Rocky Books at InspirEd 2026 - Teach For India’s Annual Bengaluru Summit

The Rocky Books team had a fun outing at InspirEd 2026 this March at the Bangalore International Centre. InspirEd is an annual summit held by Teach For India in Bengaluru, bringing together teachers, Teach For India Fellows, students, government officials, Alumni, and partners. 

As a resource partner for Teach For India, Rocky Books was invited to host a storytelling session in addition to showcasing our catalogue of books at the Museum of Bangalore End of Year Showcase. 

How to teach emotional intelligence in India?

This has been a question on everyone’s minds lately, and Rocky Books was happy to host a storytelling session at InspirEd to explore this idea with Teach For India’s Bengaluru team. 

I read the storybook “Tanu Learns How To Overcome Her Fears” with a buzzing class of elementary school children from one of Teach For India’s partner schools in Bengaluru. 

This was an interactive storytelling session designed by Sheena Vassiliades, Rocky Books co-founder and co-author of “Tanu Learns How To Overcome Her Fears”. The students were encouraged to reflect on the story and the problems faced by Tanu, the main character of the book. 

Best storybooks for empathy and kindness

What makes a book the best storybook to teach children about empathy and kindness? The answer may be different for every child, depending on their own life experiences and how deeply they may relate to the main character in one of our books. 

“Tanu Learns How To Overcome Her Fears” is a trauma support storybook for elementary age children. The story follows 7 year old Tanu who feels anxious and afraid when her parents have arguments at home. 

This book includes Sheena’s “Fire Fists” exercise which we all did together. The students also had a lot of fun suggesting their own coping or grounding exercises! These were grounding exercises taught to them by their class teachers, or coping strategies they had come up with on their own. 

The students had a lot of varied and mixed reactions to the story. Some students related to Tanu’s experiences and emotions, and some children said they felt sad for Tanu. While all children may not relate 100% to a storybook, facilitators can kickstart meaningful dialogue with students and parents using the books as a starting point. 

Meeting the Author

The highlight of the day was the moment the students found out I was the author of the book they were reading! The storytelling session quickly turned into a “Meet the Author” session where the kids asked me all about how I write (on my laptop or using a pen and paper?), how I came up with the stories, and how we got the books illustrated. It was such a fun moment for me, and a memory that I’ll treasure always. 

What books do Teach for India fellows use?

At the End of Year showcase we had the opportunity to meet several Teach For India Fellows and learn about the types of resources they use in their classrooms. We had our catalogue available for teaching fellows to browse. 

Teach for India Fellows usually use a mix of traditional school textbooks for subjects like Science, Social Studies and Maths, in addition to SEL books for Indian classrooms. Many teaching fellows already do social emotional learning activities with students. Rocky Books’ focus on trauma-support and trauma-informed illustrations and writing style would be perfect to include in their fellowship teaching materials.

Integrating SEL in Indian school curriculum

Interacting with lively students, dedicated teachers, and Teach for India fellows at InspirEd 2026 left us with a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities in integrating SEL and mental health resources in Indian schools. 

Rocky Books shares Teach For India Bengaluru’s commitment to helping their students feel safer in school and at home, teaching them to become more resilient, and making mental wellbeing their utmost priority.