DISCLAIMER :
The photos of this blog are used from online sources and are not taken by me. No infringement of copyright law is intended.
Copyright : Swarnadip Chatterjee.
15 November 2015
When all passion spent, a critical perspective emerges in silent hours of dawn. You lie sleepless in your bed, fearing that morning is not far away. A gradual sense of distress encapsulates your senses and no matter how hard you concentrate on your strength of diverting to a sound sleep, it ends up making your nerves even more perturbed.
But you are an optimist. You have always dreamt of academics and pedagogy since your salad days. Now it is too late to change or it is the time. Perhaps, it is the time to relook at the recent trends that is bothering your research and hindering your motion to this arena of exploration. What else remains to be done rather than a last attempt to change it before you say "I quit!" ? It is never an easy experience.
The principal purpose of this blog is to define, review, analyze and effectuate "pedagogy". Before I begin a proper articulation of what I nurtured about pedagogy since my childhood, it is very much telling here that the tone of this writing is basically didactic in nature. Though it allows criticism in all its forms and variations, it does not attempt to demean any prevailing concept which are in some way or the other "effective" for many. In fact, it talks about effectiveness of a proper pedagogy in the long run. However, it also questions, undefines and redefines the myth regarding "effective teaching".
Second, this article is not referential in nature. This is a complete personal experience and exploration. Therefore, it is rather subjective and subjectively analytical. At times, I might draw references from history, myth or recent incidents that shaped my perception but I hereby admit my ignorance that those are few in numbers. Also, I admit that this writing philosophises but does not at all attempt to preach (though I mentioned before about its didactic tone). What it, therefore, aims at is deliverance of a personal philosophy and point out how that philosophy was/is being formulated.
25 November 2015
Third, and hereby I mention one of the mightiest points of the entire initiative, as the quotation mark of the name of this blog suggests, the new pedagogy is not actually new. It is an age-old concept which always existed in our indigenous system of teaching and learning process and proved to be effective for many. Let me share a personal experience that I witnessed so many times with my family members. As a teenager, I hope almost all of you inquired your parents regarding any information you have read in your textbooks but could not recall for some reason or the other. I emphasize on the academic content or nature of the enquiry. Take for example, when was the third battle of Panipat took place? Or, what is momentum? Or, what is the world's largest lake? In certain cases, and you might be able to relate it to me, you got the right answer or a clue that might have helped you in certain way to call to mind what you were looking for.
Definitely, I am not trying to conclude that information is knowledge but definitely information is key to knowledge. It depends on the informed mind, if at all he guides and handles the information for the desired cause. This argument might be strengthened by pointing out that certain learned people like these might be able to enlighten you further on it in a simple and attractive manner as if they are not "teaching" at all but recounting story of a nation, of a race or even of an object or of an abstract concept. Everything in this earth has a story, a factual story (and not an imaginary one) ; it is for us to create it. And there are people who either created the story or learned it by heart and gradually, internalised those so that it no longer become a part of their information-garbage. It became knowledge.
On the other hand, and I do not know whether it is due to my 'tamasik state' of body, mind and intellect, there were/are teenagers like us who could not even recollect in the second term of the academic year whatever has been taught in the first term. Even if we could, despite the newly invented pedagogy, project works, peer learning process, smart classroom teaching with audio and video teaching aids, use of e-pen, multicoloured chalks etc, very few of us could narrate this story. Very few of us can confidently claim that I "know" nothing of the entire process but I attempted.
Where exactly are we going wrong? Or is it at all a flaw or just a change which is inevitable and perhaps should be welcomed?
The "new" pedagogy talks about a pedagogy which is not new, but is forgotten. It talks about the necessity of its resurrection (if it is needed at all) and if it can be customised (or if it all customisation is necessary) and implemented for certain of us who want to learn and does not rely on the quick made-easy methods of enlightenment available in the market. It looks at certain available and popular methods and analyzes their effectiveness in the recent context.
Fourth, and the last and the least important point which I should mention once, is that this is not a research thesis. It is a blog which narrates a perception as I already mentioned and at best it tries to make other think, rethink, ponder, analyze and constructively modify what is in vogue. Let us once again recall something anonymously conceived long back : what is popular, might not be what is beneficial.
Fast foods pamper our taste buds but at the end, it causes whatever it meant to cause!
The photos of this blog are used from online sources and are not taken by me. No infringement of copyright law is intended.
Copyright : Swarnadip Chatterjee.
15 November 2015
But you are an optimist. You have always dreamt of academics and pedagogy since your salad days. Now it is too late to change or it is the time. Perhaps, it is the time to relook at the recent trends that is bothering your research and hindering your motion to this arena of exploration. What else remains to be done rather than a last attempt to change it before you say "I quit!" ? It is never an easy experience.
The principal purpose of this blog is to define, review, analyze and effectuate "pedagogy". Before I begin a proper articulation of what I nurtured about pedagogy since my childhood, it is very much telling here that the tone of this writing is basically didactic in nature. Though it allows criticism in all its forms and variations, it does not attempt to demean any prevailing concept which are in some way or the other "effective" for many. In fact, it talks about effectiveness of a proper pedagogy in the long run. However, it also questions, undefines and redefines the myth regarding "effective teaching".
Second, this article is not referential in nature. This is a complete personal experience and exploration. Therefore, it is rather subjective and subjectively analytical. At times, I might draw references from history, myth or recent incidents that shaped my perception but I hereby admit my ignorance that those are few in numbers. Also, I admit that this writing philosophises but does not at all attempt to preach (though I mentioned before about its didactic tone). What it, therefore, aims at is deliverance of a personal philosophy and point out how that philosophy was/is being formulated.
25 November 2015
Third, and hereby I mention one of the mightiest points of the entire initiative, as the quotation mark of the name of this blog suggests, the new pedagogy is not actually new. It is an age-old concept which always existed in our indigenous system of teaching and learning process and proved to be effective for many. Let me share a personal experience that I witnessed so many times with my family members. As a teenager, I hope almost all of you inquired your parents regarding any information you have read in your textbooks but could not recall for some reason or the other. I emphasize on the academic content or nature of the enquiry. Take for example, when was the third battle of Panipat took place? Or, what is momentum? Or, what is the world's largest lake? In certain cases, and you might be able to relate it to me, you got the right answer or a clue that might have helped you in certain way to call to mind what you were looking for.
Definitely, I am not trying to conclude that information is knowledge but definitely information is key to knowledge. It depends on the informed mind, if at all he guides and handles the information for the desired cause. This argument might be strengthened by pointing out that certain learned people like these might be able to enlighten you further on it in a simple and attractive manner as if they are not "teaching" at all but recounting story of a nation, of a race or even of an object or of an abstract concept. Everything in this earth has a story, a factual story (and not an imaginary one) ; it is for us to create it. And there are people who either created the story or learned it by heart and gradually, internalised those so that it no longer become a part of their information-garbage. It became knowledge.
On the other hand, and I do not know whether it is due to my 'tamasik state' of body, mind and intellect, there were/are teenagers like us who could not even recollect in the second term of the academic year whatever has been taught in the first term. Even if we could, despite the newly invented pedagogy, project works, peer learning process, smart classroom teaching with audio and video teaching aids, use of e-pen, multicoloured chalks etc, very few of us could narrate this story. Very few of us can confidently claim that I "know" nothing of the entire process but I attempted.
Where exactly are we going wrong? Or is it at all a flaw or just a change which is inevitable and perhaps should be welcomed?
The "new" pedagogy talks about a pedagogy which is not new, but is forgotten. It talks about the necessity of its resurrection (if it is needed at all) and if it can be customised (or if it all customisation is necessary) and implemented for certain of us who want to learn and does not rely on the quick made-easy methods of enlightenment available in the market. It looks at certain available and popular methods and analyzes their effectiveness in the recent context.
Fourth, and the last and the least important point which I should mention once, is that this is not a research thesis. It is a blog which narrates a perception as I already mentioned and at best it tries to make other think, rethink, ponder, analyze and constructively modify what is in vogue. Let us once again recall something anonymously conceived long back : what is popular, might not be what is beneficial.
Fast foods pamper our taste buds but at the end, it causes whatever it meant to cause!
No comments:
Post a Comment