QUESTIONS OF TODAY'S STUDENTS!!!!

a message for all my fellow teachers who thought that kids doesn't know a thing and please don't tell me that they are westerners and these things do not happen in Pakistan trust me they do :) kids know a lot more than you do please learn :) please, please, please...

Quality of Parenting

i have experienced that in recent years the quality of parenting has gone considerably down, but this fact got proved when i formally joined teaching. these days all parents are interested in are grades and marks, they don't appreciate the value of learning, the joy of learning or simply the experience of learning.

i remember watching 5 minutes cartoon on TV in the morning (7:05 on PTV morning show with chacha jee) and 5 minutes in the evening and that was that, the first gift that i remember that my father got me was a box of color pencils, and we had books, loads of them and then he got us audio cassettes of stories and nursery rhymes. i remember going to parks and book fairs with my parents and siblings, but these things just don't happen today! the gift means an automated car, an expensive bag or dool or something and outing means a trip to restaurant!!!

as the prices of presents went up, so did the expectations. a parent was boasting to me that his child studies 16 hours a day and he got three different tutors come to his place to teaching him different things and on PC he is only allowed to access encyclopedias!!!!!!!! and that kid was rebellious in class, all he wanted to do was talk and talk and talk, not the fault of poor child! he was simply deprived of simple pleasures of childhood.

Second thing that has gone down is the quality of food that parents give to their kids. i remember having to eat cauliflowers and turnips and fish and occasionally a burger and French fries. we used to take home made lunch to school and we never got any money to buy stuff on our own. my mother used to keep candies and cookies at home and we had our quota fixed of them every day [one candy and two cookies]. but now parents would buy their kids pizzas and McDonald's and KFC's food as regularly as possible, not taking care of the amount of calories that kids need or the nutrition!!!! in turn making their kids fat and unhealthy. and the reason for doing this is...we can afford the stuff [in Pakistan, Pizzahut, McDonald's and KFC are considered to be for rich]

just today other teachers in staff room were discussing a problem child who sleeps in the classroom, not for the first two or three periods but the complete school day!!!!! despite a note sent to the parents and a meeting called to convince parents to put their child to be early, there was no response!!!! Mothers love staying up late to watch all the Indian saas bahu soap operas neglecting their child's need of sleep of 9 to 11 hours. just where this will take those poor kids. second thing this habit does to these kids is damaging their language and ruining their innocence and fantasy. God forbid, i'll never ever allow my own child to watch these dramas because of the language they use and the scenes they show and things they talk about [Allah ki pannah!!!]

all in all the conclusion is that parents are ruining the future of their children, they might grow up to be good doctors or engineers but they will never become good citizens and kids if  parents will not put their sincere effort into bringing up their children. sending kids to a big and fancy school is not enough, a child is the mutual responsibility of teacher and parents!!!!!

confusion unlimited 1

well this starts with the blog name and its gonna be a long time before i solves my confusions.

today's confusion: studying in Pakistan.

its been always difficult to find books related to my subjects, whether they were about software engineering or education! the basic subjects like introduction to software engineering has many books available in market but as you climb the ladder up and go for more specific subjects like requirement engineering, software architecture or documenting software design, software process model, the books disappear from market and those that are available are way too expensive for one to afford [thanks to my father, he bought me most of them :)]

and now that i am pursuing a degree in education, there are no authentic books available. books written by local authors are either out of date or incomplete and my instincts tell me not to trust them. event he course outline that we got from university is so out dated that one can easily discard it. the latest book referred for 'school organization and classroom management' was published in 1978!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and now i have problem finding the book on 'teaching of physical sciences'

research is unheard of and even at university level students are afraid of putting forward their ideas in  front of teachers and the arguments they have are the sack of arguments not learning!!!!!

my confusion will never end, i guess. :(

Things Unsaid

The world - a lousy place i live in.

People - they r very unlikeable!

Job - something i do to earn money! honestly!

Children's parent - self righteous human beings, who think that their child can never do anything wrong!

Books - sheer wastage of money

Reading - an outdated hobby, fit for introverts and a pure wastage of time!

Embroidery - girls who are good for nothing do it.

Writing blog entry: copy, paste, borrow, cheat, or ask someone else to write for you!

Human Relations: 'Valid until you fall off the ladder of success'

Cell phones - loss of hours-money

Jewelry - something that consumes half of my pay check.

School - Factory for manufacturing engineers and doctors, not human beings.

Goal of Education - to make best inhuman humans!

Knitting - an almost extinct hobby in Pakistan.

Food - base of the 80% of world problems

Creativity - something that people are obliged to end in you.

Success - easiest way of making enemies

Pakistan - the largest state in the world, despite innumerable efforts people have not succeeded in gulping it down.

the pictures are the property of their respective owners.

Innovative Teacher

During the teaching of scientific subjects a teacher must learn to be innovative. It is wrong to think that all children are destructive and can not be trusted. The truth is otherwise. Children are constructive, happy and energetic human beings. They like to be trusted and taking responsibilities. In the same way people in the surrounding environment of the children are not as vice as a teacher may think.

Trying out new techniques, in itself, is not a bad idea, neither any sensible person would deny it. Trying out techniques that fail, again and again is a bad idea. Any teacher should be able to reflect upon his/her teaching methods. They should be able to point out the weak and strong points of their teaching and overcome his/her weakness.

An innovative teacher is one, who is never scared to learn. Innovative teacher is ever ready to experiment with established teaching methods and techniques. An innovative teacher is open to criticism and use it positively to eradicate his/her weaknesses. (s)he is always learning and trying out new things. Teaching and experimenting with the new techniques and mechanisms.

During the training class teachers came up with the following arguments against using new teaching methods.

There is a general conception that children in our public schools are destructive and unaware of using various equipments used in science teaching, because of the backgrounds they come from. I think that the reason behind this concept is that teachers never try new methods with them and never trust them with anything. If a teacher take students in confidence and tell them about the value of equipment and the practical they are going to do, kids will very careful with the handling of the equipments and other  resources.

The other reason that most teachers give is that they have got limited time to complete mammoth syllabus. I think that by involving students in research and teaching process, teachers can lessen their burden and make the syllabus interesting and easy for children to understand. it only needs dedication on part of the teacher to think of new ideas.

There is a lack of resources and limited resources are kept safe, was another argument. A teacher should be able to design and collect his/her own resources. A teacher has every right to reason with the custodian of the resources. Trust should be built and expectations should be met to get access to those resources.

One last and general advice for teachers is to use effective time management routine. Instead of wasting time and chatting or doing personal work they should concentrate on teaching and making it easier for themselves and their students. All great teachers did not wait for someone to come and wake them up or make them do great things. They took initiative themselves and started changing things.