Teacher’s Day: Symbiosis between teaching and learning, by Aminu Muhammed Hussain
“Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality”, words of Dalai Lama XIV, the Chinese Spiritual leader, Winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and one of the most recognizable faces of Buddhism.
Teaching and learning can be said to have symbiotic relationship or considered as interdependent words. Because there must be a learner for the teacher to teach. And there must a teacher for the learner to learn. It suffices to say that teaching aims to provide to learning all the essentials needed to learn.
While teaching exists to create learning, evolvement, and development, create positive behavior and improve the existence of mankind and his planet, learning on the other hand exists to collect all the necessary enrichment and endowment from the teacher and teaching profession.
Teaching can be defined as simply the act of imparting knowledge. Irrespective of specialiazation, area of instruction or field the individual teacher practices, be it elementary, secondary or tertiary institution he is considered a teacher. The teacher is an instructor, supervisor, lecturer, tutor, reader, graduate assistant, class master and sometimes counsellor. These are names or titles associated with the profession of teaching.
Who then is a teacher? A teacher is any person or individual who is involved in teaching as a way of living and teaches a group of people regarded as students or primarily called “learners”. What is teaching? And what are the qualities or characteristics of a teacher? According to the English dictionary, teaching could be described as the activities of educating or instructing, activities that impart knowledge or skill. Teaching could be seen and regarded as the wisdom to impart knowledge or skill. To show how to practice or carry out a task is also part or segment of teaching, therefore anybody involve and is associated with the act of guiding, assisting, showing, directing or correcting those involved in learning any activity of practice of skill can be considered a teacher.
Wikipedia defines a teacher as a person that helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue. Informally the role of the teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. when showing a colleague how to perform a specific task). A teacher could also be seen as schoolteacher in whatever capacity be it elementary of advanced level.
Right from beginning of time, teaching and teachers are known for the patronage and mentoring they have been giving to the world. Their value to the world is immeasurable. Every community derives it source of knowledge and experience from the teachers. They hold an esteemed position where everyone has to go through them to be able to make his contribution as a member of the community, society and locality, state or country he happened to be.
Teaching is the most famous, formidable and background or backbone of education and development. Without teaching and learning from teachers, socialization and inheritance from our predecessors to ancestors could not be possible. Teaching is not limited to formal class settings. Every aspect of passing knowledge, know-how skills, demonstration, coaching, mentoring, guidance, counselling, and practices could all be regarded as teaching. Therefore it would suffice to say that teaching encompasses every aspect of human endeavour.
A teacher is a person that shows direction to a learner, irrespective of setting, circumstances or profession. In every aspect of life or profession there exist a group of people who are responsible for sharing knowledge and guidance to those that are looking for knowledge and, skills demonstration and experience.
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Revelations of creation and the prestige of mankind was based on knowledge. The ancestor of mankind Adam (praise be unto him) got his superiority on angels and all other creation having been bestowed knowledge which the angels did not possessed. Therefore Allah (the creator and lord of the worlds) made him supreme because of knowledge.
From time Adam and all other prophets of Islam, and any other religion, up to the time of the last prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) knowledge is the most honored and esteem treasure. The first revelation and instruction was the SURATUL ALAQ which was read by the famous angel Jibreal who was send down to prophet Muhammad, means clot of blood. Its first five verses were directly and primarily instruction to read, read in the name of your lord (the first and second verses). In the subsequent verses the revelation goes further to relate the creation of man and expressed the importance of teaching and learning.
Because the importance of teaching with pen and particularly teaching man what he did not know, it is imperative to say all or everything to do within the existence and day to day activities of the world revolves around knowledge which must first be learned before practice. It is a must for existence of all generations.
Aminu Muhammed Hussain hailed from Azare, Bauchi State. A practicing nurse and presently Nurse Educator in Adamu Adamu College of Nursing Sciences FMC Azare. He is the author of Idling out, and other poems, and has started writing in the year 1987.
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