Of "I am a teacher, and I hate school!"

So, I love studying. No news here, as I am a teacher and most teachers love to study. But here comes the weird part: I hate schools. I mean, I hate going to school! Sounds confusing? 

It is.

I work in a school. I love the environment of a school, the students gathered around, sitting and talking before a class starts, their curious eyes on me while I´m talking to them in the classroom, my classroom walls, all decorated with scenes from Alice in Wonderland - one of my favorite movies ever!

But when it comes to studying, I really hate schools!
Maybe I start recalling my studying days: teacher-centered classes in a public school back in the 90´s. How awful they were! First of all, I was a teenager, so I naturally tried to beat the system, which back then indicated I was "bad". A bad student. That´s it, a bad student, end of conversation. 
Second of all, I had to study in the morning, so I wasn´t fully awake yet for classes, and cranky as hell! Then came my teacher, trying to make me, a natural night owl, understand Chemistry, at 7 in the morning, on a Monday! I´d call that a mission:impossible.

And it was. I don´t know Jack about Chemistry to this day.

Today, I feel the most profound sympathy for this poor being, my teacher. 

But now I finally understand why I don´t like schools.

I have always been, as a student, and in my personal life, a reclused. I work better alone. So learning takes place mostly when I am alone. Taking a long distance course, watching lectures on Youtube, even making a scientific research on Interlanguage all on my own feels perfect for me. And I feel incredible that, with the technology we have today, I can do it alone, at home, during the night, listening to heavy metal, surrounded by cats!

How could I apply this principle to the classroom? Well, first off: no teacher-centered classes, no good or bad students. They are students, human beings having bad days and good days. With that in mind, I try to make my classroom their own space: they bring their art for me to hang, they choose to play background music or not, they set the tone of the class. I make them feel comfortable, engaged and, most importantly, make them feel they can´t wait to get back to the classroom, because it´s not MY place of work, it´s OUR space of learning.

Of course, they are still going to study, and hard! There´s still some level of demand. 

But by the end of each class I`ll have students hanging without shoes, sitting on the floor, listening to whatever music they like, and most importantly, effectively communicating.