Ufffffffffffff…… invigilation!!
We have now reached a point of time in the academic year
which most teachers find it dreadful, disgusting! It’s a kind of Thanksgiving
by students!
Its invigilation and correction time!
You suddenly realize that all those days of understanding
nods, right questions, leading questions, that twinkle of excitement in the eye
has just turned out to be a mirage! You don’t see the understanding neither in
the way they write their exams nor in their answer scripts!
Today was my day of invigilation and one of the T shirts(worn
by students) read – Sometimes I just can’t help myself! The way he was actually
behaving in the examination hall, it looked as if he couldn’t help himself 'all
the time'! I thought it would be a miracle if I could help myself from
spanking him! Grrrrr…
Another guy wore a T shirt which said – Must sleep!
Ufffff! What a gen! I am surely not talking about the T
shirts but their approach to decisive moments of life!
My dad would repeatedly narrate to us about students in Chennai(
in 50’s). They would all sport a tuft of hair which they tied to a hook
with the help of a rope. This was to ensure that if they dozed off they would
be woken up by the tug of hair!
We( Me, my siblings and most of my generation)) had always
considered exams as the toughest phase of student life! The first thing it
warranted was that we prepared thoroughly – especially the final exams! We would
ensure that we had all the required items to write the exam – pen, pencil,
eraser, pen eraser, scale, red pencil to underline! The ground work for this
was done so well by parents in our childhood by personally checking to see
everything was in place! We would be tensed and be in our exam hall 15 min
ahead of the scheduled time! Once we receive the papers we wouldn’t waste a min even to look at our
friends. If our hands pained we would just press it with the left hand and
continue writing! We didn't drink water! Never went to the washrooms during exams! Never took
strolls during the exams! And more importantly never slept while writing exams!
What I have been seeing year after year as a teacher shocks
me!
I suddenly saw a hand going up! I almost thought that it was for an additional answer sheet only to realize the face disappeared after a while! Was that a backward somersault! Nope! That guy was just stretching himself as if he was sitting on his cot! How civilized!
Next I heard a rustling sound! Now this was something that I
could guess well! It was a toffee cover! One of them popped it into his mouth!
The sound repeated after a few minutes! He popped in one more! Then I could hear the sound of
someone eating some hard substance! This time it was dry fruits by another
student!
They drink gallons of water and keep going to the restroom!
Wonder what is so attractive in the rest rooms!( some help!)
I also can’t stop wondering at the dumbness of the students
who think a seasoned teacher like me can't make out when they are copying!
When will they understand that when they copy their brand value goes nosediving!
When will they understand that when they copy their brand value goes nosediving!
Some heroes go to the restroom and saunter into the hall and
on their way back try to peep into all the papers on the way! Is there anyway
I could actually throw them out!
There are some who stretch out to the next person in the
disguise of picking up an eraser or a pencil and try to peep into the answer
sheet! Now that must be reminding you of Mr. Bean!
There are some who during the course of the exam move towards
each other inch by inch that you suddenly realize they are sitting too close! I
lost my temper recently and told the two boys involved - please sit on top of one another!(In a
sarcastic tone of course!)
They also use their hand liberally to copy! Must be
wondering how?! Here is how it is! They cover their forehead with the palm perpendicular to it! This acts like a shade for their eyes and then they cast secretive side
glances to copy! They get bolder sometimes by covering their mouths with palm
and whispering sweet nothings!
Some give an intellectual finish to their copying! They
pretend to be thinking and recalling and their head is tilted at an angle and
then at the most opportune moment they try to peep into the papers around!
Then you have the dumb innocent finish to copying! Some of
them have an expression as if someone has just slapped them hard! One dazed,
dumb expression! Even when you shout at them for looking around they manage to retain
that beautiful dumb expression! (Unaffected by pain and pleasure!!- Is this what Lord Krishna spoke of!)
We also have the most balanced guys who look very sincere, lost
in their writing, you almost believe they are not the sort to copy and they
catch you off guard! They boldly make an attempt to copy and when you ask them
what is happening, they make you believe you are squint eyed! They don’t respond!
The last of the categories I wish to mention here are those
who talk when you are looking at another side and when you instantly turn to
them, they pretend to be just thinking aloud or recalling the points aloud!
In all invigilation times bring out the best and the worst
in me!
mam, seems to be a real experience of life to you.. Being a student of this era, i really had a reel play going at the back of my head, as i read it.
ReplyDeletevery nicely written. Most important aspect of any kind of writing, it grabbed me till i finished reading.
oh! wow! it feels good to receive that compliment!Thank you Ankita!
DeleteThis reminds of me of my examination halls all through my academic life...usually what my friends did...
ReplyDeleteI was completely engraved into it Maám. Hope you get many more of these experiences in the next few days!!
ReplyDelete@Suparna! Its exasperating to see this behaviour!
ReplyDelete@ Garveet Modi! Though I didnt write in my blog what I do, all through my profession, I have been a strict invigilator! Some students have come and told me - Mam, why are you coming for invigilation!
some of them show their displeasure on their faces which when read ranges from - OMG! All our plans will go for a toss today! to not her again! I am only scared that someday I might give into all my strong urges of spanking them!
Wonderfully written Ma'am!The flow of the writing is so interesting that you just have to read through the whole blog. Infact,i indeed had a reel skit flowing at the back of mind. There are no two opinions when i say, that i surely have a renewed respect for all our faculty members who go through this (painful) task of invigilation.
ReplyDeleteBut about the comparison made between the gen 'ex' and the gen 'next', do you think at some level, it is the education and the ranking system which makes people resort to these unethical means in an attempt to get a grade 'relatively better' than their counterparts? Just a thought!
nice reading and well analysed thought. reading was like reading a novel.i usually leave reading in between but this one caught my attention till the end.
ReplyDeletejust the other day was discussing with rajan mani sir that outside class room discussion is diminishing now, and i think much of the learning comes from here.
many such changes had happened n many more still to follow.
Padma - beautifully written. What bothers me is most of them are willing to trade-off loss of a year for the possibility of getting a handful more of marks (assuming of course that their neighbour knows more than them).
ReplyDeleteIt is becoming worse every year!
Mam Irrespective of place they study the students lot now thinks life is easy. are we responsible for it
ReplyDelete