INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES OF TEACHING

Teaching techniques have undergone radical changes in the past few

years keeping in view the changing requirements and changing attitudes

towards learning of the students. The following techniques which have

stood the test of time during late 20th century have been successfully

adopted in our College, namely National Institute of Science and

Technology, Berhampur have the promise of becoming teaching

standards for all times to come.

1. Facilitating rather than Teaching

2. Multimedia over Books and Notes

3. Students versus Students

4. Acceptance over Rejection

5. Lateral Techniques of Teaching

1. Facilitating rather than Teaching

Dr. S. Sadasivan in his book Teaching and Beyond (2009) gives priority to the

modern ‘androgogic model’ over the traditional ‘pedagogic model’ of teaching

in the class room. In the ‘pedagogic model’ of teaching, the classrooms are

teacher-centric. Following the very etymological meaning of the “pedagogic,”

the teacher takes the role of “agogos” (= the leader) over the “paidos” (=the

children) of the class room.1 The teacher has a strong propensity for leading

and controlling the students as per the pedagogic standards. But, today,

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lecturing is dismissed because of the shift in the method of teaching in the

modern class rooms. Mortimer Adler, the American Aristotelian philosopher

rightly observes: “Lecturing is the transfer of information from the notes of the

lecturer to the notes of the student without passing through the minds of either

(emphasis mine)”.2 No wonder, the alternative model of teaching, namely the

‘androgogic’ model focuses on the unfurling of the students’ minds from the

thralldom of conventional thinking process. Linda Conway is very much

conscious of the debilitating effect of the traditional methods of teaching,

which emphasize the cramming of the ideas into the students’ minds. In her

words, “It is not what is poured into a student that counts, but what is

planted.”3 For ‘planting’ ideas into the youngsters’ minds, certain

preconditions like thinking freely and deciding intuitively are inevitable. The

teacher, on his part, must make efforts so as to trigger the imagination of the

students, not by following the beaten tracks of handling the classes, but by

creating new situations for the students. Anatole France rightly says, “The

whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of

young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.”4 Initially, it may not

be that interesting, but, subsequently, as the pupils fit into the structure of

learning, it would be absolute fun and learning together. Letting the students

know and learn through themselves works wonders with the present-day

students.

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2. Multimedia over Books and Notes

It is not enough to change the minds of the taught by making them think freely

and creatively. All the ideas that are generated in the class-room of no use, if

they are not properly implanted into the minds of the young. Confucious could

anticipate the gap between the state of thoughtfulness and the art of learning

on the part of the students, and says, “Learning without thought is labor lost,

thought without learning is perilous (emphasis mine).”5 Learning must take

place and in the right manner. Here comes the role of the modern multimedia

which focuses on showing rather than telling. Bringing the technology inside the

class room not only makes the students feel interested, but also grabs their attention to

what is displayed. Doing things by themselves and simultaneously exposing

themselves to the visual and audio aids doubly benefit the students in their learning.

Extra information through various methods of communication helps hastening the

process of learning. People believe and remember what they see rather than what they

hear. And when both the sources are present, it can be well construed that the amount

of learning would definitely be intensive. As a matter of fact, the class-room teaching

becomes ineffective when the teacher teaches directly from the text books. In the

present-day situation, the students have often proved to be smarter than the teachers,

as they never suffer from the dearth of resources to learn the subjects. Providing notes

to the students can only make the class room messy rather than serve the purpose of

learning. As against these old teaching practices, showing relevant and related videos

and documentaries in the class room would surely increase the students’ participation

and understanding to a great extent. Internet would be another wonderful tool of

exposing the students to the varieties of ideas and vast pool of resources. Also, on-

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line tests, exercises, quizzes and practices would be of great help. Moreover, the

eccentricity of the present tech-savvy generation can be catered through their

exposure to the recent multimedia materials which are found all around. Thus, by

letting the students discover things for themselves from the vast resources available,

the teachers not only would pose a challenge before them but also would increase the

curiosity and inquisitiveness among the students, which itself is a rewarding

experience for the students.

3. Students versus Students

Many a time, the class-room situations end up with tussles between the

students and the teachers. The students’ discussion often veers round the

dissatisfaction over the teachers’ answers. It becomes a problem on the part of

the teachers to satisfy the most actively diversified young brains. In order to

pay the students in their own coin, the teacher should allow and support them,

to play the game in their own ways. Instead of the teachers indulging in class

room wrangles, it will be safe to pass on the baton to the students, asking them

to engage themselves in brain storming and find out the answers by

themselves. Through mutual debates, discussions and altercations,

accompanied by the teachers’ guidance, the students would naturally bring out

the best in them. Self-learning is tremendous. Apart from reaching the

solutions, the students also develop some of the required skills like

collaborating, understanding group behavior, time management, conflict

management, negotiating, being adaptable and many others which make them

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better human beings in future.

4. Acceptance over Rejection

In the changing scenario, the teacher-taught relationship has taken a new

dimension. The management principles have been governing today’s class

room pattern. In the present age of Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM),

one is reminded of what Mahatma Gandhi said about the customers in a

speech in South Africa in 1890:

A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not

dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption

of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our

business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him.

He is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.6

Greater than this is the ethics of our Gurukul Ashram which believes in the

teachers’ unflinching love and support for the taught, a thing which has been

successfully appropriated by the present-day teachers. In keeping with the

ethics, the student is encouraged to float an idea, no matter how trivial it is.

The question of right or wrong is beside the point. The student’s idea is always

taken with a positive attitude, and, as far as possible, is given a shape in terms

of its contribution to the subject under discussion. As rejection of their ideas

amounts to undermining their position, it is seldom done inside the class room.

These new ideas, which are usually unconventional, become the harbinger of a

new and promising future. Hence, it is obligatory on the part of the teacher to

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welcome them, encourage them, and support them.

Thus, acceptance of the students’ slip ups and alternative ideas opens new

vistas and gives a scope to see the world through a kaleidoscopic prism. In

fact, the whole pleasure lies in discovering to the extent the students are

experimental and creative.

5. Lateral Techniques of Teaching

Edward de Bono, the high-priest of lateral thinking reinforces the idea of not

conforming to the establishment, and not following the so-called conventional

rules and regulations which are being perpetuated by the loyal and abiding

people. The students have to unlearn the rules of conformity, and begin

thinking afresh without entertaining any barriers of traditions and conventions.

It is here the present-day teacher has a role to play, by allowing the students to

think contrarily, to deny what has been handed over to them for generations.

The Associations for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD),

1962 Yearbook Committee, accordingly, puts forth the million-dollar idea that

creativity is “a matter of being different, of daring to change, of venturing

forth.”7 In order to cater to their tastes, the teacher is required to shed the old

habits of declaring the targets of his teaching at the beginning of his class, and

implementing them in the most mechanical way. The students could be drawn

into an array of new habits of thinking differently, removing all hindrances on

their way. They should be allowed to explore and discover new things. The

students should be encouraged through the exercise of brain-storming to

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contradict the status quo and go against the clichéd ‘grain of truth.’ Teaching

thus should be equipped to generate counter-culture amongst the students.

The teacher equally should swerve away from the hackneyed methods of

teaching. He should adapt himself to the new ways of teaching, and bring in

subjects that are laterally connected to the teaching of language and grammar.

Instead of teaching language only through the bandwagon of language, it

could be done so through diverse domains of literature, mathematics, history,

psychology, law etc. Moreover, through movies, newspaper readings, novel

reviews, poetry appreciations, live commentaries on cricket or football, stories

and narratives, the students can be taught the tough and dry grammar items

like tense, articles, prepositions, sentence structures, vocabulary etc. Instead of

teaching the contents in the drab manner, the teacher can always contextualize

them through the repertoire of subjects outlined above.

At our Institute, we have introduced a new test-oriented courseware, which

has been named as ‘English Reading Revolution.’ Writing exercises is seldom

done in vacuum. The writing skills of the students are honed through the

reading of newspapers involving themselves in the current issues. Word power

of the students is cultivated through a series of passages which provide the

context to the words. Presentation skills, similarly, are developed through the

analysis of a story or a novel which the students read to their hearts’ content.

Hence, I conclude that it is almost mandatory on the part of the present-day

teachers consciously to move away from the older practices of teaching and

adopt, as far as possible, the new methods of teaching through a new

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environment and free spirit in the class-room, so as to awaken the students to

new ways of life.

References:1 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pedagogue /20 May 2011.

2 Quoted from S. Sadasivan. Teaching and Beyond. Coimbatore: KCT Silver Jubilee Publication, 2009.

3 Quoted from S. Sadasivan. Teaching and Beyond. Coimbatore: KCT Silver Jubilee Publication, 2009.

4 France, Anatole. The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard. Trans. & Ed. Andrew Moore. New York: Mondial, 2007.

5 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/confucius136804.html

6 http://askville.amazon.com/Gandhi-responsible-quote-customer-important-visitor-premises/DiscussionBoard.do?requestId =41966889&page=1

7 Quoted from Ned A. Flanders. Analyzing Teaching Behavior. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1970: p.15.

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