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Sensitivity training must for effective teaching
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Sensitivity training must for effective teaching TEACHING is probably the only profession where there is no formal training imparted to teachers in terms of styles of teaching, pedagogical tools, and knowing behavioural aspects, especially sensitivity towards students in classroom environment. Though these aspects remain vital to the teaching-learning process, relatively little attention is paid to them. Immediately after teachers join the job, they are asked to face students in the classroom. They start taking classes the very next moment without actually getting any formal training in what is required for being an effective teacher. Of course, there are many mid-career courses organised from time to time for teachers on variety of themes. But most of them have remained under constant academic scrutiny in terms of their contents and impact with regard to enhancing the sensitivity, teaching styles and skills in a diverse environment. These courses are mostly on the themes that rarely address the core issues of understanding the socio-cultural contexts in which teaching and learning take place. Not often these courses are held for enhancing teachers’ skills of knowing how to behave with students in classroom environment. As is well established that to be a good teacher is not merely about knowing one’s subject well but it is also about being sensitive towards the social cultural aspects, having knowledge of the pedagogical tools and being innovative and careful about the styles of teaching. In an effective teaching-learning process, a teacher is required to enter into the psychological space of students and experience for himself how he is being perceived by them. He is supposed to have the ability to sense the attitudes, interests, preferences and prejudices of his students and see whether or not his message is going across in the way it is intended. A teacher should also be able to instantly sense what is appropriate and what is not, and how he should decide or change the direction of his discourse and his choice of the pedagogical tools. On the basis of the perceptive understanding of the nature and circumstances of the teaching-learning process, a teacher is expected to have the ability to engage, adapt and fine-tune his deliberations accordingly. Unfortunately, in the absence of any formal training in these aspects, there is a significant number of teachers who are very deficient in the forms of knowledge about the symbiotic relationship that exists between the teacher and the student. As a result, they remain blissfully ignorant about how much they ought to know of this complex system. Many of them are completely isolated from other socio-cultural contexts and are confined to think within their own regimented psychological environment. They wrongly think it to be well within their right to behave inappropriately in the classroom. They arrive late, leave early and even miss classes. They quarrel with students and always find fault in them without actually realising their own inadequacies of knowing the contexts and emotional points of the teaching learning processes. Students’ emotions, perception and interest usually don’t matter to them. Such teachers remain entirely insensitive to the diverse points of view of the students and get provoked at slight disagreement. They remain ignorant about the fact that besides the subject contents, the knowledge also include other agents like the preferences of students, their parents, other colleagues and the socio-cultural contexts in which teaching learning takes place. It is to be understood that teaching involves a complex network of inter-personal relationships. While on one side of which is a heterogeneous group of students, on the other is the equally heterogeneous group of teachers. It is the duty of the teacher to see through how the students in a classroom feel, what are their preferences and prejudices. He must realise what their alienations, worries, stresses and engagements are. He must know that each word he utters and each of the action he displays in the class have deep meanings and leave an indelible impression on his students’ psyche. A teacher should know that every aspect of teacher’s behaviour cannot be acceptable to the students nor can all the behaviour be justified as a function of teacher’s position. Many a time, the actions of a teacher can be quite offending to the students from other faiths, castes and religions and, thus, he needs to be very careful and sensitive about what he says and does. To be a good teacher is to be sensitive to one’s own personal ideologies and preferences vis-à-vis that of the others’. Enhancing teacher’s ability is very important to enable him recognise the emotions of all stakeholders involved in the teaching-learning process. Unless a teacher has the ability to be empathetic, non-judgmental and socially aware, he cannot be an effective teacher, howsoever academically intelligent he may be. Thus, for a teacher to be able to deliver the goods in an effective way, sensitivity training is very important. The writer is Professor and Head, Department of Social Work, Punjabi University, Patiala |
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Campus
Notes Agro-advisory services
for farmers THE university has begun issuing agro-advisory services to farmers on a monthly basis. Scientists are providing crucial information like various weather variables such as rainfall, wind speed, minimum and maximum temperatures, etc., to the farmers and also give detailed information on various agriculture practices, which the agrarian community should follow in a month, including the application of pesticides and insecticides for various fruits and vegetables grown in the state. Information related to vegetable entomology is also provided in the bulletin and this forewarns the farmers about probable pest attack on various crops. This information helps in preventing probable pest damage by following applications advised by university scientists. Workshop on medicinal trees A three-day workshop on “Medicinal Trees and Herbal Plants” for Eco Club in charges of school and colleges of Chandigarh, sponsored by the Medicinal Plants Board, Department of Forest and Wildlife, Union Territory, Chandigarh, was organised at the Department of Forest Products, College of Forestry, recently. Dr Kulwant Rai Sharma, Professor and Head-cum-Chairman of organising committee, welcomed the chief guest, Dr N.B.Singh, Director of Extension Education. As many as 15 participants from different schools and colleges of Chandigarh attended this workshop. In his inaugural address, Dr Singh shared his experiences with the participants regarding the traditional uses of precious herbal plants and their present status. Dr Sharma also delivered talk on medicinal and aromatic plants. Om Parkash, programme coordinator, Eco Club, Chandigarh, lauded the organisers of the workshop. Dr Bhupender Dutt, coordinator of the workshop, proposed vote of thanks on the occasion. The participants were also taken to the herbal/botanical garden for exposure visit by Dr Bhupender Dutt and Dr N.K. Verma (farm manager). Dr R. Raina, senior scientist, Dr Meenu Sood, senior scientist, Dr Y.P. Sharma, assistant scientist, Dr Rakesh Sharma, assistant scientist, and Dr Bharti Kashyap, assistant scientist, were also present on the occasion. Paper on crop productivity presented in Turkey Dr A. K. Randev, scientist, Agricultural Economics, of the university’s Regional Horticultural Research Station, Mashobra, participated in the First World Irrigation Forum held on the theme “Challenges and Opportunities for Global Food Security” at Mardin, Turkey, recently. Sixty-one countries participated in this six-day forum organised by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), New Delhi, and Turkish Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (TUCID) and sponsored by 23 international organisations, including ICRISAT and FAO. Dr Randev presented a research paper entitled “A Strategic Approach to Economic Aspect of Environmental Impact of Irrigation and Crops’ Productivity in Himachal Pradesh-India” under the sub-theme “Policy, Science and Societal Interactions”. Major emphasis in this research paper has been put on multi-disciplinary strategic points essentially required for strengthening water policy and working out irrigation efficiency index. The paper also emphasises exploration of huge water potential of Indus and Ganga river basins in Himachal Pradesh through major and medium irrigation projects for ensuring higher level of irrigation efficiency and crops' productivity. Dr Randev being the Secretary of the Working Group of International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage also participated in the 64th International Executive Council Meeting and carried back important cost-effective measures on forest lands and multi-purpose projects being implemented in Turkey under almost similar conditions prevailing in Himachal Pradesh. Engineer Sahin Bekisoglu, a Turkish innovator of water-powered pump, has also asked Dr Randev for undertaking the techno-economic evaluation of the pump which can be helpful in saving electric/diesel energy in lifting water from different water sources at zero energy cost, in case economic feasibility works out to be positive. — Contributed by Ambika Sharma |
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Studyscape WASHINGTON: A new study has suggested that educational video games can enhance students’ motivation to learn, but it may depend on how students play. In a study of middle-schoolers, researchers at New York University and the City University of New York have found that while playing a maths video game either competitively or collaboratively with another player — as compared to playing alone — students adopted a mastery mindset that is highly conducive to learning. Moreover, students’ interest and enjoyment in playing the maths video game increased when they played with another student. “We found support for claims that well-designed games can motivate students to learn less popular subjects, such as maths, and that game-based learning can actually get students interested in the subject matter — and can broaden their focus beyond just collecting stars or points,” Jan Plass, a professor in NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and one of the study’s lead authors, said. The researchers focused on how students’ motivation to learn, as well as their interest and performance in maths, was affected by playing a maths video game either individually, competitively, or collaboratively. Researchers looked at two main types of motivational orientations: mastery goal orientation, in which students focus on learning, improvement and the development of abilities, and performance goal orientation, in which students focus on validating their abilities. The findings revealed that students who played the maths game either competitively or collaboratively reported the strongest mastery goal orientations, which indicates that students adopted an optimal mindset for learning while playing the video game with others. Their results also showed that students playing under competitive situations performed best in the game. In addition, those playing in both competitive and collaborative conditions experienced the greatest interest and enjoyment. The study is published in the Journal of Educational |
TEACHING is probably the only profession where there is no formal training imparted to teachers in terms of styles of teaching, pedagogical tools, and knowing behavioural aspects, especially sensitivity towards students in classroom environment. Though these aspects remain vital to the teaching-learning process, relatively little attention is paid to them.
