Week Ten - Time to Say Goodbye

So finally it’s time to say goodbye, to all my fellow voyagers on this eventful journey. As I bid adieu to my friends and Captain Courtney, my heart is filled with mixed feelings. I am happy at my new found treasure of knowledge and wisdom, but at the same time I am feeling sad to think that the course is going to end. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end.

I wonder if this is an end or a new beginning. Perhaps both. The course is ending, but the challenging task to implement the technology change successfully and effectively into my teaching is just beginning. I’m sure that I will be able to achieve that pretty soon.

Even before the course ends, I have got a good opportunity to share my new found knowledge of web tools with my fellow English teachers working in the Department of Education in my state. I’ve been invited by the State Institute of Education, Jammu to deliver some lectures in a training program for Master Trainers in English, under the aegis of National Secondary Education Campaign, Govt. of India. I am hopeful of having a good and fruitful discussion with the participants.

In this amazing course, there was so much to learn during the past ten weeks. It would be wrong to call it a course only in web skills. It was a complete teacher development course in itself - big learning in a small package, or what we call ‘Gagar mein sagar’ in Hindi, which literally means ‘Ocean in a jug’. I have done many teacher development courses before, but none was as transforming as this one. I feel so fortunate to be able to attend this course. I also feel grateful to the developers and instructors of this course as also to University of Oregon, American English Institute and Regional English Language Office (RELO), US Embassy, New Delhi India.

I have had many sleepless nights during this course notwithstanding the fact that I am not accustomed to doing this. But what I gained by sacrificing my sleep was really worth it. Now, since the course is going to end, and ‘the essence of winter sleep is on the night’, am I thinking about a long-night sleeps from tomorrow? I would answer and end this last official blog post with my all-time favorite lines of Frost:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Goodbye!