“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.”
Confidence is an individual’s trust in themselves and their ability to succeed. Confident people tend to create their happiness. They are proud of their accomplishments because they know they have worked hard. Students are required to develop their confidence in their academics as well as their overall pursuit of knowledge.
Set realistic goals: Earmark has clear and realistic academic and personal goals. Break them down into smaller, manageable steps, and celebrate your achievements along the way.
Prepare thoroughly: Being well-prepared before exams. Study consistently, and plan accordingly.
Participate actively: Engaging in class discussions, asking questions, and participating in activities can help overcome the fear of speaking in front of others to improve self-confidence.
Develop good study habits: Create a conducive study environment, establish a study routine, and use effective study techniques. Feeling well-prepared for exams and assignments can boost your confidence in your academic abilities.
Embrace failure as a learning opportunity: Understand that making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process. Instead of thinking about failures, analyze your mistakes and how you can improve.
Seek help when needed: Continue to ask teachers, parents, or classmates for help with challenging subjects or assignments. Seeking assistance when necessary will build confidence in a student’s ability to overcome hurdles.
Stay organized: Use various tools and apps to keep track of assignments, deadlines, and important dates. When one is organized it helps reduce stress and take control of academic responsibilities.
Practice time management: Keep a priority list and allocate your time effectively. This helps balance academics and other activities and also assists in handling multiple tasks.
Develop public speaking skills: Public speaking is a valuable skill that can enhance your self-assuredness. Consider joining a debate club or taking public speaking courses to improve your communication skills.
Practice self-care: Taking care of health is vital. Get enough sleep, eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, and practice relaxation techniques like mindfulness or meditation.
Visualize success: Before important exams, take time to encourage and see yourself succeeding. This kind of positive affirmation will always reap results.
Remember that confidence is not built overnight; it’s a gradual process. Be patient with ourself, stay committed to personal growth, and continuously work on improving your confidence as a student.
“I used to complete my home assignments on time. I used to respect my teachers and follow their guidelines.” -typical thoughts of an educator teaching 21st-century students.
Are these familiar thoughts, whether you are an educator or a parent?
Well! Parents and Educators! Please wake up to the new reality. Your guidelines are not going to be “ followed” just because you are a parent or an educator. That is not essentially due to a lack of respect. It is because children of today evolve a sense of identity very early on. They are confident, young individuals with a wide variety of knowledge at their fingertips. They question the status quo and are curious about everything around them. Just imagine these young individuals turning into adults and transforming their community, city and world around them with their ability to question, think, act and inspire.
Let us work with them with these possibilities in mind. To convert these possibilities into a reality, parents and educators have to see themselves as guides, facilitators, mentors and coaches. They can no longer give unilateral instructions and expect children to follow them. It has to be dialogical and facilitative. Give them the context and purpose, they will love to think, act and do.
“Just focus on the possibilities. The limitations will take care of itself.” said someone and I would like to leave all parents and educators to work with children from this space of possibilities.
Blog byIt’s now very common in the world that education is only through writing and rote. This vicious cycle goes on and on and on! Pretty boring isn’t it? Did you know that a hundred years ago, education was practically the same as it is now? Everything around us is evolving, so why not our educational system?
Rote learning is of no use. Studies show that toppers tend to learn by rote and often forget everything they’ve learnt along with a huge lack of social skills due to the time they spend memorising, turning out to be the opposite of smart. With rote learning, we only memorise formulas, topics, rules and sums before an exam, and after that, the concept is forgotten. Just think about it, if you ask a topper a simple formula from their 6th grade syllabus, they’d be blank! Do society and flashy entrance exam posters want us to become a machine or do they want us to learn?
You might be thinking if I don’t memorise all my topics, how on Earth would I be able to learn?! The answer’s quite easy. Experience-based Learning. This way of teaching is now spreading far and wide and is seen to have much better results than the usual rote learning. Let me give you an example: You’re a grade 7 student and your class has a two-week trip planned to go to rural Karnataka and learn their culture and way of life. You come back from this trip with not only memories but learning as well. You learned so many skills, such as having a fluent conversation in Kannada, the way of the Panchayat and how it is different from our government and many life skills as well and at the same time, you took an awesome trip with your friends.
Students will have to prepare for the trip or else they’ll understand absolutely nothing and not learn anything at all. In Experience-based Learning, students not only learn concepts (which would happen before the trip) but can apply them in the real world in the form of such trips. It allows students to not only learn concepts but also use them in daily life. These experiences allow students to easily connect with the concepts they’ve learnt and even the most negligent student would be able to learn and remember these concepts by using them in real-life situations. Sounds pretty fun, doesn’t it?
Experience Based Learning not only happens through trips, it can happen in many different ways. This way of learning also includes MUNs which prepare students for debates in workplaces, how to collect and present information properly and also teach them the civics and history of our world today. Extempores and races prepare students to be able to easily work, think and strategize under pressure. I could go on forever, but I think you get the gist.
Overall, Experience Based Learning is a great way to learn how to use the topics you learn outside the classroom. I bet you would want to learn your concepts this way too! What are you waiting for, let's incorporate this way of learning for a brighter and better future. I’m so happy I’m in a school where Experience-based Learning is valued and used for a better future.
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