Tuesday, February 2, 2010

When the teacher was ready!!! (Part 3)

The first interaction which I had imagined would be a cakewalk turned out to be just short of a nightmare. So my doubts and inhibition about the  demo class naturally multiplied as I sat in the office room with a computer science text book of PU I. The interaction I had was with PU II, and I was told by the dean to take my demo class for PU I. Sometimes you don't ask for logics, you just thank your luck and go ahead. Thats what I did.  I started going through the text book. I was happy because all the syllabus in the book was what I already knew and I hardly needed any preparation for lecturing. I was happier because I felt that by all possibilities, students of PU I will be  lesser daemons than the PU II. In less than five minutes, the clerk came over to me, called out "Sir", and offered me a cup of coffee. Though it was a small cup of coffee and  not a great tasting  one, the way it was served was definitely special. So I was considered as a lecturer and I was being served coffee in the staff room. That was a great feeling. The bell rang before I finished the coffee. 

So the moment had arrived. I stepped into the class. I took some time to get adjusted to the class room environment.There were few students who were very close to the black board, sitting  in long chairs with examination pads over their chairs - which also served as study tables. It was a bit unusual but I had to continue. I started off well and the class continued. The students were interested in what I was teaching, but they had a little difficulty in understanding I suppose. Or at-least that  is what i felt. The bell rang once again and I left the class. I forgot to mention that my younger brother who was the reason behind I going to that particular college, was in PU I and my first demo class as a teacher I was teaching my own younger brother, whom I have been teaching since his childhood days. He was my first student. He was the student who taught me how to teach and how to control  anger when the student doesn't learn as expected  by the teacher.(Sorry BRO). After the class he came to me had a small chat. He said the students were decently impressed. So I got a positive feedback though an unofficial. It was like an exit poll.

I got back to staff room  and waited for the review and an official feedback of my  demo class. The official feedback was very similar to that of the exit poll. "You can start taking the classes from tomorrow", the Dean said. I was happy to hear that though I knew in advance that I will get selected for the job. Teaching was not just another job. It was and is what I always wanted to be in future. I had got the job in hand and my first tryst with teaching had just begun. "I will make the most of every minute", I thought. And today I feel that I indeed enjoy the every moment of being a teacher. 

When I did some research regarding their marks and their previous teacher, I got to know the real scenario. The real scenario was much worse than what I had anticipated. All their marks were in the range of 5-9 out 25. None of them were interested in computers. Computer Science was an optional subject and they had taken the work "Optional" too seriously. "If you want you cant study else you can leave it", that seemed to be their definition of the word "Optional". They were going to be engineers(Not doctors as they had chose computers against biology) and what mattered to them was only PCM.   So I had a Herculean task in-front of me. The real challenge was not teaching to them but it was much more deeper than that. They had NO interest in the subject. So I had to make it interesting for them. I had to show them that then could enjoy learning computers. I had to show them that after all its not difficult provided they understand. I had to show them that they could score marks without mugging the programs.  I had to show them that computers is like a puzzle that you will start enjoying once you start solving it. I had to show them why I loved computers and finally I had to help them find their reason for loving computers. It is almost an year since I resigned to the job . And the phone calls that I get even today, make me feel that I was fairly successful in what I wanted to achieve.

1 comment:

Deepa said...

Good experience goks.....