I would like to become a teacher and this video made me rethink my vocation: do I really want it or is this just a choice linked to what I have learnt best? At first I felt confused. I don't want to become that kind of academic who imposes order and discipline and can only speak bureaucratese. I would like to inspire my pupils with literature. Through reading, I’ve learnt the meaning and the value of freedom, immortality and many other things and I would like to pass this to the future generations, who are often completely absorbed by digital technologies and may be led to think of books as boring or even to lose their curiosity and creativity. I believe they are our hope, and I feel a big responsibility towards them because I think they’re also my future in some sense: if one day even only one of my children is able to make a positive change to the world, I will feel immortal. I know I’m just a student and I lack important knowledge and skills, but I’m trying to learn something on the ground of experience with children. I've known a girl who is 5 years old and who really likes drawing. I was stuck with surprise and disappointment the day her mother told me she had stopped. I talked to her and she told me she was scared… Her teacher didn’t like the way she coloured things and people: she wanted her to use a realistic style and yelled at her because she had painted a red meadow. I invited the girl to my house and, while playing, I asked her to draw anything she wanted of whatever colour she liked. She told me she couldn’t… But then she saw my sad face. I told her that, for our friendship, I really wanted to know her personality and the way she expressed it. Having read some books on pedagogy, I’ve learnt that children need to be trusted and to be given responsibilities because it makes them feel important and skilled, so I also said that her drawings made me and her family feel happy and loved. Finally, she took her pencil and colours and made for me a purple fish in an orange sea. I love that drawing. It hangs on a wall in my room as a reminder of what I actually want to become. My words filled her with enthusiasm, and her smile filled me with hope. I hope she won’t forget this piece of conversation we had, but I especially hope this is the right path for me to follow. Thanks for sharing this video, it was really inspiring.
Great comment! You might be interested in some articles I wrote on teaching. Here's a link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ih_9hgqF9IEaN9d84qx0d9rdNNj1eu8BURCAk_Ax6_g/edit
Thank you! I've found the article very interesting. I had once read about the importance of literature as a sort of "teacher of feelings", in the sense that we are only able to feel what we have previously read in books... but I didn't know that storytelling could be such a simple, flexible and powerful strategy of teaching! I'll keep it in mind :)
4 comments:
I would like to become a teacher and this video made me rethink my vocation: do I really want it or is this just a choice linked to what I have learnt best? At first I felt confused. I don't want to become that kind of academic who imposes order and discipline and can only speak bureaucratese. I would like to inspire my pupils with literature. Through reading, I’ve learnt the meaning and the value of freedom, immortality and many other things and I would like to pass this to the future generations, who are often completely absorbed by digital technologies and may be led to think of books as boring or even to lose their curiosity and creativity. I believe they are our hope, and I feel a big responsibility towards them because I think they’re also my future in some sense: if one day even only one of my children is able to make a positive change to the world, I will feel immortal. I know I’m just a student and I lack important knowledge and skills, but I’m trying to learn something on the ground of experience with children. I've known a girl who is 5 years old and who really likes drawing. I was stuck with surprise and disappointment the day her mother told me she had stopped. I talked to her and she told me she was scared… Her teacher didn’t like the way she coloured things and people: she wanted her to use a realistic style and yelled at her because she had painted a red meadow. I invited the girl to my house and, while playing, I asked her to draw anything she wanted of whatever colour she liked. She told me she couldn’t… But then she saw my sad face. I told her that, for our friendship, I really wanted to know her personality and the way she expressed it. Having read some books on pedagogy, I’ve learnt that children need to be trusted and to be given responsibilities because it makes them feel important and skilled, so I also said that her drawings made me and her family feel happy and loved. Finally, she took her pencil and colours and made for me a purple fish in an orange sea. I love that drawing. It hangs on a wall in my room as a reminder of what I actually want to become. My words filled her with enthusiasm, and her smile filled me with hope. I hope she won’t forget this piece of conversation we had, but I especially hope this is the right path for me to follow. Thanks for sharing this video, it was really inspiring.
Great comment! You might be interested in some articles I wrote on teaching. Here's a link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ih_9hgqF9IEaN9d84qx0d9rdNNj1eu8BURCAk_Ax6_g/edit
Thank you! I've found the article very interesting. I had once read about the importance of literature as a sort of "teacher of feelings", in the sense that we are only able to feel what we have previously read in books... but I didn't know that storytelling could be such a simple, flexible and powerful strategy of teaching! I'll keep it in mind :)
You, and anybody else reading this, might be interested in other writings of mine that you can find here: http://emartinpedersenwriter.blogspot.it
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