“I’m a teacher by choice, not by chance.”

A veteran teacher of biology, Rahul Saraf comes with a bag of experiences and philosophies. For him, teaching is his choice and passion, and with every visit to a classroom, he aims to reach out and make his lessons impact the last one in his class. 

In this conversation with BYJU’S Team Storyweavers, he shares his journey as a teacher and what made him win the Best Teachers’ Award twice. 

Tell us about your teaching philosophy.

I see teaching from two points of view–one is self-learning and practice, and the other is explanation techniques. While knowledge is an absolute necessity, good teaching needs the best way of explanation that helps students understand. Although I have been teaching for many years, I still consider myself a student of biology. 

Albert Einstein once said, ‘If you can’t explain it simply, it means you don’t understand it well enough’. I think a little less knowledge is okay, but how you deliver is the most important. 

What challenges do you usually face in a classroom?

I wouldn’t call it a challenge (like a weakness), but rather I take it as a challenge to make the concept I teach clear to the weakest student. If that happens, my teaching is successful. The intelligent and sincere ones will do well, but my fight is for those students who need the most support and are the weakest in the class. 

Is there an emotional moment during this journey?

I had students who didn’t have money and came from an underprivileged background. I taught them with all my might, and now they’re doing their MBBS. There were three such students–one of them is doing his MBBS from a private college on full scholarship by the government, and the other two are doing it from government medical colleges. That was my life’s most emotional moment and a moment of pride. I lost my father when I was in my 10th grade, and I know the struggle. When I saw the same zeal and talent in these students, I thought ‘why not’!

Tell us about your special teaching tools and techniques in the classroom.

There are two important tools for me. On one hand, video classes are really beneficial for students, but what I consider most important is body language. Every teacher has their own way of teaching, but for me, body language matters the most. I need to be approachable to my students. They should feel free to ask questions and share. For example, my students know me very well and have appreciated my attention to them until the last bench. Whether it’s 30 or three, none of my students sit idle at any time in the classroom. 

Mr. Rahul Saraf is a biology teacher and is a proud member of BYJU’S 1500+ strong school teacher community–The Teacher’s Staffroom. 
He teaches at Nirmal Vidyapeeth and his school is a BYJU’S for Schools powered school.