UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS

UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS 

Barring few exceptions, teachers do not treat students as their customers. However, if they change their view and treat them as customers, it can help in understanding students better and subsequently modify inputs in and outside classroom. Teaching  cannot be mass customized; however post lecture interaction, discussions, counseling can be made more meaningful if psyche of student community is understood. This is an important issue because challenges faced by teachers at school, college and at doctoral level are different. In school, class control is crucial whereas at postgraduate level, arresting attention of students after 30 minutes is critical.

Students (at different levels of education) are divided into four categories- on knowledge base and verbal/ non-verbal interaction in class. Their characteristics and behavioral symptoms are described. There may be overlap of symptoms across categories. Following pyramid shall make my point clear:-

1-Knowledgable + Silent (Genius): - Few teachers are fortunate to have taught students from this category (Exceptions- prestigious institutions such as IIT/IIM/Medical colleges). Reason being- they are very small in number. They are genius and not merely brilliant!  Identifying them at school and grooming then is crucial. Teachers take pride in having such student under them and refer his name publicly at first opportunity.

They are very polite and occupy middle bench in class. They have dish antenna and get signals from various quarters on different topics. Some teachers get nervous due to sheer presence of such students in class.

Normally they do not ask questions in class. If teacher has forgotten a point or gone wrong while explaining topic, they will tell him/her after class. Atmosphere in school or college does not have any negative impact on them.

 They solve Break Even Point problem to fourth decimal and show graphically final solution.  They bring those elements in answers which even teacher does not know. They will not solve question with negative marking in surprise quiz if not sure of answer. They do not compare themselves with other students from same school or college. They participate in on line essay or other competition at global level. They are publicity shy and are passive members in social functions such as school gathering/cultural festival in college (exception-competition related to academics or general knowledge). No statistics to prove but only general observation. Boys outnumber girls in this category.

2--knowledgeable + Vocal (Brilliant): - They are more in number compared to genius students. Obviously, they are intellectually few steps down compared to the genius but try to reach top with sheer hard work. They are ambitious; use multiple sources for knowledge and information gathering. They, like the genius, have dish antenna to receive signals. They are regular readers of newspapers, magazines such as India Today, Reader’s Digest and are current on happenings around world. They occupy first benches in class and in spite of criticism from colleagues; they ask questions to teacher or add value to what teacher has said. If student is a boy, his questioning to teacher in some cases is treated by his fellow colleagues as a tact to impress  girl students in class.

They are normally convent educated, fluent in English+ one foreign language,  from good family background and are focused on their goals. They may change school/college or even University if they find atmosphere not competitive enough. Teachers use their services during various programs as anchor, for welcoming guests and during interaction with external agencies such as inspection teams.  Before using their services, ego massage is necessary. They actively participate in science exhibitions at school level. They are  well connected to friends in other schools and colleges and are aware of academic and non-academic activities there. If school arranges international tour, they always volunteer first.

Girl from this category tries to find out (through phone call) from her friend a day before examination which topics she is studying. No statistics to prove but general observation – girls outnumber boys in this category.

3-Ignorant + Vocal (Impressionist): - They are not knowledgeable but are vocal in class. They have in-built antenna due to which they have I KNOW IT ALL attitude. They have more nuisance value because discussion related to their questions takes classroom nowhere. They very well know that aggression is the best way of defense and hence ask question to teacher before he asks. There is no clear cut purpose behind asking question except for making presence felt in class.  In case of co-education, their purpose behind asking question to teacher may be to impress fellow girl students. They have a feeling that examiner has done injustice to them in examination and demand revaluation of answer sheet if facility is available.

They do multiple activities apart from study and hence are relatively poor performers in academics. They are up to date on technology and use it for homework, project and other academic activities.

When they participate in group discussion, they say -I fully agree but also ask other participants their opinion. Their participation has no substance. They are under impression that if they take initiative to open group discussion, panelists are impressed and evaluate favorably.

If attendance is compulsory, they help absentee friend by proxy. If teacher does not cover particular topic, they are vocal and blame teacher. If valuation of answer sheet is done internally, they argue with teacher and ask for more marks even though their answer is not comprehensive. If teacher exceeds his time while teaching, they tell him to stop immediately.

If teacher does not fix particular order while taking individual quiz, they motivate others to go first and prefer to face oral quiz in last. Their logic is- by the fag end of the day; teacher is tired and may ask few/repeat/simple questions.

4- Ignorant + Silent (Spectator): - They form large number in class (not referring to school or college, which admits only brilliant students). They are silent spectators who are interested in attendance, which may affect their grades. Reason for their silence can vary from sheer indifference, earlier failures, priorities back home, parental pressure, comparison with siblings, to family issues at other extreme. They have simple (five-element) antenna.

They are vocal on issues related to extracurricular activities. Earlier, they used to take help of knowledgeable students. However, now with Google search, they are on their own. “Why me” is the reaction on their face if teacher asks question. They do not believe in asking questions to teacher during classroom interaction. They carefully look at icons on laptop of teacher. Nevertheless, once presentation starts, they switch off mentally.They are passive during group work. In institutes with residential accommodation compulsory, they can be seen half-asleep in first session and  alert in last session. If teacher decides to shows video, they insist that lights in class should be put off. While doing individual project work, they outsource it to juniors, friends, family members, relatives or in extreme cases to service providers (by paying money). They kill time in class by solving puzzles in notebook, or X and 0 game, graffiti on benches, drawing caricature of teacher etc.

In case of practical examination laboratory, they establish good contacts with attendants. If they participate in group discussion, only sentence they normally speak is – Yes. I agree! They are active during field trips and have good contacts with sponsors if social events are organized. They expect that teacher should be sympathetic while evaluating them and give some concession because they brought sponsorship for cultural event.

Teacher should bring them in mainstream and best way is to ask open-ended questions.

To conclude, students from either school or colleges show some traits in and outside classroom. Once teachers understand them, handling becomes easier.