“Suffering” is the word that best describes my first year of teaching. I wasn’t prepared for so much stuff on my plate. I didn’t have a handle on class management, and I left each day feeling extremely worn out and defeated.

My first year of teaching was spent learning the new curriculum, developing personalized learning techniques, modifying lessons and analyzing data. I knew these were important work, but I also knew that something was not working. I felt disconnected in my classroom and knew I could do better.

I looked around and saw that there were some teachers who seemed to just take control of everything and really enjoyed what they were doing. I made a decision. I asked if I could sit in on and observe their classes. Over a few months, I observed these teachers around five to seven times, for about 40 to 50 minutes each time. I also watched teachers interact with students outside of the classroom, on the playground, during lunch and in the hallway. I paid attention to their conversations, comments and attitudes.

I started to see that the highest priority for these teachers was forming relationships with students, and thus everything else would fall into place after that. One teacher played basketball with kids during lunch every Friday. Another sat with kids in the lunchroom a few times throughout the week. There was also a teacher who liked to walk during her lunch and would invite different groups of kids to join her for conversations.

I knew I wanted to model myself after these teachers, so I decided to make a change. Making this shift changed me as a teacher, and it noticeably changed the atmosphere in my classroom. I began to feel inspired at school, and I could see that my students were enthusiastic too. They were more prepared to welcome each of my class ahead.

As long as there have been exams, students have found ways to cheat. Today the correct answers are just a few taps away on a smart phone. So countries have come up with new ways to stop the funny business. Some use metal detectors, surveillance (监控) cameras, and mobile phone jammers (干扰器).    5    

Cheating in high school leaving exams got so bad in Mauritania and Algeria that this year the authorities turned off the Internet for the entire country. Algeria did so for at least an hour during tests (which last about a week).    6    Other countries, such as Iraq, Uzbekistan and Ethiopia, have for years been shutting down the Internet during exam time.

In each country students are under high pressure to do well in the tests, which often determine whether they can continue their education at a good university.    7    But high marks are rare. In Algeria only around half of students passed the exams in recent years. In Mauritania the rate is much lower.

    8    Darrell West of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, estimates that in 2015-2016 Internet shutdowns ordered by governments cost countries at least $2.4bn.     9