Millo at Large

Getting to India was quite an adventure. First, my visa didn’t arrive on time, leaving me anxiously refreshing the tracking page for days. Then, in a moment of chaos while getting herself checked in, my mom accidentally took my passport with her. Somehow against all odds and with a heroic effort on my Mom’s part I still managed to make it.

When I arrived, I connected with the new Teach For India fellow I’d be working with and scheduled a call with her. I think I might have overwhelmed her a bit with my enthusiasm, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I was one step closer to seeing the inside of a classroom, and not as an assistant teacher, but a teacher.

On my first day, I arrived eager to step inside and heard sixty kids shout, “Bhaee!” They all ran up to shake my hand, and in that moment, I was reminded why I spend my summers volunteering in schools. I get to help kids get excited about learning and nothing is more gratifying than that.

I dove right in, teaching three periods: 8th grade math, 7th grade math, and 7th grade science. When I faced the first math problem of the day, I drew a blank, realizing I hadn’t done that kind of math in ages. A quick Google search later, I realized I was looking at the problem all wrong and figured out how to do it. I continued the class by writing problems on the board and having students come up to solve them. Every time a student finished solving a problem, we would all snap.

After finishing the math periods, I moved on to 7th grade science, where the topic was photosynthesis. I explained the flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide through plants and made sure to involve the kids, having them popcorn read and copy down definitions in their workbooks.

By the end of the day, I was tired but energized in the best way knowing I had helped students see that learning can be exciting, and that they are capable of so much more than they think.