HYDERABAD SCHOOL KID TURNS HER PASSION INTO COMPASSION!

We always do what makes us happy, but imagine when your happiness can turn into someone else’s happiness. A 10th-grade student from Oakridge International School Hyderabad, Ananya Polisetty is doing the exact thing. She is a passionate photographer and really loves being creative to produce high standard images. “I’ve always been fascinated with seizing moments inside a tiny box called a camera. I enjoy taking pictures of things like colourful flowers or clear skies” says Ananya Polisetty. She has not only started following her passion for photography but also is helping many underprivileged kids at a very early in age.

 

As a teenager, Ananya understands that there are many children who are not fortunate enough to get even the basic education. she took part in the India Literacy Project as a volunteer recently, Read here for full article.

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Right Curriculum to Choose for Your Kids

Change happens fast in the world during which children face many challenges as they grow. And, in today’s fast-changing world, the ability to make decisions and solve problems is what they need to learn during their education. Because the problem-solving skills help students become more independent as well as excel in academics. Hence, choosing a curriculum that would fulfill the requirements of children’s future career is all that a parent need to look for.

Keeping pace in this turbo-charged world, curriculum evolves and new teaching methodologies developed to help kids reach this generation. While choosing the right curriculum, let’s understand the various benefits that each curriculum offers and which one fits the right for a kid.

Curriculum highlights:

IB – The International Baccalaureate Curriculum

The IB program requires students to study three highly respected programmes of international education, the PYP (Primary Years Program- KG to Grade 5), MYP (Middle Years Program – Grade 6-10), IBDP (Diploma Program for Grade 11 & 12) while completing the three core subjects: Creativity Activity Service (CAS), Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge, which emphasis more on personal development of a child. It has no prescribed textbooks and has a lot of freedom in learning. Instead of rote learning, the focus is more on holistic education including analytical skills, language, arts, and humanities.

IGCSE – An English Curriculum

IGCSE is a precursor of the IB curriculum. It lays an excellent foundation for students who wish to continue with the IB Curriculum at the pre -university level. It is designed for the Grade 9 and 10 students with a balanced mix of practical experience and theoretical knowledge. Popularly known as an English language curriculum, it covers a wide range of subjects from a variety of areas which include Languages, Humanities, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Creative, Technical and Vocational, suitable for students whose first language is not English. IGCSE helps improve students’ learning performance by developing skills in creative thinking, inquiry, and problem-solving.

CBSE – The Indian Curriculum

The CBSE requires students to study the standardized textbooks of NCERT and appear the final examinations in Class 10 and 12. However, CBSE has made the Class 10 Board exam, optional. CBSE is suitable for those who want to go into the traditional routes of engineering and medical as the larger focus is on maths and science, and less on language.

Here are few things that a parent needs to evaluate while choosing the right curriculum:

Is the curriculum independent or teacher lead

In this fast-changing world, it’s important for our kids to match the change and face the challenges that come across. In terms of curriculum, these days we need to focus more on things that can support the wider goals of competencies and personal development instead of the subjects that are taught by the teacher that is available within the set of textbooks. Such kind of curriculum shows how learning within the subjects can be merged with the real-world experiences and contribute to the attainment of the wider goals.

Which is the suitable teaching method

Children learn knowledge according to the guidance they get from their education. Under the teaching method called ‘engagement’, students are urged to engage in the real-world which gives them the practical knowledge and help them process the information effectively. With respect to problem-solving, it has been seen in students that the standards-based teaching methods work better than the conventional teaching methods. The standards-based method has exhibited greater conceptual understanding in students and they perform at higher levels in academics.

What are the various student learning style

Every student has their own way of learning information. There are seven different interesting ways student learn including visual learners, aural learners, verbal learners, physical learners, social learners and logical learners. Students perform well while learning in a way that matches their personal learning style in a curriculum. Understanding the learning style of a kid is of paramount importance in order to choose the right curriculum to fit them in.

Oakridge aims for the holistic development of a child. Global exposure and international engagement platforms are provided during the course of the programs that equip children with a global outlook and real-world experience under all the above curriculums. Click to know more on the Oakridge’s IB Curriculum, IGCSE Curriculum, and CBSE Curriculum.

How to Keep Children away from Laziness and Excuses

Lord Chesterfield once said “Aim at perfection in everything, though in most things it is unattainable. However, they who aim at it, and persevere, will come much nearer to it than those whose laziness and despondency make them give it up as unattainable.” Laziness and excuses are the two things which spoil the self sufficiency of children. In a way we are also contributing to it by making their false attitude grow by doing things ourselves. 

Laziness makes children ‘good for nothing’ and excuses support their faults. It is an understood fact that we have to be nice with our children and shall not put any pressure on them. But at the same time we have to make sure that they are not taking it as granted. It is our ample monitoring and guidance will only bring up children in the right path. Laziness in kids can be sometimes associated with their physical illness or any mental stress. This needs to be addressed properly by parents so that we can control thing before it gets worse. If this is kept aside, the all other laziness in children is the result of their habits. At very young age we facilitate everything to our children which is a basic necessity but even then when they are grown up we continue to do the same which gives a wrong notion in the children that they need not take any pain for fulfilling their wish. It leads to ultimate laziness during studies also. 

Why do kids make excuses? It’s really not as important to know why they do it as it is to know how to deal with their behavior. When you think about it, we all make excuses from time to time. The same thing children do when they say things like, “The teacher didn’t explain the assignment that’s why I couldn’t do my homework.” And your child is not the only one—all kids try to wriggle out of consequences for their mistakes or for bad behavior. Kids see this happening everywhere on TV, in the classroom, with their friends and sometimes from us. Keep in mind that while your goal is to teach your child to take responsibility instead of blaming others, his goal is probably to get out of being punished.

The possible solution is to train children from young age to be self sufficient and to show the guts to speak out if it is their own fault. Teachers can motivate children in this as they can easily influence children. Many CBSE schools in India have inculcated such personal quality development of children as part of their curriculum.