The factory model of education came into vogue in the 19th century.  Students began to fill classrooms and teachers became drastically outnumbered introducing the challenge of quality in schools.  Though it may seem that the solution is smaller classrooms and more teachers, this is an ideal to which the world may never return.  Needless to say, the current situation is that the student-teacher ratio in most educational environments are well over 20-1.  The factory model is here to stay because given this proportion, it is the only way to ensure quality. However, there is a huge disconnect in the factory model as it is applied to education.  In a car… Read More The post The Student Production Line was written by htadmin appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

How long can you work without getting distracted? These days, with mobiles always talking to us, it seems like our attention spans are getting reduced. In this environment, we expect kids to be able to sit anywhere from 1-3 hours working on a boring test or homework assignment. Concentration is not a child’s ability to sit for 3 hours. Concentration is a child’s ability to just focus on the next step and take it. Yes, sometimes we do need to plan our time, so that we can complete the test in the time given. That strategy comes later. No point in all that planning, if we have already mentally panicked… Read More The post Concentration was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

In Word Frames, we ask the kids to draw an image of the topic they are studying. The image should not be from the textbook.  Instead, it should come from their own imagination. Wouldn’t it be better for the kids to memorize the images in their textbook? To answer this, we first need to think about what school is trying to do. True or False? School teaches us about life. We would like to say true, but then if we start to think about some of the random things we were taught, we reach a different conclusion. We were taught about Romeo and Juliet. I suppose this is a life… Read More The post Image the Topic was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

Our caretakers (and our kids) sometimes think of Hidden Treasures as Arts & Crafts. We always correct them and say it is not just Arts and Crafts. Have you ever wondered why? It’s not that we don’t think Arts & Crafts is useful. In fact, Arts & Crafts are a great way for kids to express creativity. There is nothing wrong in it at all, and it can be a good experience for kids. The reason we want it to be viewed differently is because of the way Arts & Crafts is received by many adults, especially in the environments of our kids. Most adults view Arts & Crafts as… Read More The post Creativity with a Purpose was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

If you use the word “YOU CAN’T” in front of kids, they wont accept that.  Immediately, they will start working to prove “I CAN.”  Their feelings and emotions immediately become obvious.  Quitting is not something that kids have build into them.  There are other factors in kids quitting in the classroom. In my article “Tips for a Meaningful Education at Every Age“, there are three levels of education.  The kids at each of these three levels can learn by what they are seeing, learn by comparing with the real world and learn through fun. Only at the highest level, the tenth standard kids, they no longer benefit from the comparison… Read More The post Self-Worth Driven Education – July 2018 was written by Saranya Rathish appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

Attention parents! Here is a tip to help your child remember concepts better! Try out Word Frames! It is easy to do and enables your child to remember key concepts about any topic. All you have to do is instruct your child to draw out a concept using words. For example, if your child is learning about a Clock, all he/she has to do is pick out 5 to 10 keywords that describe the Clock like round, time, hands etc., and then draw the Clock using those keywords only. This method enables a child to retain more information and is proven to be effective. Our Word Frames program model turns… Read More The post Attention Parents! – Rote Meets Art Memorization was written by Priscilla Sam appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

Students discover the value of education in different ways.  This is because there are a lot of paths to a meaningful education. There was a time not too long ago when students had no facilities for higher studies.  Today, however, there are many opportunities made available by the government and NGOs for students to achieve and to explore in education.  All it takes is for a child to want to gain that meaningful education. Developing education within the Kallukuttai community, a marginalized area of Chennai, provides a study on the concept of a meaningful education. Meaningful Education Begins with Awareness In the Kallukuttai community, a marginalized area of Chennai, education… Read More The post Tips for a Meaningful Education at Every Age was written by Saranya Rathish appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

Attention parents! Is your child struggling with basic math? Here’s a tip for you! Try Hope Torch’s Mathletics program with your child. So what is this Mathletics? Basically, a child is given a test with math problems of simple addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, and the child is challenged to see if he/she can complete it in under 3 minutes. If the child can, then yay! If not, he/she is encouraged to take the same test again and try to complete it in under 3 minutes again. It works like a video game; you fail, you try over and over again till you succeed. Raju, one of our HT Chapter… Read More The post Attention Parents! – Math can be Fun! was written by Priscilla Sam appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

You know what makes Math beautiful? It’s the absoluteness of it. One thing must equal something else. Or it must not. The concept of equals has a symmetry that embodies perfection. The preciseness of equals is captivating. There is an attractiveness towards this absoluteness that innately draws us. We have affinities for certain foods. We either like the food.  Or we don’t like the food. This absoluteness builds an affinity for that food which identifies the food as “a food that is for us.” There is no in-between. For me it is PB&J sandwiches. I liked them as a kid, and I knew I liked them. Now, when I think… Read More The post No Fear of Math was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

The program utilizes the unique Word Frames method of studying subject matter.  The students review and reinforce the subjects taught in class by creating a Word Frame drawing based on the specific sections in the textbook recently covered by the school teachers. What is a Word Frame? Based on the textbook content assigned, the child draws one simple drawing which “reminds” the student about the subject. The child does not do any coloring. The child selects keywords or key phrases from the text. Using colored pencils, the child writes the keywords over and over in rows, filling in the spaces in the drawing. The keywords appear to color in the… Read More The post Word Frames – How It Works? was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

Introduction Problem Many children consider their education as an obligation or as a task of childhood.  However, the intention behind education is to equip children for life in adulthood.  This can only take place if the child is able to understand that the content they learn from school is derived from the outside world and more importantly, has meaning to them in the outside world.  This is true for all subjects, including and especially mathematics.  Unfortunately, most educational programs focus on filling a child with knowledge without making this connection to the outside world.  Word Frames is an attempt to change this mindset for the children. Vision To discover self-worth. … Read More The post Word Frames – Introduction: A Picture can Teach a Thousand Words was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

1      Program Objectives Creativity thrives at the intersection of the “possible” and the “not possible” idea.  Creativity takes place when practical, reality-based thinking is unbridled by perceived limitations. 2      In Action The Program Admin motivates the group to first choose a theme for their Hidden Treasures, project, the concept they wish to convey to their audience.  Next, the children are encouraged to develop an idea for the project that is best-suited for illustrating or accomplishing the theme regardless of any limitations in skills, resources, time, etc…  Finally, the children then design the project to reach as close as possible to their “not possible” idea. 3      Reasoning Kids are taught to… Read More The post Hidden Treasures – Creativity was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

Problem With the focus on individual performance and evaluation, the development of children within team and community is insufficient.  While children are taught team skills, they do not see the value in teams beyond just a shared workload.  Children must not only learn the necessary skills of teamwork, but the added value that occurs through teamwork.  Hidden Treasures instills the benefits of teamwork made possible in functional teams. Vision To instill an understanding with kids that the sum is greater than its parts; that teamwork isn’t simply adding together independent work, but combining independent skills and experiences to create one functional unit which is capable of much greater things than… Read More The post Hidden Treasures – Introduction: Our Sum is Greater than Our Parts was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

This program is designed to develop a sense of belief in the kids that the sum is greater than its parts and together, they can have  a tremendous impact.  In other words, they as a team, working as one unit, can create and accomplish things which as individuals wouldn’t seem possible.  The project challenges their collaboration and organizational skills.  It teaches them to bring out a single vision or point of emphasis in their work. One of the key principles of Hope Torch is to realize the impact that you can have upon your family and your community.  Self-worth exists for this purpose.  The projects the kids design should have… Read More The post Hidden Treasures – How it Works was written by htadmin appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..

Program Objectives To connect their school content and environment to the outside world that is relevant to the kid. In Action The Program Admin takes a section from the child’s textbook covering one specific topic and assigns it to the child.  The child then creates the word frame from the content within that section. Why it Works Most classrooms are overcrowded with a student to teacher ratio of over 25:1.   Most curriculum are structured as a shopping list of items which a child is supposed to learn in order to be deemed ready for the next level of education.   Most teachers are evaluated based on their ability to transfer as… Read More The post Word Frames – School Perspective was written by Arun Durairaj appeared first on A Journey in Self-Worth - ...discovering self-worth one person at a time..