Emotional Connectedness - The Holy Grail of Teaching

I have this habit...whenever an old student meets me after a prolonged hiatus, I pose a standard question, "what do you miss the most of school?" . The responses usually hover around friends, the fun they had, the mischiefs they hatched together, the 'rules' they broke regularly, the teachers they 'outwitted' and, more often than not, the adult (and, not necessarily teachers alone!) who left a deep impact in their lives. 

On probing deeper, one comes to know that the adult, who held his/her hand during a vulnerable period, the teacher who listened and understood without judging, the teacher who used to have friendly banters with them after class hours, was the one they missed the most. Even the subjects they cherished learning, were of teachers they loved and respected. The rest of the subjects, and its practitioners, however important, were, at best a confusing blur, relegated to some deep recesses of their memories of school.

I'm of the strong conviction (albeit, open to be contradicted and debated upon) that good teaching is not simply a matter of 'good technique' but springs from the heart of the teacher who takes the 'risk' to reach out to his students and make authentic connections with them.

In the words of the Parker J. Palmer, an American Educator, "If we want to develop and deepen the capacity for connectedness at the heart of good teaching, we must understand—and resist—the perverse but powerful draw of the 'disconnected life'" 

We are all familiar with the cynical teacher,  living the disconnected life who simply attempts to to connect with a dead memory of his subject and lamely expects his students to make sense of it. 


Something to ponder over...