Teaching is not only an understanding of what one is teaching, but it is also a skill to impart the required knowledge in a way that every student easily comprehends what is being taught.
TEACHING IS not an easy exercise. It is not only an understanding of what one is teaching, but it is also a skill to impart the required knowledge in a way that every student easily comprehends what is being taught.
A teacher must understand his students and should, therefore, teach accordingly. If one has a depth of knowledge in any given area, flashes will come automatically in that context, and new ideas will, therefore, come to the forefront. This happens especially during the teaching time. If one is teaching a logical science just as Economics, one should give examples to the students from his day-to-day experience, that the students, as economic agents, also experience.
This would surely simplify even the most difficult themes. There is another important facet of good teaching. Students should be explained difficult and terse concepts through association. This will immensely help them to remember things, rather than cramming them without understanding. A teacher should also provide some dramatic relief when difficult areas are being taught by getting aside from the main theme, and mentioning some interesting examples. The use of pure language, English or Hindi, is also important. One should mix languages while teaching. The overall demeanour of the teacher also matters. It leaves a long-run influence on the students. Teaching should also be done face-to-face without there being any intermediaries like slide shows and what not. One should not read from his notes and dictate whatever he has written to the students. He should speak impromptu, not even using the blackboard and also addressing the students simultaneously. The two things never go together. The teacher should also give useful and relevant references to the students so that they get used to reading the required textbooks, and get accustomed to go to the library quite often. This will surely enhance their knowledge.Besides what is mentioned above, there are four basic steps that a teacher must follow:
Read half of what he normally reads;
Think twice of what he normally thinks;
Write thrice of what he normally writes; and
Disseminate four times of what he normally does.
Once these steps are carefully followed, the teacher would fully justify his responsibility of teaching.Besides all this a teacher should also occasionally assess himself. Self-assessment is a powerful technique for improving achievement. Self-assessment by teachers links them to their professional growth. Self-assessment is a tool which, in combination with other elements, contributes immensely to change in the instructional practice. Provision of a self-assessment tool contributes to teacher growth by: (1) influencing the teacher's definition of excellence in teaching and increasing his ability to recognize mastery experiences; (2) helping the teacher select improvement goals by providing him with clear standards of teaching, opportunities to find gaps between desired and actual practices, and a menu of options for action; (3) facilitating communication with the teacher's peer; and (4) increasing the influence of external change agents on teacher practice. Self-assessment tool is a constructive strategy for improving the effectiveness of in-service provided it is bundled with other professional growth strategies: peer coaching, observation by external change agents, and focused input on teaching strategies. It must be done by every teacher at least once a year.Teachers should also be assessed by their students. In order to monitor the teaching capability of the teachers the University should go for Student Assessment of Staff (SAS), where the students of at least two classes of every teacher will assess him by filling in a questionnaire by the end of the session in the presence of another teacher, and the completed questionnaire will go to the Head of the Department and Dean of the concerned Faculty in a confidential way. This is important because the University must be aware as to what the teacher teaches and how he delivers his lectures in terms of the given curriculum. As we know, assessment and instruction are two sides of the same coin. Hence it is critical for teachers to not only assess what students understand, but also use that information to adjust their teaching. The teachers are supposed to (1) reflect on their own teaching;(2) systematically examine student progress toward identified learning goals over time; (3) monitor instruction and assessment for continuous improvement The University should establish an Assessment-Centered Teaching (ACT) Unit that will help teachers, if they so wish, to gather information during instruction to uncover their learning gaps and help them to strengthen their teaching capabilities so that they can guide students towards deeper understandings of complex ideas.Teachers should only teach and undertake research. They should not be linked with administration except for being the Head of a department and the Dean of a Faculty.
