Teaching Vs Learning

Got reply from my teachers today. I had sent them teachers day wishes. Looking back, my teachers (including my parents) are the ones that made me who I am. And I love them for that. Love you all.. :D

Hands down.. there is nothing as great as being a teacher. Until now I used to thing the opposite.

Its true that I worked as a guest faculty at a University for some time but at that point I was simply scared of being a teacher. All those people watching me very carefully, expecting dont know what, judging me, when I am the only one standing infront of them... alone.

Teaching small or big kids, is a huge responsibility. My biggest fear was I'll be molding their future, their lives... what if I was wrong? What if I taught them to be not them but someone else???
Now the same things makes me want to be a part of that great tradition. My students sometimes call me and tell me what they are doing now and where in life they are. That makes me proud.

I now understand that teaching is not just telling them what to do or not do or talking about a subject that you are 'expert' in. They can figure all that on their own. Teaching is just another word for learning. Most of us think these two are opposite words. But I realized it some time ago that its one and the same.

Teaching is basically giving others a new perspective. Not just your own but others too, especially of their peers. Everything that we learn is just a matter of perspective. Most of us are not able to see the other side of the picture until we turn the picture around. Teachers do just that. Help the students to turn the picture around by making them realize that there is another side to it.

You must be wondering how teaching and learning can be the same. Well, think about it. When teaching or when you giving other a point of view that they have never seen before you too get a new point of view. You learn. People from older generation used to say "Knowledge increases when you share it" and we all know that it is true. We have experienced it.

Doing combined study for exams and helping your friends with their homework and assignments. All these are almost always done thoughtlessly. We never thought that you get to learn something out of it. We just do it to help the other person. When I think of it now, I learned more clearly when I helped out others. I would miss out some lessons when I am learning on my own but make it up in combined studies. It was all a matter of give and take.

Now you see.. Sharing your knowledge is teaching which increases when you are learning. Hence, teaching and learning are one and the same. Like two side of the same coin. Its just a matter of perspective.

Happy learning...

Good old days

Saw the movie Always Kabhie Kabhie today. It was an okay movie, typical teenage dilemmas in school days but put in terms of this generation with mobile phones, internet and loads of pocket money. It kinda reminded me of my school and college days, when the only pass time was to spend time with friends talking, playing trick on one another, reading, gossiping or going for walks.

Hymavathi Kulam

One such evening in Kariavattom campus I can never forget is when 6 of my friends and I went inside the forests of the campus to the 'Hymavathy Kulam'- the pond where the ghosts dwell. Friends sneaked upon one another, making really weird noises from behind the trees and the huge rocks. Scary but fun walk it was.






Another time my friend and I had to attend a wedding. Like I said 'had to'. After lunch and best wishes we walked out to find that there were no autos or buses anywhere nearby. So I decided to walk when she wanted to wait for the bus. Being me I started walking. She had no choice but to follow me. Once we tackled the 1st kilometer she also started to enjoy the walk and we decided to walk all the way to Kovalam. We reached there around 4pm thirsty and fully spirited, decided to have a really cold drink. It started raining the moment we went into a restaurant and ordered our favourites - Lime Soda. Still can taste that lime soda I was sipping while watching the sea over the shoulders of some foreign tourist, getting drenched in rain.

Kovalam Beach Light House

Walking back home after school was the best part of the day. Blocking the road lined up with friends, eating pakodas and ullivadas and reviewing the days events... in short it was a blast. Singing loudly in the crowded hostel rooms, class rooms and corridors, playing catch with the kids across the quadrangle, sharing a snack and coffee in the canteen, etc are memories that still bring a happy tear in my eyes.



Well, good old days we call them. But what our next generation experience in their school days will one day be 'good old days' for them too.. But alas, some children never get a chance to experience all that. They 'grow up' never even knowing what it is like to be in school. They too have dreams like we did. They too deserve to be happy healthy and safe. They need education, our help, our support.



Please help a child reach his/her dream - http://www.ndtv.com/micro/supportmyschool/default.aspx



Let the good old days last for ever and always...