Questions!!! 

1. Can you suggest a strategy for a teacher to ask questions; in order to involve the maximum of students into thinking over the answer to it, and in order the teacher could get the answer from students instead of answering himself/herself?

2. Where do you think the balance must be between lecturing, student individual work and teamwork for a lesson to be maximally effective?

3. What do you think what are the other five teaching mistakes?

4. What is your opinion on the role of heredity in teenager suicidal inclinations?

5. What sign of a teenager’s intention to commit suicide is the most vivid?

6. How many ways to prevent a teenager from suicide can you suggest?

How Much is Too Much Homework?

                                                                                     By Jayashree Pakhare

We often come across the new age students complaining about too much homework. Do today’s students have too much homework? Let us discuss how much is too much homework…

No hard work means, no gain. These words seem very harsh and brutal but are very true. Rags to Riches stories of many millionaires are replete with instances of hardship suffered by these achievers during their boyhood and youth.

In life, winners are those who are resolute and pursue their goals. They work meticulously every step of the way and stay resilient when they do not succeed.

How much is too much homework? Before answering this question one needs to know what is hard work. Hard work means to learn to enjoy challenging work and to get success in it. Unfortunately, there is a myth behind the actual meaning. Hard work does not means more time, more energy and less relaxation. Instead, it is a smart work quoted by management. Hard work is like a gem, which turns dreams into reality.

Too much homework means filling colors in the world of imagination and giving it a new form. The newly formed world glitters with gems of name and fame. Hard work is the only mantra to get success. Nothing can surpass the excellence of hard work .It is regarded as the key to win the world. This statement has been proved correct since the times immemorial. It is rightly said that even gold begins to melt when it is put to the test of fire. The moment we enter the teenage, we began to stagger and our mind becomes full of anxiety. All this happens just in the appetite to become more and more successful in life.

The word success has dominated man completely. Its impact is so much so that even the people with enormous confidence are seen under a peculiar group of fear, with their mind and soul under shin and tension. Success is the word, which has given the destination to work hard.

However, the problem occurs when people think that too much homework means taking work as pain giving object and making life uncomfortable with the same. They take challenges with an idea of putting their energies with negative attitude in the hope to get fruitful results.

Does hard work necessarily have to be painful? No, of course not! Too much hard work means to eliminate useless activities and focusing on the terms Dedication and Determination .Hard work done with these two terms makes glass full. There is a positive co relation between hard work and these two D’s .When we do too much hard work this means that we are challenging something, which holds power to challenge us. If we observe all the greatest endeavors carried out in this world, we find that behind them hard work is the sole driving force, without which everything is impossible.

A person can challenge dominant force only if he has power to work hard. Thus; hard work forms the foundation of every new achievement, every new invention and every new discovery along with victory.

The passion to hard work cannot be imposed upon anyone. It comes from deep inside one’s heart. Hard work cannot be measured. The quantity of hard work passed depends upon how much positive your approach towards life is.

Without hard work person cannot face challenge and he ends up becoming the failure in his life.

Life without hard work

1. is as good as a dead person

2. life becomes like a deflated balloon

It is the force, which enlightens the candle of hope giving strength to fight against all odds.

Too much of hard work gives person a quality, which invigorates a person to win over his or her physical disabilities. The passion and fragrance obtained in the mania to accept challenge is so strong that even physically challenged persons can easily overcome their handicaps,

The nice thing about hard work is that it is universal. It does not matter what industry you are in. Hard work requires on more pillar to stand. It is acceptance. Hard work and acceptance are two sides of one coin. One must accept this point that the things which can not move easily can be easily succumb by hard work.

Life takes new shape once you impede avoiding and panicking hard work and make it your partner instead of your foe.

Hard work is the sole witness at the sepulcher of the unsuccessful at everything. It is a worth, giving everything, we have in life to hard work because it is the only obligation towards our life. It is our destiny. It is better to die while attempting to reach our destiny than never making an attempt and live a purposeless life. Hard work gives direction to our life and determines our future.

Apart from this, one should keep in mind that proper balance is also required. Too much of everything is bad. It should be life giving hard work not like taking. The truth is that we are the scribes of our own destiny. Maintaining balance should also be the important point to be considered while going through hard ships of life. 

Causes of Teenage Suicide

By Dr. Maisie M

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in teenagers especially between the age group 15 to 19. Though teen suicides are more like an impulsive act lacking maturity, there is no way you can justify people around them who fail to notice or downplay their cries for love, attention and help. What is it that drives the teens to believe that life is too difficult to deal with? Let's have a look...

Adolescence has always been a period of confusion with varying temperaments where teens have to deal with academic, social and individual pressures. Additional stress factors like poor performance, fear of punishment, rivalry, violence in the family etc can make them feel there is nothing to live for. Teen suicides are like precious lives turned futile causing an irreparable loss to the individual as well his close concerns.

The need to be addressed

Minors choose death because suffering becomes intolerable as per their perception. There is little hope for change, improvement or possibility of a better future with the life that they experience. They have an easy solution in mind i.e death which means no pain. Most of the teen suicidal attempts are the resultant of inability to handle depression effectively.

Facts about teen suicide

·        Clear warning signs precede suicides in more than 90% of cases

·        More suicides occur because of depression than being afflicted by fatal diseases

·        Not all teenagers who commit suicide are mentally ill

·        Possibility of completing a suicide increases with the number of attempts

·        Most teen suicides can be prevented by effective communication and psychotherapy

·        One should pay attention to the post-depressive period, when the individual looks near normal, yet it could be an unsafe period

Causes of teenage suicide

·        Disharmony in the family

·        Unhealthy or abusive relationships or a break-up

·        Alcohol or drug abuse

·        Feelings of anger and guilt

·        Physical or mental disorders

·        Poor academic performance

·        Sibling rivalry

·        History of suicide within close circle

·        Experience of a personal loss

·        Inability to handle hardships due to low energy and depression

Notice the red alerts

Parents need to look out for the warning signs and differentiate them from the normal teen angst over helplessness. Expression of feelings related to depression and worthlessness definitely means something is going seriously wrong. These symptoms may be present together or in varied combinations and can be addressed effectively if noticed earlier.

·        Complaining of sadness, fatigue and emptiness

·        Statements and jokes about death and suicide

·        Loss of interest in fun and recreation

·        Neglect of appearance

·        Not responding to praise

·        Social withdrawal and staying aloof most of the time

·        Aggressive expressions of hatred and anger

·        Insomnia and sleep disorders

·        Trouble concentrating on studies

·        Signs of hallucination and weird thoughts

·        Physical signs like body aches and pains

·        Indigestion and major changes in weight

·        Drug or alcohol abuse

·        Meeting people one cares about

·        Setting affairs in order

·        Throwing away important possessions

·        Verbal hints like "I won't cause a problem much longer"

Prevention: Get help immediately

Immediate consultation with a mental health professional is a must in extreme to moderate cases. An in-depth psychological evaluation with appropriate medications followed up in a timely manner is necessary. Local support groups and hotline numbers should be made available to teens so they can reach someone in emotional crisis.

Parents should watch over their teenagers and help them clear their distortions about life and bring back hope and vigor back again. Trust me, no magical spells are needed, help them open up and express whatever they feel. Do not leave the kid lonely and let there be more than one person he can turn to for help. It can be his guardian, friend, teacher, counselor, family doctor or anybody he can trust. Assure him that such feelings are temporary and will surely pass. Keep weapons like guns, blades and medications away from his reach. Agree to help the person whenever he wishes to speak out his feelings. Do not argue and find faults. The fact that someone is helping him figure out a way to betterment has a healing effect on him. 

The Ten Worst Teaching Mistakes

The posting below looks at common teaching mistakes we need to avoid, it is by Richard M. Felder, North Carolina State University and Rebecca Brent, Education Designs, Inc. See also Felder's: RESOURCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING EDUCATION at: http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/j^c/felder/public/

Like most faculty members, we began our academic careers with zero prior instruction on college teaching and quickly made almost every possible blunder. We've also been peer reviewers and mentors to colleagues, and that experience on top of our own early stumbling has given us a good sense of the most common mistakes college teachers make. In this column and one to follow we present our top ten list, in roughly increasing order of badness. Doing some of the things on the list may occasionally be justified, so we're not telling you to avoid all of them at all costs. We are suggesting that you avoid making a habit of any of them.

Mistake #10. When you ask a question in class, immediately call for volunteers.

You know what happens when you do that. Most of the students avoid eye contact, and either you get a response from one of the two or three who always volunteer or you answer your own question. Few students even bother to think about the question, since they know that eventually someone else will provide the answer.

We have a suggestion for a better way to handle questioning, but it's the same one we'll have for Mistake #9 so let's hold off on it for a moment.

Mistake #9. Call on students cold.

You stop in mid-lecture and point your finger abruptly: "Joe, what's the next step?" Some students are comfortable under that kind of pressure, but many could have trouble thinking of their own name. If you frequently call on students without giving them time to think ("cold-calling"), the ones who are intimidated by it won't be following your lecture as much as praying that you don't land on them. Even worse, as soon as you call on someone, the others breathe a sigh of relief and stop thinking.

A better approach to questioning in class is active learning. Ask the question and give the students a short time to come up with an answer, working either individually or in small groups. Stop them when the time is up and call on a few to report what they came up with. Then, if you haven't gotten the complete response you're looking for, call for volunteers. The students will have time to think about the question, and-unlike what happens when you always jump directly to volunteers (Mistake #10)-most will try to come up with a response because they don't want to look bad if you call on them. With active learning you'll also avoid the intimidation of cold-calling (Mistake #9) and you'll get more and better answers to your questions. Most importantly, real learning will take place in class, something that doesn't happen much in traditional lectures.

Mistake #8. Turn classes into PowerPoint shows.

It has become common for instructors to put their lecture notes into PowerPoint and to spend their class time mainly droning through the slides. Classes like that are generally a waste of time for everyone. If the students don't have paper copies of the slides, there's no way they can keep up. If they have the copies, they can read the slides faster than the instructor can lecture through them, the classes are exercises in boredom, the students have little incentive to show up, and many don't.

Turning classes into extended slide shows is a specific example of:  

Mistake #7. Fail to provide variety in instruction.

Nonstop lecturing produces very little learning, but if good instructors never lectured they could not motivate students by occasionally sharing their experience and wisdom. Pure PowerPoint shows are ineffective, but so are lectures with no visual content-schematics, diagrams, animations, photos, video clips, etc.-for which PowerPoint is ideal. Individual student assignments alone would not teach students the critical skills of teamwork, leadership, and conflict management they will need to succeed as professionals, but team assignments alone would not promote the equally important trait of independent learning. Effective instruction mixes things up: boardwork, multimedia, storytelling, discussion, activities, individual assignments, and group work (being careful to avoid Mistake #6). The more variety you build in, the more effective the class is likely to be.

Mistake #6. Have students work in groups with no individual accountability.

All students and instructors who have ever been involved with group work know the potential downside. One or two students do the work, the others coast along understanding little of what their more responsible teammates did, everyone gets the same grade, resentments and conflicts build, and the students learn nothing about high-performance teamwork and how to achieve it.

The way to make group work is cooperative learning, an exhaustively researched instructional method that effectively promotes development of both cognitive and interpersonal skills. One of the defining features of this method is individual accountability-holding each team member accountable for the entire project and not just the part that he or she may have focused on. References on cooperative learning offer suggestions for achieving individual accountability, including giving individual exams covering the full range of knowledge and skills required to complete the project and assigning individual grades based in part on how well the students met their responsibilities to their team.