Are the routines set in school serving the purpose behind it?

I was the class teacher of class IX then and was also handling classes VI, VII, VIII and X. The routine in the school was that all the students have to write two new words per day and need to submit their new word note before they enter the class every morning. Students who don’t do so will be sent to the principal’s office and punished. Every morning lots of students used to be a defaulter and stand in front of the Principal’s office.

I was sure that the intention behind such routine was very good and to help the students develop their vocabulary. But the process and the action taken did not achieve the goal behind such a routine. Children came in the morning and copied a set a words from their friends hurriedly with spelling errors and poor handwriting. A couple of children used to copy the words that they had written ten fifteen days back. So it was all done without any meaning and learning. It bothered me very much. A task is done, but without any kind of benefit to the one who does it nor for the one who checks if it is done except for the notebooks getting filled and the diary checker in the school reports, “80 % students submit their new word notebooks on time”. The management and the parents felt happy that their children do learn some new words daily. This made me uncomfortable. I spoke to a couple of my colleagues about this, but everyone said that they had tried convincing students about this, but no great impact.

I thought about this for a couple of days and started with one class first. I got a new word note for myself and wrote two new words and their meaning. After I completed my usual attendance check, I wrote the two new words on the blackboard and told my students, “These are two new words that I came across this morning while I read newspaper this morning. I did not know the meaning of the words. So I found the meaning from the dictionary. Today I am going to use these words while I converse in a suitable context. Would someone like to share the new words you had learnt today?” The whole class remained silent. I continued, “Everyone of you have submitted your new word notebook today, but none of you seem to remember”. Silence again. “Ok, tomorrow onwards let us all write the new words that we come across while we read textbooks, story books or some posters on the road and find their meaning. Let us all share our findings and learn together. How many of you are ready for that?” Every one except one student raised their hand in approval. That one student got up and said, “Ma’am, if I come across only one new word what do I do?” I said, “Valid. In that case write only one word. But let us all make a habit that we will read our storybook/ textbook/ something else for a minimum of 20 mins everyday”. The class agreed and we started it from the next day onwards.

We used to randomly choose students who will contribute for the ‘word pool’ and those students had to share their learning with the context. All of us learnt a total of ten words per day. We did this and our ‘word pool’ became stronger and stronger day by day. We had instances where students at time used to say that they did not come across any new word, but still we went ahead. Days went on and parents of my class came with interesting anecdotes explaining their child’s interest in learning new words and reading boards while they go on the road. They expressed their happiness about it. No longer I had my students who considered new word as a burden, but as a power to their ‘word pool’. We loved that activity and called it ‘word pool’ then onwards. Even now, after seven years I have my students of that class whom I meet in a market place and they talk about ‘word pool’.