Category: September 2009

The 20-minute Workout at Work

Spine stretch Increases flexibility and circulation in entire spine; improves eyesight Sit on the front half of your chair. Place your left hand on the outside of your right knee and hook your right arm over the back of the chair, or inside, as shown. Breathe in, looking forward, then breathe out as your twist to the right. Turn your head and eyes as far right as they will go and stare at a spot just above eye level. Pull slightly on your right knee with your left hand for more leverage. Relax your breath and hold the position, breathing normally, for several seconds. Release and repeat on the opposite side. Repetition: 1 on each side Seated knee squeeze Limbers and relaxes lower back, improves digestion; improves respiration Breathe out completely. Breathe in and lift your right leg with both hands and pull it to your chest while holding your breath in. Tuck your head toward your knee and let your raised foot relax. Hold for a few seconds, then release and switch sides. Repetitions: 3 on each side Sun pose in chair Improves circulation to head; massages internal organs; limbers spine and hip joints Separate your legs and sit with your hips against the back of the chair. Breathe out completely. Breathe in and raise your arms in a circle to the sides and overhead. Look up and stretch. Breathe out, tuck your head, and bend forward between your legs. If you can reach the floor, place your palms fl at. Breathe in and raise your arms up over your head again, then breathe out and lower your arms to the sides. Repetitions: 3 Seated side stretch Limbers spinal column, improves respiration, reduces waistline Sitting with feet slightly apart, breathe in and raise your arms out to the sides. Breathe out and bend toward the left, keeping your arms straight and trying to reach the floor with your left hand. Breathe in, come back to the starting position, then breathe out and bend toward the right. Repetitions: 3 on each side Ankle rotations and point flexes Improves circulation to feet Hold on to the seat of your chair, stretch your legs out in front of you, and rotate your ankles several times in each direction. Then point and flex the feet several times. Repetitions: 5-6 circles in each direction, 5-6 point-flexes Seated leg lifts Strengthens legs, hips, and lower back; improves circulation to legs and feet Hold on to the seat of your chair

Read More »

Comics as an educational aid?

Manaswini Sridhar A picture is worth a thousand words. We have heard this saying frequently and we tend to agree with it. As teachers and parents, we strongly believe that reading stories aloud to children and discussing the illustrations in the book facilitate their language skills. However, when it comes to the more ‘informal’ pictures in comic books or comic strips, we are almost in total denial of their role in the natural and spontaneous acquisition of language. In fact, most of us are far too quick to assume that comics will harm the child in numerous ways. Whatever our mindset towards comics, it is undeniable that the comic is the most widely read type of publication all over the world. Children are immersed in comics without even realising that they are doing any kind of reading. It therefore becomes a very attractive educational tool for the teacher/parent. It can be used to motivate the reluctant student to imbibe the necessary language proficiency. Comics have been maligned by educators long enough! The author is a teacher educator and language trainer based in Chennai. She can be reached at manaswinisridhar@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by writing to us at editorial@gamart.in.

Read More »

Mr. Happy’s Treasure

Sheela Ramakrishnan and Rajika Dhiren Stinger, Leggy, Beady and Speedbird were waiting eagerly for their teacher, Mr. Happy to come in. He gave them such interesting things to do. “Today we will go on a treasure hunt,” said Mr. Happy, “I will give you a map to follow. Read the map correctly and you will find the treasure.” “Yippee! A Treasure Hunt! How exciting!” they all said. Stinger was thinking furiously. “I am sure Beady will find the treasure first, because she is good at reading maps. But I want to win and I must find a way to do that”.Mr. Happy gave a map to each of them. “Drink some water and refresh yourselves before you start”, said Mr. Happy. They all trooped out of their class. Stinger was waiting for a moment like this. He quickly took out his eraser and changed the directions on Beady’s map carefully. Wherever it said, “left,” he changed it to “right”. He did it very carefully and quickly and by the time everybody came back to class, Stinger was in his place, looking quite innocent. The authors are partners in Edcraft, Hyderabad, a firm engaged in making teaching-learning materials, conducting workshops and providing consultancy services. They can be reached at edcraft94@gmail.com. This is an article for subscribers only. You may request the complete article by writing to us at editorial@gamart.in.

Read More »

TEACHERS’ DAY SPECIAL

Interested in finding out what teachers do after they finish their day at school? Read this special feature that has five teachers talking about their lives after school hours.

Read More »

Relax At Your Desk

Sunita Anand The feeling of heavy head, tense shoulder muscles, aching back and sore wrist is an oft-occurring phenomenon amongst teachers and people who work at the computer as part of their jobs. Relaxation techniques and exercises that you can incorporate into your workday go a long way in helping you de-stress and enjoy your day! Here are 10 tips I have used, during my years as a teacher and in my current job where I spend long hours at the computer. The first step in relaxation is deep breathing. Stress and anxiety cause our breathing to become shallow. Take a deep breath. Count to five and then exhale through the mouth again to the count of five. Repeat 5 times. Head Rolls: Tuck your chin into your chest and then move your head sideways to the right towards your right shoulder. Make sure you keep your shoulders down. Hold this for a count of 3. Then move your head towards the left shoulder, taking care to keep the shoulders down. Hold for a count of 3. Repeat this 5 times. Shoulder Shrugs: Shrug your shoulders up to your ears and then release slowly. Repeat at least 5 times. Wrist Rolls: While keeping your elbows on the desk (forearms perpendicular to the table), make a fist of your right hand. Grab the right hand with your left a little below the right wrist. Now circle the right wrist clockwise 5 times. Repeat the same on the left wrist. This time grab your left hand a little below the left wrist with your right hand and then circle the left wrist slowly clockwise 5 times. Wrist Release: Place your elbows on your desk with your palms facing inward. Your forearm will be perpendicular to the table. Make fists of your hands with your thumbs up. Slowly curl your fists outward (at this point your palms will be facing upward) and then in, taking care not to move your forearm or your elbow. Repeat this 5 times. Each outward/inward movement counts as 1 repetition. Calf Raises: While standing at your desk, place your palms on your table and push yourself up to stand on your toes. Take care to maintain a straight spine and relax your shoulders. Hold this position for a count of 5 and then release to return your heels to the floor. Repeat 5 times. Ankle Stretches: Sit on your chair and extend your right leg forward with only the heel of the right

Read More »

Inviting Contributions

Technology in its various forms has infiltrated every aspect of our professional, personal and social lives. In this issue of Teacher Plus, we examine how technology plays a role in education–both from the perspective of the facilitator (the teacher) and the learner. How does it change the way we do things in the classroom and learn both inside and outside school? How can it be used in a way that serves our needs, rather than make us a slave to it? Tell us about your ideas about and experiences with technology–computers, electronics, toys, display devices, and such–in and out of the classroom. What are your concerns and your expectations, your fears and your hopes, when faced with technology? For more information on guidelines for authors, please Click Here

Read More »

Forum

As a physical education teacher, I sincerely wish you would address some concerns through your magazine. While we all know education is meant to groom children into future citizens, the pressure of the school curriculum, the amount of learning that is involved and rigorous exam schedules are keeping children away from interacting with people at social gatherings and preventing them from participating in physical activities. Earlier, school holidays gave children and parents the chance to spend time with each other, but with holidays also being taken up to complete the syllabus, this valuable time has been drastically cut short. Children today are also not appreciative of our country’s several festivals. If we wish to turn our children into responsible citizens then it requires the combined effort of the school management, teachers and parents to provide ample opportunities to imbibe social values and ethics. Ravi Bhadoria Bharuch Dist., Gujarat Congratulations I want to congratulate you for coming up with such a nice 20th anniversary issue. Enjoyed reading it immensely, specially the article titled “An index finger and his red little tail”. Good Luck and wish you continue the good work decade after decade. Jyothi Padmanabhan Iyer Secunderabad

Read More »

Fitness and The Teacher

Long hours hunched over notebooks, reading often illegible handwriting in poorly lit and sometimes poorly ventilated staffrooms, arm raised for minutes at a time writing on the blackboard, shoulders slumped with the weight of two score and more books…and we have not even started on the psychological stresses of school work! Contrary to popular opinion, a teacher’s workday is not exactly a cakewalk, as readers of Teacher Plus are well aware. There are slow, steady physical stresses that can eat away at a person’s physical well-being, and by the time the forties hit, many of us are feeling the consequences of bad posture, chalk dust allergies, strained eyes, etc. Every job has its own set of physical demands, and teaching is no different. Even within the teaching profession, there are a multitude of contexts and each school, in fact every classroom, might offer its own unique set of demands! A nursery school teacher might have to pick up and carry children more often, while a high school teacher might have to spend more time hunched over complex projects. A middle school teacher might spend a large part of her day straining her arm writing equations on the board, while a special education teacher may end up organising and reorganising classroom materials. How then does one stay fit and fresh through all this? We may not be able to do much about the stresses that come from the specific nature of the job – difficult or disruptive students, staffroom and school politics, parent expectations and work load – but we can to some extent take care of our bodies and keep ourselves in shape so we are better able to deal with our physical environments and the demands they place on us. While a general fitness regime is a good idea no matter what kind of work one does, it may be useful to think about the specific ways in which you need to exert yourself, and compensate for that through exercise or relaxation techniques that address those specific c parts of the body. Those who sit for long hours at the computer are advised to take a regular fl ex-ex break every two hours or so, to relieve the stresses that build up in the shoulders, upper arms, back and wrists. Gardeners and others who hunch or squat need to stretch periodically to release the cramps that may occur in their upper thighs, shoulders and abdomen. Teachers too can pay attention to those parts of

Read More »