Passing time

Something has been on my mind recently, and I’m having some trouble putting it into words, even to myself. For the longest time, I’ve been feeling stuck between two cultures: the American culture in which I grew up – and which I cannot escape, no matter how hard I may try – and the Spanish culture in which I still don’t feel fully integrated even after five years.

It’s ironic to me that I’ve mentioned “American culture”; if you were to press me for details, I don’t think I’d be able to put into words exactly what “American culture” is. I think this is so because a lot of the elements that, at a glance, define “US culture” – Thanksgiving, (American) football games, “the American dream”, and so on – don’t really resonate with me. Maybe they did at some point, but as I get older and spend more time away from the country, the less meaningful they seem.

At the same time as I feel myself growing more and more distant from the US, I can’t really say that I feel myself growing closer to Spain. For me, the cultural separation I feel from Spain is clearest in the educational system. For example, homework culture here is quite different than the one I grew up with: when I was in secondary school, we normally had homework every night, and there was a high general expectation that what was assigned for the next day was at the very least completed or attempted, even if not necessarily done correctly. Here in Spain, however, homework seems like more of an afterthought: most of the work that students are given at home is ostensibly studying for their exams. And when exercises are assigned to be done at home, they’re not checked or factored into the course grade to the same extent they were for me. As a future teacher in the Spanish system, it leaves me wondering how to navigate these two different expectations. On the one hand, I don’t want to drown my students in homework as was often done to me; it’s important for their development to have a social and extracurricular life beyond school and classes. On the other hand, I do think that homework, when used correctly and more sparingly, can go a long way in teaching personal autonomy and time management, especially for students who plan to pursue university-level studies.

Another stark difference between Spanish and American educational cultures is the time between classes and the way that classrooms are used. When I was growing up, we had a five-minute transition period between one class and the next, and this was the time to go to the bathroom, stop by your locker, or say hi to friends from different classes. Most importantly, it was a micro-break in what was otherwise a long day of sitting and listening. It was a chance to move your body and stretch your legs, and because the class for each subject was generally in a different room and with different people than the previous subject, we had a much-needed change of scenery.

In Spain, however, I often feel bad for the students precisely because they don’t have these little moments to breathe and stretch and just be throughout the day. Moreover, this passing time was unstructured; teachers generally were not standing in the halls making sure we moved from class to class. There was an implicit trust that everyone would eventually get themselves to where they needed to go. At my school now, the end time for one class runs directly into the start time for the next (which from an organizational standpoint, makes little to no sense and lends itself all too well to chaos), and students are expected to remain in place in their classrooms. To me, this indicates that there is an unspoken lack of trust: letting the students out into the hall between class would result in chaos too difficult to rein in multiple times throughout the day.

I also cannot quite wrap my head around the idea that the students stay with more or less the same group of people for hours on end at a day. From the perspective of my American memories, I can’t help but feel that they are missing out on one of the more exciting elements of high school: seeing new people in each class was another way to break up the day and give you something to look forward to. It could also help you expand your social network, as different subjects might require you to work with different people, instead of with the same group as seems to happen here in Spain.

From a teacher’s perspective, the lack of passing time between subjects is often problematic because you constantly feel one of either two ways: rushed because you are always systematically late to your next class, or a bit annoyed because the previous teacher tends to run long, thus cutting into your own lesson time. I also find that, even as an adult, I need a five-minute mental break to transition from one subject to another and to handle logistical things like making sure I have all of my materials ready to go.

Additionally, I have to admit that it can be psychologically intimidating to enter what is, for all intents and purposes, the students’ classroom. I walk into a room and don’t really feel a sense of control or ownership over the space; whereas in the US the secondary classroom is either a neutral space for both teacher and students or a teacher’s space, in Spain it belongs almost exclusively to the students themselves. While some might argue that this is favorable from the standpoint of student-centered learning or creating a comfortable, positive space for the students, there are certain drawbacks. For example, there is less privacy for the students: their desks and materials are constantly out in the open, instead of secured in a locker. The space is also more impersonal; at least lockers allow you some room to decorate and carve out your own space, however small, within the larger school environment. Furthermore, having to plan out when to stop by your locker and select which materials to bring to which class is a good experience for teaching organizational skills and autonomy; it leaves the choice of coming to class prepared or not to the students. Whatever they choose, they have to own it.

I recognize, of course, that after having grown up in one system all my life, I am heavily biased toward it. However, in this case, a little bit of bias hardly seems like the worst thing in the world, and it forces me to ask myself: How can I incorporate elements of American transitional time between classes into a system that seems to be anti-transition? How can I give students a short break to recharge and (hopefully) move mentally, if not physically, from one subject to another? Is this even possible?

As always with these blog posts, I must confess that I don’t have the answer. I don’t have enough experience on my own in Spanish classrooms to know yet what will and will not work, or what elements from my own educational upbringing I can sneak in for my students. One thing that I would like to try, however, is to not start my class right away, and to try to guarantee for my students a five-minute, in-class break between the previous subject and mine. I think it’s reasonable, and perhaps necessary, to give them these five minutes to go to the bathroom, decompress, and chat with their friends; I also think that if I can do this in a way that builds trust and rapport between the students and me, I will be able to bring them to attention at the appropriate time, and perhaps even maintain a stronger hold on their attention throughout the lesson. At the very least, it’s worth a shot.