When teacher realizes – Magic happens!

Every day, I have some good experiences in my classrooms, but I need to share a special moment which can never be forgotten. Last year, I had a student named Lokesh (name changed). According to other teachers and students he was not a good boy. His behavior was totally rough with teachers as well as students and I knew about him very well.

After he completed fourth standard, he came to fifth standard which was my class. I meant I was the class teacher of fifth standard. I was literally worried because I have heard a lot about him from the other class teachers. The stories about Lokesh went on like he won’t respect teachers, he will ask questions as ‘why should I speak English? why should I listen to the class?’ As classes started, Lokesh did all the mischief mentioned above and even more. He started demotivating children and he annoyed me to the core. One may think how a twelve-year-old boy can annoy a teacher, but the truth was that.

One day I saw the movie “Moondru Dheivangal”, a very old Tamil movie which gave me an idea. The movie portrays three thieves who corrected themselves and became warm after they were given some responsibilities. I am not comparing Lokesh with thieves, but the core idea sparkled in my mind.

I decided to give the class representative post to Lokesh. Though he was not ready to be in that post, I forced him to take up that job and told him that the class is yours. I wanted to handle the situation carefully and said to him, ‘you are the leader and responsible for whole class. I believe that you can do this job perfectly than anyone else.’ Though I motivated him and got support from few other teachers for the initiative I took, I was fully occupied with the tension of the situation. I was afraid that many chances are there he may mislead the class. I started giving my full attention and support to him and I tried to be more patient to listen to him.

A few weeks later, I could see visible changes in him. He never did any mischief because he had to protect others as a class representative. He started listening well to me and to the other teachers. He helped himself and his class to get the award for “Spoken English and Presentation”. That moment was very special for me and I felt very happy that it all worked!

This incident made me to realize my potential and the importance of my career. I realized that clarity in a teacher’s mind can make many positive changes. I felt much energized as I witnessed an important change in one of my student’s life. To share few learning of mine,

• I have realized the importance of my role as a teacher
• I became friendly with children
• I started to become a good listener
• I started bringing in more sense of humour

Lokesh left the school the same year but he will be in my mind throughout my life. The incident made me take my teaching profession to a different level and my approach as a teacher now has two episodes – Before Lokesh & after Lokesh!

-Ms. Aruna, Teacher at Partner school of  Vidhya Vidhai