My background...

I completed a bachelor’s degree in science and then a bachelor’s degree in education. My original thought was to pursue a career as a chemotherapist, but due to personal circumstances I could not do it. I got the opportunity to join this school as an assistant teacher and I have been teaching for 4 years now. I teach mathematics and science to students in grades 3 through 7. Now that I have been teaching for some time, I am enjoying it very much. The acknowledgement and respect I get from students, fellow teachers, and parents is extremely gratifying.

My approach to teaching...

I think it is important to first grab the attention of the students, particularly the young ones, as they can get distracted very easily. So, I always begin my classes with a simple activity that I ask the students to do, such as, speed writing. I ask them to write the numbers zero to ten as many times as thy can in 1 minute. At the end of the activity, the student that writes the greatest number of times gets appreciation from the rest of the class.

My role model...

I draw inspiration from a teacher from my childhood – a primary school teacher that taught us mathematics.  I particularly remember her way of teaching. She used to teach at our level, in a way that the material went into our minds directly. This made it easy to understand and remember.

My Aikyam experience...

The students are responding extremely well to the Aikyam program. It enables us to help the students develop new skills as well as make an impact on the people that live in their communities. The students are coming up with many different ideas, such as sanitation and water problems. They demonstrate that they are keenly aware of their environment. They participate in every activity with enthusiasm. We, as teachers, get to find out where some students excel even if they are not academically strong. Even the quiet students are now active as they observe and learn from the other students.