A view on teaching

1. “It´s not about teaching.
It´s about learning.”
By Lorena Freiria

2. My generation was born in a different era. We were taught
everything, but we were not allowed to discover much on our own.
The adult world was in charge and we were subject to a direct
hierarchy. Teachers, at the front of the class, developed magistral
classes which were passively heard by students, most of the times.
“Teacher: Well, today we´re going to study the pentagon…
Mafalda: And tomorrow... Kremlim?... I mean...to balance”

3. The distance from ear to brain was something that teachers would
only be able to measure through the students´silence and the
direction of their eyes set on the board. However, nothing could be
further away from reality!!
#????, Mafalda 8 (1972)
Felipe (thinking): "I must pay attention, without missing a detail, to what the teacher is
saying..."
"...and focus all my senses...""...and concentrate all my attention... and..."
Teacher: "Did you all understand?"
Students: "Yes Ms.!"

4. Nevertheless, this method has been used through years, and it is
extremely difficult to erradicate. Not because we are unaware of it,
but because the way in which we have learnt is the way in which we
tend to teach. Even knowing what goes in the student´s mind at
times...because we have been there before! Our history as learners
tends to be stronger than our teaching ideals.
#895, Mafalda 4 (1968)
Felipe (thinking): "Well, I better go do my homework."
...Felipe (thinking): "Damn!"

5. For that reason I believe that the main issue to improve education
is to change the focus from teaching to learning. Schools have
historically been the main source of culture and knowledge, and this
is often reflected in a certain passive attitude that must be
transformed into student´s action. Even more, it is the students who
must be the stars in the teaching learning process and not
otherwise.
Mafalda: will everything that the school is
going to put in my head fit in here?”

6. Teacher: Great! See? Manolito knows because he has
studied.
Manolito: No, No! I know it because it’s “vox populi”
Teacher: Multiplying 2*3 we get the same result than
multiplying 3*2, WHY?
Manolito: Because the order of factors does not alter
the product.
In order to do so, the first step I
intend to take is to move aside.
Considering that I might know
everything (content, how to
present it, the correct question,
the expected answer) I would be
planning as my teachers did. I’d
be designing a lesson as if the
students were a blank, only filled
in by my teaching. As I have
already mentioned, time has
moved on and we must keep in
mind that the students are
immersed in several worlds
apart from the one we have in
common, and that they LEARN
in ALL OF THEM.

7. Teacher: Let´s see the cardinal points. The sun rises ...
Liberty: in the morning
Teacher: No! The morning is not a cardinal point!
Liberty : The sun doesn´t care. It rises all the same.
Teacher: well, yes, but...where?
Liberty : The living room window.
Teacher: That is as seen from your house!
Liberty: well, yes. At my age I don´t have many possiblities of seeing sunrise anywhere else...
Teacher: Please sit down.
Liberty: It’s a pity. I adore talking to you.
For that reason, I believe it is basic to create lessons and plans that
contemplate the students view of the world. That are able to produce
knowledge, student´s development and growth as human beings,
taking into account the content and practices stated in the
curriculum and their own cultural baggage, experiences and needs.

8. #324, Asi es la Cosa, Mafalda (1967)
Teacher: "My mom pampers me. My mom loves me."
Mafalda: "I'm happy for you, Ms. I see you have a wonderful mother."
Mafalda: "Now, please, can you teach us something important?"
Students needs and skills must be present in the selection of
content. This does not mean that they will choose what to learn
directly, but that we must be on the alert to help them learn the
content we are to include through topics or activities that might be
suggested by the students themselves. For example, if students
want to learn about cooking, we can use that interest to create
projects related to measuring, writing recipes, going shopping and
problem solving, family secret recipes, ethnic food, etc. If students
lose interest, we lose students.

9. In the same way the selection of
resources must be to facilitate
learning. We must help students
to interact with different sources
of knowledge to facilitate their
independence as learners. They
can´t be expected to learn on
their own if nobody has ever
taught them how to. I think that
thinking time is a great idea as a
reflective practice. Time to think
how thinking has been made,
how a certain resource has
been used and how, if possible,
that work can be improved.
Learning to learn will open new
doors in any field of studies.

10. The students are the target of our educational community. The fruit
of a family and cultural background. The goal of our job. The seeds
of society. We are here to guide their growth, to facilitate their
learning through the most appropriate practices so that they can fully
develop as individuals - academically, emotionally and socially - to
create a better world. That can only be achieved if each one of us
does his or her best. I believe that we can do it. As professor John
MacBeath has said: “there is no fire without a spark.”

11. Acknowledgements and reference:
Joaquín Salvador Lavado, better known by his pen name Quino, is a Spanish-Argentine cartoonist. His comic strip Mafalda is very popular in Latin
America and many parts of Europe and it is an icon of Argentinian society.
www.todohistorietas.com.ar/mafalda
http://www.turning-pages.com/mafalda/gallery4.htm
http://revistareplicante.com/fractales-numeros-y-paradojas/
http://somossur.net/educacion-para-el-cambio/473-reflexiones-de-mafalda-sobre-educacion.html
http://lucilafutura.blogspot.com.ar/2010/10/mafalda-y-su-reflexion-sobre-la.html
http://bocetosdalineados.blogspot.com.ar/2013_02_01_archive.html
www.quino.com.ar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quino
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