Becoming a Finnish Teacher

How self-esteem is connected to learning If students have good self-esteem, they learn better (Toivakka & Maasola 2011). This seems logical. If people have good self-esteem, they feel that they are capable of learning, and more importantly they are capable to utilize the things they have learned. This leads to curiosity, motivation and feelings of self-confidence.  Self-esteem is something that develops when we are with others. People observe others, compare themselves with others and learn how they are similar or different to others (Wenger 1998, Hakkarainen, Honka & Lipponen 2004). The signals we receive from others shape the way we see ourselves, what is expected from us and how worthy we feel we are ( Lonka 2014a,  Isokorpi 2008 ). Identity and self-esteem are further shaped by ideal self, which is the image we wish to achieve.  The picture below represents the different elements shaping the student’s self-esteem. The other students give feedback ...

I took many personality tests in order to reflect my own strengths and weaknesses as a teacher. it was pretty interesting to do those. Some of the tests were rather naïve and easy to predict. For example: are you an introvert? – Yes. Result: You are an introvert. There was nothing interesting about those. However, one tests surprised me completely. Not because the results were something new, but the accuracy how it described my inner thoughts and ways of thinking was quite fishy. Here is the link to 16 personalities – tes t.  My results reveled that I am an Architect. This seems to be quite intolerable personality to hang around with. “ It can be lonely at the top. Being one of the rarest personality types and being among the most capable people, Architects know this all too well. They make up just two percent of the population, and women with this personality type are especially rare, forming only 0.8%. It can be difficult for Architects to find people who can keep u...

It is pretty good idea to do a skills mapping test in the beginning of the studies. I see all the areas that I will (hopefully) develop during the studies. These are divided into themes:  Basic pedagogics: I notice that I lack a lot of knowledge about “central principles of pedagogics”, education politics and knowledge about the phases in human development. I am rather skilled in understanding education as one of core tasks of the society, though.  Teaching, guiding and evaluating: Since I have studied so much before, many practices are quite familiar. For example I know that it is essential to stick to the educational plan and the personal skills and former studies affect the personalizing the studies. I am not sure if I can recognize the talents of the students and I very interested learning more about that. I am pretty impressed that one of the goals is to learn “how to recognize personal needs in order to strengthen development of identity and self-image”. ...