Visakhapatnam : Classroom teaching is an art, say Fulbright Fellows

Visakhapatnam : GITAM School of Gandhian Studies conducted a webinar on "Teaching Across Continents: A Conversation with Fulbright Fellows" here on Monday.

Classroom teaching is an art that will not die out as teachers are not just teachers but wear multiple hats and perform different roles in the overall development of their students, expressed Fulbright Fellows during the webinar.

Fulbright Fellows who had extensive experience in teaching in India, United States of America and Europe were invited to share their experiences as teachers.

The panelists were Prof U Vindhya, former deputy director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad who was a Fulbright Fellow to the University of Washington at Seattle, Prof Minati Panda, professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University Delhi, Fulbright Fellow to Columbia University, Prof Kumar Ravi Priya from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur who taught at Connecticut College, New London and Prof Patric McNamara of the University of Nebraska at Omaha who was a Fulbright senior scholar to India.

The panel believed that teaching in India or elsewhere always involved heterogeneity and an assumption of homogeneity does not hold. They also felt that teachers are facilitators of education not just in the formal classroom but also in informal spaces and occasions.

They recalled their own role models and their characteristics that inspired them to consider and progress in their profession of teaching. When a student accomplishes something in life, the pride that the teachers feel is their return on investment according to the panelists.