Breeze through your exams... contd.

Coping with stress:
* Identify stressful situations and develop strategies to overcome it.
* Encourage yourself; do not look for encouragement from outside. Say to yourself 'I can recall all
that i read', 'i will do very well in the exams' and 'i can score a high marks.'
* Utilise study time to study and avoid unnecessary conflicts with parents.
* Do not think of study as drudgery or be tense, enjoy the preparation process and challenges of
taking the exam.


Useful techniques:
* Preparation: Read and understand, memorise, recall by writing a self-test after 24 hours, read
the missing points and then revise repeatedly.
* Mood: Do not wait to get into a mood to study, build it up by focussing on how much you want
to score and how much you need to study.
* Confidence: Have an objective way of developing confidence.
* Sleep: Very important to sleep well to feel fresh to study and to write the exams.
* Memory: Do not check your memory by arbitrarily recalling some answer. With model tests,
class tests and revisions it is unlikely you will forget everything.

Breeze through your exams... contd.

Sit, Relax, Write and Enjoy:
* Sit: Get seated comfortably. Organize your pen, pencil, marker, eraser etc.
* Relax: Read through the question paper a couple of times; understand the question clearly. Do
not worry about knowing or not knowing the answers.
* Write: As the answers come to your mind, even if you do not remember everything, you can
put together an answer based on your knowledge.
* Enjoy: Writing an exam is a life time event, enjoy every moment of it. Nautrally the best in you
will come out.

Breeze through your exams…

As the exam count down begins, students start experiencing stress, in many cases rising to alarming levels. Stress can manifest as headaches, stomach pain, vomiting, dysentery and even dizziness. Students with previous history of (or vulnerable to) epilepsy can develop a seizure and those with migraine can develop migraine headaches due to severe stress.

Stress can also manifest as poor concentration, memory, attention, calculation and comprehension. Stress can affect their mood: this can make them cry, get irritable or angry or very unpleasant. A simple request to study can lead to a ruckus; losing many hours in the emotional outburst and spoiling moods for the rest of the day, if not a week! Students can experience stress due to academic and non-academic issues: preparation for the exams, confidence vs. self-doubt, pressure from people around, restrictions by parents and most importantly performance in the exams.

What you should do
A comprehensive preparation with multiple revisions is vital for outstanding performance. It may not be a good idea to study in the last minute for such major exams; but if someone is in such a situation then it would be prudent to study selectively depending on the time available, than to exhaust oneself with the entire portion.

The effect of good preparation is high confidence levels. The reverse is also true. Many students, despite preparing well, will report poor confidence levels. Such students must develop a habit of basing their judgment on a test, results of model exams or ability to recite answers. Arbitrarily developing opinions about how well they have studied can have an adverse effect on their confidence and consequently performance.

Some teachers have infamous ways of motivating students: they give lower marks than the student deserve, the logic being the student only then will not develop overconfidence and continue to study well. It would be better to have a realistic self-evaluation based on their past performance and present efforts.

Tips for parents
Parents, teachers, siblings, friends, relatives, neighbours, visitors and even casual acquaintances advice the students on the need to score high marks. The overall focus is to make the student score as much as possible; preferably above 95 per cent, being oblivious to both the capacity and previous performance! If a student is already stressed out, these external pressures can become overwhelming. This can affect the student’s motivation and ability to study, so do not over-advice children on the need to study.

If a student is found not studying during the exams, what they require is not elaborate advice but assistance and supervision. A parent or sibling may have to be physically present, give them selected portion to study within a time period and then make them write the answers after 24 hours, which will show if they have retained what they learnt.

Some parents do not allow their children to have adequate sleep; they expect them wake up in the early hours to study. The student is more likely to waste time sleeping over an open book than learning constructively. Without sufficient res, the brain’s learning centres will not be activated. So a lot of time will be spent learning very little. If a student goes without sufficient sleep, there is high risk of going totally blank in the examination hall.

Allot time carefully
Parents impose restrictions on television, telephone, movies, friends, social network sites. Allotting time for study and recreation is a better idea than totally denying. Frame a schedule and see it is kept. This will enable the child to maintain time discipline and also know that during his study time he would be better off studying.

Exams are held to evaluate the knowledge of the students in various subjects. Depending on their ability to score marks they will be eligible for various opportunities. However high or low the marks are there are plenty of opportunities in this world for everyone. It is very important to be aware that exams are not a life and death situation. Scoring little less or failing does not mean the end’ a few compromises need to be made to move on in life
[Ravi Samuel, The HINDU, Sunday, February 27, 2011 in the Magazine p. 6]

School Teachers to take 'Hippocratic' Oath soon...

I, son/ daughter of (so and so),

solemnly declare that

i shall always strive

to raise the prestige and dignity

of the teaching profession and

shall not do anything

which may affect the reputation

of the profession adversely.

I willingly bind myself

to the observance of the

'Code of Professional Ethics for School Teachers',

in letter and spirit

in order to discharge

a teacher's obligations towards

students, parents, community and

society as enunciated in the code.

[Sunday Express, Thiruvananthapuram.

Sunday, 27 February 2011, p.10]

Important informations...

1. If you see children Begging anywhere in TAMIL NADU, please contact: "RED SOCIETY" at 9940217816. They will help the children for their studies.
2. Where you can search for any BLOOD GROUP, you will get thousand's of donor address. www.friendstosupport.org
3. Engineering Students can register in www.campuscouncil.com to attend Off Campus for 40 Companies.
4. Free Education and Free hostel for Handicapped/Physically Challenged children. Contact:- 9842062501 & 9894067506.
5. If anyone met with fire accident or people born with problems in their ear, nose and mouth can get free PLASTIC SURGERY done by Kodaikanal PASAM Hospital . From 23rd March to 4th April by German Doctors.
Everything is free. Contact : 045420-240668,245732 "Helping Hands are Better than Praying Lips"
6. If you find any important documents like Driving license, Ration card, Passport, Bank Pass Book, etc., missed by someone, simply put them into any near by Post Boxes. They will automatically reach the owner and Fine will be collected from them.
7. By the next 10 months, our earth will become 4 degrees hotter than what it is now. Our Himalayan glaciers are melting at rapid rate. So let all of us lend our hands to fight GLOBAL WARMING. -Plant more Trees. -Don't waste Water & Electricity. -Don't use or burn Plastics
8. It costs 38 Trillion dollars to create OXYGEN for 6 months for all Human beings on earth. "TREES DO IT FOR FREE" "Respect them and Save them" 9. Special phone number for Eye bank and Eye donation: 04428281919 and 04428271616 (Sankara Nethralaya Eye Bank). For More information about how to donate eyes plz visit these sites. http://ruraleye.org/
10. Heart Surgery free of cost for children (0-10 yr) Sri Valli Baba Institute Banglore. 10. Contact : 9916737471
11. Medicine for Blood Cancer!!!! 'Imitinef Mercilet' is a medicine which cures blood cancer. Its available free of cost at "Adyar Cancer Institute in Chennai". Create Awareness. It might help someone.
Cancer Institute in Adyar, Chennai
Category: Cancer Address: East Canal Bank Road, Gandhi Nagar Adyar Chennai -600020 Landmark: Near Michael School Phone: 044-24910754 044-24910754 , 044-24911526 044-24911526 , 044-22350241 044-22350241
12. Please CHECK WASTAGE OF FOOD If you have a function/party at your home in India and food gets wasted, don't hesitate to call 1098 (only in India ) - Its not a Joke, This is the number of Child helpline.
They will come and collect the food. Please circulate this message which can help feed many children.

AND LETS TRY TO HELP INDIA BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN
Please Save Our Mother Nature for "OUR FUTURE GENERATIONS"

IT@School

INTRODUCTION
The pace of change brought about by new technology has lent significant changes in the way people live, work, learn and play worldwide. But the education system in the developing countries like India is yet to catch the bandwagon. Though the Information Technology revolution has brought in radical changes in all walks of life, it is quite disheartening that our classrooms and teaching system could not encompass this advancement in technology in the journey towards a quality education system.

IT@SCHOOL is the project of the General Education department, Government of Kerala to introduce IT enabled teaching and learning in over 2600 high schools (984 Government High schools, 1260 Government Higher Secondary Schools and 375 Government Vocational Higher Secondary Schools) of the State. The project commenced its operation during the year 2002-03 with the introduction of IT in standard VIII. The project aims to integrate information technology into the mainstream curriculum of the high schools and higher secondary schools with a view to enhance the intellectual productivity of teachers, to improve students’ learning capabilities and to increase the management efficiency of school administrators. Right from the inception, the Project has been making efforts to strengthen the Information Technology resources required to usher in IT enabled education system. There were only around 2000 computers across the schools of the State when the Project took off in the year 2001, which has now reached to 30000 plus computers, with almost all high schools having at least one computer lab. The project has completed the first phase of its objective, i.e., to provide training to teachers and to provide the basic infrastructure requirements in schools to facilitate IT education. Now the project is in second phase of its realisation i.e., transferring of the complete high school teaching into IT enabled one.

Activities
MAIN ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN SO FAR :
Syllabus and Textbook: A text book for VIIIth Std. classes (high school starts from VIIIth std in Kerala) has been prepared and introduced in the high school. The text book could not only be used for teaching VIlIth std students but also for students of other classes wherever infrastructure facilities are available. NCERT guidelines were followed with necessary modifications to suit the State's requirements and that the exercise was undertaken with active guidance and leadership of State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) 10 - 20 textbooks are given free of cost to all the 2400 high schools to be placed in computer labs for reference by the students attending lab sessions. The IT -1 textbook has been prepared with contents that are capable of familiarizing the basics of the information technology. At the same time, practical exercises have been included in the textbook, which enables students to use the technology skills in the context of the subjects they are studying. The respective subject teachers themselves are instructed to supervise these exercises in computer labs with the help of agency or PT A appointed instructors. The department has already issued guidelines on the timetable, the methodology and association of private agencies empanelled for this purpose.
Training of High School Teachers: The IT orientation training of the Head Masters of 2400 high schools is almost complete. Training of HS teachers has also commenced in 41 training centres of the project. In fact this is the most enormous task which the project confronts. There are over 60000 schools teachers in the High schools. The State has already set up 41 training centers with 10 computers in each centre and 75 HS teachers have so far been trained as Master Trainers. Government of Kerala had entered into an MOU with Intel to adopt their 'Teach To Future' programme for teachers training. In order to train 60000 teachers, some 350 Training Centres are to be set up throughout the length and breadth of the State. These training centres set up in Government schools can be used as Computer labs of schools for teaching students by the trained teachers once their training is over.The teachers once trained at the Training Centres are not provided with any opportunity to learn more about the technological upgradations as the training centres established in schools will, by then, converted as school computer labs. They should be exposed to emerging trends in technology to update their knowledge. The project also envisages setting up, at a later stage, permanent facilities at District Institutes of Education and Training teachers (DIETs) for periodic re-training of the trained.Conducting of IT Practical Examination : The “need” for embracing this technology is to be sustained through compulsions, here, the achievement of IT@School is worth noting. As a result of constant persuasion of IT@School, Government of Kerala declared Information Technology as a compulsory paper in the High Schools of the state and revamped IT curriculum in the Standard X so as to allocate 5 marks for the IT practical examination. Accordingly, IT practical examination for the last year SSLC batch was held impeccably throughout the state, a small step in the way of conducting examination, but a giant leap in the education history of Kerala.Technology offers no magic solution to the academic backwardness in schools: It can only provide tremendous support to the efforts to improve the quality of school education. The ground for implementation of the project is being prepared and will definitely be tested before launching full-scale implementation. Very little can be achieved without the support and participation of the major stakeholders - children, parents, teachers and school managements, parent teacher associations and community leaders. The project has been visualized with the teacher, as the key implementer. Therefore enlisting of stakeholder participation would be a major component of the project. The state will take major initiatives for building a stakeholder support and for teacher empowerment in the first phase of the project itself. The project is conceived as a dynamic one, constantly refined and corrected on the basis of changing perceptions during implementation. The project when implemented will have a far-reaching impact in producing a new generation of young men and women who can fully participate in the knowledge based information age.

IT@School at a Glance

Number of High schools in the State
Government
-
996
Aided
-
1407
Unaided
-
374
Panchayath
-
21
Total
-
2798
The Uniqueness of IT @ School Project
Winner of National e-governance award 2006 for exemplary leadership and ICT achievements.
Government made IT, a compulsory subject in school curriculum. About 40000 computers have been supplied to the schools by the Government.
The first State to conduct compulsory IT theory and Practical examination in SSLC examination (4.72 lakh children)
Nearly 16 lakh students per year benefited in acquiring the IT skills. Manpower includes 161 Mater trainers and about 5600 IT coordinators to attend the IT needs of school
Training imparted to all high school teachers. About 60, 000 teachers trained in IT
IT Mela introduced in state to encourage IT initiatives among students and teachers
Hardware made available in a totally decentralized way – providing assistance under LAD funds of MP/MLAs, Local Self Governments, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), Old students, philanthropists et al.
IT@School project had developed its own OS in Linux in association with Free Software foundation namely IT@School Linux The platform of IT education completely shifted from WINDOWS to non proprietary software – Linux
Infrastructure development in schools by undertaking supply of solar panels , Generator, multimedia rooms etc to schools.
Introduction of EDUSAT network and ViCTERS channel- the first and only education channel in Kerala.
EDUSAT initiatives
The project is the nodal agency for implementing Edusat initiatives in Kerala
The project runs two channels of EDUSAT one- Interactive channel and other non interactive channel namely ViCTERS
There are a total of 95 Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs) and full fledge utilization of interactive network
ROTs (Receive Only Terminal) supplied in all 1400 schools for reception of ViCTERS channel.
ICT initiatives
Steps being taken for establishing multimedia rooms in every school.
Focus towards IT enabled teaching. The project has developed for physics and mathematics for standard 9. The first phase of the try out of these initiatives has already been completed in selected high schools. Full scale implementation by next year.
Full scale HS survey and UP survey completed collecting the minutest details.
Broad band connection to all high schools. This scheme expected to be completed by June 2007.
The project recognized as the nodal agency for implementing e- governance initiatives with in the department.
Activities Pipelined
Establishment of General education management portal
UP and HSS roll out
Major e-governance initiatives like:
Noon-meal computerization –to analyze all the intricacies in noon meal scheme from top to bottom. Piloting of the scheme already started in Palakkad and Kozhikode
Child Census data entry support – the activity was initiated by SSA. The project provided the technical support for implementing the scheme.
Staff Fixation software – To analyze the staff fixation pattern in accordance with students ratio for the past 10 years and also to help in future staff fixation.
Model Residential school teacher deployment monitoring – To analyze the quality and monitoring of model residential schools.
TTC admission computation
Youth festival software – Software to help and coordinate various programmes in youth festival
Staff transfer and posting software – Software to help in staff posting and transfer.
Efforts to roll out ViCTERS as a 24*7 educational channel and to telecast it through local cable network

Agnes Stella, don't give up...

Yet another smart girl, AGNES STELLA, a +2 student from St. Mary's HSS, Vettucaud, has gone up to the State Youth Festival to prove her metal in English Recitation. But fortune was not on her side and hence had to be contended with a B grade only this time. She qualified herself for this higly competitive slot after grabing A grade in the District level Youth Festival.

Our wish is that she keeps her spirit up till she proves herself in the years to come by achieving still higher heights of glory. Our students can indeed achieve still better acolauds, provided we direct them properly and encourage them after instilling in them greater confidence.