Wonders never cease - The American Beaver

American Beaver

     I have always thought that beavers look cute with their cute little 'beaver teeth'.   Beyond that I didn't really know anything about them till about a day ago.  I saw this wonderful documentary on beavers which was so interesting and informative.

     After watching that documentary my admiration and 'respect' for this little animal has indeed increased manifold.

     What a hardworking creature it is!  Truly amazing!

     How much of work it does with its little sharp clawed hands(?)!!  I was even more amazed to know that beavers bring down small trees!  Whew, those teeth must be something!

     And how well the family cooperates to bring about building the dam and the nest.  Apparently, beavers may pair for life.  The female gives birth every spring and the older siblings live on with the parents till they are about two years of age. After that period they go out into the world to search for a mate and a nice spot to build their nest.  

     It was particularly interesting to watch how one established family was seeking to bring reinforcements for their home.  Since the beaver would be vulnerable to bring logs by land (and of course it would be easier to float the logs rather than drag them), they cleverly built dams, changed the course of the lake and built canals to where the trees were!  "The trees won't come to the river but the river can go to the trees"!  And the female (queen she is called, I think) beautifully stocks up for the winter.  She stores the twigs/branches in such a place near the nest that they would be cool but not freeze up in the tough Wisconsin winter!

     What a creation!  I want to shake its beautiful, clawed, hardworking, talented and efficient hands, and say "Well done!!"

A sign from heaven

A sign from heaven!  That's what it was!
A perfect 'tick' as if someone in the heavens above was saying 'yes' to set right my confusion.  Not that I had any pressing issues to confuse me!!! But good to have this divine sign, just in case, to reiterate that I am, after all, right!
Being a teacher, I know the value of this 'tick' mark.  Tick, tick, tick, all answers right, full marks!! yay!
I could feel the thrill and excitement of the student who had answered well in an exam and was awaiting results.
Again, not that I had written any exams, but good to have divine approval! Thank you God!

Another use of batter.

Using Dosa batter as a bleach.  This is a harmless yet effective bleach.  My friend (who gave me this tip) says that dosa-batter is most effective for bleaching feet; to ensure there is uniformity in color, especially for those who use sandals.
I like this use of batter because - it is usually available and harmful chemicals are not present.  After enjoying a batch of idlis/dosas, the last drops of batter can be put to this use! :)

Orange peel

I have come across many suggestions to use lemon to deodorize the garbage disposal, and I know that it works very well too. 
Recently I disposed some orange peels (navel oranges) in the disposal, and I was surprised with the pleasant odor which resulted!! The fresh citrusy scent was indeed refreshing!  It struck me that orange peel could be a good substitute for lemon in this case.

Book review

The idea of a 'sequel' to P & P was indeed attractive to me (since of course I am a great fan of Jane Austen's P&P), but the title sounded a little negative. However that didn’t stop me from borrowing the book from the local library. The few pages I had read in the book club were certainly entertaining and made an eager read.

Six years have passed since Elizabeth’s marriage to Mr Darcy. Jane and Mr Bingley are their neighbours, settled at Highmarten. It is the eve of Lady Anne’s ball which is celebrated with great pomp every year. All the Darcy’s neighbours and friends are invited except, of course, the infamous Wickham and his wife.

On the eve of the ball, the family and some close friends like Mr Alveston and Colonel Forster (who is now Viscount) are gathered for dinner when Lydia comes distraught and hysteric. The coach man only knows that Mr Wickham and his friend Mr Denny were in the coach, and all of a sudden Mr Denny leaves the coach in a huff, halfway through the woods in PEmberly. Mr Wickham follows him and a little later a gunshot is heard. The coachman, young and inexperienced as he is and Lydia who breaks into easy hysterics just like the ‘poor nerves’ of her mother urges the coachman to approach the house.

For the main part of the book, the trial unfolds in great detail – the inquest, the imprisonment and the actual trial. The narrative is lengthy and small particulars are sometimes described in great detail. For the most part the narrative is of a somber nature, of course given the circumstances it is understandable. But what happened to the carefree and clever remarks of Elizabeth and her ability to laugh at others and herself? This or the lack of this is what I missed most in the story.

The author has cleverly entwined the characters of Miss Elliot (Persuation?); Mrs Knightley and Mrs Robert Martin (Emma) though briefly which is very enjoyable and is a refreshing surprise.

I like P&P for is seemingly simple plot, the human folly of its characters, the fairy tale ending with conquered pride and broken prejudices and the beautiful time of the story. This book makes a good read as an individual story, but I wouldn’t consider it as a fitting sequel to my favorite book.

Who is responsible?

Well, the write up was (and is) meant to be my free expression of thoughts as an individual and as a teacher; it is not meant to corner any one.
After watching the movie I felt the accusations laid against teachers and the management was unpalatable to me.
In my write-up I have only narrated my situation as a teacher and have not touched upon the management side which can be very sticky; because they can present their own set of problems adding on to that of the teacher.
And yes, these things need to taken on a case to case basis, for there is no general solution to the matter.
In this particular case of the movie, I felt a lot of problems could be avoided by the proactive interest of the parent instead of just 'passing on the buck' to the teachers.
However, I still feel very strongly that parents do have more time with their wards than any individual teacher.
A teacher can teach a child in a particular term/year or maximum in a particular level like middle school or high school etc. Moreover in today's scenario we do not have 'gurukula' type of systems where a student approaches a teacher and remains in tutelage for atleast the next decade.
Anywise I do not want to hurt the feelings of a parent, for parents who are extremely cooperative to teachers and understanding do exist but are very hard to come by.

Who is responsible? Teacher or Parent?

I recently saw the movie 'Dhoni..not out' in Tamil. Even while watching it, I felt so angry and my sentiments as a teacher were rightfully hurt.
Here is the story in brief - Subbu is a hardworking middle class widower taking care of his two children, the older a boy who is in the ninth grade and the younger a girl, perhaps in seventh grade. Of the children, the older one is an ardent cricket buff and lives and dreams cricket. The girl however is a more 'responsible' student.
How the father tries to make both ends meet is perhaps well depicted here. Then comes the pressure from school to the boy who needs to improve in a couple of subjects so that he can be promoted to the next class and get '100%' result for the school. Subbu enrols his son in a couple of tuitions which are of no real use because
1 the boy is simply more interested in cricket and
2 perhaps this coaching should have started earlier in a more consistent way.

The father is frustrated and so is the child and in one particular confrontation the father loses his temper and by sheer accident the boy gets hurt in his head and goes into a coma. This shocks the father himself and he takes a journey of guilt and realises how futile it is that he got into a fight over his sons lack of knowledge of 17 x 8. With the turn of circumstances he takes it out on his teachers, school and management and severly criticises them that they have not recognised his son's passion, and they infact have failed as an institution because of their focus on '100% result' and that the current education system in general is dysfunctional.
His voicing his opinion on public media puts him in more trouble and he loses his government job. However all ends well when the boy awakens from his coma after brain surgery done on him by a good samaritan doctor and Subbu gets back his job. However I do not remember if he sends his son back to the same school after his recovery.

Well, after watching this movie, I realised how biased the society is towards teachers in general. People (especially parents) are ready to blame teachers even if the smallest thing goes wrong.

I may not have a whole lot of experience in the 'school teaching' arena, but I had have the good fortune of working a considerable (and impressionable) time in a couple of reputable institutions. Now I feel the need to express my point of view when faced with such blatant outrageous remarks about my teacher colleagues.

Okay so the child is interested in cricket and not academics just as the school would like him to be.
1 why did'nt the child approach the parent and express his problem ? the boy is after all a teenager and teenagers these days are extremely vocal about their likes and dislikes. Is the parent approachable to his own ward? or does he have rigid views about what he wants his child to become?
2 Did'nt the father see his child's progress report periodically? did'nt he attend PTA meetings where teachers would have told him which particular area/subject needs to be focussed on? why did'nt the parent take necessary action?
3 To begin with, was the parent certain that that particular school would be the best fit for his child? did he also envision excellent academic results for his child just as the school envisioned excellent results for all its students?
4 As a parent what stand does he take towards his child's passion for cricket? Does he think that it is a better route for his child rather than academics in which he does not exhibit such tremendous result?

People may think that teaching is a very simple task. After all how difficult is it to teach a couple of math problems or explain a couple of formulae/equations, memorise and translate a couple of slokas or poems? And is not all this teaching in front of a couple of children who do not anything to start with and who are very innocent that they believe all that is told to them? And that too each class is for a duration of 30-35 minutes. There are ample breaks for teachers to relax in between classes and they get to go home early; the pay is good; paid vacation; holidays for all festivals; the list goes on...

If you are one of those people who thinks in this way, be prepared to be shocked when I say that teaching is like walking on a knife's edge. One needs to be more alert than a worker in precision auto industry, for we are dealing with plastic minds. {Dont even get me started on the bit about 'completing portions'. That opens a whole new vista of discussions about the educations system, our so called competitive job market (survival of the fittest syndrome). And what to say about parents mentality that the only worthy professions are doctor and engineer? Why not arts, why not specialise in music if there is talent?}

Children are children no doubt but they are way smarter than any of their previous generations and I don't mean smarter in a good way! Their vocabulary is 'enhanced' even when they are in their primary classes. Where do they learn these 'special' words? At home? From their peers? From the media? I have no comments about this; perhaps a little from everywhere! So the society as a whole is responsible for destroying our children's innocence. When this is the case, how can you expect the child to attend a particular school and transform himself for the better completely? True that students spend a major portion of their waking time in the school, under the influence of teachers, but they also do spend a sizable portion of the day, holidays and vacations away from it. And all educators will agree with me that all factors play a role in the child's growth - parents, teachers and society (consisting of his peers, school, extended family, etc)

In the half hour that a teacher is in his class consisting at least 25 students, he has to finish his portions, thats why he stands in front of the class. He has to clearly teach that one concept keeping in mind the children's individual capacities - the lesson should neither be too slow (that the quick learners get bored ) nor should it be too fast (that the slow learners feel left behind). My teacher colleagues will agree with me when I say that even if a teacher may have decades of experience teaching a particular level of students, each class is a new one of discovery obviously for the students and not so obviously for the teacher as well.

And teaching a concept is just one facet of the job. Not to leave out correction of the notebook, conducting tests and marking them, setting question papers for umpteen tests and exams, invigilating during exams, conducting remedial classes, preparing progress report if a person is lucky enough to be class teacher, attending many staff meetings when that time could be used much better....teaching in the school level as I see it is one part teaching and 99 parts clerical jobs.

I don't want to project as if my day as a teacher is filled with monotony and repetitive useless things. As a person with passion for teaching and interacting with young minds, the little time I spend teaching something new to an enthusiastic set of interested students, wow, the kick I (we) get out of it is something immeasurable and thats why we continue to be in this profession. That glimmer of joy normalizes everything. but honestly many days I have felt like I have been in some kind of trapeze performance!

All I want to say is teachers are also a part of this society, hence don't hold them solely responsible for anything adverse that happens to todays school-going children.

Can we honestly say that our outlook over generations has not changed? Our grandfathers were happy with 500 rupees as monthly salary, our grandmothers were mostly housewives, our parents studied in local languages till class 5 or 10. We did'nt have fancy gadgets as toys when we were children. Our folks always gave primary importance to values and good habits. We were given punishments if we did something wrong in class or at home. There is a world of difference in expectations now in the present school going generation.

All said and done, you may think that I am blindly supporting my teacher colleagues; may be I am. I just want to say that you as a parent brought your child into this world and it is your primary duty, even if the society fails your child, you as a parent should know that your child is worthy no matter what, and should give that unconditional love to your child.