ATTENTION PLEASE

In our personality development class, we had an amazing activity that illustrated the difference between slow learners and those who can grasp quickly. It was pretty simple, all the students were first asked to make a paper boat. A few people who remembered made it within seconds. And some, who couldn't recollect something they had learnt in childhood, couldn't make it. Then our teacher asked two of those few students who failed to make the boat to come out onto the dais and asked one of the remaining students to teach them how to make it. But there were some conditions to be followed. One was that the instructions should be purely verbal and no hand signals can be used. The other was that the instructions should be purely in English. Since I felt capable of doing it, I volunteered. Both the students began to listen to me as I kept instructing them. By the end of the instructions, I realised that only one made the boat and the other was stuck in the first step itself. Obviously, this clearly drew a line between slow and fast learners.

However, with this task, I also figured out the mentality of teachers. When I was teaching the two of them, my attention was completely drawn towards the student who was doing it quickly. I hardly even noticed the other student. I managed to instruct well, as per our sir, but I knew I didn't give my best. Had I done it well, both would have been successful in the attempt.
I now believe that the same thing would be happening with the teachers around here. Some teachers, we say, speed up the class and we don't like it. The point is that when there are quick grasping students around us who solve problems in minutes or ask too many intelligent doubts, the teachers begin to teach only them. While these students excel in the subject, the other students with a relatively lower IQ fail to understand. Once this becomes commonplace, the students automatically lose interest and their mind begins to wander. They do not perform well in exams, and we call them failures. When teachers say that they want all their students to pass in their subject, they forget that they are the ones who are creating half of the failures. I reckon that teachers who give attention and teach all the students get better results from the students.

I would like to conclude by saying that the teachers, while teaching, should always remember the potential of each and every student in the class. They must focus more on the slow learners, because they are the ones who need help and attention. However difficult it may seem, this is what makes a good teacher.