The Art of Teaching

Teaching I believe is the most respectable profession. Teacher is someone who provides education and guidance that transforms a man or a woman into a gentleman or a lady. A teacher’s role may vary across cultures. In education, teachers facilitate student learning, often in a school or an academy or perhaps in another environment such as outdoors. A teacher who teaches on an individual basis may be described as a tutor. Teachers face several occupational hazards in their line of work, including occupational stress, which can negatively impact teachers' mental and physical health, productivity, and students' performances.

Nowadays education is extremely important for survival in this world. Education is truly the process of facilitating the inculcation of skills, value, beliefs and good habits.

The last role, but probably the most important  is that of a teacher being a “motivator”. It starts at the very beginning of a lesson when teachers during the warming-up stage try to elicit from the students some information connected to the topic of the lesson thus making them use their previous knowledge and in this way arousing their curiosity.

As a motivator, a teacher introduces the subject and provides the Big Picture for it, and widens pupils’ ideas on the topic discussed. From my personal experience I really see that generating enthusiasm is an indispensable aspect of teaching. Children are very grateful when they see your respect and interest in their opinions. It gives them a chance to show their worth. You will be surprised how well they respond.

We are a country which respects its teachers and elevates them to the level where they are called “Guru”. I have been one not so distant in the past and I am aware of the adulation that my community gets from the student community. Teachers have to, in return work rigorously with these impressionable minds. It reminds me of a saying:

“करत करत अभ्यास के, जड़मति होत सुजान 
रसरी आवत जात ते, सिल पर परत निसान”

The interpretation is: “Persistence makes even a dumb man intelligent, just like (even) a soft rope, when rubbed continuously on stone, makes a mark on it.”

-Mohit Hooda,

 Student, INLEAD

INBM January 2016