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Core Values

1. Resilience

Why do some kids overcome seems overwhelming odds during childhood to become productive and happy adults? With number of strikes against them, how do they manage not only to survive but to be successful?

What Is Resilience?

We define resilience as the set of attributes that provides people with the strength and fortitude to confront the overwhelming obstacles they are bound to face in life. What are some of the characteristics that set resilient children apart from their at-risk peers. Here are some of the descriptions that are we found unavoidable among students are social, optimistic, energetic, cooperative, inquisitive, attentive, helpful, punctual, and on task. Assembling such a list is easy.

What’s difficult is determining what makes one child inquisitive, positive, and social, while another child is withdrawn, negative, and anti-social.

While self-image is undoubtedly a factor, I think it is more than that. To describe the difference between children “most likely to succeed” and those “most likely to fail,” we use the acronym CBUPO (the feelings of Competence, Belonging, Usefulness, Potency, and Optimism) (Sagor 1993). This concept summarizes research findings (Glasser 1990, Manning and Baruth 1995, Wehlage et al. 1989), as well as common sense, that indicate that young people who leave school every day having participated in certain experiences are students who leave school optimistic about their educational and personal futures. These key experiences are ones that

  • provide them with authentic evidence of academic success (competence);
  • show them that they are valued members of a community (belonging);
  • reinforce feelings that they have made a real contribution to their community (usefulness);
  • Make them feel empowered (potency).

Conversely, we know that students who regularly have feelings of failure, alienation, uselessness, and impotence reinforced through their school experiences will be young people poorly equipped to cope with adversity.
Instilling these positive feelings in students will not result from pep talks or positive self-image assemblies but, rather, from planned educational experiences. Simply put, we must structure opportunities into each child’s daily routine that will enable him or her to experience feelings of competence, belonging, usefulness, potency, and optimism.

Building resiliency in students need not take substantial time from teachers’ other instructional pursuits. A lot of the techniques are likely already part of many teachers’ repertoires.

But, more important, feelings of competency, belonging, usefulness, potency, and optimism result from authentic experiences.

Deep down we all know that assemblies, classroom posters, and happy face stickers cannot change a student’s attitude toward school or life outside of school. On the other hand, infusing the classroom and the curriculum with resiliency-building experiences can have a profound impact on our students’ self-images. When taking this perspective, we begin to see that building resiliency and teaching are one and the same thing.

 

An Inventory of Resiliency-Building Practices

  Real Life Practices   Traits
  Group Learning   Usefulness
  Teacher Advisory Groups   Belonging
  Class Room Assessment   Competence
  Student- Parent Conferences   Potency
  Activities Program   Belonging
  Portfolios   Competence

 

2. Respect

It goes with great importance that respect is one of the most fundamental traits required to be successful both professionally and personally. Schools make it a point to teach respect for authority during a child’s most primary years, but the real education truly begins at home, with the parents themselves. Respect is a quality that can often be difficult to measure, and as such, difficult to teach. However, with careful attention, observation, and re-enforcement, parents and teachers can develop this key trait in their children quite seamlessly. Children learn the importance of respect at school and at home.

Respect for people and things

Respect comes in a wide variety of forms. For example, children must be taught to be behaving with respect for the possessions of other children. They must be taught a healthy respect for their elders and authorities. As a school, it is of supreme importance to develop a culture of mutual respect within the school itself. There are a number of great strategies that teachers use at school for this purpose.

Perhaps the most effective way teachers teach their children to behave respectfully is by being respectful themselves. Children typically mimic their parents’ and teachers behavior – good or bad, so being a role model and showing integrity, courtesy, and respect in their company are very powerful lessons. Whether it is simply being polite to strangers or being thoughtful and considerate of friends and family, with proper and consistent role models, most children gradually learn to deal with the people and environment around them in healthy, productive, and amicable ways.

Reinforcing respect

When a child displays respect, it is important for teachers and parents to acknowledge and commend him or her. Receiving praise and feeling gratified for performing a task correctly or behaving in the appropriate manner helps children of all ages develop self-esteem and self-respect, benefits they will seek to earn over and over. Highlighting appropriate behavior and good manners helps children internalize them. In some cases, a display of respect may even warrant a reward in some material form.

In some cases, it may be required to reprimand a child for inappropriate behavior. Choosing when to punish and when not to is extremely important for teachers and parents.

They must understand that different children learn in different ways, and this may take time as well.

Understanding how a child thinks and behaves is the first step toward choosing the specific ways and means of developing this fundamental and vital character trait. That we carefully focus and formulate in Nirvana academy and we ensure the students will grow learning the importance of respecting others and live in harmony. Below are some of the most important traits your child can gain from learning the virtue of respect

  • Good manners
  • Tolerance
  • Listening
  • Open-mindedness

 

3. Positive attitude or Right attitude

IMPROVING THE CHILD’S PERSPECTIVE CAN HELP THEM IN SCHOOL, CAREER, AND LIFE
Life as a student isn’t perfect, and when things go wrong, it can be tempting to look at the glass as half-empty rather than half-full. Too much negative thinking can start to spiral, and before you know it, you might be missing out on important opportunities in your education or career path.In Nirvana Academy we make students to follow the principles such as

  • Instead of “I can’t,” say, “I can.”
  • Instead of “I can’t learn this,” say, “This is hard, but I will get it.”
  • Instead of “I’m not a good student,” say, “I’m going to ask the teacher for extra help in this topic.”
  • Instead of “I’m going to fail this test,” say, “I’m going to study harder and improve.”
  • Instead of “I hate school,” say, “School may be hard, but it’s worth it to get started in my career.”
  • Instead of “This is boring,” say, “Learning this material will make me a better student and better in my job.”
  • Instead of “I quit,” say, “I won’t give up.”

Our attitude is what influences all our actions. It is only the right attitude, which gets us good results. All the smiles and hand-shakes are not going to get you far, if you do not have the attitude to help others, without any selfish expectations in return. If you expect something in return, then it is not help, it is only a favor, and you are only interested in your own selfish desires. It has been said that Opportunity ‘knocks’ at every door. If we utilize it, it leads to success. Otherwise, we just complain about the ‘noise’. Every problem that we face is nothing but an opportunity, to success, by learning how to conquer it. The better we get at problem solving, the more successful we are.

To a ‘positive’ person, a problem is not only a temporary set-back, but also a stepping stone to success. To a ‘negative’ thinker, every problem only confirms his pessimistic view, that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

So every problem becomes a stumbling block, with the inevitable result, that he/she soon stops progressing. Human nature has inertia, i.e. it resists any change. We like to keep within our ‘comfort zone’, even to the extent of not trying to change a bad habit that we are only too well aware of. However, should one desire to improve, there is o stopping you, on your pa3h to success.

Creativity

For us, Creativity means having the confidence that the students will be able to find an answer, whatever the situation might be. As educators it is our job to help students embrace this creativity. To build environments where students’ imaginations are nourished and where failure is encouraged not feared. It is the process of putting your imagination to work and having original ideas that have value. It is the practice of making the independent children and intelligent. All the children’s needs to be completely creative and it give them a freedom to commit the challenges and confidence to face the world of competitions. In Nirvana we nurture the seed of creativity right after they become a part of Nirvanian family. They are trained to evolve and adapt themselves according to the need of time. We believe creativity means the act of self thinking, self creation. Be creative and be innovative.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. – Albert Einstein