Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Art of Teaching

About an year and a half ago, I was attending my child's annual day at his school with a friend whose son too attended the same school. They were showing a presentation listing out English Literature books they intended to introduce in primary grades. I was impressed to see the likes of R K Laxman, Roald Dahl, and Ruskin Bond in primary section itself and commented something about it to my friend. Surprisingly, he asked me whether the school will take care of everything about the studies or we parents would have to step-in as well.

The other common remark one would keep hearing during regular dinner table discussions is about some xyz child being "very gifted" and how intelligence is genetic implying hereby it is as readily bequeathed from parents to children as is our jaw-line.  

As much I was disappointed by the ignorance of my friend about the role of parents in a child's education, I am equally saddened by the "gifted" argument which in a way silences any investigation as to why a child might be showing the evidence of intelligence which we have typically attributed  either to the quirk of fate or to the line of succession.

I don't blame them - even I was the part of this school of thought like the rest of the planet but luckily for me, I stopped being ignorant as soon as I became a father.

This blog intends to play the role of a myth buster about several misconceptions which we have harboured about the learning potential of kids. It will also provide some insight on how a proactive parental involvement in upbringing can change the course of life of our kids. And most importantly, it will lay out a structure, resources, ideas for teaching which parents can readily use with their children.

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