What a novel Teachers' Day experience!The children impersonated the teachers; that was a treat. How funny it is to see how students see me! I couldn't stop laughing. Another wonderful part of the day was a quiz about the 12th grade students, prepared by the students. And a treasure hunt in the block. I haven't run up and down like that for a long, long time!Perhaps the performance during the latter half of the day was not as much of a delight as it could have been, but the rest of the day more than made up for it. They also handed us certificates, certifying various qualities they believe we have and appreciate in us.The students asked us, at one point of time, what our resolutions for the year ahead were. Mine was simple - I want to learn to be more patient, both with myself and with those around me. Interestingly, though, this is the certificate that they had already prepared for … [Read more...]
Theory of Knowledge
I teach 'Theory of Knowledge'. That's part of my job description now. We have many questions that count as TOK questions. Epistemological questions, ethical questions, ontological questions, the works.For once, though, I have a very strong TOK answer rather than a TOK question. The question is, "Can I explain humour?" The answer is 'no'.Discussing existentialism in class, I naturally spoke about René Descartes and his famous 'I think, therefore I am.'Very stupidly, I decided to tell a joke as well about how Descartes walked into McDonald's and ordered a burger. "Do you want fries with that?" asked the waiter. "I think not," replied René, and he disappeared.I waited for smiles, chuckles, or at least some measure of comprehension.Blank faces.Even more foolishly, I explained the joke.Some shrugs. So, how is that funny anyway? That was the unspoken response.I had no answer. … [Read more...]
What is literature?
I asked my AS Level class, "What is literature?"One by one, students came and wrote on the board what they thought. 'The study of a language.' 'The study of poetry and drama.' 'The study of a language, poetry, prose and drama.'"What about a diary or travelogue?" I hinted. 'Anything that is written.'"What about a story passed down from my grandmother? Is that literature?" 'Anything that has grammar/ words.'Eventually, we came to the next question, "What is poetry?" "Something with lines that rhyme," suggested one student. "Does it have to rhyme?" I asked. "No... Okay, so something that has a set rhythm," said another. "What about blank verse?" I asked."Something that has a deep meaning about nature." "Or emotion." "What about a nursery rhyme or a song?" I asked. "Something that has a deep meaning," insisted one student. "Something that means something," corrected another … [Read more...]
Manjri Adventure
The bus-driver looked at the traffic piled up on the road ahead. We had to get to school and we were late anyway. The traffic was impossible, so he suggested that we take a detour through Manjri village. That's when our adventure began.We passed custard-apple orchards and a stud farm. We passed tiny nondescript nursery schools. We passed fields after fields, bumping our way through roads that had probably been created by bullock carts. I wondered what we would do if a bullock cart came towards us from the opposite direction. There was enough room for two carts to pass, but surely not a bullock cart and a bus! I was mistaken. Villagers are far more confident than city-dwellers when it comes to cheerfully getting their vehicles off the road and driving on, without even losing the thread of conversation with co-passengers. We passed a tractor that merrily went right off the road to let us … [Read more...]
Unit Plans
There's nothing, absolutely nothing, like teaching. You can be so joyously idealistic in everything you choose to teach!Planning my units on narrative and imaginative writing, and descriptive writing was almost as inspiring as writing itself. Well, not really, but you know...I made a whole plan on how to introduce the idea of story-writing. The effective opening. The appropriate ending. Dialogue, atmosphere, character, setting. For each, I mentioned resource material that I will use in class - pieces of music, video clips, extracts from stories and plays... Even pieces of cloth and chocolate. Because inspiration truly comes from anywhere. (And I'm not just being mean to students who have no desire to write - it's part of their course to explore abstract inspiration!) I planned classroom activities - group activities where the students begin with the same sentences and seek to explore … [Read more...]
Picnic!
I insist that the way I left school in the morning set my mood. People (read 'teachers and students') hate duty that takes them out of school into the hot sunshine. I exclaimed, "Picnic!" Other teachers laughed at me. I replied, "In the afternoon, I can complain; now at least, I'll go happy!"But even now, I'm not complaining. I went with a group of girls that was reasonably cheerful, willing to work and complained just a little. We were at a sericulture unit, learning about mulberry, lac and azolla. I found a mulberry leaf far bigger than my whole hand! I learned that azolla (which existed only in geography text books for me) can cause a cow to produce 1.5 times the regular amount of milk!We cut, pruned and planted. We dug, sieved the mud and laid the azolla beds. And I ate a one-rupee pepsicola.We played dumb charades and antakshari. What a lovely picnic it was! … [Read more...]
Board Exam
Ought I to be nervous? Concerned? Stressed?My students are writing their board exams. I wished them luck, gave them a pep talk and some last minute 'tips'.One student asked me for a vocabulary list he can use. I wanted to tell him 'a', 'an', 'the'. Instead, I told him not to use 'hi-fi' language. They laughed because I once ranted about how inappropriate the term 'hi-fi' is.Another student wanted to write the words 'discursive' and 'argumentative' on a piece of paper and take it into the exam hall. Another student succinctly said, "Arre! That will be on your question paper only! What you're writing?" Essentially, his point, as I understood it was that if he wanted to cheat, he should do something useful. The point was taken and understood.A student wrote an essay for me yesterday and left it on my desk with a note. The essay was Tron Legacy rewritten.Students don't seem to … [Read more...]
Opening my Eyes
At our refectory, things are beautifully, thoughtfully organised. Little children eat in one hall; older children in another. There's no discrimination involved. The wash-basins attached to the hall for the little ones are lower, the trays are designed for children and everything is child-height.One day, a tiny girl was rummaging amongst the spoons of the 'big' zone."What happened?" I asked. "What are you looking for?"There was no response. The little girl continued her search."Can I help?" I asked. The little girl was standing on tiptoe, hunting.She looked up at me. "I want a spoon with a design."I couldn't help smiling. I found two for her and held them out. She chose the design she liked more. "Thank you."I took the other. It had such a pretty design.Now, I don't choose my spoon (I don't want to deprive anyone of a pretty spoon), but I do notice. … [Read more...]
Exam Gems III
Asked to 'write a commentary' on a poem, students write:'...one thing where I felt that it is wrong is that he did not divide the last line properly, the last line's word is going in the next paragraph.' 'The name given to the poem is very good' 'The poem does not start with a boy sleeping but we can imagine this because the situation will be like that only.' 'I don't understand why does he just start to talk about his own self instead of ending it in a good way. I just did not like the ending because it was confusing but the rest of the poem from the starting was wrote in a decent manner... it was rhyming also when it was needed except the last part' 'The short sentences create a great mood of reading the extract, as their is less to read and more to understand.' 'The tone of the narrator is in a very appreciable fashion.' '[The poet] has a great critical thinking power.'We asked for … [Read more...]
Exam Gems II
Attempting to create pathos and anger: 'Reaching hospital it was looking like messy type' 'I got him into the last point of insultation'Attempting - um - I don't know what: 'And if the film is ya some actors take more many if they don't hard work' (Mm? Can you say that again?)Imaginative writing: 'Their colour was blue as dark blue in the ocean, just as ocean their body was made of ocean.'Arguing for equality: 'The removal of Girls and a huge unrespect for girls is seen in the parts of India.'Innovative spelling:buque (Say it aloud; you may understand) masculur paniced humguous maintedLet's make up words and phrases! fightings unequality By mistakely step on your own feet … [Read more...]