Orientation Session at Department of Dance

Back to what I love most, teaching at the DoD. This time it was the Orientation Class for the first years. Met Dr Sivaraju and Dr Anuradha and then went to class. Seventeen students from across India - Kerala, Karnataka, Tripura, Bengal, Hyderabad, Rajamundry, Tamil Nadu.

We discussed their aspirations, how to take responsibility for their careers, how to use their two years most efficiently (use their time and energy well - 600 days multiplied by 4-6 hours of work), how to build expertise, the learning mindset approach to take to each day, starting with a clean slate, setting goals academically, performance wise, networking wise (made them write them down), the way to prepare physically, skill wise and mentally. Good fun. 

When I asked them to give me a single takeaway, I got a lot of interesting answers. One that everything made sense, one that it gave a lot of clarity on how to go about the two years, a few about the learning mindset approach etc but the best was what this student from Tripura said - 'I'm from Tripura and this is the first time I'm away from home. My parents are leaving tomorrow and I'm really scared. But now after this class I don't feel so scared anymore'. 

Ah, that made the trip fully worthwhile. I told them all to explore Hyderabad, it's palaces, sights, forts, food etc and make these two years as productive as they can.