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MCKV Lecture
broke. He went to get a piece of rag to clean the oil. When he returned, he found that the dog had
licked every drop of oil from the ground! He realized that his dog did indeed love cod-liver oil. It
didnt like the method of hid feeding!
So, effective communication in order to understand the exact movement within the
childs mind; and appropriate mode of delivering the content to the students these are two
aspects of Empathy that are highly relevant to us teachers.
Swami Vivekananda has some very specific advice to us teachers in
this regard. He says: The only true teacher is he who can convert
himself, as it were, into a thousand persons at a moments notice.
The only true teacher is he who can immediately come down to the
level of the student, and transfer his soul to the students soul and
see through the students eyes and hear through his ears and
understand through his mind. Such a teacher can really teach and
none else He alone teaches who has something to give, for
teaching is not talking. Teaching is communicating. He further
says, The true teacher is one who can throw his whole force into the growth trajectory of the
taught. Without real sympathy, we can never teach well.
How are we to be empathetic when we teach daily? We may follow some thumb rules
such as:
1. Let us try to understand truly the exact state of mind of the child. How do we do this?
This is by clear communication. Children speak to us through their behavior more
than through their words. A student who is defiant is actually not trying to insult you.
He is trying to say something, perhaps his helplessness in dealing with something or
someone. Children feel helpless very often.
2. We must however be cautious regarding over-empathy. As teachers, we need to
empathize with our students, but then, we also need to safeguard our objectivity.
Doctors and lawyers are given that training, never to get emotionally attached to their
patients and clients. Teachers are not given that training. We need to pick it up while
working. We need to come down to the level of the student. But we cannot stay
there with the students! We need to again bring them up to where we generally stand.
The goal is not to merely understand the child. The goal is to really understand the
child and then lift him up to our level.
3. We need to prepare our mind be in order to be truly empathic in classroom. As
trained teachers, we all prepare for our lessons the content, the structure, the
outcome but, that alone doesnt suffice. Swamijis words which I quoted just now
clearly imply that we need to sufficiently prepare ourselves way beyond just the
syllabus and delivery if effective teaching-learning has to occur.
a. One of the most important things that we need to keep in mind is that we
should not bring our personal issues into the classroom. What do I mean?
Suppose we have some unresolved conflict going on at home. I have to take
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care to see that this doesnt affect my mind, and hence my working, in the
classroom today. This demands a great amount of self-discipline on our part.
Not just home troubles, we may have many biases, many prejudices,
regarding any number of issues. Do we consciously check ourselves when we
enter the classroom? Let me give you an example, if you all permit me, and
dont feel bad. I have found out that most people in our country dream of a
Government Job. Working for the State or Central Government alone is a
proper job. Rest of the things are all drudgery, or slavery, or demeaning! So,
what I find is, many people working in private concerns, keep on preparing
for various Government Exams. Are we not cheating these students who are in
my charge now? Am I giving my full attention or am I goofing off by doing
the bare minimum?
b. We need to introspect about every incident of anger outburst we have in the
classroom. The typical classroom environment is a very complex
psychological situation. It is a situation of complete power in the hands of the
teacher and utter subjugation of the students. Stanford psychologist Phillip
Zimbardo studied this situation in great detail and brought out the inherent
flaws in this system. Getting angry in a classroom is necessary, at times. But,
it is justified only when our anger brings about the necessary behavior
correction in the student. Not every anger outburst is justified nor is it
necessary. When I got angry on my students today, was it my defense
mechanism releasing pent up emotions against the Principal?
c. Smile. A teacher who cannot smile shouldnt teach. Confucius famously said
that one who cant smile should open a shop. I hold that one who cannot smile
often shouldnt teach. Children, no matter how grown up they are, feel
diffident with us. A smile on our face will open up channels for the kids to
approach us.
d. The most important thing, however, about being a teacher is that we need to
enjoy our job. Joy is infectious, just as sorrow. Kids evaluate us, much better
than how we evaluate them. They may not be able to verbalize the exact
mentation on which they evaluate us, but, believe me; they do. Children see
though us and discern if we truly like our job or do we just work superficially.
They clearly recognize the extra effort we take in making some idea easier for
them to understand, and realize if we did that extra job, or did we just parrot
what is already mentioned in printed books. We will not be able to put in that
extra effort unless we really like what we do. And that matters immensely.
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