This is a slide presentation in response to Sylvia Guinan´s question: Why Do Teachers Teach?

1. WHY I TEACH...
My answer to Sylvia Guinan http://blog.
wiziq.com/why-do-teachers-teach

3. I wrote “I teach to change the present and the future”. However, I
“taught TO BUILD the past”, too. Why?. Almost everyday I see
some of my former students who happen to have their children at
the same school where they studied, where I was their teacher, and
even some of them have a child who is in the same grade as my
younger daughter. This fact of seeing children, mine and others
grow on a daily basis is moving, enriching, challenging, it fills my
heart, body, soul and mind with deep, strong emotions and mixed
feelings: happiness, sadness: longing for the old times, anxious about
their futures, memories “like a shadow on my mind”, not exactly like
a shadow, they are still really present in my own mind and theirs. I
can feel it, they tell me so with their present hugs and smiles, those
same ones I felt when they were younger.
Touching lives, hearts, minds and
souls.
Leaving a legacy...

4. LEAVE A LEGACY:BUILD RELATIONSHIPS
“If you leave a legacy, those relationships will never disappear. We
should discuss the value and importance of human connections:
relationships. Teaching and learning should bring joy. Children do
not learn from people they do not like.
We,Teachers, become great actors and actresses: we come to teach
even when we do not feel like it, we listen to policies that do not
make sense but we teach anyway. It is a tough job, but not
impossible. We are educators. We are born to make a difference”
Rita Pierson
“No significant learning can occur without significant
relationships.” James Comer

5. PASSION and CREATIVITY
In my opinion, teaching is not teaching knowledge itself only, it is
going to where is no path or the path is different. When I
mention the “path” I think of a child´s mind and heart: I always
felt I needed to leave a trail there: a young person´s brain. It is
about helping our students find their passion, foster creativity
and understand their opinions, thoughts and questions, discover
or find their talents and appreciate their capability of
imagination. Sir Ken Robinson talks about creativity and
passion. In teaching, both concepts are extremely connected.

6. Leave a trail in a child´s mind:
teach with your heart and soul

7. Teaching to build Social and Emotional Skills:
Project Happiness: www.projecthappiness.org

8. Preparing children to become adults:
teaching children the ability to build a
happy and productive life:
“We need to provide opportunities in our classrooms for all of our
students to satisfy these needs. It is critical that every student
feel that he/ she belongs in the class, is part of the group. They
must know that their ideas are welcome and that they add
something positive to the class community. A student needs to
know that they can compete successfully in this subject and group
and experience personal success. And in order to be a success each
student must be given the opportunity to make choices and the
skills necessary to make appropriate choices. It is more difficult to
experience these things in a classroom where there isn’t order,
structure and respect for all.”Wayne Sheldrick, Phd

9. Teaching about Goals, Obstacles and Positivism: Teaching
Empathy (source Edutopia) tool: MindMup by F.Casella