Who is a teacher?

I have seen that some teachers themselves are not clear about their role. It is important to know who is a teacher and what he/she stands for. What is the role of a teacher? Having taught management students for nearly 20 years, I have developed some understanding of the role of a teacher.

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"A teacher is an inquisitive learner who develops a passion for some subject & starts acquiring domain knowledge which then transcends the public domain. Brimming with knowledge, he develops an eagerness to share this acquired knowledge wrapped in his wisdom with those who are eager to acquire it, but with lesser time & efforts."

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My definition of a teacher has certain important facets. Each facet is unique and critical for being a teacher.

An inquisitive learner A good teacher is a good student himself. Initially, his focus is on learning things for himself. His learning is unstructured and exploratory in nature. As time passes by, he becomes organized & his learning process gets structured. In academic terms, this organized learning which has a specific objective, methodology, analysis tools & reporting structure is called research.

A teacher is a researcher & develops scholarship.

Scholarship refers to a higher level of learning which is a process of acquiring the advanced domain knowledge. Scholarship develops a holistic attitude in a teacher. He/she realizes the importance of looking at things in totality. The depth of knowledge, acquired through scholarship, provides him/her the vision to see this critical dimension.

Scholarship changes the vision of the teacher from two-dimensions to three dimensions. The third & important direction is the conceptual skills. It helps in knowing the fact that the sum is more than the addition of parts.

The scholarship develops an eye for detail. The teacher understands the incremental value added by every minute detail. An eye for detail becomes the obsession of scholarly teachers. They lose tolerance for lack of details. Some students start looking at them as 'tough teacher' but in reality, they become teachers committed to excellence.

A scholar becomes a teacher when he develops a strong need to share his knowledge.

Expanding Horizons Great teachers also get connected to the academic & professional community which is devoted to the domain area. Sharing out-grows the classroom. The teacher becomes a writer & speaker. As his visibility improves his network expands. Networking among people sharing the passion helps them to progress rapidly in their journey towards excellence.

Good teachers understand the importance of networking for the advancement of knowledge.

They use tools like conferences, workshop & training programmes for the purpose of networking. Participation in global conferences helps them join hands with other researchers from different parts of the world. Such co-operation opens up the next doors. Value of a research enhances when global researchers become active partners.

Great teachers make their network available to their students. They piggyback their students and explore their network to create an access which they badly need at the beginning of their career.

Great teachers have a great sense of piggybacking. They know very well the stages of the career when they need to piggyback their students. They understand the areas which need piggybacking. Most importantly, they know when to refuse to piggyback and when to stop it, if allowed for a specific reason & for a specific period.

Good teachers focus on one subject rather than trying to be jack of everything. Such focus gives then their identity.

Most of the good teachers have a mono-focus. For them, depth is more important than the span. They choose their domain area & stick to it for life. Some of the teachers go on sharpening their focus, with time, rather than diluting it. Power comes to them by deep diving into the sea of knowledge.

I realized that a teacher goes through different phases during the teaching journey. In the early stages of his career, he dispenses knowledge, the focus is on sharing knowledge. His need to share knowledge drives his teaching style. As he progresses to the next level of his teaching career, he identifies the important life skills required to be developed by his students. Skill development of his students becomes the agenda of the teacher. Students use these skills to make their living. Skills are required to be practised for perfection & students need longer support from teachers. The longevity of association brings familiarity & development of a bond between a teacher & a student. Such teachers are transformed to coach & mentors to students. A teacher is committed to knowledge but a coach is committed to the welfare of his student. The former delivers knowledge & the later sets up skills.

As a teacher grows in his career, he develops a teaching philosophy. He focuses more on developing right attitudes, perspectives & thoughts of his students.

As the teacher becomes academically matured, he/she realizes the importance of developing the right attitudes. The realization comes from his own life experiences and also through his experiences with his students. He gets to know what worked for his students & what didn't. He also sees the results of his efforts. He realizes that those students who had right attitudes & perspective make it big in their lives.

The emotional bond between a teacher & his student brings out the best in both.

The process of knowledge transfer, skill development & attitude building develops emotional bonding between a teacher & student. A good teacher understands the learning pattern of his students and develops his teaching style accordingly rather than trying to mould students to his teaching style. His teaching tools and technics are radically different than others. His students love his unique style.

A good teacher lightens the academic burden but fills minds of his students.

Smart teachers identify the learning motives of their students. They don't grossly generalize those motives. They develop teaching method to accommodate most of the student motives. In MBA, different students in a class have different learning motives. In my class, I also have students with other specializations like Finance, HR, IT etc. Their approach to learning is different. They want to relate marketing & retailing to their specialization. Today students want to know the application of your subject in solving problems and developing life skills. The challenge for a teacher is to identify such areas in the curriculum, highlight it & enhance it with teaching style, tools & technics.

Entertainment enhances interest & increases the span of attention.

The major challenge for teachers today is how to maintain students' interest & increase the span of attention. My experience is that the passion of the teacher in the subject, his depth of knowledge & holistic approach combined with an entertaining teaching style should deliver the results. Students must accept the teacher, his personality & the delivery.

If students like the teacher then they like his subject too.

I have understood that students are looking for three things- filtered domain knowledge which is concentrated and useful in work-life, highly knowledgeable but approachable friendly teacher who can be consulted for their difficulties & problems, and entertaining delivery style which keeps them engaged in an hour-long discussion.

Students expect a teacher to deliver for enhancing knowledge, performance in the examinations & survival in the job market which is getting tougher every day.

From the students perspective, such teacher is the best teacher. In a nutshell,

Students expect a teacher with a research mind, friendly and approachable personality, entertaining delivery style, excellent classroom management skills, focus on application & guidance for examination.

Have you seen such an ambidextrous teacher? If yes, then you are a blessed student. Hahaha

About the Author: Prof Dr Ajit Patil was awarded 'Top Voice on LinkedIn - 2017'. He is a Management Writer; Marketing, Business Development & Retailing Consultant. He conducts Management Development Programmes; trains & coaches Sales & Marketing teams. He has been teaching MBA students in India & overseas for over 18 years. He can be reached at [email protected]

Prof Dr Ajit Patil about to board a Chinese bullet train from Tianjin to Beijing in May 2018