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Mathematics and Life 10 Maxims of teaching - I

 Maxims of Teaching 1


Overview Maxims of teaching are the broad practices which make your teaching more effective.


Good teaching incorporates following ideas. If you apply them in daily life also, in detailing, explaining your ideas in personal conversation also, they will help you


  1. Known to unknown A good teacher always begins with a clean slate. She does not assume all the students having all the fundamental clear. This is specifically very useful in teaching adults, like corporate training programs, meetings where the audience does not have same background. This maxim helps in developing common perception for the entire class, group, which helps in facilitating learning.

  2. Simple to complex While teaching addition / subtraction of numbers or teaching sentence formation, a good teacher always takes students from simple to complex. Main reason is to avoid the stress and strain caused by early failure. As skill builds up, so does the confidence.

  3. Concrete to Abstract As proved by the development psychologist John Piaget, the mind constructs reality in stages. Concrete operations in the first stage. A good teacher, for example, would make students deal with currency in hand, make them count, take - give, trade things and would then introduce the concept of money instruments like cheques, credit cards etc.

  4. Particular to General The transition from arithmetic to algebra is an excellent example where we realise the limitations of operating in number as well as the need to go for variables. The teacher would explain that if you have a small unit, say 12 people staff, you can maintain salary, leave, other transactions by memory or by simply writing on paper. But, if you have to do the same for 10,000 employees or customers, it will be impossible to manage. 


Other maxims will be discussed in the next post.


Feel free to suggest any topic(s) you would like to be discussed to facilitate your teaching.


Right now, we are available only through email support at  drpnmoghe@gmail.com

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