It is freezing today in Hyderabad. It is extremely cold with a mild drizzle. Everyone is out with their warm clothes and umbrellas on. It is a cyclone effect and it is going to be like this for the next few days. Till yesterday it was sunny and since the night the cool Breeze started and has completely changed the climate. We are facing some major global warming issues all across the globe. It feels like we have damaged everything so much that there will be no repair and we have to eventually die because of the calamities and all the wrongs we have been doing with Mother Earth.
Today let's talk a little about my students. It's been quite a while since I wrote about them and their progress. I have noticed that my students are too reluctant and somehow hesitate to mingle amongst themselves. Architecture is a course where we teach them team building and bonding from the beginning as they all have to work in groups during their entire course. They have to learn to be cooperative, adaptive, and flexible with others to give a good output of work on time.
That is why I decided to give them a task where I asked them to get a printout of a picture on which they will be talking for a minute. The photo could be of anything or place but not a selfie, Give it a tagline and submit it. They submitted it thinking that they would talk about the same picture in the class but here comes the twist! I asked them to pick any of the pictures of their choice which is not theirs and then write a story about narrating that picture or situation. They were amazed, shocked, and disappointed at first then I gave them the deadline so that they come out of their shock and start working on it. Still, they were hesitant and were reluctant and had 100s of doubts and thoughts. I said if the other person fails to finish the write-up within the given time then both the candidates will lose their marks. That is when they came into action. So, being a teacher we need to know when to pull which string to get the work done.
The outcome of this exercise was, that they began to interact with each other to know what is other person's story to narrate, they learned how to express their thoughts both verbally and through writing, they learned how to manage their time and be spontaneous to face any situation or change in a plan at work.
