Teaching is different from Learning!!

“Over 160 years ago, Horace Mann, American educator and founder of the first school for teacher education in the United States (1839), wrote, “The ability to acquire and the ability to impart are wholly different talents. The former may exist in the most liberal manner without the latter”

The ability to acquire is the power of understanding the subject manner of investigation where as aptness to teach involves the power of perceiving how far a scholar understands the subject matter to be taught, and how he puts into steps so that it make a good story for to catch the interest of the learner. Teaching is the highest form of understanding. It involves the power of discovering and of solving at the time the exact difficulty by which the learner is embarrassed. The removal of a slight impediment, the drawing aside of the thinnest veil which happens to divert his vision is worth more to him than volumes of lore on collateral subjects. Professors known as outstanding lecturers do two things; they use a simple plan and many examples. (W. McKeachie)


Aptness to teach includes the presentation of the different parts of a subject in a natural order. Thought flows in terms of stories - stories about events, stories about people, and stories about intentions and achievements. The best teachers are the best story tellers. We learn in the form of stories
If a child is told that the globe is about 25,000 miles in circumference before he has any conception of the length of a mile, the statement is not only utterly useless as an act of instruction but it will probably prevent him ever afterward from gaining and adequate idea of the subject. The novelty will be gone, and yet the fact unknown. To acquire a few of the facts gives us fragments only; and even to master all the facts, but to obtain them promiscuously, leaves what is acquired so unconnected and loose that any part of it may be jostled out of place and lost, or remain only to mislead.
In its broadest sense, learning can be defined as a process of progressive change from ignorance to knowledge, from inability to competence, and from indifference to understanding....In much the same manner, instruction-or education-can be defined as the means by which we systematize the situations, conditions, tasks materials, and opportunities by which learners acquire new or different ways of thinking, feeling, and doing.
Most models [of learning] assume that the purpose of learning is to incorporate new information or skills into the learner's existing knowledge structure and to make that knowledge accessible. . . . Learning begins with the need for some motivation, an intention to learn. The motivation, the incentive, the reward for the acquisition of information must be built into the program itself. External rewards are not motivators. At every step the learner must receive satisfaction from the act of learning and from doing it right. The learner must then concentrate attention on the important aspects of what is to be learned and differentiate them from noise in the environment. While those important aspects are being identified, the learner accesses the prior knowledge that already exists in memory, because a key to learning is connecting what is known to what is being learned. New information must be processed, structured, and connected in such a way as to be accessible in the future; this process is known as encoding. The deeper the processing of the information in terms of its underlying organization, the better the learning and later retrieval of that information. This processing requires active involvement . The learner must verify an understanding of the structure by receiving feedback, from the internal and external environments, on the encoding choices made.
. Learning can only be done by the learner. It cannot be done by the “teacher.” The teacher can only be a help to learning. The pupil who needs external pushing and supervision for learning will not learn. All the information, all the affirmation, and all the motivation should lie in the process of learning itself. Teaching has a lot more to do with perception, understanding and arrangement of the knowledge to be imparted than it has to do, apparently, with intellect.
How well do your presentations, your training, meet these criteria? If we are boring people, they will stop learning.

He who is apt to teach is acquainted, not only with common methods for common minds but with peculiar methods for pupils of peculiar dispositions and temperaments; and he is acquainted with the principles of all methods where by he can vary his plan according to any difference of circumstances.
In the workplace, as well, we would be wise to remember that teaching is an art that must be adapted to the learners learning patterns and by those with an aptitude to teach. In both our schools and workplaces, we need to enable students to learn and teachers to teach.

My 25th Birthday Celebration

It’s my 25th birthday; I always wanted to do something really special on this day. As the date approached I got so many suggestions from friends, good restaurants, clubs, Vegas Trip and many more, there were so many exciting things do to that it was difficult to pick which one I wanted to pick and attach to me turning 25.
I share my birth month with one of my chines friend who was also turning 25 the same month. We both started getting calls that friends wants to take us out for lunch/ dinner to celebrate. In mid of all these plans for celebration, I happened to watch a TV show on “World Vision” and their way of supporting children. It touched my heart and I got convinced to donate some money to World Vision. Nest day during lunch time I told these things to my friend and she added up by saying that she has a friend who works for world vision. So we planned to visit her the next weekend. We met her and found out the structured way the money goes to then from our hands. And there we both decided that this is the best way to make our birthday special.
Now our target was to collect maximum money and make the best use of them. It was tough especially when we were planning we were planning to use our birthday celebrations for this cause. It was sometimes really difficult to convince friends that they should not take us out for lunch and buy gifts for us, but they should donate that much amount of money to the world vision giving our reference.
Both me and Jennifer were doing this to our friends, some just gave a smile and agreed, at the same time we really had tough time convincing others that too very politely and not making the discussion stressful. We managed to donate collectively around $400. This was the combine effort from me and Jennifer. When we were donating on phone then they said a name to which this money is going to and for what purpose. That was kind of “ok-ok” to us. So mine and Jennifer’s birthday passed and still September has not ended. Last week of Sept. I got a mail from world vision. I opened it and it was a hand written letter. Hand writing was not good and was of a kid. I read through, it was the child who got my money and was thanking me for helping him and his friends by referring so many people to help them. The mail was accompanied by one of his black & White Photograph, he has written my name on a sheet almost like a A4 size sheet and was holding that and posing for the pic.
That was so touching and made me feel so special which I can not describe in words. The day I got this mail was Saturday and the whole weekend I read that letter so many times and every time it made feel special and spread a smile on my lips.
Monday I went to office and my mail box was full of my office friends, they all got a thanks mail from world vision and that made them feel so special that they have the ability to influence somebody’s life to this extent. Whole day people kept calling and sharing their feeling and over all thanking me and Jennifer for such a wonderful way of celebrating birthday and making them a part of it.
It made me feel so nice and special, an almost a month after my birthdate I realized how special my 25th birthday was. Even today going through those thoughts makes me delighted. I will always remember my 25th birthday, I made it a great day in my life.
Thanks to all my friends who helped me, I know many of you were not convinced when I was telling you to donate and you did it just for me. Thanks a lot to all of you….. for making me feel so special and giving a wonderful memory for life long.

My Country's Independence Day

15th August, this day reminds me of my special days in India. For a long time this was one of the few fixed days when I used to prepare my speech and present to my school mates, of course this continues as long as I was studying. Whole year I used to prepare for 15th Aug and 26 Jan and every year it was a challenge for me to make better and more influential.
Schools, no doubt are the best place to celebrate Independence Day. The best compliments I received on this day was “Sangeeta when you say, I can feel India in your heart”, this was the compliment for my speech when I was in standard 6, and this was from the most notorious guy of my class. That day I was not so sensible to appreciate it, but yes, even today I can hear his words in my ears and makes me feel proud.
Similar other incidence was when I was in standard 9 in school. Aug is usually rain time in India, I had just started my speech and usually the duration I speak on these days used to be somewhere in between 6-7 mins, and it started raining. It was not so heavy rain relative to the rain in Bokaro, but enough to wet some body in 8- 10 mins. When I realized that it has started raining, I was like ‘now people are gona run and its gona be a mesh of my speech. I too was in open and all my friends were in open too, most of teachers and guests were in shade. My ethics of presentation did not allow me to leave the mic and rum away, so I stayed there, but to my most surprise the listening crowd did make movements but there was hardly anybody who ran away.
Throughout the time I was speaking I was having at the back of mind that they all are here just because of the fear of the principle. Anyway I finished, all drenched, thanked all my listeners and finally headed towards my place in open. And I few moments I saw every body running towards the class rooms or towards other shady place near by. My teachers and principle tried a lot to control then but it was tough and they all came to common consent that Sangeeta’s speech was the best way to end the program and they all appreciated me for completing even when it started raining. I always felt that that audience deserves more appreciation; much more than me, to remain where they were and respect the nation.
There are so many these kinds of sweet memories I get reminded of at least twice a year.
This is second 15th Aug I am not in India, but I feel I keep an on activities happening in India much more than what I used to when I was staying there. Still there is something which calls from within and makes me feel that” I wish I was in India”. For last few days all the newspapers are full of India’s independence articles. I usually browse through, “days in picture” through Times Of India and Economic Times, this year more than the pictures of celebrations, there are pictures of Flood, people dying and fighting among themselves for AID. Today morning I was sitting in office and going through news paper, everything makes me to feel like crying and somehow get back to India. I do not how will that be help for them, or not even sure of why I want to. This is the most common reaction my inner self presents to anything which hurts my India.
Some how I feel what ever it be , its something deeply related to me, I usually do not think much of it, but its within me … by default.