(This post should have appeared a few months ago. Just found the note today and so posting it today. So read it as if it is some day in September '07 going on.)
IF YOU DON'T LOOK HAPPY AT 7 IN THE MORNING, YOU COULD BE FEELING SLEEPY.
5:50 AM in the morning and my alarm rings. Not because I have to get up and go for a jog or a gym or yoga but because I have to get ready and leave for a school at 7:00 AM. (Don’t laugh that to leave at 7 I get up at 5:50…I said the alarm rings. I didn’t say that I get up :)) In my entire schooling, only in 11th and 12th standard I had a morning school and that too I don’t remember how many days I actually went to the school and so I can say that jo kabhi zindagi mein nahi kiya…woh ab karna pad raha hai. But I have to say, I love going to school :)and be with the kids.
I have been going to schools here in Ahmebabad to conduct trials. Just wanted to share my experiences with kids over here, nothing technical, just – experiences with kids.
Thank God kids are not grown-ups!
Kids will have a whole lot of problems. Those problems are small and remain small. They don’t turn into major problems just because they are not grown-ups (just ask yourself what a mess you make out of a small problem in the attempt to solve it).
Lesson 1: For each and every small problem you will be called. If the machine is not on, you will be asked if it has to be put on or should they use some other machine. For every small pop-up message you will be called – whether it be serious error messages or some messages like “Congratulations. You answered 5 consecutive questions correctly.” (For the latter, its just that they, unlike us, know to share the small small joys.)
Lesson 2: They will keep asking questions and bother you even if they know the answer. They will know that the question is loading and it will come once the green status bar is filled with dots. But they will just keep calling you and ask, “Whennnnnn willllll the question come?” They are told daily that they can do it online even from home but even then they will ask, “Can I do it from home today?”
Lesson 3: They are patience-less creatures and on top of that they test our patience which is even less than theirs. They know that they have to press the button once it becomes active. But even then they will just keep clicking the button (am not sure if the button gets frustrated due to that and becomes active…ke bhai le bass…khatam kar ab! ;)). They know that you are the only opponent who has to fight against all of them but still they will keep poking you. The class has 48 students and I can bet that at any time no less than 25-30 hands are up for some or the other stupid (as in adult terminology) doubt. You will have to run from one end of the lab to the other, solve the doubt and go the next kid and they will keep shouting till you attend them. And if you miss any one of them by chance, they will say, “Sir, you never come when I call!”
Lesson 5: Those tiny cheaters (read as creatures) are very smart. One day the net was not working and I asked them to talk to me about things that they like and ones they don’t…what they want to do when they grow up and those standard stupid things (as in kids’ terminology ;)) like what do you want to become. I asked one girl in a corner to start. They were too shy and said that I should start and they would follow me. So I said ok and shared what I wanted to say. And then none of those cheaters (read as creatures :)) followed me and instead started laughing when I asked them to start :)(maybe they might have found me funny saying that I don’t want to become anything in my life…and instead I wished I could go back to school and study and enjoy like them).
Lesson 6: Be careful! They will sometimes ask you to do funny things. There’s a girl in class 6 who just keeps smiling all the time. One day I was standing besides her and she looked at me and the ceiling. The ceiling has some low parts one of which was just above my head. She looked at me and said, “Sir, can you touch that ceiling?” And I looked at her…she was smiling. I touched the ceiling with my hand and she started laughing :)
Lesson 7: Their interpretation of the surroundings (including humans and their nature) is sometimes very naïve but no doubt unarguable at times. One day the net wasn’t working in the morning and so as usual I allowed them to play games. This had happened many times before but unlike the other days, I was sitting quietly on a chair (don’t remember what was going on in my mind). One of the kids saw me sitting and asked me, “Sir, are you feeling sleepy?” I asked, “How do you know?” He said, “Because you are not happy today.” I had heard about this that kids observe very small small things about their teacher’s behaviour, but experienced it personally for the first time. They had never seen me quiet maybe.
I think I’ll stop here. From stupid requests (in adult terminology ofcourse) like “May I go to drink water/toilet” to intelligent responses like “How many more questions do I have to answer to clear this level?” all I can say is I am loving it.
