Who am I?
Wow. This is always a difficult question to answer. Many spend years to find themselves, and many are still too late. Rather than give a flippant answer - the thing that you say by rote, without thinking, without considering - I'll try to think and answer and maybe fulfill the latent potency of the question.
My name is Andrew Barreto. I have been an Assistant Professor here at Parvatibai Chowgule College of Arts & Science (Autonomous) for over 15 years now. I was born and brought up in Dubai, and came back to Goa in the '90's. I have studied in Goa - first at Loyola High School (ooh boy! Loyolites, right?), then Chowgule College for Higher secondary schooling and graduation, wrapping up my masters at Goa University. I've received Gold medals at both my graduation and post-graduation level. I also broke some kind of record at Goa University, English Dept. by being the first male ever since its inception to top the batch. (Such Accolades... much wow.)
You can see from above I don't take myself too seriously... well at least any of my past achievements. I am constantly trying to improve myself and my learning - for the sake of my students. Because... with great power, comes great responsibility! erm... Yes, that's from Spiderman. I love comics and literature, which aren't too far removed from each other. Trust me, you'll know if you take my Visual Literature course (the only one of its kind in India!). We study Comics in that course - which is an understatement. You can check what I teach (more like, make you learn) under My Courses.
Am I teaching at my Alma mater? You bet I am! and it has been a tremendous journey so far. The work is tough here, but the learning is greater and the satisfaction of teaching - Sublime! (too many exclamations... 2 marks off. Oh! Wait.. this is my intro. Drat.)
Activities and Events are dear to me and are integral to my philosophy as a teacher. I have been associated with more than 125 events over my 15 years here at Chowgules! I am proud of each and every one of them - small events or the big ones. My pride and joy are Pegasus - a 2 day Intercollegiate Literary Festival (running since 2008) and The Bard by the Mandovi - The Shakespeare Festival Goa- a one day inter school and higher secondary school event (junior college?) (running since 2010). (Such shameless brand endorsements! I should teach Mass Media... Oh yeah, I do!)
Currently, my interests have moved into the sphere of teaching-learning and I am a passionate advocate of the flipped classroom model of teaching using cooperative learning strategies. I believe that helping turn around the life of even one student a year is a successful year for me.
Asst. Prof. Andrew Barreto
My Students from the past ten years congregate for Pegasus X (2017)