A GOOD TEACHER

A GOOD TEACHER

Musings on the Qualities a Teacher must possess

By

VIKRAM KARVE

A teacher is a trustee.

It is just like the birds. 

You take a flock of young students under your wings, nurture them, teach them to “fly”, and when they are ready, you release them into the world, set them free, watch them with pride as they fly into the sky, soar high above you, knowing that they will never come back, wishing that they reach great heights which you could never reach, for nothing gives a teacher more happiness than when his student excels and surpasses the teacher himself. 

I have learned from experience that teaching has got less to do with knowledge and more to do with communication.

Teaching is about relationships as well as pedagogy.

Teaching is more about feeling than facts. 

It is all a question of vibes.

Once you establish positive vibes with your students, you can feel the delightful chemistry being generated between you and your students. 

In the parlance of Electrical Engineering, it is like perfect impedance matching, the maximum power transfer theorem, and you can experience the classroom rocking with resonance, when all the resistance to the flow of knowledge disappears, the intellectual friction vanishes, the barriers to communication melt away and seamless effortless learning is achieved.

It is not important how much a teacher knows.

What is important is how much the student learns.

Like I said, communication skills are far more important than qualifications.

Teaching is about relationships as well as pedagogy – it is more about feeling than facts.

Soft Skills outweigh Hard Skills as far as the art of teaching is concerned.

A highly qualified Ph.D. who does not know the art of teaching and fails to establish good vibes with his students cannot make his lectures engrossing which may result in students losing interest in the subject and in some cases an insensitive teacher who lacks the requisite soft skills, and has poor interpersonal and ineffective communication skills, may even end up making his students hate and despise the subject he is teaching. 

Sometimes overqualification may be counterproductive and the demonstrated ability at carrying out research (Ph.D) may not guarantee good teaching skills. 

Unlike in schools where B.Ed. is a must for teachers, and a DECE or Montessori Training is desirable for primary and pre-primary school teachers, the fact of the matter is that in higher education most teachers have had no formal training in the Art of Teaching or Pedagogy and are appointed as lecturers and professors solely based on their academic qualifications and research publications - whether they are proficient in pedagogy and the Art of Teaching is not considered - and that is why one sees so many well qualified professors with poor communication skills and inadequate teaching ability owing to which they are unable to motivate their students and this hampers their ability to transfer their knowledge to the students. 

Insistence on a Ph.D. for a teacher, even at the undergraduate level, precludes many otherwise talented persons including those with professional experience from entering as faculty in the teaching profession in higher and professional education and this is a great loss of expertise and results in only the "academicians" dominating the teaching profession. Of course, the ultimate losers are the students, and as a consequence, the industry and the society at large. In fact, this is one of the reasons that many organisations and employers have to invest heavily in induction training as fresh graduates, even in engineering and technology, are not industry-ready.

It is easy to make simple things difficult but difficult to make complicated things easy. 

It requires good teaching style, effective communication skills and appropriate soft skills to make difficult things easy and enjoyable to learn. 

The process of learning must be enjoyable. It must not be dry, didactic, boring and painful.

It is important for a teacher to remember that learning comprises two pedagogic processes: 

Getting knowledge that is inside to move out,  

and

Getting knowledge that is outside to move in.

The second part of imparting knowledge from outside into the student is comparatively easier, once you’ve got the students interested, eager to learn, and the teacher is proficient in teaching skills and knowledgeable in the subject and domain specialization.

It is the first aspect, getting knowledge that is inside the student to move out, facilitating inward discovery on one’s self, help unlock the treasure within the student that is more challenging and is the true test and indeed the hallmark of a good teacher. 

I trust I have succeeded in achieving this.

I feel a sense of pride tinged with nostalgic sadness as my protégés “fly” off to conquer great heights of success in their careers. 

It is indeed a delightful and unmatched experience to mentor young bright minds, to see them flower, blossom, bloom and flourish before your own eyes, observe them metamorphose from students into professionals.

I love being in the company of young talented people, full of zeal and enthusiasm, with a zest for living and a passion for learning. 

It makes me feel good and youthful, and as always, I “learn” more than I “teach”.

I feel sad, wanting to hold them back, not wanting to part, but I know I have to let them go to their destinies.

My dear students, as I watch you with pride in my heart, swiftly fly away, soaring high above me in the sky, vanish into the distance, to all my dear students, I will always bless you and sincerely wish you from the bottom of my heart: GODSPEED.

Godspeed – a wish for a prosperous journey and good fortune, my dear young friends, as you embark upon your first career, a new phase of your life.

VIKRAM KARVE 

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2010
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.  


VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU, The Lawrence School Lovedale, and Bishop's School Pune, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book "Appetite for a Stroll". Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog - http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/
Academic Journal Vikram Karve – http://karvediat.blogspot.com/
Professional Profile of Vikram Karve - http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
Foodie Book: Appetite for a Stroll 
http://books.sulekha.com/book/appetite-for-a-stroll/default.htm

http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9mr2o

http://shopping.sify.com/appetiteforastroll-vikram-karve/books/9788190690096.htm

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.