Conversation with Ram

Sitting in the library trying to write a speech--glad I was interrupted...
We have a saying in the US: give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. I think we can apply to education this way: teach a person to think, show them that their mind is hungry and you've enriched their being and the world for a lifetime. Today a student reaffirmed my commitment to teaching and showed me that this was true. We had a question posted to our discussion board--what does it mean to be an American? Indian? The students posted responses and one of my kids here found me today to share his experience. As he read the responses he reflected back to how little he felt that he knew about his own culture. He started to search for more information about his history, his government and society. He read comments by one of his classmates--she suggested that the American students should see a list of films she provided. The student responded that he felt that film was limited and began to search for other art forms. His search went on into the evening and into the next day when he found me sitting at a table in the library. He gushed about how his experience and what he found as well as how the questions had prompted so much thinking on his part--he did admit that he didn't think he'd ever be able to fully answer the question but that it would keep him thinking. He also stated that he was so happy to be in IB and that it was sort of silly that only the IB kids should be exposed to these ideas. The spark was there. Thanks, Ram.

This whole experience in India has been in someways so not about the project (sorry Lamese, Meredith and Maggie). It's been so intensely personal--spiritual in parts, lots of self-knowledge, all balanced by the intellectual and vocational insights. Today it finally hit me thought that in this process of reflection and introspection I realized that I am going to be gone in a few weeks. When I look at my students I feel a pang of sadness. As a teacher we say hello only to say good-bye in a few months. I should be better at it or at least I shouldn't be surprised or that it shouldn't affect me emotionally now. There was a more senior teacher at my school in Minnesota who commented that once I had been there longer I'd get over it. But it still does pull at my heartstrings. Perhaps this was like my experience in Edinburgh--another place where I cut my teeth, learned about myself and that makes all the relationships more intense and meaningful...I can wrap my mind around it but can't quite buy it. I'm going to miss Chennai and everyone I've met: Sudha and my Madras Mom, Lyola, Suyash and his family, Cheryl, Venkat, Br. Rishi, Vidya, Veena, Anil, Prema, Nivas, Praveen, Pratik, Angie, Naresh, Mohan, Boopity, Shiva, Padmila, Meena, Ashish, Kiti, Marcus, Bindu, Sajit, Nidhi, Santosh, my students.... Thanks for so much.