Role of a Teacher

Technology cannot replace a teacher

 

At a time of wi-fi campuses and technology-enabled classrooms, the role of a teacher is still crucial, and will continue to be

 

NO amount of good infrastructure or technology-enabling can make a child learn without a teacher in a classroom. In other words, a teacher's role cannot be undermined, no matter how techsavvy the classroom may be. In fact, today, the role of a teacher has become more of a facilitator, a role model, a counsellor and most importantly, a friend who students can relate to, instead of merely being a talking head in a classroom. 

   The role of a teacher today is more of a co-learner in a classroom, agrees Simmi Kher, director, The Indian Heights School, Dwarka. She adds: “It is while teaching that a teacher learns, unlearns and re-learns. Teaching is a continuous process where a teacher ends up being much more than a facilitator and a guide.” 

   The role of a teacher is always crucial in a classroom, feels Udai Lauria, a senior educationist. He says: “A teacher is one person who can help children to assess their full potential. Therefore, teachers constantly need to update themselves about concepts, patterns and fast changing technology in order to calibrate and assess views of students.” He adds, “Teachers should not rate a child. Rather, they should assess their learning, and this can be achieved only when students and teachers have a healthy relationship and support each other.” 

   Similarly, Sujatha Ramadorai, member, National Knowledge Commission, says: “The curriculum may be bookish and textbooks outdated, but teaching methodologies and ideas are not. Therefore, it depends on a teacher how s/he deals with a subject and makes it interesting for students by adding own experiences, real life examples and research among others.” 

   She adds: “Teachers also play an important role in conveying the reality behind abstracts. Subjects like mathematics rely heavily on cumulative knowledge and early years are critical. Therefore, students need inspired teachers who instil a sense of confidence in them and they also feel equally motivated to study.” 

GROWING CONCERNS 

It is increasingly being found that the motivation levels of teachers is going down due to high student-teacher ratio, poor infrastructure, remuneration not at par with other professions and social acceptance. 

   Shares Sasmita Mohanty, principal, Presidency School, Bangalore: “I have found that teachers show great enthusiasm at the time of recruitment but gradually, their commitment and motivation level goes down.” The reason being, she adds: “The teaching profession has become more of an industrial sector now with its own set of problems like deadlines and work pressure and thus, teachers lose patience easily.” 

   Teachers, on the other hand, strongly feel that remuneration is an issue as they are not paid at par with other professions. As a result, the profession fails to attract quality teachers. 

   Says Mohammad Akhtar Siddiqui, chairperson, National Council for Teacher Education: “There is a lack of commitment on the part of teachers also, which is leading to the crunch. As the IT boom has led to lucrative alternate careers, the profession is losing on quality staff.” 

   Sita Laxmi Vishwanath, principal, Amrita Vidyalam, Chennai also harbours a similar notion. She says: “The IT boom today is not only attracting the fresh talent with lucrative opportunities, but also the existing one, hence it is a challenge to both attract and retain quality staff.” 

POSSIBLE SOLUTION 

Granting more academic autonomy is the need of the hour, says Monika Chopra, a PGT in chemistry, N C Jindal School, Punjabi Bagh. She adds: “Teachers should be provided with avenues to discuss new pedagogical developments, instead of making them work within such restraints that there is no scope for experimentation or innovation. So if they are given a responsibility, they should also be given some academic autonomy.” 

   Says Siddiqui: “The teacher-student ratio should also be maintained to ensure quality. Ideally, it should be 1:25 but mostly, it is 1:40, which is affordable.” Likewise, Lauria says: “The teaching process is evolving and classroom teaching will be more interesting if teachers use their creativity to make lessons easy to understand for students. This can be achieved with greater autonomy.”

  

 

   Sunil Sharma

     Moderator

Dil Se Desi Group

              &

www.dilsedesi.org

New Teaching Gadgets

Skills of the 21 ^st Century

 

CHILDREN today are exposed to gadgets like iPods and laptops from an early age and they, in turn, master them much quicker. As Udai Lauria, an educationist, points out: "A major problem with our Indian education system lies in the fact that 21st Century learners are taught by 20th Century teachers in 19th Century classrooms. As a result, they miss out on developing this century's skills." 

 

   He adds: "The need, now, is to foster IT skills in students; such as innovative skills, multi-media skills and career skills. The entire curriculum should revolve around inculcating such skills in students, skills that would help them later on in their life." Lauria also feels that there is a lack of dialogue among various stakeholders in the system. So, he is providing a platform for teachers, students, parents and even other educational bodies to facilitate mutual dialogue and interaction.

 

   Through his Consortium for Research in School Pedagogy (CRISP), a not-forprofit organisation, he is doing his bit to make the system better. He says: "We are working on preparing lessons subject-wise and topic-wise and strictly adhering to CBSE guidelines. We will also provide additional research material for all stakeholders in the process, to widen the horizons of learning." 

 

   Once a student/teacher/parents logs on to their website www.crisp.org.in , he/she can access a number of links on a given topic. On its benefit for students, Lauria elaborates: "Traditionally, a child learns from the book, teacher, parents and peers and thus learns the same thing in four different ways. On the other hand, we are providing hundreds of ways to learn and understand the same problem, addressing multiple intelligences of a child." 

IN CLASSROOMS 

Many schools are now imparting skills like problem solving, conflict resolution, team building, leadership and even thinking skills. They are also sensitised towards the fact that the aim of education is no longer confined to teaching the basics or just passing a student. "Gone are the days when the education system was recognised by a mere pass or fail, now it's also about imparting life skills to students that can practically be used by them in their lives," says Bindu Dutt, maths teacher, SCS DAV School, Mayur Vihar. 

 

   She agrees that imparting IT skills is a necessity today. She adds: "For mathematics, we use a software which enables learning using multi-media. It not only helps catching the attention of students but also in improving the comprehension and retention span of weaker students." 

 

   For adding innovation to her subject and making it interesting and more meaningful for students, she gives them projects based on daily lives. She adds: "We give them different themes like using maths in daily life, so that they understand concepts better and with greater ease." 

 

   Similarly, Neha Taneja, maths teacher, DPS Gurgaon, uses Geometer Sketchpad in her classrooms to teach concepts better. She says: "It is very effective in teaching subjects like trigonometry and parabolas among others, which students usually find difficult to understand. Since it has the visual benefit, concepts are easier to relate to." 

PRACTICAL THINKING 

Linking studies to real-life situations to make it more meaningful for her students, Taneja says: "We give assignments like making presentations on statistics in real life and so on. By doing such exercises, students understand and remember concepts for life. Students are quite tech-savvy these days and hence find it engaging when given projects that require work like researching and making presentations using computers and the internet and thus, do it whole-heartedly." She also encourages her students to do something constructive on the internet like solving sample papers given online and so on. 

 

   Children with effective communication and language skills fare far better than students who are academic scholars, opines Monika Chopra, chemistry teacher, N C Jindal School, Punjabi Bagh. She says: "The need, today, is to become a learner who develops concepts to completeness and correctness. In other words, construction of knowledge is the buzzword today." 

 

   As regards focusing on IT skills in her students, she says: "We use modules to demonstrate experiments that re-emphasise on the do's and don'ts which we teach in class. So when they see an exothermic reaction taking place visually, they understand that we add water to acid and not viceversa and how much heat is produced so that they take care while doing it practically."

 

 

 

Sunil Sharma

   Moderator

Dil Se Desi Group

&     www.dilsedesi.org

Building as Teaching Aids

School Infrastructure as Learning Aids

After the success of Taare Zameen Par, which showed how a school’s infrastructure can serve as an effective learning aid, Delhi’s education department is all set to launch a project called BaLA

Building as Learning Aid (BaLA), also an acronym for a girl, is an innovative way of looking at a student's relation with the school. The project, to be launched by the Delhi government on January 23, focuses on using the existing school infrastructure as a part of the learning process and in making education indispensable to everyday life. The project also addresses inclusive education in mainstream schools.

WHAT IS BALA?

The fact that one's physical space could serve as a resource in the teaching-learning process is being explored seriously by the project. The school buildings and their constituent elements such as floors, walls and ceilings have been treated innovatively so as to help simplify the learning process. The first series would see transformation take place within the confines of a classroom, while the latter would be aimed at integrating studies with the infrastructure outside the classroom. This is how the school would function, once the first phase of the BaLA initiative is implemented.

BLACKBOARD

Blackboards stretched across the length of the classroom's four walls will replace the traditional blackboard. These boards will also take into consideration the height of the students. "On one wall, calendars will be painted with a black grid wherein children will perform their activities. The border along the calendar could also be used to depict the seasons. This would make learning the seasons and months much easier," informed V P Singh, additional state project director. Further, classes will be painted in various colours to help those who find identifying colours difficult.

DESK

Every desk will have a scale painted on it to integrate measurement in a child's day-today life. "Students could enjoy measuring their lunch boxes and books by using the desk scale and learn at the same time. Some desks would even have the desk's actual weight painted on them," stated Reena Ray, secretary, directorate of education.

DOORS

BaLA will also make learning geometrical angles a lot simpler. Students who have to study angles in their curriculum will find the 'Door Angle Protractor' painted on the classroom's entrances. The angles will be aligned with the swing of the door. "Students will know the exact angle at which the doors are opened as the corresponding angles will be painted on the floor," added Singh. Symmetrical shapes of geometry, traditional motifs, illusions and other patterns will also be painted along the vertical divisional line separating the two parts of the doors.

FANS

All the colours of the rainbow will be found on the ceiling fans. However, students would be surprised to find that when the fan rotates only white would be visible. This would help teach students the concept of VIBGYOR and that white light comprises seven colours.

FLOORS

No textbook can, perhaps, integrate learning and fun the way games painted on floors can. "A 6/3 grid would be painted on classroom floors. The note besides it reads - identify even, prime and odd numbers and students can jump only diagonally and towards the left to identify the same clan numbers but not to the right. This makes it both, fun and simple," added Ray. According to Ray, the objective is to help students with learning difficulties without making them feel different. "By the time students reach higher classes, they will be well versed with mental mathematics and their basics will be absolutely perfect." Besides, these innovative teaching techniques would benefit all learners.


Sunil Sharma
Moderator
Dil Se Desi Group