Loreto College, Kolkata

On March 6, 2026, the Department of B.Ed, Loreto college organised ‘Chalk to Chair: Navigating the Early Steps to Teaching and School Leadership”’, an endeavour aimed at familiarising the aspiring batch of teacher trainees to a hitherto overlooked face of teaching at school. The speaker for the session was Mrs. Meenakshi Kapur, a retired teacher and principal of the different Loreto schools in the city. 

The session was preceded by a brief meditative exercise conducted by Vishakha Banerjee of the B.Ed department to help ease the students into the contemplative spirit necessary for a learning experience. The meditation also foregrounded the importance of mindfulness and inner balance in the teaching profession. 

The lecture began with an interactive “meditation” on the balance between duty and ambition for authority respectively symbolised by the chalk and the chair. Mrs. Kapur teased out the need for personal development, responsibility and leadership when juggling the alternating burdens of both chalk and the chair. 

This segued into the accountability of the teacher to three primary facets of life: oneself, others and to God. This necessitates a holistic development on the teacher’s part where the teacher’s personal values must be spiritually grounded and must be reflected in a meaningful relationship with the world at large. 

The speaker expanded upon the immense influence a teacher holds vis-à-vis the emotional and moral well-being of the students. Positive qualities like creativity, honesty, motivation, and confidence contribute to a constructive learning environment, whereas negativity, anger, selfishness, and regret can hinder growth. 

Guidance which is a staple of teaching, manifests diversely. The teacher acts as an advisor to parents and students alike. The dynamicity of organizational demands push teachers to become event organizers, first aid responders, data analysts, resource developers, and lifelong learners. 

Mrs. Kapur traced the essence of teaching and associated responsibilities to observation, self-awareness, empathy and a knack for upskilling. She suggested that the way teachers walk, communicate, and interact often reveals their attitudes and energies even before they begin formal instruction. Therefore the need to continually work on one’s body language remains integral. The child is centralised in an educational settings therefore the teacher must be conscientious to cater to each learner’s individual needs while not compromising on the collective goal. 

The speaker problem fixed a practicable framework which compartmentalised tasks into four sections: “Do First,” “Do Later,” “Delegate,” and “Eliminate.” The urgent and important tasks were to be addressed immediately, while important but non-urgent tasks could be scheduled for later. Activities that were urgent but not necessarily important could be delegated to others, while tasks that were neither urgent nor important were best eliminated. This model encouraged aspiring teachers to manage their professional responsibilities more efficiently and maintain a balanced workload.

One of the highlights of the session was an engaging interactive group activity designed to help participants better understand the concept of multiple intelligences. Each student was given a small piece of paper containing fragments of a larger image along with a few component alphabets that formed parts of the words representing different intelligences. In total, there were eight sets of papers, corresponding to the eight types of intelligences discussed during the presentation. The students were asked to move around the room and find others whose pieces seemed to belong to the same larger shape. By carefully examining the shapes and matching the letters, they gradually formed groups and reconstructed the complete diagrams. Through this collaborative process, each group eventually identified at least one specific intelligence. The activity encouraged discussion, cooperation, and analytical thinking among the participants, while also reinforcing the idea that individuals possess diverse strengths and abilities. It proved to be both an enjoyable and insightful exercise that helped the aspiring teacher trainees to actively engage with the theoretical concepts presented during the session.

The session concluded with a reflection on the importance of self-development. Aspiring teachers were encouraged to remain healthy in body, mind, and spirit, to seize opportunities for learning, and to step beyond their comfort zones. The speaker also stressed the importance of communication skills, self-awareness, and continuous professional development through upskilling and mentoring. Participants were reminded to set aside time for reflection and self-evaluation so that they could continue to grow as educators.