A few weeks ago we talked about the gesture of a teacher towards his students. I had written a letter to encourage them, to support them, to offer their help in this study and more in the last year of school thinking that the next year they leave primary school to start their secondary education.
The news that comes to us from the educational centers is not always so comforting, so we decided to talk to him directly so he could tell us the reason for his letter.
Iván de la Cruz is a teacher in an educational center of the Community of Madrid, this course is tutor of the children who are studying (already almost finishing ...) Primary education, children in sixth grade who are sometimes a little lost or overwhelmed by school circumstances, curriculum content and their own body changes.
Ivan, why do you think of having this gesture with your students?
For the students, the third trimester is always difficult: tiredness, summer is approaching, the end of the course ... Therefore, I saw it necessary to write them a letter that would lead them to overcome all those attitudes that could prevent them from picking up the fruits they had been cultivating throughout the course. I took advantage of the Easter holidays to think carefully about how to do it in the best possible way. The fact that it was a letter occurred to me because as a child I liked to open the mailbox and see that it had a letter for me; That meant someone had thought of me and had dedicated their time. I wanted them to have that same feeling.
I suppose you did not imagine the impact that such a personal gesture has had, but perhaps it has drawn more attention to the unexpected. Ivan, how do you see the relationship between teacher and student in the current Spanish school?
Here we must distinguish in the different educational stages. In Infant and Primary the relationship, in general terms, is quite good, where emotional-educational ties are established that favor learning. Logically this changes in stages like Secondary or University.
On many occasions, especially at higher educational levels, the relationship becomes more distant due to the pressures between teachers and family, the personal situation of students, the requirement of the agenda ... The important thing is to know your students, adapt to them and establish points of union with them. This is something that can be extrapolated to any educational stage.
And that good relationship that you talk about in early childhood education is modified or varies in primary and secondary schools, what would you change about that relationship and why?
For me, a student-teacher relationship becomes significant when the following key points have been established:
Mutual respect.
Knowledge of your students: their concerns, preferences, problems, joys ...
Students perceive that they care, beyond the content of the subject.
Requirement, which takes into account the personal moment of the student and is truly equitable (this is not easy).
Leaving aside the figure of the teacher we have talked about so far, let's talk about education more globally. Do you think that the education that Spanish students are receiving is really preparing them to become masters of their future?
Honestly no. As the teaching in Spain is structured young people are being prepared to know how to fulfill a task, a pre-established function, not to seek their place in society. Education and working life, in general, are being technified in excess.
The fact that contents such as Philosophy, Music, Plastic Arts, and other areas that help forge personality, character and critical spirit have been reduced in favor of technique, is making us see what we want to do with students : mere doers. It is necessary to return to a more human education where technique and thought go hand in hand and it is the students themselves who decide which path to choose.
To end with a smile Ivan, if you had a superpower to use in class, with your students what would it be?
Many times I have imagined having an educational superpower!
It would be able to discover how to get the best out of each student to help them develop to the fullest both academically and personally.
Thank you very much for your time and your sincere responses, it is contagious to chat with someone with such passion for what he does and so eager to learn to do even better, right?
Photos | Facebook PlateroEduca Community | iStock | Facebook Iván de la Cruz
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