Teachers, the syllabus is not the only important thing

Surely on some occasion we have all known a teacher who manages to antagonize, argue and even withdraw the floor from a student he teaches.. An attitude that leaves much to be desired and that some people would call “getting down to the student’s level.” However, there are other types of teachers. Those who come into class and read the book’s syllabus without explaining anything or who always seem to be in a hurry and keep saying “We won’t have time to see everything.”

The dynamics are the same. A teacher who can get along better or worse with students whose only task is to comply with the didactic programming, give the syllabus, focus on the grades that the students get (if it is from a grade up, much better) and send excessive amounts of exercises home with the aim of the students strengthening their knowledge and learning. Isn’t something missing in all this?

The syllabus is not the only important thing.

That desire to give the syllabus, to meet the objectives or to give the entire book, ends up destroying the creativity of young people. that far from learning, they try to internalize, as best they can, all the amount of information that is given to them. The problem is that the following year they will remember nothing or almost nothing.

This is something that many teachers complain about. However, few dare to check if their way of proceeding is correct. The importance of grades, the little empathy given to the student, especially the adolescent, and how much the teacher influences his pupils, are issues that it seems that almost no one wants to consider yet.

It seems that as soon as they enter class some teachers forget the most human part of this entire process.. Especially if they deal with delicate ages such as adolescence. It is not surprising that when a topic of bullying or harassment comes up, teachers throw their hands on their heads and exclaim in surprise, “We didn’t realize!” Something that is totally natural, especially when the students are indifferent to them.

However, although there are a certain number of teachers who are not able to inspire and transmit the passion they should feel for their work to their students, there are many others who do. Here is a fragment of the testimony that Carlos Arroyo wrote in El País on August 17, 2013:

A student can love mathematics and end up hating it or loving it depending on the teacher they have.. Another, he may never become a writer, something he is passionate about, because he encountered a literature professor who negatively criticized his writing. Teachers influence the self-esteem of their students.

A teacher can generate 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 it to them; If he is not able to motivate them, it is clear that the situation will not improve on its own. There’s no use complaining then. Because the educator has a power that he either does not want to use or is unaware of.

I can affirm all this based on my personal experience. Not only have I been a student (something that many teachers forget) but I have also been a secondary education teacher in practice. With my own eyes I have seen my own internship tutor antagonize me and say the following words to me about a student: “There is nothing to do with that one, he won’t even open the book.”

My tutor only saw rebellious teenagers, some better than others, but the vast majority clueless and “kids”. That vision did not coincide at all with mine, because without knowing them yet, I observed how the majority felt insecure, unmotivated, lacking self-esteem and, without even asking them, he assumed which of them had problems at home.

Interestingly, when I took charge of the classes for 2 months, that particular student who did not open the book, did so. At no time did I ignore him, much less speak badly to him. I also didn’t order him to do something he didn’t want to do, something just happened.

The way he led the class, the passion he transmitted and that made the students even want to go out on the blackboard and speak in front of others caused that student to observe how his classmates worked with pleasure. So he opened his book, his notebook motu proprioday he carried out the exercise that he had asked of them: an essay.

My tutor was left with his mouth open. He said that he had achieved the impossible. However, he only thought about that student in whose essay I could verify what he assumed with almost complete certainty: he lived in a dysfunctional family. Unfortunately, I could not continue as my internship was ending. However, I realized that it is the teacher who generates a change in the student’s attitude.

My tutor told me that allowing the students to go out on the blackboard and perform some exercises in groups was positive. But, in the long run, he took a lot of time away from teaching the syllabus. However, I asked myself: what is more important? Should the student learn by having fun, expressing himself, exposing himself to his classmates and carrying out a didactic activity or should he repress this just to give more syllabus of which a tiny part will be internalized?

A change is needed in the classrooms. Although there are already schools that implement the Montessori method or others such as the Barcelona school Sadako, in which there are no individual desks, collaborative learning and emotional, social and philosophical education are encouraged, the majority are still governed by the model. traditional. A model that does not work for everyone. Because Although the syllabus is an important part, it is not everything.

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