Learning as a teacher

‘Continuous learning’ is one of the core values of Teach for Nepal. This value might be the lifeline of any teacher trying to make a difference. Lately, I have been grabbing onto it.

The fellows have a lot of pressure. We need to help the low achieving student raise their grades and pass in SLC. We need to give and get back from them a lot of hard work. This is a challenge. Currently, I am holding free extra classes for low achieving students of class ten. However, only twenty to fifty percent of them show up. None attend regularly. This is a problem. Especially because we are halfway into the academic year and the SLC exams are close.

I was especially concerned about one particular student. She had been absent for almost a fortnight. When she came back, I inquired and she told me she had been sick. I didn’t give her the tough ‘telling to’ that I was thinking I would. Instead, I calmly showed to her the exam answer sheet that she wrote and although she hadn’t passed, I showed her areas she could improve on. I told her she had done well.

Her image as a student is not so great. I have discussed with other teachers how she is lazy. That was my mindset. But when she told me she had been sick, I took a step back and chose to try a different way of encouraging her. It may or may not work. But here I was internalizing the value of continuous learning without even knowing it.