Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
MISS U SHOBHANA MAM
Perfect Teacher!
A Teacher Is…
Someone who is wise...
Who cares about the students and wears no disguise.
But is honest and open and shares from the heart.
Not just lessons from books, but life where you are.
A teacher takes time to help and tutor.
With English or math or on a computer.
It's (Teacher' name) who's patient, even in stress.
Who never gives less than the very best!
Not that I was the perfect student,
But you were the perfect teacher for me!
--Author Unknown
CAN ART BE THERAPEUTIC
CAN ART BE THERAPEUTIC?
As I walked into the portals of Bambino school and saw the children there drawing with a lot of interest, I thought it was all for fun. But as I spoke to the teachers around, I discovered that they were trying to help the children through art. Art was indeed being used as a therapy to help children overcome the problems and challenges they were facing.
“Art therapy is the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living, and by people who seek personal development. Through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes, people can increase awareness of self and others cope with symptoms, stress, and traumatic experiences; enhance cognitive abilities; and enjoy the life-affirming pleasures of making art”, is how the American art therapy association defines art therapy. Recently three art therapists visited Chennai and had conducted workshops and seminars at various places. The host of the art therapy programs was the bambino educational trust led by Mrs. Devila Patel.
The three art therapists who were here to share their knowledge and expertise are Dr Judith Rubin, DR Gaelynn Bordonaro and Mrs. Sangeeta Prasad. Dr Judith Rubin has been in the field of art therapy for the past 44 years and has several books and films to her credit. Dr Gaelynn Bordonaro is the director of graduate art therapy program at the Emporia state university in Kansas. Mrs. Sangeeta Prasad, has done her masters in art therapy from the George Washington university and is presently working on a program to bring art therapy to schools in India.
“We use the creative power of art to help people with various kinds of problems, be it psychological, individual or family problems. Art is another language for people who can’t speak. Art therapy is the process of understanding emotions and ideas expressed through visual imagery” said Mrs. Sangeeta Prasad as she gave an over view about art therapy. The younger children have less of inhibitions and express freely. So the art therapists encourage a lot of scribbling. Art gives them an insight into the child’s mind and they manage to help the child move from scribbling to identifying pictures and writing.
Dr Judith Rubin came up with an example of a deaf child whom she treated back in the US. She said the child had just come back from the dentist and drew a picture of a mouth wide open. DR Rubin understood that the child is able to express herself through art and taught her sign language through art. “We look for indicators of development. Each child has a different process of doing art. We try and understand each one of them and help them accordingly” said Dr Judith Rubin.
Dr Gaelynn Bordonaro incidentally worked with the Tsunami children both in Indonesia and in the Andaman’s. She said “I saw a professionally taken picture of the sea with a lot of coconut debris in it. And I was surprised when a lot of children drew similar pictures of water with coconut debris in it when I asked them to draw their experience of the tsunami. But the worst affected children could not even express themselves through art.” She also had a chance to visit Chennai and meet some of the people affected by the tsunami.
Art is no doubt therapeutic and helps people with various problems. But not very artist is an art therapist. An art therapist should be trained well, because in art people want to jump to conclusions. “We need to readopt to reinvent” said a proud Mrs. Sangeeta Prasad as she looks to fulfill her dream of bring art therapy to schools in India.
SEMINAR CUM WORKSHOP
The bambino educational trust hosted an art therapy seminar cum workshop at the Savera hotel on 14th July 2007. It was attended by renowned art therapists Dr Judith Rubin, Dr Gaelynn Bordonaro, and Mrs. Sangeeta Prasad. The seminar was divided into two sessions- the morning session included talks by the three experts and the afternoon session included a workshop and question and answer session. The morning session began with an introductory talk by Mrs. Sangeeta Prasad. She spoke on the various stages of art in children and also on how they help them through art. She then gave an introduction about her dream house project where she goes to various schools and asks children to draw their dream house.
The next on the dais was Dr Judith Rubin. Dr Rubin showed clippings of art therapy films where both normal and special children were helped through art therapy. Dr Gaelynn spoke about her experience helping the tsunami affected children.
In the afternoon session, all the participants were given paper, crayons etc and asked to express themselves through art. This was followed by a question answer session.
The seminar on the whole was very informative and gave an insight into the field of art therapy.
FIGHTING TO KEEP FIT
FIGHTING TO KEEP FIT
Every time I see the picture of a model on the cover page of a magazine, I wonder she has such a svelte figure. Is she gifted with such a figure? Or how much does she have to work out to keep her figure in shape? Or may be she has had some surgery done to get that kind of a figure? Several questions shroud my mind in this regard. As I tried to discover more about these models, I understood that fitness is a vital part of their life.
What is fitness? Fitness is not about being thin, having a small waist, or having bulging muscles. It is a combination of qualities that enable us to be at our full potential in performing vigorous physical activities. It is the ability of our body to perform physical activity without any stress. There are two aspects to being fit- one is being physically fit by working out and the other is to follow a healthy diet. Modeling is a career which requires people to be on their toes all the time. Models need to have great skin, toned muscles, and svelte figures. It is indeed a mammoth task for models to maintain their figure. And these days’ people try various things from cosmetic surgery to fad diets just to keep fit and look sexy. How important is it for them to keep fit? “Fitness is important for all, but especially important for models. It is very important for them to follow a healthy diet and a good exercise regime. They should renew their exercise regime every 3 weeks as it takes 3 weeks for their body to get used to a certain kind of exercise” says Divya Ramprasad, an ex Miss India finalist and currently a fitness trainer at Fitness one, Alwarpet.
“Personally I feel fitness is very important for any man or woman. For a model too it is equally or more important to be fit since they are in a profession of 'looking good'. 'Looking good' is all about confidence. So if you feel fit you feel beautiful! Having the right weight for your height and a toned body is also essential
for a model to carry herself well in any kind of clothes” says Sruti Hari, a model and film maker. To have these sexy figures on one hand where these models have rigorous work out schedules, on the other hand they also have to take care of their diet. It is important to follow a healthy diet. But these days many models are following fad diets. A fad diet is anything that promises dramatic results. It could be at the atkins diet, the south beach diet, eat right for your blood type diet and the likes. But these can be dangerous to the heath. Cutting down on carbs totally is not good, going on a complete soya diet is equally bad. So it is very important for these models to follow a healthy diet which is right combination of proteins and carbohydrates in order to keep fit.
Modeling is indeed a very challenging career. “Models are not just brand ambassadors, but also role models for the public. The public are influenced more by the models than by the products. So it is very important they keep themselves fit and look good” says Dr Sheela Viswanath, a microbiologist who has been a model and won the Mrs Chennai contest a few years ago.
The secret behind those svelte sexy figures of models who grace the cover pages of magazines is indeed a strict fitness regime combined with a healthy diet.
Every time I see the picture of a model on the cover page of a magazine, I wonder she has such a svelte figure. Is she gifted with such a figure? Or how much does she have to work out to keep her figure in shape? Or may be she has had some surgery done to get that kind of a figure? Several questions shroud my mind in this regard. As I tried to discover more about these models, I understood that fitness is a vital part of their life.
What is fitness? Fitness is not about being thin, having a small waist, or having bulging muscles. It is a combination of qualities that enable us to be at our full potential in performing vigorous physical activities. It is the ability of our body to perform physical activity without any stress. There are two aspects to being fit- one is being physically fit by working out and the other is to follow a healthy diet. Modeling is a career which requires people to be on their toes all the time. Models need to have great skin, toned muscles, and svelte figures. It is indeed a mammoth task for models to maintain their figure. And these days’ people try various things from cosmetic surgery to fad diets just to keep fit and look sexy. How important is it for them to keep fit? “Fitness is important for all, but especially important for models. It is very important for them to follow a healthy diet and a good exercise regime. They should renew their exercise regime every 3 weeks as it takes 3 weeks for their body to get used to a certain kind of exercise” says Divya Ramprasad, an ex Miss India finalist and currently a fitness trainer at Fitness one, Alwarpet.
“Personally I feel fitness is very important for any man or woman. For a model too it is equally or more important to be fit since they are in a profession of 'looking good'. 'Looking good' is all about confidence. So if you feel fit you feel beautiful! Having the right weight for your height and a toned body is also essential
for a model to carry herself well in any kind of clothes” says Sruti Hari, a model and film maker. To have these sexy figures on one hand where these models have rigorous work out schedules, on the other hand they also have to take care of their diet. It is important to follow a healthy diet. But these days many models are following fad diets. A fad diet is anything that promises dramatic results. It could be at the atkins diet, the south beach diet, eat right for your blood type diet and the likes. But these can be dangerous to the heath. Cutting down on carbs totally is not good, going on a complete soya diet is equally bad. So it is very important for these models to follow a healthy diet which is right combination of proteins and carbohydrates in order to keep fit.
Modeling is indeed a very challenging career. “Models are not just brand ambassadors, but also role models for the public. The public are influenced more by the models than by the products. So it is very important they keep themselves fit and look good” says Dr Sheela Viswanath, a microbiologist who has been a model and won the Mrs Chennai contest a few years ago.
The secret behind those svelte sexy figures of models who grace the cover pages of magazines is indeed a strict fitness regime combined with a healthy diet.
HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO COUNSEL PARENTS
HOW IMPORTANT IS TO COUNSEL PARENTS?
Just as the child steps into class 12, there are two factors which the parents begin to worry about. Of course the board exams and then admission! Admissions are like a night mare for many parents. They have certain dreams for their children. But children dream differently. There is always a tussle between the two. Who wins finally? How do parents deal with this pressure? Do they need to be counseled?
“Counseling is certainly helpful. There are times when the parents think a certain seat in a certain college is their ultimate goal and they push their children in to it. Where as the child may not be interested in the subject at all and suffer as a result. It is therefore important to tell the parents that they should either convince the child about their choice or be convinced themselves that the child does not have an aptitude for a certain subject and wishes to do something else” says Dr Kamala Viswanathan, a retired professor from a reputed city college who has taken the plunge into counseling after her retirement.
“Parents tend to inflict their choice upon the children. If they haven’t achieved a certain dream in their childhood they want their child to do it. My daughter was very keen on computer science engineering, whereas my husband wanted her to do something different like law. But she convinced us that law isn’t her cup of tea. Her choice of computer science engineering was loud and clear. Today she is a student at the Meenakshi Sundarrajan engineering college” says Vaijayanthi Arjun whose daughter Vineeta has just begun her first year in college. Vineeta says “I knew what I wanted to study and I am happy my parents have been supportive of my choice.”
Mrs. Saras Bhaskar , a reputed counselor in the city also agrees to this. She says “ pre admission counseling is beneficial to both parents and students. The counseling should be based on the students skill, interest, abilities and IQ and the individual input that the student may have. At times, institutions in a bid to balance out their admissions tend to distract students. In such cases if the parents are prepared with what their child requires they can handle the admission process better.”
Today the students have a world of opportunities before them. They have to make the right choice. The teachers play an important role in this. “ when we have parents bringing their children for admission, we need to tell them what opportunities our subject has to offer to their child. For eg I am the head of the department of history, and most people are averse to the subject. But when we tell them the kind of opportunities they have in the field of tourism, the kind of placements we get them, then they are convinced about their choice. It is therefore very important to convince and counsel the parents about the opportunities their children have” says Dr Patricia Gabriel, the HOD of history at Stella Maris college.
The views seem unanimous and the message seems loud and clear- parents need to be counseled, because they are preparing to let their child into a world of opportunities and making the right choice is indeed important for a child’s career.
Just as the child steps into class 12, there are two factors which the parents begin to worry about. Of course the board exams and then admission! Admissions are like a night mare for many parents. They have certain dreams for their children. But children dream differently. There is always a tussle between the two. Who wins finally? How do parents deal with this pressure? Do they need to be counseled?
“Counseling is certainly helpful. There are times when the parents think a certain seat in a certain college is their ultimate goal and they push their children in to it. Where as the child may not be interested in the subject at all and suffer as a result. It is therefore important to tell the parents that they should either convince the child about their choice or be convinced themselves that the child does not have an aptitude for a certain subject and wishes to do something else” says Dr Kamala Viswanathan, a retired professor from a reputed city college who has taken the plunge into counseling after her retirement.
“Parents tend to inflict their choice upon the children. If they haven’t achieved a certain dream in their childhood they want their child to do it. My daughter was very keen on computer science engineering, whereas my husband wanted her to do something different like law. But she convinced us that law isn’t her cup of tea. Her choice of computer science engineering was loud and clear. Today she is a student at the Meenakshi Sundarrajan engineering college” says Vaijayanthi Arjun whose daughter Vineeta has just begun her first year in college. Vineeta says “I knew what I wanted to study and I am happy my parents have been supportive of my choice.”
Mrs. Saras Bhaskar , a reputed counselor in the city also agrees to this. She says “ pre admission counseling is beneficial to both parents and students. The counseling should be based on the students skill, interest, abilities and IQ and the individual input that the student may have. At times, institutions in a bid to balance out their admissions tend to distract students. In such cases if the parents are prepared with what their child requires they can handle the admission process better.”
Today the students have a world of opportunities before them. They have to make the right choice. The teachers play an important role in this. “ when we have parents bringing their children for admission, we need to tell them what opportunities our subject has to offer to their child. For eg I am the head of the department of history, and most people are averse to the subject. But when we tell them the kind of opportunities they have in the field of tourism, the kind of placements we get them, then they are convinced about their choice. It is therefore very important to convince and counsel the parents about the opportunities their children have” says Dr Patricia Gabriel, the HOD of history at Stella Maris college.
The views seem unanimous and the message seems loud and clear- parents need to be counseled, because they are preparing to let their child into a world of opportunities and making the right choice is indeed important for a child’s career.
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