My first teaching experience

Over the years there have been some professions which have been termed as ‘noble’. The medical field or nursing is one. Teaching is another, and the following is an account of the experience I’ve had with it.

I’ve always believed that though you are the best person to judge yourself, you never know the full extent of your abilities and it takes some person or an event to bring them out. The same was the case with me. After looking at how I used to interact with people around me, and the technical background I had, a friend of mine thought that I should forward my name for a position of guest lecturer which was open in his college. To be frank, at that point I thought that he was either playing a ‘very-belated’ April Fool’s joke on me, or had totally freaked out! I mean.. during my schooling and college life I had been a fairly good student, but I had seen both – very good days (like standing in the top 2-3 in class for some modules, especially during my C-DAC days) and very bad days (like flunking many subjects at a time!). Plus I had almost taken all the liberties you can think of in the ‘free’ college life, and was far from an ideal person to coach a bunch of guys. After all I regard it to be a noble profession and only noble men-women should do it (though that is rarely the case in schools and colleges across the country).

Then I was reminded of a fact – a very clever person, though eligible, may not be good teacher but an average person, who doesn’t have a great history of achievements, may turn out to be good orator and can explain the subject to someone in a lucid manner. “That’s what teaching is all about, isn’t it..”, I thought.

So after turning down one opportunity, I took up the challenge the following year. It was the position of a guest lecturer for the Mobile Computing subject at the Ferguson College in Pune for the MCS course third semester. Not only was this subject an all-time favorite of mine, but after having a day job as a software developer and working on unrelated technologies at times, I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to keep in touch with some topics I love and a get a chance to know the new developments in an ever updating technological field during the preparation for the lectures. It would also give me something constructive to do on weekends, apart from setting up a second line of work to go with my primary job, which is the need of the hour in an effervescent IT industry.

So there I was.. already committed to taking the lectures and with absolutely no idea of what topics to start with of how to manage all of them in the given time frame. Plus there was a certain nervousness which you feel before going on the stage and facing an audience for example. Naturally there was also a fear of failure, but in the end I did not want to regret not trying to something like this ever in life.

I eventually prepared myself for my first ‘encounter’ with the students. Unfortunately I have a ‘bad’ habit of never reaching a given place on time.. and the first day was no different (well I admit that even after my concerted efforts over the next 4 months, this track record did not improve). So there they were.. about 60 students waiting for me in the classroom. Obviously I was jittery at the start but tried hard not to show it. As the first few minutes went by, I started becoming more and more comfortable in my new role. I tried to take everything in a light vein and enjoy the time there. The first lecture, apart from some funny incidences, went very well – much to my amazement.

The lecture on the following day was the crucial one. I thought that even if roughly 40% of the guys present on the first day turn up, then I have won the first battle. When I saw the class strength on that day (a Sunday) – little more then 60% of the first day – I knew the challenge I had accepted had paid off!

The next few lectures were fun. I used to stay up at nights during the week to prepare for the lectures on the weekends, but I used to like it. Well I must admit that like every batsmen who goes out to open a new innings in Cricket, I used to have that strange feeling in my stomach every time I went up to face the students. But it was fun!

Each day was like a new challenge.. a new test for me. I had to explain the topics in as simple but effective way as possible. That meant a lot of research on the internet too. I did not want to repeat the same errors that my teachers in college made – of not ‘involving’ the students in the learning process and overlooking them. I tried to throw in some innovative diagrams, some self-explanatory videos and some presentation slides to augment my teaching. I tried to focus on the fundamentals of the topics. The main thing I tried to do was to be honest with myself and not merely assume that I am doing a good job – and I realized that this was no easy task.

There were many memorable incidences during the course of the sessions. Including the day when the recital of the national anthem took me by surprise (refer to my earlier article related to this). I realized that instead of taking a formal lecturer-to-student approach, keeping a perennial smile on the face and taking a friend-to-friend approach was a good option. This way the students tend to take more interest in the subject.

Anyone who is even remotely involved with the IT field knows how monotonous it can get. Sometimes I used to look forward to the weekend lectures at Ferguson as a place to rejuvenate myself. It really feels different to be on the other side of the dais and you tend to understand the thought process of other teachers.

I was really surprised by the attitude shown by the students at times during the 4 months. It used to rain cats & dogs sometimes during the rainy season but they would brave it all & be present for the lecture – in spite of it being a Saturday or Sunday. They were even open to share their class trip photographs with me, which I think was a special gesture because they had known me only for a few days really. I would always remember these things.

I myself gained a lot of experience during the sessions and also unknowingly learned a lot from the students in turn. It would seem like a cliche but it really feels great to give something back to the society in this way, and I would like to thank the college for giving me this opportunity. Who knows, this may be the first of many such opportunities. Of course I realize that there are many areas I need to improve myself to deliver a more enjoyable learning experience, but at least this was a start, and when you do something for the first time it is always close to your heart.

To the students of the MCS batch whom I taught: (I’m being very formal here for a change!)

It was a wonderful experience for me taking the Mobile Computing sessions. Thank you for all your support and feedback during this time. I will definitely miss taking the lectures. Keep in touch and I hope to work with you as a colleague someday.

I am also sharing the group photos we clicked in class –

The MCS class I taught at the Ferguson College

Me sitting amongst the MCS group