Classroom teaching - learning process

The role of a teacher is considered to be the most important in the life of a student and this has been true from the ancient times. Also education formal and informal is very important in the life of an individual and this is a proven fact that good education can change the person for the good to self and also the society. The right to education act which has been implemented by the government of India recognizes the same fact. A report says that eighty per cent of the primary schools are run either by the government or are partly funded and rest twenty percent are run by private sector. The twenty five percent reservations in the private schools for the economically backward children is a good idea but when eighty percent of the children are to be educated at government schools then so much talk and hype of twenty five percent reservations only may not yield desired results. The infrastructure in government schools must be improved along with asking the private schools to extend full support to government`s efforts to teach every child irrespective of the financial condition of their parents. The teachers should be encouraged more time with the students so that they understand each other better. The teacher is not supposed to teach the subject/ subjects only but also help the children develop values and good character. If the teachers have to engage themselves in other works then the children will naturally suffer. The other important issue which should be paid immediate attention is the training of the teachers. The world is changing fast and so is the exposure of the children to the world. There are new challenges faced by the teachers every day.

The knowledge of the subject is important but the transmission of the same is also equally important. The teachers need to spend quite a time in the planning of the lesson and then only the teaching learning will be effective. There are three important steps which can further be divided smaller steps as per the requirement of the topic and the level of the class. The broad steps are planning, presentation and the evaluation. The teachers must plan the lesson in a manner that all students are benefitted by the teaching in the class. The teacher must have knowledge about the class and their level of attainment in regard to the topic to be discussed. The presentation should be such that all the children are involved and none of them feel ignored or bored while the teacher is teaching the topic. After smooth and effective completion of the topic the teacher should be able to evaluate the effectiveness of the topic taught.  Just completing the topics or the syllabus does not make any sense until the children learn what they were supposed to do. The teachers must make the children the objective of the topic and not only the teacher but the students should also know what changes are expected once they learn the topic. For this proper planning and understanding of the topic is very important and if the teacher is clear about that then the children will definitely be learning in a better way. If the teachers do not devote time to prepare for the next day’s teaching learning process then the teaching would never be very effective even if the teacher has been teaching the same subject for many years. The children today have an access to so much information that the teachers will have to work very hard to keep the interest of the children in the topic/subject at the same high level. Sometimes it is found that teachers do not prepare any lesson plan and go to the class. It can be understood very easily that in such case the teaching learning process may not produce that good result as expected by the children. We all know that planning process is very important because the presentation or the execution will depend upon the planning. And if there is no planning the presentation will not be organized and hence ineffective. If it is so then the evaluation will be further erratic or maybe there will be no evaluation.

So what should a teacher do before the lesson, during and after the lesson has been completed? There simple steps which should be followed. First the teacher must know every student of the clad not only by name but by nature and level of intelligence and motivation to learn in the class. Second the teacher should understand the limitations within which he / she has to work. For example every school may not have smart class or many teaching aids or there may be problem of reelection of light. The teacher should also know what the time of his /her class is. Is it in the morning, after the recess or at the end of the school because the teacher has to plan the introduction of the topic based on the mental status of the children. Third important thing is that introduce the topic in a simple manner and the concept of known to unknown is well advised by all. Fourth important thing is that the teacher should not pay attention to one group of the children only. It has been observed that some teachers interact with intelligent children only and others pay attention to the ones who were not doing well. In this other group of the children feel left out and then involve in certain things teachers do not like. That means the teachers should address the needs of all the teachers by using differential method of teaching. Fifth, they should involve the children in the discussion and assess whether they are paying proper attention to what is being discussed or not. In some cases though the children look at the teacher but have their attention somewhere else. If the teacher will ask some questions in between then all children will remain alert. Sometimes stating something which is not correct will help the teacher to know whether all children are involved in teaching learning or not. At the end the teacher should ask some questions to evaluate the impact of the lesson delivered to the class. The questions can be multiple choice, short answer type so that all children get chance to answer. This will help the teacher to plan next day’s lesson accordingly and more effectively. The homework given should be such that the children use the learning of the class also gets an opportunity to think beyond what was discussed by the teacher. This will increase the creativity and the children will develop habit of learning and doing self also. The homework is not always the written work but the same can be in quiz form, project or getting additional information to what was done in the class.

To achieve all the teachers will have to plan the things and spend as much time as possible so that the life in the class is enjoyable by both the teachers as well as the children. Some people find it difficult to get that much time but if the justice is to be done to the aspirations of the children then this is the best way that teachers get involved in the planning as enthusiastically as in the teaching in the class. Initially it might appear to be tough task but eventually it will be the habit and the teachers will enjoy doing the same and will feel satisfied when their children do better than what they have been doing before.  

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