TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 2 – TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL – TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 2 – TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL

TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”

Musings

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Today, the 5th of September, is Teachers Day.

Well, once upon a time, I used to be a Teacher. 

So, on Teachers Day, here are some thoughts I would like to share with you. 

So, let me delve into my creative writing archives and re-post for you a few articles I had written and posted on my blog a few years ago on the occasion of Teachers Day.

I have already posted the first TEACHERS DAY article:

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 1 –Food for Thought on “The Art of Teaching” or “How to Teach”

(If you want to read that article first, you may click the link above and the blog post will open in a new window for you to read. But remember to come back to this page and read this post too)

Here is the second article (I wrote this as a farewell letter to my students and to my trainees on completion of their induction training): 

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 2 – TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL – TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”  

I wrote this article long back, around 20 years ago, and posted in on my blog on the request of some students sometime in 2008, I think.

Here is the article, once more, on the occasion of Teachers Day

TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL

A teacher is a trustee.

It is just like looking after 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.

Like birds, you set your students free, watch them with pride as they fly into the sky, soar high above you, knowing that they will never come back.

You wish that your students reach great heights which you could never reach.

It makes teachers most happy when their students excel and surpass their teachers.

TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”

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. 

Yes, effective teaching and learning depends on 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

Yes, to achieve student learning is the sine qua non of teaching.

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.

This may result in students losing interest in the subject and in some cases an insensitive teacher who lacks the soft interpersonal and communication skills may even end up making his students hate and despise that subject. 

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. 

Yes, learning must be enjoyable.

Learning must not be dry, didactic, boring and painful.

LEARNING PROCESS

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

1. Getting knowledge that is inside to move out

2. Getting knowledge that is outside to move in

The second part of imparting knowledge from outside into the student is comparatively easier, once you have got the students interested and eager to learn.

This is easy if 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 and help unlock the treasure within the student that is more challenging.

This is the true test and indeed the hallmark of a good teacher. 

I trust I have succeeded in achieving this.

Today 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 was a delightful 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 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.

Wish You a Happy Teachers Day

VIKRAM KARVE

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