My first class on Electricity

I have been thinking of teaching since long time after I finished my graduation. This Teacher’s Day I did something other than just thinking. I took a resolution that I shall teach at the nearby Government High School for 2 hours on every Saturday. With the same intention I went to the school and talked to HM there. She was very much encouraging and allowed me to take lectures for any class, on any topic I want. What I liked the most at that moment was, HM openly said that their school doesn’t need money as they have enough funds from government and other organizations, so money was not they were actually looking out for.

I asked her whether I could take classes for high school students, and she readily agreed and asked me if I can take physics for them. I said I’m very much interested in that and shall surely take class on any topic which was required.

As one of my friends said: “‘Teach’ in the real sense of the word”, which I just did. I kind of hope that if I can change the mind set of at least one student and bring him to a level where he actually understands the subject for life, then I think my attempt has conceived some result. But nevertheless I'm happy that I made an attempt.

As said I took the lecture for 2 hours (with just one break), and I saw that students were really enjoying it and asking questions, cracking jokes yeah I think they had fun. I thought the real challenge would be teaching in English to a class of Telugu and Marathi medium students, but situation was good as I expected they didn’t had any problem to communicate with me. After the class, students asked me to come on every Saturday like that, for whom I'm very much thankful; HM and I discussed what lectures I should take on coming weekends.

Yes, it was liberating in the sense that I pushed myself to improve the situation to the extent possible by me. And I see there is a lot of scope for improvement every time. I think now maybe I have found some real purpose to not kill time consistently on Saturdays from now on.

Yeah, today I took ‘My first class on Electricity’.

World of Faith

(click on the image to enlarge)


An image showing 'Percentage of people who say that Religion is an important part of their life-Vs-GDP Per Capita'.

The big gray circle on the top represents India; our worthy competitor, China, is missing though.

Sources:
Gallup

Keep Pushing

We have seen many teachers, lecturers, professors in our life, and some of our friends are also in that role. But did you ever think, what does it take to teach a class of Ph.D. students...

Matthew Might, a computer science professor at the University of Utah, writes: “Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is. It’s hard to describe it in words. So, I use pictures.” Here it goes. Matt’s Illustrated Guide:

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor’s degree, you gain a specialty:

A master’s degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you’re at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you’ve made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don’t forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

You can find Matt’s Illustrated Guide hosted on his web site.

(This guide/reality check is published under a Creative Commons License. You can also buy a print version for $6.50. (The money goes to charity.) Matt offers more insights for Ph.D. students here.)

A letter to the future, by Tejaswee

I wanted to start this blog with a testimonial to Tejaswee, the first ever, which I wrote to some person.
I somehow found out IHM's blog and started following it on my google reader.

Came to know about Tejaswee there. I too hoped and believed that miracles happen, and prayed for her.

You can shed tears that she is gone,
or you can smile because she has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that she’ll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all she’s left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember her only that she is gone,
or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what she’d want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

-David Harkins – Thanks CAT.

I was kind of into psychological blackout (for some personal reasons) and I read this 'A letter to the future', I was moved, I felt better, I felt it made me a better person for that just moment.

I understand

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. -Norman Cousins

Tesjaswee, you will live in our hearts. We will never loose you...

Thanks,
Dev