their features. For example, one might list biomes — tundra, plateau, delta, mesa — along the left side and features such as H₂O availability, vegetation type, and animal life across the top, then mark which features apply to which biome. This strategy encourages comparison, classification, and analytical thinking — all higher-order skills central to IB and IGCSE assessment objectives.

Cooperative strategies are grounded in the principle that learning is a social endeavor. According to Marzano, the five defining elements of cooperative learning are positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small-group skills, and group processing. In the IB classroom, where collaboration is not merely encouraged but expected, cooperative strategies are indispensable.

The Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy I find particularly elegant. Students form smaller, specialized groups to explore prior knowledge, relevant questions, diverse perspectives, and personal insights, then come together as a larger ‘home’ group to share and integrate their learning. This strategy mirrors the IB’s emphasis on collaborative inquiry and ensures that every student has a role, a responsibility, and a voice.

Think/Pair/Share is a deceptively simple yet extraordinarily effective cooperative strategy. Students first take time alone to think about and respond to a posed question, then form pairs to discuss their responses, and finally share them with the larger group. I have found that this three-step process gives even the quietest students the confidence to participate because they have had time to formulate their thoughts before being asked to share them publicly. Discussion, meanwhile, is the lifeblood of the IB classroom — students engage in purposeful talk to explore ideas, articulate their thoughts, listen to and respond to others, and connect experiences with new ideas.

While the IB and IGCSE curricula rightly emphasize student-centered learning, there remains an important role for direct instruction — the teacher’s timely, personal intervention. Used wisely and balanced with other instructional strategies, direct instruction is often the most appropriate strategy for the situation at hand. I believe this and even reiterated it to Rekha ma’am when she complained to me that I must ‘not lecture’ or ‘explain topics’ to students because they don’t appreciate it. I assured her they would because of my innovative style of direct instruction, and I was proved right, to the astonishment of many MYP and IBDP teachers who witnessed my classes.

The Cloze strategy is a direct-instruction approach that I have seen adapted in wonderfully creative ways. In its simplest form, students fill in words deliberately omitted from a text. But I have seen it transformed into a game — imagine, as Rekha ma’am taught us PGCITE students, a classroom where a DJ plays a song, suddenly stops the music, and the students must ‘fill in the blank’ with the correct word or answer. For example, the DJ stops, and the students must shout out ‘New Delhi!’ as the capital of India. It is direct instruction disguised as play, and it is remarkably effective for developing vocabulary, predicting meaning, and applying prior knowledge.

Guided Reading, Guided Writing, Reciprocal Teaching, and the Directed Reading-Thinking Activity are direct-instruction strategies that scaffold student learning — providing the support students need to develop independence. The Lecture, meanwhile, remains a staple of the classroom, though the IB encourages its use alongside more interactive strategies. The Socratic Dialogue, in which the teacher engages students in a sequence of probing questions that encourages them to explore and discover answers for themselves, is perhaps the most intellectually demanding of all direct-instruction strategies — and the most rewarding.

I believe the ultimate goal of all education is to produce learners who no longer need their teachers — learners who can take responsibility for their own intellectual growth. Independent learning strategies are the means by which we achieve this. These strategies encourage students to make personal connections to the curriculum and, over time, to structure the curriculum to fit their own needs and goals.

The Portfolio is a strategy I hold in particular regard. Students collect samples of work that demonstrate their effort, progress, and achievement over time. Portfolios can be topic-based, cross-curricular, or personal, and they provide sustained opportunities for collaborative assessment. The Learning Log or Journal, in which students record sustained reflections on the process and content of their learning, is another powerful tool for developing metacognitive awareness. Independent Reading, Independent Study, and Learning Contracts all foster the self-efficacy, purpose, and personal connection essential to lifelong learning.

No discussion of active learning strategies in the twenty-first century would be complete without acknowledging the role of Information and Communication Technology. The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the integration of ICT into education — what was once supplementary became essential overnight. Virtual learning, blogs, multimedia applications, social networking, and computer-assisted instruction are now integral to the IB and IGCSE classroom.

One digital tool I find particularly valuable is StoryboardThat.com, which lets students create comic strips and visual storyboards. This tool can be used alongside other strategies — for instance, after completing an Anticipation Guide and reading a story, students can use StoryboardThat.com to create a comic strip that captures the narrative’s key scenes, characters, and turning points. It is a beautiful marriage of technology and creativity.

Conclusion

Active learning strategies are not merely pedagogical tools — they are instruments of liberation. They free students from the passivity of rote learning and invite them into the magnificent, messy, exhilarating work of thinking for themselves. In the IB and IGCSE contexts, where the goal is to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who are motivated to succeed, these strategies are not optional luxuries. They are necessities. As educators, it is our solemn responsibility — and our profound privilege — to master, adapt, and deploy them with wisdom, creativity, and love.

__________

End of Active Learning Strategies

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Bloom’s Taxonomy

It was September 15, 2025, when the January 2025 Batch of PGCITE students at Podar International School IB, Santacruz, found themselves at home, except for me!

That was because it was raining up a storm, so it was thought better to keep most of our classes online for a while. I, however, continued to go to school because I lived nearby and did not want to miss my observations and proxy classes, and especially not Sushma Ma’am’s IBDP History classes. So, while most of our PGCITE classes at Podar were conducted online, especially when we were being taught about Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Action Research Project, Dr. Rekha Bajaj, ma’am, our coordinator, would always find me in the school.

I believe in a number of sayings or proverbs like:

1. Don’t let the grass grow under your feet.

2. Make hay while the sun shines.

3. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

And of course, I am the perfect representation of being the ‘Johnny on the spot.’

Rekha ma’am began our class by focusing on what parents want or expect from a school when their children are involved.

All of us, me offline and the rest online, gave a number of answers, which I have listed below in point form as I noted them in my detailed PGCITE lecture notes:

• Emotional, Physical, Social, and Moral Wellbeing
• Whole all-round development
• Communication Skills
• Academics
• A parent would want their child to be comfortable at school
• Inner hidden talents
• Develop confidence
• Self-Grooming
• Self-Discipline
• Time Management Skills
• Cognitive Skills
• Gross Motor Skills
• The child should be safe and in a good environment
• The child should adjust to all the students
• They should learn values
• They should learn how to take responsibility, etc.

Rekha ma’am then informed us that parents were indeed the school’s stakeholders and that the school’s job was to fulfill their needs. In fact, it was important that the parents’ wants and needs match those of the school. I was having another internal dialogue about this topic of much interest in the realm of ‘treating a school like a corporation rather than what it was – a school!’ but I refrained from interrupting Rekha ma’am’s class and went on as usual, taking down my lecture notes.

I would later on in my portfolio and in my own teaching development go on to read up, research, and study many articles and journal pieces written on this crucial topic, especially those shared on LinkedIn, where teachers from all walks of life shared their concerns about how the teaching profession was being morphed into a job where the ‘customer always comes first!’ (Sorry for the pun, but it is true!) Which means, like the Amazon slogan, that parents and their dictates to teachers, management, staff, HODs, and of course the principal would always come first, even if that meant forging a student’s marks on the orders of a corrupt parent who would have their child stand 1st in class even if that child did not deserve it in any way. Teachers have been held at gunpoint at times, world over, by such ‘stakeholders’ for this purpose! I think most parents these days are mixing up schools with DMart, Amazon, or Flipkart! Is this the kind of scenario I would be walking myself into calmly and willingly? Did I really want to one day be held in my 4,000+ book-filled house at gunpoint by a tyrannical and sociopathic parent of one of my students to force me to change his son’s E grade to an A+ and would I swallow the fact that I had to do so because, apparently, these days International Schools are run by the parents and their forever ‘fun and frolic’ children instead of the principal and the teachers of the institution!?

As the years, nay, the MONTHS go by, I’m finding that Gen Alpha and Gen Z are no longer concerned about their grades or studies, even two months before a board exam, so long as they get five hours of uninterrupted ‘me time’ or ‘break time’ daily. With a lot of tantrums and abuse of their parents, the aforementioned students can go on for 12 hours of uninterrupted, happy ‘fun and frolic’ time, with a lot of Snapchat, Instagram chatting, gaming, or just plain old scrolling for hours together! If nothing else, binge-watch a whole series like Stranger Things 5—after all, the board exam can wait, but not OTT shows or Netflix! AND PARENTS PREFER TO SEE THEM RELAXING BUT ALSO GETTING INTO PACE, ASHOKA UNIVERSITY, ENGINEERING COLLEGE, ETC., with top grades! How are teachers supposed to do that? We’ve been following the story of Jesus for 2,000+ years, and we still haven’t understood how to turn water into wine, as he did! But believe me – THAT would be a much easier ball game than trying to do the aforementioned task!

Setting aside my reservations about this topic, which gives parents the upper hand in ‘calling the shots,’ I then heard Rekha ma’am introduce us to the background on Bloom’s Taxonomy, which she wanted to teach us that day.

Rekha ma’am then went on in her usual down-to-earth yet suave style, which I admire (it takes art to do and be both!), to explain that, as stakeholders, parents needed their wants and needs for their children to align with the vision and mission of the school they were enrolling their child in. Rekha ma’am went on to mention that this was evident even during the time of the Vedic Aryans, when parents would send their male sons and, at times, even daughters from some daring Brahmin families to Gurukuls to get them educated in the Vedas, Shastras, warfare, administration, etc., but even then, the parents chose the guru for their son or daughter carefully and only after a thorough investigation into what they wanted their son or daughter to become or be.

This early Vedic example resonated with me because, by then, I was already preparing for the NEP 2020 IKS Policy Plan subjects and would later specialize in Categories 1, 7, and 13 in 2025. I was already quite familiar with the Gurukul System and was ruminating in class about how my parents would have rather put me with Rishi Bharadvaja and Atri, knowing how fond I was of studying and that I was meant for nothing else but collecting and compiling philosophical discourses on the Vedas and other Hindu Holy Books. Rekha ma’am then went on to say that even boarding schools are selected carefully by parents, keeping the child’s needs in mind and, most importantly, their own dreams for the child.

The idea is the holistic development of the child. From 1945 through the 1950s, following World War I and World War II, there was immense growth and development in education, which received significant impetus. It was during this time that Benjamin Bloom came on the scene, according to Dr. Rekha Bajaj, ma’am, the coordinator of the PGCITE course at Podar International School, Santacruz. He was a leading educational scientist of his era and wrote numerous books on education that redefined the system, especially through the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and the Classification of Educational Goals for Schools, for students, parents, teachers, etc.

According to Rekha ma’am, Benjamin Bloom identified three domains in his study of Educational Objectives, related to what a parent looks for in a school for their child:

1. Cognitive Domain

2. Psychomotor Domain

3. Affective Domain

All three domains, and development across all three, had to be effective for a student to develop in an all-round, or holistic, manner. These were the three main domains of a child’s development. Thus, Taxonomy meant classification. This also focused on the 3 Hs of Education: Head, Hands, and Heart.

Rekha ma’am kept saying that it was from the teacher’s head, heart, and hands to the students’ head, heart, and hands, that is, from a knowledge perspective to personal transformation and then to hands-on application. Here, the heart represents personal transformation through heightened sensitivity to passions, values, ethics, and other aspects that help students become well-rounded, empathetic human beings. And this was so important in the current era.

Regarding the application of hands, it referred to all psychomotor activities involving students’ hands, feet, legs, ears, etc., including drawing, sketching, map-making, etc., and not only to sports. It would invariably include all tactile activities. In my view, this would be very important for understanding my ADHD students, especially those in the senior sections of the IBDP, AS & A Level, and the IGCSE, not to mention my earlier ISC and ICSE students, whom I had been teaching and tutoring in English language, English literature, history, and geography for the past 15 years.

I realized through the lesson with Rekha ma’am that, yet again, one could not judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, because a fish cannot climb a tree! I therefore had to learn to integrate the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains to understand not only Bloom’s taxonomy but also my students’ overall development for the better.

I also realized that the head, heart, and hands domain would soon develop as the age of AI and data science brings new professions and employment opportunities. If I did not prepare my students for these changes, they would be studying for professions that would be automated long before they graduated. Rekha ma’am, who is the coordinator of the PGCITE course (the postgraduate certificate in international teacher education conducted at Podar International School, Santacruz), also kept reminding us, PGCITE students, of this. She even did so while explaining the steps for our action research project.

Cognitive Domain

‘Education must be increasingly concerned about the fullest development of all children and youth, and it will be the responsibility of the schools to seek learning conditions which will enable each individual to reach the highest level of learning possible.’

― Benjamin Bloom

(influential education psychologist)

We first covered the six levels of understanding in Bloom’s taxonomy, specifically the cognitive domain. Rekha ma’am focused on the 1956 Bloom’s taxonomy model and the 2001 model, revised by Benjamin Bloom’s two students, Anderson and Krathwohl. The latter two modified the 1956 Bloom’s taxonomy into the new Bloom’s taxonomy model. They did not do so to change what their teacher taught; in fact, they were making only a few changes to the original 1956 taxonomy.

I realized, after Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am explained the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy to us, that I had learned it when I was studying for my B.Ed. at St. Theresa’s Institute of Education, Santa Cruz, in the year 2011. I realized I had learned both the old and the new Bloom’s taxonomy models there, but I didn’t realize the differences between the two. It was Dr. Rekha Bajaj, ma’am, who truly expounded to us the essence of the differences between the two taxonomies, or, as I have mentioned before, the two classifications of educational goals.

Dr. Rekha Bajaj, ma’am, explained to us the six levels of cognitive understanding within a hierarchical framework, from bottom to top, which is how all organizations should actually work. She used the example of a mobile phone and explained how one would go about purchasing one today.

Rekha ma’am first asked us what kind of mobile phone we were first introduced to as children. Some of us said we were given smartphones from the start, while others said they were given a Barbie toy phone that made funny sounds when the appropriate buttons were pressed. Some of us millennials, like me, were even given a black-and-white Nokia or Ericsson mobile before buying our first touchscreen mobile phone, probably in our 20s. Therefore, from the Gen Z crowd in our PGCITE class to the millennials, Gen X, and the boomers, we all had different introductions to the mobile phone.

This, according to Rekha ma’am, would be our knowledge base or basic information about what a mobile phone was, in the context of Bloom’s taxonomy. At this stage, we would be asking many knowledge- or information-based questions, as our international board students would. Whether we were born in the 1980s, the 1990s, or the early 2000s, we would be shown or demonstrated by our parents, older siblings, cousins, friends, etc., how a mobile phone worked. This would then develop our overall understanding of what a mobile phone was and how it was to be used. This does not necessarily mean we would procure a mobile phone of our own, especially for those of us born before 2005. Therefore, this would be the comprehension or understanding stage of our taxonomy in the cognitive domain.

Rekha ma’am then went on to state that to apply our knowledge now, our parents or older siblings would purchase a mobile phone for us. We would then, as preteens or teenagers, apply our knowledge and understanding of how to use a mobile phone by using our very first one, however poor the quality or its black-and-white features! This would be the application stage of our cognitive domain under Bloom’s taxonomy. Some of us would become very proficient with mobile phones. Some of us, especially as we grow older, may want to purchase a new mobile phone based on our needs and wants after careful analysis.

This analysis, as described by Rekha ma’am, is probably how we were in our early 20s, going to Vijay Sales to buy a smartphone in the current era. The Vijay Sales salesman would show us different types of smartphones based on our budget, the features of each, and our needs. We would compare and contrast them either at an offline store or, as most people do today, on an online store like Amazon. This would be the application stage of Bloom’s taxonomy in the cognitive domain. This would coincide with the steps we would need to apply in an action research project.

Some of us PGCITE students from the Jan 2025 batch even joked with Rekha ma’am, saying we had only recently started shopping for our own smartphones, most of us well beyond our 20s. Rekha ma’am then pointed out something crucial in this regard. She stated that it indicated most of us millennials, Gen X individuals, and baby boomers tended to remain in the application stage of Bloom’s cognitive domain and did not move on to the more crucial domains in the upper sections. Whether we were doing this because of monetary constraints, lackadaisical behavior, or simply because we were too dependent on others to do our work for us, we, like most teachers in SSC, NIOS, CBSE, and ICSE schools, tended to develop only a basic level of knowledge and application in the minds of our students. We did not go beyond that to help them look beyond and evaluate their understanding, or to create something new through a synthesis of ideas and innovative thinking, either individually or collaboratively.

Rekha ma’am went on to discuss the remaining part of the mobile phone example with us. She then described how we would normally behave at Vijay Sales after the salesman put at least five phones in front of us that he felt were a good fit for our budget and requirements. However, this is where we begin synthesizing our thoughts, focusing on two fundamental points: a budget and our requirements, especially our immediate ones. I remember at that point in the class discussing with Rekha ma’am and the others my need to buy a new Apple phone, or an iPhone, because I had heard that to be an IB or IGCSE board teacher, one needed to possess at least an iPhone, if not the latest one. One needed an Apple laptop and an iPad, and, if possible, a fancy tablet.

Rekha ma’am assuaged my fears about the same, stating that it is not the latest Apple phone that matters, but whether the software installed on it, whether on a Samsung, Nokia, Oppo, or even an Apple phone, is genuine or not. Depending on that, the phone works or doesn’t work, and that is what makes all the difference! Most of my colleagues from the elite sections of society did not agree with this point of view, but I did, because the proof was before us that very day. A storm was brewing across the whole of Mumbai. While most of my colleagues’ iPhones, Apple laptops, and desktops, with their expensive but questionable Wi-Fi and internet connections, were not working, my genuine, software-filled Samsung phone worked. I did not have any disturbances during any of my lectures, not only that day but throughout 2025 during my PGCITE course at Podar International School, Santacruz.

So now, based on our budget and requirements, whether urgent or delayed, we synthesize all our needs and wants and, after careful evaluation, choose one particular phone. Rekha ma’am said that, if it were her, she would probably choose one for nothing less than ₹30,000. Some of us said we would be happy with a phone that had a beautiful sound system, a camera, and 5G. The younger ones, namely the Gen Z teachers, preferred to spend more, maybe going up to even ₹75,000 to ₹90,000 or even ₹1,00,000, as long as they would get an excellent phone that could accomplish a lot apart from just being a communication device.

This would be our synthesis section of Bloom’s taxonomy, as well as the final evaluation stage. Through this example, Rekha ma’am made us understand how a child develops from the lowest level of knowledge and understanding to the highest levels of evaluation and synthesis. She would go on to give us more examples related to Bloom’s taxonomy and the changes seen there. She would do this at the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor levels.

Changes to Bloom’s Taxonomy

1956 Bloom’s Taxonomy

2001 New Bloom’s Taxonomy

‘Benjamin Bloom, an eminent educational researcher, studied 120 outstanding achievers. They were concert pianists, sculptors, Olympic swimmers, world-class tennis players, mathematicians, and research neurologists. Most were not that remarkable as children and didn’t show evident talent before their training began in earnest. Even by early adolescence, you usually couldn’t predict their future accomplishments from their current ability. Only their continued motivation and commitment, along with their network of support, took them to the top.’

― Carol S. Dweck

(from her book ‘Mindset: The New Psychology of Success’)

….a student attains ‘higher order thinking’ when he no longer believes in right or wrong…..A large part of what we call good teaching is a teacher’s ability to obtain affective objectives by challenging the student’s fixed beliefs…..a large part of what we call teaching is that the teacher should be able to use education to reorganize a child’s thoughts, attitudes, and feelings.’

-Benjamin Bloom

(Author of Taxonomy of Educational Objectives and Developing Talent in Young People)

If you notice, there are significant differences between the 1956 and 2001 versions of Bloom’s taxonomy. Regarding Bloom’s taxonomy, I learned in my B.Ed. college, as I have said before, I knew both, but without focusing on the reasons for the differences; however, B.Ed. Students from the past, such as Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am and my PGCITE Jan Batch 2025 colleague Ambili, studied only the 1956 version of Bloom’s taxonomy during their respective B.Ed. Rekha ma’am, who is the PGCITE course coordinator at Podar International School, Santacruz, mentioned to us, the Jan Batch 2025 PGCITE students, that many B.Ed. Colleges generally do not focus on the differences between the 1956 and 2001 taxonomies or on the classifications within Bloom’s classification of educational goals.

I, however, have a remarkable memory, and though I studied Bloom’s taxonomy in 2011, I remembered quite a few details. I can say confidently that it made more sense to me after Rekha ma’am’s keen tutelage, along with her innovative analogies and examples. It certainly brought Bloom’s taxonomy to life for me, and it helped me create my lesson plans for my actual lessons at Podar International School, Santa Cruz. It was a simple procedure.

As I mentioned before, the 2001 revised Bloom’s taxonomy, devised by Benjamin Bloom’s two students, Anderson and Krathwohl, has a few significant differences from the 1956 Bloom’s taxonomy. They are listed below:

1. From nouns, the words are converted into verb forms. For example, knowledge becomes remember, and comprehension becomes understanding.

2. Also, the places of synthesis and evaluation in the 1956 model are reversed in the 2001 model, where the second-to-last section is titled assessment, while the previous section of the pyramid, or the highest section of the pyramid, is titled create or creation.

3. The idea was that, since learning is an ongoing process, action verbs had to be used instead of nouns. Because the objectives had to be achieved, the educator, the parent, and the student needed to see the goals being met.

4. In the last two upper sections of both taxonomies, one can see that in the 1956 model, synthesis leads to evaluation. In contrast, in the 2001 model, evaluation leads to creation.

Rekha ma’am used many analogies and examples, including a lively debate, to argue that both taxonomies are correct in their own way. For example, certain things can be evaluated only after they are created. Only if chemists mix chemicals in the chemistry lab will a reaction occur or new substances form. Only then can the newly developed substance be evaluated, because it did not exist before the chemical process.

Also, using my example from the class on the Titanic, it was only after the Titanic was built and sank that we realized we needed to look into many other layers related to shipbuilding and manufacturing, beyond merely building expensive, large ships. Rekha ma’am then turned the notion on its head, saying that when cooking, one continuously evaluates the ingredients to be added to the cooking process before actually cooking a meal, not the other way around. Also, it was only after plastics were created that we realized they were not biodegradable and therefore not sustainable for the environment, and that they were harmful to it. However, after the 1950s, plastic seemed like a boon to humanity. One even used to question the old folk or the silent generation about why they still used cloth or paper bags rather than plastic bags.

We then tried to explain how to wow others by saying we needed to use plastic bags more than paper bags because we inevitably cut down more trees to produce more paper bags, which, at the time, we felt was detrimental to the environment. Little did we know that plastics would be even worse. But we could not have known that if plastics had not been created in the first place! This tended to be, therefore, like a cycle!

More examples and analogies were coaxed out of us by Rekha ma’am. We came up with several other new ideas that could show that this process of evaluation, then creation, then again evaluation or synthesis, then again creation, etc., was a cycle that repeated itself over time, and as the years went on, education progressed.

Some of us cited the atomic bomb, which, before it was detonated, was simply synthesized, indicating the 1956 Bloom’s taxonomy model. However, after the atomic bomb was created and detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we only then realized the harmful effects it could have for generations. Thus, it was evaluated only then for its toxic effects. But that evaluation would not have taken place if the atomic bomb hadn’t been created in the first place. Also, the atomic bomb itself, through careful evaluation, explains why the American government during World War 2 allowed it to be created to end the war once and for all, as the kamikaze pilots of Japan were not surrendering even after Europe had surrendered and peace had come to Europe. The US detonated the first atomic bomb in Mexico in a deserted area, indicating the 2001 new Bloom’s taxonomy model, where evaluation led to creation.

After seeing the harm an atomic bomb could cause, the governments of the world, under the UN, declared that they would control the creation of such atomic or nuclear bombs for war or military purposes. This could only be evaluated after the creation or synthesis of many factors that led to the dropping of Little Boy and Fat Boy on the islands of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the year 1945. This eventually sensitized people to the significant harm a surge of nuclear warfare could do to the world.

Some of us, especially those who had studied biology, like Minal, Harshada, and Rekha Ma’am herself, used the example of the COVID vaccine. There, too, it was all a matter of creation first, then synthesis, and finally evaluation to determine whether the COVID vaccine was effective. We had no alternative but to follow, per se, the 1956 Bloom’s taxonomy model. However, if the COVID virus had not entered our world in the first place, we would not have developed such an effective COVID vaccine, thereby accelerating vaccine development post-2020. This would, in a sadistic way, be an example of someone following the revised Bloom’s taxonomy model of 2001. After an evaluation of the vaccine and after the world realized that India’s Covishield and Covaxin vaccines against COVID-19 were highly effective with no side effects, a booster dose was developed. And the process can go on.

Most people know that I am also a biology teacher, an amateur one, nevertheless, an effective one. So, with Rekha ma’am, I explained the example of Dolly the sheep, who was successfully cloned in 2001. To demonstrate the point again, using the 1956 and 2001 taxonomies, one obviously didn’t know how to evaluate, or on what basis, cloning could be good or harmful until Dolly was created. This is indicative of the 1956 Bloom’s taxonomy model. However, it was only after despots like Saddam Hussein, apparently, started cloning themselves to get away from the US and UN authorities, that we realized that cloning can be detrimental to society and World Peace. We then, as a society at the UN, put a halt to further genetic developments in the area of cloning, well, at least on paper! The creation of this UN declaration would be an example of evaluation preceding creation, which would be part of the 2001 new Bloom’s taxonomy model in the cognitive domain.

Thus, it was a process of evaluation, then creation, then evaluation again, then creation again, then evaluation again, and so on, in the cognitive domain.

By doing this, we were invariably trying, in the words of Benjamin Bloom, to contain, or even eliminate, the fears of right and wrong in our students’ minds. Instead, to make them achieve not only the highest pinnacles of success but also reach the last 2, the highest 2 rungs, on all sections of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid, we needed to expand their horizons, initiate a spirit of inquiry in them, and encourage them to seek short-term and long-term solutions to many global, national, or local issues, all after a complete evaluation of ideas and data.

Alas, as Rekha Ma’am’s caption notes, most teachers, even at the IBDP and AS & A Level, do not initiate creative or evaluative searches with their students. They focus on rote learning, which addresses only the first 3 sections of the pyramid, that is, those focused on basic information gathering and the application of that information or data, without using the skills of critical thinking and enquiry, or even a basic form of analysis or recapitulation.

Psychomotor Domain

‘If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.’

-Alfie Kohn

(American author and lecturer in the areas of education, parenting, and human behavior)

‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’

-William Butler Yeats

(Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic)

‘If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign (of)?’

– Albert Einstein

   (Greatest 20^th Century Physicist)

I especially love that last quote because, as Rekha Ma’am rightly said, many Gen X and millennial parents today have the wrong idea that if they keep their wards continuously occupied throughout the day without a moment’s leisure time, they will be creating useful citizens for the future. Benjamin Bloom, along with other educational scientists, would like to correct that notion because, without leisure time for the student to process what has happened to them during the day, they will become insecure, exhausted, fatigued, and bored. They will seek other means to relieve their pressure and stress, which often inadvertently leads them into bad company and the abuse of various harmful substances.

I especially would like to critique or criticize the mental health workers of today, who apparently still term ADHD a psychiatric ailment and who give the wrong advice to parents of ADHD students, telling them to get their children involved in various physical activities throughout the day to expend their so-called excessive energy. What they are unaware of is that ADHD now affects more than 85% of the student population post the year 2010. I don’t call this an ailment; I call it a condition that will be the norm, one we cannot get around or rise above, but we will have to work with. And work with it in the sense that, as modern educational scientists like Jonathan Haidt claim, we need to treat ADHD not as a psychiatric disease but as a superpower of highly active students or students who have highly excitable, very active psychomotor and tactile personalities.

This doesn’t mean that we have to expend their energy by keeping them involved in various tactile or active hobbies, such as sports like squash, tennis, badminton, basketball, bungee jumping, football, etc., or other active hobbies and after-school club activities, like hiking, biking, power yoga, gymming, aerobics, etc. Instead, we need to channel that intensive, extensive hyperactivity into goal-directed behavior that leads to better educational outcomes at all levels, whether in curricular or extracurricular activities.

However, in the psychomotor domain, Rekha ma’am indicated that it focuses on the question, ‘what should I be able to do?’

And obviously, this decision, especially regarding one’s or a child’s hobbies, can be made initially only by the parents, but ultimately only by the child who is involved or interested in the particular hobby. In fact, it is preferable that, in the long run, the child pursue a profession related to his hobby. For example, if the child is very good at computers and likes playing with and fixing old laptops for his friends as a hobby, it is conducive for such a child to take up some form of computer programming, coding, data analytics, data science, or other forms of computer operations vocations – so that his hobby and his profession or occupation may not be two different things altogether. In my 15+ years of teaching, I have noticed that my students often do not pursue the profession linked to their hobby or favorite pastime. I have seen plenty of doctors who took up surgery turn out to be brilliant aeronauts. I have also seen plenty of other doctors who could have been excellent actors or dramatists, but chose the popular profession for financial reasons. I have also seen plenty of teachers who could have been great doctors or even soldiers, but chose something simpler because they could not afford a career in medicine or the military, due to many family commitments.

Rekha ma’am, as well as Benjamin Bloom and his associates, emphasized that a person’s profession should align with their hobby. This is especially evident when analyzing a kindergarten student from a psychomotor perspective.

As always, Rekha ma’am gave us a few analogies and examples to illustrate how one could learn or achieve educational goals in a school while analyzing the psychomotor domain of a student’s development in an international school or boarding setting. She first took the example of yoga.

When it comes to yoga, most Indians are now quite well versed in it. Yet if there are still some individuals, especially young students, who are not familiar with yoga, this is how they can learn the practice and its skills. First, according to Rekha ma’am, observation and hearing are the key, along with the functioning of the other senses. The child, whether a toddler or a PYP student, first notices how yoga is conducted through perception, using their senses. This is the perception stage of the psychomotor domain. The parent, teacher, or older sibling continues to conduct yoga lessons or practice yoga in front of the child.

The parent then sets the stage or adjusts the environment so the child can take his place and begin copying the parent’s well-practiced yoga actions. Whatever the parent or teacher does, the older sibling copies in the space set aside for practicing yoga. This stage in the psychomotor domain is the setting stage or set stage. After this stage, the parent or teacher encourages the child to learn the mechanics of yoga independently.

The child, after seeing and copying her parent, would first enter the set stage and then the guided response stage. She would then try to perform the yoga mechanism on her own. After copying the parent or teacher, or with guidance from the yoga teacher, which falls under the guided response phase of psychomotor development, the child demonstrates her understanding of the yoga technique, usually by imitating what the parent or yoga teacher has taught her. This would be the mechanism stage of psychomotor development. The child here shows proficiency in the skill she has developed.

But now, according to Rekha ma’am, is the time when the child begins to adapt the yoga they have learned to a more intricate form of yoga that already exists in society, all over the world, or to another form of yoga practice. For example, they may adopt a more progressive form of yoga, such as Raja or Kriya yoga. This would be the adaptation phase of the child’s psychomotor development. The child could also adapt yoga positions or exercises to other physical activities, such as yoga while dancing, in the form of aerobics, aerobic yoga, or pranayama yoga, as practiced at the kriya yoga level by the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India or Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) of Paramahansa Yogananda.

Lastly, the child is confident enough with this skill, loves it so much, and is so adept at it that they will develop a unique form of yoga that has never been created before. For example, there was no such thing as hot yoga or power yoga until it became necessary for millennials and Gen Z individuals to stay in shape. The creators of hot yoga and power yoga developed these forms primarily to help individuals lose weight quickly. There was nothing like this during the time of the Vedas, let alone during the time of Paramahansa Yogananda! This last stage in the psychomotor domain and the development of the child’s educational goals would be the origination stage. In this way, especially in toddlerhood or at the kindergarten level, students can learn various skills over time.

Similarly, with another skill that requires active or tactile learning, such as dancing, playing basketball, or skating. First, a student would observe others dancing or watch YouTubers dancing online. Then the student would set up a space at home, at the dance club, or in a special basement room to learn to dance firsthand by imitating the dancers she has seen on YouTube or her dance club instructor at school. She then tries to replicate the choreography to the best of her ability. Sometimes she is successful; sometimes she has to work harder, but eventually she masters the steps shown to her on YouTube. She first demonstrates her mastery of that particular dance to her parents or other family members, then to older siblings, and finally to her dance instructor at school or at the club, and to her close friends, to gain validation that she knows her stuff. She then adapts her dance moves to different dance forms she has learnt earlier or learns later. For example, if she has learnt Kathak online, she can adapt it to Bollywood Western Dance or to 2000s Hip-Hop dance moves. Lastly, when she has mastered her subject or skill, she later creates her own original dance. Maybe if she learnt Kathak Dancing, she could merge it with a lot of Hip-Hop somersaults, and other daring moves that could brand her as the creator of a new form of Kathak, maybe Hip-Hop Daredevil Kathak meant mainly for Western Dancers who love to take part in the X-Games! Thus, she would have created a new form of dance altogether, but by following the same Psychometric Domain of steps to try to achieve educational goals.

I remember learning how to skate for the first time in a similar way in the 3rd grade at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. The skating ring, however, where I started taking skating classes, was not part of the school club’s program but was part of the Bandra West extracurricular activities session for Junior and Middle school students. This was in the year 1996, and I remember that I was very keen on learning how to skate because, apart from everything else, I loved cycling and thought that if I learnt how to skate and then rollerblade (which I did!), I would be able to play more with my close friends (a few but faithful!) at school during the Summer Vacations.

I, too, started observing the other professional students skating, but my coach made sure to lace me up and force me to follow them around. He showed me which endpoints to walk or glide to and then held my hands while trying to teach me how to skate-walk. This was an amalgamation of the Perception stage, the Set stage, and the guided instruction stage, where I was forced off my feet to learn to skate-walk! I never fell, and that was a miracle in itself! But by the end of the week, what do you know! I had learnt how to skate! My coach was so proud of me, and my mother was super thrilled and glad that I had learnt how to skate so fast. My mother did not pay for my classes; instead, a kind Hindi teacher and a great, forever friend of my mother’s paid for my skating classes because – this was Bandra West – extra-curricular classes were super-expensive here, even back in 1996! So she was thrilled that I had not wasted my teacher’s money. Even the teacher in question was thrilled with me and prophesied to my mother that I would probably soon learn how to drive a car. I hope to fulfill that dream too this year, 2026, by finally getting my driving license at 36 – better late than never!

In 1996, I went to D’Monte Park almost twice or thrice a week to skate there, where the classes were held. I soon learned to adapt my skating skills to rollerblading (basically, if you can skate, then rollerblading is a piece of cake! And if you can cycle without training wheels, your life is made!). I adapted my skating skills to rollerblading and even somersaulted while rollerblading, like they used to do at the X-Games on ESPN, which I was so fond of (I am eccentric! 133 IQ, remember!). My coach encouraged me to do so because he saw great potential in me. However, I could never adapt my skills to create my own version of an X-Game for the X-Game finals because one day, when my mother came in early to pick me up and saw me skating my somersaults almost more than 3/8ths up a totally vertical wall and then, in a manly way, gracefully getting back down to skate to the other side of the wall for a similar ‘lift-off,’ she screeched, and that bloodcurdling scream scared the living daylights out of me and the rest of the kids in the skating rink so much that we all bumped into each other and fell on top of each other, along with our assistant skating coaching master.

That was the last time I was taken to the skating rink. My mother said she would rather I get a simple bank job as a clerk than do what I was just trying to do a while ago, and that was it! I’ll never forget my Skating Coach, D’Monte Park, and my male friends whom I used to roller blade and play with there in D’Monte Park, along with a special-needs but giant dog who lived there forever in that park, a straw-colored Saint Bernard with a cute name, whose face and scrambling about I’ll never forget. We used to love the seesaw there and the Lion Slide, where we not only slid but also chatted with each other, with that Saint Bernard dog by our side, like the Famous Five or the Secret Seven. We always planned to run away from home and sneak here at the dead of night to play with the Saint Bernard dog there and spend the night in the skating rink in the cool weather (it used to be cool every night back then!) with the stars twinkling above us and our favorite Saint Bernard by our side.

There are memories that do not return as words, but as music.

For us—seven little boys and one girl, forever plotting like the Secret Seven—Bella Notte was not just a song from a film, but a feeling. It played softly in our imaginations as we lingered in D’Monte Park, convinced that childhood could stretch endlessly into the night.

From the world of Lady and the Tramp, the song spoke of moonlight, quiet companionship, and a tenderness that needed no grand declarations. That same tenderness lived beside us in the form of a gentle, straw-coloured Saint Bernard—special-needs, enormous, patient, and endlessly kind—who belonged to the park as much as the trees, the skating rink, and the lion slide.

We spoke to him as equals. We planned futures that involved running away, sleeping under the stars, and living forever in that park where the nights were always cool, and the world still felt safe. He listened without judgement, his presence teaching us something no lesson plan could: that care, loyalty, and belonging are learned through being with, not through instruction.

When I hear Bella Notte now, I do not see an animated riverbank—I see D’Monte Park in the 1990s. I see skates abandoned at the edge of the ring, whispered conspiracies, laughter on the see-saw, and a giant dog who anchored our childhood with quiet love. Some songs do that. They preserve what time cannot.

🌙Dedication

For you, whose name I will remember and whose kindness I will never forget.

Our silent listener, loyal companion, and keeper of childhood dreams,
a special-needs Saint Bernard whose gentle presence taught us empathy, care, and lifelong learning—
lessons no classroom could ever teach.

For that, D’Monte Park Saint Bernard in the 1990s.

You still live on in my dreams.

Lots of love always, Big Guy!

 – Fiza Pathan

Copyright and Educational Use Statement

“Bella Notte” is a song from the animated film Lady and the Tramp (1955).
Music by Sonny Burke, lyrics by Peggy Lee.
© The Walt Disney Company. All rights reserved.

This reference is included solely for educational, reflective, and pedagogical purposes within a teaching portfolio. The song is referenced for cultural context, critical appreciation, and personal memory under fair use / fair dealing principles. No lyrics are reproduced, and no copyright infringement is intended.

_____________________

Psychomotor Domain Continued

Rekha ma’am then went on to describe how important the psychomotor domain was for those of us PGCITE (Post Graduate Certificate in International Teacher Education) students of the January 2025 Batch at Podar International School, Santacruz, who were specializing in the PYP section or the Junior School Section. This was because, for example, if a child’s basic gross motor development had not occurred in toddlerhood, he or she might not yet be ready to even hold a pen or pencil. Such toddlers needed to strengthen their muscles by first working at the kindergarten level: scribbling randomly with crayons, sketch pens, or large markers on charts, walls, or whiteboards, or using sandpits to write, etc.

Most of my PGCITE January 2025 Batch colleagues mentioned that their children took a long time to develop their gross motor skills and only settled into using a crayon before a pencil or pen. I then recalled my own childhood, or rather my happy and very carefree childhood, which, as I have mentioned before, was blissful because I was never put into kindergarten and only entered school at age 4 at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. As mentioned before on this website portfolio for my PGCITE course at Podar International School, Santacruz, under the guidance of Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am, the coordinator of the PGCITE course, my family, especially my maternal uncle, felt it necessary to develop my full potential right at home by allowing me the freedom to play, read a lot, write a lot, and draw practically everywhere I wished, including the walls of my home!

They followed the Rudolf Steiner method of preschool education to ensure the child would not conform to society’s status quo. Normally, children brought up under these conditions show remarkable gross motor skills very early in life, as I did, and begin reading and writing easily. They are highly creative, have high IQs and EQs, and are very sensitive to the many issues facing the world and its citizens. They, however, tend to be significantly eccentric, which does not impede their performance as useful citizens of a nation. I don’t know about the last point, but I can tick-mark all the points mentioned before it—I am the ideal Rudolf Steiner kid! Even Reverend Father Aurelius Maschio, SDB, from Don Bosco’s Basilica, Matunga, used to say the same when I visited him once a week as an infant, then a toddler, and after that as a junior school student.

The point is that my gross motor skills were excellent, and a lot was expected of me, especially since I showed an unusual fondness for writing and reading before age 1. However, if a student’s gross motor skills were not yet developed, the PYP teacher or homeroom teacher needed to work extensively with the child to bring them up to the class average.

This was in line with Rudolf Steiner’s method of educating preschool-age children, which allows them to develop at their own pace. Normally, children raised under these conditions exhibit remarkable gross motor skills very early on, as I did, and begin reading and writing easily. They are highly creative, have high IQs and EQs, and are highly sensitive to the many issues facing the world and its citizens. However, they tend to be significantly eccentric, which does not impede their performance as useful citizens of a nation. I don’t know about the last point, but I can tick-mark all the points mentioned before it – I am the ideal Rudolf Steiner kid! Even Reverend Father Aurelius Maschio SDB, from the Shrine of Don Bosco’s Madonna in Matunga, used to say the same thing when I visited him once a week as an infant, then a toddler, and later a Junior school student.

The point is that my gross motor skills were excellent, and a lot was expected of me, especially since I showed an unusual fondness for writing and reading before age 1. However, if a student’s gross motor skills are not yet developed, the PYP teacher or the home-room teacher needs to work closely with the child to bring him up to the class average. This could be done at the kindergarten level or in Jr. Kg or Sr. Kg through guided response, by holding the child’s hand and making him write first in the St. Margaret’s Training Method, drawing lines like a series of never-ending mountain ranges over and over again, like this:

It need not be neat at first; just let the child get a ‘grip’ on his hands and fingers – as they work together to churn out these haphazard mountain or hill ranges. Then try having them write in a double- or single-lined book, which is sadly missing from today’s PYP or Junior School IGCSE classrooms. This is the main reason Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids cannot write decently or intelligibly at all. That is why most Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids end up with serious writing issues, dyslexia, or remedial needs that cannot be corrected once they enter the 10th grade. It is a continuation of the problem that teachers and parents neglected in the 1st grade.

Then the child should try drawing and, most preferably, even uttering the words over and over again – ‘up-down-up-down-up-down…’ – and should keep making those never-ending mountain chains of half-formed As, inverted Vs, readymade Ms, almost Ns, inverted Ws, etc., to start getting a real ‘grip’ on what they are writing. This is the perfect time-tested St. Margaret’s Technique for teaching toddlers how to write effectively and perfectly in a jiffy – basically in a matter of half a term, especially if the child has an IQ like mine! (As you can see, I am quite conceited! Humility is usually not my cup of tea or coffee!)

That ‘holding the hand’ of the child is called the ‘guided response’ phase of development in the psychomotor domain within educational goals. Even holding a toddler up with their two tiny but chubby hands while he learns to walk ‘on top of your feet’ is another form of guided response. I loved the example given by one of our PGCITE January 2025 batchmates, Rashmi, about how she got her fraternal twins to start writing and improve their gross motor strength. She basically got them to use a sand pit filled with rice and taught them how to ‘write’ on its layers. Even if the rice eventually went down their throats, it was just rice and could not harm them. So much to ruminate on when one is a PYP IB teacher or a Junior School IGCSE teacher.

Even when a child is led to walk with a parent’s help, that is a form of Guided Response. Eventually, the child will have to be left alone so he can demonstrate mastery of walking mechanics. Rekha ma’am indicated that once the child was ready, he or she would walk without guidance and demonstrate mastery of the mechanics independently. They would then start adapting their walking to more intricate activities, such as jumping, bungee jumping, running, and skipping, until one day, when he was in Junior School, he would start inventing a style of walking unique to him – like the King of Pop Michael Jackson, who invented the ‘Moonwalk’ that has taken the world by storm; no one is a true MJ fan who does not know how to do the ‘Moonwalk’ perfectly!

Today, Moonwalking is a certified dance form that transforms how people dance and how they are perceived in society, especially among peers. Moonwalking leads to liberation and a ‘swag’ like no other. It did not exist until Michael Jackson created it as a kid singing with the Jackson 5. We first saw it in Elvis Presley’s song ‘Hound Dog’ and later in ‘Jailhouse Rock,’ where it was used in an intense, pointed way, and MJ would later perfect it. Before Elvis, many Southern Black American Blues bar and cabaret dancers were the first to perform this early ‘Moonwalk of the 1950s’.

Rekha ma’am, to illustrate the adaptation and origin steps, even started playing the song ‘Fashion ka Jalwa’ from the 2008 Bollywood hit film Fashion on YouTube and asked some of us to come to the front of the class to do the catwalk. I did not venture to go forward, but I did venture to help Ma’am play the song and to hoot and make catcalls when Samira, Barkha, Sana, etc., tried doing their unique versions of the ‘Fashion Ka Jalwa’ catwalk. This was a tactile reminder to us that we, who were first guided to walk by our parents when we were toddlers, had now perfected the art to the point that we could create our own unique catwalk styles.

I am a long-time fashion catwalk pro that not many people know about. I was trained at school by professionals to do a ramp walk because these outside professionals would recognize a unique potential in me for ramp walking and, at times, would take it upon themselves to involve me or train me for free (I did not have that kind of money back then, obviously!) in professional ramp walking and modeling. To this day, some of my PGCITE January Batch 2025 colleagues and great friends, like Sana, Barkha, and Harshada, have noticed that I still tend to walk like a model when I have the space and comfort to do so, which is not often available in the over-congested, overcrowded Mumbai, India.

My IBDP students and friends from Podar noticed the same, and some would make a joke about it, but others were usually wise enough to ask me whether I was a ramp-walking model or at least a trained one. I would then reveal that yes, I was trained in it, but that I was not ‘brave’ enough to go into modelling full-time. I would ramp-walk even at St. Andrews College, Bandra West, but then chickened out because of the extremes of male attention I was getting back there, which really annoyed and even (I must admit) frightened me, and so I just stuck to academics with my close gang of college friends like Tanya, Lata, Richard, Nigel, Sammy, Brother Francis, Ujwal, Regina, Georgina, Mellisa, Nevis, Brother Justin, Ekta, Neil and the rest of the gang; we were a huge group of college pals! But yes, ramp-walking and modelling were part of my repertoire of many achievements and skills, and so I could easily resonate with Dr. Rekha Bajaj ma’am, our PGCITE coordinator at Podar International School, Santacruz, and her analysis of the psychomotor domain in this regard.

We can then infer that the use and development of the 5 senses in the psychomotor domain and the Knowledge aspect of the Cognitive Domain should progress in coordination with each other or at the same rate for the overall positive development of the child. As the educational scientist Johnathan Haidt has stated, this is not happening these days, post-2017, as he has stated in his internationally bestselling educational book ‘The Anxious Generation’. This has also been noted by educational researcher and pioneering investigator Mark McCrindle and Ashley Fell in their 2024 book of great psychological depth, ‘Generation Alpha’, which I have quoted extensively in my action research, available on this page. However, the setting of these two domains is important because only then can effective development on a holistic scale take place.

I remember quizzing ma’am about Adolf Hitler and even Albert Einstein, both of whom were quite mute until ages 5 or 6, and only after that began to speak. I asked her what that implied in such an instance, and she clarified my doubts, saying that the idea of parents being anxious about the ‘quick’ development of their wards was just an indication that they were being ‘anxious parents’ themselves, and that usually such so-called ‘mute toddlers’ did not end up being mute adults, as was proven by the outcome of Adolf Hitler and Albert Einstein in the annals of History. I, being cheeky as usual, even indicated that it would have been better for many people if little Adolf had remained mute forever, but to our ill luck, the little tot finally started to speak and then spoke so much that he started World War 2!

Rekha ma’am further indicated to me that parents of children today are in a hurry to create ‘geniuses’ rather than allow their wards to grow up comfortably and at their own pace. This is due to pressure from peers and colleagues, societal pressures, the abuses of kindergarten schools, and superstitions that even lead young Gen Z, Millennial, and Gen X parents down the convoluted road of black magic, witchcraft, jadoo mantra, visiting shamans, fakirs, voodoo men, etc., for instant relief for their so-called ‘not-so-fast-developing toddlers,’ which eventually leads to the poor Gen Alpha and now Gen Beta child suffering a lot and turning up worse for wear than they already were! Rekha ma’am then, along with me, initiated the conversation about the various horror stories of such nature that we had experienced in our teaching experience, and I, especially, had experienced a lot of such young and ambitious parents who resorted heavily to visiting Godmen, shamans, fakirs, or voodoo men to get their young children, even Junior School or PYP children, on the so-called ‘normal right track’ of psychomotor and cognitive development, which was simply ridiculous.

I’ll always remember the personal stories of Adolf Hitler and Albert Einstein, and I’ll always remind anxious parents I interact with these days about their children’s development. I remind them to invest in high-quality, old-fashioned reading material or books for their toddlers and kindergarteners, as this can help them become voracious readers if they want the best for their children. Constantly putting a device in their hands or prioritizing family budgets over a child’s voracious reading appetite will ALWAYS backfire, and such households WILL ALWAYS end up with children or students in the MYP, IGCSE, IBDP, or AS & A level grades with writing and reading remedial issues or dyslexia, for sure. I have 15 years of official experience in this matter and, to date, 56 years of my mother’s teaching experience, so I don’t think I am making a mistake in that regard.

‘What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.’

― Carl Sagan

(From his bestselling book ‘Cosmos’, Part 11: The Persistence of Memory)

‘Access to books and encouragement to read are essential first steps in education, representing both a child’s right and a key hope for the future.’

―Michael Morpurgo

(International bestselling author and Literacy Advocate whose books are constantly used in the IGCSE and IB English curriculum)

‘WE WERE NEVER BORN TO READ. HUMAN BEINGS invented reading only a few thousand years ago. And with this invention, we rearranged the very organization of our brain, which in turn expanded the ways we were able to think, which altered the intellectual evolution of our species.’

― Maryanne Wolf

(From her International Bestselling and record-breaking book ‘Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain’)

‘Learning to read begins the first time an infant is held and read a story. How often this happens, or fails to happen, in the first five years of childhood turns out to be one of the best predictors of later reading.’

― Maryanne Wolf

(Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain/Pioneering Modern Educationist of the 21^st Century)

‘In childhood, he declared, the word-rich get richer and the word-poor get poorer, a phenomenon he called the “Matthew Effect”41 after a passage in the New Testament. There is also a Matthew-Emerson Effect for background knowledge: those who have read widely and well will have many resources to apply to what they read; those who do not will have less to bring, which, in turn, gives them less basis for inference, deduction, and analogical thought and makes them ripe for falling prey to unadjudicated information, whether fake news or complete fabrications. Our young will not know what they do not know. Others, too. Without sufficient background.’

― Maryanne Wolf

(From her bestselling and redefining education book ‘Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World’)

‘There is a very simple, very beautiful Native American story I have always remembered. In this story a grandfather is telling his young grandson about life. He tells the little boy that in every person there are two wolves, who live in one’s breast and who are always at war with each other. The first wolf is very aggressive and full of violence and hate toward the world. The second wolf is peaceful and full of light and love. The little boy anxiously asks his grandfather which wolf wins. The grandfather replies – The one you feed.’+

― Maryanne Wolf

(Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World)

I have personally noticed since 2017 that parents these days are not giving much, or any, importance to reading to their infants or toddlers, let alone their PYP or Junior School-going children. These parents are turning into monsters in their own children’s lives and are also making me feel that they are merely clones of Roald Dahl’s ‘Mr and Mrs. Wormwood,’ the abusive parents of little genius Matilda, who never felt that Matilda needed to read, when she had a TV sitting right in front of her all the time!’

These parents have no morals when it comes to educating their children and believe that money can buy everything. If they are paying for a child’s schooling or tuition, they think the teachers or tuition tutors are in charge and solely responsible for educating their children, so they can simply enjoy their lives by watching TV, texting, chatting with erotically primed chatbots, dating, going on makeshift honeymoons galore with their spouses or others, going to kitty parties galore, indulging in wife-swapping for business ventures and ‘growth’, etc., while the tuition teacher or school educators are now in charge of educating their wards. There were times during my IGCSE and AS & A Level Board invigilation at Podar International School, Santacruz, when I wasted considerable time trying to contact the parents of students who had not yet arrived for their board exam. These parents were often on holiday, on a honeymoon, in another country on another continent for a business board meeting, or partying on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, far away from Asia, and had no idea that their children were appearing for a board exam! I even had a hard time locating a particular male child for the A Level Board exam, who had slept through his alarm in his palatial mansion home, and whose parents had overslept because they had consumed alcohol the previous night. The poor boy had the time of his life trying to get ready and come as quickly as possible for the ‘A LEVEL BOARD EXAM’ with the helpful prompting of the efficient school examination authorities, including me, of all people!

But his parents simply slept through it all and were not even awake when the poor lad returned home after the exam, back to studying for his next paper. It was again the efficient authorities at Podar International School, Santacruz, guided by Vandana Lulla ma’am, who helped the poor child prepare for the next day’s paper. The school and I, along with many of my other PGCITE colleagues and the support staff of Podar, were mothering these neglected Gen Z elite or upper-middle-class students more than their actual parents. Some of these parents didn’t even remember who they were when we telephoned them, let alone whether they had children who had to appear for their Board Exams!

What is going on, parents?

How can you expect Teachers, Principals, School Executives, and, of all people, PGCITE Teacher-Students to do your parenting work for you?

Please start smelling the coffee beans in the morning, before your kids get up, and start acting like parents, not teenagers yourselves! Believe me, your kids are exceptionally loving and wonderful to be around. Chuck your other priorities in life because, if I were as wealthy, affluent, and gifted with such angelic children as you, I would dedicate MY WHOLE WAKING and SLEEPING LIFE to these kids – and I think I can say that on behalf of many PGCITE Teacher-Student trainees and graduates who have had a rollercoaster of a ride throughout 2025, trying to get your wards ready and safe for school for the board exams!

Start by not being the ideal Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood of Matilda fame, but try to be the image of God to your innocent children. They need more than your money, your fancy gifts, and your name on their birth certificate. Really! You can start by reading books to them and investing in their reading and love of books rather than in their craving for the latest gadgets, your credit cards, your American Express Credit Card/Cards, your clout, etc. Because a child who reads is a child who will grow up with an amazingly well-developed IQ and EQ, which can lead us to more sustainable, long-term development goals not only for our nation but for the world, and in your own private life and business as well, I am sure.

So invest in reading books, not in shamans or voodoo hocus-pocus godmen, and you’ll be doing yourself a real favor, according to Benjamin Bloom and many other 21st-century educators and educationists, both here in India and abroad, especially in Europe and America.

Give them that ‘guided response’ factor throughout their early development with you, not merely for walking, talking, etc. If they need extra remedial help, don’t let your ego come between you and the best for your innocent child, who depends solely on you for their all-around development.

Since 2017, and especially since the pandemic, I’ve seen my tuition kids, as well as students I’ve personally observed in 180 observation classes and whom I’ve given proxy classes to or taken substitution classes for, who have no clue as teenagers:

1. How to hold and use a protractor

2. How to draw a straight line with a 15 cm scale

3. How to make a 15-by-10-cm box with 5 vertical columns and 10 horizontal rows (this freaks out 16-, 17-, and even 18-year-olds LOL!)

4. How to erase pencil work with an eraser – yes, despite using a Staedtler

5. How to use a compass to make a circle (16-year-olds and above!)

6. How to color without going out of the borders of the drawing (16-year-olds and above)

7. How to read a map (16-year-olds and above)

8. How to sign in the same manner all the time (15-year-olds and above)

9. How to read a graph (for 13-year-olds and above, and it gets worse by the time they are 16 and above)

10. How to pack their schoolbags (even 14-year-olds and above – so they prefer carrying nothing!)

11. How to unpack their bags once packed (even for 16-year-olds and above – so sometimes they just prefer not to unpack their bags and leave them in lockers for weeks!)

12. How to peel open a fruit like an orange or a banana (these were not remedial children – in fact, the remedial children can manage these activities perfectly!)

13. How to tie shoelaces, especially Converse shoelaces (so that they prefer not to tie them at all and so there were plenty of super funny but yet dangerous accidents taking place in the school! I then would intervene and teach the students how to tie a Converse shoelace! And I would be doing this all the time for the seniors – 14-year-olds and above!!! Because the PYP students had the support staff tie their shoelaces for them, but the support staff members were young and were petrified of touching the older kids! – understandable!

14. How to solve a crossword

15. How to turn in a book (PYP and MYP kids mostly – the seniors would basically not bring books to school, so I wouldn’t know LOL! But even my tuition kids can’t use books appropriately, and they’re 16 years old and above, from the ICSE.

16. How to recite the alphabet or count numbers (even 16-year-olds are still not sure – they get foxed after the alphabet ‘H’ for some odd reason!)

17. How to speak correctly and fluently in Hindi

(So, forget Marathi! It will be a task getting Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids to speak, learn, and write in their regional language, even those who ALREADY SPEAK THE LANGUAGE – you just go and try it, buddy! Been there – done that! Most kids at IB and IGCSE schools in Mumbai take Spanish or French, NOT Hindi. At most, 7 people per grade choose Hindi, even though the language is much easier to study and to get higher grades in than Spanish or French! I too happen to be a college and university topper in Hindi – and as a Biblical Catholic Theologian cum Student, I struggle with Latin and Italian as an Indian, as they are very different and Westernized/Romanized languages that individuals used to the Devnagiri script find difficult to learn – but I find Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic much easier to understand, as they are the ancient languages of the Bible and Jesus’ world, and they are very similar to Sanskrit as a core foundational language – which basically means that Indians should find Hindi, Marathi, Gujrati, etc., easier than Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, etc., but that is just not the case with Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids. Why? Is it psychosomatic? It must be, because cognitively it is impossible for Indians to find Spanish or French easier to learn than Hindi or Sanskrit or Marathi, etc.)

And I can just go on. I was discussing this with Rekha ma’am, who seemed very interested in my class. She noted that most of my ICSE 10th graders over the past 4 years (pandemic babies) can’t even hold geometric instruments like a ruler, protractor, set square, or compass properly, let alone use them to draw. This shows a lack of focus on the mechanics portion of the child’s learning process by teachers or parents. Rekha ma’am then shared a googly with us: a 7th-grade student in the Podar Math class was finding it difficult to understand that the following geometric figures were not the same:

Which, obviously, they are not. As Rekha ma’am indicated to us, the two joined together will not create a rectangle! Not only this 7th-grade male student, but also the entire boisterous class, was arguing with the Math Teacher that these two geometric shapes were the same. They argued so much that the teacher was on the verge of a breakdown. Their arguing was so ferocious that it resembled the roaring noise an angered or wrathful mob would make while in the process of lynching a bystander! Poor Rekha ma’am, our PGCITE or Post Graduate Certificate in International Teacher Education Course coordinator, tried to the best of her ability to calm the shouting mob down, but it was impossible to do so – they were apparently beyond all control and restraints, and Rekha ma’am simply left the class with a heavy heart to come teach us.

Through this example, she taught us the need for Math teachers to first teach the use of basic geometric shapes and tools in the geometry box before moving on to the Math portion set by the IB, IGCSE Board, or the school. She mentioned that I could be the resource person in the PGCITE classroom that day, as usual, and that it would be about feral children. Rekha ma’am animatedly told us, PGCITE students, that feral children are often used by educators to study and compare them with regular children, based on how these feral children learn from their animal parents who rear them in jungles, forests, or other abandoned places worldwide. We spoke about Tarzan, Geroge of the Jungle, Mowgli, and other fictional references, but also real-life examples like the famous but sad story of the female Calcutta twin wolf-sisters who were reared by a wolf pack in the jungles of India and were then adopted by a Protestant pastor and his wife, who found it very difficult throughout the grueling course of the twins’ lives to integrate them into modern human society.

That was because the girls had, from infancy, learned through observation and hearing their wolf parents and the pack, and so had come to think of themselves as wolves. I have taught most of my earlier ICSE middle school students about feral children, especially about the Calcutta female wolf-twins story, and this condition has also fascinated me as much as it has fascinated Rekha ma’am.

The feral children example strongly indicates the impact of the psychomotor domain functioning properly; without intellectual nurturing from a loving human parent or caretaker, a child can act like an animal.

Affective Domain

‘Similarly, parents who want to teach the importance of honesty make it a practice never to lie to their children, even when it would be easier just to claim that there are no cookies left rather than to explain why they can’t have another one.’

― Alfie Kohn

(From his book ‘Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason,’ which redefined education in the late 20th and 21st centuries)

‘Many of our elected officials have virtually handed the keys to our schools over to corporate interests. Presidential commissions on education are commonly chaired by the executives of large companies.’

― Alfie Kohn

(From his groundbreaking bestselling book ‘The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards” – A Research-Based Argument for Child-Centered Learning’)

‘When we set children against one another in contests—from spelling bees to awards assemblies to science “fairs” (that are really contests), from dodge ball to honor rolls to prizes for the best painting or the most books read—we teach them to confuse excellence with winning, as if the only way to do something well is to outdo others.’

― Alfie Kohn

(From his book ‘The Myth of the Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom About Children and Parenting’)

Dr. Rekha Bajaj, ma’am, the coordinator of the PGCITE (Post Graduate Certificate in International Teacher Education) course at Podar International School, Santacruz, began the Affective Domain with us PGCITE students on a day when we were all finally available together offline in our PGCITE Podar classroom. She first, in her elegant yet energetic style, got the PowerPoint presentation up and running while we all waited in great anticipation for this particular class, especially since most of us, including our youngest Teacher-Student, Ananaya, were already planning to pursue a B.ED or a B.ED in Special Education. We were all keen on either pursuing a further certificate, diploma, or degree course, or pursuing a fellowship with a reputable institution in the future, in remedial teaching, especially after the animated two-lecture sessions we had with the remedial department head at Podar, Dr. Vandana Sawant Podar, earlier in the year 2025.

We were all keen on knowing the importance of the EQ factor in the lives of our students or future students and wished to learn how we could effectively contribute to the betterment of that particular score, more than the usual IQ score, which all and sundry work towards at typical SSC, ICSE, and CBSE schools.

Rekha ma’am, after uploading the PowerPoint, came to the slide showing the whole process of Affective Domain Development for educational goals.

Then Rekha ma’am asked us, PGCITE January Batch 2025 students, to analyze the flowchart and then explain our hypothesis. I, being the typical Johnny-on-the-spot, answered for the class with an example from my many observations at Podar International School, Santacruz, in 2025. I mentioned that in one particular Grade 3 class, there was a male special-needs student who did not appreciate the English songs sung during Music class or the English or Western songs played during the MI classes for piano and ukulele. He preferred to sing Hindi bhajans or songs of a religious or patriotic nature, and would create a ruckus in the respective Music or MI classrooms to the extent that the Music Teachers were helpless to help this particular student appreciate all forms of music. He showed a tendency to be more than merely disdainful toward anything Western.

It was then that Ruchi ma’am, his singing or music teacher, taught him through weekly one-on-one sessions to appreciate the musical forms of every culture and region in the world. This would invariably make him a global citizen, and he would easily imbibe the learner profiles of being open-minded, balanced, caring, and reflective. At first, the child responded with violence, often taking it out on his shadow teacher. But after a month, he began to sit quietly and listen to all the types of songs sung or played in the music classes. He then earnestly valued Ruchi ma’am’s advice and began organizing his thoughts and himself to prepare to appreciate Western music along with Eastern and other forms of music. By the end of the year 2025, he had internalized these values to such an extent that now he does not discriminate at all between Western or Eastern music, unless it is too fast or jazzy, which makes comprehension of the lyrics difficult or, at times, simply impossible to understand – and on that particular point, I can resonate with him!

Rekha ma’am appreciated my example, and the PGCITE classes applauded it. Afterward, Rekha ma’am reminded us that various MIs can be used to understand this particular part of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Just like my Remedial grade three child, if he was not interested in something, he would not do it, even if it was for his own good, until he was taught the value of the task at hand in coordination with his learner profiles and ATL Skills.

Whether it be interest, passion, emotions, sensitivities, ethics, values, morals, etc., all of these make up what the Affective Domain is about. As mentioned in my quotes from educationist Alfie Kohn, whom I have often cited in my Action Research project for PGCITE or my Post Graduate Certificate in International Teacher Education Course at the beginning of this sub-topic, you cannot treat the Affective Domain as you would a dog or cat with treats, rewards, punishments, etc. These values or morals need to be internalized, and for that, as Ruchi ma’am said, one has to go one step ahead in achieving the educational goals for this particular domain, which is the Affective Domain.

Rekha ma’am then gave us the example of the English chapter or poem ‘The Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth.

According to Rekha ma’am, when, for example, the poem ‘The Daffodils’ was taught in a MYP classroom during English class, different students resorted to different ways of learning or researching more on the topic, related to their various MIs (Multiple Intelligences) or to the ATL skills they had imbibed and wished to develop further, most of the time – unknowingly.

Rekha ma’am gave the example of Maitri, Gurpreet, and me, who were Verbal-Linguistic Learners. We would receive the poem with a lot of love and respond well by appreciating its figures of speech and the poet’s background. Maybe later, we could look up information about the controversial life of William Wordsworth and learn about other Romantic Era poets like Lord Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Maybe we would even start imitating William Wordsworth by writing a nature-based poem of our own, like ‘The Daffodils’.

On the other hand, another student like Rashmi, who was very close to nature, would rather appreciate the ‘naturistic part’ of the poem and would probably like to read or study it in her garden, in the midst of nature, or would try to find out or research how to grow daffodils in her garden or which flowers were similar to the daffodils of William Wordsworth’s Europe.

Or a very musically oriented person like Harshada would start creating a lyrical song about the daffodils and either sing it or play it on the Yamaha or a guitar in the MYP classroom. A person like Minal, on the other hand, who was very logically oriented and crazy about biology, would rather dissect the daffodil to see its inner parts, especially its reproductive parts, and notice in the biology lab whether the flower in front of her was probably bisexual, asexual, or neuter, etc.

Depending on the MIs of the individual student, they react and respond to the poem ‘The Daffodils’ accordingly. Such students invest their time, money, energy, and effort in their passions or hobbies over the years of their studies at the International School, whether in IGCSE or IB, wherever they are studying. They tend to receive instruction on the particular topic, respond to it according to their personalities, then value it accordingly or not at all, and then organize themselves, whether mentally or physically, around the skill or craft they are interested in, which finally leads them to internalize this value.

They then become their passion.

They become what they enjoy doing the most.

So, if a student loves to read, that student will probably become a writer one day. Or maybe the student is very passionate about sports and tries to involve herself in as many sporting events and activities as possible. Then, such a student could one day become a professional athlete, representing India internationally at events like the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games.

Depending on the person’s interests, that was what the person ultimately became. They became what they organized their money, time, and energy around most days of their life.

As I mentioned before, if you are a professional doctor but find your job unfulfilling, and you have spent your entire life trying to make as much time as possible every day for dancing Kathak, and were more than just a passionate Kathak dancer in the past during your school and college days, that ultimately means you did not become what you wished to become in life. Your all-time favorite passion and hobby did not match your ultimate profession, and that is what kills you every day of your life. Then you feel unfulfilled and long for your retirement, when you can stop working and pursue your passion freely without any restraints.

This is because in the above example, the doctor actually wanted to be, or rather WAS, a Professional Kathak Dancer. The Dancer or Artist was trapped in the body of this doctor and was killing her from within, like a Cancer or Tumor – something that keeps growing in size but eventually leads to your death, not to the birth of another being or something good in you. Whereas when you live your passion as a profession, the job is like a fetus growing inside a mother’s womb and ultimately gives birth to something beautiful and enriching, not something that kills the soul and only nourishes the body.

‘For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’

-Matthew 16:26

(Jesus’ words in the RSV Holy Bible in the Gospel of Matthew)

As we all know, no one invests time in something that does not appeal to them. Whatever they invest time in, especially students, is what they eventually become. I agreed with Rekha ma’am on this point. I have almost 20 years of teaching and tutoring experience to support this. I’ve seen, with my own eyes, students nurtured by me at my tutorial or when I was a high school ICSE teacher at Lilavatibai Podar High School, Santacruz, normally internalizing whatever their interests were. I’ve seen science buffs and math whizzes eventually become surgeons and doctors whom I am proud of. I’ve seen school sports stars go on to represent India at various sporting events, including the Olympics, which has made me proud again. I’ve seen students who loved my Shakespeare lessons and loved to act ultimately land roles in the RSC (Royal Shakespeare Company) troupe, which performs daily at the internationally renowned Globe Theatre.

So yes, I have witnessed this fact of life.

In fact, regarding my RSC example, the girl’s family was forcing her to study accountancy to become a CA and take the crucial CA exam. Luckily, she was persistent and made her own way to University and London to pursue her dream, which ultimately became her reality and still brings her great joy, happiness, fame, fulfillment, and yes, monetary fulfillment, obviously.

But I have noticed that, in the long run, money does not bring satisfaction to adults, whether middle-class, poor, or rich. Every adult is eager to leave the rat race one day and pursue the hobby or passion they truly love, but is unable to do so because of financial or family issues, poverty, ill family members, etc. I have even seen adults, even in their late middle age, leave everything behind, including family and sometimes the dictates of society, to follow their passion as their profession eventually.

I can say this especially regarding all my drag queen and drag king friends, both in India and abroad. These individuals eventually leave everything behind to pursue their ultimate passion as a profession and, in the bargain, are able to express themselves authentically and with confidence, something that was totally lacking in their previous employment or state in life. Many times, a person was a professional business executive earning lakhs, a well-paid broker or travel agent, or even an air hostess or stewardess at Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways, or Delta Air Lines – and who have left all that to become almost lower-middle-class or even pauper drag queens or drag kings – all in order to live authentically and to be the best versions of themselves for their own betterment and the betterment of others. They remain poor, live frugally, and spend most of their earnings on makeup and other drag props, but they don’t mind because they are living their passion at last, and nothing can stop them now.

Conclusion

We eventually notice that, across the three domains, the lowest levels correspond to the same information-gathering or basic knowledge factor.

But there has to be some collaboration among all three domains to achieve the child’s desired educational goals in an IGCSE or IB school. It is therefore also necessary, when considering Bloom’s Taxonomy, to achieve the last two upper levels of the three domains regarding educational goals.

However, most ICSE, SSC, and CBSE schools reach only the application level in the cognitive domain, the mechanism level in the psychomotor domain, and the responding level in the affective domain. Ironically, in today’s context, no level is achieved in the affective domain of student development.

With ongoing corruption in CBSE and ICSE schools, especially where coaching classes and school teachers are brazen, with the leaking of papers, including board papers, and other heinous malpractices, such as the sexual abuse of teenagers, awarding marks for sexual favors, malpractice in correcting school papers, writing exam papers for tuition students after the exam is over, making deals with coaching classes to leak exam papers and project topics, receiving tuition cuts from various coaching classes and teachers, stealing exam papers from school lockers, organizing well-thought-out character assassinations of other teacher colleagues on social media sites like Instagram, Meta (formerly Facebook), Snapchat, WhatsApp, embezzling money, and giving sexual favors to school board or committee members for promotions to high or senior positions in the educational institution, etc., I don’t think any educator has any time on their hands to bother about the affect domain of their students!

Not only is originality in our lesson plans missing among today’s teachers, but also their morals and value system, not to mention their conscience!

It is indicative that most teachers today are probably not meant to be teachers in the first place. They would be better off as mafia gang leaders, politicians, or even supari ‘social workers’! (LOL!) Technically, being a teacher means being a Guru in the Vedic Times, which invariably means a teacher has to have a very high EQ and a strong sense of morals and values.

Ironically or deplorably, as I have seen for myself this year, 2025, and even now in January 2026, on the internet and in other online and offline libraries, research, especially on the latest hideous depravity of crimes committed against children by school authorities, especially teachers, principals, committee members, peers, support staff, etc., was simply not available for a conclusive argument post the year 2003 on Google, Yahoo, and Bing!!! The most authentic statistics I could ‘salvage’ from the net were related to a 2016 Regional Office Review for South-East Asia by UNICEF, which noted that a 2003 study by the South-East Asian Population Council (2003) revealed that certain adults abuse their authority over children in school settings, in the form of sexual coercion.’ The report cites the 2002 ‘World Report on Violence and Health’ by the World Health Organization (WHO), which states that the school is the most common place where children and adolescents experience sexual coercion and harassment. In some cases, perpetrators of sexual coercion may be older students. A study conducted in 12 educational institutions in South Asia found that children considered physically stronger or dominant routinely had sex with weaker or passive children. Such incidents of abuse often go unreported due to children’s ‘lack of trust and confidence in school structures and fear of being blamed.’ A UNICEF study from April 2010 on the sexual exploitation of boys in South Asia found that ‘enticement of financial rewards’, ‘passing marks’, ‘the threat of punishment’, the fear of not being believed, and the lack of access to service providers are factors that compel students to stay silent about their abusive experiences.

But – excuse me, this report is a decade old and based on data that is 20 years old!

And it is tackling South-East Asia in general, not at a country-by-country or context-by-context level. Either such authentic data is really not available, or the fake news and the Right-Wing Extremist forces’ control of online data in my country has been so deplorable that they even refuse to make such crucial and imperative data or statistics available to show Teacher-Students the immensity of the problem, especially in India, period.

But in truth, the system is not ready for it – neither ICSE nor CBSE nor SSC, whatever the Government may do.

However, the good news is that International Schools, such as IGCSE and IB schools, have, to the best of their ability, always implemented the ideals of Bloom’s Taxonomy in their lesson plans and in the teaching process. Most IGCSE and IB schools in India vary in their authenticity, whether they are aided or not, and whether they employ appropriately government-certified teachers to teach students across India. But at least the deplorable corruption in exam and testing ethics has, up until now, not been seen to the same extent in IGCSE or IB schools in India as it is in ICSE, SSC, and CBSE schools, especially in wealthy urban metropolitan cities like Mumbai.

At the beginning of the Affective Domain, I mentioned a quote by Alfie Kohn, which stated the following:

‘Many of our elected officials have virtually handed the keys to our schools over to corporate interests. Presidential commissions on education are commonly chaired by the executives of large companies.’

― Alfie Kohn

(From his groundbreaking bestselling book ‘The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and “Tougher Standards” – A Research-Based Argument for Child-Centered Learning’)

It is not only a fact in the USA or Europe, but also in India. The issue is that these business corporations have commercialized education to such an extent that, as I mentioned before, teachers are behaving more like business executives than educators. Principals who are beholden to business committee members act unreasonably toward their heads of department and those even lower down the scale, something like the ‘I don’t know but get it done’ policy that has been part of all business corporations and the way they function since their inception in the USA in the late 19th century.

Kohn, in his many educationally well-researched books based on authentic findings from Harvard University (which I have studied and read carefully for my own Action Research Project, available freely for your study and perusal on this same website teaching portfolio for PGCITE), notes that this corporate-interest mentality is ruining and corrupting education worldwide, not only in the USA. It is just that, until 2016, there were statistics in the USA, but there were none in Southeast Asian countries. And the last authentic statistics on this topic in India were collected when I was a teenager studying at Bombay Scottish School, Mahim! And that was 21 years ago!

We need to stop treating our schools like corporations and allow teachers the freedom to express their passion to their students. They are not business executives or department managers in a company, HOD counselors, psychiatrists, HR personnel, or media experts for the school-cum-business. They are certainly not the brand ambassadors of a ‘brand of schools’ – because, seriously, would a business tycoon ever employ an acid attack victim to be the brand ambassador of his corporate school?! But acid attack victims are teachers too! And they are amazing teachers with hearts that still beat and work – but would business tycoons think beyond such a teacher’s disfigured or marred face and body?!

These are questions that must be asked before anything else can take place. By giving our schools to corporations, we have already sealed the final nails in the coffin of our students’ welfare and safety. We have also killed our teachers and turned them into power-hungry monsters who treat this ‘once upon a time’ vocation like a profession, entering it with the aim of ‘minting money’ rather than working for the betterment of the needy, the voiceless, and the helpless, especially as knowledge providers, resource persons, and teaching facilitators.

But the system is not ready for change – it is probably ready for some questioning and at least some real statistics. Hopefully, it shouldn’t always be poor UNICEF doing all the work all the time! I can relate to their efforts because, for most of my school life (from Junior School to the beginning of High School – 4th to 8th grade, to be precise), I was closely involved in my school’s ongoing, almost obsessive UNICEF social work and activities. This is probably the only extracurricular activity I ever participated in at my school, and though I have a certificate to prove it, I tend not to mention anything about my life at school because, believe me, it was a sad life in itself.

But despite the great work UNICEF does, they should also collect primary data, even as they break their heads, because that foundational work should be done by the member countries involved in collecting data on these crimes against children.

I fear that, because of the professionalization of teaching, the statistics on abuse, especially sexual abuse, at schools in India will be dramatically high and disturbing.

___________

End of Bloom’s Taxonomy Theory

Next up – Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Create Lesson Plans

©2025 Fiza Pathan

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Lesson Observations done by Fiza Pathan

Observation No: 1

Teacher’s Name: Ms Mary

Subject: English

Grade: 6A MYP

Date: 23-01-2025

Title of the lesson: Assessment Questions (About BO’s Ancient Forest)

Observation No: 2

Teacher’s Name: Ms Yamini (Ms Sonali)

Subject: English (Biology)

Grade: 8E MYP

Date: 23-1-2025

Title of the lesson: Reproduction in Plants

Observation No: 3

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nidhi

Subject: English

Grade: 8D MYP

Date: 23-1-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision of Past Papers

Observation No: 4

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: English

Grade: 9F MYP

Date: 23-1-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision of Past Papers

Observation No: 5

Teacher’s Name: Ms Amay

Subject: Economics

Grade: 8C MYP

Date: 23-1-2025

Title of the lesson: Demand & Supply and revision of previous concepts

Observation No: 5A

Student’s names: Yuvna Jain & Nivika Jain

Subject: Games Session

Grade: 5B

Date: 23-1-2025

Title of the lesson: Food web game based on the mathematical topic of percentage.

Observation No: 6

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sneha

Subject: Biology

Grade: 8B MYP

Date: 29-1-2025

Title of the lesson: Carbon Cycle & Nitrogen

Observation No: 7

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sneha

Subject: Biology (This was actually the PE lecture)

Grade: 9E MYP

Date: 29-1-2025

Title of the lesson: Anaerobic Respiration (Respiration in Plants)

Observation No: 8

Teacher’s Name: Ms Seema or Sneha

Subject: EVM (Environmental Management)

Grade: 8D and 8E MYP

Date: 3-2-2025

Title of the lesson: Plan for final exam revision

Observation No: 9

Teacher’s Name: Ms Pettina

Subject: French

Grade: 2A PYP

Date: 17-2-2025

Title of the lesson: Ma Famille (My Family)

Observation No: 10

Teacher’s Name: Mr. Mohit

Subject: Physics

Grade: 8A MYP

Date: 17-2-2025

Title of the lesson: General Wave Properties

Observation No: 11

Teacher’s Name: Ms Espy (Esmeralda)

Subject: Summative Class

Grade: 1A PYP

Date: 18-2-2025

Title of the lesson: Different types of homes

Observation No: 12

Teacher’s Name: Ms Espy (Esmeralda0

Subject: English

Grade: 1A PYP

Date: 18-2-2025

Title of the lesson: Origami recipe writing and fan making activities

Observation No: 13

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sunjan

Subject: English

Grade: 4B PYP

Date: 21-2-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision Worksheet

Observation No: 14

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: Mathematics

Grade: 1B PYP

Date: 28-2-2025

Title of the lesson: Show & Tell and in Mathematics Clockwise & Anti-clockwise

Observation No: 15

Teacher’s Name: Ms Geetan

Subject: Art

Grade: 1B PYP

Date: 28-2-2025

Title of the lesson: To draw the background of the Teddy Bear

Observation No: 16

Teacher’s Name: Ms Krishna

Subject: Dance (Assembly & Geography/Humanities of Social Studies)

Grade: 3C PYP

Date: 5-3-2025

Title of the lesson: Sustainable Development & the Physical Map of India

Observation No: 17

Teacher’s Name: Ms Krishna

Subject: Math

Grade: 3C PYP

Date: 5-3-2025

Title of the lesson: Fractions. Venn diagrams. Time. Ratio & Proportion etc. Worksheet

Observation No: 18

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: Reading

Grade: 1B PYP

Date: 11-3-2025

Title of the lesson: Show & Tell (A solution to save water)

Observation No: 19

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: Science

Grade: 1B PYP

Date: 11-3-2025

Title of the lesson: Science Worksheet

Observation No: 20

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: Science (Extra class)

Grade: 1B PYP

Date: 11-3-2025

Title of the lesson: Water Cycle (written recapitulation) & Reading Class

Observation No: 21

Teacher’s Name: Ms Jaya

Subject: English & UOI (Unit of Inquiry)

Grade: 3B PYP

Date: 11-3-2025

Title of the lesson: Fish-Bone template(Factory of Settlements)

Observation No: 22

Teacher’s Name: Ms Geetan

Subject: Art

Grade: 2B PYP

Date: 11-3-2025

Title of the lesson: Fresco Painting & Abstract Art

Observation No: 23

Teacher’s Name: Ms Krishna

Subject: UOI (Unit of Inquiry)

Grade: 3C PYP

Date: 11-3-2025

Title of the lesson: The Harmful Effects of Global Warming

Observation No: 24

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ranjini

Subject: English

Grade: AS/11th

Date: 11-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension Passage on Sunita Williams

Observation No: 25

Teacher’s Name: Ms Vijayata

Subject: Math

Grade: 7D

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Doing the Class Homework

Observation No: 26

Teacher’s Name: Ms Geetan

Subject: Art

Grade: 7D

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Word Expressions

Observation No: 27

Teacher’s Name: Mr. Rajesh

Subject: Computer Science (CS)

Grade: AS/12th

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Computer Programming Revision

Observation No: 28

Teacher’s Name: Mr. Lynden

Subject: Economics

Grade: AS/11th

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Production Possibility Curve (Unit 5)

Observation No: 29

Teacher’s Name: Ms Mary

Subject: English

Grade: 7B

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension (Character Development)

Observation No: 30

Teacher’s Name: Mr. Mandar

Subject: Chemistry

Grade: 7B

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision

Observation No: 31

Teacher’s Name: Mr. Kunal Patil

Subject: Chemistry (in the Chemistry Lab)

Grade: 8D

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Effect of Impurities on the Melting Point & Boiling Point of Water

Observation No: 32

Teacher’s Name: Ms Yamani

Subject: English

Grade: 8D

Date: 15-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Interview Writing (Characterization)

Observation No: 33

Teacher’s Name: Ms Vijayata

Subject: Math

Grade: 7D

Date: 16-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Quadratic Equations Revision Excercise

Observation No: 34

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sneha

Subject: English

Grade: 9D

Date: 16-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Report Writing (Actually writing it)

Observation No: 35

Teacher’s Name: Ms Zainab

Subject: English

Grade: 6E

Date: 16-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Analyzing Images Effectively

Observation No: 36

Teacher’s Name: Mr. Dharmendra

Subject: Math

Grade: A Level

Date: 16-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Solving the Class Homework

Observation No: 37

Teacher’s Name: Mr. Kunal Patil

Subject: Chemistry

Grade: AS/11th ASB

Date: 16-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision

Observation No: 38

Teacher’s Name: Ms Laxmi (Ms Sangata Ma’am took the proxy)

Subject: Hindi

Grade: 7C

Date: 17-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Informal Letter Writing

Observation No: 39

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nidhi

Subject: English

Grade: 7A

Date: 17-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Summary Writing (actually writing it)

Observation No: 40

Teacher’s Name: Ms Zainab

Subject: English

Grade: 6E

Date: 23-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Punctuation

Observation No: 41

Teacher’s Name: Ms Mary

Subject: English

Grade: 7B

Date: 23-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Descriptive Writing; Negative Character Writing

Observation No: 42

Teacher’s Name: Ms Zainab

Subject: English

Grade: 6E

Date: 23-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Punctuation Continuation

Observation No: 43

Teacher’s Name: Ms Shweta (Ms Mary)

Subject: Chemistry (Proxy English)

Grade: 7A

Date: 23-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Quiz Session (Via Jeopardy Labz.om)

Observation No: 44

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: English

Grade: 9F

Date: 24-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension Passage; Questions & Answers

Observation No: 45

Teacher’s Name: Ms Christina

Subject: Maths

Grade: 9F

Date: 24-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision Work

Observation No: 46

Teacher’s Name: Mr Hardik

Subject: Accounts

Grade: 9F

Date: 24-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Petty Cash

Observation No: 47

Teacher’s Name: Ms Aasawari

Subject: Biology

Grade: 9F

Date: 24-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Respiration & Exchange of Gases & Alveoli & Gas Exchange

Observation No: 48

Teacher’s Name: Ms Laxmi

Subject: Hindi

Grade: 9F

Date: 24-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension Questions on Existentialism & Note-making Question

Observation No: 49

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: English

Grade: 9F

Date: 24-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension Writing; Summary Writing

Observation No: 50

Teacher’s Name: Ms Shweta

Subject: Chemistry

Grade: 6D

Date: 25-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Poster Making (States of Matter)

Observation No: 51

Teacher’s Name: Ms Zainab

Subject: Individuals & Society

Grade: 7A

Date: 25-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Presentation

Observation No: 52

Teacher’s Name: Ms Laxmi

Subject: Hindi

Grade: IBDP – 2

Date: 28-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension based on Travel & Tourism & Speech Writing

Observation No: 53

Teacher’s Name: Ms Tapati

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP – 1

Date: 28-4-2025

Title of the lesson: The Visit (Existentialist – Theory & Dark Humour)

Observation No: 54

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP – 2

Date: 28-4-2025

Title of the lesson: ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy

Observation No: 55

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP – 2

Date: 28-4-2025

Title of the lesson: ‘The God of Small Things’ by Arundhati Roy Part II

Observation No: 56

Teacher’s Name: Ms Zainab

Subject: English

Grade: 6E

Date: 30-4-2025

Title of the lesson: (Emotive Language) The Brave Boy; The Little Black Horse & Idioms Quiz

Observation No: 57

Teacher’s Name: Mr Akshay

Subject: Physics

Grade: 6E

Date: 30-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Types of Energy (Different Types of Energy)

Observation No: 58

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sneha

Subject: English

Grade: 8A

Date: 30-4-2025

Title of the lesson: Interview Writing

Observation No: 59

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 09-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision

Observation No: 60

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ruchi

Subject: Music

Grade: 1A (PYP)

Date: 09-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Football Song

Observation No: 61

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: UOI

Grade: 1A

Date: 09-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Celebrations 1

Observation No: 62

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: UOI

Grade: 1A

Date: 09-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Celebrations 2

Observation No: 63

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Japanese Expansion Across South-East Asia

Observation No: 64

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Japanese Expansion Across South-East Asia Cont

Observation No: 65

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Essential Agreements about English for the exams

Observation No: 66

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: Individuals & Society

Grade: 6B (MYP)

Date: 10-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Indigenous Tribe – Maasai Tribe (presentation)

Observation No: 67

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: English

Grade: 10G (MYP/IGCSE)

Date: 10-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Persuasive Speech

Observation No: 68

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Essential Agreements for the Exam Part 1

Observation No: 69

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Essential Agreements About English for the Exams Part 2

Observation No: 70

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Meiji Restoration

Observation No: 71

Teacher’s Name: Ms Rajnigandha

Subject: TOK

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 11-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Art (Objectives of War Paintings)

Observation No: 72

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Summarization of an Adverb

Observation No: 73

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Summarization of an Adverb Part-2

Observation No: 74

Teacher’s Name: Ms Amrin

Subject: Maths

Grade: 3B

Date: 13-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Doubles

Observation No: 75

Teacher’s Name: Ms Rajanigandha

Subject: TOK

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 13-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Art & the Truth

Observation No: 76

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 16-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Meiji Restoration (Presentations)

Observation No: 77

Teacher’s Name: Ms Tapati

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 16-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Infographic Writing (Revision)

Observation No: 78

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sunjan

Subject: UOI

Grade: 3A (PYP)

Date: 16-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Sustainable Development (Part 1)

Observation No: 79

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sunjan

Subject: UOI

Grade: 3A (PYP)

Date: 16-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Sustainable Development (Part 2)

Observation No: 80

Teacher’s Name: Ms Komal

Subject: UOI

Grade: IA(PYP)

Date: 16-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Matching the Causes With the Effects of Climate Change

Observation No: 81

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 17-06-2025

Title of the lesson: The Russo-Japanese War Presentation

Observation No: 82

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 17-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Library Visitation & Textbook Analysis

Observation No: 83

Teacher’s Name: Ms Amrin

Subject: English

Grade: 3B (PYP)

Date: 19-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Story-Writing 2nd Draft

Observation No: 84

Teacher’s Name: Ms Amrin/Ms Nilam

Subject: English

Grade: 3B (PYP)

Date: 19-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Continuation of Story-Writing 2nd Draft

Observation No: 85

Teacher’s Name: Ms Mary

Subject: English

Grade: 6D (MYP)

Date: 19-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Extreme Sports Comprehension (Part of Non-Fiction Comprehension Writing)

Observation No: 86

Teacher’s Name: Ms Pettina

Subject: French

Grade: 6D (MYP)

Date: 19-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Irregular Adjectives

Observation No: 87

Teacher’s Name: Fiza Pathan (Proxy Class for Ms Mary)

Subject: English

Grade: 6D

Date: 19-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Collective Nouns and Vocabulary

Observation No: 88

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ishita Oza

Subject: Biology

Grade: 7B (MYP)

Date: 20-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Presentation of/about Ocean Ecosystems

Observation No: 89

Teacher’s Name: Ms Rajanigandha

Subject: TOK

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 20-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Case Study: Han Van Meegeren: Disbelief, Proof & Evidence

Observation No: 90

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ishita Oza

Subject: Biology

Grade: 9D & 9F (MYP)

Date: 20-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Respiration Part 2: Aerobic & Anaerobic Respiration

Observation No: 91

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English (Paper 2)

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 20-06-2025

Title of the lesson: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Observation No: 92

Teacher’s Name: Ms Espy

Subject: Maths

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 24-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Odd & Even Numbers

Observation No: 93

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Hitler: Weimer Republic

Observation No: 94

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-06-2025

Title of the lesson: The God of Small Things: Introduction

Observation No: 95

Teacher’s Name: Ms Tapati

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Persuasive Writing

Observation No: 96

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-06-2025

Title of the lesson: The God of Small Things: Chapter 1 Analysis

Observation No: 97

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Hitler: The Rise of the Nazi Movement 1919-1929

Observation No: 98

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-06-2025

Title of the lesson: The God of Small Things: Chapter 1 & Role Play Explanation

Observation No: 99

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: Maths

Grade: 1A (PYP)

Date: 25-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Odd & Even Numbers

Observation No: 100

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: Maths

Grade: 1A (PYP)

Date: 25-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Odd & Even Numbers: Part 2

Observation No: 101

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ruchi

Subject: Music

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 25-06-2025

Title of the lesson: The Song: ‘Wave Your Flag’ Practice

Observation No: 102

Teacher’s Name: Ms Espy

Subject: UOI

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 25-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Sustainable Homes

Observation No: 103

Teacher’s Name: Ms Espy

Subject: Math

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 30-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Rounding to the Nearest Tens

Observation No: 104

Teacher’s Name: Mr Bhavesh

Subject: Keyboard (MI)

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 30-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision

Observation No: 105

Teacher’s Name: Mr Shailendra

Subject: Spanish (Proxy)

Grade: 7C, 7A & 7D(MYP)

Date: 30-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension Major Test

Observation No: 106

Teacher’s Name: Ms Espy/Ms Esmeralda

Subject: UOI

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 30-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Assessment of Learning (Summative Class) on Homes All Around Us

Observation No: 107

Teacher’s Name: Ms Espy

Subject: Maths

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 30-06-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision of Rounding Numbers

Observation No: 108

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 01-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Hitler: Consolidating his Power

Observation No: 109

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 01-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Solving the doubts of students

Observation No: 110

Teacher’s Name: Ms Tapati

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 07-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Tips & Revision for Next Day’s Formative Assessment (Paper 1)

Observation No: 111

Teacher’s Name: Ms Yamini

Subject: English

Grade: 9A (MYP)

Date: 07-07-2025

Title of the lesson: (Comprehension) A report on the follow up research carried out in Bodmin Moor

Observation No: 112

Teacher’s Name: Ms Amrin/Ms Nilam

Subject: Reading

Grade: 3B (PYP)

Date: 07-07-2025

Title of the lesson: The Ugly Duckling (From the book Animal Tails)

Observation No: 113

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nilam

Subject: UOI

Grade: 3B (PYP)

Date: 07-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Filling Pages in the Portfolio

Observation No: 114

Teacher’s Name: Ms Meher

Subject: English

Grade: 2A (PYP)

Date: 07-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Planning A Shape Poem

Observation No: 115

Teacher’s Name: Ms Meher

Subject: Zero Period

Grade: 2A (PYP)

Date: 08-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Dance Practice for Independence Day

Observation No: 116

Teacher’s Name: Ms Meher

Subject: Maths

Grade: 2A (PYP)

Date: 08-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Number Pairs of a Hundred

Observation No: 117

Teacher’s Name: Ms Kalpana

Subject: Biology

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 08-07-2025

Title of the lesson: The Nervous System

Observation No: 118

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 08-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Test (Paper 1)

Observation No: 119

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 08-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Analysis of IBDP-2 English Answer Papers

Observation No: 120

Teacher’s Name: Ms Cristina

Subject: Maths

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 08-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Arithmetic & Geometric Sequencing or Sequence

Observation No: 121

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 08-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Continuation of The God of Small Things Chapter 5 Explanation

Observation No: 122

Teacher’s Name: Ms Meher

Subject: ICT (Proxy)

Grade: 2A (PYP)

Date: 09-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Inserting a shape & textbox in a Word document.

Observation No: 123

Teacher’s Name: Ms Meher

Subject: English

Grade: 2A (PYP)

Date: 09-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Poems with Repeated Phrases

Observation No: 124

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision of the Meiji Restoration (Paper 1)

Observation No: 125

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Research Session on How the Opposition was controlled during 1933-44

Observation No: 126

Teacher’s Name: Ms Kalpana

Subject: Biology

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Viruses (HL topic A2.3 Part of Cell Biology)

Observation No: 127

Teacher’s Name: Ms Rajnigandha

Subject: TOK

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 10-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Knowledge & Technology

Observation No: 128

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: English

Grade: 9F (MYP)

Date: 10-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Informal Letter Writing (Example)

Observation No: 129

Teacher’s Name: Ms Myrose

Subject: Math

Grade: 5B (PYP)

Date: 11-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Divisibility

Observation No: 130

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Hitler: How he defeated the Opposition against him between 1933-1944

Observation No: 131

Teacher’s Name: Ms Rajanigandha

Subject: TOK

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Knowledge & Technology (Taking forward the previous day’s discussion)

Observation No: 132

Teacher’s Name: Ms Tapati

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-07-2025

Title of the lesson: The God of Small Things (Explanation post page 47)

Observation No: 133

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Reading through past years students IBDP-1 Papers

Observation No: 134

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 11-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Choosing of an IO Topic for English

Observation No: 135

Teacher’s Name: Ms Payal

Subject: Reading

Grade: 4C (PYP)

Date: 11-07-2025

Title of the lesson: The Enchanted Horse by or selected by Michael Morpurgo

Observation No: 136

Teacher’s Name: Ms Vinita

Subject: Hindi

Grade: 4C (PYP)

Date: 22-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension Passage on the Rain

Observation No: 137

Teacher’s Name: Ms Myrose

Subject: English

Grade: 5B (PYP)

Date: 22-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Direct & Indirect Speech Unit 4.8 (Part 2)

Observation No: 138

Teacher’s Name: Ms Larissa

Subject: Reading

Grade: 5B (PYP)

Date: 22-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Grimm by Michael Morpurgo (Original Stories by the Grimm Brothers (Water of Life)

Observation No: 139

Teacher’s Name: Ms Divya

Subject: UOI (English)

Grade: 5C (PYP)

Date: 23-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Explorations (according to the theme where we are in place and time)

Observation No: 140

Teacher’s Name: Ms Shruti (Ms Tapati )

Subject: English

Grade: 10A (IGCSE)

Date: 23-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Revision: Writer’s Effects/Perspectives or Author’s Effects

Observation No: 141

Teacher’s Name: Ms Tapati

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 23-07-2025

Title of the lesson: IO Topics & Formative Tests Revision & Paper Discussion

Observation No: 142

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Authoritarian States: Foreign Policy Failures of Hitler

Observation No: 143

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Hitler’s Relationship With the Christian Churches of Germany

Observation No: 144

Teacher’s Name: Ms Rashmi

Subject: TOK

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Methods & Tools; The Third Element of the Knowledge Framework

Observation No: 145

Teacher’s Name: Ms Rajani

Subject: TOK

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 24-07-2025

Title of the lesson: Knowledge & Technology (What Does It Mean to Know?)-

Observation No: 146

Teacher’s Name: Ms Yamini

Subject: English

Grade: 9B (IGCSE)

Date: 12-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Informal or Personal Letter Writing

Observation No: 147

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nidhi

Subject: English

Grade: 10F (IGCSE)

Date: 12-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Analyzing Meanings that Words Can Create or Writer’s Effects (The Canal Holiday)

Observation No: 148

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sushma

Subject: History

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 12-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Castro: Consolidation & Maintenance of Power

Observation No: 149

Teacher’s Name: Ms Yamini

Subject: English

Grade:10B (IGCSE)

Date: 12-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Speech or Talk Writing (The Honey Hunters of Nepal)

Observation No: 150

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nidhi

Subject: English

Grade:9C (IGCSE)

Date: 12-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Interview Writing (Rules to Follow) and Analysis of the Comprehension Passage

Observation No: 151

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nidhi

Subject: English

Grade: 9C (IGCSE)

Date: 12-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Interview Writing (Actually Writing the Interview)

Observation No: 152

Teacher’s Name: Ms Shruti

Subject: English

Grade: 10A (IGCSE)

Date: 12-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Talk Writing (The Honey Hunters of Nepal)

Observation No: 153

Teacher’s Name: Ms Yamini (Ms Nidhi)

Grade: 10B (IGCSE)

Date: 13-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Letter Writing (Solving or Writing a Letter from the Worksheet)

Observation No: 154

Teacher’s Name: Mr Bhavesh

Subject: MI-Keyboard

Grade: 4C(PYP)

Date: 18-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Practicing of Songs: Leena Bala (Specifically)

Observation No: 155

Teacher’s Name: Mr Bhavesh

Subject: MI-Keyboard

Grade: 1B (PYP)

Date: 18-08-2025

Title of the lesson: Practice Session & Sound Track Game In-Teams

Observation No: 156

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sneha

Subject: English

Grade: 10D (IGCSE)

Date: 03-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Summary Writing

Observation No: 157

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nidhi

Subject: English

Grade: 10F (IGCSE)

Date: 03-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Journal Writing (The Ben and Jojo Comprehension)

Observation No: 158

Teacher’s Name: Ms Shruti

Subject: English

Grade: 10A (IGCSE)

Date: 03-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Comprehension (Paper 1 Directed Writing & Comprehension)

Observation No: 159

Teacher’s Name: Mr Gautam

Subject: MI – Ukelele

Grade: 4C(PYP)

Date: 15-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Harry Potter BGM and Passo Bem Salto

Observation No: 160

Teacher’s Name: Ms Anupama

Subject: English

Grade: 4C (PYP)

Date:15-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Formal Email

Observation No: 161

Teacher’s Name: Ms Amrin

Subject: Mathematics

Grade: 3B (PYP)

Date:16-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Long division (Reinforcement)

Observation No: 162

Teacher’s Name: Ms Amrin

Subject: English & Wellbeing

Grade: 3B (PYP)

Date:16-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Letter Writing (Identification Only)

Observation No: 163

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sunjan

Subject: UOI

Grade: 3A (PYP)

Date:16-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Different Types of Poems

Observation No: 164

Teacher’s Name: Ms Jhanvi

Subject: Reading

Grade: 4B (PYP)

Date:16-09-2025

Title of the lesson: The Snow Queen Exit Ticket & Independent Task: Student Agency

Observation No: 165

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: English

Grade: 1A(PYP)

Date:17-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Report Writing

Observation No: 166

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: Math

Grade: 1A(PYP)

Date:18-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Addition Word Problem

Observation No: 167

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hea

Subject: English

Grade: 1A(PYP)

Date:18-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Singular & Plural Nouns

Observation No: 168

Teacher’s Name: Ms Geetan

Subject: Art

Grade: 3C(PYP)

Date:18-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Henri Matisse & his collages

Observation No: 169

Teacher’s Name: Ms Divya

Subject: Library

Grade: 3C(PYP)

Date:18-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Free Reading & Website Citation

Observation No: 170

Teacher’s Name: Ms Anupama

Subject: Math

Grade: 4C(PYP)

Date:18-09-2025

Title of the lesson: 3D Shapes

Observation No: 171

Teacher’s Name: Ms Hetal

Subject: UOI

Grade: 5C(PYP)

Date:18-09-2025

Title of the lesson: Demand & Supply or What is the relationship between Demand & Supply

Observation No: 172

Teacher’s Name: Ms Nidhi

Subject: English

Grade: 10F(IGCSE)

Date: 08-10-2025

Title of the lesson: Writer’s Effect (March 2021 Board Paper)

Observation No: 173

Teacher’s Name: Mr Tapan and Mr Hridhay Bhatia

Subject: Physics

Grade: 9B(MYP)

Date: 08-10-2025

Title of the lesson: Diplomathon Global and Magnetism

Observation No: 174

Teacher’s Name: Mr Deepak

Subject: Physics

Grade: 8A(MYP)

Date: 08-10-2025

Title of the lesson: Work, Power & Energy

Observation No: 175

Teacher’s Name: Mr Tapan

Subject: Physics (HL)

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 13-10-2025

Title of the lesson: Postulates of Special Relativity (HL)

Observation No: 176

Teacher’s Name: Ms Ankana

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-2

Date: 13-10-2025

Title of the lesson: Board Submissions

Observation No: 177

Teacher’s Name: Ms Shruti

Subject: English

Grade: AS-Sci

Date: 13-10-2025

Title of the lesson: AS level Paper 2 FA or Formatives Distribution & AS Level Paper 1

Observation No: 178

Teacher’s Name: Ms Yamini

Subject: English

Grade: 10C(IGCSE)

Date: 13-10-2025

Title of the lesson: Extended Writing (Introduction Writing)

Observation No: 179

Teacher’s Name: Ms Sneha

Subject: English

Grade: 10E(IGCSE)

Date: 13-10-2025

Title of the lesson: FA Papers Distribution & Discussion & March 2024 Paper (Summary Writing)

Observation No: 180

Teacher’s Name: Ms Tapati

Subject: English

Grade: IBDP-1

Date: 13-10-2025

Title of the lesson: Paper Discussion

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End of Fiza Pathan’s Portfolio (continued)

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