Foundations of teaching 1

“ I used to think..., now I think...”

by Lorena Freiria

The issue that has caused a deeper

impression on me was the pivotal move of

paradigm from teaching focus to learning

focus. Traditionally teachers have been

educated to be the centre of the process.

Teachers had to know it all and plan their

lessons accordingly, that is to say to show how

much knowledge they have acquired in order

to let the pupils get to that knowledge through

listening passively. However, much has

changed in this field.

I used to think that being a teacher was about

vocation, will and professionalism, but now I

can say that that is not enough if we don´t think

of this career as a service. Service to the

learners, who need of our job to get a better

education to help them grow happily and

healthily, with an open mind and ready to

interact with the world. Service to their families,

to support the cultural baggage provided at

home and to value parents’ teachings. Finally,

service to the community we live in, in which

our students will be soon immersed as

individual citizens.

I used to think the job was teaching, but now I believe it is about learners and their learning. This mere

disctinction brings about three implicancies. Firstly, teachers are no longer the main actors, and their

knowledgeability must be not only about educational matters (such as the subject matter and teachers’ tasks and

skills) but about the individuals they have to work with. Secondly, distinguishing “the learner” from “learning”

makes me think about the central role of the learner as a person, who is also a child, a friend, a son and has many

diverse features, such as age, psychological development, feelings, interests, previous knowledge, groups of

belonging, etcetera. The idea of pupils being part of several worlds at the same time is clear enough. Thirdly, the

focus on learning as a skill to develop is a consequent result. Thinking about how to learn instead of thiking about

how to teach is the result of this change of paradigm. To consider it a task to reflect on as well as a skill to develop

is a way of showing its importance as tool and goal in education.

I used to think Curriculum was a document ellaborated to guide the teaching process, now I think it

is an insight into learning and how to make students profit from their schooling in an efficient and

fair way, providing for minimum standards which are a guarantee of equality and fairness.

Curriculum is not to something static to be used from the document to practice but something in

constrution, from the student to the document.

I used to think a major part of planning and

developing lessons was about thinking how to

teach new content, now I think it is about

reflecting what we want for our children, what

we know about learning, what we consider

important for them to learn and what is the best

way for them to reach certain goals, to think

about how they think and to acquire a culture

of learning that will help them to keep growing

into adults and future professionals.

I used to think being a professional was related to the acquisition of knowledge, an update in the

field of studies as well as in the field of the practice. Even though the moral and ethical standards

remain the same, now I have the believe that being a professional is also taking into account the

value of education for the good of society.

I used to think that who we are need not to be relevant to our pupils. However, now I can say that

knowing who we are and what we can do is what makes us better teachers. By knowing ourselves

better we can understand how our mind works, how we acquire knowledge, how we relate to

others, how we connect with our environment. If we know ourselves and our skills we can become

better facilitators of other people’s learning.

To sum up, if there is a change of focal point from teaching into learning, the whole teaching learning process will be something different. The old roles will be transformed turning the learner into the centre of education and the teachers into promoters of this change.

Acknowledgements (images)

Teacherschool.discoveryeducation.com - 500 × 749 - Search by imagemath teacher math teacher

Studenthttp://www.aiche.org/sbe/community/students/chapter-benefits-requirements

curriculumhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/8527950743/sizes/l/in/photostream/

diplomahttp://sweetclipart.com/graduation-cap-and-diploma-682

thinking thinking cap - Clip Art Galleryschool.discoveryeducation.com - 230 × 337 - Search by imagethinking cap thinking cap