RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TEACHER AND THE TAUGHT

It has often been observed that students tend to score high in their favorite teacher’s subject. Although there is a funny proverbial note, “The best teacher is that, who doesn’t teach”, I am not, at all, indicating to be that one. The ultimate recognition, by the students, is achieved through dedication, reaching the child’s mind, sincere care and selfless teaching. Teacher’s main motive should be to understand the peculiarity of students and act accordingly.

My friends often tell me that I, being a teacher, might be enjoying my work more than others as they are always slogging their heads in the heaps of files kept on their tables and keep on arranging them back from one cabinet to another. I simply say to them that no doubt I do enjoy but imagine what would happen to you all when you don’t find your files at the place you had kept or find all the texts of your file changing on its own from time to time. Here lies the difference that you all deal with files and I deal with LIVING FILES. The students are my files who are never found where left them last time. Their responses are unexpected. They may smile at scolding and frown at your polite suggestions. Above all I, being a teacher, cannot afford to carry my irritation for long, because of one student, as the other students are waiting to be taught. I have observed that after revealing this fact my friends look at their files with great affection and relief.

Students spend 5-6 hours with their teachers and we ought to make it qualitative and fruitful. This task will be just next to impossible if the relationship between the teachers and the taught is not congenial. Working as a boarding teacher makes the task even more challenging when the duration spent with the students goes to 15-16 hours and our responsibilities get multi-fold. Here I would like to add that the day schools, where the teacher is interacting with the students only in class rooms, under ideal conditions, have less idea of what all challenges boarding teachers face in grooming the students on different occasions. A boarding teacher’s job starts from lining up the students for PT/Yoga early in the morning at 6 am, inspecting their turnout, at 7.20 am, before breakfast, monitoring their meal intakes and table manners during all the meals, supervising their study hours and ensuring their timely sleep. Now maintaining a congenial and friendly relationship with the students become a pre-requisite to make them participate and learn all these throughout the day. Here keen observation plays a key role in understanding child’s psychology, his confusions, fears and attitude so that his problems can be combated properly. We, teachers, need to build strong bond and faith with the students so that they may approach us for the solution of any kind of complications or problems.

It has been often seen that yelling at the students is the most convenient way that teachers find to drag students’ attention towards studies but the fact is that even the students need to be handled and molded towards studies with lot of care and that should be acted upon only after understanding their psyche. Students come from different cultures and family backgrounds and they deserve to be respected as an individual. Their needs have to be understood and such a relation should be developed with them that they may confide in you all their problems and confusions, not only academic but related to the life skills as well, so that they may get a mature and sensible guidance. A congenial relationship between teacher and students has a positive impact on not only students’ academic results but throughout their life as well. It enhances their personality and prepares them not only to achieve the goals but help them in reaching the acme of success and maintain that position for a longer period of time. I have many students who address me as “Papa “and “Big Bro”. The girl students often get scolding from me for not keeping and tying their hair properly and it was so amusing to see my class 12^th girl students tying their hair in two plaits on the examination days of geography to make me feel good. 

They consider me as their guide and mentor which gives me a strange feeling of responsibility towards them. It has been experienced by me that the students whom you have pampered for one or the other reasons during his or her school tenure may not remember you much but the students who have got maximum scolding would always remember you on various occasions and keep you updated about their whereabouts through social networking or phone calls. It is rightly said that people never forget how you have made them feel so the scolding should never cross the limits to make the students feel dejected and remorseful. Even a slap can be respected if it is done for a right cause and in a right way.

Almost everyone has a favorite teacher and one who is liked less but the thread of respect remains common in both the cases. To build a positive relation between a teacher and students is not an easy task and is a little complex too, which can be forged by developing a pleasant learning environment where the students learn lessons from the teacher and the teacher also learns and enhances his teaching ability. The present exposure to media has equipped our students with intelligent queries which should neither be shrugged off nor taken as a blow. Rather, that particular student should be appreciated for asking such question which had made you to re brush and explore your knowledge. Its, actually the qualities of students which keep us updated so we should never discourage their queries. 

We, being teachers, should create an open environment where each student is respected and not ridiculed, either by the teacher or by the peer group. Students should always feel free to ask any question and they should be assured that they will neither be taunted nor ridiculed on their queries. We all know that taunting and being ridiculed hurt more than scoldings.

Finally, teachers may not get a strong bank balance at the end of their careers but they do treasure their students who remember you and acknowledge your sacrifice and dedication.

Mr Madhukar Priya

The Mann School

Effective communication skills

ECS are fundamental to success in many aspects of life. Many jobs require strong communication skills and people with good communication skills usually enjoy better relationships with friends and family.

Effective communication is not merely about exchanging information between you and the other person. It is about making what the person interprets consistent.

Improving your communication skills can make a world of  difference in your relationship with others and help you to achieve your personal goals in life.We are, of course, social beings and improving the way we relate to others can only benefit us.

The goal of effective communication is to create a common perception that is received in a positive manner, so that you can together agree on a further action or decision.

Effective communication skills also increase your self –esteem. It feels great when you are able to deliver your message confidently. Now the question is where can you use effective communication?

Don’t limit your thinking to workplace or school presentation only. Any type of social interaction will benefit from using better communication skills.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PARCTICE, with your friends and family and other people you   meet. This will help you improve your communication because, like any other skill, you will get better the more you learn about it and like more you use it!

Mrs. Anuradha Malik

The Mann School

Cordial relationship of teachers and parents

In our busy day of juggling papers, lesson planning and managing sometimes more than a hundred students, we can easily forget the group that could lend significant support to our various work as teachers -- parents and families of students. Parents and teachers play an integral role in the life of a student. A teacher grooms the student by developing logical and conceptual knowledge and parents help to implement that knowledge by constant check at home. A student’s problem can be well understood and solved, if parents and teachers are working in cooperative atmosphere. Teachers and parents both are equally responsible for dealing with psychological and academic issues. Any abnormal behaviour of the student should be noticed and shared between the two in time so that necessary actions can be taken for the betterment of a student. The Mann school understands the importance of nurturing a student in such a friendly atmosphere where a student feels free to discuss with teachers any problem whether related to academics or behavioural ones.

Recognition of a problem solves half of the problem itself. Once the problem get identified, it can easily be resolved by proper attention and care paid by teachers and parents. It not only motivates the students to share their problems, but also brings a satisfactory and easy solution for them. Being teachers we should not forget that the responsibility to change young ones into responsible citizens is ours only and it can be easily managed if we are supportive to the parents and parents have trust on teachers.

Ms. Nidhi Dewan

The Mann School

Discipline ... An integral part of students’ life

“Discipline “ - whenever a student hears this word, he usually thinks about punishment which is the consequence of Indiscipline in behaviour , whereas it’s a reward which keeps us ready to face any difficulty of life. A disciplined person knows the importance of time and tries to fulfill his commitments in time. Students are true followers of a teacher and a teacher is a role model for them. Small initiatives of a teacher can bring drastic changes in the behaviour of a student. Coming in time for the class, following ethical norms and observing dressing etiquettes give an edge to the teachers to be heard well and to be followed. Students, thus, get motivated to follow the rules and regulations which makes their life easy and keeps them away from any messy situations. Disciplined students don’t get distracted and remain busy to do something creative and out of box as they get plenty of time which could otherwise get wasted due to in-disciplinary issues.

Discipline should not be followed just because it’s mandatory, it should be followed because it is an integral part of a useful and successful life. Once teacher is able to pass this message on to the students, students will not take the discipline as a burden and will follow their teachers without any reluctant attitude.  A teacher plays a majestic role to build the future of a nation and, if future is in disciplined hands, it will surely bring prosperity and growth for nation.

Mr. Manish

The Mann School

Experience is the best mentor

Throughout our life we are guided and inspired by our elders, friends,

Teachers and all well-wishers. We give importance to their suggestions and follow them but it is equally true, that we wholeheartedly follow and apply only those lessons which we have learned with our own experiences.

 Here at MS, such an amazing environment is created that children not only enjoy it,but also get opportunities to fill their minds with experiences which will help them grow in life ahead.

Every year on September 5, i.e., Teacher’s Day, we not only celebrate it with stage shows but also create opportunities for the senior most class 12 to step in to the shoes of their teachers and act as acting teachers and get first hand direct experience of actual teaching learning process in the class room. They interact with their juniors by way of a lesson and come to understand the importance of discipline and active participation of learners in the class room.

Believe me, it changes their approach towards studies very positively and they try to become really sincere towards their academics and teachers.

Mrs. Sangeeta Vashishtha

The Mann School

IMPORTANCE OF INTERACTION BETWEEN TEACHERS & PARENTS  (PTM)

It’s all about being busy these days with all kinds of work. Being a teacher, sometimes handling the child alone is not effective. Better learning can be achieved when we follow Teacher-Parent-Student relationship. Learning will be certainly easier result of this cycle.

Every child is important and all of them have some goodness in them. Healthy interactions between teachers and parents may help a student to understand his weakness better and polish his/her strengths more and more. In our institution we also conduct PTM on every second Saturday of the month and here I want to suggest a few points to make the PTM more successful.

While interacting with students’ parents a teacher should always :

v  smile and greet parents on seeing them; it will be impressive if you address them by their names

v  inform your purpose behind the meeting as every child has something different to be informed about to the parents; Always appreciate and encourage their support

v  always begin with good news about the child as every child has something good about him/her

v  ask healthy questions from the parents and listen to them properly as they too have some aspects about the child to talk about

v  thank the parents for their visit and support

v  share every success of a particular child after PTM by phone calls or messages as a matter of practice.

Mr. Vishwajeet Pandey

The Mann School

Behaviorism in the Classroom

Before I express my view on behaviorism, I would like to share a real incident that had happened with me while I was in my primary school. One day I was ironing my father’s shirt and by mistake it got burned. I was afraid that he might scold me but to my surprise, he encouraged me to make mistakes in the future, but the only difference was to make new ones every time. I learned to make mistakes thus learning the right way. The little incident made me realize, that my father actually encouraged my learning habits along with the habit of minimizing errors.

What is behaviorism in Education?

“Behaviorism is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts any independent activities of the mind”. 

 In my teaching tenure, I have come across many behavioral incidents of students and have applied a few methods to correct them. Various behavioral methods can be used in school as well as at home. If teachers, parents and students work in tandem with each other, then it works like a miracle.

An example of behavior methods is listed below:

When a student misbehaves in his class, the teacher and student decide to minimize the distractions as a solution. Provisions include that the student will be punctual, will sit in front of the teacher, will raise hand for questions/comments and will not leave his seat without permission.
There would be consequences for the actions taken. Consequences may be positive or negative, expected or unexpected. Consequences occur once the teacher decides to do a particular pattern of behavior action. Positive reinforcement is the encouragement of the students that increases the probability of response. This type of enrichment occurs frequently in the classroom. Teachers usually inculcate positive growth by:

1. Smiling at students after a correct response.
2. Commending students for their work.
3. Selecting them for a special project.
4. Praising students' ability in front of the parents.
5. Reward them when they are correct, and ENCOURAGE them to do well when they are not on the right path.

Using behavioral methods in the classroom can be rewarding for both students and teachers. Behavioral change occurs because of a reason; students work for things that bring them positive feelings, and for approval from people they admire. In dealing with the students, I have found that if a good behavior goes unrewarded, then it will be extinguished. Consistently ignoring an undesirable behavior will go far toward eliminating it. When the teacher does not respond angrily, the problem is forced back to its source--the student. 

Almost every teacher rewards students with words of praise. However, all students respond better when rewarded for doing well. On the other hand, encouraging students to come back when they go wrong is far more beneficial to the psyche of the student. I am sure that this approach will help to improve the behavior and attitude of the students in a positive direction.

Mrs. Deepa Sharma
The Mann School