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[This teaching philosophy was written without thinking too much. Hardly
editing. Beating furiously the keyboard till I felt I was done. :-)]
I believe that the main goal of teaching is to help our students to recover the
passion about learning that exists in every little kid and that a lot of times
gets lost as we grow up.
We -as teachers- are educators. We do not only transfer knowledge to our
students. We also transmit habits, attitudes and values -whether we are aware
or not; whether we like it or not.
It is better to consciously and explicitly tell our students which are these
habits, attitudes and values that we want to transmit them. And, like parents,
then we have to be congruent with them. Before transmitting them, we first have
to wear them, to own them. And, that's the difficult part.
Many university professors don't talk about habits, much less about values and
attitudes. Most of the times is because no other teacher that they know does
it. Other times maybe because they feel it's not his job, or they don't feel
capable or confident enough to do it, or that the students won't understand it
or that it will sound weird.
They think this is something only to be done in primary schools or -even worst-
not to be done at all. That it was their parents' job. But, the education of a
person is responsibility of the whole community. With most of the weight being
carried by: parents, relatives, teachers, trainers, neighbours, etcetera. And,
the educational process in our lives never ends.
So, I believe it _is_ part of our job to talk about these things. If we focus
on instilling the passion about learning in our students and we honestly care
for them we'll be fine. And, if we make sure to make they notice that they are
progressing and how far they've gone we'll keep them motivated.
Some ideas about habits could be: that they get organized into studding groups
so that they are more or less forced to meet to study together often. Which
will lead to a more significant learning since they will explain -teach- to
each other what they have understood so far. In addition, if they study often
they'll see constant progress. And, nothing motivates more than seeing
constant progress.
Some examples of attitudes could be: to always be positive -with optimism and
trust; with passion and faith. Motivation alone will not be enough. Motivation
fades away. Passion is the key to sustain motivation over time.
Some values could be: passion to learn, continuous learning, respect for the
others, and to nurture their social networks -even in times of high work load
and stress cos that's when you need them the most.
We can ask them. Seriously. In the classroom. After we tell them which ones we
think they could be, we can ask them which habits, attitudes and values should
they have? So, that they -together- can come up with their own version of it.
Maybe it will be less ambitious that what we wanted/planed. But, if it comes
from themselves they're more likely to stick with them cos now the feel
invested.
Want your students to be motivated? Make them be passionate about learning.
Want them to be passionate about learning? Be passionate about teaching. Be
passionate about _everything_. And, let's hope they become passionate about
life.
Passion.
The rest is just details.
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