4 Innovations Needed In Classrooms

As we are moving forward day by day, we are moving more towards digitization and virtual world. We are getting more connected with phones and gadgets. Thus, they are becoming are needs for us for every-day. And gradually these gadgets are changing our lives. That’s why we are changing too. That’s the reason why workplaces are changing. But, there is one thing which is still same as it was 100 years ago. That thing is our education system or our classrooms.

In this 21^st century, in this 2019, we are teaching our children and toddlers in the same manners which our ancestors used to teach us.
No doubt, that method of making children sit behind the teachers in rows and that method of teaching them by giving lecture is good. But, it was good according to that time. In today’s world, when everything is so digitized, when we have passed the age of information, we need another way or another method to teach. The old method of teaching kids by verbally telling them that what photosynthesis is will not fulfil the true aim of education and of building the classroom.

The true aim of education and classroom is to nourish and polish the skills of every students, to make them capable of running and controlling the world.
The aim and objective of education is basically to make humans capable to control themselves. And it is not possible to teach them that by using classical method. Therefore, we need some innovations. Some of the innovations which can be brought in schools easily are:

1)     Discussion:
Today we are living in post-truth age which means that we have moved beyond the truth. That’s why we have both fake and true information available everywhere, and therefore, we are unable to differentiate between them. And that disability to differentiate is the main cause of extreme pattern of thinking. To stop this extremism, to make the children calm and peaceful, we need to make our classes and lessons discussion based. Teachers can make students to sit in in round circle. This would give more look of open discussion and dialogue time. This activity and this way of teaching will help each of them to convey what he or she knows. It gives teachers and students a chance to prove their point logically. And logic is another word of truth.
In this way, students and teachers, both, learn to accept the point of others and they learn to cooperate with others. And these are the two skills which the world needs the most in its residents.

2)     Personalization:
Every child is different from other child. Therefore, each of them have different temperaments and favourites. But, the system, the school and the classroom is not ready to accept that diversity among children. They are kept on making each of them alike, which is not possible. This technique or method of teaching is making the education or schools to look like monster and stressful place. And most importantly, this method is not nurturing them. This method is unable to polish their skills. Therefore, we need to give each of them enough space to cultivate their true potential and their true passion. A good teacher is not the one who knows everything, but a good teacher is the one who shapes himself or herself as the students wants.
Giving them some empty space to cultivate themselves will not only help children to know their talents, but that space will make them to read books and magazines by themselves. And they will enjoy that reading. They will enjoy that time of being their own teacher and leader. And that’s what teachers want. Teachers want their children to keep on growing whether they are present or not.

3)     Understanding:
Instead of teaching them what is written in their books, try to teach them more than it. Try to cultivate their critical thinking skills. Try to build their understanding. Critical thinking and understanding everything conceptually will help them to take every decision in their lives on the logical ground. People say that emotions matter the most. But, logic matters the most. Many times people take wrong decision because of emotions which then become the root of troubles. But those people are responsible for that mistake. They are not taught to take decisions wisely. Thus, to improve that mistake and to make them able to control their emotions, it is very much required to teach them critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking will help them to know that what is right and what is wrong. And when that difference is created in their minds, they will be then able to control their emotions and do what is right, what is beneficial for himself or herself and the whole humanity.

4)     Mental Health:
Today every other child or student is suffering from depression. And in many cases, many of them even don’t know that what illness they have because of their tender age. Therefore, it is now very important to teach them about mental health. Like maths and science, we need to introduce the subject of mental health in which students are taught how to take care of themselves. They should be taught in a very friendly manner to take care of their health. They should be involved in physical activities in this class to lift up their moods. Moreover, teacher should handle every child with affection. He or she should cajole all of them like friends, so that they would be open enough to share their secrets and problems with them. To bring this kind of culture in the class, a teacher can tell them the benefits of being expressive and sharing their problems. Teachers can start this culture by sharing his or her problems with the whole class.
This culture and this class will not reduce the cases of depression and other psychological disorders, but it will also make the relation of teacher and student stronger enough to become friends.

So, these are the four basic innovations or changes that we can bring in our classrooms. But other than this, we can introduce the classes of

·       Environmental science to make them concerned about the environment,

·       using social media to save them from cyber harassment,

·       communication to make them able to communicate with other expressively without any insecurity, and

many other skills we can teach them to prepare them for the world of tomorrow where they would be able to other tasks. Thus, the true aim of education is to make a person leader of himself or herself. And to achieve that aim, we need to bring change in our classrooms.

So bring change and nurture leaders in classrooms!