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Prabhakar Krishnamurthy

Professor - Management, IIIT(D&M)

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Who is a great teacher?

After going through different dimensions of teacher and learner; i am yet to find an answer to the following questions;
Who is an effective teacher?
Who is a great teacher?
What qualities make a great teacher?
How can we develop to be a great teacher?
What is the role of a teacher if everything is available in Wikipedia?
Why there is a need for a teacher?
We find teacher in non teachers like Buddha~ How do we explain?
Are we polishing pebbles and dimming diamonds in classrooms?
We find non teachers in class room who just take it up as another avocation to put bread on their table.
Please see Clifford Stoll's lecture ~ is it possible for us to do like that everyday?

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Topics: teacher
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    Lee Wilkinson 20+

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    Apr 12 2011: I think Sir Ken Robinson is a great Teacher. He is funny and compelling and more than just telling me something he inspired me to go and learn more.
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      Erik Richardson 500+

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      TEDx Organizer
      Apr 16 2011: But did he show both sides of a story so you could think through the issue, or did he just do an entertaining job of selling his side of the story?

      • Prabhakar Krishnamurthy

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        Apr 17 2011: I think Erik, He does put forth his point of view; I do not think it is entertaining~ Of course it is presented in a fun way but the seriousness can be realized by everyone of us. What in your opinion should be the alternative view for the same?
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          Erik Richardson 500+

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          TEDx Organizer
          Apr 17 2011: That could be a very long discussion, but I can offer two examples,

          1.) the powerful research being done showing that having students work in groups on the same material with the same timelines allows for very powerful learning strategies because thinking through the material out loud with peers has an engaging and constructive effect.

          2.) the immense increase in economic costs of breaking students into custom-educated groups. Perhaps Sir Ken can afford the hit to his wallet that would be created, but unless he is able to stamp out money for all of us, the educational system would overtake medicare and social security spending if we tried to accomplish some of the noble ideas he is putting forward. I have low patience for pie-in-the-sky theories about fixing the education system. Where are his cost-study references for being able to unbundle students?

          Now that doesn't mean there aren't inspiring ideas in his talk, but generating inspiring ideas is the easier part by far. In fact, I've never met a teacher who didn't have noble ideas for improving his/her classroom/school/public system. It doesn't rain money, though, and the public is just not willing/able to pay what it would cost.

    • Prabhakar Krishnamurthy

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      Apr 17 2011: Dear Lee, I agree with you. Sir Ken Robinson did made me think and give shape to my own anguish of not being able to deliver what i am supposed to.

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