A SIMPLE GUIDE TO MINDFUL AND IMPACTFUL TEACHING AT NARAYANSTHAN LIBRARY
I believe there is no such thing as a perfect skill for any job; sometimes, it’s your genuine intention and hard work, and passion that follow through! It’s almost a year, I started working as a child learning activity facilitator and librarian in a new library project of VIN at Asine,ward no 3,okhaldhunnga. My job involves teaching lessons that are focused on developing real-life skills and tools for children to further cope with life challenges and lead to success and growth. This is also a great opportunity to constantly witness and learn children’s behavior, psychology, and how they evolve over time. I give the lessons to children from age 4 to 16 years old. In this article, I would like to share a few tips that helped me conduct impactful and mindful teaching to children.
- First, let’s always remember that our children are great imitators, so let’s be mindful and wise in the words we choose and how we act.
- Energy is cautious, whether negative or positive. You decide what energy you would want to bring to the classroom. Let it be a good one; calm, compassionate, energetic, passionate, and inspiring.
- Speak words that are kind and encouraging, always! Words have power, and they matter. Every child wants to be loved and appreciated. Imagine how beautiful the world would be if everyone was spoken with kindness, loved and appreciated.
- Quality over quantity! Take few classes but very organized and purposeful.
- Plan your class a day ahead, and answer these questions.
- What is the goal of this class?
- What do you want students to learn today, and how?
- What kind of resources are needed?
- What could be the possible challenges?
- . Observe the impact on each student.
- Record, reflect, and find alternatives per students’ needs.
- Teach topics according to the course curriculum. You can use online and offline resources to make the learning experience as holistic and practical as possible. Resourceful charts, educational toys, physical games, internet access, television, etc, can be used. The purpose here is to attract them to be curious about the topic, not force them to learn and memorize it.
- Furthermore, you can give practical tasks and assignments related to topics taught that day. This helps to measure the effectiveness of the class.
- Having various toys and colorful things around them is normal to have these children be distracted. Have a balance of activities. Sometimes, you let them play with the toys. Sometimes you let them dance and jump; sometimes, you grab their attention and focus on telling a story. Whatever you do, the goal here is that they learned something at the end of the day and had fun too. They will forget what they heard but not what they did and felt.
- Merits and awards encourage students to work hard, but it’s wrong to compare them, rank them, or label them as good or bad or first or last. When you give a star to one student based on his academic performance, he will feel a sense of superiority and pride. And when he does not get the lead the next day, it creates a sense of unhealthy competition or motivation in him. And apparently, every other kid will understand that not having a star means they are wrong, incapable, or inferior compared to him. This is where students gain low self-esteem and their confidence breaks. So, we must accept that everyone does not learn the same way and celebrate every child’s potential and strengths.
- Let them develop ownership of the library. When you teach basic rules and regulations, such as cleaning the library, throwing waste in a dustbin, and organizing books, show it by doing with them. This is when they understand taking ownership and being responsible themselves.
-Samita Rana Magar
Librarian & Child Learning Facilitator
Member of