SESSION 1

Teaching is not easy, and neither is learning if the teacher does not know how to do his job. It does not matter if you are the best in your field; if you do not know how to teach it, your students will have it more difficult to learn anything because you will not be the guide they need. That is nothing new.

There are many factors to take into account in order to be the perfect teacher or at least to try to be something similar. In this entry we will see the surprisingly importance of spaces and personality, and the role they have in teaching and learning. 

“Environmental psychologists argue that the spaces we inhabit in our daily lives can positively or negatively affect our behaviour and the way we interact with people around us” Bechtel, R. & Churchman, A. (2002) Handbook of Environmental Psychology.

It is essential to feel safe and relaxed in a place where we will spend many hours of our lives, and even more if in that place we want to acquire new knowledge and skills. Every student is an individual person, but along with their classmates, they shape a community. Preparing activities that allow them to express their personality and to know their peers will help developing this sense of a team.

As for the physical place, the classroom is an empty space that needs to be filled up with the essence of each student. If you do not think that this is important, just look the amount of personal decoration that a teen’s bedroom has. So a key part is to personalize the classroom as much as possible with their work. 

Furthermore, the teacher is part of the group as well. Students need to feel that you care, and sharing personal information may be a good idea (also, it is linked to motivation too). However you are the person in charge, and it is important to think about which personal details are better to keep for ourselves. On the whole, I think that “friendly but not friends” sums it up and should replace the old “do not smile until Christmas”.