BEST TEACHER

"I really can't believe it....
the day has come...when the best teacher in the whole wide world is leaving!!!
i hope that all the CBSE NISVians have understood what i am talking about....
dearest Diya Ma'am ,
you brought tears to my eyes today ! this was the first time i ever cried in school!!
ma'am you r very very veryyyyy close to our hearts!!
we love you a lot!!
ma'am please do come often to visit us at school!!
we will never forget you !!
i hope even you won’t!!
WE LOVE YOU A TON!!!
WE WILL MISS YOU ALOT!!

love you ma'am.........

from Reetika

— :-( feeling broken."

This moving message on Facebook by my niece about her best teacher was indeed straight from her heart. The helplessness and sadness at watching her best teacher leave is clearly evident in every phrase of her emotionally charged update. Curious about why she felt so strongly for her Diya Ma’am, Reetika told me in very few words the making of a great teacher. Excellent teacher, Diya ma’am was one who had a unique way of correcting the mistakes of her students. Never the one to lose her temper, nor did she raise her voice on the students. Instead Diya ma’am’s words of reason and motivation always worked magic on everyone and even the naughtiest and most stubborn souls relented. ‘There was only one Diya ma’am!’ – Reetika signed off.

Déjà vu moment!!! I am sure we all have experienced similar heartbreaks at losing our teacher who became our world, who transformed us and who provided us that extra bouncing pad that turned around our life – that teacher, My Best Teacher.

Mrs. Swamy my first teacher changed my life and the course of my life, something which I realized years later. Even after 37 years she remains ingrained in my memory and my gratitude for her grows with every passing day. Mrs. Swamy was my kindergarten teacher by accident. Yes, by accident or say by chance!

Admitted into one of the best schools in that city, my weaning away from my parents was not a smooth one. Not ready to go to school easily, my constant blubbering had my original designated kindergarten teacher literally pulling her hairs to ends. Completely clueless how to engage me in the class and contain my passionate howling, in a few days, I had become the centre of comic attraction for everyone. And then one day when I sneaked out of the college premises during school hours to go home my adventure proved too much for the comfort of my principal. I was promptly sent back home with a written note from the principal ‘ Do not send your ward to school from tomorrow’.

Today I can perhaps understand the helplessness that my parents would have felt at this juncture. Next day my parents took me to school and met the principal, a kind of last ditch effort to save me in the school. But our Anglo-Indian principal was firm on his decision. He did not want to risk it anymore especially after my effort to escape the four walls of the school. My parents were crestfallen – one at their failure to enroll me to a school and second at the fact that I was being turned away from a very good school after gaining entry in the same.

Mrs. Swamy another kindergarten teacher in the same school, who had witnessed all my crying and drama stepped in like an angel at this stage. She became my accidental teacher. Understanding me and my parent’s state, she offered to keep me in her section at her own risk for a week to see if this worked. Even principal did not know about this and Mrs. Swamy took a huge risk by keeping me in. I faintly remember that once inside the class, how she first let me cry to my heart’s content. Then came the recess and Mrs. Swamy took me in her lap and put me on the table in front of her. She opened my tiffin as well as her lunch box. I forgot my crying. She felt like mother. We both ate our tiffin together and there started our friendship. By the end of the first week, I was coming to her class happily. I waited for the recess and as the bell rang, I was on Mrs. Swamy’s desk with my tiffin. Principal sir, at seeing my remarkable progress under Mrs. Swamy’s tutelage allowed me to continue. A year passed and I was promoted to the next class. That was the last time Mrs. Swamy taught me but I kept progressing and stayed for 12 long years in that school.

Till today I feel that my schooling had a tremendous impact on me and shaped me in a way. It all would not have been possible without Mrs. Swamy.

'Mrs. Swamy wherever you are, I owe this to you and I want to say a big THANK YOU!!!'

Going back to Reetika, my niece, she told me that her Diya Mam was very understanding. She understood the concerns, anxieties and aspirations of her students. Something that made Diya ma’am standout in the crowd.

Generation Z kids (born 2000 and later) are different and need to be understood and appreciated more than anything else. A word of reason works much more than a coercion; a word of appreciation is a much bigger motivation than a certificate or a medallion.

Every teacher can be the best teacher if they make an attempt to understand the Gen Z kids – tech-savvy, very aware and very inquisitive. Remember they are much more assertive and will not accept anything without understanding the reason behind the same. Content expertise of a teacher today is a default assumption. A great teacher understands his/her students and knows a way to talk to them that can make them do wonders. Mrs. Swamy was ahead of her age I guess and Diya ma’am is right in the groove.

Understanding is the key to engagement. May Reetika, her friends and all kids find more of Diya ma’am and Mrs. Swamy.