Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Legal Side of Corporal Punishment

The discipline is not taught, it is learnt. The text books give information. The communication through teaching is imparting education. To attain wisdom, an abundant amount of common sense has to be added to education, which then includes discipline. Discipline is an attitude, character, responsibility or commitment. The discipline is basically internal, while the attempt to impose it would be an external process. One has to internalize the process of education and discipline. Discipline and education go together in letter and spirit.

Detailed article by M Shridhar

http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/punish.htm

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Children Club in Schools

"The child's mind is in its purest form and has no divisive tendencies. We should let it blossom to the fullest."

- Dr. A.P.J.Kalam, Former President of India.


National Innovation Foundation announces the launch of NIF Creativity and Innovation clubs in schools across the country.

The Objective To have a network of innovation clubs in schools, which will be proactive in supporting and nurturing creative initiatives of children, making them more receptive to the surrounding nature and people around. To imbue in the students, the Honey Bee philosophy, that is to spread knowledge around without harming the interests of the knowledge holder, just like the Honey bee that flies from flower to flower, sucking nectar, pollinating flowers, without harming the flowers in any way

The Plan These school clubs will have two nominated teacher incharges and one student representative of each standard from 7th to 11th. Thus, the club will be managed by five student representatives and two teacher representatives. The other members would comprise of students who have a) submitted interesting ideas/innovations of themselves b) scouted innovations/ideas of others and c) done both. Competitions will be organised in different zones and winners will move on to the next interzonal level and then to the state/national level. After crossing each hurdle (zone/region/state), the student/school will rise in the club hierarchy.

The winners will by default be a part of NIF’s Biennial National Competition. Various engaging activities have been planned for the students like excursions, workshops, walks in rural and urban areas like slums to sensitise them and invoke in them the seven Es propounded by Honey Bee Network and SRISTI (Ethics, Efficiency, Equity, Excellence, Empathy, Education, Environment).
During the summer vacations, schools will nominate students to attend an educational excursion (7 days) wherein they would be exposed to/will undertake the following activities.
.
1) Orientation about scouting & documentation
2) Methods of data collection (plant samples, building case studies etc)
3) Mentored pilot field visit
4) Field visit for data collection
5) Compilation of collected data
6) Presentation and award/certificate distribution
Making a school a place of peace is an achievement of a co-operative effort and the commitment of the whole staff under the supportive leadership of a competent school principal. The degree of the success depends upon the extent of support given by the staff. However, this is not to deny the strength of the individual teachers as change agents. There are illustrious instances where a single teacher has been able to change the whole school. Even such an effort involves winning the staff support.

Suppose you are a principal who wants to improve the quality of education through peace education. How are you going to win the staff support? Naturally it has to be achieved gradually through a process of staff development. Usually when the hierarchy tries to introduce a change the subordinates tend to resist. It is simply because people are reluctant to move away from their status quo or their established positions of present mindset and behaviour. Therefore the change has to be introduced with care, gentleness and tact in a way that nobody feels threatened.

1. Start it with yourself
Only a changed person can change others. The inward change flows naturally outward. The genuineness of it affects the social climate and permeates throughout the organization. The principal needs to be a role model of the innovation he intends to introduce to his school. Here he has to develop the qualities of peaceful behaviour such as being positive, genuine, compassionate, co-operative, empathetic and assertive when necessary. He has to create a sense of belongingness and appreciation through building teachers' self-esteem and confidence. As a leader he behaves in such a manner so as to bring out the best in people whom he comes into contact. Through providing positive reinforcement by praising, encouraging and developing trust. When such a principal shows interest in a certain change the staff tends to support him.

2. Provide literature, handbooks and guides on peace education to the staff.
Every innovation has a knowledge base. To effect the innovation the knowledge pertaining to it needs to be imparted to the actors. For this effect the school needs to collect some good books, guides and other reading materials for the study of the teachers. Sometimes mere availability of the books in the school library will not draw teachers' attention. Introducing good books to the staff can encourage such selected reading.

3. Organize staff seminars on peace education
It would be very useful to provide good training to the staff or at least to a group of the staff. The school can organize in-house programmes to provide training by inviting suitable resource persons from outside. Sometimes the school can rely on those teachers who are interested in the innovation and gain experience by applying the available knowledge.4. Appoint an interest group
The school needs to have a committed group to work for the innovation. Fortunately many schools have teachers who love peace and want to do something about it. Such groups need to be developed and strengthened. If they could be formed as a committee they can serve the school better by taking the lead under the principal's guidance.

5. Decide activities
For instance, the committee can undertake to plan, organize and implement staff development activities in peace education. The activities should be based on the felt needs of the staff in the area of innovation.Examples for staff development activities:* Develop a school policy for peace education in collaboration with the staff, which will provide a guideline for action.* Conduct school research and development work for the school.* Design and conduct pilot projects in peace education. * Organize in-house teacher development activities such as seminars, experience-sharing meetings, and lectures on relevant issues (e.g. ways of eliminating bullying in the college campus, identifying the school's hidden curriculum, ways of developing discipline, new methods of building students' self-esteem, new strategies the school can adopt to build peace culture, ways of identifying peace concepts in the curriculum)* Organize model lessons regularly.* Develop teaching aids for peace education.* Encourage and facilitate teachers to write and produce peace drama.* Organize film and video shows for the staff on peace education.

As the above list shows a variety of interesting activities are available for staff development. It is more effective when teachers themselves take the responsibility and initiative in organizing such activities for themselves. In fact teachers themselves should take the ownership of staff development. Another important principle in staff development is that it should be a continuous process. Staff development is crucially important to the school because it directly contributes to the quality improvement of teaching and learning.

6. Implement the plan
The committee has to implement the plan regularly. One of the constraints for school-based staff development is the time available. In certain countries arrangements for staff development have been made by making the staff stay after school hours. In many schools the staff can be motivated to stay willingly after school for a short period of time for the sake of their own professional development. If they find the sessions useful they tend to participate. However, there are staff development activities, which can be done in the form of on the job iruining. Examples: model lessons, understudy, quality circle discussions, research and development activities, peer support, etc.

7. Evaluate
The effectiveness of the programme has to be evaluated to develop it further. They need not be so formal in many instances. What is necessary is .;o get teachers' feedback and suggestions for improvement.Concluding Thoughts
An innovation in a school should begin with staff development. Teachers need to understand the goals, concepts, and methods of peace education. The need can be fulfilled through in-service training by the authorities. Schools themselves can do this through school-based staff development mode.Things To Do1. Do an informal attitude survey of your colleagues about the need of peace education. Do a critical analysis of their attitudes.2. What are the criticisms they have on peace educations, as they know it now?3. What types of staff development are most suitable, correct and improve their attitudes?

Courtesy http://www.ncte-in.org/pub/unesco/ch7.htm

AIDS Education in Schools-1

Although the AIDS epidemic is well into its third decade, basic AIDS education remains fundamental to the global effort to prevent HIV transmission. AIDS education is also vitally important for young people, however, and the school offers a crucial point-of-contact for their receiving this education. Giving AIDS education in schools, however, is sometimes a contentious issue but as vital as controversial.

Many young people lack basic information about HIV and AIDS, and are unaware of the ways in which HIV infection can occur, and of the ways in which HIV infection can be prevented. Schools are an excellent point of contact for young people – almost all young people attend school for some part of their childhood, and while they are there, they expect to learn new information, and are more receptive to it than they might be in another environment.
Most young people become sexually active in their teens, and by the time this occurs then need to know how to prevent themselves becoming infected with HIV

Traditionally, the responsibility of teaching a young person about ‘the birds and the bees’ has been seen as being a parental one. In these days of HIV, however, this type of basic information about reproduction is insufficient and will not give young people the information they need to be able to protect themselves. Parents may not provide even this limited information, even, because they are too embarrassed, or because their beliefs oppose it. Young people, too, may be embarrassed discussing sexual matters in a situation where their parents are present – at school, they are in a situation where they are independent, and not subject to parental disapproval.

The principal reason that AIDS education in schools is so important is that all over the world, a huge amount of young people still become infected with HIV.
The main obstacle to effective AIDS education for young people in schools is the adults who determine the curriculum. These adults – parents, curriculum planners, teachers or legislators – often consider the subject to be too ‘adult’ for young people – they have an idea of ‘protecting the innocence’ of young people.
There is also obstruction to adequate AIDS education from adults who are concerned that teaching young people about sex, about sexually transmitted infections, HIV and pregnancy – that providing them with this information will somehow encourage young people to begin having sex when they otherwise might not have done.

It is within the context of these attitudes and beliefs that teachers and educators must work to provide the most effective information and education they are able to.

AIDS education should start at about seven or eight years of age. When working with very young people, this type of education does not necessarily need to involve learning about sexual activities or drugs, but should at least teach children that 'AIDS' is not a pejorative term of abuse. Playground name-calling, to some extent, reflects attitudes in general society, but it can also grow up to become discrimination.

Planning a good curriculum

In an academic situation, especially with younger learners, some subjects fail to impart information to the students simply because the students are not interested, and do not pay attention. This is unlikely to be the case with AIDS education; the simple fact that AIDS education involves the discussion of sex – a topic of fascination for young people who are discovering their own sexualities – is likely
Active learning

It is not enough to simply give students information about HIV and AIDS for them to learn. The learning-by-rote approach common in traditional academic settings provides students with information but does not allow them to absorb the social and practical aspects of how this information might be put to use. AIDS education should never involve pupils sitting silently, writing and memorising facts.

Active learning offers an opportunity to make AIDS education lessons fun
‘Active learning’ approaches are now seen as the most effective way that young people can learn health-related and social-skills. Group-work and role-play are particularly important methods in which students might discover the practical aspects of the information they are given.Active learning, furthermore, offers an opportunity to make AIDS education lessons fun. AIDS education classes can be constructed to involve quizzes, games, or drama, for example – and can still be very effective learning sessions.

Involving parents and guardians
Many schools already have a good deal of input from parents and families of their pupils, and this input may go as far as being allowed to determine the content of the curriculum. If possible, it is usually advantageous to involve the parents and guardians in the planning process, before an AIDS education curriculum is decided – parents who have already agreed the content that their children will study are unlikely to complain about it’s being unsuitable.
Outside agencies or organisations may also be able to make a positive contribution to an AIDS education curriculum in a way that the school’s internal resources will not. Some local health agencies will offer talks within a school, as will some local HIV organisations. Check out what is available. This has the additional advantage of building a bridge between the pupils and an external source of help or advice.

Considering cultures
Planning an AIDS education syllabus should involve some consideration of the culture in which the learners live. Many cultures have a specific and well-defined set of views on human sexuality, and even at an early age, young learners will have been influenced by them. The culture of the learners is an ever-present factor in the classroom, and this culture provides the context in which AIDS education must take place.

Making it cross-curricular
HIV and AIDS education is often provided that deals only with medical and biological facts, and not with the real-life situations that young people find themselves in AIDS should also not be looked at from an entirely social perspective, either – effective AIDS education needs to take into account the fact that both scientific and social knowledge are vital to providing a pupil with adequate AIDS awareness. There is much more to HIV prevention than simply imparting the basic facts. Knowing how the virus reproduces, for example, won’t help someone to negotiate condom use. AIDS education must be a balance of scientific knowledge and social skills.

The process of educating young people about AIDS can be a challenging one. Even if all the factors mentioned above are considered, a lesson can be unsuccessful if the teachers is inadequately prepared, uncomfortable or uncommitted. Anyone who has experienced the education system is aware that the atmosphere within a lesson is key to students retention of the course information.

Teaching the teachers
AIDS education necessarily involves some detailed discussion of sexual matters. If teachers are uncomfortable with this, they will convey this discomfort to the class – and the message that ‘sex is not nice to talk about ’ is the precise opposite of what AIDS education aims to convey. Before taking an AIDS education class, teachers need to be clear on their own feelings and beliefs as they relate to sex, death, illness and drug use.

Teachers also need to feel that they are entirely clear on the information that they will be passing on – they need to feel confident that they are able to answer any questions that might be asked. In India, for example, where estimates suggest that more than 2 million people are living with HIV, 70% of teachers have been given no training or information at all 2.

Listening to the learners
It is also important to recognise that the young people who make up the class may be uncomfortable with the subject – for cultural or personal reasons. Learners cannot be compelled to feel comfortable, but can be induced. Some basic tips that can help to decrease discomfort are :

In spite of all the efforts that the past two decades have seen in AIDS prevention, the epidemic still presents a serious challenge to societies around the world. Every year, increasing numbers of people globally are infected with HIV, and people continue to die. AIDS education for young people is a crucial weapon in the HIV-prevention arsenal, young people are one of the main groups who must be targeted, and the school is the most important means of reaching them.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Importance of Sports in School

The importance of sports in the life of a young student is invaluable and goes much further than the basic answer that "it keeps kids off the streets." It does in fact keep kids off the streets, but it also instills lessons that are essential in the life of a student athlete. Sports play a pivotal role in the makeup of a young athlete, especially in the middle school to high school years where student-athletes are much more mature and mentally developed. Where else can a young, impressionable youth learn values like discipline, responsibility, self-confidence, sacrifice, and accountability?

Television, which may be the most influential tool in the lives of young adults, does not show enough of these qualities,nor is it on the Internet, or radio. Rather it is up to the parents, teachers, sports teams, clubs, and after school programs to help mold, develop, and instill these qualities into the lives of student athletes. I believe in order for this to happen, school sports programs must have a few components in place. The first thing they need is a good core of coaches that understand the great responsibility that is placed upon their shoulders to help shape and prepare these student-athletes not only in sports, but in their everyday lives. Yes, I did say coaches, because it is a responsibility that lies on the shoulders of more than one person and it is going to take more than one person to help lead these student-athletes to success. The second component also involves the coach

By Lisa Dunning, MA, MFT

High school is a time to make friends, get good grades, participate in activities and prepare for the future. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, some schools have opted out of high school sports, believing that money would be better spent on academics. I understand that academics come first, but sacrificing high school sports lessens every child's high school experience, their ability to perform at optimum academic levels and develop into a well-rounded adult.

The Importance of High School Sports Can Be Found in Elementary School During a child's elementary school years, children typically lose their recess privileges as a consequence to poor behavior. This consequence can have the opposite of the desired effect. Recess is the place where kids let out their aggression and release frustration and anger, allowing the children to better cope with the aspects of school they do not enjoy.

High School Sports Promote Bonding and Encouragement
What many administrators, teachers and parents fail to realize is that high school sports offer teenagers the same outlet. Participating in high school sports is important for motor skill development, maintaining a healthy exercise program and provides for a release of anger when the academic stressors become overwhelming. When youth participate in high school sports they release endorphins which helps decrease depression and increases energy. Most high schools, if not all, require at least a C average to participate in these sports, which provides the child with accountability. High school sports increase bonding between children and their parents when parents help with skills and come to games to cheer their child on.

High School Sports Boost Overall Morale And Support

High school sports offer a release that is needed for every student. High School Sports enables the entire school to come together, whether playing, or observing, to cheer for their school. If your child is having difficulty making friends encourage them to join a high school activity or to go to a game and cheer for their school. It boosts school morale when students meet to cheer for their team. While offering an enjoyable distraction from the stressors of school, teenager's negative perception of school as a place akin to a prison is replaced with increased school pride. This increased interest in school generally results in increased enjoyment in academics, resulting in better overall test scores and grades.

Adults Look Back on High School Sports Fondly

When adults look back on their time in school many do not remember their teachers, classes or grades but they do remember the high school sports they participated in or observed. They often look back on these memories fondly and look forward to their children having similar experiences. Encourage your teenager's high school to keep high school sports around so every teenager can have a better overall high school experience.

Lisa Dunning is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Specializing in Parent/Child Relationship issues, the author of "Good Parents Bad Parenting: How To Parent Together When Your Parenting Styles Are Worlds Apart" and the host of her own radio show, "Life Support". She provides marriage, divorce and parenting phone sessions to clientele across the United States and Canada and provides expert parenting advice to newspaper & magazine columnists. To learn more about Lisa Dunning visit her website at http://www.lisadunningmft.com/.