LITTLE BIG THINKERS

Since I began teaching, I have always felt motivated and immensely passionate about  bringing philosophy and critical thinking closer to children in a practical way. This means engaging directly with reality in a free and open environment. It involves teaching students to reflect, express their thoughts and their feelings, as well as to debate and have a dialogue about what is happening around them. In my classroom, I try at all times to provide children with the necessary skills to reach their own conclusions, produce their own thoughts, and of course expand their knowledge.

 

My ultimate goal as a teacher is to awaken motivation and curiosity in the students  and for them to wonder about what they see and understand the world around them. I believe that encouraging children to cultivate their inquisitive and knowledge-driven minds is a precious part of a teacher’s job.

 

We must take advantage of each moment to equip the student with the necessary instruments for personal growth, as well as critical, and even self-critical, analysis which should always take place through dialogue.

 

From my point of view, it is very important for students to find reasons and motives to study and want to discover. I believe that education should not be thought of as something mechanical in which the main  objective is to blindly accept and memorise concepts described and affirmed by others. Of course concepts are important, but they must be linked to our own experiences and we must learn from a young age to acquire knowledge by ourselves and to keep our minds conscious and open to the world, to people, to opinions and to life itself.

 

It must never be forgotten that your thoughts are your belongings, and that imagination and understanding will lead you to an ever expanding horizon.

 

Malela Díaz

Primary Teacher