School time

Fancy teaching? It's really hard to say... I prefer building educational skills through one-on-one mentoring. It would be a breeze if all students studied individually with their tutors. Or maybe not. Anyway, I didn't like the idea of teaching students in schools. It's not just presenting new vocabulary, afterwards arts and games and you're in business. I was aware of problems with discipline, the necessity of having interesting ideas for lessons, the importance of being competent. I knew it, teaching isn't easy-peasy. Before first lessons I was struggling with my emotional state.

Probably every veteran teacher remembers their first time teaching. These first trials could be either illuminating or upsetting. It's good to keep them in mind no matter how terrible these classes were. Last year I was an exchange student in Finland and I had my first classes there. It wasn't a big deal, just a few classes as there were many other teacher trainees. I decided to have art classes for kids aged 7 and English classes for students aged 11 and 12. I was looking for diverse ways of teaching new vocab or grammar, how to make it fun for students etc. I discussed everything with my mentor teacher and eventually I was ready to have a class. Those first classes were mostly about new vocabulary and me talking about Poland - kids were truly interested in it! It turned out that teaching isn't so terrible as I had expected before. Kids in Finland are excellent at English and then it helped me a lot. Their willingness to learn new things is awesome! They asked many questions, were eager to take part in a lesson. Maybe it's like that because they don't treat teacher as supervisor. Simultaneously having fun and learning new things. To be honest, those classes changed my attitude towards teaching in schools. It's also important for me that they asked me questions about Polish phrases like "thank you" or "hello". And they were using them when seeing me around. It's nice.

So now what? A rosy future? Well... Sometimes teaching is pretty cool, sometimes it's terribly awful. I had good lessons as well as such ones that I would like to erase from my memory quickly! I know, I should make errors work for me. I'll do my best next time. The point is to be always prepared and to have a good lesson plan. It's great to have an ace up your sleeve. Ask for feedback. Stay strong and keep cool. Everything's gonna be alright. Well said, wouldn't you say? I like pacifying myself.

I really like the subject of teaching experience. It reminds me of some films touching the teacher-student bonding: Dead Poets Society, funny Teachers, Music of the Heart, The Children's Hour or Louis Malle's Au Revoir les Enfants. Needless to say that it's something special to be a teacher... or at least the world of cinema has paid tribute to teachers.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft has been called the "first feminist" or "mother of feminism." Her book - length essay on women's rights, and especially on women's education, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1972), is a classic of feminist thought, and a must - read for anyone who wants to understand the history of feminism. She is usually considered a liberal feminist because her approach is primarily concerned with the individual woman and about rights. I've decided to describe Wollstonecraft because she was the first woman fighting for equality and women's education. Besides, I find it intriguing that Wollstonecraft's daughter's book, Frankenstein, can be considered as an argument against isolating women from the process of creating a new life.

Mary Wollstonecraft was a participant in and observer of a remarkable series of social revolutions. One was Enlightenment thought in general: a skepticism about and revisioning of institutions, including the family, the state, and educational theory. However, these ideas seemed in stark contrast to the realities of women's lives. Abuse of women was close to home. She saw little legal recourse for the victims of abuse. This contrast motivated Wollstonecraft to write her 1792 book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. The main idea of this book was that "through education would come emancipation."

For Mary Wollstonecraft, the public life and domestic life are not separate, but connected. The home is important as it forms a foundation for the social life. Men have duties in the family and women have duties to the state. Besides, educating women will strenghten the marriage relationship as it is a partnership and a woman thus needs equal knowledge and sense.

Nowadays feminism is wrongly equated with being an excuse to unreasonably blame men in general for something that only some men are responsible for. I truly endorse the idea of the global conversation about women's issues and the necessity for changes in this field. Therefore I consider Wollstonecraft's activity a milepost in the history.

a childhood picture / September 1987

This is my first blog entry. At first I couldn't make head or tail of creating a blog, but now it's getting more and more interesting for me. My first entry is about a picture taken when I was a kid, namely, at the age of 3 months? This picture is one of those showing me as a happy little human being. It's hard to believe that I used to be such a crybaby... Frankly, I like the picture; a beam of sunlight playing on my face and a stuffed animal in the background. It brings back all good memories of my childhood.

As a child I loved to play with my parents' friends' kids. Their names are Kasia, Wojtek and Marysia. We had many ideas how to spend our free time: making faces, playing cards or board games, biking, swimming and on it goes. I'm really sorry that we didn't attend the same school. Nevertheless, thanks to them my childhood was really enjoyable. Luckily, we still keep in touch and I'm happy to know that they enjoy their student lives and generally don't have any concerns.