Reminiscing The Year And The Change I See Within

Posted: May 5, 2020

There are certain life experiences that will stay with us forever and truly shape the way we see the world as well as our place in it.

I had volunteered for the Teach for Change initiative for the last year and had written Part 2 of the blog in September 2019. Today I had this sudden urge to write the concluding part about the year gone by at the school.

As I was reflecting on my experiences since I started this journey last year, I do want to share a couple of things through this blog.

Memorable moments

There were many occasions I came back from the school teary eyed. Well, almost every single time. The love showered by kids made me overwhelmed and valued.

I had gone to the school on 14th August 2019 and asked the kids about what they knew about Independence Day. During our discussion they shared they had to come to the school on 15th August. “We will be scolded if we don’t come, one kid said with innocence”. The irony of the situation made me feel helpless.

There were few late new admissions in the class. Many super intelligent kids (especially girls) had joined the class. Lakshmi Prasanna- there is no way I can skip mentioning your name. You make me so proud as your teacher. Since she had joined the school late, she could not get the exercise book distributed by TFC as the books were over.

She literally pestered me to the point that the very thought of going to the school to me would mean explaining her the reason for delay in issuing the book. This girl was so keen on learning and actually made me religiously follow up with the administration team to expedite the issuance. I really liked her attitude and sincerely pray that some good opportunities come her way in the future.

Progress

4th September 2019 was the day that the kids had study desks. One of the Corporates had sponsored the desks as part of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibly) initiative. They could not contain their excitement the moment I reached the class. I also felt a sudden spurt of joy inside me. That day I considered myself eligible to sit on the chair kept for teaching staff.

Some important takeaways

There was a drawing competition organised by TFC on Children’s Day and the volunteers were supposed to conduct and judge the same for their class. I was simply amazed by how creative the kids could get.

The entire process and associated experience made me a better person in terms of appreciating smaller joys of life.

I have more patience now to deal with any situation specially while dealing with my own kids as I can empathize with them better.

Technically speaking, I did manage to complete the syllabus and had just one last visit pending in which I was supposed to conduct the exam for the students. This is still pending because of the lockdown, due to Coronavirus and I kind of feel incomplete because of this.

Through this blog, if I can inspire anyone to be part of any teaching initiative, I will feel my efforts of penning it down have been fruitful. And trust me you will come back richer!

This blog was first published on http://beyondstories.in/

Image Source: yourstory.com