How to Stay Positive, Productive and Engaged during lockdown - Rahul Thakur

Create a Designated Workspace

If it’s your first time working from home it can be tempting to just work from your bed or the sofa or anywhere else you feel comfortable. However, staying productive during Coronavirus will involve setting up an area of your house to be specifically designated as a workspace. By creating an individual workspace where you live, it will send a clear signal to your brain that when you sit down at it, it’s time to focus and work.

Keep It Clean

Once you have created a workspace for yourself, keeping it clean is incredibly important. Doing so helps you stay focused, remain organized, and can help with promoting positivity and mental health. Even if a mess doesn’t bother you, keeping the order of your immediate surroundings is intrinsically tied to working more effectively. If your workspace, or just living space in general, is filled with dirty cups, plates and anything else on your desk, it makes it much easier to procrastinate and form a mindset that is detrimental to working efficiently. It’s a seemingly little thing, but when you’re in lockdown for an extended period of time, it can make all the difference.

Remember To Be Active

While lockdown means staying inside, being active is crucial to encouraging great physical and mental health. This is more important than ever when you are likely to be predominantly indoors. Even if you spend a lot of time at home normally, incorporate more exercise into your daily routine, make a point to get outside, even if it’s just for a short time, but being active and exercising is linked to remaining productive. If you can, go for a run, follow along with a workout plan app or yoga video, essentially whatever you like to do in order to stay fit and healthy, find your own ways to do this. This will also help you plan your day and build a routine that means you are more engaged with your daily activities.

Take Breaks

Working from home or in lockdown can potentially feel like a double-edged sword. Some people may feel that they have to work harder and at an increased pace compared to normal just to prove they are in fact being productive. This is a dangerous mentality and approach to have as it can quickly lead to burning out, increased levels of stress and have negative effects on your mental health. The brain is a muscle and it needs periods of rest. If you feel like the muscles in your legs are hurting, it’s wise to take a break from exercising, the same thing goes for your brain when working. Schedule regular breaks into your day that give you the chance to slow down, relax, get some exercise or fresh air to get the energy to keep working efficiently. Not taking these breaks will in fact damage your productivity in the long run and put a definite strain on your overall mental health. 

Rahul Kumar Thakur, The Fabindia School <rtr@fabindiaschools.in>

The quality quarantine time - Parivartan SHS

Empty streets, barricaded areas, shuttered down shops, and deserted malls- sights never observed or thought of has conjured up. The phrase “Stay home, stay safe” has been etched in every individual’s heart, with the various television advertisements promoting the essential
benefits of washing one’s hands regularly, the market value of hand sanitizers and masks sky-rocketing, and the announcements of nationwide lockdown and curfews- all because of the onset of a viral contagious disease called The COVID-19, the world seems to have come to a standstill.

The sudden lockdown has stirred up some chaos within many individuals, the once busy set of people have now suddenly been presented with an ample free time devoid of the usual work-load and traffic. With the closing down of educational institutions everywhere, many parents of the school-going children have been faced with a pivotal question- ‘Will my child lose a year of education?’ But, education isn’t always limited inside the walls of schools and colleges; it begins at home, like everything else.

The lockdown has presented the parents and their children valuable time to spend together, to have a quality time of learning from each other. Usually, the busy schedule of both the child and the parents bar them from having extra time to converse, now this time could be utilized to do the same. Parents could teach their children many things, passing down their blessings in the form of hobbies like reading, painting, and cooking, baking, gardening or even through games of chess, board games, etc. This is a perfect time for the parents to listen to their children and learn more about his/her aspirations, interests and dreams, which further help a child to be more close to his/her family.

A teacher could also utilize this time to re-connect with themselves and their family. It’s a
perfect time to embark on their creative journey by writing or painting, even reading those old
books that have been stacked and forgotten for ages. It’s also a good time to go through
various articles to read about the subjects of their interest and also to try new things within
the available space of our comfortable rooms.

The available time is also an opportunity to reminisce about the importance of time and
appreciate how valuable it is, it is an opportunity to just relax and sit back for a while and enjoy
what nature has to offer.

“Stay home and stay safe” could be utilized in a valuable way once we remember the
importance of time and spend it efficiently. We are contributing to a healthier environment by staying inside our houses and spending the precious available moments with ourselves and with our family. It’s a perfect time to rejuvenate ourselves and get in touch with our creative sides - turning quarantine time into quality time.     

- Anand Acharya for Parivartan Team of Sacred Heart School < hianand2008@gmail.com>

Prerna Rathod: TECHNOLOGY

As every coin has two sides, technology also has its pros and cons. The following points are my view which I thought were cons of technology, but they can be turned into pros.

1. Creative Skills are not developed by Students:

If students get access to technology, then they may copy direct information using technology which will not develop their thinking skills. But if handled efficiently by the teacher, it may not stop the development of their creative and thinking skills. The teacher may ask them to read information and then write on it without seeing the information on what they have understood.

2.  Misguided:
Many times some information may not be correct. Students should check the information at two or three sites and also with the teacher. This can prevent them from getting the wrong information.

3. Health Issues:
Many health issues can arise with the use of technology. But if students are made to understand how they should use technology so their health is not affected. Also, teachers and parents must control the use of technology by students.

4. Dependent on Technology: 
Students should be allowed to get information using technology, but then there should be a discussion with the class and each one must keep his/her point of views and then do the write-ups.

Thus, the cons of technology can be changed into the pros.

Prerna Rathod

prd4fab@gmail.com