Teacher Portrait – Ms Veena

Born and raised in Chikmagalur, Ms Veena who is Head of the Mathematics Department, studied and began her teaching career in the Karnataka hill station. When pursuing her Master's degree and getting married, Ms Veena moved to Bangalore where she continued her teaching first in a college, and at the same time perused M.Phil., PGDHE and PGDDE, while writing books, articles, attended various conferences and presented papers, and gave radio talks and hosted a TV show. We reached out to Ms Veena to find out even more about her history, and incredible passion for teaching and hobbies. 

It all started with the necessity – Ms Veena, HOD Mathematics Department

Having 30 years of teaching experience, Ms Veena started her career before receiving her graduation. It all started early with her helping older cousins who were taking their graduate exams, which was recognised by many others. “My confidence level boosted and conviction to become Maths teacher was reinforced when some of my students including my brother obtained 100% in board exams”, says Ms Veena, who joined TISB to get exposure of international curriculums while meeting good students, supportive management and colleagues in a place with a positive environment.

With 15 years of experience at TISB and while using her teaching methods and skills, Ms Veena encourage students to analyse, understand and apply knowledge in respective contexts. “With experience, I realised intelligence lies not in imitation but in making further connections and extrapolations”, explains Ms Veena, passionate about ‘Lifelong Learning’, while also emphasising strengths of core components, extended essay and Theory of Knowledge challenges – among both students and teachers – to stretch their minds. “I am still and will continue to be a student as everyday there's something new to learn, improve and adopt. For the same reason, I continue to better myself by enrolling in various online courses, attending conferences, IB workshops, writing articles and reviewing research papers.”

Being active in school and teaching for three decades, and helping students achieve their goals, has made Ms Veena proud. ” It feels great when I hear about my students contributing to society in a positive way”, says Ms Veena, who is passionate to see vibrant classroom discussions again since back on physical campus again. “It’s easy to check student’s progress and make sure the learning objectives are met. With technology, resources are available on our fingertips. On-site assessment to some extent checks whether students are becoming resourceful.”

Newly introduced courses in Bangalore University had a subject which was a combination of Biotechnology, Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science. But there was not a single book covering the entire syllabus. “The publishers approached us to write a book. The book was well accepted not only by Bangalore University students but also by many Indian university students and eventually it was mentioned as one of the prescribed textbooks”, says Ms Veena, who passionately participated creating textbooks of Basic Mathematics and Business Mathematics. She ends the interview by suggesting it as available for students: “They are also well accepted as the concepts were presented in simple and easy to follow way.”

A quick Q&A with Ms Veena

What is your favourite food?
South Indian thali.

What is your favourite music? 
Carnatic fusion.

What is your favourite book and movie?
Book: Mankuthimmana Kagga-DVG. Movie: English Vinglish.

What is your favourite animal?
None, I like them all. 

What is your favourite colour? 
Pastel colours.

What is your favourite hobby (and why)?
Playing chess online, it makes me forget everything and live in the moment.