Taking Stock

Eighteen years of teaching! Time to stand aside and take stock of my teaching. I had always been an instinctive teacher. I plan my academic year and break it down to fort nightly topics and work each class as it came. I have always worked very very hard to reach out to all my students. Keeping a wary eye for that glazed look that creeps into the eyes of my students.Ensured a little time out to herd back those who had escaped mentally from my class.And as a self check administered small class tests to see if I had been effective.Going had been not bad. But were those learnings permanent? Did those concepts stick?Will my students be able to pick their way from where I let them off all by themselves?
Ratan's workshop- 'About Learners and Learning'- on 3rd July '10 has set me thinking very hard. Am I the teacher that I would want to learn from?Am I paying enough attention to how my students learn?Am I giving enough stimulus to all my learners?
Recalling incidents and decoding why certain things stay longer with us was good experiential learning for me. It delved deeper into the question of how learning happens and why it does not.
Lots of food for thought.