Teaching Values In the Classroom
Ines Mercado, Mexico
Ines is a teacher at the Secundaria Tec de Monterrey in Zacatecas, Mexico. One of her passions is doing service projects with her students. She believes this is a great way to help others and at the same time to develop character in her students.
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The privilege of teaching
Common ground
What can I do?
You decide
I am a teacher and I love teaching. Throughout my teaching career, I have worked with young kindergarten kids to teenagers and young adults. I cannot say if I prefer a group age, since I enjoy teaching them all.
Basically I am an English teacher, and I teach language. But I think it is impossible for teachers to just teach their subject and that is it. It does not happen that way, it is not that simple. We work with human beings and that is a great responsibility, students are not computers in which you load information and leave. No, we are working with beautiful human beings, and each one of our students is unique. One may see it as a burden or as a gift. It is up to us teachers to decide. Our students learn from what we say but, most importantly, from what we do. Students have that special ability to see teachers’ minds…and hearts.
We receive in our classroom, students from all sorts of backgrounds; students with different cultural and moral values and we have students with diverse educational levels and beliefs. Our classroom becomes common ground. Our classroom becomes a place of opportunity for them. Our class can be a great source of inspiration for our students. We have there a great chance to instill in our students values that allow them to achieve their goals and to become the best they can be. Wait, but we are English teachers remember? We teach English…not values.
There are several ways in which you can create a healthy learning environment for your students. We can encourage and promote interaction in the class, where all students know, respect, and care for each other in the class. Clear guidelines and the teacher making sure everyone follows them will give students a sense of responsibility and structure. If we organize activities in which students have a chance to get to know each other better, to learn from one another, and to share their feelings and ideas, it will create in our students a sense of belonging, which will bring as a result more respect and empathy among them. If we show pride for their achievements, no matter how small, that will boost their self-esteem and self-worth. If we create a positive learning environment, students are more likely to succeed in class and in the real world. Since children learn by the example, if they learn to respect, to care, to be responsible for themselves and others, they will become mature and fulfilled adults and responsible members of their communities.
We can teach moral values through the curriculum as well. We can ask ourselves; What are the moral and ethical values I can teach in my subject? There is no need to complicate ourselves and create a heavy and difficult course, we can choose values we would like our students to have, and more importantly, to live. Values such as respect, honesty, empathy, care, responsibility, and sharing are universal and will help students to interact with others in a healthy manner. We can even ask our students what values are important to them, what values they think the class should live by. You might be surprised by their answers. After we have decided on the moral values we can choose materials that would help us to analyze, discuss, and illustrate these values.
As teachers, one must be careful about choosing materials that will engage our students, topics that are appealing to them, and topics they can relate with. A teacher must select teaching material that provides enough chance for learning and reflection.
A teacher might not be able to change the family their students live in, or their backgrounds, their past or their beliefs, but still, a teacher can be a guiding light, a living example that life can be lived at its best. A teacher may help a student to develop their full potential. A student can learn from a teacher that goals can be achieved and that dreams come true. A teacher can teach that, regardless of your past, you are entitled to decide your future.
So, what should the role of the teacher in the classroom be? Well, that’s a question not too easy to answer, if you ask me. How many of us teachers have ever had a student that is lively and eager to participate in class? …A dream come true for any teacher. Don’t you think? But there is the other side of the story; a sad and gloomy kid, a heartbroken teenager, a kid whose parents just divorced, a child whose father died, a girl whose parents are abusive, a kid for whom language is not easy, or a teenage with a learning disability. There are endless examples of these situations. And we teachers, what are we supposed to do? How can we teach them the moral values they might not being taught at home? ...Or worse that they are not living at home? If our students are not being respected, how are we language teachers to teach them to respect? To care? How can we create a safe environment for our students? How do we teach them moral values if we are only language teachers?
Please check the How the Motivate your Students course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Building Positive Group Dynamics course at Pilgrims website.
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