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| Picture courtesy: matnonline.wordpress.com |
We all work for satisfaction. In modern times, it is quite a juggling act - to find a balance of financial and job satisfaction. In either case, there come moments which reassure you that you made the right choice. For a teacher, these moments come for several reasons, especially when her students deliver well.
Last year, for a communications assignment, my PG advertising students had to make a piece of communication (could be anything - poster, story, article, movie, skit, so on) with a pre-decided response. That is, they had to ensure a particular response from the audience, and design the piece of communication accordingly. They did, and how. Their work just blew my mind away! Our youth has so much potential to think and do, but unfortunately only a fraction of it is tapped. The rest is lost somewhere in the system of education. Anyways, woes later. Right now, time to check out some of the work here.
In another class that I taught last year, a bunch of aspiring journalists worked on a magazine for my editing class. With limited resources and contacts, the work they turned in was almost professional. It is not that I want to take credit for their work, but I can't help smiling and being proud. It is one of those moments.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a class I taught last semester for one last year-end revision. After listening to me in class in theory last semester about skills and grooming, they had a taste of the real world and wanted a few questions answered. Little did I know that the trek up to the venue (yes, it is far for me, and I think of it as a trek) would so be worth it. One of the students came up to me in the break and told me how all I had taught in the last semester helped her. It so happened that she was unaware of a presentation due for another subject, and had not prepared. She went over everything she had learnt in my class in her head, and presented anyways. Not only did she think fast, problem-solve and do the job, she did it well because she paid attention in class and learnt the skills. It is one thing when we strive and strive to get our students to see the bigger picture, and another to actually have them come up to you to thank you for doing that. I had to behave like a dignified teacher so I patted her back and encouraged her at the time, but with that, in my heart I did a little jig. I must be doing something right :)
That something right showed up a few days after the incident, when sitting with a friend at McDonald's at Phoenix Mills last week. A couple of my students took the seat next to ours, I greeted them, talked to them for a bit and went back to the discussion with my friend. A while later, a bunch of their classmates showed up with the programme head greeting me with a cheer! I thought they too wanted to add to McDonald's business, so thought of vacating out our table for them, since we were almost done. They said they came there just to say hi. They were at another outlet in Phoenix, and heard I was around and had to see me. What's more, the rest of the classmates dropped by in a few minutes for the same purpose. One of them did mention, "Shraddha, you must be feeling really popular today." Yes, I was.
The last few weeks have been full of such moments, and I could not feel happier. When Priti and I concluded our personality development workshop last Sunday afternoon, I found the cherry to put on top of my cake. In all the downpour and floods, the students showed up, and one of the feedback remarks said, "If you could make me wanna get up on a Sunday and I want to come to class, and not miss it, you've got to be really amazing..."
Many years ago, I remember requesting testimonials and recommendations from professors, ex-teachers and supervisors to apply for the Fullbright Scholarships and then later to apply for studying abroad. Little did I know then, that one day, I will be writing such testimonials for my students. Today is that day. And when I think about it all, even if for a few minutes, I am in heaven.
