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‘When one teaches, two learn’, is an inspirational quote stated by Robert Heinlein. This quote means that when a person teaches someone it’s not only the student but also the teacher who learns.

According to my experience and understanding, teaching and learning go hand in hand and teaching is a process of learning. E.g. – every time a student asks a question related to the concept, the teacher gets to think in a different direction to clarify the quarries and hence learns.

Having experienced as a soft skills and language trainer in a renowned University in Bangalore, there have been so many instances where I learnt new ways to impart knowledge in classroom. I had to research a lot of ways to bring in more interest in the normally dry topics such as grammar. Every session was a new experience where I learnt what actually grabbed the attention of students and what didn’t.

I know much more now than when I started my career as I have learnt so much in the classroom as a teacher/ trainer.

APPLICATION OF THE STATEMENT IN CLASSROOM:

On talking to other teachers and from my own experience I came up with a few points that I would like to share in this article. The following points talk about the ways one can apply the statement “when one teaches, two learn” in a classroom to make learning more fun and effective:

• Include group discussion and role plays in the class where the students come up with ways to present their understanding of the concepts. In this case, the class, including the presenters learn the concept in an interesting way.
• Give students the freedom to disagree to the concepts which not only gives opportunity for them to express but also gives the teacher and the other students an opportunity to open up to interpretations different from the standardized ones.
• Use “teaching” as assignments and allot topics for the students to teach and conduct quizzes for the rest of the class. This would act as a positive motivation for the students to learn a concept going beyond their curriculum.

I would like to conclude saying, one can be a true teacher when they stop only talking/ preaching and start listening to students’ opinions that gives both the teacher and the students a platform to learn. Saying “I don’t know” or “I’ll let you know in the next class” would not take away credibility of teachers but put in more trust in the students about the teachers and their motivation to keep learning.