The New Normalcy in Teaching

In the month of March, colleges have resumed after Holi (festival of colors in India) vacation on the 13th. The coronavirus began to spread in India slowly and steadily. The number of patients went on increasing. As a precaution, the DM passed an ordinance and declared holidays till 31 March 2020 to have control of COVID 19 in Bihar. Seeing the situation, the Central government announced lockdown 1.0 and then the series of lockdown continued till 4.0

We all know that a few days of a planned holiday can be of great fun. 

But what to do in a situation like a lockdown when you can’t come out of your house? The condition due to coronavirus was the worst. It generated distress. Teachers were worried about the career of the students.

Change is inevitable. It forces us to adopt new things. Teachers who discouraged the use of technology were now ready to embrace it because this was the only means that can connect them with their students, help them in conducting their classes, and engage students to resume their studies.

The process of online classes has begun. The mode of conducting class was completely different from offline or traditional. Teachers were not comfortable in delivering the online session. They missed the interaction of the students. They were not used to one-way communication. 

In an offline class, a teacher conducts a session observes the expression of their students to notice whether they could assimilate the delivered knowledge and are confident with the understanding of the concept.

In the offline mode, students get an opportunity to interact with teachers and clear their doubts. These were missing in online classes.

Time has come now to overlook these problems and to come up with a suitable solution.

Right from universities to schools, teachers were motivated to utilize ICT and conduct sessions. Schools took the necessary initiative. Teachers who were ready to impart their classes were well-trained to conduct it via online. 

The new normalcy expected the teachers to deliver the virtual sessions that included:

1. Experiential sharing
2. Application through simulators
3. Engaging through interactive sessions
4. Fulfilling their need for learning as per their expectations

Hence teachers have to rethink and redraft their lesson plan. They will have to analyze their course and understand the new ways of teaching a concept that could be easily grasped by the learners via virtual mode.

These changes needed a quick understanding and application by the teachers, in identifying the right source of information that they wish to deliver.

Time has come when the teachers will have to empower students not only to gain knowledge of the concepts but also to learn the art of applying the knowledge in their day-to-day life.

The new mantra of 2020 teachers is learning through experience and application. Even students will have to adopt the same. Only these can enrich their knowledge skills, develop the right attitude, and enhance their aptitudinal skills.

E-learning is a new normal. Along with a good teacher, it is necessary to have connectivity of the internet and inclination to learn from home.

Further, what else is needed?

The learners can share their opinion. They can share their comments and help teachers in conducting virtual sessions as per the expectation of the students.

I am a Tele-Caller

I was preparing my bed to sleep. It was at 9:00 pm on hearing the doorbell I was surprised. I thought during the lockdown, who is at the door and ringing the doorbell?

When I opened the door, I saw Megha. She lives next door and works as a tele-caller with an institute. I could sense that something was wrong with her. Drops of sweat on her forehead showed that she was nervous. On inquiring, she said, can she come in, first?

I asked her to get in and offered a glass of water.

She said that she is not fed up of tele-calling and is looking for a change of job. She wanted me to review her resume so that she can start applying to different companies.

I knew Megha since she finished her graduation and aspired to earn money for her further studies. She is determined and wanted to pursue her masters with her hard-earned money. I always admired her spirit and appreciated her positive attitude.

Well, I could see that Megha is sitting opposite to me is low at her confidence and was in some confusion.

I took a copy of the resume, read it thoroughly, and had asked her to include a few points that were missing related to her job experience. Casually I asked her, why is she desperate in changing her job during COVID 19? Isn’t it risky? I suggested her to think twice before taking any decision.

With heavy voice and tears rolling in her eyes, Megha said that she liked her job. She always enjoyed calling people, answering their queries, and helping them in every possible way. But over a year, she is a bit uncomfortable.

She said that generally, she calls young boys and girls who have completed their graduation and are willing to pursue further studies. The moment she calls, the receiver of the call often talks either in a rude manner or humiliates her. Most of the time, they abuse her point that she has no sense of time; she is calling them unnecessarily and troubling them. Sometimes, young boys often call her in the late evening and asking her about such things that she is even ashamed of telling others.

There are thousands of people who are working as tele-callers. Day and night, they try to render their best so that the customers or the clients receive the best information. Because of them, in many circumstances, life has become easy for customers or consumers.

Of course, the service given by tele-callers is quite commendable.

I knew Megha is good at communication. She is multi-linguistic and speaks very confidently with anyone.

I asked Megha if she has any job specification. The kind of profile that she is willing to join in.  

She said that with the experience that she has, she is fit for the front end job easily.

I asked her, what if, even after changing the job, she encounters a similar kind of situation. What is she going to do then? Will she keep changing her workplace?

She agreed with my thought. She wanted to know-how to tackle such situations.

I suggested her to follow these three steps:

1. When you make a call, don’t be straight forward. Try to think of new ideas about interacting with others in different ways. Find about their aspiration. What is it that they aspire to do? Find out whether you can extend any support in fulfilling their dreams. Once, when setting the right pitch, come up with what you wished to convey.
2. To be on the safer side, I advised her to have a professional number for professional work. Never share personal contact and details. Maintain a balance between personal and professional life. On receiving a call in the late hours, it is better to avoid attending phone calls rather than text the caller informing that you will call him or her the next day. Of course, it is necessary to call the caller, on the next day, without fail.
3. Think from the perspective of the person who is receiving a call. In a day, if they have to attend several calls which they are not willing to answer for sure, it creates irritation and agitation. It is better to step into their shoes and empathize with them.

When you follow these, I firmly believe that you will face fewer problems which you can handle with ease, as you are well-experienced and know the art of managing people’s queries.

Yes, even after the adapted change, if you remain dissatisfied with your current job, you can change it any time and can start searching for better opportunities.

Megha agreed with what I said. One can see that her worries were no more troubling her mind. She was at ease. Taking the resume from my hand, she said that anyways, it is always good to update the resume. With a cute smile, she bid good night and left for her home.

My mind engaged with the thoughts of Megha. People enjoy humiliating others. They forget that it can be so painful for the person to work with such humiliation. One such call can upset the tele-callers for the whole day.  

I sincerely wish if I could guide even the people who attend such calls and make them understand how to reply to a phonecall of a telecaller.

Are we teaching?

Recently a few students of mine took the proctored online test. Their result was not at all as per my expectation. Immediately I went and informed the head of the department about the scores obtained by the students in the tests taken. I was upset as my set of expectations were completely different than what I have observed and gained.

The person with whom I was discussing had immense experience than me. He asked me to calm my nerves and to let him know in detail what went wrong with the class?  Why did it happen so?

As a teacher, I started explaining to him the efforts that I put before taking any of the scheduled classes, how I prepare my presentations, how I deliver the same in the classroom, and how students stay in the discipline while attending my classes? No doubt that I have completed a decade into teaching. I know I always try to put my best foot forward. Due to COVID 19, when the mode of delivering sessions shifted from traditional classroom teaching to online teaching, I missed that connection with the students. I was low at confidence as I could not connect with the students. I missed the interaction with students, their presence that always boosted my level of confidence. Probably, I ended by blaming the transformation and informed that this could be one of the reasons for the poor performance of the students.

Sir, who was listening to me, praised me because it was me who at least thought of the reasons for such an unexpected result.

He tapped the call bell and asked peon to bring in two cups of tea. He knew that I was upset and was worried about the students.

With a sip of tea, he started talking about how COVID 19 has impacted our life. Recalling his college days, he began with an anecdote. He said that after finishing his matriculation when he joined Marwari College, Darbhanga, to pursue B.Com, he could hardly understand the basics of accountancy or commerce.

The concepts were in English as he chose to study in the English medium. The journey from Hindi medium to English medium itself was tough and challenging. Initially, I thought and questioned my own decision, whether to pursue B.Com was correct or incorrect, moreover in English medium?

Well, I decided to drop and pursue B.A in the Hindi medium. The day I was going to hand over my application to the Principal, it has changed my career. While standing in front of Principal's door, I was waiting for my turn to enter, I met Dr. Jha, who was one of my faculty members, who was currently teaching accountancy. He inquired the reason for my standing their. I handover my written application. He read the letter, looked at me with a broad smile, and said, "Can you meet me during lunch break and postpone handing over this letter to the Principal till the time we meet?"

I was waiting for a lunch break to meet Dr. Jha. He asked me to enter his chamber and asked the reason for my decision. I honestly started the problem that I was facing that was the difficulty in understanding the concepts of accountancy. He said he understands my problem but questioned me why I never raised any doubt in the class, nor I shared my problem anytime with him. I felt ashamed but told him that he teaches very well.

He again smiled and said, not to worry and to postpone my decision for a week. Every evening, he started spending two hours teaching me the concepts of accountancy, apart from this subject, he started teaching me the English language too.

After a week, I thanked him but said that I still feel low at confidence. He assured that his support would continue and thanked him for his help. I have qualified B.Com, M.Com, M.Phil, and Ph.D

Looking now at my face, Sir said, look these days what I often think is that teachers are not teaching. Sheer explanation of any topic in multiple languages, cannot be defined as teaching. There is no doubt that the interest among the learners has reduced a lot. Students can learn through different platforms that eventually help them in gaining information. The biggest challenge for the present-day teacher is to make students not only understand the concept but also assist them in the application of the knowledge.

The introduction of semesters has increased the number of subjects. It failed in enhancing knowledge skills. Teachers are in the rush of finishing their syllabus. Students are in a hurry to gain information and writing their exams to score and secure good percentages.

Time has come when teachers need to reform and transform their style of teaching. Whether it is offline or online, it is teachers who need to rethink and must bring change. As a teacher, when you enter the classroom, you must remember, a student who is a slow learner and finds difficulty in developing interest in studies, needs you more than those students who are comfortable in studies. Of course, you being a teacher must focus on every student.

Now, I want you to think, what benefit did Dr. Jha gain when he took extra classes of mine and had taught, his approach of 'thinking out of the box' had helped me in improving my language skills?

The day when each of our teachers believes in teaching to teach the students so that they can apply the concepts in real life, there won't be any dissatisfaction. Students will attend classes with interest. So, can you ponder on what went right and what went wrong in your classes? How can you bring desirable change that is acceptable by all?

In Search of Happiness

I am futuristic in my actions at the same time I always believe that the efforts that are put by me, in my present will bring a bright, shining new morning - a happy future.
To think so is not bad. Well, people will call me optimistic. But the question that boggled my mind- AM I HAPPILY LIVING and ENJOYING my PRESENT?
Probably the answer is...NO
My parents must have told me millions of time to take a step back and ponder on the same question, but as usual, I ignored. This action of mine is going to cost me so high, I never realized this, till 9 May 2020.
It was a sunny summer morning. We completed lockdown 2.0 and have entered into lockdown 3.0
As per the ordinance of the government, public and private employees were working from home. Sipping tea from a hot cup, I opened my inbox. There were 70 unread emails, of which one was from a friend of mine, who has left India 15 years ago. She was well-settled in the US. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, she returned to India with her family...
It was a surprise to receive an email from a friend after such long years. When I read the email, I was utterly confused. I doubted whether the email was from the same friend or somebody has played a prank. Well, the information that she shared pointed out that it is she.
In the year 2004, after finishing her M.Tech, she got married to a man who was working with an MNC. As he was well-settled in the US, he wanted that my friend should also leave India and must think of settling in the US that she did.
In our friend circle, we all considered her as the luckiest. As she, who was from a village is going to get this great opportunity. A year after her marriage, she left India, and from then, I did not hear anything from her, except sometimes like either on my posts or hello messages through messenger. Her stay in the US always pinched my emotions. I was far better than her in studies. I excelled even in my performance but never received an opportunity to leave India and stay abroad. I was jealous of her luck.
To receive an email from her was a pleasant surprise. After reading the mail, I was in complete shock. The family that has spent over a decade in the US was today jobless. Moreover, they had no other option than returning to India, and reasoning for her email was to look for a suitable job in India.
I don't know to what extent will I help her?
But one question. What is happiness?
This question troubled my mind.
We are human beings and enjoy leading a happy life with all kinds of comfort. But does this mean that we are living a happy life?
I was keen to know the real meaning of HAPPINESS that I realized is missing from our life.
The future for which we are struggling so hard in the present is unknown. But to make it beautiful, we are ruining our present. I realized now why my parents were forcing me to think about the present.
Moving across countries cannot fetch happiness. Happiness comes from our deeds, from our present actions. How well we enjoy our present, matter a lot!
In this competitive world, we need to take time to enjoy our actions. We need to take time to celebrate our small achievements. We need to realize our mistakes and rectify the same, instead of ignoring them. To gain true happiness, we need to keep our realization alive.
For this, enjoy your present state of life. We often get worried about thinking more about the future. My friend never planned or might never imagine that she has to return to India. But the fact is, her family has to come back.
True happiness is when you have no regrets. When each of your action gives your heart a sense of accomplishment, and you enjoy doing work that you like, that can be obtained even in a small village or across borders.
Her email made me correct my actions. To be futuristic is a need but not at the cost of our beautiful present that makes us live our life happily.

Loneliness...A Challenge

It was September 2019, after reading to different posts and articles posted by others, I decided to take a break. Instead of writing, thought it would be better to read and explore what others wish to convey through their posts. 

Regularly, I started reading the posts posted by different people from different occupations, living at different places and working at various positions. Every day, at least I tried to read 1000 posts along with articles published on social media sites. 

Most of the posts were in common. Many tried to capture their glory and showcase their success stories. There were pictures which have captured their emotions. A sense of joy, happiness and a bit of ego was clearly highlighted through them. A few showed the grief, pain and suffering, either of their own life or of the society. These posts tried to appeal and connect people emotionally. But maximum pictures which were posted expressed people’s achievement, happy times which added fun and frolic to life. 

Most of the posts were motivating. They were encouraging, showed how to accept challenges and to develop a strategy to lead life in proper way. Articles included people’s experiences and experiments with life. Some were heart touching, and a few were copy paste.

Ultimately, I realized, every human being who was posting either pictures or words tried to introspect and through posts was trying to connect with people.

I sensed, on this so called ‘Blue Planet’, something is missing. 

Well, it is the connection – physical, mental or emotional. 

Though we are surrounded by hundreds, thousands and millions of people, but when it comes to sharing our emotions and connecting with right people, we are sometimes helpless. Hardly there is someone who can connect with us physically, mentally and emotionally. And as the desire to connect is unfulfilled, we put our thoughts and expressions in the form of posts and go for the goose chase to find for such people who can connect with us. 

Unfortunately, even after posting our thoughts and emotions, we still keep wandering. We are in search of a ray of hope...Connect with one, Connect with a few, Connect with many, and Connect with endless...there is a sense of loneliness even when we are surrounded by millions and billions.  The answered question...Why do we feel lonely? 

There are hundreds of gadget and millions of app, yet we have the strong sense of loneliness. The simple answer could be, through these gadgets and apps, we are just killing our precious time. For a meanwhile, when we get something in substitution of other, our focus is shaken and shifted from our loneliness to something that connects our mind. But the moment, gadgets are switched off, and are kept aside, this loneliness creeps into our thought.

I firmly believe that most of our sufferings will end when we will conquer our loneliness.

I request the readers, to share their opinion and valuable piece of advice through which, we can explore new ways of getting rid of loneliness. Probably, this is in high demand and the most required. 

Way to Success - I

I am nervous. Yes, I am nervous.

My feet are frozen and could sense the drops of sweat falling from my brows. The air condition is on and the temperature of the room is cool yet I am badly perspiring.

The lady in the blue shirt asked me to have a glass of water. She was trying to create a congenial environment so that I could answer the very first question of the very first interview for which I was anxiously waiting for. They simply asked to introduce myself.

The members of the panel were really good. But I can bet they were surely in the utter state of dilemma.

When they looked at my resume, my academics proved that I am an excellent student. I proudly mentioned my PGDM CGPA – 7.2 which indeed is considered as the best. I was even awarded a couple of certificates for my academic excellence and topper in my area of specialization.

Well, I know about myself. I am Nirupa. I come from a village named Tektar, Darbhanga district. Right from my childhood days, I was studious. Enjoyed going to school. I always worked hard to hold a better position in my class. I studied in government schools and then in government college.

I remember, when my cousin used to come to our village to spend his summer vacations, he used to carry a few textbooks. He was seen busy doing his holiday homework. He could read English fluently. Babuji and Maa always praised my cousin. He was considered as prodigious and we were told to be like him.

The book which my cousin left, I used to read aloud and practice. Words were not easy. On encountering a difficult word, I always got scared. My teachers never forced us to talk in English as it was a Hindi medium school. My teacher, who taught me English, used to laugh when I pronounced any of the words wrongly. Steadily, I lost my confidence. I felt ashamed when people laughed at my wrong pronunciation.

Except for my cousin, who motivated me and said that English is a simple language to learn. Of course, a lot of practice was required. He told me not to be afraid. He cited a number of examples of those who could not speak correctly and then of those who practiced and had improved themselves.

The education system in India remained a challenge. They have grown leap and bounds in a few states and cities. Contrary to this statement, it turned from worse to worst in my state.

Since my childhood, I always liked going to school. But in my school, teachers were more irregular than the students. There was no proper timetable. Lack of course plans and too many holidays always sabotaged our studies.

I still remember, during the tenth board examination, my answer sheet was copied by almost, all the students of my school who were present in that examination hall. I passed my tenth, did my intermediate and then opted for B.Com.

During my graduation, in the first year, I had been to my college for at least four or five months. Thereafter, the months reduced to days. I still remember that during my second and final year of graduation, I had been to college only for three reasons:

1.      To deposit my yearly fees

2.      To register for the examination and

3.      To collect my admit card for the final examination.

There was a turning point in my life. My cousin got placed in Google at Hyderabad. He decided to financial support my higher studies.

Well, being a girl child, after graduation, my parents said NO to further studies. They believed, I was overqualified and it is difficult to find a qualified groom for my marriage.

I wanted to be like my cousin. I wished to stand on my feet and earn. But, my family had some other plans. My cousin stood as a pillar and supported me. It was because of his intervention, my parents agreed to send me to Hyderabad.

A new state, people were talking and speaking with their friends in Telugu which was next to impossible for me to understand. My cousin advised speaking in English, even if I was committing mistakes, not to bother but to continue with the English language.

How can I say No to my MENTOR!

I obeyed.

Initially, it was extremely difficult for me to learn. The college where I enrolled for the PGDM course, the teachers taught either in English or in Telugu.

I, who had studied from Hindi medium, could understand nothing. Things bounced off my head. I plead my cousin, not to waste his money or time on me. I lost my hope as I believed that I can never learn either English or Telugu.

Pretty aware of my mental stress, my cousin asked me to take this as a challenge. He gave a timeline of three months and said, in these three months, If I don’t improve myself, he will certainly send me back to Tektar.

Giving value to his words, I decided to give a new start. Every evening, my cousin took a couple of hours from my busy work schedule and started improving my basics. I was determined and did not let down the aspiration set on me by my cousin.

The days passed by. The result of the first semester was on the display board. I failed for the first time. I could pass in only four subjects.

Generally, people turn upset but I was quite happy because it was for the first time I have appeared for the examination in the English language. I was happy that I could get through at least in four subjects. The result boosted my confidence.

Now I knew I can be successful.

The happiness which was so obvious and could be revealed through my body language made others a bit obnoxious. My friends started to corner me. Maybe this was like a blessing in disguise.

My solitude gave me inner strength. From then onwards, I never failed and could achieve a grand CGPA of 7.2.

Placements were going on. I was well mentored by my cousin. He prepared me for the basic interview questions.

And on the big day, after qualifying the aptitude test, here I am sitting in front of the panel. The very first question – Introduce Yourself, reminded me of all those moments, where I felt insulted, humiliated, laughed on my wrong pronunciation…I could hardly speak.

I gathered my courage, after drinking a half glass of water, there was a smile on my face. I remembered the golden words of my mentor – You have travelled miles to reach your destination. Here is the destination. Just speak from your heart and get the permission to give a kick start to your career.

I, Nirupa with full confidence, answered all the questions asked by the panel members of the interview and got selected as a Research Analyst.

Though this may look like a short story, but this is the bitter fact of hundreds of graduates who struggle very hard to reach to their final destination…Way to Success!

Tough to change

We never think of causing harm to others. Being a member of socialized society, we always look to meet and interact with people who are easy to mingle. In fact, we try to find people who are like-minded, with whom we can sit together and if we wish to blame others, then the person should add on more to satisfy our quest of blaming someone.

Often, I do get the opportunity to interact with unknown people which indeed is an advantage for me to learn and explore more about what, how and why we behave with people in a strange way.

Here are three things which are tough to change and hence we may encounter peculiar behavior of the people:

1. Perception

Our well-wishers and those who really care for us, knowing our strengths and weaknesses do try to help in overcoming our grey areas, still our perception towards such people, hardly allow us to listen to them and implement the necessary change.

2. Listening

While listening when the mind is preoccupied with certain perceptions, prejudiced mind rarely could judge and can differentiate between listening and hearing. Most of the times, we just hear to people whereas we must try to listen to them.

3. Communicate

Passing or conveying a piece of information without actually identifying if the piece of information is rightly conveyed or correctly interpreted, cannot be considered as Communication still many leave the things mid-way and feel that the communication is done if surpassed from their end.