Teachers, The Content Of The Subject Is Not The Only Important Thing
Certainly, at some point, we’ve all met a teacher who manages to get upset, argue, and even stop talking to one of his students. An attitude that leaves a lot to be desired. There are also those who enter the classroom and read a book syllabus without explaining anything, or those who seem to be in a hurry and keep saying “I won’t have time to see the entire content of the subject”.
The dynamic is the same. A teacher can relate better or worse with students, his only duty is to comply with the didactic schedule, give the content of the subject, focus on the grades that students obtain and send an excessive amount of exercises as homework, with the objective that students consolidate their knowledge and learn. Isn’t there something missing from all of this?
The content of the story is not the only important thing
This anxiety to give the content of the material, to fulfill the objectives, or to “finish” the book ends up ruining all the creativity of young people who, instead of learning, try to understand how they can deal with all this amount of information they receive. The problem is that, next year, they won’t remember anything or almost nothing.
This is something many teachers complain about. However, few are encouraged to check if their way of proceeding is correct. The importance that grades have, the little empathy offered to students, especially teenagers, and how much the teacher influences learning are themes that, apparently, almost no one wants to question.
It seems that when they enter the classroom, some teachers forget the most human part of this whole process. Especially if they deal with delicate ages like adolescence. It is not surprising that, when a case of bullying appears, teachers get scared and exclaim with surprise: “We hadn’t noticed!”. This is entirely natural, especially when students are indifferent to them.
However, although there are a certain amount of teachers who are not able to inspire and transmit the passion they should feel for their work to their students, there are many who are able to do this.
A student may have an interest in math and end up hating or loving it depending on the teacher they have. Another student may give up on his dream of being a writer, something that he is passionate about, because he had a Literature teacher who negatively criticized his texts. Teachers influence their students’ self-esteem.
A teacher can make changes in his students
Just as the choice of positive or negative reinforcement influences children’s behavior at home, the same thing happens in the classroom. If a teacher does not believe in his students and conveys this, if he is not able to motivate them, it is clear that the situation will not improve on its own. So, it’s no use complaining. The educator has a power that he does not want to use or is simply unaware of.
All this I can affirm based on my own personal experience. Not only was I a student (something many teachers forget), but I was also a teacher of teenagers during an internship. With my own eyes, I saw my internship mentor get upset and say the following words about a student: “With this one there’s nothing to do, he won’t even open the book”.
My mentor only saw rebellious teenagers, some better than others, but the vast majority were distracted and a few “kids”. This view did not coincide at all with mine, because, without even knowing them, I observed how most of them felt insecure, unmotivated, lacking in self-esteem and, without even asking them, I assumed they had problems with House.
Interestingly, when I took over the direction of the classes for 2 months, this particular student, who didn’t even want to open the book, ended up doing it. In no time did I ignore him or say anything bad to him. I also didn’t ask him to do something he didn’t want; simply, something happened.
The way of teaching, the passion that I transmitted and that made the students want to come, including writing on the blackboard and speaking in front of the class, made this student observe how his colleagues worked with pleasure. So he opened his book and notebook of his own volition, and did the exercise I had asked for: an essay.
My mentor gaped. Said I had achieved something impossible. However, all I thought about was this student, in whose writing I was able to prove what I assumed: he lived in a family with problems.
Unfortunately I couldn’t continue because my internship period ended. However, I realized that it is the teacher who generates a change in the student’s attitude.
My mentor told me that allowing students to write on the board and do some group exercises was positive. However, in the long run, it took a great deal of time to give the content of the story. I asked myself: “What is most important? That the student learns by having fun, expressing themselves, exposing themselves in front of their classmates and doing a didactic activity, or repressing this just to give more content that only a small part of them will understand?”
A change in classrooms is needed. Although there are already schools that implement the Montessori method, and others where there are no individual tables and the focus is to foster collaborative learning and emotional, social and philosophical education, most institutions are still governed by the traditional model. A model that doesn’t work for everyone. Because, although the content of the story is an important part, it is not everything.
