The teacher Alicia Tojeiro teaches in a public school of Oleiros (A Coruña) And she has just been recognized as the best primary school teacher in Spain for the methodology and approach she applies in the classroom to 10-year-old students, which consists of “listening with the heart”, it is the “teaching of being and knowing”.
“The children go to class happily, they enjoy learning, they are supportive, they investigate, they learn by doing, feeling and sharing,” explains Tojeiro in an interview with Efe, in which he emphasizes that his award “has been won by the school of the heart, which shows that the children go to class happily and that you can learn by playing, that it is fun, and that there is no education without families “.
However, Alicia Tojeiro (Vigo, 1978) clarifies that “the first one who has to go to school happy is the teacher, so that they can transmit that illusion”. “You have to believe in what you do first, you need humanity, be open to communication, respect,” says this professor of the CEIP Plurilingüe Isidro Parga Pondal, where he maintains a “horizontal” relationship with parents and children.
Precisely, the parents of his students were the ones who submitted their candidacy to the Educa Abanca Award, in this fourth edition for the third time, in which Alicia has been imposed on teachers from all over Spain and in which she has obtained a diploma of recognition, a statuette and a thousand euros, which in all probability she will allocate to her educational projects.
The parents of her 17 fifth graders, whom she teaches through projects, natural and social sciences, mathematics, language and values, contribute in the tasks that the classroom needs, such as renovating it, and interact daily with Alicia, much for phone, so “in the end they love you”, is a constant communication about children and their circumstances.
On any given day of any month the schoolchildren enter the classroom and dance, choose the music, then one of them acts as a “heart doctor” and asks the others how they find themselves, empathize and develop their intra and interpersonal capacities.
The spray of joy or the eraser of bad thoughts are some of the tools that these children use and that the covid pandemic has forced them to keep in a drawer, so “this year we just listen and talk.” Simply.
The schedule of this class is altered depending on variables such as the priorities of the children themselves, but “it always begins by talking, dancing and listening.” Then comes the content, the materials, which Alicia translates from the abstract to the practical, for example, in the design of an animal shelter they have to calculate the perimeter and the area, and first they manipulate a rope, talk about surface, and then the calculations arrive.
Creativity, talent, the multiple moments in this class to teach and also to invent, create, individually, in pairs and in groups, have a single premise, “the idea is always to touch the heart, to move, because once you get excited the brain is activated “.
These children share a concern for a common goal with their diverse capacities to seek a social purpose, to help someone, thinking of education as a transformer of the world, as a project focused on doing good to the community that they have managed to translate into a recognized game , Limpiamundos, in collaboration with Crecer Creando de A Coruña, or Limpiacovid.
The classroom has to adapt to this approach but, he adds, “not all teachers are willing, many are pressured by the content, fear prevails, the rigidity of standardized tests, that is why people do not risk so much.”
As the mother of a child enrolled in a private school, Alicia admits that she suffers because “I feel like I’m rowing alone.” “When your child does not meet the pattern stipulated by the educational system, sometimes you row alone, teachers should think that we are building and that it is a long process.”
He instills strength in his students and that is why the covid does not stop them, “you have to be resilient,” he says, and act as a “world cleaner”, his opportunity to help overcome this situation, and with humor they started the project of the Laughter syrup to help other children cope with that moment.
“I encourage you to take advantage of every day in class, every minute, you have to empower them and you don’t have to be afraid,” says the teacher in case there were another confinement.
For the moment, the fast-paced and endearing story of dog Quin and respect for animals, the book on spelling with humor and rhymes and the many initiatives of this teacher and her students to learn and especially to help have received a well-deserved award that will undoubtedly be the first.
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