What Makes a Good Teacher

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TEACHER  

Though I wrote this article in the context of Higher Education – I feel is it universally applicable to all Teachers.

The Two Myths of Higher Education

By

VIKRAM KARVE

From my personal experience as a teacher at the post graduate level in Engineering, Technology and Management – I feel that the two myths of higher education are:

1. The Higher the Qualifications – the Better the Teacher 

2. Money motivates Teachers.

Let us reflect on what makes a good teacher – especially in higher professional education.

MYTH NO. 1 – The Higher the Qualifications, the Better the Teacher 

Does a Ph. D. make a Better Teacher...?

Musings on the Qualities a Teacher must Possess

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.

For a teacher – communication skills are far more important than qualifications.

Teaching is about relationships as well as pedagogy – Teaching 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 – and this often 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 – such a teacher may even end up making his students hate and despise the subject he or she is teaching. 

I have seen that many Ph.D. qualified teachers do not possess the requisite soft skills required for effective teaching.

In many cases – overqualification may be counterproductive – and the demonstrated ability at carrying out research (Ph.D) may not guarantee good teaching skills – especially at the undergraduate level. 

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 they are appointed as lecturers and professors solely based on their academic qualifications and research publications – irrespective of whether they are proficient in Pedagogy and the Art of Teaching. 

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 – this 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 nation 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 are not industry-ready – especially in engineering and technology.

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 – motivate inquiry based learning – to help unlock the treasure within the student – that is more challenging – and this is the true test and indeed the hallmark of a good teacher.

MYTH NO. 2 – Money Motivates Teachers

ARE THOSE MOTIVATED BY MONEY THE BEST TEACHERS?

Three Kinds of Teachers and 3 R’s of Teaching – Reward Recognition Respect

There are three kinds of Teachers:

1. Reward Oriented 

2. Recognition Seeking 

3. Respect Winning

Let us reflect a bit on each of the above types of teachers.

REWARD ORIENTED TEACHERS

In the first category are those who teach for Reward. 

For them – teaching is like any other job – a profession rather than a passion – a means of earning their livelihood. 

They believe that if they teach ‘X’ number of hours – they are entitled ‘Y’ salary. 

For any extra teaching load – they expect what the industry bluntly calls overtime – and for which academics use euphemisms like honorarium etc.

RECOGNITION SEEKING TEACHERS

Then there are teachers who are obsessed with Recognition. 

They strive for awards, titles, designations, positions, peer recognition, publishing papers, honours, fellowships – being recognised is all about fame. 

Recognition is not so much about getting credit as it is about being appreciated.

RESPECT WINNING TEACHERS

The highest category of teachers are those who win Respect – respect of their students, respect of their colleagues in the teaching fraternity and respect of society. 

For them respect is one of the most critical dimensions of their life. 

Respect Winning Teachers are passionate about teaching and they are loved by their students on whom they make a lasting impression.

In Which Category is Your Teacher...?

So – Dear Reader – the next time you see a teacher – observe carefully – and try to analyse in which category he or she belongs – reward, recognition or respect.

A Teacher who strives to win respect will always be more student-centric, stakeholder conscious and effective – than Teachers who are greedy for rewards or yearning for recognition.

Are You a Teacher...?

If you are a teacher yourself – please close your eyes and introspect – and see for yourself where you belong – and truthfully assess whether your metier is in teaching.  

It is quite simple.

After you finish a lecture ask yourself six questions:

1. Is the lecture something you feel you have done well...?

2. Do you feel you teach well...?

3. Did you enjoy delivering the lecture...?

4. Do you enjoy teaching...?

5. Did you feel proud of the way you delivered the lecture...?

6. Do you feel proud of the fact that you are a teacher or would you rather be someone else...?

If the answers to all the six questions is YES – you know you are in the right place. 

So – Happy Teaching. 

Whether you are a Teacher – or a Student – or a Parent – don't forget the Three R’s of Teaching (Reward Recognition Respect)

EPILOGUE

So we have debunked the two myths of teaching – haven’t we?

Am I a good teacher? 

Have I won the respect of my students? 

Well, looking back at my teaching years, I trust I have succeeded in achieving this, and yes, I have been a good teacher.

Every time a course or training program ends, 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.

Let me end with one of my favourite sayings – a quote from Indira Gandhi:

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people:

1. Those who do the work 

and 

2. Those who take the credit

He told me to try to be in the first group – as there was much less competition over there. 

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 
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. 

This was written during my teaching days as a Professor at IAT Pune – and have I posted it online in my blogs a number of times including at urls: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2011/11/what-makes-good-teacher-myth-and.html  and http://vikramkarve.typepad.com/blog/2011/05/what-makes-a-good-teacher-the-two-myths.html etc 

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY - Part 5 - WHY I STOPPED TEACHING

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY  -  Part 5

WHY I STOPPED TEACHING

By

VIKRAM KARVE

The Navy is a wonderful place. You are tasked to do all sorts of jobs - on board ships and ashore. After a few eventful years at sea, one fine day in the latter half of the year 1980, suddenly, out of the blue, I was appointed as an instructor to teach and train officers. At first, I was disappointed, for this would mean leaving Mumbai, which I loved (in fact, I was expecting an appointment ashore in Mumbai). But then, since I had no choice, I took it in my stride and decided to do my best. To my surprise, I realized that I enjoyed teaching, and my students too thought that I was a good teacher.

I am sure you have heard about the work continuum:

JOB – CAREER – CALLING. 

I believe that a person’s work life is defined by three stages:

1. Job

2. Career

3. Calling 

A job is something you do for which you get paid. I got paid for being an Electrical Engineer (or more precisely an Electronics and Communications Engineer). That was my basic job. 

Your job provides you the instrumental means of fulfilling  your financial needs.

During my career in the Navy I did a number of jobs, afloat and ashore (pertaining to Electrical, Electronics, Radar and Communications Engineering). 

Your career fulfils your needs for achievement and accomplishment.

I was in operations, maintenance, production, industrial engineering, projects, design, quality assurance, engineering management, training, teaching assignments, and later, after I obtained management qualifications, I worked as a Human Resource Leader, an HR Manager, a Training Designer and Director, a Trainer, a Teacher and a Professor.

I enjoyed most of the varied jobs I did during the course of my career, but the job I enjoyed most was Teaching and Training – yes, I had discovered my “calling” or vocation, so I spent many years working as a teacher and an trainer.

To summarize:

A JOB is something you are paid for doing.

A CAREER is a line of work.

You discover your CALLING when you find your work intrinsically fulfilling and you are not doing it to achieve something else.

After I discovered that Teaching and Training was my Calling, I always took up opportunities to Teach and Train. I enjoyed teaching and was very good at it. 

One day I decided to give up teaching and then I found my metier in Creative Writing and Blogging.

Many people, especially my ex-students and colleagues, ask me why did I decide to quit teaching.

In answer, I tell them this apocryphal story - The Story of the Sundial

THE STORY OF THE SUNDIAL

Long ago, there was once a King who cared for his populace.

His kingdom was in an undeveloped part of the world and the people were quite backward. The king wanted his people to progress. So he decided to visit the developed part of the world and see for himself how he could harness the fruits of development for his people.

During his visit he saw a sundial. Curious he asked what this strange contraption was.

“A sundial is a device that determines the time of day by the position of the Sun,” they told him, “you can tell the time by looking at the shadow cast by the Sun as it shines on the pointer of a sundial. As the sun moves across the sky, the shadow-edge aligns with different hour-lines. Thus, you can tell the time of the day.”

The King was so fascinated as he witnessed the working of sundial next day that he bought the sundial, took it back to his Kingdom and had the sundial installed in the centre square of the city as a gift for his people.

The sundial changed the life of the people in the kingdom. They began to differentiate parts of the day and to divide up their time – in short, they became adept at time management.

Yes, the sundial made the people of that kingdom conscious about the concept of time since before the advent of the sundial they knew only about night and day. they became more punctual, prompt, orderly, reliable and industrious; thereby producing great wealth and achieving a high standard of living.

The sundial had enabled them to realize the importance of the adroit use of time which resulted in great prosperity for the people of the kingdom.

One day the king died. His devoted subjects gathered together after his grand yet tearful funeral to decide how they could pay a fitting tribute to their beloved king.

When they enumerated the king’s achievements, they all thought of the Sundial, which their benevolent king had gifted them long back.

Because the Sundial symbolized the king’s generosity and because it was the Sundial which was the main reason for their prosperity and success, the citizen’s decided to build around the sundial a grand temple with a golden cupola – yes, they decided that it would be a fitting honour to the departed king and the best gift he had given them – a fabulous temple with a beautiful golden dome to adorn the sundial.

But, when the magnificent temple was built and the imposing golden cupola soared above the sundial, the rays of the sun no longer reached the gnomon of the sundial.

Yes, as the sundial was now completely covered by the magnificent temple with its impressive golden dome the sun’s rays could not reach the sundial and the shadow disappeared.

The covered sundial no longer worked, and its shadow, which had told the time to the citizens of the kingdom, had vanished.

Now, since the sundial did not work, the citizens could not discern the time of the day and they started losing their sense of punctuality and promptness.

Deprived of their standard of time, they soon reverted back to their old ways, their pre-sundial laid-back lifestyle, and it was just a matter of time before their prosperity dissipated away and the kingdom collapsed.

MORAL OF THE STORY

Imagine that the Sun is a Teacher and the Sundial is the Student.

If you allow the Sun (Teacher) to seamlessly illuminate the Sundial (Student) then the best learning will take place. But if you put a barrier or obstruction between the teacher and student (like covering the sundial with a structure of temple and dome) the this can impede the learning process. 

This “obstacle” can be the “education system”, the “administrative hierarchy”, the “rules, regulations and red tape”, the “academic environment” in the particular place, anything which is detrimental to seamless teaching and effective learning.

Let me give you my personal experience.

A few years ago I used to teach Electronics and Communications Engineering at the Post Graduate Level (for the M. Tech. students). 

I found that that the syllabus was archaic, outdated and irrelevant as technology had progressed at a fast pace. 

Therefore, I recommended a revision and updating of syllabus but this got stuck in red tape since the procedure for curriculum revision was a cumbersome time-consuming bureaucratic process. 

Meanwhile, I started teaching my students the state-of-the-art technologies and cutting-edge developments. 

My students were very happy and appreciative of my initiative and were delighted that they were being given the latest knowledge.

However, the status-quoist “academic babus” who ruled the roost were not at all happy. They thought I was being over-smart and that I was exceeding my brief.

Meanwhile, some progressive students cited my example and asked some teachers why they were teaching obsolete things which had no practical utility in the modern industry. 

When the teachers gave the excuse that they had to teach as per the syllabus, the students retorted that if I could go beyond the syllabus and teach the state-of-the-art, then why couldn’t they too follow my example. 

Now, most of the faculty was quite happy with the old outdated syllabus since they had stopped updating themselves with the state-of-the-art and given up learning new things long ago.

I looked around and observed that full-time Professors had a very cosy and comfortable life with excellent salaries and perks and permanent non-transferable jobs with total job security. Moreover, they enjoyed assured career progression ensuring time bound seniority based promotions and a late retirement age. These complacent teachers had become so secure in their “academic cocoons” that they had developed a total disconnect with the outside world, and were content with maintaining status-quo.

The upshot was that I was criticised for teaching “out of the syllabus” and I was pulled up for not confining myself to the approved textbook. 

Some disgruntled colleagues passed snide remarks that I was “inciting” the students and putting “wrong ideas” into their heads thanks to my over-smart initiative and over-enthusiastic efforts and that I was trying to “rock the boat”. 

My faculty colleagues had an inferiority complex because I had extensive professional and industrial experience prior to my joining academics, unlike most of them who had spent their entire life in academia. They bore a grudge against me because I did not belong to the “academic mafia”.

Next semester, my subject was allotted to a conservative status-quoist “over-the-hill” professor, who was clearly past his prime, and who believed in strictly following the obsolete syllabus and dictating notes verbatim from the prescribed text-book.

Thus, I, the Teacher (Sun) was not allowed to illuminate the Students (Sundial) because of the Education System (Obstruction).

This is one of the reasons I quit teaching Engineering and Management, and I shifted to Induction Training, where I had a free hand. 

A teacher must be given a free hand - yes, recruit the best teacher, trust him totally, and give him a free hand, and you will be amazed by the results.

I strongly feel, that for effective learning, the teacher and student must be allowed to have a seamless relationship and there must be no hindrances, restrictions or irritations put in by the education system and academic administration.

At least in India, the education system at all levels has become an huge academic bureaucracy rather than a learning organization. If you look around you will observe that many Professors and Teachers seem to be more of “academic babus” rather than genuine passionate teachers - they prefer to administrate rather than teach. That is why more and more “obstructions” of red tape, rules and regulations are being placed between the Sun (Teacher) and the Sundial (Students) and all this is proving to be a barrier to enjoyable and effective teaching and learning.

It is for the powers-that-be to ensure that they do not “build temples” around “sundials” which act as a barrier to effective learning – we must let the “sun” shine brightly and unhindered on the “sundial”.

HAPPY TEACHERS DAY

I look forward to your comments, views and feedback.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012

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.

Did you like reading this blog post?

Did you like the Teaching Story?
I am sure you will like all the 27 stories in my recently published book of short stories COCKTAIL
To order your COCKTAIL please click any of the links below:
http://www.flipkart.com/cocktail-vikram-karve-short-stories-book-8191091844?affid=nme
http://www.indiaplaza.in/cocktail-vikram-karve/books/9788191091847.htm
http://www.apkpublishers.com/books/short-stories/cocktail-by-vikram-karve.html
COCKTAIL ebook
If you prefer reading ebooks on Kindle or your ebook reader, please order Cocktail E-book by clicking the links below:
AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MGERZ6
SMASHWORDS
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87925

Foodie Book:  Appetite for a Stroll
http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9mr2o

About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile Vikram Karve: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Vikram Karve Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/vikramkarve
Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog: http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.