Exam Tips by Narendra Modi

PM Narendra Modi's 'Mann ki Baat' for the students preparing for exams in February 2015:

    The brighter your future is, the brighter India will be.
    My wishes are with you as you (students) will shape the future of the country.
    Success should be for your personal happiness and not to compete with anyone.
    I want to say to those who are going to appear in examination to treat it like a festival. Every child of this nation must be happy. Write the exam happily, with a smile on your face. I am sure you will do well.
    Parents should not immediately ask their children as to how their exams went.
    Life has its ups and downs, nobody drowns because of that.
    Don't be disheartened with bad results.
    You should have enough confidence that you will do well in the examination.
    Believe in the knowledge that you posses. Your efforts will not go in vain. Have faith on what you have studied.
    If you have expertise and have worked hard, then it will not go in vain.
    Be warriors not 'worriers'.
    Don't take examination as a challenge, take it as an opportunity to know yourself.
    PM Modi gives example of a cricket batsman to explain things to students. "A good batsman is thinking about the ball he is facing not about the match, or series. He is thinking about the present," he says.
    You should become your own guide. One who becomes his own guide touches new heights.
    You should set a standard for yourself and test yourself against them, why compare yourself with others.
    There are some students that work on new targets each day, with a new vision and new energy.
    Girls excel in academics these days even though they help their mothers at home during examinations.
    I understand that doing well in examinations is important but sometimes we think too much about the future or are lost in the past. Can't do that during exam time. We need to be in the present.
    If you want to compete, you should compete with your own self and not with others. Let today be better than yesterday.
    Comparison with others sometimes bogs students down.
    The pressure from relatives and friends puts a lot of strain on the students to perform. Parents are always worried about what their relatives will think.
    PM Modi suggests students not to take examinations as a burden and stress themselves while preparing for the exams.

Quotes on Teacher

The student is the bank where you can deposit your most precious treasures.

-Eugene P Bertin
Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.
-John Cotton Dana
A child can ask questions that a wise man cannot answer.
To teach is to learn twice.
-Joseph Joubert
I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.
-Alexander the Great
A good teacher is like a candle; it consumes itself to light the way for others.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
-William Arthur Ward
The life of a teacher is often a life of poverty in the material sense. However, teachers have the unique opportunity to inspire their students to reach for the stars.
-Steve Johnson
Being a teacher is a blessing, and an awesome responsibility.
-Margaret Williams
A teacher is someone who changes or influences the lives of others.
-Deborah Wickerham
I am a teacher, a confidence builder, a cheer leader, and a good listener. I am whatever my students need me to be.
-Deborah Wickerham
What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.
-Karl Menninger
The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book.
Every child has the ability to learn and grow. It is up to us as educators to discover the way to reach each and every one our students.
-Mark D. Teesdale
The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without his teacher.
-Elbert Hubbard

Teacher Tales

The book ‘Teacher Tales’ is published in the series ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’. It is a collection of 101 inspirational stories from great teachers. These stories are written by American teachers who are awarded with ‘2009 National Teacher of the Year’ and ‘2009 State Teacher of the Year’.

Anthony J. Mullen, 2009 National Teacher of the Year writes in his ‘Foreword’ to the book: “Teacher Tales is such an important and timely book written by and for teachers. It is a different type of book because it does not try to promote a new method of pedagogy or try to reinvent the wheel. This book is about the heart and soul of teaching and why we have committed our lives to helping children. It is filled with wonderful stories about teachers and children. Some of the stories will make you laugh and some of the stories will make you cry. A few will make you want to scream at an educational bureaucracy seemingly blind to the needs of children and teachers. I proposed the idea to the 2009 State Teachers of the Year and the response was anonymous: We need this type of book! Writing a story for this book became a means for them to express their passion for teaching and restoring the value of teachers in our lives.”

The book is divided into 11 parts. They are:
1. Why we teach
2. First year tales
3. Learning from the kids
4. Great ideas
5. Thanks I needed that
6. That was embarrassing
7. Touched by a student
8. The teacher who changed my life
9. Tough kids
10. Reconnecting
11. Reflections on being a teacher.

Each story consists of 2-3 pages. Each story tells us the day to day experiences of classroom teaching. No teacher tries to list his lifetime achievements, but narrates an incident that inspires us. You won’t be able to put down the stories about new and experienced teachers, tough kids and sweet kids, funny and embarrassing moments, amazing connections and relationships, and all the ups and downs of being a teacher today. Some of the titles of the stories tell us the content of the book: ‘Destined to teach’, ‘A lesson for life’, ‘Life lessons from my students’, ‘The healing power of children’, ‘Making a difference in our community’, ‘Blessed to be a teacher’, ‘The power of belief’, ‘The naughty kid’, ‘Class room fun’, ‘Full of surprises’, ‘Teaching the teacher’, ‘The gift of self-esteem’, ‘A teacher’s influence’, ‘A tale of two students’, ‘Becoming an educator’, ‘More than math’, ‘Making a difference’, ‘Secrets students keep’, ‘A greater purpose’.

In the very first story the author narrates a suicide attempt of a girl. He rescues that girl. After narrating the incident, he says “My students suffer from depression, anxiety and psychosis. Some are lonely, some are sad, some are angry and some are frightened. But all risk falling down unless we are there to catch them.” One story reveals about a teacher accidentally showing topless dancers in an educational video about Paris. Another story tells about a teacher helping a second grade student writing letters to her soldier father and watching their cheerful reunion. In another incident a teacher receives an email from a student. The student tells that she was a bit of scoundrel. Everybody knew she was in to a lot of bad things. But the teacher expected a lot from her and believed in her ability. So she learned how to be responsible, confident and respect authority. Eventually, she earned a Doctorate Degree.

-Gnaneswara T N, Assistant Professor, GFGC Jalahalli, Raichur Dist., Karnataka

12 Tips to Mental Health

M - Minimize your needs. Lead a simple and contented life. Be wise in earning and spending money.
E - Expectations about others to be reduced.
N - Negative thinking to be changed to positive thinking.
T - Today should get importance, not the past, not the future. Try to be happy today.
A - Accept reality; adapt yourself to it.
L - Loneliness to be avoided; Join social organizations.
H - Hobbies to divert your attention, to relax: music, reading, creative activities,  sports, yoga, meditation.
E - Express your feelings with someone you like. Write diary.
A - Be active. Enjoy the work you do. Keep yourself busy.
L - Learn skills; improve your knowledge.
T - Take things as they come. Tackle one problem at a time. Have realistic targets.
H - Healthy lifestyle: regular food and exercise.