What are the differences between teaching and mediating?
Teaching is a structured process that involves different aspects of human beings such as: religious, social, economic, political, among others. Teaching is a characteristic attached to us as humans. According to Gutiérrez and Prieto, we are the product of previous experiences, knowledge, memories, technology, culture, mistakes, encounters treasured throughout generations (2002, p. 29). Human beings are the product of centuries of history written in books, and they are identified as individual, particular and unique beings in their environment. (Alberto Álvarez, 2013). So, teaching is particularly a normal process as well as learning, that makes us “sapiens”. But, on the other hand it is also an event which involves theories, approaches and methods to transmit knowledge and make it applicable in other peoples’ contexts.
By the way (Mediating) is seen as the art of teaching because by mediating, I could be much closer to achieving teaching not just contents but also abilities, skills, manners, morals, and all the integral components to develop kids into adults. Mediation is the new paradigm that allows us as educators to implement or to consider more aspects than just specific content, repetitions, and limited contexts to teach. Mediation opens the window to conceive different stages of human being such as: production, technicity, constructivism, anxiety, stativity, musicality, instability, imagination, neuroticism, erotism, destructionist, conscience, unconsciousness, magic, and religiosity. (Morin, 2003). As a teacher, I should be open minded to get closer to know as much as possible to my pupils, their context, their likes, processes, their feelings, all the necessary aspects to allow me to be innovative in teaching, the more connected they feel with educator, the more receptive they will be to interact in classes because students will find freedom to express themselves. It is necessary to stop and rethink the way we develop practices and transform them into a more relaxed space to make students feel comfortable and free of creating and sharing life experiences.
How has your proposal been re-signifying your pedagogical practices?
This proposal is re-signifying my practices in different aspects such as teacher and as a person. The first one, because as teacher I gave me the opportunity to avoid the grammar stuff in my proposal practices. That really changed the perception of the class. Not just to me, but also to my students. As Álvarez mentions “Sometimes, educators think that classes should be strict, lectured, linear, and dogmatic in order for an individual to learn”, (2013). It was meaningful to give them the opportunity to propose, participate freely, create and answer questions related to something they are in contact with day by day such as social media and technology. They encountered a space to express themselves freely and to connect with people, without the worry of being evaluated. Of course, they received some feedback, but it was not the purpose of the session. “Instructors should give their learners a little freedom to grow without restrictions by promoting creativity and significant learning. According to Maturana, we could open little spaces between obeying and having the flexibility for free choice” Santos Guerra, (cited in Álvarez, 2013; P5).
On the other hand, by giving my opinion as a person, not as teacher I consider that if I had had classes like the ones I have been implementing, it would have been very different the way I participated as student. Even my learning path would be more interactive and meaningful. Something I want to highlight here is related to the video "What makes a good teacher great" in there, that teacher showed something interesting, and I felt identified with. He illustrated the way to learn to ride a bike and mentioned it from the classroom perspective. Of course, very boring and actionless. And it made me wonder (Is that the way I am teaching?) because, absolutely, that was the way I learned. So, could it be a kind of Varela’s teaching mimesis by trying to find my identity as teacher?
• In the implementation of your proposal, what changes have you observed?
I have observed some changes in the students’ attitude towards participation. They feel more comfortable when doing it overall because they know they are not going to be graded at the end of the class. They show more relaxed when making mistakes, and anxious to participate. Of course, it is just my perception of their participation, but it is remarkable if I compare it with previous classes in which they did not want to say anything at all, or it was uncomfortable to be demanding one by one’s participation. “The action of teaching must be understood as building knowledge, exchanging experiences, and creating new things”. Stated by Gutierrez and Prieto. According to that thought, I could say that maybe students perceive a space in which they can exchange their ideas based on their own experiences and this is the most significant aspect they enjoy. They can basically spend the class by speaking, sharing, listening and understanding to be able to use their social skills to communicate experiences.
On the other hand, I also have noticed some changes in my relationship with them. We are humans, so of course our primary need as humans is to be social. And communicating our ideas, analysis and feelings about something such as sports, technology and media get us closer to each other. At this point I can relate again the video “What makes a good teacher great” with mediation in learning. Students do not need to feel in a strict and authoritative space, what they need is to find comfort when giving opinions, ideas and imagination will increase in the classroom. Something to highlight here which is a kind “attiring” is that we tend to teach learners to be social and to work cooperatively through technology. Even if as López stated (2003). When saying that society has dehumanized the human being little by little turning it into a materialistic individual dependent on technology. In this specific case, I can realize that starts to work the “mediation” We as mediators need to start to make more flexible spaces, materials, contexts and resources to take advantage of them as much as it is possible.
• Who has participated and contributed to your process? (How do you involve family, other teachers or other people from the authentic context)
I have involved other teachers of course; they need to be the first people in line when working with this proposal. I create short spaces in which I try to talk with them to share the knowledge I have been acquiring as mediator. Besides I try to listen to them and to suggest flexible options to develop activities to involve students in their classes, maybe I have been changing the perspective we all had when we started to work in there, and it is that we need to be serious, authoritative, just to impart content and make leaners communicate without opening ourselves to communicate with them.
In that sense, other teachers have also participated in the proposal, they are free to come with other groups to participate in the activities by answering the questions and sharing ideas when giving advice.
• How do you evaluate yourself permanently in your process of resignification of pedagogical practices?
To start, I addressed some questions to my students such as: What did you enjoy about the class? Is there any other aspect you want to talk about in the class? Which one? How can you apply the knowledge in your daily life? Do you consider it meaningful? Why? With those questions I receive some feedback from them, making learners an important part of class by involving them for next sessions. Of course, listening to them and improving my service. To be honest, I also wanted to follow some philosophical perspectives of the institute which are the following ones:
Those steps allow me to get a constant reflection and evaluation of my process as mediator.
4. Use the bibliographic references of Units 1, 2, and 3 in your answers (articulate theory to your experience). This activity will demonstrate the reflection process about the pedagogical practices progressively, therefore, it is important to answer the questions in the forum during the process. You can answer them as many times as you want.
5. Prepare a report in which you describe:
• How you have been implementing your action plan.
The action plan has been implemented by following some statements such as:
Humanistic learning: As mediators, it is necessary to create social awareness, that is why we need to aim our practices to humanize people. Currently we live in a world in which we are surrounded by publicity and technology everywhere. Technological devices give us the false reality of being connected with people, but the sad truth is that we are not. We pretend to be social by interacting through a device, instead of it, human interaction face to face is more difficult and it could be one of the causes that affect students in classrooms. They are accustomed to “interact” by typing instead of speaking directly. “Society nowadays has dehumanized little by little by transforming the human being into a materialistic individual dependent only on technology” (López, 2003).
Thus, as mediators, we should use technology in favor, that is why I suggested to be working on cinemas and conversational clubs, in there we interact face to face, but we still are connected to a device which is the screen. In that sense, students can feel they are working on a device but expressing thoughts and comments by speaking instead of just typing them. This perspective has also allowed me to improve their language skills but also to create values in them as the importance of listening to each other, to value comments and others’ thinking. To reflect on other people's perceptions and to strength their argumentative skills. “The new environments are important to interact with others, have fun and be enter-tained. The new digital environments promote pleasure. In these environments we do not memorize, but we apply knowledge. It is a way to encourage the use of creativity, originality, and inventiveness”. (Álvarez, 2013).
Learning starts to be a process in which students feel comfortable instead of stressed. It starts to be enjoyable instead of being a place in which learners feel anxiety. Learning is a process that should not be a distress for the apprentice. Its main purpose should be to give the learner the opportunity to feel pleasure in order to find the motivation to build his or her world, universe, and environment. (Álvarez, 2013). We need to feel the taste of life in order for us to offer our apprentices a nice teaching quality so that they may learn in a ludic way through significant learning experiences. Assman (2002). In this sense, Me, as mediator, begin to participate more than an authority, but a guide that is also in constant learning as my own students.
To do and comprehend: Even if the proposed action plan is not aimed at developing grammatical aspects, it is important to make learners aware to comprehend what they are doing. Students can use structures even if they do not understand how they work. 'It is important to maintain the role of thinking in experience’ De Zubiría (1987). Based on that premise, it is significant if as mediators we grant learners the possibility to re-signify concepts by their own based on the experiences we proposed and their own perceptions and previous knowledge. In that way we would be fostering abilities in students to create or extract conclusions. Or by the way, create concepts and propose perspectives hypothesis and analogies (Schoenfled. 1991).
Creative and innovative teaching: One of the most important characteristics of being a mediator is to be able to create and innovate. But how to do it? Of course, we need to satisfy learners needs and to get closer to that it is highly important to know them in different aspects, not just as sat people in front of me in a class but also to comprehend they have dreams, principles, motivations, likes and dislikes, among a long list of aspects. If as mediators, we understand those aspects, we will start to offer a non-limited space for learners to express, participate, Imagine, and create. We need to change the passive virtues such as obedience, submission, and memory to replace them with criticism, intuition, and imagination. (Gutierrez and Prieto, 2002). Lessons should be dynamic and integral, and they should specially stimulate the criticism of their learners (Álvarez, 2013).
Knowledge reconstruction: In this proposal it is also remarkable to mention that the types of learning are taken into account. As was mentioned before, learners are involved in a class in which we try to use different ways of learning such as audio-visual, and kinetic. Of course, because we are working since input as questions, movies, videos that are developed on students to stimulate critical thinking and finally, to create significant learning. To create significant learning it is important to achieve 3 main aspects such as: 1) Significant content, 2) student’s previous knowledge. 3) Students’ positive attitude. (Ausubel, et al., 1983). Through the development of this proposal, those aspects have been considered, that is why some topics as social media, sports and technology are involved into it, that was the content learners decided to have contact with because are part of their daily life and students show lots of knowledge on it. Consequently, Ausubel’s 3 aspects are achieved to reach a significant learning.
Reflection on teaching practices: One of the most important aspects of this proposal is the capacity to reflect on itself all the time. As mediators, is something relevant to re-think, analyze and understand to make practices more flexible and enjoyable each time. On the other hand, reflection also allows us to enhance our perception of teaching. Educational practice is a process in which not only those who learn get benefits, but also those who teach can learn new experiences from the apprentices (Álvarez, 2013). According to Álvarez, we are also in a constant learning process of different realities and experiences that will lead us to an enhancement of our labor as educators. The pedagogical mediation allows the educator to teach in a non-orthodox way that is fun for the apprentices, and at the same time they are learning in a significant approach; they are learning not only for their future but also for their whole life (Gutiérrez and Prieto, 2002).
• What changes you have observed in your interactions with your students (take into account your and your students’ emotions, attitudes, beliefs, transformations, thoughts, etc.).
Confidence: Learners’ confidence increased after the first session; at the beginning of the proposal, they were a little bit quiet but step by step they were getting confident and started to release stress and to participate actively. At this point it is remarkable that “transcendence” starts to take place; learners start to realize that the knowledge involved in the class is not just something to grade, but to be applicable in real life, to take concepts, create them and to express critical thinking. ‘The objective of interaction is that learners discover the possibility to project the future on the application of knowledge to other aspects of life’ (Lorenzo Tébar, 2009). Regular practice in a conversation club enhances fluency and boosts confidence. Conversations in a supportive and non-judgmental setting allow learners to experiment with new vocabulary, sentence structures, and idiomatic expressions. (The Benefits of Learning English, 2023).
Strong relationship: Even if I already knew my students, I did not do it as the way I am starting to. This means that through the development of this proposal we are getting closer to each other. The reason is not just because we are spending more time together but because we are sharing more than time, experiences, laughs, thoughts, and the most important, we are improving certain aspects together. On the learners' side, they are strengthening their speaking and social skills. On my side, I am enhancing and learning more skills to become a successful mediator. Relationships started to be different due to learners have changed their perception of me as teacher. Now, they perceive me not as an authoritative, strict and non-flexible person, but as a guide who is there for them to make they can achieve their goals. According to (TEDx Talks, 2017) It is necessary they can understand that we are in a learning process as they are. ‘We learn from and with others’; ‘Sharing is determined by the need to be with others’ (Lorenzo Tébar, 2009).
Class perception: Learning creatively and spontaneously is enjoying knowledge. The enthusiasm that an individual has in everything that s/he does is a common effort because not only the creator will be satisfied but also the people who will appreciate his or her creation. (Álvarez, 2013) The proposal allows to change the perception on students’ sights. They feel more comfortable and important because every word is considered to the development of the class, they feel the center of the scenario and not excluded from it. They even enjoy it when there is not a person telling them what they need to learn, but when they have a guide that allows them to conduct the class by considering their knowledge. Participation: Finally, as a result participation increased. This is just an appendix of the previous items; it is just some consequence of mediation on this proposal.
• The resources you have used.
Technology: I implemented the proposal by taking advantage of the screens at the institute. Those are good devices that allow learners and teachers to keep up with new technology and to make the classroom pleasant, less boring and more interactive. As mediator, it is highly important to start working with technology because it is truth, we live in a digital era, so it is mandatory to be updated with new devices. On my side, that was a weakness because I did not consider as an important aspect of my practices. Until I re-think and adapted them by including technology in the development of classes. I considered it because of listening to my students, they are young learners, and they are totally interested in new society, which of course is reflected on social media, but I did not understand it, just because I do not have social media. Even if I do not have social media, it is not an impediment to be updated with new information, pages, sources and so on that I can include in my classes. As mediator I need to make them enjoyable and significant. The educational process should not be a torture for the child, adolescent or adult, but on the contrary, it should be a process of integral development in which educators stimulate art and social values by offering innovative options and alternatives, such as technology. (Álvarez, 2009).
• The people who have participated and contributed to your process. How have they contributed?
Students and teachers from other classes have also participated in the proposal. Learners’ comments started to spread among different groups and levels. As they were interested, I shared the new perspectives of teaching that I have received as mediator. In fact, teachers are also included in their practices.
There are some results: (what makes a good teacher great?)
• Your feelings about the process.
Open minded: In some aspects I started to be more flexible, I feel that it is important to understand every learner's context. That means that I cannot evaluate, demand nor ask the same things of everyone because they are totally different individuals. They have different experiences, and they face different needs. Confident, I feel more confident now as an educator because I started to better understand that this profession is an art. As art it needs to be reflexive, sensible, and to go beyond a specific space. It needs to change someone’s perception, life and to promote motivation while developing values and knowledge. On the other hand, I also feel chill. I have learned to be more relaxed with learners, I realized that going slow is the best way to get good results. We live in a jumpy world and our society is always worried about time. Sadly, nowadays people live busy, and it is the false conception that if you have free time, you are losing it. So, it is also important to stop for a second, to take a breath, and to analyze the repetitive actions we do every day. To understand the way I share, speak, listen and teach in my practices as well as I behave in my daily life. To sum up, the art of mediation is to be in constant reflection and enhancement of every aspect as teacher and as person.
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