The entire premise of classroom learning is based on its translation into real world applications. It’s the sails of a boat, being prepared and steadily unfurled as it leaves the shores. This allows it to sail at full mast against the dreaded winds in the deep seas. As an educator myself, I believe there are certain facets that intersect the real world and classroom learning. This particular area of the Venn diagram must be completely explored in order to ensure that every student can become a model citizen. It’s fascinating, seeing the curious cogs of the kids’ brains move, asking “Why? What? How?” Opening up these young, inquisitive minds to the outside world is the key factor in amalgamating their books with everything outside.
I like to bring community issues and topics into the class. Discussing a particular inspirational model or a current event fosters an understanding of the real world. Children find connection when we have debates and discussions; using words as their weapons. Building an intellectual understanding of our surroundings and their awareness of them is imperative to ensure a holistic understanding.
Children have impressionable minds. But each impressionable mind is unique. Experiences dictate our behavior and understanding; more so for students. A classroom is where they take the knowledge that they learn and apply it to their own experiences. Hence, the concepts that I focus on in class are more personalized and experience-driven. What questions do these kids want the answers to? History, English, Math are broad, sectored divisions; however, people experience events that are an amalgamation of subjects and emotions. Hence, when each student expresses something in class, I make it a point that the knowledge that each of them absorbs correlates to the way they see the world.
A classroom is limited by walls and papers and pens. It is an obstacle that must be crossed through intellectual endeavors. Amalgamating classroom, theoretical learning and real world experiences implementation depends on mental engagement. You can memorize a recipe over and over; however, cooking cannot be learned until you actually cook. So a classroom should be like a laboratory; I experiment with teaching techniques. Some days we will have integrative discussions where the students put themselves in other people’s shoes. Some days they have enquiry and collaboration-based projects. Asking and interacting is how we learn from the world. I go over the rules of syntax and verb agreement and character analysis but applying these basic principles to their questions and perceptions of surrounding people is how they push their foot through the threshold.
Our education system is approaching a more application-based learning system. Understanding concepts and applying them is not a flowchart but an interconnected spider web. It depends on the children’s experiences, their grasping ability and maturity, the way in which they are exposed to the world, and the perspectives they gain from it. As an educator, I have the principled responsibility of formulating a ‘lesson plan’ that incorporates ingenious ideation, critical contemplation, and intellectual deduction into the children’s book-heavy curriculum.
Amalgamating the two learning models is all about finding that niche area where the mind meets the paper and letting the children explore the entire world that fits in that space.
(The author is Creative Writing & Communications Coach & Founder- Moonlight Musings. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Financial Express Online.)