Three months have passed since I’ve started teaching here at Sahyadri School. I haven’t been blogging nearly as much as I would have liked. It’s not that I don’t get any time, but there are so many things to be done, that I just don’t feel like sitting down and writing. But as my good friend Moulik put it, I should keep writing regularly- otherwise I would forget my observations, and also new experiences come in and replace the older ones, and I wouldn’t get to see their evolution. I hope I’ll start writing more regularly now.

This Saturday is the Teachers’ Day celebration. I’m really looking forward to it, as it is going to be my first Teachers’ Day as a teacher! On that day, the 10th std students take up the role of teachers. The teachers even have to sit in the 10th std classes and listen to them :)

I think being with kids is forcing me to be a bit more witty and talkative. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the amount of talking I have to do. It’s not something I’m used to, but I’m enjoying it because I see that I’m learning a lot about myself when I place myself in a situation in which I have to talk, I have to take charge.

I’m also learning that teaching in the classroom is not a straightforward, simple task. It’s not enough to know something, you have to really design how you will reveal that piece of information in a striking manner. And there are so many details which you have to keep in mind while teaching, like what and how you are writing on the board, how to steer a discussion in a particular direction, how to get everyone involved.

I’m badly lacking in many of these areas, but I’m very lucky that I have senior colleagues here who would visit my classes occasionally and without being judgemental, point out something which I had totally overlooked. I’ve also occasionally got some enlightening feedback from my students. I’m slowly learning how to teach more effectively. I really don’t know whether teaching is going to be my long term occupation, but what keeps me engaged right now is that this whole process is gradually revealing to me a part of myself which had never been given the chance to surface.

About these ads