The teaching-learning process- Chanchala Tiwari (Teacher)

The teaching-learning process

photo credit- TeachersofBihar

Teaching and learning is the process of transmitting information, facts, knowledge from one person to another. As I am involved in this process in one way or another, I want to share some of my views on this. While attending one class I come across a view that whether teaching is an absolute skill which can be taught or acquired or is it an innate quality or art, which just need a little bit of polishing through some training?

Learning cannot be imposed on anyone. If the learner does not want to learn or do not have the urge to learn one cannot make them learn forcefully. Now the question is if this is the case then no student at their beginning stages of learning want to learn except a few. Then what should the teacher do? Should they leave alone for their urge to awaken or should they start imposing the teaching on them without their interest?

If one will ask the teachers, they will argue that students do not have any interest in learning. If it is asked to the learners why they are not interested in learning they will either blame the teacher or to the system and curriculum.

What is the solution? Somewhere something is wrong which need to find out and need to be rectified.

Learning is an innate ability of the learners. If while giving an exam a learner is not able to perform well we start judging it that they have not learned anything. Learning is the change in the behavior, it is the modification of someone’s attitude from negative to positive. Does this modification part of the behavior of the learner get evaluated by the teacher in any exam?

There is a group of people who believe that to make something learn to someone it is important that they should be scolded and punished then only they will be able to remember the things and it will remain in them forever. What I feel is that if something is taught through punishment, may be in form of scolding or physical punishment or by using some insensitive talk, the learner will only able to remember the situation and punishment, not the lesson. Lessons can only be learned by going into it. By doing things, by practicing the things. Unless and until one does the things themselves they cannot learn it through any kind of punishment, scolding and so on.

Teaching is not at all an easy thing to do or practice if taken seriously. However, the plight is that people come to this profession, not by their choice but as they do not have any other choice to do (especially in India). It means that teaching has been imposed on them and that is why they are trying to impose their teaching on the learners and due to this situation no learning (in behavioral term) is taking place properly. We are blaming the system, to the society, to the parents and more significantly to the learners.

Are we doing anything to teach the teachers about how to teach? Are we creating interest among the learners to become teachers so that they can become an effective teacher in the near future? Teaching is an art which needs some skill. This art can be at its best only if proper training is provided by some good and efficient teacher. The teacher or the teacher educator needs to understand the motivational factors among their learner which can awake the urge of their learning. The role of the teacher is only to teach the process of learning. The “what part” can be handled by the learners at their own if they know the process of learning.

First teachers need to learn how to teach and then they can make their learners learn how to learn. For this the thing is to:

• Start making them learn rather than imposing your teaching.
• Leave the judgemental person aside and then teach.  
• Start evaluating rather than examining.
• Start reflecting rather than reacting.
• Start understanding rather than scolding.
• Start letting things go rather than control.
• Have positivity and spread positivity.
• Show your professionalism.
• Attach with the learners rather than detaching them from learning.
• Start feeling the pain of the learner rather than the pain of teaching to them.

The most important part of being a teacher is to love the job. Love what one do. Love the learners. Stop blaming the system rather start working with and within the system for its development. If a teacher loves their profession and entered into it by their own choice then there would be no imposition of learning on the learners and both the process of teaching and learning can function properly and smoothly.

 Have a happy teaching-learning process at your school, home, office and in lives of your near and dear one.

Chanchal Tiwari

Teacher