María José Schamun: Writer, teacher, and lifelong artist

In addition to being our high school language and literature teacher, she writes reviews and articles for a digital magazine. Discover how she has inspired our learners over the past 13 years!

“I have always found fascinating the possibility of creating that which I wanted to exist or that intrigued me.” María José Schamun has been inspiring our high school students for 13 years as a Language and Literature teacher, driven by that same passion. But her interest in words began long before that. She has been writing since she was 10, driven by a desire to evoke emotions and explore the eternal “what if…?” In 2009, she earned her bachelor’s degree in Language and Argentine Literature, and today she shares all her experience in our classrooms.

The source of inspiration

Two Italian authors were fundamental to María José. Emilio Salgari truly captured her attention, an author from the early 20th century who wrote adventure novels in which the characters struggled as much against the harsh conditions of exotic landscapes as they did against the injustices of the wicked. “These were adventures that set my imagination ablaze, but his work as a writer also struck me as inspiring,” she shared during an interview. Despite not always receiving support from the critics, Salgari just kept writing. “He was convinced that literature could inspire the highest values, and he saw in it a necessary social role,” she added. 

Her other influence, Italo Calvino, was a mid-20th-century writer whose worldbuilding included Invisible Cities and all the possible ways of seeing reality. “That prism of Paris transformed into the impossible cities of China that Marco Polo described to the Great Khan gave me the recipe for finding new adventures and new meanings in everyday places I thought I already knew,” María José highlighted. 

From that starting point, she kept on nurturing her curious and imaginative mind by reading and watching unusual movies. “I usually have a scene in my head that tends to be very cinematic: I can see it,” she detailed. There’s what might have led the character to that situation, what they are going through, what their challenges are. Once those things are settled, María José starts writing the scene she sees: “I move forward toward the ending while recovering what happened before my text began.” 

Teaching and learning tethered

Her first publishing experience came from research she conducted at university, which turned into a short essay about some structural aspects of Don Quixote (El ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha). It featured in the Revista Hispanista de Brasil. Her first short story, “Olvidos”, was published in the Spring 2012 issue of Fábula, the literary magazine of the University of La Rioja (Spain). 

Her passion and experience in writing led her to teach literature, enhancing its nature as a form of art, not only focusing on critical reading. On the matter, María José mentioned:

Writing an essay is the display of that reading, but creating an original piece involves the ability to communicate a unique perspective on the world—one that is personal to each student and emerges from that critical reading. Otherwise, we would only be left with an understanding of someone else’s perspective, without the ability to form our own.

Certainly, the classroom works as a creative feedback loop: “Working with teenagers is inspiring because their view of the world is always new, and the readings each one brings to class fuel unexpected creations.” When thinking about the advice she gives her students, that also applies to her writing. Authenticity seems to be the key: “Share your honest and genuine view. No one else can see things the way you do, and that is exactly what a reader is looking for: a truly unique perspective.”

As a contributor to the digital magazine Escritores del Mundo, María José often writes reviews and articles, which also nurtures her role as a lifelong learner and teacher. “Writing reviews allows one to reflect on how one can synthesize what a text does, which is not the same as what it says. “I believe the most enjoyable part is experimenting with different ways of narrating,” María José shared. In my case, that exploration comes from reading constructions she likes and trying to do something similar. “Through those explorations, we discover strategies or turns of phrase that we enjoy and keep in our toolbox; and they eventually become part of our style.”

Ultimately, both teachers and students are driven by the excitement of what sparks their curiosity and passion. “The difference between teachers and students, I think, is only a matter of years of experience,” María José explained. She added: “Our students teach us in an unstructured way, but we inspire each other and create together: no class has ever taken place without curiosity, passion, attention, and trust.”