Although I had never before taught a school subject or been on the 'teaching side' of the class room, I decided that this would be a great new challenge. Everyday I taught a class for one hour based on a range of subjects. Instead of telling the children what they must learn, I gave them the choice of a variety of topics, and they then chose from those topics.
Every one of my classes began with a quiz. The class would break into groups of five or six people, and then answer the questions to the quiz. The winning group would then receive a little gift ( usually a small packet of sweets) and then they would get the chance to chose which topic we would study. The Quiz was a general knowledge quiz and would attempt to stimulate conversation amongst groups.
Here are some of the topics that were taught in class:
1.Is education important....
2. Poaching wild animals...
3.People with disabilities...
4.How can we create value...
5.Family and why/why not we may not get along with them ....
6. How sport can play a role in education...
My main objective was to to encourage dialogue. The varied opinions that some of the children had, actually helped and stimulated the conversation. The children began to see and listen to other perspectives, and the children visibly became more creative and vocal as the classes went on.
Although I would not consider myself a teacher or an academic, being on that side of the classroom gave me a much greater appreciation of the huge responsibility that teachers have in developing our world for the future. Surely, the best teachers are the ones that first of all see their students potential, and then secondly work out a way to help that student full fill that potential.