HOW SHOULD A TEACHER PUNISH A STUDENT 

                                        WHO HAS STEPPED OUT OF THE LINE

The use of word punishment itself is a crime and totally unworthy of use for our future caretakers.

 First the question is: should there be a punishment which would make the children feels they have sinned by disobedience? Or should they be made aware of the need for a discipline as a necessary part of their future life. Are we not preparing them for greater challenges ahead?  Would we rather see them step forward with a growth than stand in punishment with regret?

Then comes the question of what and how the punishment can be? 

It should leave a good lesson learnt and help the child realize the mistake done. This will in turn help the child grow. It will soon cease to be a punishment and turn to a joint effort of the team of the teacher and the said child towards growth.

That is what some of the teachers tend to forget- that they are a part of a team to take the children forward. They appoint themselves task masters of the Egypt era, lashing at the workers erecting pyramids one after another. As a result, the whole process of educating the children & preparing them for their future, falls in jeopardy. Making the kids repeat write 10 ,20 times words and sentences, is as meaningless as giving a banana to a fish.

“Teachers labor and students endure doing low grade clerical work” (Ken Robinson)

Teaching is not a delivery system, it’s a creative life .the role of a teacher has to be a mentor. It has become more testing than learning, compliance in place of curiosity. Either the teacher community should take a step back and analyze their age old traditions or the system should be turned inside out to weed the rusted pegs.

One or the other- else we can sit back and watch out futures rot away.

THE COUPLE

WE were a threesome, with her between us.

And then one day, it was over. Yet, she never left, attached herself to my back. All day long, staring and laughing at me.

She spreads her tint in our space, stands very close to the bends in our conversations, a slight stumble and she fills the spot. Coloring all my talk, making me a puppet, she revels in her victories...

 When I am cooking up a dish for the kids, trying out new recipes, she mocks me and brings in the smell of that, still and empty kitchen. Says, your cooking sent him to me. I mess up and throw the charred remains. Disgusted.

I am cleaning up the house. Bending, stretching, dusting, sweeping, and arranging. She sits there with a smug face, polishing her nails.....your super maid habits chased him out- to me. I lose my steam and wrap up with the rest of the work shabbily.

Am bathing, and she looks at me with a sneer – you are beautiful, soft & ivory she says...and yet he came to me....she roars with laughter and her nose bud sparkles- leaving me in disgust. I hide my body in the largest towel I have.

I make a firm resolution to ignore her and turn a blind eye. I make a good lunch, a good dinner and a happy family time. Later, he starts to make me happy, and I lose myself in his arms, he engulfs me with all his love. Just when I am reaching out to ecstasy, her shadow passes me...and I fall head first...and cling on to his shoulders and lay lifeless, my ears booming with her sighs and my mind tearing with images...he tries to help me and smiles affectionately. He looks me in the eyes and I see a cover, fake love? I start searching his face and body for her marks….she has jumped from me to him, our passion has ended in a disaster.

The doors are closed now, I can’t run. I closed them, and made it my tomb. She can’t run either, she will die with me. I am a couple.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Robert Frost.

The ray of Light

A ray of light, beaming with joy,

Came dancing on earth, for spreading the warmth.

It came for the flowers bloom,

It came to drive away gloom.

Springs welcomed it through shining water,

Winds embraced it to get a bit lighter.

It met a flower, colorless and grey,

Spruce up; come let’s make your day!

Saying thus, the ray beamed, full of love and shine.

The flower smiled, and its heart lifted a mile!

The garden hummed a song, brimming with life,

Today will be yesterday; tomorrow is yet another day,

Now is here, for us to share,

So sing and dance chase the gloom far away.

  

The ray of light

Radiant and warm

Dancing with joy, making friends along!

morning blues: My Son's gift

morning blues: My Son's gift: MY   MOTHER God sent an angel on earth Glowing in the light of truth A friend by my side A comfort when I cried Tutor of my ...

SMILE A WHILE

                                                         SOME "PLUM"LAUGHS 

                                                     

                                                              P.G.WODEHOUSE

                                       

“There is only one cure for grey hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.” 

“When you're alone you don't do much laughing.” 

“everything is relative. you, for instance, are my relative.” 


 “If he had a mind, there was something on it.” 


“The fascination of shooting as a sport depends almost wholly on whether you are at the right or wrong end of the gun.” 


“Unseen in the background, Fate was quietly slipping lead into the boxing-glove.” 

My Son's gift

MY   MOTHER

God sent an angel on earth

Glowing in the light of truth

A friend by my side

A comfort when I cried

Tutor of my manners

Artist of my skills

My mother, my everything.

She led me on the right path

She pulled me away

From the darkness that lurked

She protected me inside her arms

She chased away my fears

My mother, the angel in my life.

She taught me to listen, she taught me to speak,

She listened to my confessions; she washed away my regrets,

She made me proud to be hers; she made me confident about myself,

My mother, my teacher.

She sang with me and pointed out my flaws

She took pride in my work.

She showered praises on my scribbles

My mother, my encouragement.

---------

SYED SAAD