11. Life and Learning

Christmas or Diwali, an earthquake or tsunami, a birth or death in the family / community , an accident or a social problem are all fine learning points which children can observe and learn from…. Teachers can tap the inner responses of pupils to these in the classroom and deal in turn with their joy, sorrow , fear and anxieties … THEN & ONLY THEN does learning become part of LIFE !!!

10. The Spirit of Life Skills

The other day I had delivered a lecture on Life Skills to a group of newly recruited college teachers. I dealt with several life skills they require to succeed as a Lecturer!
But I wonder, how far I have succeeded in driving home something which I felt deeply about Life:

“ It is extremely difficult to wean our mind away from the attractions of wealth, material enjoyment, self esteem and fame. But by constant endeavour, determination and developing dispassion it becomes possible to discipline our mind to avoid the pitfalls of such lures. A contented man is internally poised and will be able to achieve great results….”

-Something I read in Bhavan’s Journal years ago

9. Views on Teacher Training

Justifying the need for restructuring the BEd. Curriculum in 2005, the Dean of the Faculty of Education of the University of Calicut observed: “Teacher entering the world of education needs to appreciate the complexities of teaching. Developing successfully as a teacher requires acknowledgement and appreciation of all the policies and issues in education in addition to the practical skills and personal direction…”

Around the same time Ahalya Chari in Wake Up India Oct-Dec 2005, wrote

“Teacher education is first and foremost a human activity, a religious commitment, meaning by ‘religion’ not a dogma but a sensitivity to life, to its interconnectedness and to the sacred. We need hearts and not heads in our schools today.”

Any comments???

8. Freedom for Children!

Many teachers dread the very idea … for, children might misuse it…

But suppose they are made to see it as a space for expressing him/herself

without fear,… asking questions,… sharing problems and,… trying to be

treated as an accepted member of the community…

wouldn’t that be worth giving?

Well… what do you think?

7. Teaching Visual Learners : A Few Facts

* Learning theorists have demonstrated that people vary in the manner in which they absorb, process, and recall what they are taught.

* Visual learners need to see what they are learning, and while they have difficulty following oral lectures they perform well at written assignments and readily recall material they have read.

* Visual learners, prefer to be taught through pictures, diagrams, flow charts, timelines, films, and demonstrations.

* Women tend to be more visually oriented than men, who are generally more kinesthetic

* Because some students learn better from visual stimuli, an improved balance between verbal and visual techniques could offer significant learning benefits.

6. Learning Cradle

Just overheard : Six year old to three year old…

“You THINK you are smart eh?
CAN you make your own bed?
CAN you lace your own shoe?
CAN you climb our only tree?
CAN you wash your own clothes?
CAN you swallow pancakes in one go?
NO,NO,NO, And You’re a
Dummy, Dummy, Dummy!!!”

Well…. Is it ???

5. On Punishments

Which of the following punishments I received while I was at school do you think served a purpose?

In Kindergarten : * For being talkative… I was made to sit between girls.
In Lower Primary : * For making mistakes…. I was made to write impositions.
In Upper Primary : * For not doing homework … I was sent out of the class.
In Middle School : * For my inability to memorize Malayalam poems…my earlobes
were screwed with a key.
In High School : * For indiscipline , a Jesuit priest orders me to come to the front of
the class , draws out a long cane and brings down the cane ten
times counting one to ten ….But the cane is brought down
as gently as a feather and at the end he would say
“Don’t repeat it again !!!”

4. Three favourite quotes on teaching

These are my three favourite quotes on teaching. Which is yours?

1.A great teacher is a great artist, but his medium is not canvas, but the human soul
-Anonymous
2.The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.
- William Arthur Ward
3.A lamp can never light another lamp unless it burns on its own flame;
a teacher can never truly teach unless he continues to learn himself.
- Rabindranath Tagore

3. What is next in India?

What is next in India?
Central School > State School > English Medium School >Public School > Residential School > International School >?

2. Is there a school teacher mentality?

Is there a School Teacher Mentality ?

Early this year I had an opportunity to listen to a lecture on ‘Stress Management’, by an eminent Resource Person. In the course of his lecture, he referred to an occasion when he had to train Bus Conductors. He had asked them who is it that they found most difficult to manage?... Was it college students or school children?... Pop came the answer... ‘School Teachers’ !