School Days

             The past couple of days have not been as interesting as the first few.  However, I have greatly enjoyed getting to know more of the people at school and spending time with them.  Yesterday was a bit of a rough day teaching as one of the teachers seemed to feel that my explanation of the material was no sufficient and as a result decided to teach over me.  Although she may have been making sure that the classroom was being conducted the way she liked it, I felt slightly insulted.  Luckily, my supervisor happen to be in the room to witness this exchange and I was able to debrief with her afterwards.  Also, I will only be in this classroom until the end of the week so soon, this will no longer be my issue.  The truth is that this teacher, along with the others in this room, happens to be a fantastic educator.  What I don't appreciate are her expectation and her attitude with the students.  As a teacher, we always want to set the bar as high as humanly possible so that the students reach for the stars.  However, it is not to the point at which students feel as though making a mistake is the worst thing that could possibly ever happen.  Clearly I was and still am quite frustrated with this and nicely decided to bring it up with another teacher.  What I have learned is that in India, there actually is no room for error because any error you make brings you just one millimeter below the next person, which puts you closer to the bottom.  In India, education is actually your only way to succeed (so I've been told) and therefore, if you are not willing to put in your absolute best, well, as my dad would say, you're SOL. Another interesting thing to note about the students at this school is that 1) they almost all never see their parents because they are some hotsy totsy big shots who travel the world doing "amazing things" and these children are raised by their maids, drivers, and others 2) the parents couldn't care less about anything school related because they feel as though they have "done their duty" by sending their children and do not need to be involved and 3) when the parents do come to school it is somewhat of a fashion show and the parents are not terribly interested in what is going on in school with their child.

Something else interesting that I'm learning is that everyone has an interesting story that they love to share.  It is incredible to me how much we keep to ourselves (for the most part) as Americans. Meanwhile, Indians are glad to share their life story with you without warning or invitation.  Personally, this is great because I don't have to ask questions- the information is given.  Then, I also do not have to worry about asking further questions.  In addition to Mythri and Anupa, my two closest friends at the moment, there is not Kalpana who is absolutely wonderful and Ram.  Granted all of these people are at least ten years my senior but regardless, they are intellectually stimulating and great fun to be around.  Kalpana is a specialty teacher who works primarily with 4th and 5th grade math and science.  She is beyond brilliant and has a degree in micobiology and after spending all too much time in the lab, she realized there was more to life and so she started in the high school, but decided she wanted to move down to elementary (good choice).

            Now I'm just enjoying the company of the lovely people I have met and am gearing up for my big trip to Delhi this weekend, which as of today is a trip that I am VERY excited about rather than a source of anxiety thanks to some wonderful people from home as well as here in India =)

*check out new pictures uploaded on facebook!