Teaching vs Learning

Teaching is defined as the sharing of knowledge and experience with others. It is the occupation or the profession of a teacher. “Teaching is the one profession that creates other professions.” It is an art of transferring knowledge and ideas to others in order to provide them assistance in fulfilling their dreams. The main objective is to make learning more effective. Many definitions of teaching have been stated over the years. According to Philip W. Jackson, “Teaching is a face to face encounter between two or more persons, one of whom (teacher) intends to effect certain changes in the other participants (students).” Teaching process includes passing on knowledge to others or guiding someone to show how something is done or causing someone to learn with the help of examples or experiences. It varies from teacher to teacher. It depends on how the teacher understands the term ‘teaching’ and that will create an impact on the environment of a classroom. According to Paul Hirst, “A teaching is only teaching if people can take on what is taught.” He suggested considering the feelings and needs of the students. In that way a proper teaching can take place that will provide the knowledge a student needs. An effective teaching makes the class more interesting. It allows the students to grow more interest in the subject matter and they participate in active conversation. This interaction gets the students thinking and helps them build new skills. Engaging lessons helps the students to concentrate more and memorise more. It is the teacher’s job to keep the students focused on the lecture. It should be less of a lecture and more of a conversation. The teacher should always keep the students engaged by asking them questions about the particular chapter and ask for their opinions. A teacher should always be prepared for loose-end questions and encourage the students even if they don’t know the answer. Teaching is effective when the students can retain more of what they learn. The teacher should ask questions about his or her teaching method and see if they think about anything needed to be done differently. Criticisms help a person to grow in ways one cannot believe it can be done. The answer of the students would help a teacher to teach the same thing differently to the new students. 

An effective teaching is possible when one can determine the purpose of the lesson being taught. A good teacher should know how to create space for student thinking and discussion, how to push the student thinking further and how to make time for reflection. A teacher should always listen to the opinions and suggestions of the students and encourage them to do the same for each other. In these competitive times, a teaching process should be in a career oriented manner. One should always ask the questions like, ‘ Is the particular lesson useful in the current industries?’ or ‘Will the lesson help the student in his or her future career?’ Answering these questions will help the teachers to teach the students in a more effective way. Developing an effective teaching process can also be done by incorporating the interests of the students in the lessons. The needs of the students should be taken into consideration so that the students can visualise themselves in the class. They must relate to each and every word taught in the class. The teaching process must reflect the cultures of the students. Activities and assignments should be incorporated according to the needs of the students. In that way, they will be engaged and involved in the activities, while building different skills side by side. 

Teaching and learning are related to each other. In the case of teaching, we share our knowledge and experiences that already exist in us. But in the case of learning, we acquire new knowledge and experiences. We get the opportunity to increase our knowledge by gaining new information. It helps us understand many situations from a different and better perspective. Learning is a gradual process. It cannot happen overnight. Gaining knowledge and applying it in our daily lives can be termed as effective learning. Learning is not restricted to a classroom. One can learn anywhere and at any point of time. Apart from bookish knowledge, we can always learn from our own mistakes and from the experience of others. Learning is a never ending process. We start learning from the second we are born and continue until death. “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”, - Albert Einstein. There is no definite age of learning. Learning helps us in storing more and more information that can help us in creating new ideas and opinions. We can learn through various ways. One of the famous types is rote learning where one learns through memorising information so that he or she can recall it exactly how it was read or heard. It is used mainly in music and religion. Meaningful learning is important to relate the information with others. Scientific learning or evidence based learning helps the students differentiate between a myth and a fact. Multimedia learning helps with both auditory and visual aid that helps us memorize a piece of information better. E- learning and augmented learning helps us learn with the help of advanced technologies. Teaching is helping and guiding others, whereas learning is self development. Learning is preferable to teaching since teaching is all about giving, but learning is all about receiving. On the other hand, teaching others about our knowledge, experiences, principles, cultures and traditions can be valuable to the learners. The new learners can build a whole new perspective based on our experiences. Learning new things everyday should become the part and parcel of our life. It helps us acquire new skills along with the factual information and we should pass on the knowledge gained by our learning.