Times Spark scholarship is an exam and an initiative by the Times of India to promote news paper reading and using the knowledge gained to improve the students general knowledge and language by taking test on what different words in the article meant and how these articles are connected to the daily life. Also the articles that were selected daily that we were supposed to read were based upon different scientific theories or some expert opinions on the trending topics that are currently going on in the world to keep the participants up to date with all the news and headlines of the world. I took part in this competition because as a child I always had a keen interest in reading news everyday but as I grew up things became different and due to long school hours I wasn’t able to find time to read newspaper and that changed my reading habits. Thus I took this as a opportunity cultivate this long lost activity of my life once again in routine and thus I took part in this competition as a challenge for myself to read the newspaper daily without fail.
Strand : Activity
LO1 :
Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
One weaknesses that I identified was that I don’t know how to manage my time and thus I struggled taking out time everyday to do the reading of the article. I would spend all my time doing something unnecessary but I would not manage my time and do this task which is really important and in the end of the day this task is going to lead to a growth in me. Now that I am aware of my weakness I will try to manage my time in the activities I do in the future. It will help me be more organised. I will work on this weakness in the future so that the new tasks I take upon can be completed efficiently.
LO2 :
Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
One of the biggest challenge was being consistent and making sure that the article that I have read is clearly analysed according to my understanding and also my English is weak I had to make sure that I understood the meaning of the high end vocabulary that was used in the article. I had never done something similar which challenged me to be this consistent and then study English extra. So it was difficult in the start but then I got used to it and that made it easier for me learn things. For the English part is considered I started conversing more in English which helped me to get an upper hand on the subject.
LO4 :
Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
As we were supposed to read the newspaper everyday because the test could have any article, it required commitment from my side to remember and read the newspaper for the next 3 months (i.e. for the duration of the competition) everyday. It was difficult in start to remember and read the newspaper everyday but once I was in routine I tried to read it everyday. Also between this period we had exams and holidays for which i had to manage the time that I gave to newspaper reading as I had to also focus on the other things. Commitment to read the news everyday is what was required and I tried to be committed and completed the reading of all the articles. It is generally difficult for me to commit to things until and unless it is related to something I have and interest in. So this activity was completely related to my interest so I tried to commit even though I thought it was easy to take time out to complete this task everyday but then i tried and completed it by time everyday to be prepared for the next day and then I also gave the mock tests that they help to keep a check on my understanding and knowing that the way I was using was correct.
LO6 ( not mentioned in form but then realized it could be included too) :
Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
The issue that I found out that in today’s new generation we lack the awareness of how important it is to read newspaper daily everyday and be updated with whatever is going on in the world. It is also important because nowadays everything is changing on a very fast rate so to be aware of the new innovations and technology would only make this generation live smartly and easily. It is important globally because nowadays kids don’t generally read news and are thus unaware of stuff in the world and tagged dumb so it is better that people especially parents all over the world encourage kids to read news and cultivate this habit as it will help them be updated with whatever is going on in this world. I knew that this is a issue of global significance that people don’t much newspaper when I had a talk with a cousin of mine after the competition started and he was not aware of a very big headline that was all over the media and also that headline was such that could impact our lives. So then I realized that there are many kids that still don’t newspaper and are unaware about the stuff happening globally. Now that I know that this is a issue I can also make my friends aware about how important it is to read news and be updated with everything for a better life. It is leads to my personal growth because now I have again cultivated my habit of news reading back which keeps me updated with the world news and also it helps taking informed decisions as sometimes I read some stories in the news regarding some activity and when I plan to do that activity it helps me keep in mind about what to take care of and what to do. As I got to know that more than 200,000 kids participated in this competition I feel good that these many people are realizing the importance of news reading and also this is contributing to make India a smarter place as the new generation gets smarter.
