Lot of teachers are back at their computers this morning, facing the task of engaging young people online for the next few weeks. I'm definitely no expert, just been teaching my university students online since September and I've picked up a few tips if they are any use to you👇

Online teaching gives you the opportunity to easily pull in videos, music, images in a way we might not have done had we been in the classroom. Google Classroom, Zoom, Skype all allow you to share your screen and break up your lesson every 15 minutes or so. Lean on your media
Always show your face on video. Students don't engage with just a voice in the ether. Create a home classroom with interesting pictures/posters in the background. God, these are tough times, but be animated and passionate about your subject if you can. Enthusiasm is infectious
One silver lining of this pandemic is that online teaching tools have exploded. Some are fabulous, such as Flipgrid - https://t.co/k55lt2Hi2d - which allow you to engage with young people on a social platform they can relate to. The app also has a Discovery Library. Amazing!
More 👇 It has also opened up a whole world of possibilities for our students here in NI, from helping with learning languages - https://t.co/geLpXa3Ptp - to using flashcards to help students with history on https://t.co/aFfMbsPUvG, the world is our oyster at the present time
Beyond Zoom and Classroom, there are so many other tools online these days to aid engagement. My Quiz is a fun one to do at the end of a class - https://t.co/z7pYegPZAF. It allows you to host quizzes for up to 25 people, shows points, who’s leading, and celebrates the winners
Students are just as stressed as the rest of us. If you have time in the school schedule for a little meditation, it works absolute wonders to calm anxious minds. Great video for younger kids - https://t.co/zM6vy5EGS9 - and for teenagers - https://t.co/3RyGmuJxxy
Teachers have been absolute heroes during this pandemic, securing a future for our kids, even though the present is so uncertain. Everything wont be perfect. Your kids will interrupt, your dog will bark, the smoke alarm will go off, you’ll have tech issues. It’s all good
These are trying times for us all. Teaching online can be stressful. Take 10 minutes to yourself at the end of the day to restore your calm too. There are so many 10 minute meditation videos out there to help ground you. This one is great. https://t.co/em82r0krPZ
Teachers, if you have any apps/platforms that worked especially well for you, let me know. As Big Boris says, we’re all in this together. Very best of luck. Us parents appreciate you so, so much in all of this. We are in awe of your resilience. You are amazing. Never forget that

More from Education

** Schools have been getting ready for this: a thread **

In many ways, I don't blame folks who tweet things like this. The media coverage of the schools situation in Covid-19 rarely talks about the quiet, day-in-day-out work that schools have been doing these past 9 months. 1/


Instead, the coverage focused on the dramatic, last minute policy announcements by the government, or of dramatic stories of school closures, often accompanied by photos of socially distanced classrooms that those of us in schools this past term know are from a fantasy land. 2/


If that's all you see & hear, it's no wonder that you may not know what has actually been happening in schools to meet the challenges. So, if you'd like a glimpse behind the curtain, then read on. For this is something of what teachers & schools leaders have been up to. 3/

It started last March with trying to meet the challenges of lockdown, being thrown into the deep end, with only a few days' notice, to try to learn to teach remotely during the first lockdown. 4/

https://t.co/S39EWuap3b


I wrote a policy document for our staff the weekend before our training as we anticipated what was to come, a document I shared freely & widely as the education community across the land started to reach out to one another for ideas and support. 5/
https://t.co/m1QsxlPaV4

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THE MEANING, SIGNIFICANCE AND HISTORY OF SWASTIK

The Swastik is a geometrical figure and an ancient religious icon. Swastik has been Sanatan Dharma’s symbol of auspiciousness – mangalya since time immemorial.


The name swastika comes from Sanskrit (Devanagari: स्वस्तिक, pronounced: swastik) &denotes “conducive to wellbeing or auspicious”.
The word Swastik has a definite etymological origin in Sanskrit. It is derived from the roots su – meaning “well or auspicious” & as meaning “being”.


"सु अस्ति येन तत स्वस्तिकं"
Swastik is de symbol through which everything auspicios occurs

Scholars believe word’s origin in Vedas,known as Swasti mantra;

"🕉स्वस्ति ना इन्द्रो वृधश्रवाहा
स्वस्ति ना पूषा विश्ववेदाहा
स्वस्तिनास्तरक्ष्यो अरिश्तनेमिही
स्वस्तिनो बृहस्पतिर्दधातु"


It translates to," O famed Indra, redeem us. O Pusha, the beholder of all knowledge, redeem us. Redeem us O Garudji, of limitless speed and O Bruhaspati, redeem us".

SWASTIK’s COSMIC ORIGIN

The Swastika represents the living creation in the whole Cosmos.


Hindu astronomers divide the ecliptic circle of cosmos in 27 divisions called
https://t.co/sLeuV1R2eQ this manner a cross forms in 4 directions in the celestial sky. At centre of this cross is Dhruva(Polestar). In a line from Dhruva, the stars known as Saptarishi can be observed.
First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic


Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits

Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their


Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time

Contact with ancient India brought the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism to SEA. What we now call Hinduism similarly developed in India out of native animism and the more formal Vedic tradition. This can be seen in the multitude of sacred animals and location-specific Hindu gods