The joint column "Teachers of Bulgaria - # The New Generation" published by Klet Bulgaria continues 24 hours with the story of a young teacher from Ruse - Veselin Dosev, who loves challenges and boldly shares his views.

Vesselin Dosev is a primary school teacher at the German-language Friedrich Schiller High School in Ruse. He started working there directly from the student bench. He has been teaching for 9 years, only in this school, and does not intend to change his profession. Today! But this has not always been the case.

He frankly admits that he became a teacher by accident. As a student, he studied computer systems and dreamed of studying and working in the United States. The young man travels around the world for some time before returning to Bulgaria and starting to study seriously. Pedagogy turned out to be really fateful for him, and in two ways - he met his wife and also became his profession.

During his student internship, Vesselin did very well and for the first time realized that he liked teaching. He graduated with the right to teach English and applied for such a position in his current school. He appeared at the interview last and with his characteristic frankness shared with the host committee his views on how the class should go and what is the role of the teacher. He leaves the interview convinced that he has erased all chances of being accepted. To his great surprise, however, he was approved and began as an educator.

In fact, a whole new stage in Vesselin's life begins. He comes across exceptional pedagogues with whom he works directly and helps him in the beginning. "The school was very good, though not easy," he realized. In the second year he received a class guide and took his first first grade. Today, 9 years later, he leads first-graders for the third time and still works with the same team of colleagues from whom he continues to learn, especially in e-learning: “If I continue to learn, one day I may become a good teacher. ", Modestly, without any pretense, says Vesselin.

Painfully frank, he says that in the beginning, still single, he spent more time at work, while now, with two children, he is learning to allocate time. A few years ago, at a critical moment, he even considered changing jobs, but as a person who loves challenges and does not give in to difficulties, he decided to redouble his efforts and dedicate himself entirely to the profession.

And the profession requires great flexibility not only because of the difficulties in distance learning, but also because of the relationship between teachers, students and parents.

The role of the teacher

He must feel whether he wants to be there, among the children, or not. "If we, the primary teachers, are not committed to the profession, if we do not lay the right foundations in the first grade, then it is too late," Vesselin is convinced. In the morning, he enters class with the "expect the unexpected" setting. He knows that whatever he has planned for the day will change. "I'm not prepared for what's going to happen, but I'm ready to control it."

He likes the work in the classroom - the students are more concentrated, he easily receives feedback from them if they have understood the material, he feels their immediate attitude. The students charge him with positive emotion, he writes down the fun moments in a notebook with pearls, which he shares with the students at the end of the class, in the 4th grade. But pearls are not the only thing that entertains them.

Vesselin Dosev believes that he should entertain the students. "I'm not a clown, I'm a teacher, but I think they should be interested in class," he said with dignity. As a child, Vesselin was a naughty student and was often reprimanded. Today, in the role of a teacher, he prefers to cheer up the situation with a joke instead of reproaching, because the emotional pause subsequently increases the students' concentration. When he feels tired, he prefers to stop teaching and dance to songs, solve fun logic problems or just laugh at a video on the Internet. "Entertainment should be the basis of teaching as a process," said Mr. Dosev. It may sound strange from a teacher's mouth, but this is his approach - he steps on order and discipline, especially in first grade, asserts his authority and gradually softens the rigor over time, inserts jokes and conversations. This approach is working, but also undergoing constant development, because Mr. Dosev not only teaches children, but also learns from them. Their sincerity and innocence have more than once helped him forget his gloomy mood. A misnomer "Mrs." or "Mom." And there is no way Mr. Dosev can no longer laugh.

The strict young teacher keeps order in the classroom, but realizes that today's children are not the same as in his childhood, when the teacher's figure was initially respected. He wants children to be open with him, but also to respect him: "If you want people to respect you, you have to deserve it, so does the teacher." In this regard, he relies on close contact with parents because he helps to communicate well. with the kids.

The learning process

Vesselin also has his own views on the learning process. For him, excessive information alienates the student from the school. "I don't understand why everyone says the student is at the center of things. No, there is a huge amount of knowledge they get in school. The children are overwhelmed and I, as a teacher, think that change is needed. The information should also be reduced by directions. Every child should feel his way and feel good that he has learned enough from his story, from the world around him. Because no matter how much a child likes you, by showering him with homework and tons of unnecessary information - he will no longer love his teacher and will lose interest in the subject. We need to change our thinking about us, the teachers, in order to change the learning process itself and make the curricula easier gradually. ”For him, the right approach is, instead of teaching children just facts, to teach them to work together as a team. and when they receive information - to process it in the right way. "Kids need to play more," said a man who's 30 and hasn't played enough in a few years, "laughs Vesselin. He has fun in the classroom, the children teach him new games and he teaches old ones, and he prefers to pass on the knowledge to them through the game. "There are many textbooks, but they have helped the unit. There is no perfect textbook because every teacher is different. We are the people who can make the children interested in the classroom. We need to become more open to children, to make teaching practices more accessible. ”In what direction should we develop in order to keep children's attention, to present information to children in an appropriate way, is the big question that Veselin Dosev asks himself.

In search of the answer, he is sure of one thing - that without the support of his colleagues a teacher can not cope. Last year, when schools were surprisingly closed due to the pandemic, Vesselin realized how much they were actually helping each other: "You are left with one computer and realize that you can't do it fully if you don't help each other more than ever." And his school is large, has over 1,000 students and has proven over time that it gives the public exceptional staff. Young teachers are qualified to handle e-learning. But if they want to drink water from a spring, they have to learn from their more experienced colleagues, because "they give you something that no school or university can teach you."