3 Personal Learning Experiences
1 - Elementary school
I admit that I don't have a good memory, and my memories of elementary school are a bit fuzzy. However, I remember that ever since I was a child I always had a great passion for history books, and in general on the subject of World War II. When I attended school, I often brought these books with me, very large and full of photographs, and I spoke to everyone who wanted to listen to me about these topics.
My history teacher noticed my great passion, and also the surprising knowledge on that subject for an 8/9 year old child. She then decided one day to make me a "teacher". With her help, I prepared a small history presentation and introduced the topic to all my classmates. For it was a great emotion, I felt like a true "teacher" and I was very proud of myself.
I think this is a very positive example of behavior on the part of my teacher: she became aware of my great passion and used it not only to teach a new content to the class, but also to actively involve me in an unforgettable way.
Knowing how to exploit the passions and interests of one's students to one's advantage is a lesson that I carry with me and that I will never forget.
2 - High school
From high school, on the other hand, I have many more memories, both positive and negative. I want to talk about a positive memory: again the positive influence that a professor had on me. I'm talking about the philosophy professor in my class, a middle-aged man with a thick white beard (as per the stereotype of a philosophy professor).
What struck me about him was his way of teaching. I didn't know it then, but today we would call that way of teaching the "Socratic seminar". It was a totally new and engaging teaching method for me. Participation and engagement of (almost) the whole class was very high and time passed very quickly.
In fact, the lessons were interesting and they stimulated our individual reflection and the construction of our critical thinking, in full cognitivist style. Furthermore, the professor had the ability to make discussions even light when necessary, often using irony.
The most valuable lesson I bring with me is the importance of making learning moments involving and engaging for students, in order to activate their deepest cognitive abilities and make learning meaningful and lasting.
3 - Professional setting
The most important learning experience I had in my professional experience was definitely the training course to become a teacher of Italian as a second language.
This course was conducted face-to-face, in the classrooms of a private language school by two trainers, one of whom was the director of the school himself. The "class" consisted of a few people, only 6 trainees, including me.
The objective of the course was more practical than theoretical: learning how to carry out activities typical of the school's teaching method, highly structured and codified. And this is what made that course unforgettable. We first watched a trainer carry out the activity, then in small groups we reconstructed the sequence of the elements that made up the activity, discussed them together, and then replicated them in the following lessons, with a style that I would define as Social Constructivism.
In that way I learned several lessons, but two above all: first of all the strength of group learning and comparison with the classmates (and with trainers), and then also the importance of "learning by doing", which is in my view the most effective learning and which I try to replicate in all the courses that I design myself.