THE CREATURE NAMED ‘TEACHER’

 HAVE THESE EVER COME TO YOUR MIND?

Under the prevailing dispensation by way of provisions and punishments, it is a self inflicted wound to be a teacher. I am not holding a brief for all those ill equipped, well dressed men and women who parade as teachers with very little mental equipment to pass muster as ‘teachers’. My concern pertains to those who by the sweat of their eyebrows toil day in and day out to ‘stand up’ to the need of the hour. It is they who keep the flag aloft in the domain of ‘true teaching’.  Please do not brush aside the following questions / arguments as of no consequence to you. 

Is there some ‘position’ where his /her trainees make fun of their mentor? But teachers face the ignominy of being ‘nick-named’, made fun of for even congenital deformities. Teacher is viewed as butt of a ridicule, largely emboldened by the projection made of them as comic personalities in movies , besides as embodiments of stupidity. Yet, there are brilliant ones who keep shaping the career of countless boys and girls by appropriate grooming. For several years they were the least paid, which was another reason for their being ‘down-ratied’ even by lesser mortals. Now, consider these questions. 

Be that you are a graduate / Post Graduate of the Glorious University of Madras’ some 20 years ago.

Have you been able to ‘make your child understand’ how number 2 is smaller than number 4 or 5 or 3?

Has it been ever possible for you [includes your spouse as well] to tell your child how to read letters in different languages? Worse still, have you managed to explain   some poem in 3^rd standard or some math problem of standard 8? 

 Can you help your son to complete some assignments in Biology for Standard 10 or 12? Leave alone his understanding of I B.Sc., Microbiology chapter on Bacterial metabolism. What bothers you when it comes to ‘enlightening’ your son or daughter on some such situations portrayed above?

Lend your thought:

Only when some lesson has to be learned –the boy or girl suffers from digression. Digression begins from within and spreads like wild fire ably aided by other items of visual disturbance or some verbal noise around etc., leaving in disarray every genuine effort by you or that of your child. Nothing could ever be done to contain such ‘menace’ from every source known or unknown.  If just 2 children [son / daughter] learning at different levels cause so much agony, proving beyond doubt that ‘we can never teach these children, we want the teacher to do it. Every parent also has the same demand on ‘that’ teacher. How many of the students [s]he handles on a day. I speak only of and for the teachers who are honest in efforts.   With the future in mind for our own child, we are clueless as to how to go about.  But, have we ever considered the constraints which dampen the ‘spirit’ of earnest teaching?  Also, the teacher has to deliver the idea for all students who represent a wide range of learning difficulties. [S]he has to somehow ensure that the majority gathers the idea, It is an enigma of sorts as to how  some articulate teachers make a headway  into that ‘impervious’ shield of recalcitrance for learning.  Such teachers are needed everywhere, if teaching/ learning should peacefully blossom  in all institutions.

How do they accomplish it?

Have we not heard of  ‘uniform ‘ acceptance of some teachers by students year after year, as if they were all under  a magic spell  cast by those legendary  teachers.  Yes, their spell of magic is based on thoroughness of approach. Their thoroughness is multi-dimensional.  [S]he understands the message clearly for self.  Next, [s] he plans the method to explain the idea with well-known examples .Any successful explanation of an idea largely depends on ‘on the spot’ assessment of ‘understanding by all’.  Eye-contact with the wards while speaking infuses seriousness of interaction in a session. Confused faces of wards imply the need to resort to simpler and better clarification of the idea.  By instantly satisfying such requirements  teachers bring total command into play and help students to learn better and quicker;  without genuine concern for learners , no teacher can register success however glorious his/her academic track record as a student had been.  That is why some glorious rank holders miserably fail in teacher-career.  Understanding for self is far different from making others understand the same.

The critical facet of ‘maturing’ into a dominant performer as a teacher  is to conceive the difficulties of the learner in deciphering the intricacies of a lesson ; that is the right orientation for a teacher to grasp as to why students fail to perceive an idea the way that the lesson planners want the student to understand. If such an attempt to view things from ‘learners’ perspective’ is cultivated by teachers, in no time they can put the record straight and win the battle before it begins. I have noticed this professional etiquette in all teachers/ Professors who have registered an indelible stamp of excellence in teaching. It boils down to the idea that ‘to be a teacher of formidable stature’ the teacher should make it a point to be clear in all utterances and quick to solve learner problems.  So friends, please do not think that a teacher is a person, rather [s]he is a personality, thoroughly self made and infallible in pursuit.

Prof. K. Raman