Teacher, Teacher...!

  

The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you,

 who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth."  

~Dan Rather

While discussing the teaching-learning process, a very important and relevant topic for education, I couldn't help but reflect on what effect the process had on me when I was in college. The environment was very conducive for learning, there was a teacher and there were students. So what was missing? Because I remember sleeping...sleeping and some more sleeping. 

The missing piece here was the the whole 'involvement' factor. True that there was very good infrastructure but the teacher was not interested in teaching nor were the students interested in learning. So then, how can you have effective teaching-learning in the classroom? 

Can the teacher bring about a change by creating a rapport with her/his students? Is it important to know them, to understand them? Or is it enough just to teach? There are other ways being looked into to improve the teaching-learning process..like better learning materials, teacher trainings and a lively curriculum. These factors are very important. But can they succeed merely on their own? So what role does 'understanding' play?

I believe it is necessary to know one's students, to be able to relate to their situation, understand their sensitive minds and empathize with their lives and make it bright and colourful. I have never been to a rural school before, but I have a naive hope in me, that when I finally do visit one, I see the kind of teacher I envisioned..!