Fabricar humanidad, by José

Humanity has a long the years evolved through a process called evolution. Humans are the specie that seems to have evolved into a more complex specie, in comparison with other animal in the world. But as Savater says we are the only specie which need to live a process to become humans, he thinks that we are born as a being lack of humanity and that to reach the name of humans we need to be in touch with society which helps us to reborn as useful human beings of the society.

Savater gives the example of children who had to grow up with animals, who we not able to develop inner characteristics that we as humans beings share, because of the lack of humans and the society itself to teach a language, a culture, a proper way to see the world as a community. Based on this example, Savater concludes that we are the only animals which are born twice, first as animals and second as humans. In this way, education has a very important role in the society as a factory of humans, where we learn not only knowledge, but also where we socialize with others and learn polite ways to use in the society.

We are also required to acquire the necessary abilities to govern others as active participants of a society where inevitable we will have to govern and be governed, to persuade and to recognize when we have to be persuaded by other’s ideas; because finally, ideas are those we must debate, and let the best ones succeed.

Analysis of “Fabricar humanidad”: Shary

Savater, in this article, highlighted the importance of teaching humans to develop that humanity. He believes that teaching is a lot more than the passing on of knowledge and I agree with him. Teaching has a key role in a person’s life. It is during our school years that we find our friends, learn, grow, develop… Today school has an even bigger role with the amount of time kids spend there, the “parent-role” teachers have gained, and, of course the wide variety of extra curricular activities. Understanding and communication are two of the abilities we need more to be good humans. Through good communication and the understanding of others’ needs and feelings we can develop as human beings.
We must never forget that we need each other; we are not alone in this planet. It is necessary to keep always in mind that our feelings play a major role in our lives: learning about emotional intelligence can help us.
Teachers should be aware that they are teaching more than content; we are helping kids become humans. That is the reason why teaching values is so significant. We are spectators as well as performers in the creation of a new person and we must not take this task lightly.
As Savater wrote, “All democratic teaching is teaching of princes,” thus teaching should be considered highly important: we make society what it is. Forming the future rulers of our society is our main priority; and, if we want to have good, kind, just… rulers we have to teach our students to be that kind of people from the very beginning. We work for the sovereigns of our world!

What makes a teacher effective? by Jorge and Shary

As students we know perfectly well what we do not want in a teacher, we have criticized endlessly those teachers who were hypocrites or those who had no passion in what they were trying to teach us. We have a clear idea on what kind of teacher we want to be, we have set our minds to follow the examples of the good teachers we had. As teacher that’s a question we ask ourselves every time we start a school year, a course, a new level… because we want to be good teachers.
The desire to be a good teacher is a good start. Some skills can make our life as teacher a lot less complicated and a lot more enjoyable, by developing them you can not only help yourself but also your students.
Firstly you must work on your decision making. Secondly, you need to have the right attitude. Thirdly, you need to have knowledge on very specific areas. Finally you need to develop teaching skills.
Decision making- Teachers have to make decisions all the time. The decisions can be related to the planning, implementing or evaluating phases. When planning the teacher needs to decide not only on the contents he/she wants the students to work on but also on the strategies and activities he/she will use to teach those contents. His/her decision should answer the questions what, how, when and why. The implementing phase occurs when the teacher is actually teaching and here he/she will have to decide on how to attack the problems that come up during the lesson. Knowing the students, their learning styles, their backgrounds, preferences… comes in handy during this stage. The final phase, evaluating, requires the teacher to decide on the way he/she will measure the success of the activity and whether or not her objectives were met.
Attitude- A teacher’s personality is also very important; students show more interest and better results when they feel they can trust their teacher and when the teacher is nice and respectful. The teacher’s attitude can change the environment in the class, there are four categories he/she needs to work on: attitude toward self, toward children and their relationship, toward peers and parents, and toward the subject he/she teaches. It is crucial that the teacher knows and understands him/herself in order to be able to identify and understand other people’s emotions and actions. Another aspect teachers need to remember is the influence their actions have on the students (especially kids and teens), it is key that the teacher watches his/her behavior and treats students equally and with respect. A good teacher is a real person with good and bad days but is also someone who values his/her students and shows empathy and understanding. The teacher’s attitude toward peers and parents is also crucial, it is necessary that the teacher sees them as collaborators rather than obstacles, only then he/she can benefit and work well in his/her workplace. The attitude toward the subject the teacher is facilitating should be of passion, enthusiasm; the teacher should love, or at least like the subject to transmit this enthusiasm to the students.
Knowledge- Three kinds of knowledge are required from the teacher: knowledge on the subject, knowledge on human behavior and theoretical knowledge. It is more than obvious that the teacher needs to know as much as possible on the subject he/she teaches, but that is not all, they also need to know the methods to teach the contents, understand the curriculum and know about what is expected from his/her students. It is also needed from the teacher to know how people work, learn and interact. Sometimes students need professional help; the teacher needs to be constantly monitoring students to find out what they are requiring or lacking.
In order to become an effective teacher it is important to master some skills. The skills that have been chosen as essential are: asking questions, reinforcing certain kinds of behavior, diagnosing student needs and difficulties, keeping students involved, being able to recognize when students are paying attention, using technology, making learning meaningful and assessing that learning. The previous skills need to be practiced to the point that they become automatic to the teacher. Later on the teacher can focus on communicating to students by their behavior, on not interfering with the flow of the class and not slowing down the pace of the lesson. This can be reached by establishing clearly defined rules and routines (the more involved the students are the better), ensuring that students are committed to the rules and demands, and by involving the families
Remember that just as the girl in the case study (Carol Landis) a new teacher is bombarded with doubts, questions, insecurity and lack of confidence. No matter how many A’s or how many years if college one has gone through the real learning comes when we are faced with reality and have to put into practice all the acquired knowledge. The problem is that no one told us what to do if a student falls for you or if another student has a serious problem with authority and it’s in these moments when we could use a hand.

Personal analysis and application of two strategies-Shary

Strategy 2: Identify and Create Opportunities
Strategy 7: Support Teacher Leaders
These two strategies can be very helpful to enhance teacher leadership. In the article it is shown how teacher who want to improve are always in the lookout for this opportunities, and how by demonstrating they are capable and receiving their authorities’ support they can reach their goals.
From my personal experience I can say that both have helped me grow as a teacher. I think that when things are not happening you should make them happen and that’s the reason I think strategy two applies to my personality.
Where I work we have the freedom to talk to our coordinator about problematic areas and she is always encouraging us to look for ways to solve those problems and to improve as teachers. I used strategy two when I saw that we had nine units to evaluate in two exams. It was causing many problems, some teachers split it five and four units, others in four and five units; there were many topics for students to study and we never agreed on a date to have the exams. I thought it would be better if we had three exams, each containing three units; I discussed it with my coordinator and she said I could try. After two or three semesters we saw good results and it was implemented for all our groups. She was happy with my work and trusted me with another task: Conversation club (strategy 7). Last semester I found another opportunity to use my leadership skills, I have talked to my coordinator and she has given me the support to work on that area. I am very glad I can count with my superiors to do this and I am paying attention to find and create more opportunities.

Reflection on “Enhancing Teacher Leadership” by Jorge and Shary

The article tells us the experience Betsy Henry had when she implemented a program to enhance leadership in her school. It all started with her concern on the curriculum she was using and the involvement teachers had in the classroom at her school. Henry’s school was looking for ways to improve in order to have better prepared and more competitive students. She was appointed a new position in which she would work with teachers on their leadership skills. Henry accepted the job even though she did not want to have an administrative charge because she believed it would benefit her students.
Henry came across some obstacles that show us that often we can encounter the difficulties she faced when we want to make things better in our school. Some of those obstacles can be that colleagues might not want to work extra or be interested in learning new techniques. They might feel jealous of the person in charge’s new title, position, benefits… or might not want to recognize that teacher as an authority. In Henry’s experience they did not want to make changes and said they would just do what was required by the principal. We think it is very sad that your own colleagues are the ones that make it harder for you. More shockingly was finding out that your bosses (principal, coordinator, etc.), the ones that are there to support you and help you through the process, are precisely the ones that do not back you up. We also learned that if we want to change things in our workplaces we may find trouble juggling our time with classes, projects, research and personal life
However hard it may be the benefits are far more than the difficulties thus making the effort worthwhile. The most important benefit to us as teachers is the improvement of our teaching quality and our students’ learning. We can make it happen by helping each other, mentoring new teachers and participating in the use of new methods, techniques and activities. Senior teachers can help the new ones by sharing experiences, monitoring and evaluating. If teachers put their energy into it students benefit too. Another benefit the article mentions that we consider relevant is that it can provide opportunities for professional growth; nowadays we need to keep updating and learning and implementing this kind of programs can be one way to do it. When you are involved actively and see the good results you obtain self-esteem and that motivates you to do even better. Not only teachers and students can benefit but also the principal. It is mainly because the load of work and responsibility can be shared between all the involved ones, then the principal can work on other areas of the school. This leads us to another benefit, which is the creation of a more democratic school environment; since teachers and authorities are sharing responsibilities each member has a say making it more democratic and more beneficial to all. One last benefit is seen in the education reforms, they can be tested, modified and certified by the whole school, giving more realistic results and showing whether or not they work or if they might need to be disqualified. One big problem that comes with school reforms is that a lot of teachers do not know how to implement them. Here we can have the help of more experienced teachers and with constant feedback we can ensure it is working.
The article gives us a list of tips that can help to enhance teacher leadership.
To us valuing and respecting the role and work of teacher leaders is perhaps the most imperative. People respond well when they are valued, and teachers need to feel that what they are doing is important to the rest of the staff. Not giving the credit to the work and efforts made by teacher leaders can cause division in the group and lack of participation in the future. Providing affirmation for teachers’ leadership tasks will help keep teachers’ spirits high. If teachers want to be better and are motivated they will work harder because they will know that they are going on the right track.
Technical support for teacher leaders is basic in order to do things right. It is a good idea to embrace change and take risks but only if it is data-driven and research-based, you do not want to experiment with your whole school because you are dealing with people and the consequences can be dramatic.
It is not easy for everybody to work in team so it would be good for the whole team’s advantage to promote and facilitate collaboration. Placing teachers in isolated rather than in collaborative situations will not help anyone, teachers working alone can feel left out and unappreciated. Make the environment as relaxed and comfortable to all as possible. You can also get some awesome results if you empower your teachers in their leadership tasks, meaning you give your full support and encourage them to take the lead in their tasks; limiting power from teachers who are involved in decision making (especially those with experience, knowledge, and expertise) can do more damage than good. As we mentioned before involving the faculty in decision making can give great outcomes to the whole school.

Enhancing teacher leadership by Abi and Vale team

Most of us know that it does not matter when, how or who, big changes start with an innovative person´s idea and it is thanks to sharing that those dreams can come true, that is the reason why, it is so important that us as future teachers learn the value and importance of sharing with our school colleagues.
It is easy to dream but not to put it into practice, because the way of greatness will always be interrupted by all kinds of obstacles which in many times can be stronger and therefore will discourage those who want to change for the better. Some of these barriers can be our own colleagues, the time and place where these changes are taking place or even the school’s principal. Aspects like fear of failure, laziness (because it is easier to do the same one has been doing for years) not want more responsibilities. Envy, disrespect and refusal to change or try different strategies and methodologies are the main reason for them not to let you try your ideas. As a result, we will feel that there is no reason to continue but, to give up is exactly what we should not do, instead, we should fight for our dream and show them all the benefits this new teaching model, strategy, etc. can bring to us (as teachers) and to our students.

Tips
It sounds easy to say, could be difficult to do, so, we need to work hard to convince the school members to trust in the dream and to motivate them to bring new ideas. Some ways to do this, promote cooperation between the school colleagues and create a good school environment are: let the teacher do their job; respect them, give them the chance to make important decisions and ask them for advice; take their opinions into account. Always be collaborative and supportive to the teachers, focus on the tasks in a small proportions, try not to take them as a whole, visualize teachers in an individualize situations; not as a whole, recognize the others teachers’ leadership, to identify and create opportunities for teachers to get involved as leaders and follow the dream, identify the barriers that can give us headache and also find them solutions, give the teachers the opportunity to improve their leadership through courses, show them the advantages to work in groups and to share teaching experiences, support the other teachers´ ideas (according to the kind of idea he/she is proposing) and leadership and distribute the leadership tasks in groups instead of individually.
Although it is not an easy work, is not impossible to achieve it. At the end, it will always be for the best of our students and us. Keep in mind that we are the change; we are the present and the future in education. Do not keep your ideas only to yourself: share them, try them, make them real, this only with the purpose of giving something special to the students, the community and the world.
Benefits
if the teacher leadership factor is taken seriously into your school, the results are going to be shown immediately in a positive way: the teachers will improve their quality, as well as students, many teachers will have the desire to work on your school because they will be rewarded, motivated in all of their accomplishments and the ones that are already working for you will be happy doing their jobs.
Strategies
There are some strategies that can help teacher leadership grow and establish itself and they are as follows: recognize the importance of teachers, identify and create opportunities, establish professional development programs, identify barriers, improve development programs, build professional learning communities, support teaching leaders, promote principal support, encourage the development of teacher leaders, encourage positive faculty relationship, recognize teacher leaders, utilize external professional networks, recruit qualified and effective teacher leaders, distribute leadership tasks, enhance the professionalism of teaching and teachers and promote union support of teachers as leaders. Taking into consideration these aspects of leadership, the teachers would be able to feel supported and at the same time required to do a professional job and the result will be to have formers of better people in this world.
Conclusion
Do not forget that we are what we want to be, we are…, we are… everything we are able to imagine. Successful leaders had very clear goal, and even when they failed more than once in their lives, they got up and tried again. Mediocre teachers, on the other hand, have not failed because they have always been behind the battle line, scared of the change and the confrontation. So, if our wish is to become teachers with real leadership, we must try again and again, keep fighting and never give up. Remember, it is better to dye doing things and not to dye regretting about the fact that you never tried out your ideas.

What makes a teacher effective? by Abisai & Valentina team

We know a teachers’ work is not an easy task. To do a great job there are many vital factors we need to take into account. Among them all, we focused this writing on four: decision making, attitudes, skills and theoretical knowledge.
Decision making
Given the fact that teachers will face many troubles in the learning and teaching process, they need to become good decision makers and problem solvers.
We can identify three stages in which teachers need to make important decisions: planning. Implementing and evaluating.
In the planning process, teachers must decide exactly what is it they want their students to learn; not only choosing a topic and let it be so general. In the implementing step, teachers have to decide when and how to intervene with the students and finally, in the evaluating step, teachers should examine what they did and the effects their decisions had.
Attitudes
These are described as predispositions to act in a positive or negative way toward persons, ideas or events. They are divided into attitudes towards self, towards children, towards peers and parents and towards the subject matter.
Attitude toward self- this category has to be the first one, because teachers have to know about themselves before thinking about others. They need to understand that as human beings, they have necessities, but also errors as well as their students, and not stop there; they need to find solutions to these weaknesses. This understanding on one´s needs can be accomplished through books, participant observation, sessions by trained leaders and counseling sessions.
After having worked on themselves, teachers can now move on to the next step that involves attitudes toward children. This is a very complicated area where teachers have to work a lot, since it covers all negative attitudes toward particular pupils, ethnics, socioeconomic groups, children with disabilities, children with strong leadership, stereotypes, self-fulfilling prophecies etc.
The third one has to do with the relationship that teachers have with other peers. Factors like authority, collaboration, competition, cooperation and acceptance are the reasons why many teachers have problems. In order not be involved in such situations, teachers need to worry about doing their job in the best way they can and not to be the most popular one or unique.
The last type of attitudes involves the attitudes toward the subject matter in which teachers have to feel enthusiastic about what they teach. It is known that as soon as teachers enter the classroom, students immediately notice how they are feeling and adopt the same attitude toward learning, which is the reason why enthusiasm is one of the key ingredients to success. If a teacher likes what he is doing, he will transmit interest to his students; on the other hand, if the teacher just wants to do his job and get out as fast as he can from the classroom, students will feel bored and uninterested.
Theoretical Knowledge
This a necessary factor that all effective teachers need, because it helps teachers to understand why students act the way they do and not like most teacher who just draw on common beliefs that many times turn out to be wrong and unsupported.
Talking about the subject, teachers should have a clear vision about the special area they are going to teach (discipline, curriculum and pedagogical content) to be supported and have a clear direction in their teaching job.
Skills needed for effective teachers
Teachers are expected to own certain skills. Examples of such skills are: class management, to be a good observer, creative, the ability to recognize problems and to give those solutions too, ask different types of questions, diagnose students’ needs, keep students interested, use technological equipment, assess students’ learning, relate learning to experiences and many more.
Conclusion
If you are interested in becoming an effective teacher, you should pay attention to special aspects that include working with your students, attitudes with all that are around you, learning about you subject , and being an excellent decision maker. Good luck with that!!