Teacher and teaching

There are teachers and there are teachers!
Now anyone who teaches you something is a teacher right!? That is an oversimplification!

When you see the classification of teaching styles or teacher world over, you may have three or four! Did you know we have six!

That was a teachable moment!

For ages we have been accustomed to the didactic method of teaching. In most schools at the primary and secondary levels this is the way you have been taught while later on you get on to the socratic method!

So then what are Didactic and Socratic?

Well, the socratic is eliciting information from students through a direct line of reasoning. The tutor endeavors as much as possible to avoid giving information away. The Socratic Method involves a shared dialogue between teacher and students. The teacher leads by posing thought-provoking questions. Students actively engage by asking questions of their own. The discussion goes back and forth and then knowledge is gained or shared!

The didactic tutoring style has the tutor beginning with an explanation of the material the student should learn followed by questioning that plays more of a role of drawing the student’s attention to the information that the tutor has already explained rather than eliciting this information from the student.
Basically in Didactic teaching, teachers create structured lessons that focus on lectures. Teachers can use different teaching methods depending on the needs of their students, their personal preferences and other factors. Didactic teaching is often well-suited for teaching basic subjects and instructing students who thrive with structured directions.

The didactic method works at the lower level when the teacher in effect knows everything! When a teacher knows everything then it means that he or she can only be as good as the teacher while in Socratic method the teacher may try to make the student even better than the teacher!

Now of course in school you have a combination of these two techniques and a new one is called the heuristic method.

A heuristic method of teaching is an instructional approach that emphasizes the use of problem-solving and discovery-based learning as well as experience-based learning  to facilitate student learning. Heuristic basically means any method or process that helps in problem-solving, self learning, and discovery. Heuristic teaching approach means the teacher acts as more than an instructor  and encourages students to explore concepts, ideas, and problems. Teacher poses open-ended questions, encourages student participation, and guides students towards the results.

Now coming to our old age classification of teachers seen in the Gurukools!

The classification here is based on the effect the teacher has on you!

If your teacher gives you direct and new knowledge but no explanation then he or she is an Adhyapak!

If the teacher gives you both knowledge and information which means that he or she explains them some more then he or she is an Upadhyaya!

Then there are teachers who after giving you knowledge and information, give you or teach you new skills then he or she is an Acharya!

Then you have those who are very knowledgeable in a subject and they can give you deep insight into that subject; he or she is then a Pandit!

Then again you meet teachers who make your own thoughts come out and give you a goal or a vision! Make you follow your vision and shows what you can do in a visionary manner! Those gems are called a Dhrista!

Finally the teacher who awakens your wisdom and leads you from darkness to light like Krishna did to Arjuna. The one who makes you realise that you have knowledge and you can now understand that even though you are knowledgeable, you are simply a speck in the big Universe!  The one who makes you bright, knowledgeable but humble in spite of the knowledge is called the GURU!

So you do see that the teacher is defined not only by his or her teaching, but also by what he or she can make you achieve! Now if you are in a cop show then you cannot get a better senior and GURU like Shivaji Satam!

Now remember  your Gurus and Acharyas and sleep!

SHubh ratri…