#8 Simple ways to make your teaching interesting.

 

“Those that know do

Those that understand teach.”-Aristotle.

 

As teachers our path is to guide. This line has been said many times.

Well, I am not writing this blog to motivate you or anyone else. My purpose today is to make the teaching learning process more meaningful and approachable by demonstrating that it is possible to get good results by taking a few mindful steps.

Teaching is a profession just like any other job in the world. What makes it different is that we are dealing with the next generation. So, we have to make a difference today to ensure a positive change in tomorrow’s world.

 

#1 Develop the art of story telling

All the business houses and start-ups are turning to story-telling to create an impact. From Amazon to Flipkart, the executives are trying to make sense by putting the numbers and mind-boggling figures into an interesting story.

They are using diction, tone, intonation, accents, dialects, etc. to make an impact with their stories to help them get that contract, or funding or to put their company on top.

Then why are teachers not using this basic skill in their classroom where this art was actually born?

We teachers actually have a copyright of this activity.

Story telling can be used to create and leave an impact on the child’s mind. This impact is termed as ‘learning value’ in the education jargon. This is one of the handiest of the tools but which is not used by most teachers. It is just because they feel that the lecture method which is ever prevalent is the best method of all.

 

Drop everything and practise storytelling to make the most of your time in the classroom and allow the best of the learning to happen.

 

#2 Note down your classroom victories

Each day teachers return home with a bundle of frustrations. They wait for their bosses to appreciate, or notice. Mostly it doesn’t happen because everyone is occupied with work and their own struggles and victories.

 

A teacher should go home, and note down all the victories of the day in a journal.

But honestly speaking, ‘What are victories of teachers?’

 

You listened to a story patiently.

You patted a back.

You allowed someone to share the tiffin.

You answered a parent’s call and gave a satisfactory answer.

You taught a particular topic very well.

All the students were smiling or were happy during your class.

The students raised or put up some amazing and difficult questions.

You assisted your colleague to complete the attendance work.

You lent a red pen to a teacher who needed to complete the corrections on time.

You just showed kindness by speaking gently and softly with the support staff.

 

The list is endless. Teachers, go on and record your victories.  

Celebrate you success everyday!

 

#3 Be determined to teach

Planning seems very good on paper. When you start implementing it, you see roadblocks, you feel tired, you forget to carry teaching aids, etc.

Many things come in the way of executing a plan. Just remember that plan well but execute it even better. Mere planning will not bring the results. Or it will not complete the syllabus on time. But proactiveness in acting out the plan will make everyone happy.

Don’t mind the noise, neither the disturbances or the fluctuating power, or the maid who comes with a circular, or the teacher who wants to ask you something at that particular time, or the noisy rain, or the grime and the sweat or the chill of the winters…

Just teach!

#4 Build a relationship

Invest the initial classes at the beginning of the year in building a relationship with the students. Never be in a hurry to teach. Your priority should be to have a relationship with your students. A good relationship will ensure that you are able to teach each and every concept with ease.

 

#5 Mindfulness

Be mindful of the emotions and the experiences which the students are going through. Look them in the eye. Talk to them. Listen to them. Give them solutions for their problems. Hear them out. Be patient. Pay attention to the details. Question, investigate if a child is sitting with a sullen face or is not in the mood.

Appreciate and praise if someone has drawn something or is looking up to you for a nod which says, ‘yes you have done it well’.

 

In short, BE MINDFUL in the classroom.

You can pay attention to all of the above only if you are mindful.

If you get pre occupied with a lot of records which are to be done, or to be submitted, or your own workload which seems boggling, you cannot be mindful in the present times.

 

You will miss out on the important emotions, feelings, achievements, failures, disappointments or wins of your students.

Grab them all-BE MINDFUL.

 

#6 Observe your peers:

If all the roads seemed blocked, then open your eyes and ears and go into the observation mode.

Yes, you heard it right. Stop working and just observe your peers. You will learn new way to do the same old things. You will learn smarter ways from your colleagues. Because most of them are working well ahead of their deadlines.

Everyone has a way of managing and organising their work. If you feel that you are not able to meet the demands of the profession, do observe how one your colleague who finishes his work fast and quickly is managing.

What are the skills and techniques that the teacher is using?

Now introspect and try to adopt some of the good techniques that you saw or spotted among the other teachers.

Go ahead-COPY AND PASTE.

#7 Enter with a smile

This one is pretty cool and simple. It is in your hands. It is just a thought that you have to carry. Just be mindful when you are in class. Wear that smile come what may. Don’t forget it. be kind to yourself and the class.

Enter the classroom with a smile.

 

#8 High energy level

Teachers or employees who keep up their energy during the day are happier than the other lot. It goes without saying that they are more productive.

The students also respond well to someone who speaks loudly and clearly rather than the one who finds it difficult to even raise a finger to complete the work.

Eat, munch, crunch, crush or move some muscles.

Do whatever it takes to carry a happy self to your workplace.

Nothing will work if you are an unhappy or dejected soul.

 

Importance of recapitulation for a teacher!

 

 

The teaching profession is strictly time bound.

It is also very demanding.

It requires great amounts of creativity.

Every educator has to think critically.

 

Well, aren’t these skills actually required among the children?

Why are educators being questioned on this?

 

Well, these skills are equally important for the teachers also. Teaching is a demanding profession. Everyone knows this fact.

And every day there are new demands on top of the older ones.

So every teacher asks, ‘How do you expect us to survive?’

A pandemic hit the world this year but truly I think teachers land in a pandemic every year when the session starts until it ends.

 

They have to complete syllabus, make question papers, prepare the students for the activities, work late in the evening and work over the holidays and vacations.

And yet, the profession doesn’t get a recognition among the world’s top ten professions.

 

Am I right?

DON’T ANSWER!

 

I know I am CORRECT.

 

But if a teacher has chosen a profession and it is a more than demanding profession then there is a way out of this stress also.

 

The most important part of the profession is the curriculum. It has to be diversified, multidisciplinary, experiential, creative, etc. Think of all the important terms and they will find a place in the all-encompassing word called as ‘curriculum’.

It is a very important and integrated part of the school system. Most teachers fail to divide it in a manner in which it is approachable and they are able to complete it also.

 

Most teachers wait for the instructions to arrive from the higher authority. The best of the time management skills is required to complete the curriculum within the given time period.

Well to start with again a lot of planning has to be done on the paper. Divide the year into terms then into number of working days and last into number of teaching periods.

Then the same has to be taught keeping in mind the pace required and the ability of the students.

I believe that if you under estimate the students, your teaching speed will be slow and you will struggle with the time period to complete the syllabus.

If you consider your students smart right from day one, their approach and your approach is different.

 

The time required to complete the syllabus at that time is different.

If you consider them smart, the strategies that you come up with will be really interesting, will create curiosity among the students and you will never struggle with phrases like-

a.  ‘their base is poor’

b.  ‘their learning pace is very slow’

c.   ‘they do not understand what I teach’

d.  ‘their writing skills are very poor’

e.  etc. etc.

Try to rise above these excuses and feel the intelligence of your students.

The confidence of a teacher reflects in the student. If the teacher is confident, the student is smart.

 

So, coming back to the topic, ‘why is recalling the day’s events important?’

a.  Gauge the gain-

Teaching and balancing life becomes difficult. Things get out of hand. We are left with the feeling of nothing is going according to the plan.

But hey, my dear teacher. Think!

You have put in a lot of hard and smart work. You had planned well before the beginning of the session. You had planned when the week was about to start. You had planned when you were asked to submit the lesson plan

 

Then how can it happen that you have not achieved anything in the day gone by.

 

Train your mind to see the achievements and accomplishments of the day. It boosts your spirit and gives you the inspiration to move in the right direction.

 

b.  Feedback to the self-

This point is very important. All successful organisations work after taking feedback. We cannot think that the grass is only green. Learn to give feedback to yourself.

Feedback about what was done during the day and how was it done? Can you improve or should you carry on for sometime.

What were the priorities that you could not achieve?

Is it important to catch up on it the next day?

Work on feedback. Give a critical feedback to yourself. You will become more adaptable to change!

c.   Measures progress-

When we get busy, life seems tough and we do not look for gains during the day but all that we are not able to do or achieve.

Do not let the feeling of hopelessness enclose you. Break that thought pattern which says you did not achieve anything. Shred the process which shouts that you would have been better off somewhere else. If you are not enjoying your today or feeling happy about it then move on.

One cannot keep moving on also.

One way that I find satisfaction and contentment at the end of the day is when I quote my gains of the day to myself.

Measure your progress. When you measure progress you become more accountable towards your future. It is important to keep moving.

Movement is an indicator of success. If you stop, you stagnate.

 

Learn to appreciate and measure the progress you are doing in your life. Do not expect it from others. Being happy about yourself is not arrogance! It is known as satisfaction!

d.  Overcome hurdles-

Richard Branson does one thing everyday which scares him. This makes him agile to face any hurdles or problems that arise in his life.

Do that one thing you are scared of everyday. It will teach you what courage is. Rise above hesitation or doubts. Do not let fear capture you. Burn the circle of fear to emerge as a leader of your own life.

 

e.  Ready for the next day

Thinking about today and recapitulating prepares you for tomorrow. You know what you have to do. You are more confident towards what you want to achieve. You will make better decisions. You will not procrastinate. Preparedness helps you to take action.

 

f.    Self Satisfaction

All the above points give you self-satisfaction.

Trust me there is nothing more important in this world than self-satisfaction. This is the best motivational term which helps individuals.

 

You have to search satisfaction. It doesn’t come on its own.

g.  Self Praise

We keep expecting praise from others. Most of the time you don’t get it. Then you will annoyance.

 

Learn to praise to yourself.

It is said that if you praise the children they do well. If you keep criticising them they develop a negative self image and hence they are not able to achieve.

 

The same applies to the teachers. They wait for praise. Most often they get criticism. This leads to them developing a negative self image.

After that I do not need to tell you what happens.

Hence get over it. Do praise and appreciate that small child who is hidden inside you somewhere. Feel the happiness when you praise yourself.

 

AND JUST FREEZE THE MOMENT FOREVER IN YOUR HEART!

 

Happy Teaching to all of you!

Raising Innovators? Introduce STEM in school!

Picture Credit: kidsparkeducation.org

STEM in School is related to the spirit of innovation!

India is known as a land of innovations. There are too many innovations which were done by Indians in the ancient past. All these innovations are listed in most of the museums spread across India and also a few abroad.

We have heard about them in different Bollywood movies taking great pride when they were narrated by the protagonist of the movie indicating nationalism and patriotism.

“India has been a land of innovations for the past 5000 years. It is just that we are not good at marketing ourselves.”-Dr V A Shiva Ayyadurai, Inventor of Email, Systems Scientist

After the invasion of British, we lost our identity. We forgot our heroes and in the wake of English Education. We embraced the heroes of other countries as our path guiders. What was needed was to have feelings of Nationalism. We should have kept our own innovators on the pedestals and looked up to them.

The school textbooks also taught about the important people of the western world and our own stalwarts did not receive a right place.

The result was we started copying the west and the spirit of innovation was lost somewhere. The education system was also such that the focus was on developing literacy among the masses not the skills.

The education in school was limited to duplicating not discovering.

The way to India’s development and progress was through education. But sadly education was misunderstood for decades in India. Parents were also of the opinion that literacy was the main output of education.

“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.”

With the evolving demands of the marketplace there was a need of change in the school education system.

This change took place slowly and it is fulfilling the future needs of the children.

“My child can use a computer or a mobile better than I can but he doesn’t score good marks.”

As an administrator I have heard this statement a thousand times. But I am not able to provide a solution to it.

Reason-the parent is not willing to take the next step.

That next step is STEM-SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY-ENGLISH-MATHEMATICS

STEM is the next step which motivates the child to proceed from being a user of technology to an innovator of technology.

This little step is not being understood by the parent community. The child gets carried away by the gadgets. He takes in a lot of knowledge but does not have the necessary space and guidance to experiment and put it to use.

Importance of STEM in daily lives

It is understood that all the children are not going to end up in professions related to STEM skills. Some are going to be artists, musicians, writers, actors, etc.

But all of them will need these skills in their daily life. A homemaker will need Math to develop and maintain a household budget, at some point they may need to repair or look after the maintenance of electrical equipments or plumbing, etc., science to question and understand certain procedures, etc.

If STEM skills are developed among the children from a young age, they will be helpful to them in many ways throughout their lives.

Future of Jobs

We are fast outpacing the STEM related jobs to the availability of STEM skilled graduates. In future most jobs will be requiring the skills related to either Science or Math.

Out of the total engineers who pass out every year almost 80 percent are not fit for any job in employable economy.

Reason lack of practical skills.

A survey suggests that only 4.6 % of the engineers have ‘good coding skills’. The other candidates are not apt at writing good codes which is the first necessity of their job.

What is the reason for such abysmal figures?

The engineering being taught in Indian colleges is mainly theory based. The students do not take their internships seriously. Only 40 % of the students complete their internships properly and only 36% work upon internships which are beyond their coursework.

So the point is that the approach to practical education is lacking right from the school level up to the engineering college level.

Hence there is a dire need of practical education being implemented in schools. The seed has to be sown here for innovations to start happening in India.

STEM inculcates Creativity

Creativity is not merely limited to Humanities and Arts. It plays a major part in Science, Engineering and Math also. If it is to create or repair, it requires imagination and then creativity.

STEM totally works upon thinking creatively. The child is given material and the liberty to create.

“Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected.”-Wiliam Plomer

The child will try to connect the unconnected and in the process will be creative to a great extent.

It adopts a Problem Based Approach

It is my firm belief that if we give a problem to the child, he will look for a solution.

Today’s education is all about providing problems to the children and in return seeking solutions from them. From the classroom to the environment there are many aspects which require innovative solutions. Brainstorming with the children helps them to come up with ideas.

In my experience when we put a problem before them the children come up with wonderful and practical solutions.

STEM provides this approach to the children. The different DIY and other aspects of this education provides the child with the problem. Then it gently prods so that the child tries to look for a solution.

In the process their logical and analytical skills are challenged. They question, ask, find out and research in order to find an answer for the given problem in front of them.

Resilient Kids

Resilience simply means pulling yourself up after every failure. The child learns to face failures, and then to deal with it. Not every experiment or engineering technique will be successful. They will fail but they learn to rebuild what they could not build at one go.

The process of facing failure is important in a child’s life. Failures give important lessons. Life does not involve only successes. Hence facing failure and learning to overcome it is an integral part of STEM education.

Conclusion:

Very few children in high school show an inclination and good skills in Science and Math. The future jobs will involve STEM skills. It is important to give an exposure to the children at school. Maximum students should be comfortable with these skills.

REMEMBER: Innovators will evolve with STEM EDUCATION!

Collaboration in Education-Is it necessary?

“Collaboration, as it turns out, is not a gift from the Gods but a skill that requires effort and practice.”

The internet etiquettes have increased but social interaction has decreased. With children, youngsters and adults spending more and more time on the internet, there is very less space for interaction and collaboration. Hence collaboration in education has become the need of the hour.

Collaboration is emerging as one of the most important skills for 21^st century learners.

More than 80% of the employers look for good collaboration skills among the new hires, according to a survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. But sadly, as per their call, less than 40% of the new hires are geared up with this skill before they enter the workforce.

Teaching collaboration in schools and especially in Primary education has many benefits. Giving group work to the children and making them find a solution to the ultimate is the ultimate hack that we look forward to.

Some of the benefits of collaboration in education are-

1 

        1.      Confidence Building-

One of the popular confidence quotes for children is-

‘Put all excuses aside and remember this: You are capable’-Zig Ziglar

When a task is given to a team of students, they take it up for discussion among the group. Then the tasks are divided into micro tasks and goals are set which they plan to achieve. When a major task is divided into micro manageable tasks, the children feel at ease and believe that they can be achieved with a certain amount of success. This builds up confidence among them.

2     2.  Resilience among children-  All the characteristics of a resilient child can be seen in the children when they are working in a group. Their ideas might be liked by the others in the group or they might be rejected. The children learn to bounce back into form even if they are ridiculed for their idea or criticized for not completing the task as per the set standards of the group. If they do well, the group showers praise, and if they fall behind, the group offers support. So they learn in both cases.

3    3.  Gains for the Introverts- There are majorly two types of people-the introverts and the extroverts. The extroverts are dominant and at times impose their views upon others. The introverts might not be allowed to speak but they learn even by listening during the group discussion.

4. Conflict resolution- Negotiation and communication are embedded in the term collaboration. There might be mistrust or arguments and non-agreement on the way the tasks are to be done. The children learn to negotiate and communicate. If their idea is worth it, it gets accepted. Otherwise, the child learns to accept failure as a learning lesson when the task does not meet the set aim of the group.

       5.  Division of work and multiplied benefits-  

“Collaboration divides tasks and multiplies success.”

While collaborating in a group, the tasks get divided but when the set task is accomplished the success is manifolds. There is a sense of achievement and positivity among each member of the group. There might have been some tasks which would have been difficult for some of the members. These tasks are either taken over by those members who are well equipped to do it or help and advice is easily available in the group. Hence no task seems daunting to any member.

Teaching collaboration to children in a classroom is not easy. The teacher should create a small group and assign roles or tasks to the students. Mostly the students tend to take the task and work independently not realizing that they are actually contributing to a group. Each participant must feel and know that the task is very important and it will eventually contribute to the success of the group. Take care that no one is just waiting to enjoy a free ride when others are slogging hard.

Just motivate them to understand that-“No matter how minimal the task is, the success will be mammoth for everyone.”

Hence it is important that the educators take to teaching collaborative skills in their classroom to the students.