A Reviving Lesson on Chapter-3 (3), 2016.

Continued from Summary of Chapter-3 (3)

By a cruel stroke of Fate, or call it what you will, I am entrusted with Standard IX E in the last period on most of the days in the week. By the time I take my seat for the attendance, the class look dead tired, barely managing to keep away from jumping out of their skin and the look on their faces says it all and sickens me to my stomach.

The last two days with them were quite disheartening, to say the least. On both the days, I, along with a handful of students, was the only one reading out excitedly, trying to explain things, while the rest fought helplessly, trying to drive away merciless sleep from their drooling eyes! By the time I was done with the summarizing of the chapter (we were into the third chapter of Dawa, the story of a stray Dog), I was not sure if I was doing the right thing by trying to force them into remembering the main points of the chapter. I knew by the symptoms that I had to do something immediately to keep my honour in tact.

On the third day, that is, Wednesday, I did some quick thinking and informed them, towards the end of the class that today (Friday, the 16^th of April) I would ask them to answer some 20 short questions from Dawa is educated (Chapter-3) of the novel. I would do so just to see if they are studying seriously at all these days. The dozing class nodded its head conveying that they had got the message all right.

I made some 15 questions for them. Questions that can be answered in one or two words, or one liners at the most. Mentally calculated the time needed by them for answering the questions. Thought that did not require more than 1 minute per question and decided to ask them to answer one short question in the end, a question that would take 10 minutes for them at the most for coming out with a satisfactory answer.

Once I was in the class, I instructed them as per my plan, made sure that they understood what they were to do by asking some students to repeat the instructions and proceeded with the execution of the plan. There was no need for them to copy down the questions. All they had to do was to note down the question number and write the answer beside it.They were to answer the first 14 questions including 1 that had two parts in 15 minutes. 15 marks were allotted for this. The last question needed to be answered in 10 minutes as the question carried 5 marks. Altogether, they had to finish answering 15 questions carrying 20 marks in 25 minutes. After the exercise over, they were to exchange their notebooks and correct their friends’ by listening to the teacher repeat the questions once more and the answers being read out by their friends. I even allowed them to write the answer to the last question by referring to the textbook, on the condition that they would write it in their own words.

We started at around 10 to 12 and concluded by 15 minutes past 12. The last 10 minutes were kept aside for discussing the answers. After the stipulated time, the questions were read out once more one after another, while the students read out their answers. Later, I asked them to tell their marks, which was expectedly poor. Only 1 student could score 70% while the rest secured below 60%.Most of the students failed to answer the questions correctly.

It was time for the remedial measures. I decided to do it verbally first of all. I requested them to be more careful about their studies. If they do not study seriously from now on, later they would have a tough time. What are they going to do during the Mid-Term Exam, if they had trouble recollecting the points that we finished discussing yesterday?

I asked them to go through the chapter once more, something I had been asking them to do throughout the year. More seriously and systematically this time around, sorting out all the difficult words, finding out their meanings, making notes and trying to write the summary of the chapter in their own words.

As I thought that they have had enough of Dawa for the time being, I asked them if they would like me to teach something else next week. The students surprised me with their answer (they never cease to surprise me, anyway). Despite their apparent tiredness, their poor performance, they suggested unanimously that I continue with Dawa till next week. These are hardy pupils and they will eventually succeed, if for nothing else, then only for this characteristic trait alone.

Continued on Chapter-3 (4)