WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING?
In my teaching experience of over thirty-five years, I have a long, strong and even damning record of ‘shouting’ at my students while teaching. Well, I believe I am a good teacher… I also do not mind indulging in some self-glorification: I am a great teacher, too!
Teachers shout
at their students, they do scream… become angry, agitated… sometimes, even
violent.
They should
not, I know… I do become extremely intense while teaching… speak angrily when I
see indifference and irresponsible attitude in my students… I use piercing words;
I even try to demolish their arrogance with my own super-arrogance… So, what I
do at such time is: I try to ‘suppress’ them
or mute them with my intimidating words!
What surprises
me the most is this: In so many years, I haven’t encountered even a single
student – mind you, they are young college students – who has rebelled and
shouted back at me saying, “Why are you shouting?”
Yes, I haven’t
heard it from any student, ever in these over thirty-five years of teaching…
Probably, they
think I am truly a good teacher…
Honestly, I
don’t like shouting and yelling in the class. Forget my students not liking it…
I said, I myself don’t like to shout at them…
“Tell me
frankly… and don’t get scared,” I asked a young student of mine the other day
when we were in good spirits… when there was peace… “Do you dislike my
shouting?”
“No sir,
never,” the young man did not even blink before saying so, “You shout for our
good.”
“Would you
have said this had I asked the same question immediately after shouting?” I
wanted to know what he thought.
“No sir, my
answer would have been the same… You should shout when we make mistakes. You
should correct us.”
I pulled the
young man close to me and gave a tight hug saying softly, “Thank you dear.”
Recently
I have been teaching a 19-year-old student who suffers from the disorder of
autism. I teach him separately and, it is a real challenge for an intense
person like me to control my urge to raise my voice while teaching… I have
learnt to let go all my demands when it comes to this young boy, who is
exceptionally disciplined… but, has the problem of doing basic calculations,
and logical approach to solving problems… He learns in his own special ways,
which I am learning to understand… I am learning to frame rules that suit this
boy… I am learning to drop all my demands… keep a happy, smiling face while
teaching… never ever to shout and scream at him… That’s a very humbling lesson
to me in life… Very empowering as well…
Yet, now and
then, if I slightly raise my voice, I will immediately get it back from him:
“Sir, why are
you shouting?”
“No beta, I am
not ‘shouting’… I am only telling you little ‘loudly’,” I try to calm him and
me down…
This boy has
been sent in my life by God, after decades, just to remind: “Look, you do not have
to shout for every small reason… every now and then.”
So, what is
happening these days in my class (regular students) is this: In the midst of my
shouting bouts, I hear the conscience-keeping words:
“WHY ARE YOU
SHOUTING?”
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Tandra Chakraborty
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