Teaching Studious Students (How to become good teacher - 3)

While the teacher makes some of students learn, the some makes the teacher learn!

There is a category of the students in each class – those who are eager to learn, but doesn’t know about the subject.  Here, the most important role of a teacher come in – it is quite true that interest and passion has to drive the students to gather more knowledge as well as to learn more.  So, the role of the teacher is to fuel the flame of interest in the student.  For any well experienced teacher, it is again a newer experience to teach these categories of students – without any background in the subject.  It is easy to teach the first category where the students know the topic or they have the fundamental knowledge about the subject.  For the second category, they find their own way of learning.  But this category of the students needs the help; support and motivation from the teacher – both technically and psychologically. Here also, teacher has to deal with them as a separate group so that the teacher reaches the level of each student to bring them up.  They should be given a chance to ask questions so that the teacher brakes the shell of shyness. Initially give them basic assignments on the topic taught, to work in the class/ outside the class. The assignments must be as simple as possible to gain confidence in the beginning itself. Give them the clues to solve, but not the entire picture of the solution.  Make them think by asking the questions during the lecture.  It is easy to explain the theory concepts by relating with the applications and give them hands-on exercise to gain more confidence.  When there is an urge to learn, they need confidence also to move ahead.  Sometimes, there is also a need to give personal attention.  A good teacher can always find weak students and good in the class.  After the class hours, focus on these students and try to bring them up by giving additional classes.  It is in fact a struggle, but the role of a teacher is complete only when this job is done.  There is no need to teach for those who already know the subject.  As teachers, we should try to feed those who are hungry.  At the same time, it doesn’t mean that the first category of students are neglected just because of the third category.  They should be given more competitive assignments and exercises.  The truth is, these set of students are the real motivation for the teacher to hunt for more knowledge.  If the class is a combination of 5 categories, there are two outcomes in this situation – either the first set get frustrated because teacher is teaching in only the basics; or the third category is demotivated because the teacher is teaching at the advanced level based on the first category.  Now, how to balance?  Teacher has to segregate these two groups and build a bridge to fill the gap.  Bridging the gap is possible only by taking fundamental classes otherwise called as “pre-requisites” prior to the commencement of class.  If this is not possible, arrange classes during holidays in the beginning of the semester, especially in the morning.  Convince the students why they should learn the pre-requisites to reach at least at the level of basics.  In computer science, I have seen students with Biology background sitting with the students with mathematics and computer science background to learn programming.  It is full of horror for biology students and they get demotivated like anything. They lose the confidence in the first year itself.  Now-a-days, programming is also considered as one of the basic courses in engineering.

How to become a good teacher - 2

I would like to discuss two facts here:
Firstly, how to make the students ask questions - it completely depends on how relaxed you are in the class, how open you are to the students.

New teachers always feel that their lack of knowledge should be covered up in front of the students.  This always happens by becoming stricter in the class, not encouraging the students to ask doubts, etc. If someone ask a question which is related with the topic discussed, but not part of the syllabus, then immediately the teacher answer - "it is not there in the syllabus".  This is too bad and this discourages the students to learn the subject and demotivates them.  It is affected not only for the student who asked the question, but also for the entire class.  In the initial stages, you can ask the student to meet in your office/cabin where they can clear their doubts.  If you don't know the answer for the question asked, tell the students that you will refer and clear the doubt.  It is acceptable to tell them that you don't know the answer to their question, but you should refer and answer it at the earliest possible.  This is again one of the opportunities for a teacher to learn from students.  Demanding students make the teacher learn more and become more competent as the time goes.  Remember, this is possible only if you have a passion towards teaching and learning.

Secondly, for the second category of the students - those who know something, but creating distraction in the class, the teacher needs to gather more knowledge by referring to the lecture slides or materials prepared by eminent teachers.  There are a lot of US universities who publish the video lectures on most of the technical subjects.  That is always a help for a budding teacher.  The only thing required from the part of a teacher is to be patient and dedicate much of the time to enhance the knowledge.  This may take at least one year to get stabilized.  One of the Deans whom I know used to tell me that "Excellence is a journey and not a destination".  This is correct. There is no end to excellence.  The more you improve in gathering knowledge, the more you are termed as "good teacher".  Imparting knowledge is more important compared with gathering knowledge.  The main aspect is that you must be able to reach the students and disseminate the knowledge so that it becomes purposeful.

Sorry to say that there are no images in these posts - as I felt that they don't make any meaning.

How to become a good teacher - 1

This is quite a difficult question to answer.  But here are my experiences as a teacher.
Type of students:

Those who already know something about the subject and wants to learn more.

Those who already know something about the subject, but creates distraction purposefully by asking silly or unimportant questions during the lecture

Those who don't know about the subject, but eager to learn and are studious

Those who don't know about the subject, but not interested in learning.

One class of say, 60 students, it is a combination of the above categories. The first category may not be present in all the classes, but rest of the categories are always seen in all the classes.
For teachers who have joined as freshers:

It is a bit challenging for a new teacher to handle one ore more classes with given subjects. Sometimes, subjects may not be the part of interest area for the teacher.  First and foremost qualities expected from a teacher is the passion to teach and love towards the topic / subject assigned. Why I underline is that I have seen so called teachers joining college or institution, just for the sake a job. If teaching is very poor, it creates frustration among the students. A good teacher must always be a friend, mentor and philosopher of students.  This doesn't mean to have a sympathetic attitude by giving good grades and creating a sentimental approach towards the students.  Those who work hard and smart shall be encouraged well. 

In the initial stages, all teachers may not get the subject of interest.  But it is important and necessary that the subject whatever is assigned is taught well. It is the stepping stone towards a good teaching career. Ideally, the preparation has to start at least before a month of commencement of classes by preparing the course plan, finding assignment questions, examination questions, etc. Firstly refer the books as per the syllabus because students might have already procured the books before the semester. Learn maximum from the referred texts and then the next best choice is the internet.  Always try to gather best examples for all the concepts to be taught in the class.  Getting example from web is very easy.  Rely only on the .edu sites and lecture notes prepared by good professors of good universities / colleges.  In the first class itself, it is better to show the course plan and as much as possible stick on to the plan.
Theory class and lecturing

It is essential that students should feel relaxed in the class rather than making them sitting like robots. Theory classes must always be interactive by asking questions so as to make the students think about the concept you are talking about. Questions must be from the teaching topics, related with a real time application which the students might already have come through their life.  For example, any subject in computer science can be taught by citing examples in social networking, gadgets like tablets, smart phones, etc.  This makes the student listen to what you talk and it creates interest on the subject taught. When the students answer, you come to know about the level of each student. Do not tease them if they don't answer or they answer wrongly.  Because, if they don't answer or give a wrong answer, they haven't understood what is taught and then you have to come down to one more level to teach them. Asking questions and making them answer helps the students to come out of the shell of fear.  Use chalk & talk to the maximum possible.  Write legibly on the board.  Clean the board before starting the class.  Writing on the board without cleaning indicates your lack of interest in teaching and love for the subject.  Use presentations in case if you want to explain an application to describe the concept. Body language is very important and walking in front of the board by explaining the topic keep the students alive in the class. If you wish to teach with a presentation, make it rich with images and reduce text as much as possible. Presentation must always be crisp. With the points listed in the presentation, explain them in your own words.  I have seen some teachers just copy pasting the sentences in the text which looks too boring in the presentation.... to be continued in next post

Next post:

Encouraging students to ask questions

Preparing for CBSE open book examination

Finally, it is here!
CBSE has announced the open book examination from this year!

It is quite challenging to answer an open book examination if the questions are good enough to test the analytical abilities of the student.  First of all, mugging up of the content and just dumping on the examination answer sheet may not workout in this scenario.  One needs to have good conceptual understanding of the subject in order to answer the questions because of their indirect nature.  One must know where exactly the concept is discussed in the book and if only one book is allowed the student has to know which book explains the subject well. 

Getting conceptual understanding of the subject

It is essential to have the conceptual understanding of any subject we learn.  Always relate the concept with a good example or a real time application so that it could be explained in own words.  In a typical open book exam, the questions may not be confined to one chapter or topic in the text book. So it is very much important to relate the various topics explained in the subject.  For example, chemical processes that are responsible for changes in the human body, which is explained in biology.  From commerce group perspective, writing profit and loss account for an organization and creating balance sheet.  These are typical examples.  It varies from subject to subject, but the underlying principle is that one should have a fair understanding of the subject so that the time taken to solve the given problem or question is less.  Rest is to explain more by finding the topics from the text book.

Thinking process involved

I have to remind you that the in an open book examination, thinking process is involved as the question is indirect and it may be a puzzle kind of question with a demand to think from student side and then answer. So, you have to be sharp enough to understand the question and find the appropriate solution.

Choosing "best" career

Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career – Abdul Kalam 

You can see a lot of websites in the internet that tells you about the degrees, disciplines, institutions and career. But here I am trying to make you think yourself about your inborn talents and taste. Whatever discipline you select – the selection must be out of your passion rather than the interest. Passion never fails, but interest does. To bring best output for any work done, passion is very much required. Towards the subjects you learn, towards the work you perform, passion plays a crucial role. Along with this, most required is the patience and enthusiasm. There is some way out each difficult situation. If you have passion towards what you learn, nothing can stop you from learning – even a bad teacher! 
Selecting suitable discipline for graduation is not that easy, but not impossible also. It is critical and important because this phase is the turning point in your life. When you think about graduation, you have to think about post graduation and also your ambition in life. That should be your goal in life – the long term goal. As a student this goal should drive you in demanding situations and success in your student life, till you reach the destination. People always advice their wards or relatives saying – you should go for “this” branch or “that” branch. Some of them talk about the “scope the branch in future” and “employment opportunities”. I would say that, these all are false imaginations. Looking at the current trend, think of what your area will make you after 10 years. 
I have seen that finally most of my students have ended up with some of the following: 
1. Research in Academic Institutions associated with teaching 
2. Research & Development in a corporate (any private company) 
3. Teaching & Research (any discipline) 
4. A business entrepreneur 
5. Research in Government institutions like ISRO, BARC, DIT, etc 
6. A government servant – IAS / IFS / IPS, etc. 
7. Joining the army / navy / air force 
8. A well paid job in banking / insurance / IT or any other sector – both private / public 

This may be the case with any of the students. If you wish to contribute something to the world within your limitations and constraints, I would say – go for one among the first seven. Before you choose any subject in graduation or post graduation, you have to think about what you want to be after 10 years. You may have to sacrifice a lot of time to think on this. It should be your assessment, only your own. You are completely responsible for this. Your parents, teachers, friends, relatives all may only supplement or fuel your thinking. It is essential that you have to strive to keep your foot strongly on the chosen areas to make your dreams come true. Always have a minimum of two alternatives – in case one doesn’t work out, you have the other. Use your intelligence to gather more information on your interested area. Now-a-days, most of the information is available in the internet. 

Few success stories 

I have seen my students performing well by running import-export business after graduating in computer science profession. Another best example – after doing electronics and communication engineering, one of my students joined an institution to learn movie direction – he was one of the toppers in the country to get admission in one among the of top ten film institutions in the country. His ambition is to direct movies in Indian screen. So it is the passion that drives you. Your ambition is your dream, your goal. 

I know one of my students – very strongly determined – who did computer science and joined a reputed IT company. Though he was not interested in IT job, he joined the IT company because there was no other choice. He is an excellent organizer, programmer, and a real “student”. Immediately after the training he felt that it is futile and simply threw the job. He is a brilliant student and wanted to use his skills for a higher and meaningful purpose. His aim was to join government organizations like ISRO. He was so deterministic that he took the challenge, struggled a lot and got through the selection procedure. Now he is one of the team members working to record the data received from the satellite. He shared his thrilling experience when the data is received from satellite deployed by Govt. of India. This should be the aim and right attitude in one’s life as a student. As of now, I would encourage to start own company in any areas of knowledge. There were a couple of students who graduated from one of the reputed engineering institutions in Tamil Nadu, way back in 2008. They wrote a code-checker program (code checker program is used to evaluate a software program written by programmers in a particular language.) to run the programming contest in their college. As usual, with several minor bugs, the program executed well. Now they are managing a reputed online start up offering recruitment services for the computer professionals. Many multinational companies in India now use their software as the platform to recruit computer programmers. All I am saying is determination on the goal, patience and enthusiasm keeps you alive throughout your career. Don’t stop! Keep going... Please comment after you read!