LEARNABILITY

“Subject knowledge, communication skills and preparation are the skills which I keep honing, Sir. I want to know what is that one thing which I should be working on to improve myself to be the best teacher?”, asked Jitendra.

“Be an inspiration”, pat came the answer from Murali. “It was Ravi Shankar Sir who inspired us”, said Murali looking at me.

I nodded in affirmation.

Jitendra, the chemistry teacher, followed us to the canteen. He wanted to ask a few more questions. He wanted to know which that one quality to be an effective teacher is. Jitendra was a good teacher. He had visible command on his subject. His students were well satisfied with his teaching. But he wanted to know more about how he can become the best teacher. He wanted to make a difference.

I sat calmly listening to the conversation between Murali and Jitendra.

It was an interesting discussion.?I was intrigued by the curiosity, calmness, observation, and the intensity of absorption of Jitendra. We were sitting in one corner of the canteen. It was 4 PM and the canteen was almost empty. The canteen staff were setting up things for the next course.?

Murali, my friend, is an expert leadership coach. He was invited by the institution to deliver a lecture on leadership lessons from Gita for the faculty. It was an outstanding lecture. Murali spoke for 90 minutes deliberating on various aspects of leadership and the path to being a great teacher. He answered a flurry of questions after the lecture.

I brought him to the canteen for some coffee and snacks as he prepared to leave.

“He was a master in his subject. But what made him different from other teachers was his inspirational demeanor and attitude”, said Murali, talking about Ravi Sir.?

Ravi Shankar Sir was our math teacher. He was an inspiration for us. He was our role model when we were in our school. He tickled our imagination, used to ask us provocative questions and propelled us towards searching for answers.

“We still are in touch with him and share our progress with him”, I added to what Murali said.

“Be inspirational. For that you need to remove your cape and crown. You need to be self-aware and disciplined. You need to be a role model. ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of fire’, said WB Yeats, so you must be that spark which lights the fire in your student”, said Murali.

“Ravi Sir never insisted on getting top scores. Instead, he flooded us with interesting questions. He learned new things to teach us. He made the process of learning so beautiful and intriguing. He was a keen observer of his students. He understood every nuance of his students behavior and brilliantly adapted himself. It was a different experience. He believed in a learner centric approach rather than teacher centric. In fact, the movie 3 Idiots reminds us of Ravi sir”, said Murali.?

“He promised an ‘A’ for everyone in the class. The only condition was to look beyond textbook and syllabus. He believed in informal learning. He was a proponent of the concept of enabling rather than controlling”, I added to what Murali said.

The discussion went on for 15 minutes. Jitendra heard to Murali with rapt attention, as if he was soaking in it.

“Thank you, Sir, I must leave now. I have a class scheduled”, said Jitendra getting up from his chair. After Jitendra left, I asked Murali about his opinion on Jitendra’s thoughts.

“He is curious and has that unique quality of learnability. That is the key competition differentiator. He will go a long way”, exclaimed Murali.

I learnt about learnability, a new thing for me, that day.

The 6 learnings which I could muster through the conversation were:

1. Be curious.

Steve Jobs said “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” Curiosity is the quality which drove Jobs to asking an array of questions which culminated in changing the world of technology.

2. Be calm. Stilling oneself to external noise will propel us to enhanced levels of perception.

3. Observe to learn more. Be self-aware and empathetic to be effective.

4. Adapt. Understand the human factor and needs. Practice communication skills to achieve interpersonal effectiveness.?

5. Understanding of how to motivate others. Improve on the ability to foster a shared purpose and vision.

6. Improve on the learnability quotient to be an achiever.

As quoted by Alvin Toffler, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”, learnability is that one quality that propels us to be that astute leader in our chosen arena.

What do you suggest? Please scribe your views in the comments.