Skip to main content

No Vulnerability, No Learning

So when I grew up in India, I experienced a very different schooling system. The teachers I had thought that if they could shame me enough, I would learn. But the more they shamed me, the more I hated them, and the more I hated them the more I did not do the work they assigned me. This gave me a never-ending cycle of embarrassment. Every day I would come into class--without having my homework done, and without an excuse as to why--and the teachers would ask me to stand in front of the class so that they could show the other students what a lazy person looks like. Me! Hello! But that didn't mean I did their work, in fact after every incident like that I would hate them more. My parents got notes home saying "Your child is not paying attention in class" or "Why does Mudita never do her homework?" But my parents didn't care. My mom would come down to talk with my teachers, and when they would tell her how horrible I am as a student--she would point out how horrible they are as a teacher! God, I love my mom!

When I moved to America (Wyoming), I finally saw a teacher who actually cared about me. I was in 6th grade, and my teacher Mrs. Anderson was the nicest person I had ever met! I didn't know any English so she was very patient with me. Her and Mrs. Cobb taught me and my sister English together. They even noticed that we didn't have good winter coats, and brought us one so we won't be cold during recess! They really cared about me, and whenever I messed up they didn't embarrass me for it. I still keep in touch with Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Cobb. They find it hilarious and inspiring that I am an English major, studying to be a teacher. In a way, Mrs. Anderson was the one who inspired me to go into this field.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My (really awful) Poem About Advocating For Students

I'm really bad at writing poems, especially if they are supposed to convey a deeper meaning. What I want to bring across is how I want to be a positive role model in kid's lives and get them excited to come to class. I want to make my class fun, and have really fun discussions about texts as well as learn how to write your own texts! (Essays, poems, short stories, etc.) I remember sitting in class, dreading every minute of it. Why am I supposed to be interested in a subject that bores me to tears? "You'll use this in real life" my math teachers always said. I think they forgot that calculators exist. But with literature class, I always looked forward to it. I liked discussing opinions and having fun, Our teacher knew how to make the class enjoyable. Our class environment was really friendly and supportive, Which is something I hope to bring in my future classroom. Like I said, my poetry skills are not the best. This is the best I could come up with in ...
2 comments
Read more

Three Touchstone Moments

I'm about twelve years old, and it's our third year living in America. We've moved for the third time since we came here, this time to a small town in Maryland. We didn't have a place to stay, so we had to sleep in our family friend's basement. My parents were discussing money, and my sister and I were watching. In hushed voices, they talked about how worried they were: "We only have $500 left!" "I know, but we can figure this out." It was in that moment that I realized that when I grow up, I don't want to be in situations like this. One door that leads to a better life for me and my family was education. In that moment, I remember thinking that I will study hard and do my best in school so that I can get into a good college and start a great career. I started improving my writing skills so that I could keep up with the rest of the students in my class. But I wanted to do this for my parents--I still do. They have sacrificed so much for me, i...
1 comment
Read more

I held the door shut...

I know a lot of cheesy inspirational quotes say "hold the door open for opportunities" as a metaphor for having new experiences and opportunities to work with, but what about metaphoric flies? No one ever thinks about that. What about a really bad opportunity? I'm in a good mood today, as you can tell, so I wanna talk about the bad results I have seen by trying things I knew I wouldn't be good at but was pushed to do them by my parents, peers, or friends. #1: Riding a rollercoaster after eating. Can you guess how that story ended? (You probably can.) So, my friends and I drove up to Denver to go to Elidge Gardens. I was a bit hungry so I had some food, and immediately my friends wanted to go on the rollercoaster. I tried to say no, that I'll just watch and wait for them to get back, but they pushed me to ride with them and I threw up as soon as I got off the ride. #2: AP. American Literature. I wasn't always interested in Literature, and my A.P. American...
Post a Comment
Read more