Today was a very challenging day for me, as I tried teaching different things to students of totally different age groups.
Part 1: Students' age - 9-10 years
I have been going to a school since more than a month now, everyday, to be a part of Class 4 B at 1.20 pm. Whether I am an observer in the class or wearing the director's (read as teacher's) cap, I have loved it. As I entered the class, I came to know that their regular teacher was absent. The proxy teacher asked me if I needed any help and if she should be present with me. I was confident I would handle the kids and so requested her to leave. I had never thought about how easy or how difficult it would be with their teacher not present in the class. I had handled the class for 5-10 minutes when the teacher was away and I thought I would be able to handle it.
The class began. Luckily, I had taken the class yesterday and was going to continue from where I had left. I started by revising what was done in the last class. 5 minutes were gone and there was talking going around in the class.
Aaron was roaming here and there, Vatsal was messing up things with Rishi, Rishi was just not listening to anything, Yash wanted to talk about how his nose got hurt, Abhishek was busy poking Ishita, Deep was doing something on his own, Sarthak wanted to paint, Aditi wanted me to tell a story, Manan was quiet as usual, Anjana and Jay were obedient as always, Muarvi was busy playing with her own stuff, Yug was lost in his own world as always, Saurabh was banging the desk with his water bottle, Anish was at his desk but not listening I guess and Kinal, Nirali and Aarti were at their desks, quietly observing the chaos and the confused teacher. This was the scene in short.
Rishi had irritated me enough by not listening to me and so I thought of getting the class in place by threatening the chap! It seemed as if the daaku was threatening the villagers by punishing one of the villagers in front of everyone. I asked Rishi to come and stand near the blackboard. He didn't listen. Finally I raised my volume and asked him to stand out of the class. I told him that at the end of the class, I would be taking him to the princi's office. And that sort of made the class quiet. I could see everyone looking at Rishi and me. And so I repeated that thing again. I continued that for 2 3 minutes. If anyone made any noise, I would tell the chap that he would be joining Rishi too and so everyone was quiet. I restarted the revision. However, the silence didn't last longer. The teacher from the next class came to me for help as the internet wasn't working. I told her that I would come in some time, but she wanted me to fix it asap. I had to go. And by the time I came back, the class was in a mess again. I tried for 5 more minutes...but I failed to control the class and finally gave up. I put the chalk back in the box and told students to do what they wanted to. Students started saying sorry and all, but I had decided and I just didn't continue. I stood there for the remaining 10-15 minutes. Noise was still on and the kids were looking at me, talking, playing etc. They might have obeyed if I had started, but I didn't. I ended the class when the bell rang and left by thanking them. I had never thought it would be this difficult in the absence of their teacher and so was as always, not prepared for it. I think I will be able to handle it in a different and a better way next time.
"Nobody said it was easy, No one ever said it would be so hard" - These lines best summarises it I think :)
Part 2: Student's age - 26 years
This is also about teaching, teaching how to drive a bike. I tried my best to scare the student, but I failed. We reached the ground where the bike lessons were had to be given. I gave the bike and stood on one side giving basic instructions about how to start and how to go ahead. The student did find the task a bit challenging for the first 5 minutes. Gear change hota tha toh accelerate nahi hota tha, accelerate hota thaa to gear nahi change hota tha and with all that going on for 5 minutes, I decided to go and sit on the bike and give instructions from behind. And soon I could see myself going around in the ground, without a stop for 5 continuous minutes. We had to stop not because the gears weren't changing, but because a car came in our way. I think the student deserves the credit of being a fast learner. I just had to keep patience every time the bike stopped and keep cheering for every small jump made.
I think as a teacher I learned two things today - patience and encouragement are the key things that a teacher has to use if he/she wants to learn the art of teaching. Whether it be kids or adults, they are probably two key things that might work.
