A proactive student - a rare occurrence

Well, my title can be misleading. Here's the disclaimer: I do not mean that students who improve themselves of their own accord are rare, but that it has, until now, been a rare occurrence in my classes.

Last week, I hiked all the way up to Vashi to teach a class, (yes it felt like a hike!) and I am dreading the days I have to head to Kharghar. Anyways, during introductions, it was great to meet an eclectic batch, with whom I thought I could have some interesting sessions.

One student entered late, almost by the time we were done with the introductions. As is usual in all my classes, students had to introduce themselves with their names, and tell the class one thing about themselves that no one in the class knew. That's when usually the BS is cut out, and the nervousness creeps in. You'd be surprised to know that some of them are completely out of their depth when it comes to telling others something new about themselves, something they have not memorised by then. On many occasions, I have received questions like "What to tell?" or statements like "I don't know what to say." About their own selves. With whom they have spent over 20 years. Imagine.  

Getting back, however, to the student who entered late. She was the last one to introduce herself, and told us that she is also a psychology student at a college in Dhobi Talao and the commute from there was why she was late. She went on to talk about herself, quite eloquently, and at a time when the class thought she would not stop, she happened to say, "I have never talked like this in the presence of so many people, this is definitely a first for me." 

From the several sentences she said then, her articulation about what she said was quite evident. It was in the break that she approached me, and told me that she had a huge problem in conversing in English until she joined college, because teachers in her school did not pay attention to detail when using correct English. It was not a grievance, merely a statement.

She went on to tell me that when she went to college and rubbed shoulders with those who could converse well and be to-the-point, she realised she was lacking in some way. Luckily for her, she had made some great friends and asked them to help her in improving herself. She made it a point to use correct language the way they asked her too, but most importantly, she went on to read books suggested by her friends. She gave all credit to the books that helped improve her language skills and articulation. "You know," she said, "all that I have said in this class today, is thanks to my reading! Otherwise I would be talking in Hindi, not English." 

I was surprised at her revelation, but soon happiness took over that surprise. The benefits of reading are not unknown to me, but when a student comes and lists them to me proactively, I am going to gloat. Just for the fact that it validates all my efforts in getting my students to read some material every day - anything that interests them. I was pleased to know that for her social work project in college (okay, it is mandatory for her, but she is putting in the effort to do it well) she is teaching English to economically disadvantaged children from vernacular schools. In fact, she even asked for a few tips to resolve difficult situations with them.

Just when I was feeling extremely satisfied with my conversation with her, she narrated her problem. "Shraddha, my old friends from school do not understand me now that I go to this college. The minute I start talking in English, or let them know the correct way of saying things, they put me down by making sarcastic remarks about my college and me. I am at a loss." She has stopped saying much in their presence now.

It is a situation that may of us face, where we can happily correct strangers, but not those who are near and dear to us. We are afraid of hurting them. It is simple. You put your priorities straight. When communicating with friends, the relationship trumps the correct use of language. So you just leave it at that. And that's what I told her as well.

Learning from a stalwart

The ever-inspiring Prof Bhushan

In life, one gets few chances to learn from stalwarts in his or her chosen field, and I think I grab each one that I get! Yesterday presented one such opportunity for me. I was in the office of Prof Y K Bhushan, who I can safely name as one of the 'Grand Old Men' of higher education in India. Although he is 77 years old, he is truly young at heart, and I experienced it in person over the hour and a half I spent with him. Well, Grand Old Man is just the expression, not only for the sake of the language, but also because he is quite grand in his thoughts and their execution. His picture here may justify that tag that I have given him, but does not tell you the many stories behind all the trophies, plaques and awards that adorn his office mantle at IBS in the Hiranandani Knowledge Park in Powai, Mumbai. In many ways he reminded me of the professor whom I called my Santa Claus, Columbia University's Dr Frank Moretti.

Upbeat with his visit to Pakistan last week, Prof Bhushan narrated some of his experiences as part of a panel representing India there. A while later, he added his personal reason - he was born in Peshawar, and although that was many years ago (well, 77 to be exact, since you already know) he does feel a strong bond with the land where he breathed his first on this Earth. From the minute he started talking, his passion for what he does, and the reasons for doing it all were all evident. 

I was there to meet him with an agenda, to understand his vision for my paper (The Free Press Journal's Knowledge) for which he is going the Guest Editor in October. We discussed themes, and macro and micro issues that plague higher education in the country today. The difference, however, was that with every problem that he stated (or I interjected with), he had something positive to say for the system and it students. He told me to look at the pros and work on them, rather than against them. He was sure that some of the 'old school' teachers cannot piggy back on the positives of the new generation, and end up complaining more than complimenting. "So what if students today are up until 3 am? We need to rejoice in the fact that most of them are up working, and not whiling away their time," he believes. And that's why he is young at heart!

Prof Bhushan talked about several things, but the one that touched the educator in me was that education was all about learning, not about teaching. "We can teach as much as we want, but in the end, only the learning will be effective. Therefore, I have always striven to take my teaching as close to learning as possible to bridge that gap." It is an idea that I have always worked upon, and not that I needed validation, but it doesn't get better than getting it straight from a stalwart's mouth.

Despite his occupation with institution building, which by his own admission has taken him away from teaching, he confessed to overbooking himself with conferences and panel discussions. They give him a chance to keep up with the field. "Then I am all over the place, and pushing myself to deliver on various platforms," he said, with a glint in his eye that indicated that he was not complaining. As I mentioned, he is just back from Pakistan, and all set to go to Malaysia in a few days.

Prof Bhushan's idea of leaving something that the next generation can look forward to is where one can see the foresight. Why be selfish now? Think of sustainable solutions in education, and you can leave behind some legacy for your successors. Towards the end of our meeting, when he saw my passion for the field, he said I reminded him of his grand daughter. Only a person who shares a similar passion for anything can understand the sentiment. And what he says about legacy... he demonstrates in every way. It took me one simple text message to contact him and it was he who called me in return. A simple request is all it took for this busy man to grant me this meeting. No other questions asked. Which other Campus Head and educationist with 56 years of teaching experience would offer his car to a media person to be dropped off at the nearest train station after the meeting is over? In 10 years of working in the field, Prof Bhushan is my first. So what's wrong if I aspire to be like him?

Dealing with the BBM syndrome

Pic courtesy: Gulf News

It was just another day in class, and the subject that day was 'Indianisms' in the English language and how to avoid them. The class had a gala time laughing at sentences like: 'I will sit on your head' and 'Eat your breakfast fast fast'. It was a point when we came to one of the funniest ones - 'Come again'. The way I said it in class, I had them in splits, and I am sure some imaginations ran a little further than necessary in the span of those 30 seconds. In my list of Indianisms, right after 'Come again' was 'What to do now?' The minute I said it, they shouted in unison 'Come again!'

There was no going back. It was too funny to control my laughter, so what if I was the instructor? I am, after all, only human :)

On that funny note, I gave them their break, about 15  minutes ahead of time since there was no way I could deal with this class, every member of which was in splits.

It that fun mood, 15 minutes and numerous sandwiches, samosas and tea cups later, we rejoined to finish the class. I started, and noticed a student in the front row busy BBM-ing away. My eyes met his, and he realised, so I let it go, and continued with class. A few minutes later, it was like the reel was rewound and replayed, eye contact et al, and once again I let it go for I was in no mood to deliver a lecture on discipline and manners. Plus, I did not want to dissipate the hilarious mood of the entire class. When it happened for the third time, I could not control myself, I just coolly walked to his chair, took the phone away and went back to my desk, my walk calm yet purposeful. It could have gone either way, but I decided to take the fun route, and I told him that I was going to auction his phone away and donate the money to charity. Of course, he was allowed to bid for it too! He took the warning pretty lightly at first, sure that he was getting his phone back. When after over half an hour later, class went on smoothly, he realised that I meant business.

Coincidentally that day, class ended 10 minutes early, and all the other boys in class who wanted to screw the case of their BBM-ing friend, started chanting "auction, auctiON, aucTION, AUCTION!" I gave in, and we started with a 1000 bucks. I had one of the boys stating the technical details of the phone, and with each rising bid of 100, the owner broke into a new sweat. I added a little fuel to the fire by asking those who didn't have a smart phone to bid for one, and asking the mischievous ones to bid for the phone to get the juicy details of their friend! I knew the owner was not in completely agony or misery, but he was getting certain that the phone was not going to be handed over to him with a mere warning and nothing more.

Finally, in a sensible bid (as opposed to a sweeping bid to pull a friend's leg) that could be offered only in multiples of hundred, the figure reached Rs 7,000. At that point the owner slowly got up, each move calculated, upped the bid by a hundred bucks and simply asked his friends not to outbid him. No one did, and he walked up to me claiming the phone, making a smart comment that he'll donate the amount to a charity. He then made to move to take his phone form my desk. Not someone to let go so easily, especially when being fooled, I let out a sinister laugh and asked him to pay up. "Now or never." Realising there was no way other than shelling out the money, he agreed to withdraw it from a near by ATM and give it to me in exchange for the phone. At that instant, I yelled at him about manners and respect in a half-jest voice, but meant business. I gave him the phone against the deposit of Rs 500 and a warning that he would lose his phone the next time.

The idea was not just fun, but to teach them all a tough lesson, that teachers are capable of following their word through if decorum is not maintained. Following this incident, I still hear a few jokes flying around, saying, "Shraddha ke class mein phone haath mein mat rakh, auction ho jaayega!" As for the 500 bucks, the note is still neatly tucked away in the corner of my wallet, waiting to be returned to its rightful owner on the last day of class.

Who said college can't be fun?

It's all in the mind!

One of my favourite quotes is Einstein's "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
The dichotomy of this thought is not lost on me, since as an educator,my primary focus is knowledge, both acquiring and imparting it. Like the new Kaun Banega Crorepati ads, I have always propounded at knowledge being all-encompassing. And yet, knowledge seeks the help of imagination every now and then to make matters more interesting, to say the least. How otherwise, would be transport ourselves into the 16th century when reciting Julius Caesar, or want to eat the house made of sweet treats in Hansel and Gretel?

Last week, the students of one of my classes left me completely aghast at their inability to imagine. I had announced their assignment for the week, and asked them to make up some of the details, which somehow steered the discussion to imagination. As is the case usually in asking them questions that get them out of their comfort zone, I asked one of them to imagine he could fly and describe how that felt. My statement drew blank stares, not only from him but from a majority of the class. He parted his lips several times as if about to say something, and then locked them, fumbled a few times, and after a few minutes of awkward silence, said, "I'm sorry, I cannot."

So I left it at that and turned to anther student. I had mentioned Alice in Wonderland several times in this class, so as a flash of lightning, my mind went to it. "Imagine you were becoming shorter. What would that experience be like?" I'm sure he did not know the book, but once again, all I got was an awkward stare. This guy, however to his credit, could at least churn out a couple of sentences in justifying why he became shorter - like he ate something or for a scientific reason. I told him, that is not imagining that he became shorter. It is just a reason. He needs to tell us how it would feel. All he could say was, "Or I just go to an island where everyone else is a dwarf so that I do not look abnormal." I was at a loss, and when I was about to give up, a student volunteered, "I can imagine a big house, cars, girls, money, but not what you just asked."

I let out a sigh to wonder why a bunch of 20-somethings have no imagination. Why? Isn't it, like what Einstein said, the basis of anything new? Doesn't it encircle the world? How can they reach the dizzying heights they want to without imagination? Or do these heights end at the cars, house, money and girls? Where have things gone wrong? Or have they? I let these questions aside, and went on to give students the example of Harry Potter and that his existence and popularity depended totally on the imaginations of the writer and the readers.

Coincidentally, that evening I happened to come across the link to J K Rowling's Commencement Address at Harvard University. Though it was delivered in 2008, when I was but four hours away from where she was speaking, I chanced upon it only this week. It was apt, since the power of imagination was one of the key topics of her address. She clarified that she isn't basing it merely on Harry Potter, but many other experiences before Harry. "Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared."

For those interested, the transcript of the commencement address is available here.

Rowling ends with: "We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better." There is no doubt that it was a moving address. What was more important, it was based on life truths that made the delivery thoroughly moving. Somewhere in the middle of listening to her, my mind as always, started chasing thoughts and it paused a moment to think about Celine Dion's Power of the Dream. 
"Teaching lessons we must learn
To bring us closer to the power of the dream."
And that's when I had it. Teaching those lessons.

Hello!

Well, blogger will not allow me to write another 'about me' post and my first one is all about food - my eternal passion in life. When I am not cooking (or talking about food), I am a teacher. I have always been a teacher at heart, even though life has offered me more opportunities to be a student :)
I created this blog to chronicle my experiences from the various classrooms I teach in (occasionally it could be a post from the past, where I have taught earlier).

I want to start this with an essay I wrote about teaching for my application for the Fullbright scholarships. Well, something must be right in my application docket of which this was a part, for I did get selected for the next round. That I lost out in the finals because my field (communication) was not awarded any fellowships that year is another matter. It did not stop me. With the support of friends and family, I went to Teachers College Columbia University to fulfill my dreams!

Anyways, here goes - the essay may be written a while ago, but reflects my sentiments about teaching. 

If you were given one year to spend in service on behalf of others, what would you choose to do, and why?

‘Those who can’t, teach’ goes the common maxim. And yet, teachers across the world work relentlessly and untiringly to shape young minds. Not surprisingly, we see them making decisions that have an impact on the human beings of tomorrow. It may sometimes be an unenviable job, but more often than not, it’s very satisfying. You just have to hear the little ones look up to you, say, “Thank you teacher,” and your day is made. No amount of money can match that.

A year in service for others will definitely see me as a teacher, especially for underprivileged children. It would not only be grabbing a chance to encourage them to be better citizens, but also to probably tap their hidden potential that even they might not be aware of.

The modern world is such an eye opener, that competition has crept even in the malleable minds of children to the extent of one saying to another: “My school is better than yours.”

In a country like India, where the population is spread across varied economic and social strata, the other end of the spectrum has a different story to tell. A story where children don’t even know what competition literally means, and constantly face a struggle to live in a dignified manner. It would be a challenge to make even one degree of positive difference to their lives. And I want to be a part of that challenge, bringing many positives, in turn, to my own.