Teaching Made Easy

How Sensitive Periods Matter

There is a statement made by Mr. E. M. Standing about teaching. He writes that educators, who in their ignorance do not reckon the sensitive periods and complain how hard it is to teach, are like the natives of Madagascar who, when given the wheelbarrow carried them on their heads and complained of heavier head load.

"There are no good students or bad students; only good teachers or bad teachers" is a fairly reasonable saying about the nature of education and learning. Every human being is born with an appetite to learn. How well this appetite is evoked, nourished and satiated is what teaching is about.

While there are loads of literature about the science and art of teaching, one of the most foundational tactics about setting up a student for a successful learning course, is how well his 'sensitive periods' are capitalized upon.

Sensitive period is a concept in early childhood development. They occur with an unprecedented intensity during the first six to seven years of a person's life They represent stages when the child is particularly receptive to certain kinds of stimuli. It occurs in everybody's life. Majority of us see it play out in a child's growing years when the child acquires the 'so-called' survival skills - language, motor skills, reading, writing. These skill acquisitions occur without any sort of intentional prodding of teaching. Imagine what would be the extent of potential unleashed if only these sensitive periods are recognized and channelized with the right developmental environment? Every child has the seed of a prodigy in him!

Capitalizing on sensitive periods is not about average development. It is about maximizing the innate potential of a human being. It makes the difference between good and excellence. Isn't excellence a natural pursuit of every human soul?