Enhancing concentration in kids

An alert state of mind and a good motivation are inevitable in boosting concentration and eventually a good mental capability. There are two stages to concentrating. First, you need to banish distraction and clutter. This involves discipline and time management. Most children feel more calm and alert in the day. If this is true, utilize this time for tackling brain jobs. Clear your mind and choose a comfortable, calm place to start off. The first time you sit down to study - it is a warm-up time; so you won't be at peak concentration. You would need about 10-15 minutes to shut out all distractions before concentrating well. As you progress, the concentrations starts diminishing. Ensure that you make a commitment to finish one more paragraph before taking a break. Then take a break and relax yourself . You can leave the study area for a break but do not stretch too long or you will need another warm-up session when you continue with your studying!

The second stage is to take care of your attention. Research has shown that when you pay attention to something the parts of the brain processing information becomes more effective. Attention span varies from an individual to another. Try to look out or calculate your attention span. Say if you are able to read 15 minutes without distraction, then 15 minutes is your reading span. Now see if you can read for 20 minutes continuously without being distracted. This way you can analyse your time and increase the attention span accordingly. This is the best way to increase the attention span.

An important aspect that i would like to address in this aspect of concentration is that never listen to pop, drums or any fast track music while reading as this could disastrously lead to poor concentration. Many children do argue that they have fared better listening to music. But this would not be helpful in the long run because listening to fast beats makes the mind very brisk but for the mind to be peak in concentration, it needs to be calm, and relaxed. So put these into practice and concentrate!

Listening skill

Listening is a smart strategy that enhances one’s personality. When we talk, we repeat what we already know; but when we listen, we often learn something. By the simple act of listening, you pick up other people’s good idea. Of course you should make a mental note not to use their sillier ones! Too many people go through life never really knowing what people around them think because they have simply never made the time to listen to them. Good speakers don’t always make the best listeners. But a speaker, who knows how to be a good listener, has a profound impact on his speeches. Moreover, they share more than their own experience. Here are some of the suggestions to improve your listening skills.

 

Maintain eye contact with the speaker whenever possible
Focus on what someone is saying, and not how they are saying it. It’s easy to get distracted by a distinctive accent, or voice.
Make sure that you are interested and that you are following what is being said by quiet acknowledging sounds.
Be patient and avoid jumping in with too many questions.
Check your understanding of what is being said time to time by repeating things back and encouraging the speaker to add more details.
Try to empathize.
Try not to make your mind wander. Stay active by asking yourself questions about what you are listening to.
Treat listening as a mental challenge and feel good because you are managing to achieve it.
During a conversation, wait for 2 seconds after the person finishes speaking to make sure that they have finished their thought.
Take a comfortable listening position. A good listener uses positive body language; leaning forward and showing an enthusiastic, relaxed nature.
Listen with openness. Be a supportive, but neutral listener.

Many successful leaders credit their success to effective listening skills. Effective listening is a skill that is one of the building blocks of success – so spend some time thinking about it and developing the same. 

A POSITIVE MINDSET - FROM 3Ps to 3Cs

Are you an optimistic or a pessimistic sort of person? Do you tend to emphasize positive aspects of a situation or point out what is likely to go wrong? Well, to identify yourself I have listed a few points to emphasize on the same.

Optimists tend to:

• Be more resilient
• Focus on solving the problem at hand
• Be less stressed or anxious
• Inspire others to lift their performance

Pessimists tend to:

• Lose heart easily
• Become depressed if something goes wrong
• Make others feel gloomy
• Act as a drain on other people's energy.

You might wonder as to why this classification matters? IT DOES! A positive mindset helps us to work better and achieve more. In fact, research suggests that optimists generally do better in life and fulfill more of their ambitions. Surprisingly, they tend to get more things wrong but are the ones who give up less likely. They accept mistakes as part of their learning curve. Dr. Martin Seligman has suggested that the optimistic or pessimistic characters stems from the way you account for the things that happen to you. This is described as 3Ps: Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalization.

Permanence:
Following a bad experience
An optimist might say: This is a temporary setback, will revive back!
A pessimist might say: Things will never get better, will only worsen!

Pervasiveness:
An optimist will look on a setback as an isolated situation.
A pessimist will see a setback spreading throughout their lives, affecting almost everything!

Personalization:
when something goes wrong
An optimist takes control of events and looks out for the cause.
Pessimists tend to blame themselves and sink into depression.

The 3Ps help to explain why people (who seem to be very similarly gifted) can have very different approaches towards handling a situation. A behavioral change can bring about a phenomenal change in one's well being.To help with this behavioral change, try these 3Cs approach:

Change Can't to Can: Have a positive approach. Believe that anything is possible and proceed your way.
Control: Take control of your situation (that is going wrong) rather than falling into pessimistic mode. Make a firm decision that is only a temporary issue and can be sorted out.

Come up with alternatives: If something terribly goes wrong, try to think other possible alternatives. Do not stick to the same thinking pattern; instead work on different patterns.

Negative approaches threaten your ability to learn; they can make you lose confidence and cause it hard to cope up with complex issues. The more aware you become about yourself, the more you can challenge your apparent beliefs and begin to think more positively. A positive mindset makes this miracle happen!

Thinking skills - A Must for kids

Most of the time, children are busy cramming facts, without even letting themselves stand back to think about what new areas still needs to be discovered. Cramming makes their thinking become sluggish and make them overlook the exciting fact that there is still much to be investigated and revealed in any topic. Hence it is important that we need to make the child understand the benefits of thinking individually. Thinking skills are an essential part in a child's life. First and the foremost, the thinking skill help the child to think about an information in a crystal clear way. Thus it paves the way for them to understand that the knowledge is not something that is created by others and passed on to them; they have got the piece of the information themselves.So my idea is to engage them in the following five key areas for clear thinking:

• What do I know about this topic?
• What are the facts about it?
• What is still to be discovered or proved?
• How could I sum up this topic in my own words?
• What evidence do I have to support my opinion?

By this activity, we can help the kids gather knowledge and think through topics for themselves. This in turn will let them know, how to question things in classroom discussions and enhance their critical thinking. Your child can also practice this clear thinking pattern to access all other information that they come across in everyday life. For example, when they are watching television programmes or reading magazines with advertisements in them, they can get in to the habit of using their own independent thinking about products they see, instead of passively accepting all the "blurb" that is blasted at them as undisputed fact. Thus by kindling thinking skills in kids, they would become aware of two great natural abilities they possess : imagination and critical thinking. By combining these two abilities they will be following a pattern of thinking that unlocks creativity - naturally!

Identify your smartness

When Dr. Howard Gardner, a professor of cognition and education at Harvard University, suggested the idea of multiple intelligences in the 1980s, he started a revolution. Before this, intelligence was almost entirely judged in relation to IQ. Tests covered mathematical and linguistic skills, with a bit of problem-solving thrown in for good measure. When IQ tests effectively sifted academic individuals from those who were more practical by nature, they were a poor indicator of future success in life, love or work. They also provided a very limited definition of what it was to be smart.

Gardner’s idea is remarkably simple and it goes with the grain of common sense. He identified eight types of intelligence, which I have described below. The final two types on the list have been added by other thinkers since Gardner developed his theory. See if you can recognize yourself in any or some of these descriptions.

LINGUISTIC

You like words and stories. Word-play intrigues you and you are an avid reader. You have a good vocabulary. You probably enjoy learning languages. You like writing and may well be able to remember lists of words and tell good stories.

MATHEMATICAL

You seek to understand the relationships between different things. You like figures, puzzles, abstract problems and brain-teasers. You appreciate patterns, categories and systems.

VISUAL

You notice colour, form and texture. You probably use pictures to help you remember things, and diagrams, maps and doodles when you are making notes.  You may well be able to draw, paint or sculpt.

PHYSICAL

You enjoy physical exercise, sports and dance. You tend to be on your feet at the first opportunity whether in a meeting or at the party. You learn by rolling up your sleeves and getting on with things.

MUSICAL

You are attuned to sounds and rhythms. You probably relished singing and listening to music from an early stage. You can recall songs and melodies well. Music impacts powerfully on your moods.

EMOTIONAL

You tend to look within yourself, on a constant quest for self-knowledge. You may keep a diary of your experiences, moods and thoughts. You enjoy time to think and reflect, and you understand and mange your emotions well.

SOCIAL

You enjoy other people’s company and getting to know people. Parties, meetings, team games and gregarious activities appeal to your nature. You show high levels of empathy with other people.

ENVIRONMENTAL

You are fascinated by nature and see things in it that pass others by. You probably like being outdoors and are fond of animals. You take a keen interest in your home environment, inside or outside.

SPIRITUAL

You enjoy grappling with the fundamental questions of existence. You tend to act according to your principles, possibly questioning the normal ways of behaving in a given situation. You probably hold well-developed beliefs that you are ready to stand up for.

PRACTICAL

You like making things happen. You are often called on to fix, mend or assemble things, or to come up with situations. Where others talk about what needs to be done, you prefer to get on and do it.

Now that you know there exist different kinds of smartness, why don’t you identify yourself with one of these and strengthen you skills!

MY BRAIN POWER SESSIONS @ TCS SHOLINGANALLUR CHENNAI

Junior Group

Senior Group

Secret of unlocking creativity in kids

The simple way of unlocking the power of creativity in children is by asking them just two simple words: 'Why not? ' Used correctly this enables children to:

• Value their creative ability
• Practice presenting their ideas to others
• Have confidence in their ideas.

As your child unleashes their creative thinking, they might come up with some suggestions that may be hilarious. By all means laugh with them but not at them! Otherwise we are back to square one making them have no confidence in their thoughts for improving it. So at this stage, remember to focus on what really is important: no matter how bizarre their suggestions might be. It does not matter whether your child is in junior or high school - the same thing applies.

Remember that the precise nature of their ideas is not important here - developing confidence in freely expressing their creativity is the utmost need of the hour. Getting an idea from vision to reality follows a creative pattern. By trying out new ideas combined with determination to succeed, inventions and discoveries are made.