To Teach and Learn

The sky was bright. It promised a hot day. The students gathered in the school courtyard for the morning assembly. The Morning Prayer and the National Anthem were sung. The assembly speakers were in the front and Dorji could see the fringes of their gho and kira shiver. He remembered how he was nervous before his speech. The paper he wrote his speech on was fluttering like a fragile autumn leaf in the wind when he held it in his hands. It was a Monday. So, usually on Mondays the assembly was held by the Principal. However, on that faithful Monday, the Principal was out of station. In his place the vice-principal took the platform next to the speakers. The English speaker spoke on, “Why we (students) shouldn’t bring mobile phones to the school?” When the speakers finished their speeches, VP thanked them and stressed on “Mobile Phones in the school”. He reminded everyone what will happen if they brought their mobile phones to the school. The mobile phone will be seized...

Trial Examination began today in my school. One of the most boring aspects of being a teacher for me is doing the exam duty. It is three hours of doing nothing. One has to be vigilant and show presence of mind so that the students don't copy. Ironically the most difficult thing to do is to do nothing but just sit or stand in a room for three hours. I thought about things I could do and tried them this morning as I was doing my duty. I tried breathing exercise. It didn't last. There were frequent interruptions for extra answer scripts and other things. Then, I started reading stories in the faces. This was far more interesting than the other things I could do being in the predicament that I was in.  Each face accentuated stories to me. They told stories and kept my imagination busy and away from the time that was slugging by. Out of the many faces, my attention dwelled on one particular face. It was a pretty face. It was fair and the beautiful large eyes in them flickered a...

Drugyal HSS library had many Louis L'Amor books and at one point of time I got myself totally   engrossed in them. I would even read them in the classroom while the teachers taught. Hiding the book under the table and my head stooped over the textbook on the desk made it look like I was looking at the textbook. I enjoyed reading them, especially in the classroom. I don't know how I never got caught. May be I was really good at faking or may be my teachers didn't care what I did in their class. Those were exciting moments when I transferred myself from the mundane monotonous lessons to the exhilarating gun fights of the old Wild West.  Sidney Sheldon books intrigued me for totally different reasons. They had scenes which one might say is not appropriate for a boy. I remember my teachers advising us not to read the book but thinking about it now, as long as one reads I think SS always gave a good reading. The suspense intensified the drama and I could never keep myself ...

It is true that the maximum time an average person can concentrate is very less. The period spent concentrating is refereed to as Attention Span. There are two types of attention. They are focused attention and sustained attention. Focused attention is known to be very brief but sustained attention is the longer span of time when one is able to concentrate. The literature on this says that most healthy teenagers are unable to sustain attention on one thing for more than 40 minutes. Within the 40 minut time span one needs to re-focus repeatedly on the same thing many times. This ability to renew attention permits people to "pay attention" to things that last for more than few minutes, such as long lessons. Now what is important in a classroom for a teacher is to gain the attention of the students. At the College of Education we were taught many ways to gain attention but what they didn't teach us was how to retain the attention we gained. It is easy to gain focused atte...

The dogs in my school behave peculiarly or at least I think they do because I think this is something happening only in my school. I have come to notice this for a long time but one is able to observe well when one is a Teacher on Duty(TOD).  Like today is mine. A TOD's day in the school begins at 6:30 Am and ends at 8:30 Pm. The school courtyard It is quite amazing how the dogs in the academic block behave. I like to call these dogs boys' dogs because they follow the boys. During the study hours they remain quiet. Most sleep. When the bell rings, and the students go for their meal, they follow them because they know it is meal time for them as well. When the students pray or are back in the class doing their study, the dogs wait in the school courtyard as if they know that they should not disturb the boys studying. They wait patiently. The climax of the happening for me is the last bell of the day. When the final bell to end the night study rings, the dogs wake up fro...