Motivational Techniques for Teachers

Prakash Srinivasan

(Prakash is a student of Swami who did his B.Com(Hons) in Brindavan campus and then his MBA and PG Diploma in Indian Culture and Philosophy in Prashanthi Nilayam. During his student days, Prakash had the good fortune of being a Mandir bhajan singer and has enjoyed singing for our Lord many times. A passionate lover of music, food and nature- Prakash is currently heading the European system operations for Hewlett Packard(HP) from the Bangalore office. His enthusiasm, humour and cheerfulness are contagious. In this article, Prakash shares his insights on cinema and how movies can deeply affect our daily life).

Teachers play a very important role in the growth of a child and they need to motivate the children continuously to ensure the children enjoy the learning process. A mechanical teaching process serves no purpose at all. Here are some pointers which can help teachers to teach with all the motivation so that they can make teaching an interactive process:

·         Patience: Teachers must learn to be patient with children because not all children will grasp everything fast. They need to give extra help to those children who may take more time to learn. Patience is also managing the behavioral aspects of children so that they get a chance to develop emotionally.

·         Focus on Understanding: Teachers must always strive to ensure that the children study in such a way that they always understand rather than they just mugging the subjects. The child who understands the subject can answer any question related to the subject and it also make the process of learning more enjoyable.

·         Using Practical Tools: Teachers must always teach in such a way that they use multiple tools to teach the subject which makes it more exciting. Just teaching stuff from the textbook is very easy and makes the whole process very monotonous. For e.g. in Geography teachers must necessarily use tools like maps/globe and also pictures where necessary. They must also keep the children updated about the latest developments in the field otherwise the knowledge is redundant. All this will increase the enthusiasm of the child leading to better results and performance.

·         Avoid Differentiation: Teachers must avoid falling into this trap. The worst thing they can do it is to favour those students who get the best marks. In fact a best teacher would be the one who brings about a drastic improvement in a child who does badly initially. It’s very easy to teach intelligent students and get the best out of them. But the real test for a teacher is how they can make an average student to become better.