Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Online Classes Guidelines


For students, this time of the year used to be all about the smell of freshly printed books, new classrooms, new bench mates, new school uniforms and new teachers. But this pandemic has forced the entire world to reinvent and re-imagine the usual. Online classes have become the new normal. With class schedules for the day arriving on Whats App, and students taking classes through the virtual world, the whole education system is now just a click away and at our doorsteps.  

Online classes Guidelines

The guidance below can help us all make the best of new and unfamiliar online learning environments. It can help you be ready for some of the more practical aspects of learning from home.

1.  Routines and expectations:

It is important to develop good habits from the start. Ensure kids finish their breakfast on time and other routines before the class, not during the class. Kindly keep a bottle of water next to the child. Remind your child to be polite, respectful, and appropriate in their communications, and to follow class rules in their interactions with others and teacher.

2. A good place for the class:

Your family’s regular learning space for occasional homework might not work for extended periods. Set up a physical location that is dedicated to school-focused activities. Make sure it is quiet, free from distractions and has a good internet connection. Make sure an adult monitors online learning all the time. Keep windows open, and practice good digital safety.

3. Stay in touch with the child:

Teachers will mainly be communicating regularly through online platforms and virtual learning environments. Stay in contact with classroom and support teachers. If you have concerns, let the class teacher know. Checking in your child to process instructions they received from their teacher will help them organise themselves and set priorities. 

4. Let the child ‘own’ their learning:

Provide support and encouragement and expect your child to do their part. Struggling is allowed and encouraged! Do not help too much. Becoming independent takes lots of practice.

5. Begin and end the day with a positive note:

Let the child understand the timetable. Encourage the child to attend the online class.

As Parents,

Before the morning, you might ask:

• What classes/subject do you have today?
• Do you have any assessments/ projects?
• How will you spend your time today?
• What resources do you need for this session?
• What can I do to help you?

At the end of the day, you might ask:
• How far did you get in your learning tasks today?
• What did you learn? What did you discover or explore? What was hard?
• What could we do to make tomorrow better?

These brief grounding conversations does matter.

6. Physical activities and deficiencies of Calcium/ Vitamin D: 

Obesity in children is on the rise either due to lack of outdoor physical activities or due to binge eating and easy availability of junk food at home. Apart from lack of physical activity, lack of sunlight exposure and poor diet also contributes to Calcium and Vitamin D deficiencies. Kindly ensure children have good physical exercise in the form of skipping at home, hopping and dancing.

7. And lastly, parents need to set examples for their children.

The only key for a better learning is positive atmosphere, motivation, and consistency!!

 

Thursday, March 19, 2020

PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING :: VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY



India a land of wonders… Whatever I speak about my country is less… I love my country. I am so lucky to be born in such a country, where every particle of the soil is enriched with values and morals.

If we look at the history of India, we all know that India was once known as Golden bird. The history keeps repeating again and again. India again proved as Golden bird, people all over the world are practicing the traditions amidst Corona virus pandemic.

 A popular song "Jahan Daal Daal pe Sone Ki Chiriya Karti Hai Basera, Woh Bharat Desh Hai mera, Woh Bharat Desh hai mera” which I hear on every Independence Day and Republic Day, keeps reminding me the values our country has taught to the world.


 The reason for being popular as the Golden bird is that Deities ruled our country. This is the country in the world ruled by God and revealed by God himself. The kingdom of Shri Lakshmi and Shri Narayan, people were rich with knowledge and peace prevailed in India. The atmosphere was very conducive. Gold and Jewels were in abundance and life was full of peace and prosperity. India was rich in every context because there was no shortage of gems and diamonds.


I have also heard about an another story from the history of India, While Mahmud of Ghazni was returning to his capital in Afghanistan, one of his generals asked Mahmud Ghazni about why Indians were not showing any resistance and were fleeing from the battle field without caring about their country, their families, savings and whatever they had. Mahmud of Ghazni reminded his general of a game they played in their childhood. They had eagles as their pets and their favorite past time was to watch their eagles fight. In order to make them fight, they used to throw a sparrow in the sky and before it can fly away, their eagles will chase, kill and eat the bird. Whosoever’s eagle killed the bird, was the winner.

Listening this, his general laughed and told Mahmud of Ghazni that they are still playing the same game in India and the only difference is that they are the eagles and the Indians are the birds. Listening this Mahmud of Ghazni answered, “Yes! We are eagles and they are the birds. But they are the Golden birds!”

This is how India got the name, “The Golden bird- Sone ki Chidiya” as Indians didn’t stand united to face the threats and invaders not only defeated the Indians but also took away the resources. India is a country of diversities. Despite so many diversities, people in India are united and feel proud of their culture and tradition. On the world stage, either through international film festivals or through beauty pageants, India regularly displays its talent and culture. Many rulers came but none could cause any harm to its culture, rather Indians preserved the good values of their cultures. Today when the whole world is facing crisis due to the pandemic, its important for us to stay safe and keep ourselves away from the infection of Corona virus. Its time for us to really prove that we are a “Golden Bird”. Because of few mistakes by few in the past, we cannot forget the values and morals our country teaches us.

Going back to the main content of this blog, I got a personal request from a reader regarding Vedanta Philosophy. I am reading about it since my childhood and so thought to present my ideas to the world through this blog of mine.


The roots of Indian culture and civilization can be traced back to more than 5,000 years ago with an unbroken continuity of traditions, customs and world-renowned schools of philosophy. Amongst the world's oldest, richest and most diverse cultures, India represents an amazing confluence of different creeds, religions, faiths and belief systems, further divided among castes, sects and sub-sects. 

For times immemorial, India has remained a meeting ground between the East and the West, a treasure house of knowledge and wisdom. The Vedic culture and Vedic way of life have struck deep roots in India and are followed by people even today. Apart from the Vedas, other important scriptures composed during Vedic times include the Upanishadas, the shrutis and the smritis. India believes in Sarva dharma samabhava, which means respect for all belief systems. This has allowed not just tolerance towards religions and beliefs, but the freedom to propound one's ideas and philosophies.

The Vedanta philosophy comprises of all the various sects that now exist in India. Vedanta is one of the world’s most ancient spiritual philosophies and one of its broadest, based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India. It is the philosophical foundation of Hinduism; but while Hinduism includes aspects of Indian culture, Vedanta is universal in its application and is equally relevant to all countries, all cultures, and all religious backgrounds.

Vedanta asserts on the oneness of existence, the divinity of the soul, and the harmony of all religions.

If we take a closer look at the word “Vedanta”: “Vedanta” is a combination of two words: “Veda” which means “knowledge” and “anta” which means “the end of” or “the goal of.”


All the Vedantists agree on three points. They believe in God, in the Vedas as revealed, and in cycles. The belief about cycles is as follows: All matter throughout the universe is the outcome of one primal matter called Aakaasha; and all force, whether gravitation, attraction or repulsion, or life, is the outcome of one primal force called Praana. Praana acting on Aakaasha is creating or projecting the universe. At the beginning of a cycle, Aakaasha is motionless, unmanifested. Then Pra ana begins to act, more and more, creating grosser and grosser forms out of Aakaasha — plants, animals, men, stars, and so on.


After an incalculable time, this evolution ceases and involution begins, everything being resolved back through finer and finer forms into the original Aakaasha and Praana, when a new cycle follows. Now there is something beyond Aakaasha and Praana. Both can be resolved into a third thing called Mahat — the Cosmic Mind. This Cosmic Mind does not create Aakaasha and Praana but changes itself into them.

According to Vedanta, God is infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss. The term for this impersonal, transcendent reality is Brahman, the divine ground of being. Yet Vedanta also maintains that God can be personal as well, assuming human form in every age. Most importantly, God dwells within our own hearts as the divine Self or Atman. The Atman is never born nor will it ever die. Neither stained by our failings nor affected by the fluctuations of the body or mind, the Atman is not subject to our grief or despair or disease or ignorance. Pure, perfect, free from limitations, the Atman, Vedanta declares, is one with Brahman. The greatest temple of God lies within the human heart.

Here I would like to add something, which I think people must understand, the important of inner beauty. Outer looks fade away. Beauty is like an air bubble. We must try to increase our inner beauty, since that is what we carry with us as our personality. We should strive to bring smile on someone's face rather than sending them hate by mocking for their outer looks.
Everyone is unique and beautiful. Not everyone could be able to see it. It takes the right person to see the beauty of a person. People should start finding the beauty inside someone's heart rather than pointing at their colour. Mocking someone for their gloomy or bad looks is the most pathetic thing one can do.
No beauty, no money or jewelry passes the gates of heaven. What goes with us is our character which is formed from our inner beauty. One can stay in the hearts of people even after their death if he or she reflects his or her inner beauty all over the world. We live in a world where people are wonderful critics, giving free judgement. People ready to judge others, forget about understanding others. What matters is, how we see ourselves. To be beautiful means to be yourself. You need not be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself first. Nobody is perfect in this world. All have their own flaws. Stop complaining. Flaws make us, a unique and special creation. Inner beauty should be most important part of improving one's self. We must be grateful for what we have. Being born as a human is the greatest achievement. Appreciate everything that brings smile on our face. Stop complaining or demotivating others. Don't strive for looking beautiful externally.

Getting back to our topic, Vedanta asserts that the goal of life is to realize and to manifest our own divinity. This divinity is our real nature, and the realization of it is our birth right. We are moving towards this goal as we grow with knowledge and life experiences. It is inevitable that we will eventually, either in this or in future lives, discover that the greatest truth of our existence is our own divine nature.

Self-actualization is the most important stage of our life. We must understand the reason for our birth. Make your life easier and simpler. We humans are all connected and so one should help the other in the process of self-actualization.

The Vedas are divided mainly into two portions: The Karma-kaanda and the Jnaana-kaanda — the work-portion and the knowledge-portion. To the Karma-kaanda belong the famous hymns and the rituals of Brahmanas. Those books which treat of spiritual matters apart from ceremonials are called Upanishads. The Upanishads belong to the Jnaana-kaanda, or knowledge-portion. It is not that all the Upanishads were composed as a separate portion of the Vedas. Some are interspersed among the rituals, and at least one is in the Samhita, or hymn-portion. Sometimes the term Upanishad is applied to books which are not included in the Vedas — e.g. the Gita, but as a rule it is applied to the philosophical treatises scattered through the Vedas. These treatises have been collected and are called the Vedanta.


The Upanishads are said to be one hundred and eight in number. Their dates cannot be fixed with certainty — only it is certain that they are older than the Buddhistic movement.

Vedanta further affirms that all religions teach the same basic truths about God, the world, and our relationship to one another. All the religions are different ways to reach the same almighty. Thousands of years ago the Rig Veda declared: “Truth is one, sages call it by various names.” The world’s religions offer varying approaches to God, each one true and valid, each religion offering the world a unique and irreplaceable path to God-realization.

According to the Vedanta teachings there are four paths we can follow to achieve the goal of understanding our divine nature.  These paths are known as the Four Yogas. 

Bhakti Yoga is the path of love and devotion. The devotee approaches God through a loving relationship. This path emphasizes practices such as prayer, chanting, and meditation on God as a loving presence in our lives. Mirabai the devotee of God Krishna chose the Bhakti Yoga.


Jnana Yoga is the path of knowledge. In this path the seeker uses reason and discernment to discover the divine nature within by casting off all that is false, or unreal. This practice shows us that the Supreme Reality resides within.

Karma Yoga is the path of selfless work. Those who follow this path do work as an offering to God and expect nothing personal in return. Karma Yoga teaches us to practice detachment and equanimity in our work, and to understand that the results of any actions are beyond our control.

Raja Yoga is the path of meditation. Meditation is an important practice in all the paths as it allows us to experience higher states of consciousness, where we achieve a deeper understanding of our divine nature. Sri Ramakrishna, a modern-day saint and his student Swami Vivekananda, who brought Vedanta to the western world, emphasized the use of a mantra-based meditation technique and symbolic images of the divine.

The Vedas is a storehouse of knowledge from God. It is the greatest body of knowledge known to mankind. The material world goes through changes, but the Vedic knowledge is eternal, so it is always relevant to the world. The Truth about the world does not change. The Truth is always true, no matter what time or state the world is in.

In school, I remember learning about the ancients - the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, Mesopotamia - never once did we hear so much as a squeak about the Vedic culture, the most ancient, advanced, glorious culture to ever grace the planet. Our system neglected to tell us, that at the time when people in Europe carried clubs and lived in caves, or in the middle-ages when people were burned for saying that the sun is in the center- in the Vedic culture they had already described advanced mathematics, the universe and its planets in minute detail.

In today’s world where the values, morals, goodness of man are depleting and eroding, we need to follow Vedanta and footsteps of Swami Vivekananda. Some of the gravest problems that the world is facing today are the environmental problems such as ecological imbalance, climate change, global warming, pollution, etc. Two factors that contribute to environmental crisis are – one, the belief that human beings are separate from and superior to nature, and two, man’s indiscriminate exploitation of nature, unmindful of the consequences of his actions.


According to Vedas, the structure of the world is Nature – oriented. The central theme of Atharva Veda is the fellowship of man and nature. Many verses of Atharva Veda reflect the earnest wish of human beings to live in harmony with nature. The following is the English translation of verses from the Atharva Veda Book XII (Bhumisukta):

Earth, upon which this moving, breathing life exists;
May she bestow on us the finest of her harvests!
Earth, the all-sustaining, treasure-bearing, resting-place;
Golden-breasted Earth, home of all life,
Who bears the sacred fire.
Pleasant be thy hills, O Earth,
Thy snow-clad mountains and thy forests.
On this Earth do I stand,
Unvanquished, unslain, unhurt.
Set me, O Earth, amidst the nourishing strength
That emanates from thy body.
The Earth is my mother, her child am I;
Infinite space is my father,
May he fill us with plenty.
Peaceful, sweet-smelling, gracious Earth.
Whatever I dig from thee, O Earth,
May that have quick growth again,
May we not injure your vitals or your heart.
Full of sweetness are the plants,
And full of sweetness these my words.
And with things that are full of sweetness,
I prosper in a thousand ways.


The existence and welfare of the human society depend upon maintaining a balance with nature. Amidst COVID19 pandemic outbreak in the world, I Srividya Gurugubilly would like to say that, “Every problem in the world has a solution and every solution needs a support”. In today's context we need the support and team work by all individuals to keep all others safe.



Corona virus Precautions by my daughter:






Tuesday, February 18, 2020

PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING :: LEADERSHIP.



Students are the architects of the future world. Today the time we are investing in our human resource will define our future of tomorrow as a nation, as a world and as a planet.

To give the best to the future generation, we need to inculcate the best of seeds in them. The young generation are like wet cement and so if we show them the worst things, they get set fast. To have a stronger human race, its most important to teach them what is best for them.

In today’s scenario life skills have become an important part of learning. Small children are committing suicide since they are not able to balance their emotions. Life is for once and a lifetime is the time gifted by god to us to explore and prove something back. Small failures are making the people leave their life and families, the death of an individual is the end of many connected to the individual. To make the person understand the importance of life and to provide a better understanding of life and alternatives to solve the problems in a much easier form, we need to teach leadership skills to the children.




It is very important to understand the fact that the teaching staff and the people directly in contact with the children whether the parents or the other family members are equally responsible for this. It is neither the responsibility of parent nor completely of the teacher. The educational institution should maintain a complete transparency about the child and the teachers must maintain a perfect relation with the parents. Things should happen parallelly for the overall development of the child. These days the parents have issues of misunderstanding and emotional imbalances, such parents must understand the effect on the child.

A child learns what is happening around him/her. It is the responsibility of the parents to provide the basic amenities including a proper environment. A worst environment can hinder the growth of the child, after that planning a better school might not help the child. A good school should provide good education with proper set of teachers and qualities of leadership, life skills and empathy.

 Leadership skills are very helpful for students to achieve their dreams and goals. Leadership teaches us, what to learn, what needs to follow, what is important in certain situations and time etc.
For example, if a teacher asked the question from the whole class, but only one student is answering, and he/she doesn’t know is it right or wrong, but he/she answers, that is leadership. That is the confidence of the inside student. And I think, we all must support unique potentials and creativity hidden beneath every person. It’s not good to criticize the creativity and uniqueness of any students. That’s leadership. 

Leadership provides students the ability to win the game. And that mindset enables them to play to win and never quit. 

We have seen cases of criticism and negative reinforcement working wonders for few, but it might not work well in all the cases when compared to leadership traits.  

To handle daily life challenges, we need leadership skills to find opportunities in a difficult situation.   Leadership provides new opportunities to others such as jobs and income opportunities. Leadership is about leading by example. To achieve daily life goals even to-do lists, we all must depend on our leadership skills. Leaders have their own logic; they do not follow the crowd. A child should be able to think out of box in case of any problems. We should teach them that it is good to try than simply giving up.




Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. A leader or a potential leader should have some acceptable qualities. Such qualities are called leadership traits.


Traits of an effective leader:

Now the big question is how to promote leadership qualities in school children?
It is rightly said that ‘Great leaders are made, not born’!

Kouzes and Posner’s research into leadership that was done for the book “The leadership challenge” have featured 5 qualities.
The 5 qualities include:

  1. Honest
  2. Forward-looking
  3. Competent
  4. Inspiring
  5. Intelligent

Inculcating the correct leadership traits and imbibing the same in children requires an exemplary approach by parents and teachers. And it should be hand in hand. Some of the virtues and directives in leaders which can be developed at an early stage of life are:

Integrity:  Integrity is knowing and doing what is right, even when no one is watching. Sharing stories and setting an example by being a role model yourself is the best way to do it. Mind it, the children learn from parents and teachers and to be their role model means to be true first. Later on, judging and blaming a school or the other aspects is not the right way of dealing problems. Teachers and parents should speak constantly with the children about various things, the way you sow the ideology in their growing brains, the same can we reap back from them, in the form of they being the architect of the society, nation and world as a whole.
 Examples: Teachers can share stories with students through folklores, e-books or story books during library sessions where in the concept of integrity can be presented and promoted.

Teachers and parents can also make up own stories that encourage them to always tell the truth no matter what.

It is also very important since by watching in daily life kids mind allows them to appreciate and respect others.

India is a spiritual land, the land with many diversities. We are still united!! We can use many such facts, stories, tales to teach our future which needs our involvement. A child is a long-term project full of life, emotions and love, it depends upon the parent, the social factors, laws of the country, climate conditions etc. how he or she grows? Few things are in our hand and rest we cannot change, things we can change should be our priority.


Courage: Any expression of courage or even the slightest hint of courage displayed by the child should be noticed and praised. Motivation, positive reinforcement and appreciation goes a long way in nurturing virtues or well being and self esteem in young minds.
Examples: Role play, dramatization and story telling can be good tools to teach courage.

Independent and Creative thinking: Conversations and open-ended question asking sessions are helpful in encouraging children to start thinking in an innovative manner and present better solutions. After getting the obvious answers from the child, asking question like why, what, would have happened if, how did you think or feel; encourage them to think creatively. As elders we should always understand the fact that the answers can be right or at times wrong, firstly they should receive appreciation for trying. Secondly encouragement and motivation for thinking out of box or for promoting divergent thinking among the children.

Discipline: Discipline is helping children develop self-control.  In this world of instant self-gratification, it is the ability to wait, to think before acting and to understand potential consequences of their actions. As they grow, they integrate these limits into their own self-discipline.

Children must feel free to share thoughts, problems, they should be given chances to make choices. Being parents or teachers, we should let them do mistakes so that, they can learn what is right and what is the difference between being right and wrong. Always teaching them these are right things, and these are wrong verbally, makes them impatient and brings a feeling of aggressiveness. The anomalies, 'a perfect child' or 'a perfect parent' do not really exist. Scolding your child can hurt him/her beyond comprehension. And, while some children may express their displeasure at being scolded, other may not although they may feel hurt emotionally.

Children are great imitators. For example, if you shout, they will shout back; if you scold them, they will do the same to someone else. Since your children will grow up to emulate your actions, it would be wise to do what you want them to. Learning from mistakes will help them to understand things better and such learning by doing will last longer.

Self-belief and confidence: Inculcating virtues which lead to a higher confidence quotient and development of self-belief help children use their best of abilities and ideas to a greater degree.
Example: This is my personal experience with my 4 years old, she talks about big things and about reaching other planets and solar systems, she desires to be an astronaut. Being an elder, parent or teacher with such children, we must not laugh or take it as a joke. Encourage, praise, discuss on the strength of the child. Positive appreciation of capabilities helps in developing a more confident attitude which says, ‘I can do it’? I keep telling my kids at school and my own daughter ‘never ever give up’.

As parent and teacher its our responsibility to make the child understand his/her own potentialities. The process of talking and involving in the smallest aspect of your child make them feel that they are accepted, and their parents will be with them always to help. The process should continue and should be consistent or the child gets neglected. Beat the iron when its hot, give them shape from childhood and see the results when they keep growing. Do alternate adjustments as parents and teachers and help them reach their goals.

Responsibility: Leadership is all about ownership, even if caught in the wrong form of doing. It also means knowing when you made a mistake and admitting to your mistakes. This responsibility can be encouraged in a child.
Example: A child after making mistakes blames others or gives excuses. As a teacher we must give an opportunity to let him/her know that its ok to make mistakes and encourage them to assume responsibility. Encourage the children to speak always the truth. Appreciate those who admitted the mistakes and a point to be noted here is to even understand whether the child repeats the same mistake again and again. Such trait of the child should be observed and rectified slowly.

Planning: Given a large task to do, a child can get easily overwhelmed. However, by showing a child how to break it into smaller segments and planning each one out, teacher can build their self-confidence and abilities to take up the complex tasks further in life.

Comparative studies of life with such complex issues and the lesson of proper planning and dividing the complexities into smaller chunks, will make the children understand the ways to find alternatives and this will lead to having a strong ambition towards their goals and life as well.



The future generation is being paralyzed and made handicapped by parents with too much of love and spoon feeding. Learning should be by doing, children should enjoy the process of exploring and should feel the pain at times to understand the fact that nothing is so easy in life. They should understand that ‘if there is no pain there is no gain’.

We should not provide everything to them so easily, let it be toys or whatever they ask for. They should understand the simple logic that what my parents want from me? What I should do to achieve that as a gift from them. Anything that we get easily won’t last for long, such over cared children when go out in the society give up faster. They get disappointed soon and feel worthless.

As a gardener trims the branches and checks the weeds growing in the garden, we as parents and teachers need to put a constant check on things.   A child must be pruned of his/her baser instincts and trained in a proper manner in order to make him/her beneficial for the society. If proper and timely attention is not paid to the process of grooming of the youth, it can turn haywire and become unproductive.




Online Classes Guidelines

For students, this time of the year used to be all about the smell of freshly printed books, new classrooms, new bench mates, new school uni...