I conducted training program for JCI Gondia Rice city on 5th May 2012. It was a training program for teachers from 5th to 10th standard on leadership. Time allotted for training was 3 hours. I traveled by car and reached Srimati saraswati Bai Mahila Vidyalaya Gondia school at around 9:30 AM in the morning. The program started after the opening ceremony. My audience comprised of 16 subject teachers.
The topic of training was teacher as a leader. What all qualities should be in a teacher so that she could lead her students and also stand as role models to her students. I asked them about their expectations from the program. They opened up and wanted to know ways of coming out of hesitation and how to adopt new methods of teaching. I taught them different new methods which they could use in their teaching to make learning environment student friendly. They had problems communicating in English and were hesitant to speak in front of the new audience. I gave them solutions to their problems. They could overcome their language problem by reading newspapers, speaking in English and even writing whatever they have read in English to improve their language and have command over English. I requested the chapter president of JCI Gondia Rice City, Bella Hood to conduct a training program on “Effective Public speaking” for the teachers so that they were more confident while speaking in front of the general public.
I also discussed on personality of a leader. One of the teachers disagreed with me and said that a persons dress was not important if she was knowledgeable. The thought which i had put forward was that a persons dress was the first impression. She disagreed with me till the last but yes she was very participative and stubborn.
It was a great day. The training program was also a eyeopener for few who were not ready to change. Some thought their efforts to teach some children got wasted as they never turned up after few months. But i told them to have patience and reach those students again and again so that in the near future some actually turned up. I asked them to keep on trying and assured them that no effort ever got wasted and their efforts will surely yield results in the long run.
I divided the teachers in groups and conducted an activity in which they had to dress their group leader as a leader whom they considered as their role model. The participants dressed their leader as Amitabh Bachchan, Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Anna Hazare. I provided them with pins and newspapers and gave them 10 minutes time. It was Anna Hazare who won the award for best dress. I also liked Amitabh Bachchan dress. I was amazed by their creativity. Great work.
I concluded the session and bid them good bye. A memorable day and start of a new journey for me.