To Teach and Learn

In one of my classes, we were discussing commitment and bonding in the story, Bluffing, by the Canadian writer Gail Helgason. In the story, the two main characters come across a grizzly bear. They face it together but one runs aways and we were later discussing which character was more committed to their relationship. With this, there was brainstorming and sharing of understandings of bonding and commitment. One of my students wanted to share a story he heard. He didn't go into the details but said that a father and a son can kill a bear but not two friends. He said since there was a stronger bond and commitment between the father and the son, they would not abandon each other but the friends may only think about themselves and render themselves vulnerable to an attack. So, a father and son can kill a bear but not two friends. I never heard the story/saying before but I felt its message was very augmenting to the values that enrich our lives. I am very happy that I have stud...

As a student I never thought how my body language, my facial expression and my participation in the classroom would dictate my teacher's enthusiasm in teaching me and my friends. May be it was because the teaching then was only about the teacher. The students had to simply listen. I sometimes wonder how I would have been if my teachers had involved me in the learning. I was always a quiet boy in the class. Even when I knew the answer I would muffle my desire to speak out. But as a teacher I cannot stand zombies in my classroom; there are few in every class. Their dreamy eyes droop like rich poppies, heads are supported in their cupped palms, loosely sit in their stiff wooden chairs and I can always tell who smells dead in my class. It is sometimes interesting to have zombies in the class because they give you the excuse to stop for a while and talk about things other than the textbook. Everything is interesting but the text. But the teaching must go on. So: 1. Attentio...

Picture courtesy : Google Image  Experiencing the cold now astounds me thinking about how hot Punakha gets during the summer. During peak summer the real challenge a teacher in Punakha has to stand up to and compete with is sleep, which is induced by the heat. When the temperature soars 35 ° , the fans simply fail to serve their purpose. During the summer a teacher has to also eat well so that he or she is very loud. We lose more energy in the form of voice when we compete with the noise of the fans swinging their never tiring arms. But if you think that a loud voice is all you need to keep your students alive and awake then you are wrong. So, I resort to few things to keep them awake. One very effective strategy is cracking jokes. I am good with nonvege jokes but they are not appropriate in the classroom, so, I improvise. I use what ever I can to make them laugh and keep them alive. One hot afternoon sleepiness was in the classroom when I entered. I could feel their exhau...

Picture from Google Image. People say size matters and this line literally exhibits me or, you may say, is exhibited by me. I am short, skinny, and tiny and I am a teacher with students who are all bigger than me. But, I do find some use for my size/height.  I crack height-jokes in my after noon classes to shake off sleep in my students.   I talk a lot about my wife in my class and my students ask, ‘ ‘isn’t she taller than you sir?’’ I say she is, and she makes me feel like Tom Cruise. When I slow dance I rest my head on her soft bosom and that I have to be on my toes when I kiss her. They laugh and I continue my lesson with students who are more awake. There have been many instances where my size deceived people.  But my favorite is the one I share with most of my friends. It was sometime in 2010, beginning of the year when the class ten results were out. The previous year I taught in class ten so I wanted to know how my students did their exam. ...

‘’It is with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.’’                                                                                              ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY,                                                      ...

We can do something! One afternoon after finishing a story in class 12, we discussed the theme of the story, ‘Ethics of modern science and its impact on human lives’. The story was about a teenager who undergoes a brain transplant but the operation rather than doing well only affects the main character who undergoes the operation.  The affect is emotional damage rather than the after effects of a scientific venture gone wrong.  The brain transplant also affects the other characters who are related or involved with the main character. So, we were discussing the theme at a broader level and talking about the effects of science on our planet and our lives. Global warming was the hottest topic that flared instantly. I said that global warming was a real threat to our survival as it threatened the very life of our planet, may be the life of our planet would end during our lifetime because the Earth is becoming hotter and the polar icecaps and the glaciers are ...