In this article, you will get to know better about what Katarzyna Marton-Gadoś values in students, how she spends time besides academic work, and … how she found her path.
Work, Mountains, Garden, and Umberto Eco – do you know why I write this?
Well, let’s start!
<strong>Do you know why she likes teaching and how she become a teacher?</strong>
She likes teaching because of the most pleasant part of it - meeting students. Simply, all the interactions between teacher and students are nice ones. Teaching is a kind of relationship between two parts, even if the parts are not very equal, because, probably, students feel respect&nbsp; towards the teacher, and the teacher feels some kind of feeling similar when parents pay attention to children. Anyway, it is the most interesting and the nicest part. Through the meetings with students teachers also learn a lot.&nbsp;
<strong>In your opinion, what is the most difficult thing about teaching? Answering annoying questions? Explaining the same material again and again? For Katarzyna Marton-Gadoś</strong><strong> it is not like this.</strong>
The most difficult thing about teaching for Mrs. Marton-Gadoś is, probably, to&nbsp;teach&nbsp;online. Its means that she can not interact as quickly as she usually communicates with groups of students. Some students may not be&nbsp;interested in courses and try to avoid being involved in classes. This is the most annoying thing for her.&nbsp;
<strong>Do you know how Katarzyna Marton-Gadoś</strong><strong> start</strong><strong>ed teaching Microeconomics?</strong>
Everything in life is, probably, a kind of surprise. She never thought that she would be a teacher. However, the most pleasant things come as a kind of accident. She planned to have a totally different profession in life. It happened after the end of her studies. After her defense, she asked one of her teachers to try herself as a teacher, and it was the beginning of the story. First of all, she started&nbsp;&nbsp;to work in a company and tried to combine both types of work. However, she decided that the most pleasant thing is to be with students, the young generation. It was her choice. In the beginning,&nbsp;she was dealing with banking mostly, but after that, she had a desire to develop skills. So, economics was the next step and a more interesting and broad area.
<strong>And what about the values of students? What do you value the most?</strong>
You can hardly find a teacher that divides students into those, who he/she likes, and those, who he/she doesn’t like. It doesn’t go like this, really. The case is, at the beginning of the semester, we usually try to notice the most active students. So, probably, students think that we take care mostly of such students. But it is not like that.
We start to get acquainted with different students. For me, the most valuable students are the students who are hot assets. The students who are brave enough to pass their opinions, because students are a bit scared about the fact whether they are right or not. As I said, it is not the case. We can discuss every single topic. The key is just to be brave enough to say what you think. My ideal student is one who is not afraid. Who are able to express themselves.&nbsp;&nbsp;There are many aspects of being brave. So, there are some students who are brave because they always want to answer a question. So, they are always at the first line. They create a kind of the first role in the classroom.
On the other hand, there are students, who are not less valuable, but who are just shy and sitting somewhere at the end, not talking at all, but sometimes it is enough to hear them once or twice and I already realize that they are very clever. The only thing is that they are maybe afraid to express themselves, so I also appreciate such students.
<strong>What are your interests besides academic work?</strong>
- You can not do only one thing in your life. Althought it is quite a nice thing, but I have 2 hobbies: mounting climbing and gardening.&nbsp;
I try to spend my free time going somewhere. Usually, I go to the Polish mountains at least once a year. I behaved like a student with my closest friends. We were taking bags, walking through different mountains for a week, and sleeping somewhere in hostels. So, this is my passion.&nbsp;
Another thing that I like is gardening. During the previous pandemic time, I mean before the holidays, we did a special weekend with students. They were sitting in front of their laptops in their gardens, and I was also sitting in mine. It was a pleasant time. I also start my day with a cup of coffee in the garden.
<strong>What about your favorite series, movie, book? Why did you mention Umberto Eco</strong><strong> at the beginning of the article?</strong>
I really don’t have any unique film or book. I have my favorite author. Also, I am a bit influenced by my children. I read a lot of books related to medicine because my daughter is a medical student and I try to follow all the news. On the other hand, my son is very interested in history, and we are watching historical movies and reading historical books.&nbsp;
My favorite author is&nbsp;Umberto Eco. He is an Italian writer. There are some books, which some films are based on. I like him very much because he is a perfect philosopher. I like his way of thinking.
<strong>How do you evaluate the year 2020? What are your wishes and dreams?</strong>
Definitely, it is a difficult year for everybody. There are a lot of difficulties that have happened to us, but I think that in general, every difficulty makes us stronger. I believe that this is a kind of hope for the future. So, hopefully, I think that this pandemic time will stop sooner or later, but I also hope that we will be able to draw conclusions on that. We will be wiser for the future. So we will start, for example,&nbsp;to respect doctors. I perceive that this difficult time is a kind of reflection time for all of us.
The interview was conducted by Kate Tsybulskaya (Students in Action)