Mendive. Journal on Education, july-september 2022; 20(3): 1087-1090

Translated from the original in Spanish

Relevant Pedagogues

Lidia Tura Montelongo, teacher of teachers

 

Lidia Tura Montelongo, maestra de maestros

 

Lidia Tura Montelongo, professora de professores

 

Osvaldo Echeverría Ceballos1http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5567-529X

Pedro Rivera Martínez1

1University of Pinar del Río "Hnos Saíz Montes de Oca". Cuba. osvaldo.echevarria@upr.edu.cu

 

 

The Cuban teachers, from the beginning of the colony, passing through the ignored "Amigos y Amigas", the teachers of the redemptive jungle, the educators of the primary schools of the city and the countryside, as well as the outstanding educators who with their knowledge and performance advocated in speeches, articles and books the need for a better education, bequeathed to the teachers and professors of the present a history of love for the profession, an identification with the needs of the people. That legacy is the example of this teacher of teachers, who with her pedagogical work impregnated the most genuine of our traditions in each of her disciples, transcending to our days.

She was born in Pinar del Río on August 3, 1938 and died on August 5, 2021, the daughter of poor peasants who, luckily for her, knew how to read and write. She attended her first grades in a rural multigrade school and, since she liked being a teacher so much, she was used in the first grades for her results, and because she was older, to teach reading and review homework. Her teacher, one of the old qualified ones, denoted advanced methods; He taught them to love Martí, Maceo, to know the coat of arms, the anthem and the flag and involved them in deeply human and practical civic activities. She was a true hero.

She continued his secondary studies until he reached the Normal School for teachers, which was very difficult for him, since the teachers were almost all from Havana; They gave their classes with very poor pedagogy and she could not buy books, since her limited resources did not allow it. He asked for help from others who were selling brochures that he could not afford. So she graduated in 1957.

The first stage of his working life (one year) was spent supplying some teachers for half their salary, not even dreaming of having a school then.

In 1959 everything changed, at the call of Fidel he joined the volunteer teachers, in addition to teaching and creating a classroom where there had never been one. She did social work with the peasants; she only worked in the morning giving classes because in the afternoon the children had to help their parents to pick up coffee, an activity in which she also joined.

On weekends he visited the peasants and at night he taught the family of the house to read and write, obtaining very good results, for his kindness, tenacity, love and patience in that pedagogical work in which he gave herself at all times. At the end of this stage of her pedagogical work, she obtained the diploma and the volunteer teacher medal and, subsequently, she ranked 20th in a provincial call for teacher vacancies, placing her in a multigrade school in the "Pan de Azúcar" region, in Minas de Matahambre, for which the Normal did not prepare. He had to prepare his own pedagogical and psychological methods and elaborate many teaching aids to obtain good results. At that stage there were the inspectors themselves who did the promotion; 1st grade had to be literate and the others for the minimum essentials. At the beginning of the Revolution, many teachers left and Lidia went from one school to another very frequently until she obtained the rural school where she did her first grades in the "Río Sequito" neighborhood. In this school she taught literacy at night (start of the campaign) until they moved her as a zone technician in 1961 in the neighborhood itself. He was in charge of guiding and assisting 11 professional teachers, 59 brigade members and a large number of popular literacy teachers until the end of the campaign with good results; there she obtained her medal and diploma as a literacy teacher.

Together with the Literacy Campaign, he works in the organization of the National Union of Education with Abel Prieto Morales and Reinaldo Taelet Greniw, where he became secretary of finances with the outstanding pedagogue from Pinar del Río Sergio LLinás Quintans as general secretary.

He participated in the 1st Congress of Education and Culture in the province within his organization and in the nation with a presentation in commission 4, a certificate that is still preserved.

He went through three levels of education: primary, secondary and higher level, by promotion he never received an unsatisfactory evaluation.

In his long working life he applied all teaching methods, always putting the student at the center of his own learning, with active methods.

She worked in the training of students recruited for comprehensive general teachers at the "Rafael María de Mendive" Higher Pedagogical Institute, today the new integrated university of Pinar del Río "Hermanos Saíz Montes de Oca", where she developed as head of the group and discipline. There he worked all the subjects of the pedagogical profile, with a delicate sensitivity for the profession and social justice. She taught quality classes and great pedagogical mastery, a reference teacher and constant consultation. He trained teachers in all pedagogical areas, especially in the History of Education.

Always concerned about the quality of her classes and the learning of her disciples and about the proper use of teaching aids, she taught how to make them and use them, since she considered them an essential component for assimilating the content and helping the methods, whether alternative or natural media, or those of the classroom ­: blackboard, models, maps, textbooks.

Very demanding with his students in terms of good formal education, he taught them how to behave and act in their school space; she also taught them to read correctly and interpret what they read, since for her it was essential in the interaction with their peers.

Places where he worked.

He obtained prizes and recognitions for his pedagogical work and for his participation in postgraduate courses in Russia: Psychology, Pedagogy and Philosophy; State-of-the-art certificates and diplomas on several occasions: literacy medal and diploma, volunteer teacher medal and diploma, distinction for Cuban Education, "Pepito Tey" medal, CDR Seal, FMC Founder Medal, 40-year Medal of the FAR and Delegate to the different municipal assemblies of the Party.

Lidia felt love for what she did; she enjoyed learning from her students. Demanding with them and with herself, she maintained an exemplary social and political conduct. He created a conscious discipline, knew how to identify with his students, have a sense of humor and a constant concern for the new. Today she is remembered with much love and joy, she is an educator with an exemplary career for future generations of teachers. To her, thank you very much teacher.

 

Conflict of interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

 

Authors contribution

All authors managed the information, reviewed the writing of the manuscript and approved the version finally submitted.

 


This work is under a licencia de Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional
Copyright (c) Osvaldo Echeverría Ceballos, Pedro Rivera Martínez