When I look back on my years as a school boy, I remember a few teachers who have left an indelible impression on my mind for various reasons. The first two were teachers, who coincidentally, both taught Mathematics. They were energetic, strict and determined to see that no pupil was left behind in the subject. They were empathetic, motivational, original and caring. Period after period and month after month, they went about their task methodically. For them, teaching was definitely a passion. While I did not excel in the subject, what they taught me, stayed with me, and today, when I look back, it was probably one of them who, unknowingly, motivated me to become a teacher.
The second group of teachers who left an impression on me was a kind of happy-go-lucky set of teachers. Rather friendly, often smiling, they went about their jobs hoping to make a difference in children’s lives. They were good human beings, but they did not believe in pushing students beyond their expectations. Their method was simple. They taught us what they had learnt and how they had been taught, and so period after period, month after month and year after year, they taught the same topic, gave exactly the same assignments, repeated the same tests and hoped for the best. I clearly remember one or two of them picking up notes given a few years earlier to the previous batch and dictating the same to us. Pupils and parents swore by their notes and by their methods and they ensured that everyone passed.
I am talking about the 1960s and 70s, where we sat in rows at desks and listened dutifully to what the teacher said. Interaction between teacher and student was minimal and we learned without questioning.
Today pupils are living in the most intensely stimulating period in history. They are being besieged with information from computers, smart phones, televisions and advertisement. The goal of the teacher in the 21st-century learning environment should be to bring together data, resources, tools and expertise to positively impact teaching and learning. What society needs are people who can ask good questions, come up with creative solutions, critically examine those possibilities to figure out which one creative solution is most likely to be effective, and communicate that solution effectively enough to motivate others into action. In the educational field, it has been realised that students aren’t just consumers of facts any longer nor are schools just brick and mortar structures. They are centres of lifelong learning.
Today’s teacher, besides delivering content, must also be a role model, part-time parent, counsellor, cashier, administrator, tech expert, nurse and care-provider. He or she must be organised and knowledgeable and realise that information isn’t bound primarily in books anymore.
When I was in school, teachers dispensed information and education was almost like a production line. Teachers were told what to teach, when to teach and how to teach. I clearly remember no differentiation and all of us were taught exactly the same way. Everything has changed today. Teachers are encouraged to adapt new practices that acknowledge both the art and science of learning. They have been made to realise that they first must get to know the student as an individual to comprehend his or her unique learning styles and abilities.
The need of the hour is a generation of teachers who continue to update their skills as regularly a possible – men and women who aim to develop learners instead of teaching them; who help their pupils to become independent and motivate them not only to learn and think for themselves, but to apply knowledge they garner in real life as well.
Besides knowing how to teach reading, writing, mathematics and science, today’s teachers must know how to manage a classroom, differentiate between the high achievers and slow learners, as well as be able to develop curriculum that is rich and challenging in content.
A teacher today must know how to use tests to assess learning and be able to teach pupils to learn collaterally. Their job also entails counselling students as they grow and mature – helping them to integrate their social, intellectual and emotional growth. They must give students the tools to make better decisions and use their knowledge to better contribute to society and the world around them. Rather than seeing themselves as masters of a particular subject, they must aspire to be role models who are able to develop a bond with their pupils.
The adage of the teacher being the king/queen of the classroom needs to go the way of dishwater.
Effective teaching has to be fluid and adaptive to the current culture. An effective teacher is one who embraces the evolving technological culture and adapts to the student’s needs of today. In doing so, the teacher will thrive, students will flourish and the goal of education to create men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what past generations have done, will be achieved.
(Michael Guzder is Executive Principal, The Millennium School, Dubai).
