Student-designed Work List for 5 Days in March-April

 Work Plan for Next Week (27^th March to 2^nd April), 2025

Mathematics

1.       Numbers

i.                 The ordinary process of number manipulation.

ii.                Prime numbers, factors, multiples

iii.               Indices, powers and roots

iv.               Simple manipulation of surds

v.                Rationalizing the denominator

vi.               Natural numbers, integers and rational and irrational numbers

vii.             Weights, measures and money

viii.            Fractions, decimals, ratio, proportion and percentage

ix.               Expressing numbers to a given degree accuracy

x.                Solve problems using upper and lower bounds where values are given to a degree of accuracy

xi.               Numbers in standard form

(All of these are basics of Mathematics but these are places where I make majority of my mistakes, therefore I want to develop a deep understanding of these concepts.)

English Literature

1.      Analyse the characters in “An Inspector Calls”.

2.      Study Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116”.

3.      Study Pip’s psychological development in “Great Expectations”.

Reading Materials:

1.      Wuthering Heights
2.      Never Let Me Go
3.      The Handmaids Tale
4.      Hamlet
5.      Pride and Prejudice

Physics

1.      Forces and Motion

2.      Electricity

Extra Work (out of syllabus):

1.      Started a course on Particle Physics

Link: https://www.coursera.org/learn/particle-physics/home/welcome

Chemistry:

• 1.      Energetics
• 2.      Electrolysis

Biology:

1.      Plant Biology

 Economics:

1.      Economic Growth
2.      Inflation
3.      Unemployment

Bangla:

1.      Read one story from রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুরের “গল্পগুচ্ছ” every WEEK.

2.      Do assigned homework from school. 

Modern Writers' AI Syndrome

It's a striking thing I've noticed watching my students work on their US college application essays this year. In sharp contrast to previous years, this generation wants to produce the finest, final version on their very first draft. They expect not to need a second draft, a third, a fourth, or a fifth — they want to leap straight to the final draft and make it perfect on the first attempt. I'd call this the ChatGPT syndrome, or the AI syndrome: just as AI-generated text appears instantly polished, this generation believes they too can produce a super-perfect essay in one go. Looking back at the earlier days - roughly since 2001 to 2018, 2019, maybe 2020 - students understood they had to go draft after draft after draft until they arrived at something close to a perfect score, a perfect essay. Even then, there was no such thing as perfection; we simply reached a point where perfecting further made no sense because the deadline was too close. 

So I want to tell my students plainly: don't chase the super-perfect essay from the start. There is no such thing as perfection. Instead, start writing draft after draft. Fill your pages with weak drafts, bad drafts, early drafts, pointless drafts, even useless drafts - but drafts nonetheless. Don't reach for perfection on attempt one.

And I'll say this knowing it may invite criticism, even resentment: until a student has produced at least three drafts, I won't properly look into the essay, meaning I won't invest real time in it. I'll give it a cursory glance, but I won't read it in the true sense of the word "read." So please take note. Thank you.

For a Spanish Conquest with Arabi

Quixote & Sancho by Picasso 

I had a very interesting evening with my student, Arabi. I have been meaning to write a short piece about how I met him, what my first impression of him was, and how I see him developing — and how, eventually, we shall end our short-lived camaraderie, because these things are all ephemeral in the very end. We began by talking about how we could add Spanish as the third languge on his Common Application portal. That discussion of Spanish as a language soon turned toward the great writers of the Spanish language. I happened to mention the inimitable Cervantes' Don Quixote the knight who wakes into dementia, where the Don represents idealism and his servant Sancho Panza represents a more grounded, down-to-earth attitude. I also mentioned to Arabi that Spain has produced a few other artists of the finest quality, products of a modern world. 

Apart from Cervantes, I brought up Pablo Neruda and the inevitable Federico García Lorca. I also mentioned how Picasso, though not Spanish by birth, lived a long time in Spain, and much of his painting draws on his Spanish experience. I could not help mentioning that Salman Rushdie also wrote a novel called Quichotte, set in modern times, a very funny, very comic novel that tries to mimic the comedy and playfulness of Cervantes' original. I also brought up an important booklet-length study, Myths of Modern Individualism, by Ian Watt, the famous author of The Rise of the Novel. In it, Watt discusses the great individualists of the sixteen, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Don Quixote, Don Juan and Robinson Crusoe, that great singular man of the eighteenth century. None of them married or started a family; all of them lived lonely lives, set against the norms of their societies. 

We discussed all of this, and at the end I told Arabi that the best way to write is to talk without any guard, automatic writing, if you are really ok with the term. In such a writing, you talk without any guard, which gives free play to all the emotions and thought processes that come to a writer. It is sometimes compared with stream-of-consciousness technique, though automated writing is less of a technique than a practice — one I first found genuinely effective with students in a creative writing course, where I had them write their first pieces of fiction. These are some of the things Arabi and I discussed today, and I am very happy to note that he wrote around nine hundred and eighty words in about twenty-five minutes — a real achievement by any standard. 

Shakuntala Ajkal: a few more steps

Lemona's thoughts on Wednesday (26th August) Session at Actomania

I went to Shilpakala Academy with Mamun Bhai (Shahidul Mamun), who brought printed copies of the plays for our reading session, along with snacks for everyone. This was actually my second meeting and orientation at Shilpakala Academy, the first having taken place three or four days earlier. Upon arrival, we met the members of Actomania, and Mamun Bhai gave a brief talk to the group, introducing the profile and works of Choyon Khairul Habib. This was my third interaction in relation to the play itself. We were later joined by Dr Ahmed Ahsanuzzaman Saklaen, Professor of English Literature at IUB and an Ibsen scholar with strong ties to the theatre community. Mamun Bhai introduced him and spoke about his academic and theatrical work before he addressed the group. 

Dr Saklaen had come to give a dramaturgical talk on The Alchemist, the novel that has been adapted into a play now at the final stage of production and rehearsal, and his session offered rich insight into the dramaturgy behind that adaptation. During the visit, he also brought along two books he had edited himself and presented both publications to Mamun Bhai; these will later be handed over to the Actomania Rotating Library. He then conducted a workshop with us, followed by a series of warm-up exercises that helped settle everyone into the afternoon's work. 

During the session, Talha Zubaer, a young theatre performer, introduced me to Elma, a charming young performer from NSU who studies Computer Science and is also a trained dancer and theatre practitioner. We fell into a collaborative conversation about Shakuntala Aajkal, sharing our initial thoughts and getting to know each other's interests, including how we might envision the play being staged, the nature of the performances, and the relationship between its characters and different time periods. We began by reading a scene involving both Shakuntala and Menaka to get a feel for the play, then gradually moved into longer scenes, continuing until Actomania broke for the day, after which I finished the reading with Elma and exchanged contact details with her. 

Towards the end of the meeting, I spoke further with Talha and Elma about my thoughts on staging the play. I explained that, since I have not yet had the chance to examine the play in depth with Choyon Sir, the playwright and my teacher, I haven't formalised my directorial approach. I also felt it would be valuable for Elma, and for any potential performers, to hear directly from the playwright how he has conceived and characterised Shakuntala and Menaka. I shared my interest in playing Shakuntala and directing the production, while also weighing the possibility of directing another pair of performers in those roles, which is why I felt it would help to meet and read with other candidates. 

Talha suggested that forming a small core team would also make the technical side of the production easier to manage. We touched on some of the play's postmodern elements too, particularly the contrasts between its characters, contexts, and differing perceptions of time. I left Mamun Bhai's printed copies of the play with the group so they could read the physical text and share it with future cast members. Before leaving, I asked Talha to connect with me on WhatsApp, as I'm keen to form a group for further discussion and readings; he said he'd get my number from Elma. I also told Elma that once I'm back in the UK, it would be good for us to fix a regular time to meet virtually and keep reading and discussing the play together. Overall, it was a productive first step toward exploring Shakuntala Aajkal practically, understanding its characters, and thinking through the possibilities for its eventual staging. 

Actomania Chief Secretary Talha Zubaer's message: 

আমরা খুব আনন্দের সাথে জানাচ্ছি যে চয়ন স্যারের টেক্সট টা আমরা ফ্লোরে পড়ার সময় টেক্সটের উপর পর্যালোচনা করেছি ও নাট্যকারের ভাবনা নিয়ে বেশ উৎসাহ বোধ করছি। আমাদের দলের কয়েকজন মেম্বার কে ইতিমধ্যেই শহীদুল মামুন এর কাছে রেফার করা হয়েছে। লিমোনার সাথে আমাদের দুদিনের সেশনে টেক্সট রিডিং সম্পন্ন হয়েছে এবং ভবিষ্যতে কিভাবে এগুবো সেটা নিয়ে সল্পালাপ হলো যদিও একটা নতুন প্রযোজনার ক্ষেত্রে যতটা সময় বা প্রস্তুতি প্রয়োজন  আমরা সেটা পাইনি। তবে এই সল্প সময়ে আমরা টেক্সট রিডিং দিয়ে যতটা পসিবল আলাপ করেছি। শেষ দিন লিমোনা এবং এক্টোম্যনিয়া-র সদস্য ইলমা সাথে টেক্সট রিডিং করেছেন। আর আমরা এই সিদ্ধান্তে উপনীত হয়েছি লিমোনা আপু ইউকে-তে ফিরে গেলে আমরা একটা গ্রুপ করে নিয়মিত টেক্সট পড়বো আর দুই দেশে থেকে কাজ টা এগিয়ে নিয়ে যাওয়ার চেষ্টা অব্যাহত থাকবে। আমরা যেন এখানে দুইটা সেট কাস্ট রেডি করে রাখতে চাই। একটা সেটে লিমোনা নিজেই শকুন্তলা করতে আগ্রহ প্রকাশ করেছেন। বাংলাদেশে নিয়মিত শো এর জন্য আমরা সংশ্লিষ্টদের পরামর্শ নিয়ে পরবর্তী পদক্ষেপ নেবো বলে সকলে সিদ্ধান্ত নিয়েছি।