Teacher's Day
Recently, India celebrated Teacher's Day. It was a day to reflect on the profession. What is good teaching and who is a good teacher? I have been in the teaching profession for decades now and it has been my observation that there are two types of teachers, two different mindsets. The first mindset belongs to the egotistic teacher. The teacher is the jug full of knowledge and the student the empty vessel. The job or even mission of the teacher is to pour knowledge into the empty vessel. The other type of teacher is really a teacher-student or is it a student-teacher? While he is teaching, it is also a learning experience. This kind of teacher always comes away from the classroom with a feeling of having learnt as much as he has taught his students. His learning is not limited by the textbook or the subject. However, for this to happen, the teacher needs to be aware of what he is learning from his students while he is teaching them. It is not enough to concentrate only on the teaching process: both are equally important! What type of a teacher do you think I am, to which group do I belong? As usual, it is not easy to categorize me. You see, I belong to neither. I'm a tea-cher as I drink only tea!