ON GOING LIVE

When I began to teach, I taught by instinct. With vivid memories of boring teachers, drab classrooms enlivened only by our hilarious pranks, I knew what I should NOT be doing as a teacher. So, that was the thumb rule for my classes, my students should love every moment with me. So, with the rewritten, guiding principle that “I should NOT DO unto others as I had my teachers do unto me" I began my teaching career.

As I grew, I learnt to identify that fine diving line between freedom and licentiousness. I learnt that discipline is not a tool for suppression or oppression of students; it is necessary to make sure that everybody gets their space and their freedom. I learnt to recognize the method and thought behind writing a text book. I realized that assessments if planned well, is a true reflection of the performance of a teacher.

But the trigger for all these changes has always been my students. It is from them that I learnt the most. It is their expressions and reactions that helped me put my act together and rework my act as a teacher. Later when I turned to training, I learnt to look at training process as an act of sharing where I share a skill that I have with others who are already accomplished in other skills. Hence training brought in humility as I developed a partnership in learning.

So, when I was asked to train students through VSAT i.e. Very Small Aperture Terminal, I was intrigued. More than the technical aspect of the training, I was curious to know how I could train students in multiple classes’ miles and miles way, through a virtual but interactive classroom. After almost 2.5 months…..it happened!
I was in a studio with bright lights, multiple computer screens, wires connecting me to ear phones and microphones and above all a miniscule view of the students whom I was to train. I started off with a cheerful introduction and then I realized that there is a bit of a time lapse between when I speak and when I am actually heard. Then there was the constant complaint that the slides that I showed were not steady in the class rooms. Above all I missed the faces of the students, their boredom, their mischievous twinkle, their “aha” moment, etc. I could just see a group particularly three boys in the front bench whose faces were completely imperceptible in the telescopic view of the camera.

I suppose it will take me some time to get used to not getting a push button response to my sessions. In spite of an overwhelming feedback, I missed the spark of a live audience. However there was this moment where I felt that I can actually reach out to them. When I asked them how they knew a movie is over …….after a few routine responses, a smart one said “because it is 2.5 hrs. and the movie has to end”