Inspiring Teachers Human Excellence

July-Aug 2013 Page 1 of 4VOL. # 7 ISSUE #7-8

From the editor…..

Welcome to this joint issue of the newsletter for July

and August 2013. We have had a busy time with

three workshops – very different from each other. You

can read the reports on this page, page 3 and 4.

This month’s FoM interview has been facilitated by

Urjita Deshpande. Dr Aruna Tijare is a well known

trainer and counselor. She has loyal participants who

have been attending her sessions for more than 15

years (on various topics) and still want more. Truly an

inspiring teacher.

If someone were to ask me for a single most

important skill in life, I would say ‘reflection’. If you

can reflect on any aspect of your life with

understanding, you are sure to become better. Simply

put, if you can ask yourself a few questions as to what

was the situation, what did you do well, what could

you have done differently and what lesson did you

learn from the situation, you will be on a path of

awareness and growth. Reflection is also an important

aspect of academic learning. It is a way of

reinforcement. It also allows the learner to assimilate

and own the learning. It is also called metacognition

or thinking about thinking. On page 4 I have given a

few questions that can help your students to reflect.

As usual I have shared some links to videos and

articles – thanks to Dr Anil Kumar Challa, Marutish

Varanasi and Raman Garimella.

Team Spirit workshop for DRDO scientists 24-27th June 2013

20 scientists from various DRDO labs in India

attended a four day workshop conducted by Teacher’s

Academy at ITM, Mussoori. We had sessions on Team

Structures, Six Thinking Hats, Personality Types for

individual and team interactions, Team values,

Situational Leadership, EI and 7 habits of highly

effective people. The sessions were facilitated by Dr

Akila Jaikumar, Ms Urjita Deshpande and me. There

were several games and activities and self assessment

questionnaires. There were role plays and discussions.

The participants found the sessions useful and felt

that such programs should be done for whole teams

from specific labs.

Contact us: info@theprofessor.in,

In this issue:

Faculty of the month Dr Aruna Tijare……… 2

Must Read Links ……………………………….. 3

Sevalaya Workshop for teachers …………… 4

Reflection on learning…………………………… 4

Faculty of the month DR. ARUNA K. TIJARE, M. A. Ph.D (Industrial Psychology),

Practicing Psychologist, H.R.D. Trainer and Counselor

1. How did your career begin?

My “Training Career” started in 1995, after completing my “Career as a Home maker” for 20 yrs.

2. How did you know that you have a potential for training?

I have always been a voracious reader of self help books, so it was just a casual attempt that I started helping students

with their studies, improving their memory, talking to

parents, counselling people on various issues. This kind of help led to the opportunity that I started getting invitation

for speeches on different subjects by different social organisations, where I realised I am a good speaker. Those

lectures led to industrial training programs. Actually that was

when I realised that I have the potential to be a “Professional Trainer”.

3. Which areas do you train in?

Being a psychologist I focus on behavioural aspects, such as

Attitude change, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, Communication, Interpersonal skills, Time Management,

Stress Management, Managing Change, Seven Habits of highly effective people, Memory Improvement and Speed

Reading, Parenting etc.

4. Do you get a feel of work cultures of different companies

as you train the employees? Can you throw some light on these corporate training programs?

Of course!! Every organisation has more or less different cultures. Some are very particular about the subjects, the

methodology and results. They are genuinely interested in

the improvement of the employees and their output after training. While some want to just complete the formality.

Then Govt & private organisation’s participants differ in their attitude towards training.

5. Would you like to share some of your experiences of training in your centre?

• In one of my Memory improvement program there

were 40 students one participant was 13yrs old and

one was 70 years old while others were ranging

from 20 to 30s group. It was very challenging as

well as fun to teach 3 generations together on the

same subject as their needs and intellectual levels

were totally diverse.

• Dealing with Union Leaders without taking the side

of management in a session where there are lot of

grievances is really challenging.

July-Aug 2013 Page 2 of 4 VOL. #7 ISSUE #7-8

Before caption a goes here

Dr Aruna has been training, counseling and undertaking

workshops on a wide range of subjects like human relations, communication skills, emotional intelligence,

leadership skills and memory skills in different industries

and forums for last 20 years. Some of her prestigious regular clients are L&T, Mahindra&

Mahindra, Bosch, Herdillia chemicals, ONGC, ColourChem, Gharda Chemicals, Heavy Water Board, Nuclear Power

Corporation, Bombay Chambers of Commerce and Industry,

Indo American Society, CEAT, Various Banks, Management Institutes, and a wide band of other industries all over

India. Though her Ph.D is related to industrial Labor from Rural

Area, she takes keen interest in addressing problems concerning day-to-day competitive life. She has proved her

credibility as a Trainer by conducting workshops for various

groups of people, students, housewives, senior citizens as well as employees in industry.

She has released many audiocassettes on her subjects. Her articles in news paper and programs on TV are very

popular. She has studied scientific religion for last 25 years

and this spiritual background adds depths to her programs. Her programs have helped a large cross section of people

to live a more meaningful and happy life.

http://www.theprofessor.in/

What makes you become better and better? Your tips for trainers?

Meditating on the subjects, reading constantly, talking to participants, introspecting the good and bad after every performance, talking and sharing with like minded people on various training issues etc help me to become more effective. Being a trainer is a very noble profession. So the first and the basic requirement of this profession is that “practise what you preach“. This will help you to sound much more authentic and genuine. Being honest and trustworthy is the key. And you cannot fake these qualities for long term success

MUST READ LINKS Resources for schools

• http://www.teacherplus.org/resources

Parenting • http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10250/11-things-i-

wish-every-parent-knew.html

• Awareness on racism

http://www.upworthy.com/watch-a-teacher-make-her-

3rd-grade-kids-hate-each-other-for-the-best-reason-

imaginable-2?g=3

Self Development • Reading Literature makes us smarter and nicer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HRXhRjfS7Q

• Energy medicine – simple and effective techniques to

heal yourself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMbdFb8URY

Videos- education • Confessions of a converted lecturer – Eric Mazur on

Flipped classroom

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwslBPj8GgI

• Clues to a great story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg

• How simple things lead to scientific discoveries by

Adam Savage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8UFGu2M2gM

• How to change education from the ground up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HRXhRjfS7Q

News

• IITs and IT companies get together to provide on-line

courses

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/201

3-07-19/news/40681617_1_seven-older-iits-nptel-

andrew-thangaraj

• ISB graduates bring Touch-on-cloud to improve

education

http://www.zdnet.com/touch-on-cloud-innovates-

learning-for-indian-students-7000017017/

• Google to train AP students on cloud computing

http://www.sakshipost.com/index.php/news/state/1

8663-google-to-train-ap-students-on-cloud-

computing

This is our third workshop at Sevalaya. Previous ones

were in 2010 and 2011. There were a few senior

teachers from those years but majority were first time

participants for us. We had sessions on making

learning activities from newspapers, six thinking hats,

meditation, handling emotional problems of children,

differentiation and rubrics. There were a few games

and group activities. The teachers were very eager to

learn. Dr Akila Jaikumar and I were facilitating the

sessions – especially Akila took care of the Tamil

speaking teachers.

July-Aug 2013 Page 3 of 4 VOL. # 7 ISSUE #7-8

Teaching Skills for Teachers

Sevalaya, Mahakavi Bharathiar HSS

Rarely do you find a group of 60 teachers sitting with rapt

attention on a weekend for a workshop.

But this set of teachers is different – they are working in

an NGO run school that provides free education to 1800

children from KG to XII free of cost. The NGO Sevalaya

also runs a hostel for orphans, an old age home and a

goshala. This is the 25th year of its operation. See

http://www.lifepositive.com/Mind/Positive_Chronicles/c_779_A_little

_caring_a_little_sharing32010.asp

Reflection on Learning

• Summarize the academic objectives of today’s session. Identify the content you were supposed to learn and how

well you mastered it.

• What was the “muddiest” or least clear point in today’s session? In this week’s lectures? In this week’s reading

assignment? • What was the most useful thing you learned during this session?

• What questions remain uppermost in your mind as we end this session?

• Identify the three most important concepts you learned today.

• List five concepts that you found important today and explain what they mean to you.

• List five things that you learned about _____________ today.

• In no more than three sentences, summarize what was learned about _____________.

• Why is the concept of _____________ important in _____________?

• In your own words, summarize the meaning of _____________ (or the relationship between _____________ and

_____________, or how _____________ can be applied).

• Provide one example of how an equation encountered today must be manipulated or combined with another

equation to solve problems or answer questions.

• Explain how the concept of _____________ helps us understand _____________.

• Identify and illustrate how topic _____________ can be used.

• Explain why and how concept _____________ is useful in solving problem _____________. • Explain why topic _____________ is important.

• Write a methodology for doing _____________.

• What information do you need to determine _____________.

• Identify an everyday example or analogy for _____________.

www.teachersacademy.co

www.theprofessor.in

Pre-retirement Planning

DMRL, Hyderabad July 2nd

and 3rd

2013

Report About 30 employees who will retire in the next few months attended enthusiastically our

program on planning for retirement. We had sessions on Psychosocial transitioning and

productive living by me, financial planning for peaceful life by Suri Seetaram, independent

wealth expert; emotional and spiritual well being by Dr Akila Jaikumar and Physical wellbeing

(health and nutrition) by Dr Raghunatha Rao, Head-Training at NIN, Hyderabad. In the

modern times with increased longevity, people have almost as much retired life as their

working life. Hence it becomes vital to plan the next 30 years or so to be financially

comfortable, physically healthy and emotionally stable. There are many opportunities to keep

oneself busy with meaningful work. Unless one has a spiritual outlook towards life, it becomes

difficult to cope with the changing dynamics of society and family. Simple breathing exercises

and mudras, meditation, new perspectives on relationships, alternate therapies were

introduced. Suri spoke about different instruments of investment suitable for them. A lively

interaction on do’s and don’ts of food and exercise was facilitated by Dr Raghunatha Rao.

June 2013 Page 4 of 4 VOL. #7 ISSUE #6