Well…I’ve done it. I’ve reached the other side of the bridge between the Old and New Worlds! It’s exhilarating, joyous and all the more bittersweet. Why? Because of how it’s a reminder of how far I’ve come, how soon my TAB experience will be over, and all the new feelings bubbling up to the surface: the sadness, anxiety, and the determination to seek out and go farther to truly spend the time I have left in Madrid without any doubts or regrets. Several museums, plazas, parks, and more are on my list and I’ve done well in making these dream visits and experiences a reality, good progress in good time, and still…the more I accomplish and explore, the more I want to see and do. All told, it’s been a wonderful and busy time. Which brings me to further reflections on the cultural influences of Spanish society, in particular, how the complex, intersecting, confusing, curious, and creative ways that people navigate El Retiro Park; and how these social interactions and the energy they produce, plays a great role in how classroom culture, learning and teaching environments at EK El Castillo are heavily influenced by social interactions in direct and indirect ways. In learning how to utilize and channel that social energy into the learning itself, I have come to learn about how to rely upon the benefit of teaching in a socially dynamic way.
To know the classroom culture of SEK El Castillo is to know how to navigate the vastness of El Retiro Park. Madrileños, tourists, pedestrians, cyclists, landscapers, construction crews, security guards, strollers, and scooters galore all weave in-between one another, renovation scaffolds, mud puddles, plazas, and pathways. Upon first exiting from the Retiro metro station, I admit that I was immediately overwhelmed by the autumnal beauty and the sheer scale of the park in-person. I knew it was larger than Central Park in NYC, which had been the largest in-city park I had ever been to prior to El Retiro, but actually walking the paths and taking in the late-morning atmosphere; I noticed something: constant social interactions and movement. It wasn’t just in how people lined up to board a rental rowboat at the lake dock, groups gathering to do tai chi or dance mix music-fuelled exercise sets, in the ways people made room on park benches or at café tables to seat another newcomer, nor in the ways that runners and cyclists maneuvered or made room for elderly couples and small children on scooters to move around them. It was all in how everyone, whether they were friends or complete strangers found ways in which to navigate and provide space for themselves and one another in ways that demonstrated respect and care for others. Even when there were musicians playing their instruments or singing on the side of a pathway, there was always a corridor made so passers-by could make their way while the audience adjacent to the performers could still engage in the performance (singing or toe-tapping along). While walking around the lake, visiting various plazas, Paseo de Coches, and touring La Rosaleda, everyone was enjoying the day and when friends and family met up with one another, that same positive, warm, welcoming feeling in the air remained. Though only a visit that lasted from the late morning into the early afternoon, El Retiro Park felt like a continuation of the same cultural prerogatives of friendliness, kindness, respect, care, and patience of the city into the natural oasis of the park.
In the Year 6 classrooms of SEK El Castillo, these cultural prerogatives are carried through into the learning and teaching environments. However, the physical layout of these classrooms while not as expansive as El Retiro, has several features that are conducive to a variety of social interactions with their glass walls, windows bringing in natural light, and flexible desk seating arrangements. All of which makes for lively conversations between classmates, but also can bring forth plenty of distractions and off-task behaviours; impeding progress being made in lessons or in learning more generally. Just as visiting El Retiro Park for the first time was overwhelming, so too were my first days attending SEK El Castillo and becoming acquainted with the unique layouts and students’ personalities of these classrooms. It was not what I expected and most definitely had an adjustment period, but once I settled into the routines and schedules of these classes, I came to know that these social behaviours have an unexpected energy that resonates with a class and enables them to galvanize on their enthusiasm and inject that into asking questions to deepen their comprehension of a concept, volunteering to present a written piece in front of an audience of their peers, and discussing or brainstorming with their peers in group projects to think or apply their learning in creative, outside-the-box ways.
The defining factor that helped to channel this social energy into the learning was in how my partner teacher, Mako, who made decisions about how students could discuss and answer questions that she posed to them about concepts, processes, and their accompanying examples. Where students who may be on the periphery, potentially shy or disengaged, are invited into the fold by having these questions posed to them or being asked to share their response with the class; after which, she would use their responses to invite already-engaged, actively participating students to build on and provide follow-up questions or details to the original student who is no longer on the periphery. It is most certainly not the easiest form to follow in channeling that social energy into classroom discussions or peer-to-peer engagement, but after having spent time in witnessing Mako utilizing this technique to weave these responses and thoughts into a coherent conversation and blending of ideas relating to the lesson’s main topic; her example of her standard in these classroom conversations, has been set for me. Which is especially important, as she rotates through three classes of Year 6 students, each with a vivacious variety of social energies to channel and inform how the teaching is done and how progress in the learning is made.
I am no expert on students’ socialization and social behaviour commonalities across cultures or between classrooms, I am still developing my understanding and application of pedagogical approaches in this regard. However, I am confident in how I set out to plan how I can leverage my TAB experiences as a wealth of cultural and pedagogical information, practices, norms, and techniques, which can make a considerable difference in adapting my approaches to students’ learning journeys. Every learner walks at a different pace on the path of their learning journey, some may fall behind just as others are streaming past them to the summit, but all of us are walking this path together. So, my first step is in ensuring that I can utilize the benefit of social energy within a classroom culture, channeling it into a socially dynamic approach that brings all students into the conversation and likewise, support them in making connections to a lesson and thereby deepen their comprehension and application of their learning.
It’s the final leg now, until I return back home to Canada. But to my surprise, Madrid has become another home for me too. In making the most of my TAB experience, from train delays, language barrier miscommunications, delicious culinary discoveries, fascinating historical and artistic milieux, hellos, goodbyes, and everything in-between. I feel ready for whatever else Madrid has in store for me to discover, explore, savour, and cherish as learning and teaching moments in my TAB journey.