We teach who we are : I teach what I am for you to become what you are

    "I teach what I am for you to become what you are"

    Christos Maragkoudakis

    Danai Stathopoulou

    Ivi Toumasi

    Danai Tsaparli

    Antonia Maria Tsatsampa

    ''We teach who we are. Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one’s inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the soul. If I am willing to look in that mirror, and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self - knowledge —and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject.''
    The Heart of a Teacher (Part 1: We Teach Who We Are)
    by Parker J. Palmer

     

    The artwork "I teach what I am for you to become what you are", is a natural one-dimensional installation, consisting of everyday objects (mirror &
    shutters), as well as from a collection of five plaster gauze masks, each decorated
    with materials of each member's choice.

    This installation through
    symbolism of the selected materials reflects how we approach and
    we understand the role of the Teacher in the Learning process.

     
    Artwork Drawing

    The "human" teacher, the imperfect, full of passions with his/her personal story, experiences
    and his multidimensional personality, interacts and correlates with them
    students providing the tools (material and spiritual) leading them to discover
    their inner selves (mirror symbolism)    , as well as to open their eyes and
    their heart to the outside world (open shutters).

    The project consists of five plaster masks, a mirror and two shutters.

    The mirror is framed by the two shutters, while the masks hang opposite them, at a short distance from each other.

    Each mask was decorated with materials that reflect the values ​​embodied by the teacher for each member of our team and the whole highlights the vitality, joy, love for nature and devotion that we all consider the core that the teacher possesses in order to teach children to become what they are.

    This, after all, is the symbolism of the mirror in the artwork, while the shutters symbolize the window that education opens through the life of every human being through its educators.

    Finally, it is necessary to mention that the plaster gauze masks are a construction that we learned from one of our favorite teachers in the last grades of primary school, whose memory follows us to this day.