Maja Larsson
My choice to become a teacher was all about my wish to have an opportunity that offered an alternative. The opportunity to give my students what I had missed during more than 19 years of study.
I wanted my students to understand that they were learning for their own sake – not to satisfy me, the teacher. If the students don’t know and understand that they are learning for themselves, for their own life and future – then we have lost the whole point of going to school. This lack of motivation is the major problem in most Swedish schools. I think it is the responsibility of the educators in the schools to view each student as an individual and help them in their own growth.
I wanted to give them control over their own situation, thereby letting them find their own inner motivation.
In Sweden, teachers follow the national study and course plane when planning the lessons for the courses. Teachers show the students the goals they need to achieve in each course and the students are graded at each level.
This is how I planned and structured the lessons for a course in art, music and drama at secondary level, at a school in Sweden some years ago.
The author is a creator, illustrator and artist and works as a project manager at a communication agency in Uppsala,Sweden. She can be reached at majalarsson1@gmail.com.