Cold Showers

Quick funny/embarrassing story. So for the past week I've been taking cold showers. I’m talking freezing. On one hand it was nice because it forced me to go to PT with the kids so I would at least warm up before the shower, but nothing can prepare you for the moment that cold drop of water touches your head and you just freeze in place. Anyway, there are two faucets. One is metal and the other has blue paint . Naturally, I thought the blue was for cold water, so I’ve been using the metal one for the past week and telling myself that this was all part of my “personal growth”. Today I was washing my clothes, and said, “hey, I’ll just use the cold water faucet so I don’t waste warm water on clothes.” So I turn on the blue faucet and touch it and it's warm. In one of my earlier posts I talked about my happiest moment in life...yeah scratch that, this was my happiest moment.

Today was the first day of week 2 at Shanti Bhavan, and in terms of classes I’ve really been getting into the groove of things. I don't know if it's because of the material, but I'm starting to realize I enjoy teaching my 11th grade economics class the most. Obviously I have an equally immense love for all my students, but in terms of my role as a teacher, I feel better suited to teach the higher grades. Both age groups require their own teaching styles; The younger ones need a lot more patience, direction, and engagement from the teacher. The older ones don’t necessarily need “fun” activities, but they do require you to have a deeper understanding of the lesson and material. That’s one of the reasons I love teaching 11th grade economics. I want to give my students the opportunity to think critically about the material they are learning and not just memorize it for their ISC exams. I want them to question whether capitalism is a good economic system, why India is suffering from high levels of poverty, whether industrialization is a good idea for their country, etc. I always try and connect the material they learn back to their experiences at Shanti Bhavan, mainly so that the students are able to relate to the material and therefore retain in better. I want them to use what they learn in the classroom to help their own communities.