Maryam Rezaei
Chrissoula Manolakaki
Panos Chreppas
Stamatis Tsagias
Asimeni TountaAngelos Patsias
I always wondered if I am in the minority or majority of the students that hated going to school… I guess in the majority! After all I remember when we use to make fun of a kid who said he or she loved going to school! Well I completely changed my mind after meeting Angelos Patsias, and actually feel I wish I could go back to school…not any school, but with him being my teacher! Angelos has figured out the most harmonic, fun and in one word if I may “best” way to teach kids in being responsible, to be themselves, thoughtful, sociable, unique and…and…and again in short, a way to find who they are and their paths from their first years at school! He says that he was never good in school and couldn’t comply with the rest and what to be and do what was asked of him in “classical way”! So, he decided to do what he knew best; being himself with children!
Angelos has a line of teachers in his family and whether its genetic nor not, it sure helps in following his family’s footsteps! He Started teaching in Crete and later at a tiny school of 35-45 kids… a school situated in the mountains, away from civilisation and as he says in order to get there every day, he had to travel an hour to and an hour back! He together with 3 other young teachers decided to make extraordinary changes… as they took on that schools to apply a whole new system of teaching and more. Everything was done by all; the kids would clean the classrooms in turn, they would cook breakfast (even bake their bread) for the rest of the students in turn, they even had school councils in deciding all their chores and make decisions all together! We are talking about kids from the age of 6 till 18! Their community, villages, school and their classes and curriculum all where one! Now who wouldn’t want to go to such a school?? I am sure the answer is unanimous!
Today, Angelos Patsias together with two lovely teachers (Veta and Ioannis, whom are also extra special people and a great honour to have met them) have teamed up to make a real change! They have the Big Bang School, where they aim, as they say, to “upgrade humanity” through seminars, labs and teaching parents and school teachers to elevate their grasp in how easy it is to shape the world through children… therefore how important to inspire and motivate kids in being themselves, with respect to their environment and everything and everyone in it! They also are aiming to build a school and hopefully “schools” that will be funded by parents and as a result keeping everyone involved in this so important task!
Angelos is a very gifted yet simple person, who really believes he hasn’t done much… when actually he has started a huge change… he calls himself a crazy teacher, where I would put he is what a teacher should be like…for me he is THE TEACHER! Thank you for making our present and future brighter!
http://www.bigbangschools.org
