
I, Leena Jadhav have been teaching since I was 10.
I was born and brought up in a joint middle-class family, so I started teaching my younger cousins at a very early age. This helped me to connect with the students in such a way that they can open up with me and it’s easier to understand their issues more sympathetically.
One of the transformative moments was when I completed my faculty development program on “Preparing a Teacher for Different Roles”. I have rediscovered how group activities are important for teachers as well as students. Group activities bring together a collaborative community of learners.
I have started my job as a lecturer in 2007 with different roles as Subject Teacher, Class Teacher, Mentor, and Project Guide. The role of a mentor gives me more satisfaction as moldings a person in one aspect of life is so much fulfilling.
The most rewarding part is mentoring first-year students. Mentoring by college faculty has a positive impact on students’ persistence and academic achievement in college. I let them know that making mistakes is an essential part of learning and it drives them to “get involved, in everything. I encourage the students to participate in campus activities.
I feel that the essence of good teaching is giving students space to learn. Teachers should recognize the diversity of learners and plan the lecture accordingly. In my programming lectures, I encourage students to solve real-life examples, believing that many aspects of programming can be learned through a real-life example.
My hobby is reading interesting and knowledgeable books. Reading books keep one always happy and busy. I read a lot of books by Sudha Murthy, V.P. Kale, P.L.Deshpande, and many more.
I believe, as a teacher one is lucky as you learn a lot while you are teaching others!!!!
Being born in a family where both of my parents were doctors, I was expected to take up medicine as my career. So just like every middle class family my career was decided even before I could learn to speak. During my school and college days I was an above average student but when it came to giving my entrance test for medical somehow I could not manage to get admission in Mumbai and again due to family restrictions I could not go to Yavatmal where I managed secure an M.B.B.S seat. But life does not stop right? So I was expected to prepare for medical entrance one more time. I wished to go for Engineering and brought my admission form as well but was persuaded against it. So to not waste my year I was made to take admission to B.Sc. in the same college where I completed my HSc and that was a turning point for me.
During graduation I was lucky enough to be taught by teachers who inspired me not just to understand what I like but also to take a stand for what I like. So I decided to complete my education in Electronics even after getting B.D.S. seat in a college in Navi Mumbai after my second attempt of the medical entrance. This time I was persistent and confident enough to do what I like and was ready to take all the responsibility of that. So I continued my education while working part time as tutor, because if the choice is yours, so is its responsibility.
During my graduation I realized that, it is more important to know various opportunities around us than to be stuck with a single choice. Unlike our parents’ time, these days we have large number of opportunities, but we lack is proper guidance to explore them. Also one needs to make his own decisions and not just that should be able to work hard to achieve their goal. This thought inspired me to become a teacher and I did my Masters in Electronics and completed B.Ed. I wished to be the torch that today’s kids need in the world full of opportunities. I wanted to tell them that career does not end only because you missed one opportunity, but this also does not mean that we stop taking our career seriously. We can be more alert and grab the next opportunity that comes in our way and again make a comeback in the race of life. So what are we waiting for? ON YOUR MARK. GET-SET-AND GO….