During the exam time and during extended study periods, most students often tend to cram as much course content as they possibly can and leave ‘revision’ for the last, or don’t revise at all. It is a famous misconception amongst students to first study as many topics as possible, hoping to recollect what is learnt later during revision time. Generally, this is a recipe for disaster because the human memory doesn’t work like that. An important part of thorough studying and recollecting what is learnt will always remain ‘revision’. Before we understand the strategies for revision, it is important to understand why the usual method of keeping revision for the last minute doesn’t work.

How the human memory works

• You begin with learning as many topics and course content as you can. This course content is taken to your Short Term-Memory by your Sensory Memory. At this stage if you don’t pay enough attention to what you are trying to learn, you may not recollect it at all. For example, if you are reading about the medieval period of Europe and you are distracted by noise or interrupted by your phone, you could easily forget what you have read.
• Perhaps you were paying attention to what you were reading about the medieval period of Europe. After a moment of distraction, you are still able to recollect some facts about what you read. This is possible only because the information is now stored in your Short-Term Memory. This is the stage where students often falter. When they feel they can remember a few facts from what they have learnt, they begin to feel confident in their ability to be able to recollect what is learnt later during revision time or during exam time (if they decide to skip revision time).
• Unfortunately, students often make the mistake of not getting the information that is stored in their Short-term Memory to their Long-term Memory by regular Retrieval, i.e., Revision. Hence, during revision time at a later stage or during exam time they cannot recollect substantial information about the medieval period of Europe that they have studied previously. They lose precious marks or end up feeling nervous.

Best strategies for revision

From the diagram ‘How human memory works’ it is clear that Retrieval of information is only possible if substantial revision is done on the subject. There are certain dos and don’ts that every student must follow during revision time which will help them revise seamlessly and retrieve information easily when needed later.

1. No distractions policy
Most of our problems when it comes to revision have very little to do with the brain’s capacity for remembering things. Paying focused attention to something is the key to memorizing. When you choose to focus completely on your task, you give it a personal meaning which helps your mind recollect facts more easily later. A ‘no distraction’ policy includes the following:

• Declutter your desk. Anything that isn’t relevant to the subject you are studying or revising shouldn’t be on your desk. All irrelevant textbooks and notebooks should go off the study table. It even comes down to the stationery items on your desk. If that box of colour pens might tempt you to make a quick drawing in your notebook while you are trying to study, put those colours away. Organize your study material as per your requirements.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post The art of revising right appeared first on The Teenager Today.

It is that time of the year when gruelling exams have finally given way to the last day of the semester. Students feel a mixed bag of emotions. Happy to not have to wake up early in the morning for school, and sad that they would miss their friends during the semester break.

The excitement often lasts for only a few days, and then the feeling of boredom sets in. Lack of routine and creative ideas to spend the vacation often results in waking up later than usual, distorted eating schedules, binge-watching TV shows, hours spent aimlessly in front of computer screens or mobiles. All these activities lack the much-needed intellectual and emotional stimulation that would encourage gainful experiences and keep boredom and routine at bay.

Let’s look at a few ideas on how you could spend your summer vacations doing intellectually-challenging and emotionally-stimulating activities. It is important to consider the following first, before you look at busying yourself with extra-curricular activities:

1. Reflecting on the past semester

This means that you take stock of your actions and your results of the past semester. Ponder over the questions that are listed below and devise suitable plans for the next semester.

How do I feel about my previous semester? Was the semester hard? Did I manage my time correctly? Did I balance my study and fun time?

Did I do well in my previous semester? If not, why? If yes, how do I continue to strive to do better every time?
Is there anything that I could improve about myself? Maybe I need to be more self-confident, maybe I need to be more assertive? Am I afraid of failing in a task?

2. Goal setting

This aspect focuses on taking “Actions”. While you thought over your previous semester, you may want to do a follow-up on your reflections. You may want to devise goals and plans to achieve in the next semester. You need to devise “Progress Goals” — a roadmap that helps you achieve your goals.

Example:

GOAL:

• “I want to become more confident at public speaking”.

PROGRESS GOALS:

• I will practise a speech every day in front of the mirror,
• I will then perform the speech in front of someone,
• If I make mistakes, I will not let myself get disheartened. I will try again.

Once you have devised Process Goals, you are more likely to feel geared towards achieving your goals. While you are at it, don’t forget to enjoy your vacations, too. Pick any of the recommended activities from the list mentioned below. Ensure that you pick activities that you would truly enjoy so that you are more likely to engage in them often. While you are at it, try to choose activities that incorporate social and physical activities as well. And these activities would help you enhance your personality and social skills.

1. Invest your time in card games, board games and jigsaw puzzles

These games are not only intellectually stimulating, but also encourage social interaction. You could request your parents for a ‘Fun-hour’ with them; it is a good way to encourage family time and bonding. You could also invite your cousins or friends over for a get-together to play a game of cards or board games.

2. Reading

The best way to begin is to pick your choice of topic (it could be current affairs, history, legendary icons, etc.). You could read and research that topic and have a discussion with your parents and siblings about your research. This would not only improve your knowledge, it would also encourage you to practise your verbal communication skills. Another way to develop your love for reading is to pick a fiction or non-fiction book and reflect on what you loved about that book or how that book has influenced you.

My top 5 non-fiction book recommendations:

• The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teens by Stephen Covey
• The Success Principles by Jack Canfield with Janet Switzer
• Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life by William H. McRaven
• How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

3. Gardening

Planting and gardening are activities that nurture your emotional well-being. Try to grow a coriander plant, a chilli plant, curry leaves plant, or germinate sprouts. These are the easiest to garden.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to cut fresh coriander leaves from your pot to add to your mom’s food?

Buy bags of potting soil, seeds and pots and make a fun and creative garden on your balcony or house lawn.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Spend your vacations wisely appeared first on The Teenager Today.

On 1st January 2018, at least half of us will wake up late with a hangover of the previous night’s celebrations. Perhaps some of us will post photographs of the party on the various social media platforms, and profess publicly our resolutions for the New Year to our friends and family.

Each year we kick-off our New Year’s resolutions with much ardour, but somewhere within a couple of weeks or months, we lose sight of our goals, and resume our old ways.

So where are we going wrong? While we hope to achieve our goals and devise plans that could help us achieve our goals, we never explain “HOW” we could achieve those goals?

Achieving your goals is not only about having the will-power. It is also about developing the right skills, executing the right strategies, and having the patience that inevitably leads to success.

Like the wise Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Let’s learn to take small steps in the right direction.

Simple techniques that throw some light on “HOW” we could achieve our New Year goals.

1. Make a list

Begin with making a simple list of not more than 3 resolutions that you want to achieve — one of them being the “Primary Resolution” to achieve and the others being the “Secondary” ones. Making such a distinction doesn’t mean that your other goals are less important, but it only makes you focus on one thing at a time, and give it your best.

Other aspects to take note of are:

• Do not make too many resolutions. Make a list of top 3 resolutions.
• Taking genuine stock of whether your goals are realistic and achievable, within a realistic timeframe.
• Write your goals in your diary and on a calendar for you to read each day.
• Define a time period within which you would achieve each of your resolutions.
• Regularly mark your progress.

2. Use a calendar

Using a calendar is a simple way to help you track all the progress you made towards achieving your goals.

You can use the calendar to benefit you in the following ways:

• After you have marked a timeframe within which you have decided to achieve your resolutions, put that timeframe on the calendar.
• Each day if you have kept the habit/behaviour change that you had promised yourself in the beginning of the year towards achieving your goal, put a ‘tick’ on the calendar, e.g., you have promised yourself to study chemistry for an hour everyday because you want to get better at it. If you have kept your promise to study for an hour in the day, then you put a ‘tick’ on the calendar for the day that you have. Seeing the many ticks or crosses on the calendar serves as a visual reminder that will motivate you towards achieving your resolutions.

3. Forming habits

‘Old habits and routines die hard’, say old myths. But research says that it takes about 21 days to develop a simple new habit. And the period could vary for difficult habits/behaviours to form or change. E.g., If you wish to cut down on your TV watching habits, it could take you relatively 21 days or slightly more to change your habit. If you have been a compulsive TV watcher, it could take you slightly longer.

The key to achieving New Year resolutions is when you try to make these resolutions your habit. Some simple ways you could achieve this:

• If you have decided to be more fit this year, choose a time of the day that you could dedicate solely towards exercising. If you decide to go for walks at 5 pm every day, set an alarm an hour before 5 pm to notify you and get you to prepare yourself to gear up for your evening walks.
• If you choose to eat healthy each day, write down the list of food items that you ate each day. This will help you keep track of your food palate, and help you form healthy eating habits.
• Once the habits are formed, achieving a resolution becomes easier.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post New Year Resolutions: Your guide to implementing them appeared first on The Teenager Today.

It is a delightful moment for every teacher when students acknowledge and appreciate the contribution of their teachers towards their progress and achievements. Students often express their gratitude in multiple and unique ways. The fervour increases at Teacher’s Day celebrations when they participate in skits with great enthusiasm, write thoughtful speeches, sing melodious songs and put together engrossing dance programmes to make their day special. A few also paint beautiful artwork and craft lovely cards that the teacher could keep as mementos long after the student has graduated from the class. This Teacher’s Day, one such teacher has drafted a letter for her students. She explains how her students could express their love and respect for her, not just on Teacher’s Day, but how they could continue to express their gratitude to her throughout the year and even long after they have graduated from her class and their school.

My Dear Student,

Do you remember your first day at school? Maybe you don’t because you were too little. Your parents felt a range of emotions from being excited to feeling nervous. They were excited to see you in your tiny school uniform looking all smart and cute; with dreams of the day when you would be all grown up and adult, flying out of their nest to achieve dreams of your own. They surely felt butterflies in their tummies at having to leave you at the doorstep of your new school all by yourself, amid several kids and with a teacher whom neither you nor they had ever met before. They surely worried endlessly till you returned, and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw you running back into their arms with a smile as bright as sunshine and with stories of your first day at school. Your first day at school was certainly amongst one of the most memorable days for your parents, and certainly a life-changing experience for you.

But did you know that there was a teacher who was equally thrilled to see you on your first day of school? She had been planning this day and the rest of her sessions and the semester with you weeks in advance. Just like your parents gushed over arming you with all the things that you would need in your school like a lunch box, water bottle, school bag, uniform and endless other details. Your teacher had been planning her class, her lessons, her crafts, her timetable and endless other activities just to ensure that you would enjoy learning and doing the various activities that she had planned for you all throughout your semester. Did you know? No matter how many times she may have previously welcomed tiny kids to her classroom on their first day of school, no matter how many times she saw those kids grow a year older and turn into students who graduated from her class, every year would continue to be special to her in her own way. Do you know that she could do it all over again with the same energy and excitement year after year in a heartbeat?

Your first day at school was certainly amongst one of the most memorable days for your parents, and certainly a life-changing experience for you. But did you know that there was a teacher who was equally thrilled to see you on your first day of school?

Did she tell you that she still remembers your giggles and your cries? Did she tell you that amongst the various memorable teaching experiences with you, her favourite would always remain the day when you gradually let go of your fear of leaving your parents behind and had begun to trust and love her? Did she tell you that her heart skipped a beat when you mistakenly called her “Mumma”, and that you made her day exceptionally happy when she realized how excited you were to see her after your long summer break? Did she tell you that her heart always swelled with love when you tried to hug her with your tiny arms, when you made those cute and colourful cards for her, even when you came to visit her after you had graduated from her class and even when you remembered her or messaged her long after turning into an adult?

Your parents hoped to see their little baby grow into a knowledgeable and wise adult with a reasonably developed Emotional IQ. Do you know who they relied on to teach you all these valuable lessons and with whom they placed their trust into moulding their precious baby into that gem of an adult? Yes, indeed it was your teacher. Did she tell you that she silently shouldered the responsibility of raising you into a responsible citizen of tomorrow along with your parents?

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Make your teachers proud appeared first on The Teenager Today.

A new academic year or semester is like the sun that shines brightly in the sky after a long night. It carries the dawn of new beginnings. It brings with it a fresh opportunity to accomplish goals that were not. It gives you another chance to evaluate yourself, and brings with it another opening to start anew.

It is crucial to know ‘how’ you could make the most of what is given to you as another chance. The foremost thing to do is to identify your goals. But you also need to create a precise roadmap that would lead to the achievement of those goals, just like the treasure hunter in your favourite adventure stories creates a plan and follows his roadmap to reach his treasure in the cave that is hidden in faraway isolated mountains.

5 roadblocks on your roadmap to success this academic year

Roadblock 1: Goal Setting

“Your dreams are your dreams until you write them down.” ~ Anonymous

Yes, you must write your dreams down. This practice will turn your dreams into goals which will entice you into taking actions that you would need to achieve those goals. Give each goal a time limit within which they should be achieved. Everyday take long strides or tiny actions towards fulfilling your dreams.

★ Set a positive momentum. If you want to achieve good grades this academic year, don’t tell yourself, “I will stop going out, playing or doing anything else till I achieve my goals.” Saying this makes you a prisoner in your mind. Instead try this: “I will dedicate hours in the day or night every day as serious study hours, and will also accomplish every other task/s before or after my serious study hour.”

★ Keep a list of your goals in a place that you frequent often. Doing this will remind you each day of what you have achieved and what is yet to be achieved. This will not only act as a reminder but will also be a great motivator in achieving pending goals.

★ Set goals that are achievable. It takes practice, patience, discipline and consistency to be able to achieve a goal.
Set goals that you could achieve as short-term goals and long-term goals. For example, completing assignments on time is a short-term goal. A long-term goal could be losing weight. Identify time limits to completing each of those tasks in your day or throughout the year.

Roadblock 2: Time Management

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex, over-whelming tasks into manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”
~ Mark Twain

A new academic session/semester is the best time to kick that procrastination, and jumpstart your engine to life. On your roadmap to success you cannot have obstacles like procrastination acting as a barricade to achieving your dreams/goals. You often don’t realize how much time you lose by just sitting there and daydreaming or pushing off tasks to do till the last minute. Maybe you should consider telling yourself that in the holidays you did away with time as you wanted, and now you got to make a timetable and manage your time effectively.

Successful time management techniques:

• Once you have clear goals to achieve, identify which of these goals fall under short-term and long-term goals.
• Setting goals will help you prioritize and identify which of those tasks fall under the “important” or “urgent” categories throughout the day and the week.
• Make weekly maps to understand the school/college tasks to complete, studying to do, and extra-curricular activities to accomplish. These maps will help you analyze your tasks that fall in the urgent or important category.
• Make a daily schedule that is flexible, and that prioritizes tasks that need to be accomplished urgently from tasks that are important. The schedule will also help in assigning time limits within which each of those tasks needs to be achieved.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Gearing up for the new academic year appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Come February and you will come across advertisements that say: “Show your loved one how much you really love them,” by a jewellery brand; another advertisement says, “10 creative gifting ideas to gift your Valentine”. Society shapes the day in accordance with their perceptions and ideologies. Valentine’s Day for some may be a way to promote an overly commercial date. The sole objective of those advertisements is to generate business and to lure naïve minds into buying commercial products like cards, gifts, getaways and even flowers to gift their better halves. To others, it’s the most romantic day of the year as they are the recipients of those lovely gifts. Their loved ones have not only gone out of their way, but have also emptied their pocket money or have created a dent in their salaries to affirm their love to their other half! For a few others, this day could be a disappointment, because their expectations of witnessing grand gestures of love from their loved ones have not met their expectations. And a few others believe that love is an important element of life. They believe that love should be a feeling that should be confessed to their loved one each day, all throughout the year through selfless acts of kindness, care and understanding towards the one they love.

Fun facts

Let’s learn how the day came into being.

Fact 1: The history of the date is ambiguous in nature and clouded by various fanciful legends.

Fact 2: Many scholars believe that the Valentine’s Day is named in honour of St Valentine of Rome. A popular hagiographical account of the St Valentine indicated that he was martyred by Emperor Claudius II. The Roman Emperor believed that single men made better soldiers than men who were married and had families, eventually outlawing the act of marriage for soldiers. St Valentine realized the injustice of the decree and defied Emperor Claudius. St Valentine was imprisoned for secretly performing wedding ceremonies for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire.

Fact 3: It was not until the 14th century that Valentine’s Day became synonymous with love. According to medieval scholar, Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was poet Geoffrey Chaucer who first linked St Valentine’s Day to love and romance. In 1381, Chaucer composed a poem in honour of the engagement between England’s Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. As was the poetic tradition, Chaucer associated the occasion with a feast day. In The Parliament of Fowls, the royal engagement, the mating season of birds and St Valentine’s Day are linked:
“For this was on St Valentine’s Day,
When every fowl cometh there to choose his mate.”

Fact 4: By the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging of handmade cards made of lace, ribbons, cupids had become a norm in England and the tradition had also spread to the American colonies.

Fact 5: In recent times, the celebration of Valentine’s Day has been becoming a flourishing commercial business. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of the cards sent each year are on Valentine’s Day. The price of a single rose on any other normal day could be Rs 15-20, but on Valentine’s Day a single rose could be sold for between anything from Rs 50-70.

Common dilemmas while celebrating Valentine’s Day

1. Trying to impress
It is alarming that so many young teens and adults increasingly try to establish a fake identity for themselves. In their quest to impress the opposite gender or make friends, they try to emulate ideologies and lifestyles that have no resemblance to who they really are. Being compulsively active on social media platforms, smoking to portray a cool look, shopping for the latest and expensive gadgets to impress others, purchasing clothes that are not just expensive and branded but are also beyond what your pocket money or salary can afford, gifting expensive gifts that may pinch your budget, and in general, trying to portray an image of who may not be the real “you”, all make the best ingredients that would create a recipe called “disaster”.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Be a true Valentine appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Life occurs in a series of events. The “actions” you take today will form your future tomorrow. Most of the time, if not always, you can be the master at directing the series of events in your life to occur in your favour. Here are two inspiring stories of youngsters who did just that.

Neha Gupta, Founder, Empower Orphans
Every time her family flew to India from the United States, it was a tradition to distribute food and gifts to orphans. The realization of the brutal reality that there was no one to care enough for the orphans left a lasting imprint on the tender mind of the 9-year-old. What made her different from any other child her age who emphasized with the less fortunate was her willingness to turn things around for these children. She began her journey towards empowering orphans. By the age of 17, she has raised more than $1 million so far, and is the founder of the non-profit organization Empower Orphans.

What “actions” did she take to achieve her objectives?
She began by selling handmade wine charms door to door in various neighbourhoods, to friends and family, and at community events. Corporate organizations took notice of her efforts to help the less fortunate and donated gifts in kind. With these efforts, she raised money for school books and other educational expenses for the orphans.

Her extraordinary vision not only helped the underprivileged but also won her numerous awards for her efforts that include: World of Children Award, Kohls Cares, Prudential Spirit of Community Award, Huggable Heroes, Caring Institute Hall of Fame, Power Of Children Award, Gold Level President’s Volunteer Service Award; Great Friend to Kids Award; Wachovia’s 2008 National Philanthropic Award; Bronze Medal for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award; Philadelphia 76ers Hometown Hero Award; as well as becoming a finalist for the Philadelphia Inquirer’s 2008 and 2009 Citizen of the Year.

Anshul Samar, Founder, Elementeo, CEO of Alchemist Empire
Anshul Samar, a seventh grader back then, loved playing games. Like most kids his age, he too would lose interest in a game once he mastered it. He wished for a game that would not only be challenging but would also be fun and educational all together. With an entrepreneurial zeal and the willingness to persevere, Samar created Elementeo, a chemistry card game that teaches chemistry to everyone from ages 9 to 90! His game was officially released at the National Association of the Gifted Conference in Tampa, Florida, on November 1, 2009. Anshul, now 19 and a Stanford University student, continues to update the game, has launched the Elementeo App on the Apple App Store and has also created a grant fund for other young entrepreneurs as well.

What “actions” did he take to achieve his objectives?
Elementeo took about three years to develop. It started as a simple card game of attack and defence. He later created descriptions and drew pictures by hand for each chemical element making the game a visual treat for its players. As the project grew, he found professional artists to draw concepts for his game.

Since the conceptualization of his game, Anshul has won himself various awards and accolades like the 2009 Davidson Fellow, Recipient of $25,000 Scholarship 2008 Presenter, American Chemistry Society Conference 2007 Presenter, National Academies of Science, Washington, DC 2006 Recipient of California Association for the Gifted Grant Award.

Moral of these stories?

The difference between you and these two youngsters is that they took “action” to achieve their aspirations. They devised a plan and worked hard towards achieving those goals and most importantly did not deviate from their ambitions and goals. We often make resolutions to get better grades, or be more organized, or to better utilize our time and life, but often these resolutions never get accomplished.

Let’s look at how you can start afresh and achieve your resolutions. Here is a roadmap that could help you do that.

1. Embrace discomfort and make perseverance a way of life.
Most goals and resolutions are achieved by putting in undeterred hard work and dedication. Hard work is never easy. Focusing only on your dream goals and shutting out distractions does not occur easily. What does not come easy requires you to break free your comfort zone. You must embrace discomfort and accept difficulties on your path to achieving success.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Plan your future: Act now! appeared first on The Teenager Today.

Little did the Gandhi family know that the last baby of Putlibai, born in a dark, windowless, ground floor room of the Gandhi residence in Porbandar, Gujrat, would one day become the strong ray of light that would lead the nation suffering at the hands of the British Rule to its independence.

The man who people adoringly called ‘Bapu’, fought endless legal battles, challenged the British taxes and opposed the mighty British rule was a man who in his childhood was considered as a quiet, shy and nervous child. Mohandas was an avid reader of the stories of Shraavana and Harishchandra. The values of these legendary characters left lasting impressions in the fragile mind of this little boy. His early self-connect to stories based on truth and the spread of love as supreme values can also be seen as the virtues he followed even in his adult years, and throughout his fight for freedom. He led the nation to its independence using philosophies like non-violence, peaceful protests, and self-sacrifice as major weapons in his combat for independence.

Before becoming the legendary hero whose ideologies were followed by a nation of millions, and before being bestowed with the title of the ‘Mahatma’, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was a simpleton born to a middle class family. He always reckoned that he was an average man with average abilities.

How did this modest man, born in humble circumstances, with seemingly ordinary abilities portray extraordinary virtues and have millions as followers to his ideologies and philosophies? Perhaps there is something in them that the present generation can learn from even today.

Let’s learn from some of Gandhiji’s famous quotes and understand their relevance and usefulness even in today’s times.

“A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.”
Gandhiji strongly advocated spreading love. His beliefs influenced his thoughts. He unwaveringly encouraged peace and harmony. He taught his followers to follow the path of non-violence, and peaceful negotiations against the very hostile British. He practised the path of Satyagraha and influenced millions to practise it with him, ultimately leading to the defeat of British rule, and bringing in the dawn of independent India.

It is important to not only learn the right values but also to inculcate them in your beliefs. Your thoughts form your habits. Many complain that they do not have much time to accommodate all of their daily activities. Many students turn up late for class; submit their projects, assignments or any other tasks assigned to them late. They are haphazard and disorganized in their daily activities. This occurs because a lot of youngsters are not effective managers of time and they end up wasting too much time with friends, using Facebook, WhatsApp, or on other trivial and insignificant things. They become too focused on a particular activity that leaves them with no time to follow their timetable, or complete a particular task on time.

If you believe you can achieve the right balance between leisure and work. That would make the first step to making your beliefs turn into actions. What you could do is plan your time and day ahead. Make it a habit to always be punctual for every appointment, submission, etc. Being punctual, being disciplined and learning to balance social, college and work life will eventually become a habit, finally leading you to being more productive and making it easier for you to reach any of your life goals.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Re-living Gandhian Philosophy and Teachings appeared first on The Teenager Today.

The concepts: Traditional learning, Correspondence/Distance Education, Online learning, let’s get to understanding the basics.

Traditional learning is synonymous to classroom learning; students and teachers get together in real time. Distance education refers to ways in which education may be delivered to students in remote locations, which allows students the flexibility to learn without being physically present on the campus. It is designed to offer students who cannot commit to on-site study, the opportunity to pursue education in non-traditional formats. Distance education may include online degree programmes, correspondence courses, CD-ROM education and many others. All course materials are given to the student via mail or electronic means so that they can master the materials at their own pace and time and which does not involve a specific timetable. Distance education may not necessarily include any face-to-face interaction with the teacher, but this method has surely changed in modern times to inculcate a few features that the online education model of learning has to offer. Hence, online education these days is often seen as a part of distance education and sometimes they are used interchangeably.

The only point of difference between distance education and online education is that online education evolved due to the current advancement in technology. Students who own or have access to PCs can pursue an online degree by completing course work via the Internet. Online education specifically offers a far more interactive environment than the traditional correspondence model does. The teacher and the student can have a face-to-face, simultaneous interaction during live chats in virtual classrooms. They could be geographically isolated, yet they can have a quasi-face-to-face environment, enhancing academic rigour through discussion boards, email, instant messaging, e-libraries, cell phone applications, teleconferences and weekly assignments. Students enrolled in these programmes receive and submit course work online and interact with fellow students and faculty by email or through other forms of electronic communication.

Distance/Online education has gained popularity over the last decade thanks to technological advancement and has benefited many who cannot educate themselves further due to various reasons. Yet students are often plagued with doubts when opting for distance/online education. Often apprehension sets in is because they are not clear on the pros and cons of distance education and whether it is right for them.

There are quite a few advantages of distance education; the following pointers will help you consider if distance education is worth a shot.

1. Opportunity for lifelong learning: Many people have families to support and cannot leave full-time work for a full-time education. Distance learning is perfect for people of all ages who want to gain knowledge or add a certification to help them gain a competitive edge at their workplaces or for those who want to learn a new course and don’t want to get back to regular schooling.

2. Study at your own pace, flexibility option: Distance education works on the methodology of finishing the course within a stipulated period of time. Course materials are handed over to students at the onset of the programme. Since everyone learns at a difference pace; distance education gives students the option to decide how much they study each day.

PLUS!

• Disadvantages to distance learning
• Which method of distance learning is right for me?
• Distance learning in India
• How do I identify a genuine university from a fake
• Admission procedures for distance learning
• Top 10 Open Universities in each career category

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post Is Distance Education right for you? appeared first on The Teenager Today.

When students walk into class on the first day of school or college it is always an overwhelming and an unforgettable experience. With new friends to make, new subjects to learn, new experiences to gain, and new teachers to get friendly with, it can all be a little overwhelming and these experiences are what make memories of school and college days unforgettable.

It’s important that along with making new friends and learning new subjects, you also get to know your teachers and, in turn, make them take notice of you as a student. Making a positive influence on teachers and making them your mentors and friends always goes a long way. A little secret about teachers? They, too, enjoy interacting with their students and look forward to building a lasting relationship with their students. Teachers often reminisce about their students long after they have graduated. For relationships to develop it is important that students take proactive measures at building a positive impression with their teachers. Here are a few easy measures that students can take to lay the foundations for lasting relationships with their teachers.

Be presentable, dress appropriately

The first impression about you generally makes a lasting impression. If you are in school make sure you dress in a clean, well-ironed uniform always. If you are a college goer, dress formally always. If you are smartly dressed, it would make you feel more confident about yourself, and would also make you look very presentable and would not only make your friends take notice of you but also your teachers.

Smile and don’t forget the greetings

Being presentable would get you noticed, but it doesn’t end there. You need to look approachable. Sharing an easy smile and greeting your new classmates, teachers and the non-teaching faculty will always make them take notice of you and would make you look friendly and easy to approach. And in turn you would look and feel more confident.

Be courteous and polite always

Bad behaviour and lack of basic courtesy are sure ways to make anyone dislike you including your teachers. Adopt a courteous and polite manner always. Offer to help a teacher set up her laptop and projector for class, don’t distract a teacher by making noise, talking unnecessarily or giggling away while he/she is giving a lecture, thank a teacher after a class, etc. Be courteous to the non-teaching staff, wait for your turn to talk to the admin department, always address the peons and cleaning staff with courtesy. The right behaviour always makes a long-lasting favourable impression on people around you.

Read the full article by subscribing to the print magazine or the digital edition.

The post How to make a good impression on your teacher appeared first on The Teenager Today.