The art of teaching

In Sesame street (TV series) Lily Tomlin once said that,"I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework."

But when its comes to India, the same thing can not be said. If you visits one of the schools in rural India, you will found out that majority of the students are not attending the classes. If they are attending the classes then the teachers are not properly teaching them. Sometimes the schools do not have the proper infrastructure required for teaching. So how can we expect our kids to be excellent in everything?  There is a old Buddhist proverb which goes like this,"If a seed of a lettuce will not grow, we do not blame the lettuce. Instead, the fault lies with us for not having nourished the seed properly."

Now the Government is taking a lot of actions through the Sarva Siksha Avijana, but the resources that the government is providing, the schools are not properly utilizing. Most of the time the teachers are not inspiring which affects the children. William Arthur Ward, the author of the book "Fountains of faith" wrote that,"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." The teacher in the rural India don't even tell.

In our school visits we try to teach the students in a fun way which make teaching more likable. Here are some pictures.

Make them understand

Involve them in the process

Tell something new

We went to two schools to teach them about cleanliness as well as hygienic practices. We used power point presentations to teach the kids. may be the schools don't have these resources but one can also teach with pictures and a smile. If a teacher is not involved with the students, if he can't connect with them then the teaching process is worthless.

 The American intellectual, Gilbert Highet said the following word which shows how important is a smiling face of a teacher.

 "A very wise old teacher once said: "I consider a day's teaching wasted if we do not all have one hearty laugh." He meant that when people laugh together, they cease to be young and old, master and pupils, jailer and prisoners. They become a single group of human beings enjoying its existence.