Teach to learn

Having switched to the cashless mode for all expenditure, I have consciously remained loyal to my local vegetable vendor. With limited valid legal tender and a single Rs 2000 in my wallet, my bill for fruits and vegetables is lower than usual. He says, “Madam jo chaiye lelo, paise baad mein de dena. I suggest, “Ek kaam karo, tum ye Rs 2000 rakho. Hisaab baad mein kar lenge.”

He couldn’t thank me enough for the trust, not realising that it is he who taught me to trust. Such life experiences teach you and make you the person you are.

Being in the field of education my thoughts travelled to the classroom, where every interaction with the students is a continuous exchange of learning and new insight. Haven’t my students contributed towards inculcating within me, this value of trust? Haven’t I learned the lesson of being trusting and trustworthy from them too? Without questions asked, students put forth immense trust in the teachers, gracefully, willingly and undoubtedly accepting what is uttered by the teacher as words etched on a stone.

The most valuable lessons of empathy and understanding have been taught by them. Students teach their teachers to be more imaginative, creative, and introspective. Each day is a new day and a new learning when you are a teacher. It is during the process of guiding the students on how to learn, did I learn to learn. That teaching results in better learning, encouraged me to incorporate the concept of peer teaching amongst my students.

It is the students who turn their teachers into story tellers, active listeners, and better performers. It is the children who drive the teachers to engineer her lesson plans to put the child in the driver’s seat and manoeuvre the steering wheel of their life. The evolution of a teacher on the personal front is totally backed by students. If you want to broaden your horizons – teach. The more they tell you about their interests and what motivates them, the more you can gear the lesson to suit their needs.

Along the years that passed, my students have taught me another valuable lesson – Never think that you’re prepared. No matter how much preparation goes into planning your lesson, always think that I’m unprepared. Of course it does not mean that you enter the class without any plan in place, but be ready for surprises, trying to answer unexplored questions and probably adding to your own knowledge. It is from my students that I have learnt to be open to the idea of learning, unlearning, relearning.

Every classroom has endearing and curious children, bubbling with ideas. It is they who teach us resilience and endurance. When a child enters your life, it is time to learn, not to teach.

(The author is faculty at The Aditya Birla Integrated School, A School for Children with Learning Difficulties)