Hello friends, this is my first post in this community so I first want to introduce myself, I am Luz Marcano, a third grade elementary school teacher, from a small school located between Morro de Puerto Santo and Rio Caribe in the State of Sucre Venezuela, I studied Administration but I always felt that this was not my true vocation, when the covid pandemic started in my country there was a need for teachers in the school and I was selected to fill a vacancy, which for me became something wonderful because I found my true vocation, to educate. To interact with my children, to help them learn the basic notions necessary for their learning, to laugh at their so innocent and peculiar anecdotes has become something that fills my soul every day. Finding myself in a school located in a fishing sector, one of the problems is that most of the inhabitants see education as something necessary because when they think that as adults they will dedicate themselves to fishing, they see studying as something that makes no sense to them. As an educator, I try to make them understand that it is not like that, that even if you dedicate yourself to whatever job you do, it is necessary to have knowledge, I ask them questions like, if you are going to sell fish, don't you need to know how to count? If someone owes you, you need to know how to read and write to keep track of your debtors. And that is how I awaken their interest in knowledge.
In my quest to encourage both children and parents, as a teacher I must always be innovating so as not to bore my students and make classes more fun and interesting, I tell you that last April 23 is celebrated around the world the day of the book, and I did not want as always my children to write a brief review of that day, but I thought of making it more educational and fun, most of my children find it a little difficult to be creative and I feel that they do not make much effort when it comes to making certain projects at home, so I told them to create a small book on the topic they wanted, they should write it themselves, and bring illustrations and to motivate them I told them that the best would have a prize, in best design of a mini book, they were very excited, and talked among themselves what they could do to win that first place.
And I designed these nice trophies for them myself.
Well, I told them that I did my book day activity, and I asked my colleagues from other grades to be the judges of this activity, they evaluated the design, that it was written by the children themselves, their creativity and ingenuity.
When it was time to name the winners, some of them got angry, and one child started to cry, I explained to him that they had all done very well.
The next day, to my surprise, the representative of the child who started crying, complained to me about why I had done that activity since they were children and I should not do those competitions between children.
Between children I explained to the mother that it is good for children to participate in healthy competitions.
That one can also learn from losses, and that yes, sometimes it can be uncomfortable, but it is worth the risk.
Failures help children, according to experts, to become more motivated and develop their skills.
Participating in activities and not winning will also teach a future adult not to fall apart so easily when something doesn't go right. We must learn to lose and feel good about our efforts.
As a teacher I face new challenges daily that as well as my children make me grow as a person and as an educator.
Thank you for reading me.