Down The Memory Lane; Best Teacher I Ever Had

Over the course of me educational journey, I have been particularly lucky to have quite a few of extraordinary, inspiring, motivating and compassionate teachers to guide me and pique my interest in learning; teachers who were quite frankly ahead of their time and willing to break away from the norm and go an extra mile so that their students learn. 

The best teacher who comes to my mind was Mrs. Abida Rana. She was my 5th grade class teacher and taught Urdu and Social Studies. Adamantly, Urdu language course by far the drabbest and dreary subject we had all day. The course was generally not the favorite one to teach for the instructors either as it offered little room for imagination and creativity (though there was already very little of it in the rest of the subjects any way). 

I remember day one, which happened to be our first day of using fountain pens as well, our teacher asked us to submit one pen each so that it's nib could be laser cut into a slant, better suited for calligraphic fonts. It automatically sparked everyone's curiosity. Once we got our newly cut calligraphy pens, a super fun journey of learning Urdu calligraphy and improving our handwriting followed. We would have weekly competitions, in-class writing assignments and we enjoyed every minute of it. It was something never heard of at our local run-of-the-mill school. She broke away from the routine, from the norms and the accepted pedagogy for Urdu Literature and made it my favorite subject in the Secondary School. 

Apart from her innovative and courageous steps to get her students interested in her subjects, she had a polite and friendly demeanor. 

I believe that the image of Mrs. Abida Rana, the innovator, influenced my perception of all teachers that followed. It basically defined the phrase 'Good Teacher' for me. I would look for teachers who'd engage their students, create interest in their subjects, motivate and inspire the whole class and help them learn a new skill. She did not differentiate between her students by categorizing them as high-ability or low-ability before we started our journey of learning the calligraphy. Instead, she treated all of us as a novice, a beginner in the art and help us through deliberate practice to master the skill in question. At that time, our focus was passing the Secondary School Certificate and later, the Higher Secondary School Certificate (equivalent of A-Levels). She made a case of good writing scoring higher marks in Urdu Literature exams, and made us see the relevance and importance of the newly acquired skill in the perspective of our learning journey and learning goals. 

She connected with her students. She was a great listener, and would never dismiss an issue as being over dramatic or attention-seeking; instead she would make sure to counsel us and be the guide we needed at that crucial and rather turbulent age. 

I have never come across a teacher more resilient, courageous and absolutely convinced of her passion to change the teaching methods in a highly bureaucratic and resistant to change schooling environment. I owe my love for Urdu language and my ability to pen down beautiful Urdu calligraphy with pride, to her. She was a true mentor and an inspiration.