The importance of working students' self-esteem

«Many children grow through adolescence with no ripples whatever and land smoothly and predictably in the adult world with both feet on the ground. Some who have stumbled and bumbled through childhood suddenly burst into bloom. Most shake, steady themselves, zigzag, fight, retreat, pick up, take new bearings, and finally find their own true balance.»

Stella Chess,

The notion that children have of themselves is just the reflection of the opinions that others make and spread about them. Therefore, to appreciate oneself is essential to have the love and support of some adult during the ups and downs of childhood. So, the worst the circumstances of a child are, the more they need these emotional ties

If we say of a child: "Is very naughty" “Is an imp” “He/she does not sit still”… When that boy or girl think about who he or she is, all these adjectives will come to his/her mind, and will assume this as true. And the same thing will happen if we say: “Is very intelligent”, “is very responsible”. So we have to be very careful making judgments in front of children, as it will influence their opinion of themselves and, therefore, their future.

I have checked personally how the opinion of the teacher about a child influences drastically his/her way of acting. The first day, when I arrived to the 1^st course classroom, there was a boy who was sitting in front of the blackboard, apart from his classmates. I thought that it was because maybe he had vision problems, so he needed to be near the blackboard to see better, as I didn’t detect any behavioral problems. After two days, he didn’t show any signs of misbehavior, so I asked the teacher why was he sitting there. She answered me in front of him that he was a very nervous guy, and that he was always disturbing his classmates. From this moment, his behavior suddenly changed. Maybe he saw in me the opportunity of changing his public opinion, but once he realized that my vision of him was already influenced by the teacher, he started to play his habitual role. Some students also told me while he was listening, that he was a bad and troubled guy. I tried to convince them that he was not bad, that everybody is different and we all have good and bad things, and that we must look for the good things in everybody. But my opinion was not enough, because the rest of the teachers didn’t defend this same idea.  

Most of the times, helping students not to be typecast in one role doesn’t depend only on us, since children come with these “labels” from their home. So, schools must become in a scenario that brings them the opportunity to show a different version themselves.

There’s a Chinese proverb that says: "...Every crisis carries two elements, danger and opportunity. No matter the difficulty of the circumstances, no matter how dangerous the situation is...at the heart of each crisis lies a tremendous opportunity. Great blessings lie ahead for the one who knows the secret of finding the opportunity within each crisis.” But to have this opportunity, children need to find in some moment the unconditional love and support of someone, and we, as teachers, have the chance to be their lifesavers. 

Reflecting about my future

I remember when my father taught me how to ride a bike. I was five and I felt really scared of falling down and hurting myself. But after that, all what I can remember is having fun with my friends while riding our cycles around the town. Today, I feel again the same sense of fear and insecurity, but this time about my future. My life will change in a few months, when my dream of becoming a teacher will come true. However, now I wonder if I'm already prepared to work with children.

I think it’s inevitable feeling this way, but since this is what I really want to do in my life, I don’t have nothing to be worried about, because with enthusiasm and determination, everything will be alright.  As teachers, we don’t need to know about everything, but just be willing to learn with and from children. Many times, they ask questions we had never raised before. So, instead of ignore them just because we don’t know the answer or because they aren’t part of the course contents... why don’t we investigate and try to get the answer together? After all, children forget many of the knowledge we teach them, but they will always remember all the special experiences and moments we will live with them.

I‘ve learned lots of interesting things during these 4 years like, for example, the different theories about developmental psychology from authors like Skinner or Piaget which are very useful to understand how a child’s mind works depending on his/her age. Nevertheless, I think that experience is the most important part of any job. In our case, the Practicum represents an excellent opportunity to learn from experienced teachers, always thinking how could we improve and adapt the different methodologies to our own philosophy of teaching.

Nowadays, we have a wide range of resources to motivate children, so it's sad to see how the teaching model has not changed at all since we were at Primary School. Teachers are still following textbooks to the letter, and assuming the role of transmitters of knowledge. That is why children’s desire to discover, experience, and research gradually fades away. They lose their interest about knowledge, and start to learn contents by heart in order to pass standardized tests or exams.

Exams facilitate the teaching task, allowing us to check quickly whether our students have achieved the objectives or not. However, this check is entirely inaccurate as children never learn all the same way. Therefore, it’s unfair to measure them following the same pattern, without taking into account their previous ideas and their progress. For this reason, I’m against using textbooks or doing exams since I’m looking for being truly involved in the learning process of my future students, developing my own course programs according to the characteristics of each group, and assessing them through a process of observation and considering the progress of each one.

Unfortunately, we still find unmotivated teachers in schools who do the same year after year without improving their ways. For this reason, I think it is necessary a permanent teaching training, being interested in knowing about new methods and techniques, and most especially, reflecting and learning from our own experience. To do this, we must be self-critical with our work, and to highlight what is right and what we should improve or take out. A good tool for doing this would be a notebook or a diary in which recording our reflections about the classes.

This last course has also made me reflect about what kind of English teacher I would like to be. It is undeniable that the methodology followed for years and still used to teach English in Spain is not the most appropriate for children to be proficient in this language. We must consider that learning English in our country is more complicated than in others, as children are not in permanent contact with the language. For this reason, it’s important to start with situations that allow them to communicate, instead of memorizing grammar rules or vocabulary. Considering they start from zero, it’s essential to use body language to help them to relate meanings. In this regard, I also believe that literature is a very useful resource that must be used in English lessons since it allows us to connect with children’s reality and interests.

In conclusion, as future teachers, we must be aware of the responsibility that our job involves since we’ll be in contact with people who represent the future. Thus, the future of society is somehow in our hands. So, it’s crucial we take our work seriously, and show a commitment to education. Assuming a role of guidance and support for pupils, we’ll get them to be much more autonomous and critics, and to increase their motivation to learn and, therefore, their desire to go to school and their happiness. 

Expectations and deceptions

Before starting an Internship period, I ask myself many questions like… How will my tutor be? Which methodology will he/she follow? Will I adapt easily to the class? And, what about the children? How will they be?  How will they receive me?

I remember that, when I started my first internship three years ago, I was really scared and nervous because I had never experienced the teacher role before, so I felt very insecure on it. However, last year I faced my first day in a very different way, more calm and with more self confidence. This year, the first day at school has also been totally different. I have more experience as I’ve been working in a language school during some months, so I see everything from a different point of view. Now, I am disposed to learn from each single moment without being too much worried about making a good impression on children. I think that this change of mind is because now I understand what be a teacher means, what our functions are, and what I have to do to accomplish them. I have overcome the transition period between being a student and being a teacher, and now I know what my place is.

I’ve been always very realistic and I’ve been always aware that most of the methods and methodologies that we have studied during these four years at the University haven’t arrived yet to schools. However, I admit that I expected to see a different perception of Education during my stay at this school, but the truth is that it hasn’t changed at all since I was little. This is a big problem, since society and, therefore, children have changed a lot in a few years. We live in the multimedia and the Internet era, in which we can have access to all the information we want with just one click. For this reason, educational standards would have also changed and adapt to this new time we are living. It’s true that now, we have interactive whiteboards and, in some cases, tablets and computers in the classrooms, but in the background, everything remains the same. For example, in Maths we are still obsessed with teaching the classical algorithms of the main arithmetic operations since very young, instead of focusing on the concept and on the problem solving. Why are we doing this if we have an amount of machines that can do it for ourselves? I haven’t heard yet a coherent response apart from: “they need to know how to add and subtract” I’m sorry, but… why? Do you think that they are really learning how to add or subtract? No, they are only learning one way of doing that, only an algorithm among the many that exist just because someone said that this one is the best one.

Teachers are afraid of changing their ways. Well, I want to think so, because otherwise I will have to admit that maybe they are too lazy to sit down to analyze the situation, and start working on it, even if it means that they have to invest some of their free time. I think that the main problem is that a big part of the Teaching Stuff is old people that come from another time, and that are not prepared to assume most of the nowadays educational challenges. For example, how can someone that doesn’t know how to turn on a computer, or what the word software means, introduce the students in the informatics world? I know that the State offers some re-educational courses, but when you are used to perform in a particular way, is very difficult to change it and you need not to be tired and to do it with enthusiasm and vitality.

So, one of my first reflections about the Educational System is that the teacher stuff needs a constant renewal in order to let the new people and, therefore, the new ideas enter to the schools. Otherwise, these are becoming in old-fashioned spaces, that doesn't prepare students for the future that awaits for them, but for a past that they will never know.

Introduction

In my first blog entry, I would like to explain a little bit about who I am, and about why am I starting this new adventure of sharing openly my experiences and my thoughts about Education. So, let's start!

My name is Ximo Alfonso, I'm 22 and I live in Silla, a town located in the east coast of Spain. In 2014, it has a population of 18.644 inhabitants according to the data provided by the INE (Spanish Statistical Office). The town is about 14 Km from Valencia, the city where I've studied Teaching during four years at the Faculty of Education of the University of Valencia. From today, February 2, until  May 15, 2015, I'll do the last internships of the degree in a school in my town called CEIP San Roque.

This school is placed in an area apart from the historic center built around the 70's, when a group of people from other parts of Spain like Cuenca or Castilla la Mancha, came to Silla and to other neighboring towns after the Ford Plant in Almussafes opened, providing many jobs. So, although Silla is a town where the Valencian has been the main language, currently, as the most of the students of the school descend from these strangers, the Spanish is their mother tongue. Thus, the school follows the Progressive Incorporation Program (PIP) which has the Spanish as the base language.

During the Pre-school education (from 3 to 5 years), Valencian is introduced orally, so that students start to be in contact with the other official language, which is not familiar to them. This favors an increasingly formal mastery of Valencian, reaching the objectives set in the curriculum with the two official languages. From the 1st grade of Primary School, the PIP introduces the subject of Valencian: Language and Literature, and from 3rd grade, at least the subject of Social and Natural Science, taught in Valencian. So, through an appropriate methodology which provides teaching and learning of curriculum contents through a second language, we not only guarantee the accomplishment of the curriculum contents, but also the linguistic competence in the second language.

The academic offering of the center covers the Pre-school Education for kids from 3 to 5 years, and the six courses of Primary Education, from 6 to 12 years. For each course there is only a group of students of 16-18 children approximately, being a total of 168 students at the school. To serve these students there are a total of 16 teachers, between tutors, and the specialists of Physical Education, Music, English, Therapeutic Pedagogy and Support.

Regarding to the facilities, the school has two buildings. The first one has only a floor with the three classrooms for Pre-school courses, an office, and a bathroom. The main building has three floors. In the first one we can find the reception, the Teachers room, the office of the director and the head teacher, the gym, some classrooms for the Therapeutic Pedagogy lessons, bathrooms and the canteen. On the first floor are the classrooms of first, second, third and fourth grade of Primary School, the library, and other bathrooms. Finally, on the last floor are the classrooms of the fifth and sixth grade, the English classroom, the Computers room, and more bathrooms.

The school also has three schoolyards. One for the little children with swings, slides, a sandpit... Another for the first cycle of Primary School with a tennis, a basketball and a football court, and a big one for the second and the third cycle with a football pitch and two basketball courts. It also has its own canteen service for all the students who want to use it, in which diverse activities are organized during the free time.

So, this blog will be my Internship Report, in which I will share my experiences during my stay at this school, and my reflections about certain topics related to Education arising after being in contact with the school reality.

I also hope to continue this project after finishing my Report, because I think that doing this is an excellent exercise for teachers as it let us reflect about what we think about our job, what we want to accomplish through it, what we want to change or to improve, etc.

A blog can also work as a source of resources that we have created and that have been successful, and that can help other teachers. In the end, Education should be something public and everybody should cooperate to improve it, not considering it as something private or an own merit, because we are working for the benefit of children and of society, not for our own.

So, welcome to this blog, and let's talk about Education! ☺