Teachers: Guiding Light of Life

It is true when it is said that – teachers leave an everlasting impact on a student’s psyche. It happened with us. Didn’t it? Don’t we remember our teachers? Definitely we do and we would continue to do so as their memories are truly imperative. Teachers were significant part of our growing up process. We tend associate our school days closely with them. Not just teachers of higher standards but even primary school teachers are quite close to our heart.

From the very beginning, when we took initial steps into school, we regarded them as figures next to our mothers, who would nurture us and take care of us like a guardian. Teachers are given place of high regard as they are educators not just of our school life but of our whole life. Their teachings are not just restricted to the syllabus or course material but every one of us might have experienced this once in our life that we must have come across teachers who managed to change our perspective and outlook towards life. Certain words that our teachers say become our life’s guidelines. Those golden words act like a map that show us directions in our difficult phases of life.

Stature of a ‘Guru’

Our Indian culture and tradition truly gives stature of a “Guru” to a teacher. Guru, which is a Sanskrit word, is regarded as someone who has great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain field, and one who imparts valuable knowledge to others (his students). This transmission of teachings from a teacher to a student is termed as guru-shishya tradition in India. This relationship is considered as pure and sacred, where student receives teachings with utmost respect, commitment, devotion and obedience.

In earlier days, it was considered important to find a teacher or guru who can impart transcendental knowledge in the right manner. In Hinduism, the guru is considered as respected person with saintly qualities who enlightens the mind of his or her disciple.  One of the main epic texts known as ‘Bhagavad Gita’ signifies guru- shishya relationship. One such popular dialogue in the battlefield between Lord Krishna (guru) and  (shishya) Arjuna, a Kshatriya prince outlines many ideals of Hinduism in this regard.  Here, Krishna narrates to Arjuna of the importance of finding a guru. Their relationship is considered an ideal one of Guru-Shishya.

Several saints and poets in India have expressed great views about the relationship between Guru and God.

Tips for Teaching on the First Day of Class

It’s perfectly natural to have some first day nerves. You needn’t worry, if you feel slightly apprehensive and anxious. For teachers it is important to develop good rapport with students and first day impressions plays a crucial role.

Do Research

Try and get as much information as possible about the new school, college or university. Understand its culture, ethos and policies etc. Also, it is vital to know about your job profile as teacher. More importantly, you should be well thorough with the subject you are teaching.

Get To Know Staff
 
You are beginning with a new job, it is important to have an introductory meeting with your team. Getting to know your staff and other teachers in the school and it will make you feel more comfortable. 

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You will not be expected to know everything about your new job. Try and make your support network. Ask other teachers for advice (they’ll be pleased to know that you value their opinions).

First Day Preparations:

No matter what, arrive early: Come early and prepare yourself for the first day. Plan in advance what you will do, so that you are able to have good connection with students in the first meeting. Also, it will make students will feel more comfortable, if you are organized and well prepared.

Begin with good introduction: Write your name on the board along with subject title you are teaching them. Also, make students introduce themselves. Let them know about your expectations related to class participation. Make students familiar with the sense of your teaching style.

Introduce subject and course material: Provide students good overview of the course and contents of the syllabus. Explain the course organization, requirements, major assignments, and policies. It will be beneficial for students, if you hand-over well-written, detailed syllabus for their reference. Also, explain in detail about number of exams, number and length of papers, books to read etc.

Provide an opportunity for students to ask questions: Let students clarify any doubts if they have regarding attendance or course. Make it clear to the students and tell them if you will keep track of the attendance and how you will grade them. Also, make them aware if you plan to engage students in class discussions. It is also helpful to explain to students why you value attendance and their participation in class.

Last but not least, make it memorable day for yourself – your first day on new job!!

Importance of Teaching Teamwork to Students

It is important to teach students that working in a team can improve their learning manifolds. As we all know team spirit is much needed skill in every sphere of life today. Be it your classroom or your workplace etc. Mentors can make students understand that team exercises are valuable learning experiences by careful guidance and planned out tasks for them.

Explaining meaning of team-work to students

Teachers need to define meaning of team-work to students so that they are able to adapt it well in their lives. Teamwork is joint action by a group of people for achievement of any specified task or goal. But here underlining point is that effective and efficient teamwork goes beyond individual accomplishments. The most effective teamwork is delivered when all the individuals in the group harmonize their contributions and work towards a common goal.

Why teaching teamwork is important to students?

Teamwork is important part of working culture today and many companies evaluate candidates on the basis of their capability to work in a group. One of the most important skills that employers look for is the ability of employees to work together. Often at times collaborative projects are implemented for the employees and it is where they have to prove their teamwork spirit. Therefore, it is important for students to learn to act in a team environment so that later on they can nurture this skill in them.

 Also, as per research students learn best from tasks which requires doing tasks involving social interactions. That’s why stress is on the fact that collaborative learning should be included in almost every classroom, but teachers at times struggle with having students work cooperatively. This is where understanding how to teach effective teamwork becomes a crucial task for the teacher.

Helping all students to share in a pair

Sharing is also another way of developing team spirit in students. Teachers can engage students in activities that require sharing. For example, always try and include group share or other method of sharing projects in the classroom.  Other method is making students use group mapping activities for brainstorming in the early stages of a new project. Also, encouraging interacting with each other while working on the project. 

Sharing brings broad-based positive reinforcement that helps kids to overcome confidence and self-esteem issues. Moreover, sharing teaches and reinforces good social skills.

Experiential Teaching Methods

The term ‘experiential’ basically means learning and development based on experience rather than receiving it through listening or study of theory. The expression 'hands-on' is further used to describe such teaching which its greater form is.  

Experiential teaching is such model which promotes learning by doing and by receiving first-hand experience of it. In such teaching process, students tend to learn and retain more information. Also, they are able to transfer the skills learned to other aspects of their life.

Use of visual teaching method is one such example of experiential teaching. It is far better process as it lies in the periphery of experiential teaching; opposed to learning by lecturing, which is pretty common and conventional. Another aspect of experiential teaching is that students are not taught how to do something but how to find out the answers to problems they are facing at present or apprehending in the future.

Outdoor setting is another tool of experiential teaching method. Use of this method enhances the learning of the students and exposes them to more inquiry–based experiences. Learning under such set-up engages young people, creates a fun, hands-on environment and helps students apply their new knowledge in different settings. Experiential teaching proves to be fruitful when a person involved n the activity looks backs and evaluates it, it, determines what was useful or important to remember and uses this information to perform another activity.

Several schools like Mother’s Pride and Presidium are known for providing “experiential education” to students. They even have an academy known as “The Knowledge Tree” that provides training to teachers for about such method.
 

Experiential teaching acts as a catalyst that sparks cognitive mind-sets of the children. It takes teaching to the higher –level and converts it into a beneficial interaction between teacher and the student. Hence, it automatically improves performance at both ends. Teachers get better results after employing experiential teaching methods and students are able to grasp the subject well with more ease and comfort as compared to conventional teaching ways. Our present education system looks forward for a change and implementing experiential teaching method is the right thing to do. 

How To Ensure Student Participation in Classroom?

You’ve just finished with your lecture on an important topic and you feel you have delivered it well. But after you finish and turn to the class; the reaction of the students stun you. All you can see is blank stares, sleepy eyes and nil responses. This is what many teachers experience in their classrooms from time to time. 
 

It is not easy to engross every child in the lecture every time. To always keep them motivated is a task. You’ve just taught them a topic in depth and hope it will clear their concepts but nothing happens as you have thought. There might be reasons for students not participating in the classroom discussions.  The topic of presentation might bore them or some children might feel hesitate to answer, and some may even have a fear of speaking in front of the class.
 

There are many strategies that a teacher can adopt to double their reflexes in the class and to make them more pro – active for participation.
 

Make topics interesting- No matter what you may do to catch attention of students but sometimes they just aren’t interested in the topic.  Challenge is to make things interesting for the student by making connections to their lives and things around them.

Ask good questions- Even if students are interested in participating, the questions still need to be clear and direct. Good questions connect to the students’ prior knowledge and boost their willingness to speak.

Everyone answers – To make sure every student participates, teacher must ask all students to represent their answer in whatever manner they want to. For instance some may raise their hands and others who are unsure of the correct answer can discuss with other students and then form an opinion about it. Another method is to use thumbs up or thumbs down to express.

Clap if you agree – It is a fun way to make students participate in the class. Like for instance, if a student is answering a question verbally, you can ask rest of the students to clap once if they agree. Then if there is majority of clapping, you’ll understand if they are following or not.

True and false question cards – If initially students hesitate to get involve, then you can ask them to participate in the question –answer session by raising true and false question cards. For instance, students can vote their opinion for every student’s answer by raising true and false question cards. Red for false question card and green for true one. 

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How to Make Math Fun for Kids?

Why is it that so many students struggle in math? Is it because they’ve never had a teacher who could break-down difficult concepts and make math more easy and interesting for them? Math fear can be tackled by teacher and students both with the help of using practical strategies. There are lots of creative ways to convert math learning into fun learning. Humor while teaching also plays an important role; it serves as good mnemonic that leads to retention of material. Therefore, a teacher must be aware of repertoire of techniques for coaching students.

Teaching active mathematics and its applicability 

Some students are able to grasp mathematical concepts just by using textbooks and sample problems, whereas there are students who need more than just book reading and classroom teaching. Active engagement strategies can be used for motivating struggling learners and to challenge advanced learners. Teachers must choose activities and learning strategies that not only make sense to the children but also aim at increasing student achievement. Such strategies also help in building classroom community.

Math fun games

Kids do love learning, but their first priority is play. But if you give them both at once, there is nothing like that. Teachers should encourage students to use math while playing. One should choose good games and activities that target on a very specific math skill focused on a particular area. Some of the recommended math games are – Sudoku, Flash card multiplication game, Math drill game etc. Dice and playing cards can be great tools for teaching addition, greater than/less than, multiplication, number sense, place value etc to students. Teachers must note just playing games isn't enough; the games must be followed up with the explanations of the underlying ideas, connections and patterns.

Make It Real

A teacher must use lots of real life examples to teach. Majorly big ‘turn off’ for kids about math is that they don’t see how it affects them. A method of inducting math in life could be by telling them to use math while shopping or playing.   For example, kids can bring decimal and percentage lessons in use while shopping. Small children can be taught by using instances of things that fascinate them. For example, simple addition and subtraction can be taught by a teacher by posing sample problem like this – “There were six cupcakes, three large and three small. One pair was iced in chocolate and decorated in sprinkles. Another pair had sprinkles but was iced in vanilla. The third pair had vanilla icing only. Out of these, Amy ate a pair iced in chocolate. Now, how many left?” It will not only be catchy for them but also will make them learn.

Using these strategies teachers will discover ways how math could be made fun and easy for students and how they can easily master them.

Teacher’s Day: Let’s Thank our Teachers!!

Teachers since time immemorial have had a special place in the society. They have the instinct to recognize and nurture talent in children. For children, especially small children, their favorite teacher is the perfect person on earth. When they grow older, they look up to their teachers as instructors, advisors, guides and even friends. Duly, a special day is kept to honor and admire educators of schools and colleges, which is called as Teacher’s Day. It is celebrated across India on 5th September every year with great passion and pride. This day gives you an opportunity to express your gratitude towards your teachers. It is truly said that teaching is the most humble profession of all.

Celebrations for teachers and students 

Teacher's day is the occasion that is looked forward by the teachers and students in the schools and colleges. It is the special day devoted to pay tribute to the hard work of teachers. As the part of the celebration varied events are organized in schools and colleges. Students dress up like their teachers and teach in the junior classes. Teachers are also entertained in a number of ways where special programs like dance, drama and music are organized mostly by the students.

Why Teacher’s Day?

Basically, this memorable day is devoted to Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, one of the greatest teachers and scholar of our country. He was a well -known a diplomat, scholar and above all a teacher. He strongly believed in promoting education and further improvising it. One day his students approached requesting him to allow them to celebrate his birthday. But, instead Dr, Radhakrishnan told them that not to celebrate his birthday separately, rather it would be his privilege if September 5th is observed as Teacher's day. Then since 1962, 5th of September is celebrated as Teacher's Day. This day reflects his love and attachment to the profession of teaching.