Short Interview: Dijana Ravlic

I have always been fascinated by human behavior and the way people learn. If I weren’t a teacher, I would probably be a psychologist. But today, looking at this job, one does not exclude the other. Becoming a teacher is both an exciting and challenging endeavor I was looking forward to the experience. Ever since I was a little girl, I have thought that I would like to become a teacher. In 1st grade, I had an exceptional teacher who encouraged my desire to learn and made me want to be a teacher one day.

The journey began in 2010 at the Faculty of Education in Osijek where I graduated five years later (2015) with the highest honor. I’ve received the Dean’s award for outstanding dedication during the studies as the best student of the year. After that learning has never really stopped. A special area of ​​interest to me is gifted children. I graduated on the topic of Knowledge and attitudes of teachers towards artistically gifted children. In 2016, I held a lecture on the topic of gifted children. Two years later I published a professional article entitled Teachers' Knowledge and Attitudes on the Adaptation of Fine Arts to Artistically Gifted Children in the Journal of Theory and Practice of Education Life and School. I also completed the education "Identification of giftedness in school" which gave me basic competencies in understanding the nature of giftedness. Since 2019 I have been collaborating with the Association of Gifted Children. 

Furthermore, I have experience working with kindergarten and elementary school children. From 2016 to 2018 I independently designed the work plan, created the monthly curriculum, organized the final semiannual events, and conducted English workshops for children aged 3 to 6. In 2018 I was the Head of the HIPPO Competition in English Language and a member of the committee for judging the competition and reviewing the students of Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić Elementary School in Virovitica. 

In the field of education, I regularly participate in Oxford and Cambridge webinars that are dealing with topics such as STEM, difficulties in learning, student inclusion, and giftedness.

Working with people is something that I really enjoy. And what do children, from university professors, form colleagues, and form school principal think of me is best described in their feedback below.