Rosario Vera Peñaloza

As a final assignment for School Management, we were to find out something about an educator in Argentina that made the difference. While doing my research, I found out about Rosario Vera Peñaloza. It was really hard to summarize or focus just on some aspects of her life so as to make it fit in the blog (as we all know, an entry should not be too extensive), because she led a very motivating life. Just to mention a few things about her:

• She was born in Atiles, Valle de Malezán, La Rioja on 25^th December 1873
• She was orphan when she was a child and her maternal aunt was the one who brought her up and taught them her first letters.
• She founded the Kindergarten attached to Escuela Normal from La Rioja.
• She toured through the country encouraging popular teaching to transmit new techniques for teaching and found libraries.
• She created the subject on folklore studies to keep the national character in a country with lots of immigrants.
• Not only did she follow Froebel’s and Montessori’s principles, but she also studied, compared and adapted them to the reality of Argentina.
• She placed a lot of importance on children using their hands as a way of activating the brain and expressing themselves.
• She died on 28^th May in 1950 and from then on, to pay homage to her, the National Kindergarten Day was installed.

As you can see, there were many things this wonderful teacher did and maybe we do not know about her as much as we should. Lots of teachers have made a difference and there will be many more in the future and that is why we need to think and investigate about their lives. They worked hard to leave a mark on students, colleges and people in general, and maybe it is time we start learning from them.

María Lorena Recio

P.S. By clicking here you can go to another blog to read a poem that is really good about teachers making the difference

Maria Montessori

Montessori's method reminds me of my days at kindergarten. As in Montessori's schools, my classroom was arranged according to subjects (cooking, housekeeping, gardening, and a reading corner). Apart from that, we were always free to move around the room isntead of sitting at desks. And there was no limit to how long we could work on something we had chosen.
As a teacher-to-be, I think this is a good method for our educational needs. The Montessori method is philosophically and practically different from other educational methods, and also very different from my personal educational experience, but I'd like to do my best to apply it. I'd like to teach my students how to respect individual differences, and to emphasize education as a way of seing children as they really are. One of the ideas I have in mind when I remember her method is the calm of the environment where children can work with activities of their own choice. Finally, the most important thing about this method is it gives us the opportunity to help children self-construct their minds and personalities.

Contributed by Mariana Fernández