Adaptive Instruction

Publications – 81 to 90: For The Joy of Sharing

Posted on June 4, 2022 Updated on June 17, 2022

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PUBLICATIONS: 81 – 90

#90. Cultural Conflict – Starts with you and your family

GUEST ARTICLE #44

Foreword by Venkat
The balance more critical than work-life balance is the balance between the independence we seek and the interdependence with others for a meaningful living. Our perceptions and beliefs become the wedges on which this balancing game rests. These perceptions and beliefs are largely determined by the culture of the times and one’s individual mindset. When these perceptions and beliefs differ from others, the principles of tolerance and acceptance bring the scale back to balance. If not for such a resolution, independence and individualism shift towards exclusion and seclusion.

Manna Abraham, with her long and rich experience as a leader in solving human problems, dives into the nature of conflict, illustrated well with real-life examples. In this article she explores how the management of conflict at a personal level in one’s family sets the foundation to management of conflict at the team, organization and country levels. In a succinct and logical approach, she shows how the inner virtues of tolerance and acceptance help us rise to our challenges for better living and experience.

Reflect on the concepts of culture, interpersonal relationships and the antidote to conflict as prescribed by Manna in her wonderful words.

#89 JOY OF LEARNING

EDUCATION ARTICLE #5

Foreword by Venkat
While at a personal level it becomes clear to us early in life on the basic principles of rights vs. wrong, we often face a deep chasm when it comes to our behavior and communication in a social context. Despite the best intentions and alignment to the right principles we are not understood or do not understand others. Behavior and communication present such a challenge because it may engage some and dis-engage the others within the same context. We are no longer dealing with only the self but on the fabric of interaction where often progress is critical to achieve the intended outcomes. This paradigm becomes complex when the ones we interact with are of a totally different age, culture or perception.

Richa Wahi brings such a conundrum faced in the schooling context where strictness may have a greater chance of instilling fear than discipline. She recounts her personal experience with her daughter and the incident in her school to substantiate her observations. I am sure many parents would find this resonate with their experience as well. It is clear that without a sense of security and belonging to a place, a student would never feel like opening up. Hence strictness, depending on how it is expressed, may endanger this feeling of security perhaps unknowingly by the teacher. This debate on what behaviors and speech instill fear, discipline or joy in the young minds to shape attitude is the highlight here and so wonderfully written by Richa.

Connect with the most relevant topic of teaching in our times with Richa Wahi in her thought provoking words.

STUDENT ARTICLE #14

Foreword by Venkat
History is not just a sequence of events but of people, power and decisions. The events are dynamic and may have had a fair chance of being something else, steered by different decisions. And often decision-making is never so straightforward as it may seem on the face. In this wonderfully detailed description of the French colonial rule, Gurubaran highlights the great influence and reach of the empire. The fact that it still has overseas regions and collectivities may not be so well known to the current generation. Hence this strikes the attention and provides the trigger of curiosity to understand France and the colonial history better. It is well written with all the relevant information in place. Readers are welcome to add or provide information in the comments that could be of interest to note in this subject.

Explore the pieces of French history that shine through in this beautifully collated research by young Gurubaran. Well done!

Pedagogy Market Research | Review #6

#86. CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

GUEST ARTICLE #43

Foreword by Venkat
Everything is either in a stage of growth or in a stage of decay. Hence change happens whether we agree or not. In this short article, Mekhala brings insight into change as a natural process and the advise to accept it. This is well illustrated with the tadpole and caterpillar story. At the same time, change is a necessary process for improvement and more often than not with a discomforting experience. The fact is that human intention, attention and effort can grow or decay things as per the discrimination used. Health, brainpower, learning and mental wellness can all be traced to an increase or decrease in cellular growth and neural connections. This intention, attention and effort come at the price of staying off one’s comfort zone but that is the differentiating factor between those who continuously improve and those who don’t.

Once again Mekhala brings a powerful message using very simple examples as food for thought.

#85. VEDIC ASTROLOgY IN A NUTSHElL – part II

WELLNESS ARTICLE #2

Foreword by Venkat
What makes the study of astrology in SIVA unique is in the evidence based approach to it. Dr. Bala has statistics backed information in the teaching content based on his work of more than four decades studying people’s birth charts. This scientific layer on top of the original scriptural texts in astrology bridges the gap between theory and reality using evidence collection. Astrology is just one factor in the equation to determine an outcome. Free will (human effort), Karma doctrine and chance in combination with astrological awareness increase the chances towards a better life and living. As he says, astrology does not predict the future. It enables one to progressively ‘work towards’ a better future armed with an evidence based body of knowledge. In this second part, Dr. Bala covers some more of the basic terms and concepts for the curious beginner in Vedic astrology.

Explore further on the basic building blocks of interpretation of a person’s life through astrology in this second part of the concise overview by Dr. Bhalachandra Keni.

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#84. The Changed Woman but Not-so-changing Man!

GUEST ARTICLE #42

Foreword by Venkat
It is said that men are from Mars and women from Venus. Venus takes 243 days to complete one spin around itself and that works to about a medium walking speed by humans. Mars takes 24h 36 min (much like the earth) to complete one spin. Venus is the slowest spinning planet in our solar system and this stands in complete contrast to the point made by Narinder Kaur. The pivotal changes in society with women outgrowing the stereotyped roles, brings new equations to balance especially when the patriarchic mindset does not evolve to the pace. New equations of power, skills as well as thought process demand the attention as persuaded by Narinder. Her story is a reflection of the hard realities and brings several questions to work on, not just at an individual level but on a social-cultural aspect as well. The larger and deeper question remains on what transforms an outdated mindset.

For some food for thought, brace up for the message in Narinder Kaur’s bold and inspired words.

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#83 THE REALITY OF MULTI-TASKING

BUSINESS ARTICLE #3

Foreword by Venkat
There are two ways of driving a vehicle – to consider an analogy. One way is to just follow the memory of one’s driving skills and the memory of the rules / processes without much attention to the topology, weather and situation one is driving in. The second way is to integrate the inputs on topology, weather conditions and the real situation with those memory based skills. It goes without saying that the second case demands greater focus but in the end gives a safer and smoother experience. The tendencies are similar in our habits of daily living. Largely things will function without much ado by letting the brain on ‘auto-pilot’ mode doing multiple things since skills for most actions are in memory. However, the best decisions for the situation in a given context can be done only when an undivided focus and observation on the external stimuli drives the routine (just like the second case driver). The price to pay by doing multi-tasking is to leave one’s intellect out of the productivity equation and let our senses con us into an illusory sense of accomplishment. Alexis, in this eye-opening article gives an inside look into the phenomenon of multi-tasking which has become a second nature for everyone especially at work. She presents the dictum based on research studies and what we could do to be mindful and productive in the truest sense of it.

Explore the myth on productivity and multi-tasking along with practical suggestions from Alexis for a more effective living and enriching experience at work.

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STUDENT ARTICLE #13

Foreword by Venkat
The milk was poured, and so beamed the eyes of the cat. Smacking its wafer lips, the cat drooled over its impatient dish. Then came a rat, and so rolled its dreamy eyes re-evaluating its current investment over a quicker dividend. Much like the smart cat 🙂 we all are driven by two things. Needs and desires. From these sprout our reasons, beliefs, motives and actions. If they are practical in the context or fruitful in their endeavor demands a separate discussion. It must be fairly clear that the ultimate ‘genes’ behind the pleasant (or unpleasant) external manifestation of the reasons in words, motives in thought and actions in behavior are those set of needs and desires. But we tend to forget them and interpret people by what we receive of them, in sensory perception alone. Prisha, in her logical narrative sets to inquire into nature of our reactions to others and the ‘collateral damage’ caused by the wrong use of words in speech. Her personal incident and experience serve to elaborate on the nature of the matter. She guides the argument well on why words are important and on the construct related to differing views. So it is apparent that words spoken must be in intention, conduits to understand the person who spoke them and not demons to shoot our emotions on.

Reflect on the nature of human relationships, arguments and words in this well thought article by young Prisha.

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#81 DIVYAA DORAISWAMY

INSPIRING INTERVIEW #1

Divyaa Doraiswamy’s Life Story

While necessity is the mother of invention, adversity is the mother of self-realization. Until we are broken into parts we usually do not know the parts we are made of. It then becomes an opportunity to come into oneself as a whole, synergizing one’s willpower, passion, and purpose. Divyaa is an epitome of success and a stunning fighter, overcoming all odds. She is an entrepreneur running a global online school for children providing shloka education to preserve and pass the ancient Indian scriptural wisdom. Sanskrit mantras and shlokas have been scientifically proven to improve memory, focus and find inner strength. This is an essential life skill of practical use for dealing with stress through chanting of hymns. Divyaa’s life challenging crises have made her what she is today and transformed her by the very thing she teaches children – the chanting of shlokas. Any transformation goes through a rough treatment and it would be appropriate to consider negative experiences as important milestones towards self-actualization.

Divyaa shares her wonderful wisdom in ‘threes’ as shared below. In order to appreciate her thoughts and life story better, a follow-up video interview would be scheduled. Please look forward to it. Meanwhile let us celebrate her success and the spirit of her passion to make a difference to others.
-Venkat

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