“It´s not about teaching. It´s about learning.”

By Lorena Freiria

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”

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.!"

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!"

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?”

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.Teacher: Great! See? Manolito knows because he has studied.Manolito: No, No! I know it because it’s “vox populi”

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.

Teacher: Let´s see the cardinal points. The sun rises ...Liberty: in the morningTeacher: 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.

#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.

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.

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.”

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.htmhttp://revistareplicante.com/fractales-numeros-y-paradojas/http://somossur.net/educacion-para-el-cambio/473-reflexiones-de-mafalda-sobre-educacion.htmlhttp://lucilafutura.blogspot.com.ar/2010/10/mafalda-y-su-reflexion-sobre-la.htmlhttp://bocetosdalineados.blogspot.com.ar/2013_02_01_archive.html

www. quino .com.ar

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quino

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