When teaching or doing any other job

After this first term, I finally got to the end of Savater´s book, which, I must confess, has made me think about a lot of things, in particular, about the relationship between ethics and the condition of being human.
What does it mean to live ethically? What is it that I do when I don’t respect other human beings? Why take care of not only ourselves but also our planet? Why is it that I will never understand myself if I switch off from the rest of the people? Interesting concepts does Savater develop throughout his book. I recommend it to anyone who is, at least, a little bit curious like me.
One more thing: after reading this last chapter of Ethics for Amador I can say it has really reminded me of my human qualities and it has helped me understand why we must never forget our common humanity, no matter what occupation you have.
Appendix
By Miriam Rodriguez

The Art of Teaching

The art of teaching, the ability or skill involved in teaching, resembles the art of living in one essential feature: nobody can tell you how to do it better. There is neither a recipe nor a book containing the necessary instructions to succeed in living or teaching well. So, how can we achieve what seems to be an impossible mission?
I think one can study not only to know about the English language itself, but also to learn how to make all that knowledge that is accumulated in the to-be teacher meaningful to students. Definitely, that’s the key to succeed. However, I’m afraid, like in every other job, not everybody is cut out to be a teacher.
To name just a few examples, I would say a person needs to have certain qualities to be a good teacher. If you are narrow-minded, egocentric and a bad listener, for instance, I think it won’t matter how hard you try, you will not be a good teacher because you won’t be considering your students, and that’s the worst mistake a teacher can make.
Epilogue
By Miriam Rodriguez

Our Space

I always try to make my class as democratic as possible, although I also know students have not been given the chance to vote for me as their teacher!
What I mean by democratic is creating a friendly and cooperative atmosphere where every one of my student is free to express themselves. I also try hard not to have favourite ones and to take them all seriously: I respect everybody for their human condition and not for the level of English they have. And last but not least, I provide assistance to all of them, and if the more advanced students don’t need help, I give them a more challenging task so that they can feel they are learning.
Of course I sometimes fail, I would say MANY TIMES I do. But I am aware of my errors and of the fact that I’m not perfect. I keep on trying and I think that makes a differences. I’m sure my students can tell.
Chapter 9
By Miriam Rodriguez

Encourage Free Thinkers

Most school head figures boast that if their students are disciplined and obedient, they will succedd in life. However, I don´t quite agree with it.
To begin with, although learning is a painful process, students need to get involved and find some kind of pleasure in what they are studying, and, in this way, make use of their freedom to choose, for example, to decide what kind of exercise they would prefer to do. Nonetheless, headmasters fear if students feel pleasure, they will get distracted, and, for this reason, lose their track.
In my opinion, the sensible thing to do for teachers is help their students become free thinkers, and, in doing so, they will be learning to reason things wisely. If, on the contrary, regulations are always imposed on them from the outside and students never get the chance to opt on their own, they will become muppets unable to think for themselves. How will the cope with real life when they finish school?
Chapter 8
By Miriam Rodriguez