Teaching is not about the Teacher

Written by: Alen Kuriakose, Trainer, HSSW

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“I don’t teach mathematics, I teach students”. This is a very unusual comment from an ordinary teacher. This is a very interesting statement which requests our thought on it. Regardless of what we are teaching, we need to focus on the students rather than the subject matter. We need to teach the subject matter keeping in mind the fact that each student need to be changed.

• Educational objectives

An objective like this “ I will teach Indian literature”, is focused on subject matter and objective like this “I will complete the unit on trigonometry”, is focused on the teacher. On the other side the objective like “as a result of this unit of instruction, the students will be able to match the twenty nine states and its capitals”, is focused on the student and how he will be changed as a result of the instruction. So essentially teaching objectives should be student centred.

• Organise objectives based on priority

Each objective should be placed according to priority. For example, in learning a poem, the first and foremost objective is “the learner reads and enjoys the poem” not “appreciates the poem”. Then later comes “understands the theme and structure” and all that. Organising objectives will always help the learner to gather knowledge in the proper and interesting manner.

• Objectives focusing on end result

Student centred objectives will automatically generate the subject matter and methodology that will accomplish the teacher’s objectives. Focusing on the end result in the life of each student will drive the teacher to teach the material in such a way that each student will be prepared to demonstrate the attainment of the objectives.

• Test whether the end result is achieved

After finishing the proposed subject matter test whether the end result is achieved or not. Kinds of exercises or questions can be created in order to test the attainment of results or objectives. Quizzes are also an effective way of understanding the results, so as the whole class may respond and feel interested in the mode of testing without any kind of fear created in them.

An effective teacher will plan, teach, and evaluate. That’s how we improve our teaching. That’s how we measure whether or not we are impacting our students in the classroom. After all, it’s all about them and the changes taking place in their lives. It’s not all about you and me!