Learning from the Master

                 The classes will start in February, but before that, we, the teachers, get together at school to plan our year ahead. As usual, it's part of this planning week to receive some lectures and speakers to present many different topics, all of them related to education. It really has been a very informative and enjoyable week, but I must say that, so far, the one we attended today in the morning was amazing! Luiz Schettini Filho, a 77-year-old professor and psychologist provided us some important moments of reflections! Using kind words and with his calm way of speaking, he conquered the teachers and moved all of us. But it was mainly his words, what he really said, that made us thinking about our own daily practice. According to the professor, communication is a very crucial point in any kind of relationship, including the one between the teacher and the student. He said "I'm responsible for what I say, not for what you listen!" As teachers, we know (and we feel) that sometimes many of misunderstood situations could be prevented if we helped our students to focus on what is going on at the moment we are talking to them. And even doing it, we may be completely misunderstood. The vice-versa is also true. Sometimes we just listen to what we want to and not exactly to what the other one is saying. Sometimes we don't even wait for the speaker to finish the sentence because we "guess" what he/she is going to say. It's a serious problem because we often act according to our thoughts and in this case, if our thoughts are mistaken, we won't act in a properly way! He also said that we can learn best when we are learning from someone that we admire! No doubt about that! He reminded me of some teachers I had and how much I really admire them - not only for their knowledge, which was unquestionable, but also for their way of teaching so many aspects of life that weren't exactly involved in our studying points but were also important for us, as individuals and as citizens. I do miss them and I'm sure that a little bit of them is part of who I am today and there is a great influence of them in the way I conduct my work. Good times, good memories!

Teachers and principals from Eduardo Gomes school and professor Luiz Schettini Filho

Post Question: Think about someone you really admire. Why do you admire this person? What are the characteristics of this person? Do you think you have some of these characteristics in your personality?  Is there a common aspect between you and this person?  

Tip: There is a site with a list of  the most admirable people in the world society. The cool part is that you can contribute to it by voting in someone from the list or by adding someone who is not in the list, but in your opinion, he or she should be there. Just click here.