By KUMAR VIJENDER
The author attempts to pen down his experiences as a lawyer, research scholar and teacher with a hope to ignite learning of multi-skills of teaching among the next generation of teachers. Need for multifaceted approach to teaching, learning and soft skills for a teacher was felt due to a shift in the focus from a teacher-centric to student-centric approach.
Name of Reviewer: Mr. Atik Akbar Shaikh (Vth Year B.A.-LL.B.)
Name of College: M.C.E. Society’s A.K.K. New Law Academy, Pune.
I feel amazed by reading this book and also I have some passion for teaching profession as well.
Summary
Good teaching is not only about motivating students to learn, but also teaching them how to learn easily, what is to be learnt, how much to be learnt and doing it in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable. As rightly emphasised by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on good teaching that
(1) Teacher loves teaching (you should be passionate about giving your knowledge);
(ii) Teacher encourages question from students (you should let them think beyond your teaching);
(iii) Teacher puts the student ahead; and
(iv) Creates pressure on the student to explore own capabilities,
Strength and Weakness
Expectation of students from a teacher:
A radical change is desired in the present form of law teaching, legal research and contents of legal education.
As Justice V.R. Krishna lyer observes that “A strong independent, competent legal profession is imperative to any free people.
We live in a society that is diverse, mobile and dynamic, but its very pluralism and creativeness make it capable of both enormous progress of debilitating conflicts that can blunt all semblance of order.
One role of the law teacher and the lawyer in a common law system is to be a balance wheel, a harmonizer, a reconciler. He must be more than simply a skilled legal mechanic.
He must be that but in a larger sense he must also be a legal architect, engineer, and builder from time to time, an inventor as well.
“Notes towards a Socially Relevant legal Education” by Professor Upendra Baxi in UGC Regional Education objectives that “it is simply to the think modernizing the syllabi and make it relevant to the needs of society and students without an inter-disciplinary legal education and law subjects could be related to and enriched by a study of other broad disciplines”.
Personal Reflections
A law teacher is who gives the best of his knowledge and ability to teach us and provide us the knowledge we want to know. A teacher introduces us the outline of the syllabus as well as the important questions of exam point of view and they teach us insights of the subject to make the students understand better, for the conceptual clarity for the subject to build the idea of a subject for the pratical adaptability in better sense.
Conclusion
I will recommend this book to every age group to read it once and also I will give this book 4.5 rating out of 5 stars and it is an wonderful book to read.
G.W. Paton is right in illustrating that ‘a principle which is valid today may be discarded by its opposite tomorrow”. Hence, it is essential for a teacher to develop his/her research skills without which he/she may not
achieve the desired academic laurels. With a famous saying for the students, a teacher never dies, it still remains with the students hearts with societal impact of their students in this beautiful world.