WEBVTT 00:00:06.797 --> 00:00:10.852 When I was 9 years old, I thought that a teacher is a titleholder. 00:00:10.852 --> 00:00:13.316 A person who stands in front of the class 00:00:13.316 --> 00:00:16.276 and teaches while the students are listening. 00:00:16.276 --> 00:00:19.661 I studied in a low income private school for 5 years 00:00:19.661 --> 00:00:23.376 there I saw many of my friends are disinterested in their studies. 00:00:23.376 --> 00:00:25.826 Some of them would not pay attention in the class 00:00:25.826 --> 00:00:28.509 while some of them would be absent for days. 00:00:28.509 --> 00:00:33.038 I observed that this used to create a lot of pressure and stress on the teachers. 00:00:33.038 --> 00:00:34.734 And it made me question: NOTE Paragraph 00:00:34.734 --> 00:00:37.683 How challenging is it to be the only person responsible 00:00:37.683 --> 00:00:40.789 in the room for the learning of 40 students? 00:00:40.789 --> 00:00:44.379 It made me question: Why do students need to rely on that one teacher? 00:00:44.379 --> 00:00:48.373 When will the students realize that there's a teacher in them? 00:00:48.373 --> 00:00:50.784 I wanted to do something about this. 00:00:50.784 --> 00:00:56.374 So, I decided that whenever and however possible, I would try to help my teacher. 00:00:56.374 --> 00:00:59.741 So everyday, I would help her with taking the class attendance, 00:00:59.741 --> 00:01:02.197 writing the daily agenda on the board. 00:01:02.197 --> 00:01:03.591 And during practice time, 00:01:03.591 --> 00:01:07.854 I would try and help a group of students who were struggling with their worksheets. 00:01:07.854 --> 00:01:10.045 And when my teacher would be absent, 00:01:10.045 --> 00:01:15.428 I would get on a call, and ask her things that I can help her with. 00:01:15.428 --> 00:01:20.826 Then, as discussed, I'd monitor the class, give them vocabulary words to learn, 00:01:20.826 --> 00:01:25.106 some math problems to solve, and sometimes even homework. 00:01:25.106 --> 00:01:28.090 Over time, more classmates helped me with this. 00:01:28.090 --> 00:01:33.070 Slowly, we started taking ownership of our own learning in the classroom. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:33.070 --> 00:01:37.710 This continued for some time. But I wanted to do something more! NOTE Paragraph 00:01:37.710 --> 00:01:41.562 Many of my friends needed help with reading and comprehension. 00:01:41.562 --> 00:01:45.286 Me and my friend Pinky were really passionate about reading, 00:01:45.286 --> 00:01:47.649 so we started a reading club. 00:01:47.649 --> 00:01:50.928 In our club, we had students from 4th, 5th and 6th grade 00:01:50.928 --> 00:01:53.781 and many of them had a low reading level. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:53.781 --> 00:01:57.755 We slowly started giving them books with more pictures and less words. 00:01:57.755 --> 00:02:00.038 And once they were able to read those books, 00:02:00.038 --> 00:02:05.348 we tried to increase the difficulty level by giving them books with more words. 00:02:05.348 --> 00:02:08.486 We also discussed things like character, their traits, 00:02:08.486 --> 00:02:11.942 the main events and the central idea of the story. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:11.942 --> 00:02:16.902 After some sessions our class teacher tested them and they showed an improvement! 00:02:16.902 --> 00:02:22.637 We even saw one of our friends grow by 1.5 reading levels in just one month! 00:02:22.637 --> 00:02:23.533 Eventually, 00:02:23.533 --> 00:02:28.393 we also got some opportunities to conduct reading circles with elder people. 00:02:28.393 --> 00:02:30.111 After these experiences, 00:02:30.111 --> 00:02:34.831 I felt really proud of the fact that for that brief moment, I was the teacher, 00:02:34.831 --> 00:02:38.203 irrespective of my age and which class I was in. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:38.203 --> 00:02:40.184 I have a question for all of you: 00:02:40.184 --> 00:02:43.803 Are there things that you are passionate about? 00:02:43.803 --> 00:02:47.281 I am sure that it’s a yes, because I have many passions. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:47.281 --> 00:02:51.719 Some of my passions include cooking, knitting, gardening and sketching. 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:55.970 I owe all these passions to different teachers that I have had in my life. 00:02:55.970 --> 00:02:59.445 Teachers like Mr. Farhan, he is one of the gardeners in our school 00:02:59.445 --> 00:03:02.315 and he helps me learn cool things about permaculture. 00:03:02.315 --> 00:03:07.125 These days I am learning a new form of gardening known as "aquaponics." 00:03:07.125 --> 00:03:09.806 Or my Mother, who taught me how to cook 00:03:09.806 --> 00:03:13.312 and be independent in the times when she is not around. 00:03:13.312 --> 00:03:15.475 You may have noticed that neither of them 00:03:15.475 --> 00:03:17.541 were the titleholders of a teacher. 00:03:17.541 --> 00:03:19.998 But in their own ways, they were teachers. 00:03:19.998 --> 00:03:24.237 Think about it. Do you have such teachers in your life? 00:03:24.237 --> 00:03:26.558 I'm sure that you do! NOTE Paragraph 00:03:26.558 --> 00:03:27.519 In my community, 00:03:27.519 --> 00:03:31.604 people do different types of things and I can learn so many things from them. 00:03:31.604 --> 00:03:36.186 Such as organization from the garbage collector, cleanliness from the sweepers, 00:03:36.186 --> 00:03:39.945 mathematics from the carpenters, cooking from the housewives 00:03:39.945 --> 00:03:43.317 and how to run a business from shopkeepers. 00:03:43.317 --> 00:03:47.897 But do we ever try and think of the things that we can learn from them? 00:03:47.897 --> 00:03:51.703 No, we think because of their age, gender, and the kind of work they do, 00:03:51.703 --> 00:03:53.295 they can't teach us anything. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:53.295 --> 00:03:56.684 But in fact, they can teach us a lot of different things. 00:03:56.684 --> 00:03:59.054 I believe that everyone is a teacher. 00:03:59.054 --> 00:04:01.075 You are a teacher, I am a teacher. 00:04:01.075 --> 00:04:05.033 It don't matter what age we are, what gender we are, or what work we do. 00:04:05.033 --> 00:04:08.707 I believe that if we start seeing everyone around us as teachers, 00:04:08.707 --> 00:04:12.339 one day we will achieve that perfect ratio 1 is to 1. 00:04:12.339 --> 00:04:13.749 Thank you.