Inside Panorama

Bored Teachers

Other than all the various 'teaching methodologies' available to both rich and poor countries, there's a key to making students understand what's being taught: Excitement!

How does excitement penetrate through a classroom full of sleepy, bored students? Through the teacher obviously. And surprisingly, most teachers are able to convey the thought that what they're studying is not the latest form of torture. However, when a teacher goes into the same classroom with the same subject year after year after year...after year....is he/she not bound to get bored? After 2 or 3 years you know the subject like the back of your hand, how can you be excited about it? And so many teachers do this. I know teachers who have been exactly that 'Teachers' for 25+ years. Now, there are three kinds of teachers I've run into:

1. Those who are passionate about teaching
2. Those who teacher for the money
3. Those girls who are teaching to pass time before they get married

Given, that the passionate ones will never get bored, and the passing time ones won't have the time to get bored. But the greatest percentage of teachers are the second category - those in it for the money. A great number of them will also not have the skills to move beyond being a teacher - so is it not the responsibility of the schools to ensure that the stagnant phase in any teachers life is not reached? And if it is, what can be done to change the status quo? There's nothing worse than having a boring subject (in the eyes of children, ALL of them) taught by a bored teacher.

posted by Sarah @ 11:10 AM