For the Love of Teaching…..,

People are born to learn. If you urinate on an electric fence, the education you get is immediate and requires no classes or homework or teachers. When the lesson is packaged in an irresistible and appealing form students devour and absorb it instantly, because its human nature to learn.

But most of the time teachers make learning boring and unappealing.

Anyone could open a book and read the text. But that person would be sunk in no time. There is an art to teaching. It is about teaching the students, not the material. You have to know who you are as an educator, and who your students are as learners. There is a delicate mixing and melding of 45 to 60 personalities in one classroom. Each teacher has his or her own strengths, interests, and yes, biases. Each Student has their own expectations, fears, and previous school/college experiences. There are a million considerations to make before deciding that this lesson will be taught on this day and taught in this way.

It is not enough for a teacher to show up each morning and dispense facts. Student need to learn how to get along in a society. They need to know how to make and keep friends, how to handle conflicts with their peers, and how to ask for help. They need to know that you believe in them, and that they can trust you. They do not want to fail, they do not want to be embarrassed, they want to be successful.

Teaching is an act of compassion. We are not here for the big money (because we spend much of our paycheck to better our classroom), we are not here for the prestige (because the younger the Student you teach, the less society recognizes your impact as a professional.) We are here because we have faith. Each year we show up, as the Student do, believing that this year will be a new adventure. We anticipate the arrival of our students. We plan, polish, and prepare. We are ambassadors to these Student’s futures. And we love what we do.

Yes, unfortunately, I have run into a few teachers who were there for the power of standing in a room and commanding the attention of 60 young people. But, please trust me when I say that these teachers are very few and far between. The vast majority of us are here because we believe that we can make a difference. It is an act of love and a lesson in hope. We can teach Student to read, write, and compute, but also hope that we have taught them to be responsible members of society. We can teach Student how to sound out a word, but we also hope that we taught them to think critically about what they are reading. There is a love for those students that you meet on the first day each year, there is the love of the profession that you have chosen, and there is a hope that what you are doing has changed a child’s life for the better.

The art of teaching comes from knowing your class and being able to transform a room of strangers into a community who honor each other. But the heart of teaching comes from each of us believing that each child can be successful, and striving to make our students a part of a better future.

I have had the privilege of growing, being associated with such wonderful people who transform the future of the younger generation and wish the community has almost everyone to have the same perspective towards teaching.

Happy Teaching!!!!!

A proud Indian

Today when I sit down to blog my views on independence I spare a thought for all those who had to fight for this basic freedom of expression. Yes without their toil and sacrifice I guess this blog wouldn’t be possible. Indians and India have a long list of credits to their side. A small collection of such facts to remember how proud an Indian I am. As rightly said and I quote “Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made”. A list of things which would make every Indian Proud!!!!!
India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.
India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
India is the world's largest democracy.
India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software- a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.
Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.
Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India. Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).
Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization).
The four religions born in India, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.
India is the largest English speaking nation in the world.
India is the only country other than US and Japan, to have built a super computer indigenously.