DEFINITION OF TEACHING

What is teaching? Is there a definition of teaching so broad as to include all of the types of instructions? Are there common elements involved in all teaching?

Teaching can be defined as the "the interaction of a student and a teacher over a subject." There may be one student or several in a class. They could be young or old, bright or below average, normal or physically challenged, highly motivated or turned off, rich or poor, male or female. The subject can be easy and simple or difficult and complex. The teacher may or may not be physically present (as in class room and televised or computer-assisted instruction). But the model holds up. A teacher, student(students), and a subject. Teaching takes place in some specific context. The institution may be highly selective, or open in policies. The climate for learning may be favorable or unfavorable, supportive or frustrating. The resources, both physical and human, may be lavish or meager. No teacher can teach in a vacuum. The setting makes a difference. There can be no teaching without students. There can’t be teaching when there are students, but no teacher. Summarily students and teachers are the two inevitable and inseparable part of teaching. In the absence of any one of these there is no teaching. There certainly can be learning without a teacher. A great amount of learning goes on without teachers; but the activity is called learning, and not teaching. Teaching without a subject is like swimming without water. (Both are impossible.) There must be a medium, a subject, about which there can be structured and sustained dialogues. Teaching involves a teacher and a student (or students) interacting over a subject in a well organized setting.

The best way to think about teaching is to call it what it should be called, not an art, not a science, but a professional scientific artistic talent to transfer knowledge in divided or wholesome mode, making it palatable, digestible, easily absorbable and retainable to the student. Teaching calls for the trained eye to see what is actually happening, and the trained mind to decide what to do next. Its knowledge can not be reduced to fail-safe rules and universal prescriptions. Scientific knowledge and a keen sense of how to apply it are both required for making well-informed professional decisions about teaching.