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I work as volunteer for an NGO aiming at educating underprivilged children.Since the day I had joined, being a newbie I had serious trouble controlling a class of 20-25 kids aged between 5-6 yrs.Most of the time I found myself running after the kids just trying to make them sit in one place and listen to me.If somehow I managed to make Sujata sit quietly in one place Deeva would start hitting Kavita.Mohiddin will be busy disturbing other kids and Deepak will be enjoying throwing away the stationery.The first few days I actually came back feeling like a loser...not able to make the kids do something as basic as listening to me forget about teaching!
I remember being a very naughty and talkative girl in the class when I was in school.I wonder how the teachers managed me?
More than that I pity my mum who has been so patient with me and managed me so efficiently! After I came back from the class everyday I would ask my mother."Mom please tell me how do I mange these little monsters!They just would not listen to me."There have been instances where I have been literally running after the kids in the class struggling to gain control over them.Some start throwing stationery at each other, some start hitting each other or worst of all run out of the class!Which means I am running a marathon in the whole school! Some of the kids are so intelligent and listen to you and some just get on your nerves.This one time I had to make the children sit in a circle and was supposed to teach them addition and substraction with the use of coloured blocks.For the first time miraculously I could manage to make them sit in a circle which by all means resembled a circle compared to the previous formations in my initial days as a teacher!I was so proud of myself for achieving this feat, but, my happiness was shortlived.Immediately as they sat in the circle everyone pounced on me for the blocks.I felt like a helpless rabbit being attacked by ferocious baby faced assasins. Overwhelmed by the out of control situation I felt a sudden wave of energy running through my veins and just like Shah rukh Khan did it in the climax of DDLJ ,I woke up with a scream and said with a tone of authority and frustration "Will you all stop it! What is happening here?!Don't you understand what I am saying to you all?!Everybody sit down quietly in your places or I will take away evrybody's t-shirts(these are T-shirts provided as uniforms by the NGO to the kids which they wear over their normal clothes).Three of the kids were still making noise and I said to them "You three are bad students you don't listen to didi.All the other kids are good students,they are sitting quietly". To this Mohiddin said "Haan yeh teen gandhiji ke bandar or yeh(pointing towards me) beech me gandhiji". I was shocked to hear the comment and burst out laughing. All the kids started to laugh too again making the whole place resemble a fish market.(There can be tremendous amount of noise pollution in a class of kids aged 5-7yrs).Mohiddin is just 5yrs old but the instant comment surprised me so much that I forgot the whole class has gone completely out of control. I started to curse myself for being such a fool and not being able to control the class. I am still working on my skills of handling kids....hopefully I am able to manage the kids atleast for sometime when I go back to my class on Monday :(.