Education now is a part of an organized affair of a progressive and advanced society. It is a key to all those changes pertaining to man, modification of his behavior and his surrounding. Educational institution are, there fore, extension of organized exposures to the students; higher the frequency, quality, variety, and other exposures, better the education of the students and greater the confidence in them. A modern generation student has to be driven and prompted to observe happenings of everything in and around him. The universe and the forces within and without are incessantly at work. The education of a man depends on the magnitude and intensity of his observation and receptiveness of the forces. One of the best qualities of human is curiosity and because of it, human observes, enquires, explores, experiments, creates and examines the social, the physical and the biological world around him. He examines and questions the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of these forces, argues and innovates and thus enriches himself and his world around.
Education is the most sensitive affair. It is difficult to impart and equally arduous to learn but it is gigantic. The day to day happenings of minor and major natures in educational institutions influence its blood pressure and their lifelines. It contributes in maintaining and deteriorating emotional health of the campus. A school reflects the mood, echoes the rhythm and emits the fragrance of the sensibility of the campus. Education is not an exercise confined only within the four walls of the class room and books, but includes many other positive expansions, giving an opportunity to students to solve, invent, explore, experience and adventure. This has hardly invited the attention of the people so far and has thus remained untouched and unaccomplished.
The schooling in India takes place in a classroom of a school or a college. An ideal class has a seating capacity of forty to forty five students approximately with an area of 360 sq. Feet. The student clad tidy and colorful prescribed school dresses with a neck tie- a semblance of future executive in the making, reports to their classes and stay for six or seven hours – valuable period of the day. No less than five to seven school teachers of well-known subjects come and go turn by turn.
Thus several million students in the classroom undergo the experience of the same pattern of education-classroom teaching, some campus activities, examination, issue of certificates and progress cards. The stint of the teaching and learning is bounded in forty to forty five minutes for each subject. Is real teaching and learning happening? Is real destiny of India shaped in her class room as observed by the Dr. Kothari, Chairman Education Commission 1964-1966? Is effective learning happening in our class rooms?Is there any scope for the replacement of class room teaching? Can we reverse this order? No, not at all. It is not going to be reversed at least for decades to come. The aberrations, pitfalls witnessed in form of absence, irregularity, unacceptable social behavior, unfair means in examinations, abuses, show of muscle power, bullying among students are due to lack of quality class room teaching.
The teaching and learning process is happening in an atmosphere of tension. There are conflicts in the minds of the teachers and taught. It is dull and uninteresting. It is also happening in a climate of love and hate. What we witness in the form of damages done to the fans, lights, furniture, filthy language and ugly abusive figures, drawings, slogans on the college walls, notice boards, inside the bath rooms and toilets, passes to school mates and teaching fraternity, is the out come in the name of poor teaching and learning in class rooms. Answer of these questions shall be traced in the following paragraphs.
I remember an incident of a class room teaching in our college .It was recess and class X students had left their seats. While passing class XI Arts stream, all of us stood up spontaneously as we were fascinated to English teaching going on in the class. All the senior students were absorbed and did not bother their recess. The crowds of students neither bother to take tiffin. Those were very sweet moments. There was a pin drop silence every where. All three sides of class room were thronged by the onlookers who were class IX and X students, delaying their tiffins but relishing the sweet words coming out of the sweet tongue of the teacher. Those students belonged to semi urban city and three quarters of them came from villages. Their mother tongue was neither Hindi nor English.
The way he was addressing, the way his head moved towards his left and right as mode of address, the way he moved back and forth, the way he pronounced the words, and the accent which he delivered the sentences, teaching has mesmerizing effect on his students and uninvited audiences. Neither class nor they were in hurry to leave the class. There were no teaching aids, he was not trained. Later after fifteen years of teaching, he joined a teachers training college as my class mate which helped him in becoming a principal. Although I am unable to pin point his merits of teaching, I vaguely remember that he was playing the role model of an excellent teacher. He was reproducing true feelings, emotions, current of thoughts of the author or the poet. The very polished sweet sentences made the real impact. He must have planned to import the requisite tempo in his students.
A professor of history in Allahabad University was so popular that non –regular university scholar, advocates, senior citizens used to come to attend his classes. He was none but Dr.Ishwari Prasad short medium complexion person who even at the age of ninety years stunned me by his presence in the late evening in the university library .The incident took place in the year 1970.
We come across another category of teachers, who throw the blame of their failures to students and every body else, except themselves. I saw a senior teacher bringing a student holding his neck to the principal for disciplinary action. His fault was neither did he pay attention to his teaching nor did he allow his class mate to listen to the teacher. On interrogation, the boy revealed that he asked a clarification which the teacher answered in a few fumbled en -cohesive sentences and wrote them on black board, besides accusing the students their inability to learn. Another problem was that the students did not understand what the teacher taught to them.
A post graduate teacher of science, a good teacher indeed but was hated by many of his students due to his rough and cruel behavior. There were reports of cow dung and human excretion thrown on the doors and windows of his house this act was executed by the students during the night.
It is also true that there will always be some great teachers in a school /college/university /departments but to be great teachers is not impossible. Some of the researchers and surveys have shown that one of twenty bright students could achieve distinction in their latter years, where as nineteen out of twenty average persons could attain exceptional success due to their strong will and study efforts. This can be acquired.
The following few essential competencies of teaching are identified in the order given here under and these shall be discussed in some details by the author.
These are:
(1) The Moral Dynamics.
(2) The Emotional Dynamics.
(3) The Personal behavior and concern for their students.
(4) The Social Dynamics.
(5) The Educational and Professional Dynamics.
Moral Dynamics
Before coming to school, a child of Indian origin has acquired sufficient moral background from his family, near and dear and others. A teacher has to fit in to the moral perception of the student first. A liar, dishonest, partial, corrupt, drug addict and infamous is not accepted by him. He may listen but never learn how ever good his teaching is. His hatred on account of personal disqualification of the teacher inhibits his learning and development.
It is also true that there is negative correlation between bad person ,teaching attitudes and scholarship. It is there fore necessary that right signal about his the morality of the teacher is goes among his students. While dealing with pure sciences a teacher comes across tips for moral lessons to his class. He discovers them. He invents them as one can not be found on the surface. The efforts on his parts make him important in the eyes of the students who will not like to miss him. The committee on moral education instructions (1959)defined moral values. Any thing that value among the students is by setting examples the teachers them selves.
The Emotional Dynamics
The teaching community is dealing with pupils who are at times very frustrating. They do and say that makes teachers mad and they react with anger. Anger breeds behavioral changes which in turn result in even more frustrating outcomes. A crisis emerges from a simple management situation. Reacting with anger is reacting as child to another angry person as one child fighting with another. Staying calm despite the provocations is being as an adult. Not only, it is more productive state, but also it helps to stop the anger from the other person.
Anger can be a cover of fear . Some time when we are corrected for the mistake, we see the correction as an attack on our failure and begin to fear for our continued ability to the job. Angry people are the most scared and most inadequate. Angry peoples are dictators for the period of their anger. Dictators are people who know they are right thus anyone who does not agree with them is wrong. They think that those who are wrong are bad should be punished. Blame is central to all angers. It is blame that leads to an unfair outcome. The more we blame, the more they get and ask the task we are blaming them for. By allocating blame, we teach other people to hate themselves and to be depressed. They cease to improve. Letting people that we expect good performance will have them trying to live up to own belief. Anger can have many effects:
It increases our frustrations.
It prevents us from solving problems.
It makes us a poor role models for other to copy.
It leads to more anger as the cycle of internal conflict continues.
It makes other people angry.
It can make physically ill.
Management of fear does not succeed for long. It breeds anarchy and revolt. Fighting anger with anger only results in twice as much as anger. Such behavior patterns are due to the fault of parents and upbringing. This pattern can be changed if one wishes.
How to get rid of them?
Smile as speak and look.
Control your anger.
The student not to be ignored.
Whenever there is an accusation apply logic and analyze the facts. Listen to the angry person, be fair all times. Those who lack the self confidence are always to believe the worst. They should be given the benefit of doubt. We should make sure that our meaning and intents are clear.
Personal Dynamics
Teaching imposes a great deal more strain than one imagines. Although all of us aspire to gain the children confidence and respect but many of us fail to get their respect. Perhaps we firmly believe that getting respect is our fundamental right and legacy passed on to us. We believe all who come to school are duty bound to offer regards irrespective of our ability and contribution in our teaching. Such persons live in fools paradise. A wise teacher or principal knows where as many like but ,some don’t ,one or two hate and are always looking for an opportunity to cause physical assault. The students try to form opinions and reactions. There are reasons behind such an undesirable behavior. W are reasonable .We have already hurt and antagonize them. Some of colleagues out of jealousy incite the students against the teachers. The teacher should have the strengths to face and mould the situation in their favor and over come the hostile attitudes of the students.
A good school has student counselor and committees. The students are encouraged to write weekly review of the class room teaching and school programs as a whole which the subject teacher committee of activity in-charges read and rectify on the week ends. One of the student is asked to read his comments on various aspects of the school in school assembly. That is how they grow and we can improve. It can be class wise, subject wise and house wise.
Social Dynamics
The rapport of the teacher grows when he takes batch of students out side the school for educational trips. The responsibility is given to as many as students as possible. Once they come to know that you are sharing their personal concerns and some problems ,they know how important you are for them. Important enough to balance and out weigh the evils. They should feel that you also respect them. Our job is to stimulate and drive students’ efforts in to constructive channel. Limited activity are exposed to the full to encourage them to speak up for them selves.
Professional Dynamics
The professional competency demands the subject command, presentation of lesson and training. A lot of excellent books are available but I suggest a book –Art of Teaching by Guilbert Height for discussion on professional dynamics. I will say it is body not soul of education of a man .What we are missing now a days is soul and there fore crisis in the institutions. All paid jobs according to Aristtle absorb and degrade minds is true to a greater extent. Most of us enslave ourselves to our pay masters more so to the private organizations. The globalization followed by privatization in trade oriented hands has robbed of the real commitments towards education and the society.
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