Entry number four.

                              Types of Teachers.

I find it extremely interesting the way certain teachers just stick in your mind, and no matter how many years have gone by, you still remember them. And it is even more interesting that in many cases, you remember them not because of their teaching methods, or because you like the subject, but for personal reasons as well.

Consequently, I started digging in my mind, trying to identify the three types of teachers Carl Rogers states there are. It was not particularly simple, for the concepts in the text are not always so easy to find in real life. The world is not black and white; there are shades, and grey areas. However, I think I was able to grasp the main idea Mr. Rogers tried to explain in his book, and apply it to my former teachers.

The first category is described as the explainer. For this type of instructor, I thought of Mr. Merker. He taught History in the 8^th grade, in the Normal de Quilmes. As the book says, he too had incredibly deep knowledge about his subject, but he was a little rusty regarding methodology. Personally, I believe it was due to his age (he was over fifty when I was his student, back in 2007). Don’t get me wrong, he was a good teacher, but he could have been better if he worked a tad in his methods of teaching.

During his lessons, he was always in control. Students weren’t allowed to speak unless they raised their hand and the teacher granted them the right to speak. The rapport between teacher and student was not the best, for he would always order us, often shouting, what to do next. In addition, he gave us no agency. Every class, he stood up on the front of the class and explained the chapter we were supposed to read. Once he was done, he gave us exercise. Working in pairs was not possible, and talking during the class was forbidden.

Perhaps, if he were a little bit more relaxed, and let the students have some control over the lesson from time to time, most of the students would have not failed as they did.

The second category is involver. I thought of Mrs. Garbarini for this case. She taught language and literature, on 9^th grade. Obviously, she was very well-learned, but not only regarding her subject, as Mr. Merker. She had a firm grasp concerning methodology too.

On the first class, she made us write an introduction of ourselves, to see the level of the class. The following class, she told us that she had read all the introductions and that we would learn according to the needs and difficulties of the group as one.

From there, her methods varied a great deal. One day she would give us short texts to read, or even stories. Borges was one of her favorites, and we would read a lot of his work. Syntax she taught as well, allowing the students to be part of the lesson. And I remember particularly that one day she told us that we would act a small play. As there were not a lot of characters in the play, she divided the class into several groups, each of one devoted to a task. There was one for the scenography, one for sounds, one for the small pamphlets you get when you go to the theatre, one to control that we weren’t interrupted while acting, and so on.

The point is that she had a great number of methods for teaching, which made her classes a lot more interesting than they would have been if she just stood up on the front and explained everything.

Enabler was the third category. The moment I started reading about this type of teacher I thought of Roxana, my private teacher of English. Instead of taking control over the class as Mr. Merker did, she usually asked us how we would like to proceed. She would point out the aspects we needed to improve, and different ways of working on them that were not so common –and why not? So boring-.

We could choose the activities we wanted to carry out, and sometimes, how we would like to be corrected. Moreover, when we made a mistake, she didn’t look down on us, or laugh. She would politely explain where the mistake was and why we were wrong. Also, when she thought we should write a narrative or an essay, she would let us choose the theme. She suggested some, but we had complete liberty to opt for whichever we wanted to.

 Roxana was very ecological as well. Some classes, she looked for articles or stories dealing with contamination, or the greenhouse effect. I remember one in particular, about a ship that sank in the ocean, spilling all its petrol in the sea. It may not seem much, but little by little, ecology made its way through my brain.