Tag: parenting

Prevent encouragement from being pressured with these tips!

Posted on by clusterone

Sometimes in the excitement to encourage your child, you may put pressure on them. It can be tricky to toe the line between encouragement and pressure and to help you avoid a troubling situation later, we have put together a list of tips you can use to ensure your child feels only enough pressure to learn and nothing more!

Workload photo created by wayhomestudio
  1. Do not force your interests on them – It is only natural that you as a parent may want to pass on your passion to your children. However, you must remember that children have their own dynamic interests that you may have no awareness of. See this as an opportunity for you to learn a new skill, hobby, or interest and in doing so, you’re building something in tandem with your child!
  2. Give them space to explore – If you have catered to your child’s interests, be prepared not to see results or performance instantly. Skills and interests need to be honed and honing is a time-intensive process. If you monitor your child for results, then they feel pressured to perform without having had enough time or space to explore these interests and they may feel like they are not good enough to pursue them at all!
  3. Feedback time – One way to really encourage instead of pressure your child is to schedule a regular feedback session with them. Do this exercise once a week so they can tell you where they are struggling, if they need more support from you or if they feel burnt out by their workload. This is also a good time to teach your child that you are open to receiving feedback as well!
  4. Make outdoor activities compulsory – Any type of activity that gives them a break from chasing their academic pursuits should be a mandatory part of their day. Encourage them to fulfil their social needs and play outdoors. Essentially anything that takes them away from the grind at least for some bit of the day!
  5. Give space for failure – This may seem like a tough thing to do but children should be taught to accept failure as part of their learning curve. They feel more encouraged and motivated if there is space to fail along with room to grow. This is all evolutionary and equally important for children to experience.

Giving children space and time is never a threat to their growth. In fact, the only way you can ensure your child learns and learns with passion is if you give them enough space. There will always be times when you will have to step in and take the reins. But remember, pressure makes a diamond only if exerted in controlled measures and that is the kind of encouragement children also need.

How to teach your children foundational numeracy from a young age?

Posted on by clusterone

Foundational numeracy is the ability of a person to understand number systems in ways that are used in everyday life. What it also means is that a person who can make safe financial decisions and make sense of numbers that drives their everyday lives from being able to pay for things, to counting items that they purchase or making solid financial decisions about saving/ spending and the likes. Foundational numeracy relies heavily on a person’s mental Math skills and there are so many fun ways to learn it!

How soon can you teach a child how to do all these things? The answer is at the earliest! Here are some tips that you can use which will help your child not just learn foundational numeracy but also ace at it.

Follow these tips to help your child learn numeracy at a young age:

  1. Leverage the use of money – Currency is a good way to teach numeracy to kids. Children understand spending money to acquire an item of interest. Mix it up with savings and teach them how to manage their finances and boom, you have a successful mission. Help them set up a home savings account. You can also make it creative by helping them maintain a passbook that shows them exactly how much money they have on them. 
  2. Board games – Board games are not just fun, they are also informative. Aside from teaching children the virtue of patience and applied knowledge, what it also does is help students gather more refined skills such as foundational literacy. Invest in games like Monopoly to leverage their interest and then build on it!
  3. Give them minor accounting tasks – If you are at a grocery store and the cashier generates a bill, give it to your child and ask them to help you with calculations. When you’re doing any financial transactions, enlist their help in calculating the amount you need to pay or the amount you need to return. These are great ways in which you can sharpen their mental math skills as well!
  4. Use a mental math chart – There are plenty of resources available on the internet that allow children to pick up skills that are outside their school curriculum. There are websites from where you can download worksheets to teach and learn. If you attach a reward to this method, it makes it easier for a child to engage with the process also.
  5. Abacus – Sending your child to abacus lessons can be critical in helping them understand key mathematical concepts later on. Abacus classes help students learn systems that can simplify mathematical computations and it is essential that they are allowed to explore these diverse opportunities as well.

There are a lot of creative ways in which you can teach children concepts like functional numeracy. It is only a matter of engaging them in ways they want to learn. If you are a parent or teacher who enjoys creative ways of teaching and learning, then do write to us with suggestions! For the others, we are here to help you with tips and tricks that can make learning look easy!

AI is the future of education

Posted on by pankaj.harvard
Robotic brain
Brain technology photo created by rawpixel.com

The shift to tech-enabled learning was accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic and it may not have been the most desirable driving force but what the pandemic did was push tech integration into the field of education. Companies across the world are happy about this since they can now show the world what technology can do if used in its most essential forms. Before we get into how AI technology plays a role in education, we will understand what AI means!

AI System definition, history, and the likes:

There are certain areas where manual effort can drive very little change especially if it is required to be expended on a larger scale. Some human tasks can be automated in such a way that it drives maximum impact and at a much larger scale. For all those tasks, we make use of Artificial Intelligence. While AI systems may perform tasks that we generally associate with humans, it is humans who build the framework that allows for AI principles to function!

AI is a determining tool that uses data to make recommendations, and decisions and also arrive at evidence-based research findings all in seconds. AI can save time and a lot of valuable human resources that can be used in other domains of functioning. AI can also help people make decisions based on risks and rewards. So these are just a few of the vast capabilities that AI can power. 

With the right frameworks, AI can do things efficiently, very effectively, and on a massive scale.

Robotic hand
Robot hand photo created by rawpixel.com

AI in Education:

Keeping all the aforementioned points in mind there are a few things that we can be sure that AI does- 

  1. It helps teachers understand not just the needs of their students but also more personal things about their students. For instance, teachers can learn through AI where a student’s learning interests are.
  2. AI gives evidence-based reports to teachers rather quickly so teachers can foster collaboration with their students.
  3. AI is what is revamping and revolutionizing assessments right now. What AI does is use assessments as a diagnostic tool that reflects on a child’s learning needs instead of using it as an indicator of their capabilities.
  4. AI as a feedback tool is more reliable, free from bias and cancels out any human error in the estimation process. When feedback is communicated to a student purely based on their performance, students tend to rely on that more than any other form.
  5. AI helps eliminate boundaries. AI does not see geographical boundaries. It can be used anytime anywhere, truly inspiring the idea that AI is a global experience.

There is a lot about AI that is still under research and development but what we have in the markets and in access these days makes use of some very optimal tools to give students an experience they will enjoy. Artificial intelligence is driven by innovation and if coached well, students grow to enjoy the method behind it also. What AI also does is inspire and it is important now more than ever that students appreciate their opportunities to learn and act on them with performance, drive, and passion!

Help your child manage their learning with these tips!

Posted on by pankaj.harvard
Photo by javier trueba on Unsplash

Children require a lot of attention when they are pursuing academic interests and it is not the kind of attention that you think they need. Having parents spend every learning moment with them can cause children to lose focus, feel suffocated and also dislike the process. For the sake of this article, we researched and put together a list of 5 things that work in helping your child manage their schoolwork and here’s also why these are important.

1. Time management

Children need to be taught time management from early on as it brings discipline to the growing and learning process. Help them build a timetable and hold them accountable for it. Avoid being the one who fills in the timetable for them, that is for them to figure out. However, you can oversee to ensure there is school-play balance and also time for some extracurricular activities. It would also help if you had a time management chart so that you can lead by example!

2. Create space for open communication

When your child feels burnt out or pressured, they should be able to articulate it to you. Children who cannot do that grow up to entertain more stress and anxiety. Managing a timetable also means looking at the tasks at hand and being able to say “it is too much for today, I will work on it when I have more mental energy”. This also teaches them the importance of rest.

3. Befriend the school and teachers

Do not be one of those parents who calls their child’s teachers every day. Be friendly enough with the teachers to know how your child is doing in school, if they’ve noticed any behavioural changes or if they have some tips for your child to follow. It is important you do so primarily because you can intervene wherever necessary without badgering your child too much. It is also good if you communicate regularly with the school so that you are aware of all the developments and opportunities that are available to your child at school.

4. Help them think long-term

Management essentially means building a process today so that the outcomes are fruitful tomorrow. When your child is building their routine or expressing their interests, ask them to think about it long term as well. For example, if your child wants to learn a new language, first ask them if they can continue pursuing these interests through multiple other engagements and how they seek to benefit from it in the long term. You can also help them by finding the answers to some of these questions for them!

5. Do not overschedule

Your child may be good at multiple things but it is important for them to find time for it. Also as parents, you may want your child to fulfil each one of their interests but in the worst-case scenario, you may end up turning an interest into a chore. Helping your child manage their time also means teaching them to prioritise their immediate needs and make space for other pursuits in the future.

Parents, learning goes beyond teaching charts and sitting with them while they learn. It is also about giving space, learning when to hold your child accountable and also giving in to their interests if they show interest along with commitment. We hope these tips will help you and your child!

Teach your children to love Maths with these tips!

Posted on by pankaj.harvard
Math textbook page
Photo by Deepak Gautam from Pexels

Mathematics or Maths for short, has been an item of absolute terror for students across generations. There’s no easy way to say this but Maths, you are more feared than you are loved. Before you read the above sentences and agree with us, remember that this is the fear that you can prevent your children from embodying and you could break the bad spell surrounding Maths. Want to know how? We have a list of five tips you can use!

1 . Lead the change you want to see –

If you have had a bad experience with Maths and you constantly narrate it to your children, then they start internalizing a fear for the subject. This is something that you may want to prevent. Granted that Maths may not have been easy for you but the goal is to make sure your child does not approach the subject with any preconceived fears. Maths anxiety is real and very catchy.

2. Know what they need to know and by when –

Each grade or level is assigned a specific set of math skills a child needs to know. For instance, kindergarten Maths will require number recognition and your child will need to know how to conceptualize numbers through examples; they should be able to count out five apples in a basket of ten. Knowing what they need to know is useful when you want to complement their school learning with activities at home.

3. Allow them to learn through conceptual experiences –

Maths is best learnt as a life skill and not a textbook concept. If your child is old enough to own a bank account, help them set up one. Additionally, you could ask them to keep track of their savings with the passbook and also teach them to calculate various things such as interest rates. This is a fun way to see Maths being used live in action! Also dispels the fear if they are rewarded for it through their savings account!

4. Board Games are fun when it comes to Maths –

There are plenty of fun board games that require the use of applied Mathematics for victory. Games like Monopoly are not just great family games but will also teach your kids to appreciate the finesse with which Maths is being used everywhere, especially for fun!

5. Avoid Tuitions for performance –

Tuitions the way we have experienced are the most detrimental experiences for students who want to learn Maths. We send students for tuitions in the country only in the event that they are doing very poorly at it. A child forced into tuition will believe that they are incompetent at that subject. Introduce tuitions as a concept to help them hone their skills instead of a method to discipline learning. It may be difficult to find a teacher who can help your student this way but till you do, avoid standardised tuition practices.

Maths is only as scary as it is made to be and we must treat it with confidence and respect. There is no point fretting about a subject like Maths that is highly misunderstood. So much of Maths is a learner’s paradise and it is time we demystify the subject for now and forever! If you need help with that, get started with our app, Class Saathi: MCQ Revision App. It’s for students in Class 6-10, free with 25K+ practice questions!

How to keep strong student engagement in class?

Posted on by pankaj.harvard

While teachers do their best on most occasions, it can be difficult to keep a classroom fully engaged in a 45-minute teaching session. What works to a disadvantage these days is also the fact that increased digital time has resulted in reduced attention span in children. As educators, it can be frustrating to have one child distracted in class who inevitably distracts other students too. Want to know how to be engaging in class and retain attention? Read on to find out!

1. Ice Breakers

Ice breakers are a good way to refresh young minds from learning fatigue. Children sit in classrooms all day learning subjects and concepts throughout. It can be tedious for them to switch gears and maintain the same level of focus for each class. So, having ice breakers will give them something to focus on and give them a mental break from the stress of constantly having to be present!

2. Switch up teaching styles

Students learning outdoor
Outdoor Learning

Do not rely only on one method of teaching to help your students. Students respond to variety and if you enlist the use of audiovisual content, outdoor teaching activities and the like, you are at a great advantage of being able to retain their energy.

3 . Peer learning is key when all else

What can truly work in moments of absolute desperation is peer learning. You can split them up into groups and have students learn concepts in that group. What you can also do is announce a group quiz contest after the teaching session to drive some enthusiasm in class.

4. Education Apps (Class Saathi by TagHive)

We live in a world with apps and only apps and one thing we can rely on when all else fails is the use of educational apps. This is not just a fun way to engage students but it can also help them learn concepts more easily.

QR code to download Class Saathi app
Scan to download Class Saathi

5. Announce a formative assessment

On days when the classroom energy is low, you can use formative assessments as a bolt of energy to reawaken your class. When there is a test around the corner, students will find themselves being more alert and responsive.

There are a dozen ways to manage, motivate and measure students and the best way to do it is in ways that they are happiest responding to. The idea is not to create an environment of fear where children are forced to learn. Instead, having an ecosystem that takes into account what the students are feeling and helping them by enlisting resources that work best for them will make learning in the classroom a far more enjoyable process!

How to successfully talk to children about exams?

Posted on by pankaj.harvard

Exams are a terrifying experience for everybody so you cannot blame children for being scared of it. However, times are changing and the way we examine student abilities has changed considerably. For that reason, we need to change the way we perceive examinations and have conversations about them that dispel the fear surrounding them. Here are some ways you can make examinations look like activities instead of a doomsday spell.

1. Teach them skills that will help them ace their exams –

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

Examples are a reflection of a disciplined process. If you teach your students or children essential skills like time management and priority-based learning, you are giving them a golden lesson in making the best use of time and resources. Most often it is how you prepare more than what you prepare that gets students acing exams. If you focus on skill development such as this, it lifts the focus from having to score more to a more balanced teaching experience where they learn essential skills that will help them long term.

2. Be careful with your words –

Students in the world today know the pressure and challenges like nobody else. The competition is higher these days and school curriculums have changed to test for multiple dimensions of learning. All this can really stress a student out and prevent them from learning to the best of their needs. Be careful not to use words like “pass” or “fail” around them. Replace that with “growth” and “support”.

3. Lead by example –

Photo by Annushka Ahuja from Pexels

It helps if your child knows your process and it is also a bonding experience in itself. When adults help students gather skills and teach them their ways, they are passing down a moment instead of a lesson! Look at it that way and help them strategise learning based on tips that worked for you!

4. Post examination feedback/communication –

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

Understand how your child has performed in their examination by asking them questions about their feelings instead of asking them how much they will score. For instance, ask if your child felt confident after writing the paper. If they say no, ask them why and help them figure out a strategy to address the same!

5. Stop worrying for them –

No amount of you worrying as an adult will benefit your child/student. Children are like sponges and they absorb the energy they receive or see. If you radiate a world of worry, they will embody it and treat exams with a detrimental amount of fear!

There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to helping children learn but examinations are tricky and if done incorrectly, it can scar children and affect their motivation to learn. What we need to do is make examinations a diagnostic tool for them to reflect on instead of seeing it as an encapsulation of their abilities. Let us know what tips you have discovered that work magically for your child or students. Write to us in the comments below or you can write in at [email protected]

5 ways to teach your young ones multiplication tables

Posted on by pankaj.harvard

Multiplication is a fantastic Mathematical concept and it can be used to have so much fun! There are a plethora of ways in which you can use multiplication as a method to bond with your children. Amongst many different ways, let this blog guide you on a few ways you can start teaching children multiplication tables.

1. Do multiplication charts

A fun post-lesson activity could be to fill in a multiplication table chart. Once they finish the chart, you can reward them. This system helps your young ones sharpen their mental Math skills and rewarding them for it will only increase their curiosity! You can download Whizz’s handy times table sheet for the same!

2. Educational card games

Want to battle it out the multiplication way? Here’s what you need to do. Get a deck of cards, both players have to draw from the pile at the same time and place the cards in front of them. Whoever correctly estimates the product of the two cards wins the round.

3. Short quizzes every now and then

The idea is to quiz your child in such a way that they remain alert for your quiz questions whenever. This also means that in general, they are sharpening their focus. However be sure to do it as gap fillers, for instance, do a multiplication quiz when you are waiting for a bus at the bus stand or when you’re shopping.

4. Raise them to enjoy the process

Cultivating a taste for multiplication tables is a tough task however a highly achievable one. The best way to do it is by teaching them the easiest tables first and then the rest. This way, they also feel more confident about learning tougher ones progressively.

5. Multiplication Songs have a special place in the Math world

Songs about multiplication are a genre unto itself on the interest and if there is a way to get children to learn a new concept, it is highly recommended that you pick the song and dance method.

Multiplication is a game-changing Math concept as once you learn it, everything you learn after that relies on you knowing it. The fun thing though is that multiplication is also the most fun to practise and there are a million ways to do it. We have just mentioned 5. There are more ways in which you can and one thing you should definitely do is download Class Saathi to test and challenge yourself on the same!

5 Strategies for building motivation in your child

Posted on by pankaj.harvard
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Children who score the best marks in exams are not the only smart kids in the class or school. In fact, a lot of students who have top-scoring potential are unable to do so because they haven’t been trained to learn in the ways that work for them. Any child who is coached to understand their learning styles and identify their limitations can excel not just in academics but also in life. Knowing how to work according to your personal style is crucial in long-serving motivation. Want to ensure that your child remains motivated to learn and study? Here are five tips that are ought to help!

1. Allow them to take the lead wherever they can

Teaching your child to articulate their strengths and weaknesses is crucial in ensuring they can express themselves in the best way possible. Ask them what they want to do, what topics they want to study and be open to the possibility of not being involved in everything your child does. Children respond better to learning when they do not feel controlled and when you are fostering an atmosphere that allows them to take charge of their academics.

2. Lead by example

Photo by Monstera from Pexels

If you want your child’s curiosity to be nurtured by motivation, you must show them that you are constantly committed to trying or learning new things. For instance, if you take up a hobby and see it through, then you are showing your child that learning is fun and fruitful if supported with discipline and dedication. The best way to do this is to also engage your child in learning a new hobby with you.

3. Make the learning count and not the performance

Regularly associating learning with performance is detrimental to a child. Children tend to stop enjoying learning if everything they do is seen as a road to A+ on their report cards. They lose the value of the learning experience if they are only measured on their final performance. For any big project to come alive, the process is what people tend to refine and that is what leads to the final outcome. So always support the process over the outcome!

4. Recognise them as their own individuals

Children respond to “I told you to do this / I told you so” the same way adults do. The idea that children do not know any better is what keeps them from learning and staying motivated. They will need parental validation on everything they do and won’t be able to make independent decisions on their own. It is important for parents to give them a space to discuss their interests, argue their case and form their own opinions.

5. Discipline and organisation

Photo by Julia M Cameron from Pexels

Encouraging your child’s interest is simply not enough. They must also be taught to commit themselves to the ideas they express or the interests they want to pursue. For instance, if a child has made a verbal commitment to learning a new language, follow up with them and ask them when they would like to initiate the process and also help them to find a time and space for it. Allowing these interests to hang in the air makes children feel like their parents don’t take their learning needs seriously enough.

As parents, you always want to curate the best experiences for your children and that holds true for academics as well. Children are sponges and they absorb whatever environments they see around them. So, it is important that we provide them with the support and mental stimulation they need as it only helps them stay focused when they grow older!

Class Saathi’s Maths quiz challenges!

Posted on by pankaj.harvard
Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

It might seem like there is no fun way to learn Maths as a subject but you are wholly mistaken if you believe that. If there is a subject that can be extremely fun to learn, it is Maths and we at TagHive Inc. are here to show you all the different ways in which our app Class Saathi helps make learning fun and full of passion!

Class Saathi is an AI-powered quiz app for students through which they can practise their daily lessons, compete against an AI timer and also test their knowledge with the help of Mock Tests. There are so many different ways in which you can use the app, which makes it a super fun experience for children but it doesn’t stop with fun alone; a lot of intelligent frameworks surrounding the app make this learning experience a very scientific one. So let us take a look at Class Saathi’s offerings:

1. Class Saathi is an endless reserve of practice questions –

Students can use the Class Saathi app to practise their daily Maths lessons. The app is replete with CBSE / NCERT quizzes and it follows the same chapter sequencing as the textbooks do. Students can then use the app to test their proficiency in the concepts taught and if in the event that they do not get certain questions right, the app gives the student revision material in the form of concept notes and video explanations. They can also bookmark the questions they get wrong so that it all forms a reserve where students can see their progress.

2. Mock Tests –

Class Saathi Mock Tests are chapter & difficulty customisable!

Mock tests are a fun way to learn Maths as it creates an atmosphere of competition and students can challenge themselves to a mock test over the app. The mock tests come in two formats – a. A full mock test which is an hour-long and b. A half mock test which is 30 minutes long. Encourage your students to make the best use of these mock tests as it refines not just the knowledge base of the student but it also sharpens their competitive edge.

3. The AI Timer –

Class Saathi AI Timer is a perfect example of gamified learning. Give it a try!

The AI timer is a fairly new development with the app and web developers in South Korea have worked really hard to see this vision turn into reality. The app uses artificial intelligence in the form of a clock that students have to compete against but in the most unusual way. Based on the information the app has gathered about a student (student’s learning level, speed and knowledge), the timer recommends the amount of time a student may take to get an answer right. It also makes a calculated assumption as to whether or not the student will get a question right. If the student manages to answer the question in a time lower than the one the AI timer predicted, the student is rewarded. Same goes for the predicted answer as well!

Technology has advanced to such a degree that all it takes is a simple app to diagnose gaps in learning. What we also need to mention is that our app is fully AI-powered which means it goes out of its way to curate a personalized learning experience for students. The app can do this for each and every student even if there are 25 million students using the app (this is just a reference number, it can accommodate a lot more people!). 

Haven’t tested the app yourself? Go ahead and download it from the play store!