Before
this, I had never taught anyone anything. Neither did I have the experience nor
the confidence. Doubts constantly surfaced in my mind. Would I be able to teach
them anything? Would I be able to discipline the students?
All this
is now a thing of the past. I have adapted to my new role like a duck to water.
Everyday my students teach me something new. Words that I had never heard
before (words that my creative students have up conjured from their over active
imagination) are thrown into assignments.
Most
assignments hover at the doorstep of romance. Twilight has seeped into their
collective conscious. My students are teaching me how to stretch my
limited resource of patience. I have
constantly confessed that patience is not one of my better known virtues. My
students are ensuring that it becomes my most well- known trait.
One thing
my students have taught me in abundance is getting critical with my own
writing. Reading few assignments makes me aware of all the information dump yard
that some students turn the stories into. And then there are the students who
skip over the crucial details just to get closer to the end of the story. It’s
obvious that they have rushed through their assignments just to get rid of my
reminders about delayed assignments.
Teaching
them has made me appreciative of all the creativity a tiny human brain
possesses. Their excuses range from accidents to sudden tooth-aches while the
hand hovering over the stomach makes me wonder whether it’s the tooth or the
stomach causing all the problem.
I often
urge them to exercise all the creativity while doing the assignments. Most
students forget that I too studied in the same college. While the students have
changed, the excuses have remained constant.
For
those of you who are into teaching what have your students taught you? For
those engaged in other professions what are the things that life or people
around you have taught you? We would love to hear about your learning experiences.
