The Awakening of the Sleeping Giants:

As winter is slowly setting in, there is an air of apprehension, anxiety and excitement seeping into our students. We have sticking to the revision of Argumentative Essay Writing for the last 4/5 days and today I wanted to wind up the topic with Bertrand Russell’s “What I Have Lived For” in XII Arts B. But some students forgot to bring their textbooks and as I also couldn’t tell them yesterday, we had to do something ad hoc. Someone suggested writing stories. But I could foresee some problem at once, while the serious ones would be busy writing, a handful of students would while away their time just like that. I had to do something quickly and whatever I wanted to do had to be done differently. I asked them to write at least 10 sentences about their classroom, which would be a part of their stories later on.

Yesterday I thought of letting the students sharpen their story writing skills in the other section, XII Sc B. At the start of the lesson in that class, I asked them to think of a friend and describe him/her in 10 sentences without naming him/her. They were given 20 minutes to do so. After the given time they had to read out their descriptions, while the rest of the class had to guess the person being described. Our students are talented and it did not take them long to find out the friends described. I just tried to remind them of the importance of ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’ about their characters. Instead of telling that Laxmi was a kind girl (plain telling), it is best to write something like: As Laxmi was crossing the street on her way to school with the friends, she found the withered woman lying helplessly near the drain. It was not clear if she was alive or dead. Both Chimi and Deki seemed least bothered. She stopped, handed over her tiffin-carrier to Deki and started running towards the still woman…….

Next, I asked them to write a story of about 450-500 words in which features the character in the First Person faced with an internal conflict. The story should conclude with the line: It was only then that I realized that things between the two of us will never ever be the same again.

To come back to the lesson I had with XII Arts B in the first period today, as I told you at the start, I asked them not to take more than 20 minutes to give an account of their classroom, which would be the setting of their stories. While the class, I mean most of them, got busy, Ms. Sangay Lhamo came to my table with the request to check her story. It took me the next 12 minutes or so to go through the story. It’s a very nice story, considering the fact that she has a lot in her mind these days. Then I got up and made a round of the class. I thought of joining the students in trying to describe the classroom. I looked at the watch. There were still 4 minutes left. I looked around the class room and my gaze stopped on a picture of His Majesty with the Queen on the wall facing me:.

The Picture of His Majesty and Her Majesty hung on the pink wall adorned with square-shaped, colourful posters and cut-outs. The white board on the opposite wall was what kept the teachers busy all day long. In between the two walls were the desks (with the blue table cloths) with their partners, the chairs behind them. The green and pink curtains covering the windows gave the room a cosy, comfy feel. Sangay loved her class.

In the course of the last 6 months or so, this room XII Arts B, has become her world. Even the brooms and the dust-pick at the corner, somehow have become a part of her being. She looked on the clock above the white board. It was 8.50. It was time for the first period to start. (Soon she could hear the slow yet steady footsteps on the steps outside …) Sorry, the last line I could not write as a look at the watch told me that it was time for the students to read out what they had penned down.

Excited just like them, I wanted to share the result of my effort with them first. The class agreed. I read it out. Then one by one, Ms. Pema Choki, Ms. Dolma Tamang, Ms. Phub Dolma Tamang and Mr. Sonam Tshering Lepcha read out their writings. Even Mr. Sonam, a very reticent boy by nature, wanted to show me his notebook! The energy in the class baffled me. Things did not look all that bleak any more. I realised that in order to get the best out of our students, we needed to do things differently. That is what is possibly meant by thinking and doing things out of the box. You won’t believe the kind of talent they have once you know how to rouse the sleeping giants. There is simply no knowing the extent the creativity of our students is capable of reaching!

I finished giving them the instructions for writing their stories during the weekend. The story should be set in a classroom. Written from the First Person Narrative Point of View. A class is supposed to have lots of characters, but their story should not be crowded with too many. 4 characters at the most. While I had a theme like ‘True Love Never Dies’, Ms. Deepa Rai came out with ‘Departure’ (probably she had the thought the imminent departure from school in her mind. I liked the idea and so did the class.

I am dying to hear some really interesting stories next Monday. Feel like joining me?