Long ago that is approximately 15+ years back , i was surrounded by at least 30 murderers , rapists , and arsonists . They were all staring at me as i was the centre of attraction . It was in central prison poojappura . I was naturally not attacked as i didnt provoke them but for an hour there was only total respect from them not even a single verbal abuse . For the simple reason ..... I was there for an hour teaching them .
Looking back on my teaching experience in last 15 + years in varying settings including engineering colleges , medical colleges , prison , one to one at home and on a reasonable variety of topics from purely medical to purely computers ( i used to help my dad in teaching computers even during predegree and later on my own ) the above stands apart in the type of students i taught .
As most teachers can identify with me though i was paid 500 rs for that short lecture so many years back ( i was a student then so thats a good amount of money in those days ) it was not the money that gave me the intense satisfaction but the process of teaching and connecting with the student group .
Though each person is different and has his own way of being a teacher personally for me i feel :
Teaching is more about expressing your knowledge than your level of knowledge . If you look around your past the best teachers were the ones who expressed their knowledge in simple terms rather than the ones who had enormous amounts of knowledge but could not express it properly in simple terms . Nowhere is this stark contrast very evident than in big lectures where some people who captivate their audience have been found to have lesser knowledge than many others who have great amount of knowledge but cannot give an interesting lecture highlighting the points let alone face the people . I am saying this from personal experience of being in the audience as a student many years back and later meeting the same people in another level .
Does it make them lesser teachers ? Never ... they are great teachers .. for the art of teaching demands skill in teaching and expressing whatever knowledge you have clearly rather than becoming 100 percent knowledge bank ( called database :) )
In one on one teaching as well as in small crowds some degree of personal interaction goes a long way in you becoming a more effective teacher . I am not saying every five minutes ask what food they had in the morning etc but connecting in a level of human-human interaction with lots of active interactions from both the student and teacher . Otherwise in this computer era why dont the students choose computers as teachers . In this respect i was shocked when i was offered a teaching assignment from morning to evening ...Ya my same boring face for an audience from morning to evening . Here too a significant personal interaction when the audience feels you are interacting them on a one to one level even though its a group helps to minimise the sleep .. I still dont know how they didnt sleep during those 8 hours (even with breaks ) ...
A sense of humour definitely helps and if you can say interesting anecdotes and examples it would definitely help to keep the students glued to their seats . In this respect ( though not recommended at all ) i remember my malayalam teacher in my boys school in tenth standard who used to tell adult stories .He was popular too . That is unethical but without going to adult stories there are a million ways to make the class interesting with interesting examples .
Most important for a teacher i feel more than all the above is a "passion" for teaching . Its difficult to fake it . I dont think everyone has it but if you have it , it can be developed . I had blogged earlier how i really used to enjoy studying . At least in part that is due to my teachers in school whose passion for teaching was transferred to the students . ( except the young malayalam teacher : was it a veiled xxx education ?? ) .
I still remember the excitement i felt when organic chemistry was discussed , the making of english phrases (we had to study oxford english ) etc etc and still remember both the subject and the teachers who taught those .
In an ideal world teaching will be in the top choice among careers , but since it has never been never a top choice career it shows that the world is far from ideal . But without being pessimistic if you have the teaching flair there are so many ways in which you can use your teaching skills without becoming a "teacher " in your resume . Even a corporate trainer though earning in lakhs is still a teacher :) And yes without being hypocritical you can be a great teacher and earn decent money and gain great respect if you have the flair in you as well as make intelligent choices ..Best wishes
Looking back on my teaching experience in last 15 + years in varying settings including engineering colleges , medical colleges , prison , one to one at home and on a reasonable variety of topics from purely medical to purely computers ( i used to help my dad in teaching computers even during predegree and later on my own ) the above stands apart in the type of students i taught .
As most teachers can identify with me though i was paid 500 rs for that short lecture so many years back ( i was a student then so thats a good amount of money in those days ) it was not the money that gave me the intense satisfaction but the process of teaching and connecting with the student group .
Though each person is different and has his own way of being a teacher personally for me i feel :
Teaching is more about expressing your knowledge than your level of knowledge . If you look around your past the best teachers were the ones who expressed their knowledge in simple terms rather than the ones who had enormous amounts of knowledge but could not express it properly in simple terms . Nowhere is this stark contrast very evident than in big lectures where some people who captivate their audience have been found to have lesser knowledge than many others who have great amount of knowledge but cannot give an interesting lecture highlighting the points let alone face the people . I am saying this from personal experience of being in the audience as a student many years back and later meeting the same people in another level .
Does it make them lesser teachers ? Never ... they are great teachers .. for the art of teaching demands skill in teaching and expressing whatever knowledge you have clearly rather than becoming 100 percent knowledge bank ( called database :) )
In one on one teaching as well as in small crowds some degree of personal interaction goes a long way in you becoming a more effective teacher . I am not saying every five minutes ask what food they had in the morning etc but connecting in a level of human-human interaction with lots of active interactions from both the student and teacher . Otherwise in this computer era why dont the students choose computers as teachers . In this respect i was shocked when i was offered a teaching assignment from morning to evening ...Ya my same boring face for an audience from morning to evening . Here too a significant personal interaction when the audience feels you are interacting them on a one to one level even though its a group helps to minimise the sleep .. I still dont know how they didnt sleep during those 8 hours (even with breaks ) ...
A sense of humour definitely helps and if you can say interesting anecdotes and examples it would definitely help to keep the students glued to their seats . In this respect ( though not recommended at all ) i remember my malayalam teacher in my boys school in tenth standard who used to tell adult stories .He was popular too . That is unethical but without going to adult stories there are a million ways to make the class interesting with interesting examples .
Most important for a teacher i feel more than all the above is a "passion" for teaching . Its difficult to fake it . I dont think everyone has it but if you have it , it can be developed . I had blogged earlier how i really used to enjoy studying . At least in part that is due to my teachers in school whose passion for teaching was transferred to the students . ( except the young malayalam teacher : was it a veiled xxx education ?? ) .
I still remember the excitement i felt when organic chemistry was discussed , the making of english phrases (we had to study oxford english ) etc etc and still remember both the subject and the teachers who taught those .
In an ideal world teaching will be in the top choice among careers , but since it has never been never a top choice career it shows that the world is far from ideal . But without being pessimistic if you have the teaching flair there are so many ways in which you can use your teaching skills without becoming a "teacher " in your resume . Even a corporate trainer though earning in lakhs is still a teacher :) And yes without being hypocritical you can be a great teacher and earn decent money and gain great respect if you have the flair in you as well as make intelligent choices ..Best wishes
good narration and content. I must say I liked it, beause I knew your teaching style.
ReplyDeletethanks .. hey what is this malayalam word ?
ReplyDeleteGood one Haroon. A teacher really has to be gutsy, as its about catering to the different perceptions and taste of the varied audience at the same time.
ReplyDelete