‘It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.’ – Albert Einstein
It is a simple truth that, we are surrounded by uncertainties….It is a fact that we are sitting with fingers crossed….It is equally true that sometimes helplessness is gathering momentum!!! Humanity is at crossroads! So it is imperative that you stay afloat during these troubled times as hope lies eternal in human breast! Together we will take stock of our past deeds, learn new things, embrace a new work concept and adapt to the changing demands.
School is primarily a place of education which happens in a predetermined environment, but, it is a space for developing the skill of associating, skill of communicating, skill of collaborating, skill of arranging and more. For the last 16/18 months all educational institutions literally moved away from its basic objective and are forced to shut down partially or fully. No physical classes, no assemblies, no games, no sports, no dance or music. Children certainly missed their school days!!!! But to bridge the gap all schools/institutions moved towards online teaching and all organizations vie with each other to provide their best, no doubt. One academic year passed by and another one started and we have grown, our children have grown, teachers too have grown tremendously with regards to online teaching and learning. Although it has many benefits, there are also risks.
The students who are at the receivers end are indeed having their tough times because of various reasons. There are certain paucities, like poor gadgets/equipment (could be mentioned as pathetic online set-ups, which includes insufficient hardware and unstable connectivity), the complex and distressing environment at home, lack of space for learning etc. In spite of all these inadequacies when schools and other institutions move to virtual platform children feel lonely, indifferent or discouraged, exhausted and display aggressive behaviour and face attention issues. Besides these, the most common physical symptoms are sleeplessness, headache, loss of appetite, stomach complaints etc.
Studies have proved that adapting oneself into a virtual world leads to isolation from the reality which further leads to depression. The students who tend to believe the virtual world as the replica of the real world end up in a dilemma with a mistaken sense of identity. They are far behind in accomplishing the milestones of schooling. Spending valuable time in front of the online versions reduces the motor development and it seriously impairs the sensory stimulation. Not to mention the unwanted narcissist thoughts and bourgeoning stress levels in children.
Apart from all these, students face crucial problems from the teaching community as well. It is a simple reality that the inexperience of teachers regarding new technologies, the information gap between digital natives and migrants, attitude of teachers to students who have good skills in tech-oriented activities generate some unexpected hitches that play a significant role in aggravating the student connected anxieties.
The first and the foremost thing is that all the teachers are professionally qualified and competent to teach in the physical setting. In classrooms, things often do not happen at a smooth pace or in a serial order.
One student finishes a task while another is still plodding halfway. A third student looks like he/she is reading, but the child may actually be in an imaginary world. The teacher attempts to bring back the child by communicating in a different way. At that time another one may interrupt with a question about the home work given. Then another child immediately asks permission to use toilet and many more. The teacher will attend to all these.
A teacher should know the functions or purposes of communication, especially the equilibrium of discourse/dialogue related to content, to procedures, and to controlling behavior. All these aspects will govern the structure of participation in the process of teaching and learning physically. The students will get the right message and grasp the pulse of the class. This is a kind of learning which enables oneself to adjust with the whole atmosphere. One way to manage situations like these is to understand and become comfortable with the key features of communication that are characteristics of classrooms. Remember, in the virtual world all these are categorically missing.
For the teaching community the present digital platform coaching is absolutely a new thing. Various teaching methodologies are now getting rusted. It is sad that only one method is dominating, that is lecture method and to the maximum conversation method, but it is not working successfully due to various reasons. So, just memorization of facts is happening and of course, along with that teachers are using PPTs, some videos etc for making teaching effective. Whatever is happening students are simply watching.
Unlike in the physical class room the issues are different in virtual. Just to concretize, here are some real instances .Sometimes, students join late in the class or are unable to turn in homework or get late in the submission of the completed worksheets or are unable to switch on to the video mode, or face disruptive functioning of the audio devices. These occur, may be, due to circumstances beyond their control. Many a time the teachers fail to gauge the real factors responsible for this. Instead of being considerate and tolerant, they blame the students and tend to be judgmental. This further increases the pressure which in turn creates extreme fear and panic among children. At this juncture it is the moral and professional responsibility of all teachers to understand the reality. For this, first they must be able to identify the problem, analyze the nature of the problem, and must be able to diagnose the problematic situation. Teachers must be extremely flexible in approach, develop accommodative nature, imbibe and demonstrate liberal attitude and alter the entire thought process considering the extraordinary and unequalled circumstance that exists.
We are constantly talking about 21st century skills. But, in the present scenario, schools primarily focus on traditional academic skills rather than real-life skills. It is debatable, how to instil these skills virtually. But it’s clear that the ongoing pandemic has utterly disrupted students’ education, impacting the mental and physical health of countless students. Maybe, we will all get to experience the new world order, where we restructure our lives and re-skill ourselves to not just survive, but to thrive in future. We will reorganize not just systems, but our thought processes too As educators/learners/facilitators we have to restructure our thoughts, reprocess or reframe perception and re-skill tactics
Dear teachers/facilitators, you have chosen to lead and educate kids and the passion that inspired that choice still lives in you. Don’t let anything or anyone douse that fire. Your students are depending on the light it exudes. Let the passion and the fire within keep burning in you every day.
(The author is Principal of Rajagiri Public School, Doha)
