Because I say so!

Do you remember being forced to shut your mouth by a teacher? Have you ever remained in doubt because someone told you “it is just because”? If any of these things have happened to you it means that you might be a victim of misuse of authority.

A few weeks ago I was in my working experience in a 4^th grade class. There was a student from the U.S who was anxious to answer teacher’s questions. When he was finally chosen to answer he said “more smaller” instead of “smaller”. The teacher looked at him and told him he was wrong. The 9 year old child said that it was not wrong because that is how they say it in the U.S. The teacher stood up, and yelled “I’m the teacher and what you said is wrong, because I say so”. Instead of giving an explanation about the grammatical rule behind her correction, the teacher expressed with this phrase that her words should be enough for the students as a complete truth.

Authority abuse is not new in Chile, the news are full of situations similar to the one I observed. Teachers use or overuse this authority for different factors: to protect their self-esteem or for fear of losing control. Another possible reason is that teachers’ feelings sometimes cannot be hidden and if they don’t like a student they might just show it. A possible consequence can be that if teachers waste their energies arguing without arguments with little children instead of explaining things calmly and with fundaments, they will lose students respect and reliability.

According to Freire (1997), children can learn by imposed rules or commands, although that learning is neither meaningful nor permanent.

Here you have some ideas of what is necessary to change this unfortunate reality.

Teachers should:

· Let bad feelings for children at home.

· Be respectful with children, it will become reciprocal.

·Do not be afraid of sharing authority. Children are protagonists of their learning process. They have the right to raise their voice. If they feel free to speak and give their opinion, they will feel more confident and important.

·Consider frequency in the language they are teaching. Explain that it’s normal that native speakers use wrong grammatical expressions, nevertheless, you are teaching the official rules of that language.

·Value their students’ opinions and answers by reinforcing their participation and not humiliate them in front of their peers.

If these few measures are applied to the educational system we would be in the starting level of a long path to reach a better education.

This week we wanted to publish a special letter sent by the teacher we interviewed last week, Miss Louanne Johnson. This is a journal a student gave her a few years ago. It is a beautiful example of the impact that teachers can have in their student’s lives.

Dear Miss J:

I just came back from my mom’s house where I spent the holidays. It was so great!!! She is cool, we talk for hours about her life and mine since we got separated, we did so many things together OH! And my sisters are so grown! I missed them a lot and they missed me too.

You were right miss J, my mom did love me. She told me that she had to leave because her relationship with my father was going bad and also that she thought that it would be too difficult for my sisters to grow up with just my father (I guess that happens to girls) but that my father was going to be so alone and sad if I left because I was his life.

She felt really bad for leaving me, she always wanted to go and see me but she didn’t know if I still loved her. She was as scared as I was!

Now we agreed to see each other every summer and that I can go and see her every time I want. And it is all thanks to you miss J. I was so sad for not knowing why my mom left and thinking that anyone in this world loved me, but there you were; you gave the support and attention that I thought I didn’t deserve. I knew you were lying when you told me those things you said, there was no way you knew for sure that my mom was a good mother, but if you wouldn’t have done that I will still be in pain. You gave the strength I needed, the push to decide to go and see her, the right words...but most of all, you gave me my mom back.

I will always be in debt with you miss J; you changed my life for good.

Detrick Davis

5 tips to help you handle disruptive students

The amazing teacher Louanne Johnson gave us 5 tips to deal with restless kids. And now we'll give it to you.

1- Intimidate them: If a student gets violent or is about to, be a little intimidating, threat him/her with a kick in his private areas, call security or even say you will kill them (was she being serious??). Don't be afraid of being aggressive, sometimes the situation requires it.

2- Ask for help: Ask other teachers for their opinion, talk to the school counselor, talk to their parents...everything you think it's necessary to know more about the problematic students and find a solution.

3- Give them a goal: Sometimes, these students have nothing to fight for. Motivate them to be better by showing them that they can go to college, a class for advance students and so forth.

4- Be nice: You can use intimidation but you have to be nice as well. Give them your support, trust, respect and help because most of them do not have anyone to be there for them when they need it.

5- Give up: This is the harder thing to say when you want to be a good teacher, but sometimes it is necessary to admit defeat and recognize that not everything is in your hands. There will always be students you cannot help, but feel better each time you see the face of a student who is having a brighter future thanks to your effort.

My favourite piece of art

"The Starry Night" (1889) by Vincent Van Gogh.

This is a famous painting by Van Gogh, the post-impressionist artist. He painted this piece of art while he was in Saint-Remy's asylum (a mental institution) and it is actualy the view from his room at night.

This painting is my favourite piece of art because it is a very moving image. For me it represents loneliness and desperation but in a beatiful way. We all have felt sadness in our lives but it does not mean that it is something we have to avoid, it is a part of living. Happyness and sadness are two sides of the same coin and we have to learn to appreciate the dark moments because we learn from them, and also because "the night is darkest before dawn". After any bad moment we go through a happy time will come.

After a long time I learnt this leason, and this painting reminds me that I have to be strong, some how this piece of art brings me comfort and consolation.

My autobiography

Hello everyone!

My full name is Carla Muriel Araneda Fernandez. I was born in March 18^th, 1989.

I have 2 older sisters, Carolina and Anita. My mother was a camera woman in the Military School until 2006. In 1998 she had a huge parachute accident and broke her hip. Doctors said she wouldn’t walk again, but she is a strong woman and she did it.

My parents got separated when I was 15. It was the best thing that could’ve happened. Now it’s just my mom, my sister Ana and me. My older sister got married in 2004 and went to live to an apartment. Now she has two beautiful daughters, Thea and Nicole.

During my adolescence I made a lot of friends, but the most important one was my best friend, Daniela León. She is studying Psychology in the same university I am.

In 2006 I met Manuel Amaro who has been my boyfriend for the last three years.

After leaving school I decided to study translation in Inacap. When I got the loan to study, there were no more places. Thus, I ended up studying English Pedagogy in Alberto Hurtado where my love for teaching began.

A year ago my grandmother died. She was an extremely important person in my life. Loosing her was the most painful experience of my life and I still cannot get used to the idea of not seeing her ever again.

So far, everything seems to be just fine. I’m doing quite well at the university, my family is relatively ok and my boyfriend and I are really in love.

In 9 month time I’ll apply for a scholarship to travel abroad and I hope some day I have the chance to go some place nicer than Chile like New Zealand, and have a family there.