Our little place

Although it is quite small and many times it looks overcrowded, the staff room is, at least for me, one of the most important places in the school.  Why? Mainly because it is a sharing place...
It is the staff room where you share you daily comments of what have happened in the classroon, where you tell your sister teacher a rumour you have heard, where you complain about the misbehaviour of the kids, where you sit down for a minute, close your eyes and you breathe deeply trying to make dissapear the feeling of almost killing someone who has bothered you the whole afternoon. It is the staff room the "private" place where you can show your emotions, where you are allowed to cry when you feel overwhelmed, and where you receive a piece of advice or a hug when you do not know what to do.
I like the staff room because it is a place where I can learn. I learn from my co workers, from their experiences, from their pieces of advice, from their company. I learn from the "sharing".
It is so necessary to work with someone else who helps you or teaches you just with a comment or with a word of encoraugement that many times we did not realize that this happens to us daily.
It is not the first time that I say this, but I feel so happy with my "dream team", that it is one of the main reasons that makes me enjoy going to the school.
I've never felt alone, I've never felt "marginalized" because of being new. Even, the first year I was in the school, I got Flavia's help  and that made the work easier. I remember Dai asking me "and? how's the group? how do feel? are you happy?" simple questions that made me feel I could trust someone else and ask them "what shall I do now?".
To sum up, I have reflected upon this place because it is a place full of emotions, not only tears but also happiness, it is a place with challenges, advices, solidarity, humility, friendship, and where we show our feelings not only as teachers or professionals, but also, as persons... 

Dictionaries

I have decided to write about “dictionaries” because it is a subject that intrigues me since I was a child.
Using a dictionary when I had a doubt was something very difficult to implement when I was at school. Whenever I asked for the meaning of a word, my mother used to tell me “Fetch the dictionary! It kills donkeys!”. At the beginning, I didn’t do what she ordered but as she has always insisted on this, I started picking it up when unknown words appeared.
After many attempts, I ended up internalizing this action and as I believe it is a very helpful tool, I decided to transmit this habit to my students.
I used to be the kind of teacher that usually answers immediately when one of the kids ask for the meaning of a word. But, some time ago, I realized that although the teacher must be a facilitator in the classroom, I should motivate them to develop their own strategies in order to work independently.
Another thing is that last year, I noticed that parents make an effort to buy lots of books that are very expensive, (dictionaries included!) so THEY MUST BE USED!
They had a workshop where they learn how to use them, the difference among the entries that a word may have, how to differentiate a noun or adjective from a verb, which is the most relevant definition depending on the context where the word appears, etc.
I believe it will be useful to have that workshop this year again and I will reinforce that habit in the classroom.
This year, I decided to start doing this, so in any activity that they have to solve, I ask them first to look up the words they do not know and then, we share the meaning altogether.
I consider that this is a very useful way for them to realize that the teacher is not the only “tool” in the classroom, and that they can have access to “new knowledge” easily.
The thing is that they are very lazy! They prefer to ask and to have the answer immediately and do not stop for a while, pick up the dictionary, look for the word, and read the definition that best applies and suits the context. But this is a habit-formation.
I want them to get used to do this, because it expands and opens their mind. I want them to feel curious and to internalize the words they learn, so after sharing the meanings, we try to find an example to remember the word easily.
I think that it is the best way for dictionaries to do not rest and sleep in our shelf throughout the whole year!