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“In our classroom, we encourage cooperation not competition.” It did not take one day, one week, or even one month for this to happen. It took us months to develop a healthy learning environment and a harmonious student-teacher relationship. That is why after 10 months of being together, it was hard for me and my students to let go of each other. They found a place where they can actually be themselves unafraid of what others might think about them. They do not want to go but they must finally graduate from junior high school to senior high school. How was I able to instill this mindset to my students? Why was it important that in our classroom, competition is discouraged? It sprung from my belief that learning should be a fun, exciting activity. It is something you look forward to doing every day and not as an obligation or task you have to accomplish perfectly otherwise people will see you as a failure. Unlike my personal experiences and observations when I was still a student, learning felt like a contest and every classmate was a possible rival to the most coveted prize. It was suffocating following strict rules and guidelines from the teacher and the institution. I felt limited and was unable to fully express myself. There was this constant fear that if I don’t do well in my lessons, people will judge me as incompetent. That is why when I became a teacher, I’ve set things differently. I wanted my students to feel welcome, to offer them an environment where they can speak their mind and everyone will listen unbiased. I provided them a place to exchange ideas so they can create, discover and build something together. The once shy, slow learners, who were afraid to be included in a group, little by little, with the help of their classmates became open to mentoring. They were able to catch up with our lessons. In this way, their confidence grew, their trust for me and with each other deepened and they’ve been able to realize that learning is not a boring task they have to do five days a week and then escape to freedom during weekends. A harmonious relationship between student and teacher is very important because it is the only relationship that leads to lifelong learning. After all the lessons are done, when books have been turned to the very last page, and the teacher has done his part, students will continue to have the desire to learn outside the four corners of their classroom, their thirst to improving themselves will only grow stronger. This, for me, is the ultimate objective of teaching. At the end of the day, it is not how many facts we were able to feed to our students or how fluent they’ve become after our many practice exercises, at the end of the day it is how well we’ve molded our students to become the best version of themselves carrying a positive character that in return can influence other people they will meet in their life’s journey. As PJ Caposey said, “Great teachers focus not on compliance, but on connections and relationships.”
