If Morning Shows The Day ....

I had the block periods with IX A right after lunch. Rajesh met me just outside the class and told me that he had made some questions from the first chapter of ‘Dawa, the story of a stray dog’. Good for him and good for all of us too. After the presentation on Phrasal Verbs, I made the objectives of the lesson clear to the class. At first I appreciated Rajesh for the trouble he had taken preparing the questions voluntarily and wanted to know if anyone could tell what they might have learnt from the previous lesson. Unfortunately, no one could. So I recapitulated the previous lesson and informed them that I would talk about the rest of Chapter-1 first and then have some of them reading out from the text. I’d also try to explain the difficult parts of the chapter.

I really enjoyed teaching the rest of the first chapter, the last four pages of the chapter. So with a little bit of prompting from the students, I did it for them and went on to finish It off in a grandiose manner.

How Dawa came to be called Koto. His reactions to the name, how embarrassed he felt about the name and how obsessed he was with the dreadful name.

I realized while teaching about Dawa’s embarrassment that I could do with some values here. Something that happened impromptu, without any preparation and mention of them in the Lesson Plan. I asked them how they would feel if other people called them names regarding their physical handicaps. The class seemed appreciative of the values of Decency, Understanding and Fellow Feeling.

I continued talking about how the positive influence of the moon changed Dawa for good from the timid, insecure and shameful dog that he was, into a courageous, confident and proud one. His friends, the other dogs, went on tormenting and teasing him. But finally he won the battle of wits and tenacity against them and came to be known as Dawa Koto.

Then I dwelt on Dawa’s newly acquired confidence. It gave rise to some sort of ambition in him. He wanted to be different, different from the other stray dogs. He wanted to be listened to, he wanted to be looked up to. He wanted to be the leader of the howling pack. As a concerned member of the dog community, he was thoroughly dissatisfied with the nocturnal, cacophonic howling of the dogs. He realized like a true leader that the responsibility of doing something about it rested on him. Instead of trying to correct others, he decided to change himself first. He really worked hard, honing on his skill till he was absolutely sure of success. Again I sniffed some room here for teaching values. Therefore, I told them that if they have some dreams and if they want their dreams realized, they have to work seriously hard and with dogged determination. Dawa, it goes without saying, became the undisputed leader of the pack.

I told them next, while talking about the last incident in chapter-1, that in making my own notes about the incident, I just penned three words – ‘The Shopkeeper Incident’ to be able to remember all of it!

Then I narrated the incident involving the shopkeeper. How he had his frustration and fear mounting at his huge losses, when he found the dried fish pouring down and the stray dogs devouring them hungrily. His pampered son, at his bidding, reluctantly fetching the whip made of twisted wires, for teaching them a lesson or two. How the dogs fled away, at a warning from Dawa and how the shopkeeper finally vented his fury on the TV-addicted son. This lesson turned out to be tailor-made for teaching values. Here I chipped in by asking them not to watch TV 24x7. They have to be more considerate. Their parents love and care for them. They toil day in and day out for the benefit of the children.  All they want is for their children to stand on their own feet.  So consideration for all their sacrifices is the least they can have for their parents.

Continued on pg-2