Solidarity and self-esteem

"Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one's ideas and responding to others improves thinking and deepens understanding." 

                                                                                                                      Chickering & Gamson (1997)                                                                             

I've always knew that helping is important in the classroom, but since I've made cooperation "explicit" through the implementation of a tutors' system I can see results and I'm very proud of my learners. It's great to see how stronger students support and guide weaker students. In this process both the tutor and the helped student grow and learn from each other. 
I strongly believe that self-esteem is raised in both sides since the tutor feels helpful and the weak learner feels supported and cared for. What's more, sometimes students may feel more comfortable or will learn best if a peer helps him/her since they have the same age, interests and needs. 
I'm glad because in general I've received a positive response from parents, tutors and the helped students. I feel so happy when some tutors praise their mates for making an interesting comment or having a bright idea or when they let me know that kids are doing fine. Although the system is working well I´ll plan a brief meeting with the tutors to talk about their responsibilities, to give them some feedback, to make them do a guided self-assessment of their role and to listen to their opinions. I think that controlling these things from time to time is crucial for the system's effectiveness.

References:

Chickering, A. W, and Gamson, Z. F (eds.), Applying the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no.47. San Francisco: JosseyBass, 1991.

My teaching philosophy

In my first publication of my blog I would like to talk about some of my beliefs as an educator. We as teachers have our own teaching styles because of our experiences as students and the theoretical background we received during our training. We all teach in different ways, and when we plan or make a decision we do not stop to think “why am I doing this?”, “why did I choose that activity?”. However, we all have our own philosophy of teaching that guides our performance and development in the classroom. Our philosophy changes over the years because of the experience we gain and the situations we go through in life. I do not have much experience yet, and although my philosophy of teaching is not that mature, I am sure about some of my beliefs.

1) Creating a safe environment is essential: from my experience as a student and the theoretical framework that I have received at the teaching training college I can state that if the student feels intimidated by the teacher or is corrected all the time when speaking he will not participate and this will hinder learning.

2) Experience and background knowledge are part of our student: they do not enter the classroom with their minds empty. We as teachers have to profit from this prior knowledge to create an atmosphere in which learners can share what they know with the others. Consequently, this can be a very fruitful experience which changes the traditional, teacher-led model of learning.

3) Teachers have multiple roles: we should not consider ourselves as being the providers only, because in this way we will not consider that our students are autonomous and that they have knowledge to share with us. On the contrary, we should think of ourselves as having different roles depending on the moment of the class. We can assume the role of motivator, monitor, guide, instructor and a chair-person. If we constantly shift roles, we will give our students the opportunity to learn in different ways and to be independent.

I can affirm that every teacher has his or her own philosophy. These is my own and I hope that throughout the years it will evolve to help me become a better teacher!