Hello my dear readers, today I bring you an article to reflect on, full of experiences that I would like to share with you related to the work I do as a teacher in my primary school. Now that the school year is over, and I'm enjoying a well-deserved vacation, while I'm enjoying the usual coffee, sitting on an armchair in front of the window, I can see a clear sky, with bright sunshine as I think of my students and wonder if their day will be as beautiful as mine, or if it is perhaps cloudy and dark as it used to be for some.
Yes, I miss my students, with them I spent nine months, five hours a day, in which we share much more than knowledge or academic activities. To be a teacher is more than that, it is to be part of the lives of each of these young children and even leave a mark on their lives.
Being a teacher goes beyond being a transmitter of knowledge, not only does it imply having the methodological and pedagogical tools or strategies for teaching, it also implies determining the social and psychological aspects or characteristics of the group in order to approach it in the best way, in order to sow in them values, diminish their weaknesses and strengthen their potentialities even more.
Nevertheless, there are realities in each one of them, circumstances that can affect their development, their school performance and their interpersonal relationships, each one of them has a history, a life, a different context that as part of the teaching work, it is important to know but unfortunately many times we cannot change.
As expressed by a teacher of Early Education Martti Siekkinen, from the University of Eastern Finland, the first years of elementary school, i.e. from 7 to 10 years, are a critical period during which the child has to have a secure relationship with his teacher. An empathetic attitude of the teacher not only protects the children's image of themselves as students, but also against social exclusion
Being a teacher has been a truly rewarding experience in my life, situations over the years that have taught me and made me mature as a person and professional. It is not easy because you are not only the "teacher", you also become for these children the friend, the mother, the aunt or simply their confidant and many times in the refuge of these little ones, even in their protection, against a home to which some do not want to return.Each of them with a different reality, some happy surrounded by love and support from their family, others with such a difficult life that as a teacher I have to breathe deeply, be strong, and open my arms to them.
"Hanna" is always quiet, introverted, with some learning difficulties, with a lower academic level than her classmates, she is new in the group, when I asked her a little more about her, I understood the reason for her behaviour and her limitations, the lack of help at home, and a mother with a despot treatment that tends to embarrass her in front of her classmates has created in her a great insecurity and therefore a scarce relationship with her classmates.
"Sophia" cheerful extrovert, always beautiful with her long orange hair, a tiara of flowers on her head and a contagious smile on her face, arrives at her school giving gestures of affection to those around her, fortunately this girl has parents who fill her with love, and who have been there accompanying her in all the important moments of the school and surely they will do it all their life, her future certainly glimpses success, she transmits it.
"Michael", ouch! "My headache", hehehe most mischievous of all, full of energy to plentitude, somewhat rebellious, victim of a mother full of bitterness for the abandonment of her partner, filling the little one with hatred against his father, creating in him a great resentment, which can explain the behavior and the sometimes violent vocabulary of the child towards his companions.
The story of "Alice" is really sad, this little girl was a victim of sexual abuse by her uncle a few years ago, fortunately this brave little girl no longer kept that terrible secret and is now free, who have been his teachers and part of his family have supported him and his progress has been excellent, today she is one of my 25 children and I feel fortunate to have been his teacher.
And just like these stories there are many more, experiences, situations, different circumstances, some with an ideal or functional family life and environment to avoid falling into perfection, others unfortunately less fortunate. It is so much what we sometimes want to do for our students, it is so much impotence that you feel when you fight but you can not change their reality of life as we would like ... All that remains is to give them a little love, to fill them with affection to diminish a little their deficiencies, to flood them with flattery and to make them feel how valuable they are, to become their refuge when the storm is strong and unavoidable.
Each one of them has a lot to give, they are not dolls or objects in which knowledge and information are deposited, and this is perhaps what some teachers have not yet understood. They all have different feelings, needs, it is up to the teacher to get to the deepest part of their feelings, because it is more that can be done when a heart is willing to receive.
It always comes to my mind a wonderful story that perhaps many know and that is part of the book "La culpa es de la Vaca", entitled: "Mrs. Thompson" curiously the favorite of my pupils, this narrates how a little boy managed to love so much his teacher for having become his shelter in his difficult moments, leaving a mark on him for the rest of his life, even occupying for him the place of his missing mother. A great lesson for those teachers who only limit themselves to instruct, to teach and sometimes even to judge and label these little ones, without investigating a little beyond what their eyes can see.
I'm glad I shared this publication.
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