Sparkling Lights

She was my favourite professor in college.

She had an uncanny way to making every student in her class look up away from their mobiles and towards her. Even the most naughtiest and the most disinterested student would end up listening to what she had to say.

I always wondered how she always managed to do it, that was until she told me about it herself- indirectly. I was a shy student and never dared speak to the professors, but she wrote a little article about her first teaching experience in the monthly college magazine - and I was an avid reader.

She wrote that on that day over 20 years ago she was young and had to teach an English class. She began with introducing herself. She knew the entire lesson by heart, its summary and critiques. Then as she started explaining the first chapter, making its complex introduction as easy as a cakewalk ...she noticed it. A sparkle lit up in one of the students eyes...the student understood the concept, then more sparkles and she explained away in gay abandon warmed by the brilliance of the sparking lights in front of her. 

She found the key to engaging her students...making the textbook come alive for them. Making it personal and real so that her students could all but touch the subject matter. Her students loved it and I too loved it!

And today whenever I get an opportunity to present any topic to an audience, I too look for the first sparkling light to warm the cockles of my heart as I move forward with my audience.