What my teachers taught me about teaching— Happy Teacher’s Day

When my father was teaching one day, I realised that his voice was loud and booming. It took me by surprise because normally he is as soft spoken as they come. I have seen plays in theatres when the actors and actresses “throw” their voice. It was almost like that. When I asked him about it, he told me, “teaching is a performance.”

I asked him whether I could be a good teacher when I was such an introvert. He told me, “teaching is very similar to acting. You have to tell a story and also perform it to make your students understand it. You have to think of yourself as a character who is a great teacher. ” To be something or someone that I’m not, seemed counterintuitive. It was much later that I really understood what he was saying. It is not merely a character that he portrays, it is a no-filter version of himself. In a way, while teaching he is more of himself than he is in any other time.

When I was young, I remember thinking that teachers are all knowing superhuman creatures. But gradually I learnt that that’s not true. They are as human as us and as such, can make mistakes. I observed over the years that most teachers made mistakes. But the teachers who stood out as the most excellent would always admit their mistakes and correct them. One of them said to our class, “it’s OK to be wrong for a teacher. What’s important is that they admit it and teach their students the correct version. Because what matters in the end is that their students know more.” That speech stuck by me.

Being open minded is a necessary part of education. Human knowledge is incomplete. We learn more everyday with new discoveries and inventions. It’s possible that what we know today to be true, can be proved false tomorrow. It’s especially required for a teacher to be open minded because you never know when what you are teaching becomes obsolete. The notion of “I’m always right” leaves no room for error and is very harmful in a learning environment. So, an open mind is necessary for both a student and a teacher to achieve the highest learning.

All students can learn and succeed, but not in the same way and not in the same day.

Not everyone has the same learning speed and same learning method. For example, someone might learn better by reading books and theory while some might understand the same material through hands on experience. It is upto the teacher to accommodate everyone of the students so that they can learn what needs to be learnt. I understand that this must be very hard. In a classroom, when one teacher is responsible for about fifty different students, I have no idea how the teachers accommodate everyone.

Observing teachers has taught me to try to see things from other people’s perspectives. Obviously, a subject which seems easiest to a teacher with a degree will seem complicated to a student of fifth grade. Therefore, it is very necessary for a teacher to view things from the student’s perspective.

A well educated mind will always have more questions than answers.

Teachers always encourage students to ask questions. Someone once told me, “there are no stupid questions. The only stupid idea is not asking.” Asking questions demands critical thinking and greater understanding of the subject. In turn, knowing the answer further enriches our knowledge. I’ll admit, I didn’t like asking or answering questions but I’ve grown to love them since. But, for a teacher to always be able to answer the questions a student asks, the teachers must always be prepared to answer them.

Above are just a few things I picked up about teaching from my teachers. Teachers teach us a variety of things. Not just the lessons in our syllabus but also life lessons. I look up to all of them for their wisdom, knowledge, patience and zeal for learning. Whatever I know was taught to me by someone or the other— whether it be my parents, my teachers, my friends or just life itself. In a way, I am a cluster of different lessons taught to me by different teachers.

If you have to put someone on a pedestal, put teachers. They are society’s heroes.