How to be a good teacher!

1. How to be a good teacher! Prof. M. Rezwan Khan

2. Who is an ideal teacher? • A teacher shares his/her knowledge with the students, motivate them towards learning and train them for their profession • A teacher is a person with whom students feel comfortable to discuss their problems • A teacher is a person who is an example for the students both in the class room and in real life

3. Knowledge of the subject matter • You must have an in depth knowledge of the subject matter • Do adequate home work to identify your weaknesses and read relevant materials • Do not be upset if you have weaknesses. Your hard work can overcome the deficiency • Internet surfing is an excellent way of improving your knowledge

4. Preparing the lecture • Decide how much you want to deliver in a lecture. Class duration and standard of the students are important factors. • Organize your lecture topic-wise in the sequence of delivery. Try to figure out some examples from everyday life without being too much technical • Try to judge the difficulties that the students may face to understand certain topic; give more time to explain those topics • Keep a note of the topics of the lecture

5. Monitoring student discipline in the class room • Students must wear their ID • They must be properly dressed as per UIU dress code. If you feel that some one is not following the dress code, identify him/her (do not take them to task in the class room) and report it to any of the members of the Proctorial Committee • Take regular attendance in the class room. Students who has not registered must not sit in the class or sit for an exam without your permission.

6. How to deliver a lecture • Be punctual and get into the class room in time • Do not be nervous; be confident that you have a superior knowledge • Speak slowly, clearly and loudly. Write on the board in large fonts so the students in the last row can read it. • Do not stand like a statue in a corner, rather keep on moving at a slow pace • Do not speak in a monotonous tone. It will encourage your students to take a class room nap. • You should stress on the important words, modulate your voice accordingly and have a facial expression to match the words.

7. How to deliver a lecture…contd. • Try to interact with the students on each and every topic. Raise controversies on the topic and ask the students for their opinion • Solve a problem with active participation from the students. Also discuss the possible variations to the problem • Encourage questions from the students; if you find a question too difficult or too substandard for the rest of the class, ask the student to talk to you after the lecture, but do not discourage them • Try to use modern technology like multimedia with animation (where ever necessary)

8. How to deliver a lecture…contd. • If you do not know the answer to a question, be frank and do not try to hide. Take time from the students and give the correct answer in the next lecture. If you are unable to find the correct answer, consult your colleagues/senior colleagues. Do not be ashamed, no body in this world knows everything. • Have a friendly gesture while lecturing. Try to smile and it is some times helpful to crack jokes to keep the attention of the students. But be careful, do not say some thing that may reflect badly on your taste.

9. Your attitude • Do not try to create an invisible barrier between yourself and the students; students must not feel uncomfortable to discuss their problems with you. • Do not try to find faults in the students all the time; try to ignore many of the things unless it is unforgivable • Many students may have different ways of expression. Do not jump to a conclusion about a student by judging his/her expressions alone. Try to understand them.

10. Your attitude….contd. • Your personality is reflected in your dress and your way of talking to people. Dress up smartly that is befitting for a teacher. Always wear clean decent clothes and keep yourself tidy. • Avoid abusing students in front of others unless it is absolutely necessary. If you feel that a student needs advice, call him to your office and talk to him gently. Harsh behaviour usually does not pay off. • Never talk about the weaknesses of other colleagues or do not suggest anything contrary to the views of another colleague in front of the students

11. How to conduct an exam • Come to the exam hall at least 5 minutes before the exam and make sure that the students are properly seated in such a way that they have least opportunity to adopt unfair means. Remember, prevention is better than cure • UIU rules do not permit mobile phones/electronic devices in the exam hall and it should be strictly followed • Each and every student must wear their ID in the exam hall. Female students wearing ‘hijab’ must show their faces on demand and keep their ear open so that she cannot listen using an ear phone.

12. How to conduct an exam • While in the exam, the teacher should put the signature and date on each answer script • While issuing extra paper, make sure that you sign and put date on it. There has been reports of adopting unfair means using extra exam sheets. • Take the attendance and count the total number of answer scripts before leaving the exam room. Give back the extra answer scripts to the department executive after the exam is over • Enter the marks in your Excel sheet before giving the answer scripts to the students

13. How to evaluate a student • Set questions such that quality of an student can be judged • Grade should reflect the level of understanding of a student on the subject. • Never bank on the capacity of a student to memorize • Never set lengthy questions. Your question should be clear and precise. • Try to judge the difficulty level of a problem before you set it in the exam

14. How to evaluate a student…contd • While grading, try to be liberal and do not deduct marks unnecessarily • In case of a wrong answer, try to find out the reason for the mistake and give marks depending on the likelihood of such a mistake. • Any effort in the answer script should be evaluated and reflected in the marks • Never be influenced by any external factor while grading a student. • Do not give marks or deduct marks that you cannot justify

15. How to evaluate a student • Give back the class test and mid-term scripts to the students in time so that they understand their weaknesses and have ample time and opportunity to improve themselves. If a student wants to see the final exam script, show it. • Not giving back the scripts to the students in time is not appreciated by the UIU authority • In UIU, 55% is the pass marks and 75% means ‘C’. An ‘A’ requires 90% marks. You should keep this in mind while grading.

16. Follow the rules of the university • Try to know the rules and regulations of the university set for the teachers. Most of the rules are posted in server 8 of UIU network • If you are unable to take any class for an unavoidable circumstance, call the departmental executive and they will serve the notice to the students. While setting time for the makeup class, it must not conflict with a schedule class of the students. • Do not change the class schedule on your own. For a rescheduled or extra class, there is an ‘On-Line’ room booking system

17. Follow the rules of the university • Be careful in printing the question papers. You should personally take all the responsibilities to print and photocopy them. Never use any peon/TA in printing or photocopying the questions. • Faculty evaluation by the students is a common practice. Always take the comments positively and try to mitigate your deficiencies. Remember that students seldom lie about their teachers. • Try to be cooperative with the administration. Avoid undue interference.

18. Follow the rules of the university • Please wear the ID card yourself so that you can ask a student to do the same. • While taking leave, even during inter-semester class break, do take formal leave from the authority. • UIU does not allow any part time job or consultancy to be under taken by a full time employee unless prior permission is taken.

19. Our experience with UIU – Sweet and Sour • Despite of enviable success of UIU, UIU students are still very weak in English and mathematics • Many of the students are not motivated to work hard and a good number of them slide down to probation. • This is due to the falling standard at the Higher Secondary level. • It is affecting our quality adversely • Try to motivate the students and encourage them to be more proactive

20. We aim…. • We aim to become the top ranking university in Bangladesh within next 3 years. A good university is judged by its teaching quality, research and transparency. • UIU has started awarding research funds for UIU faculties – try to avail the opportunity • UIU family has the capability – only motivation and drive is needed

21. Thank you very much for your patient hearing