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" Encourage students to see the philosophy from all angles of vision. In other words,
establish an ethos of open and honest enquiry.
" Consider yourself primarily as a learner, not as a teacher; a disciple or follower rather
than a guru or leader.
" Model appropriate thought and behaviour
" Be in the mood of an instrument, a servant without being attached to any perceived
position. We should be happy to see others equal or excel us.
" Be honest when you don t know the answer. Preferably model good learning by doing
the research and coming back with answers.
" Keep commitments. Be punctual. Start on time and finish on time (or even a little early)
" If you ve omitted something because of time constraints, relax and ask to students to
cover it in their self-study periods. Avoid creating a frenetic and rushed atmosphere.
On the following page, we attempt to show how we can deliver our Aims implicitly, i.e.
through behaviour that reflects and expresses suitable values. Some points previously
covered may be repeated, but we are specifically exploring how they are related to our Aims.
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Implicitly Delivering Aims and Objectives
Aims and Objectives are delivered not only through specific learning experiences/methods
but in more subtle ways related to the teacher s style, the mood he/she creates within the
classroom and modelling appropriate behaviour. This is specifically important for those
Objectives that are more difficult to explicitly teach and assess (e.g. Faith and Conviction).
Feel free to add further points under each category below:
1. Knowledge (Memory and Recall)
" recite from memory many slokas, including Sanskrit
2. Understanding
" promote a mood of open and honest enquiry
" value student contributions
3. Personal Application
" be exemplary in character and conduct
" relate personal stories of the challenges you met and how you overcome them
" reveal your own thought processes and model good thinking
4. Preaching Application
" be enthusiastic in relating preaching stories
5. Faith and Conviction
" encourage students to reveal doubts, realisations, etc.
" allow students to formulate and express their own opinions
" reveal incidents that have built your own faith
" create a happy, trusting mood in the classroom
" be exemplary
6. Authority
" ask students to do folio research to find authoritative statements on issues
" treat Srila Prabhupada s books with great respect
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7. Theological application
" refer regularly to the latest news (if appropriate) and to topical issues
8. Evaluation
" share with students difficult situations you ve recently faced
9. Mood and Mission
" personally demonstrate a strong sense of purpose and mission
" display within the classroom pictures of Srila Prabhupada and/or the Seven Purposes
of ISKCON
" in discussing social challenges, acknowledge them but address them constructively
10. Academic Integrity
" define  academic integrity
" compare and contrast the results of using/not using academic integrity in quoting
scripture
" confront students, especially in discussions or question-and-answer sessions,
when they use false or unclear arguments
" avoid using scripture to axe-grind or push your own possibly biased points of view
" avoid being judgmental
11. Responsibility for Learning
" be excited about scripture and scriptural study
" use self-disclosure about how you personally apply scripture
" remember that a teacher is someone who models learning
" be yourself, a fallible but devoted servant of Krishna, rather than Mr. Know-it-all.
" admit ignorance when you don t know something, do research and share the results
" acknowledge learning something new from students
" repeatedly refer to Aims/Objectives during discussions
12. Sastra Caksus (& Realisation)
" cite from non-Vedic sources quotes etc. consistent with Krishna Consciousness
" use examples from your own life and experience to illustrate points of sastra
" always seek sastric references to inform decisions or solutions you are exploring
" speak and teach as far as possible from your own realisation
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DeIlvery SklIIs
We ll not discuss here general classroom delivery skills. For more details please refer to
the Student Handbooks for the VTE Teacher Training Courses (One and Two). Here we ll
touch on just a few points specifically relevant to the Bhakti Sastri Course itself.
Keeplng Focused
During the planning stage we identify what we are trying to achieve by establishing our
Aims (or Focuses of Learning) and, ideally, corresponding Objectives. The key to success
in delivery is to be flexible, responding to student interest and contribution, but without
being unnecessarily deviated. During the lesson the expert teacher is able to make
purposeful decisions, keeping in mind which learning needs he is meeting.
One pitfall is to give inordinate emphasis to some Aims and to neglect others. For
example, it is not uncommon for devotees to enjoy intricate discussions on the nuances of
philosophy or to become embroiled in discussion on highly controversial issues (which
relate respectively to our Aims of  Understanding and  Theological Application ). If during
class this continues for some time, the teacher may confront students by asking,  Very
good point, Krishna das, but how does it apply to your spiritual life? or  Mother Tulasi,
that s very interesting. What have you learned from this whole discussion that you could
apply outside this classroom? In this way, the teacher turns the topic towards  Personal
Application and at the same time promotes responsibility in students.
In summary, the teacher must avoid:
The Two Extremes
being inflexible and pushing through our Lesson Plan
1
whatever happens and irrespective of student contributions
being overly-pliant to students wishes, so that the whole
2
process becomes  student-led .
The key to success is the ability to maintain legitimate and inconspicuous control,
particularly by winning and maintaining students trust. Srila Prabhupada maintained that
 Respect cannot be demanded; it must be commanded. (Lec, Vrindavana, 7th March  79)
Time Management
Time management is an essential skill in teaching. The following points are particularly
appropriate to the Bhakti Sastri:
" Don t pack too much into each lesson (avoid this as far as possible at the planning stage)
" Remember that getting through all the content is only as important as it ensure meeting
our Aims and Objectives.
" On the rare occasion that teachers fail to adequately finish a lesson we recommend that,
rather than falling behind, you ask students to catch up during their regular study time. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]