Reflection 11 – Guiding our students so they can guide others

In this reflection I will talk about one of the purposes of the educational process, guidance; this taking into account what we saw in class about Marzano’s guidelines, golden moments, the reading on wisdom and ethics, and the presentations on Stephen Covey. It’s important for teachers to understand that their role in the educational process of students, besides teaching them knowledge, is to guide them and provide the necessary tools for a successful life; if we achieve this goal the students will in turn become guides also.

The world today requires other types of skills from teachers different to those needed in the past. In the era of information in which we are now teachers should assume the role of guides and that way, through the example and the tools given to the students, they will learn what they need to guide others also. One characteristic of a teacher as a guide is the understanding that we should not give the answers to our students; we should guide them so they can find their own answers. This is harder than it sounds, because our students will need to learn to think and make decisions on their own, regarding for example sources of information and who to trust.

Another characteristic of a teacher as a guide comes from the relationships we build with our students; through this process, that involves the teaching of rules and consequences, routines, procedures, among others, they will find out that we can be trusted to be their guides. This is related to feeling safe in our classroom, something that they can apply in their own life as adults, for example with their own children.

The role of guide of the teacher also means we will teach them the social and emotional skills they will need in their life. To achieve this we should first work on ourselves and then transmit that wisdom to our students, helping them build their own moral code, also helping them choose from the skills we taught them the ones they will use in their daily life. Golden moments are also very important in this process, because we open to them and show them we are human, we have feelings, and also show them how we work out our problems.

The educational process lasts our entire life, but with what students learn from our teachings at school, they will be able to become guides also. They will need those skills when they become parents, in their profession, in their life as a couple, and even more if they want to become teachers like us. This is where the successful adults of the future will come from, adults with emotional intelligence, capable of having meaningful relationships and trustworthy.