I have always been excited about teaching… of course, not in a traditional way. Wanted to incorporate my own ideas into teaching, to get really close the children, to understand them and to help them grow. Hmm.. but there was always some excuse or other for not doing it. The primary reason was my fear of standing in front of a group of students and speaking!
I have quite a few highly respected senior members in Bangalore Toastmasters club. They stay true to the oath they take during the swearing in ceremony, that they will help others in improving their communication skills. Oh no, they go far beyond that. One fine day, one of those members, TM Karthik, called me up in the morning and said that they are conducing a “Youth Leadership Program” in a high school. He asked whether I can take a session – to give a demo of an ice breaker. Immediately the fear gripped me. But I knew that this fear is something that I wanted to get rid of, for a long time. I just said “Count me in!”. Of course, these were the train of thoughts in my mind – “will the students like me? will I say something stupid? will I be able to impress them? will they listen to me?”…
The organizer had informed me that I have to come in formals. God! I didn’t even have a formal trouser. For the first time in the last five years, I bought a formal pair. Always used to feel very conscious in formal wear…
The day came. The organizer himself, TM Sumitra and I were the presenters on the first day. The school had made nice arrangements to welcome us 
Meeting started and my heart started beating faster… managed to keep an artificial smile… Seeing that the students are very smart and interested in the presentations, I was very relaxed. Then came my turn. I think somebody waved a magic wand, for I could instantly connect with them. Then I was very confident to try some jokes, and it worked very well. It went really well… I was supposed to speak for about four minutes, but it went up to about 8 mins. I got so involved in the session, that I forgot I had to stop (btw, I forgot to mention that it was a girl’s high school). Some of the students were as afraid as me when I was a kid. Some of them cried, some of them experienced shivers, and some of them had their brains crash!
It was a great experience! I gave myself a good treat that day, for taking up that challenge and surpassing my own expectations.
Next week, I was invited again to be a Table Topic Master. This time it was even better. The atmosphere was so friendly and encouraging that as I conducted the session, students were so much involved in it. They gave me some chocolates in the middle of the session. They forgot that they have to be afraid, that they started asking me whether they can speak on certain topics! I don’t know who waved the magic wand again…
Boy! I can’t express what a pleasure it was to spend time with them and encouraging them by sharing our experiences. And, I feel that most of the students love to have a good teacher. Its is such a bad state of affairs that in most of the cases students are not connected to teachers at all. Karthik suggested that one reason could be generation gap. He said “New generation students need new generation teachers!” That was pearl of wisdom! Another reason could be the lack of dedication from the teacher’s side. I wish someday I could start a school, incorporating all the new ideas in education & training… What’s a greater pleasure than shaping up promising souls!!
