(An Excerpt from a Narrative Testimony of my Teaching Experience)
Some people, from the time they are in first grade, know they want to be teacher… but not for me.
Make no mistake; as a teacher, your day doesn’t necessarily end when the school bell rings. If you’re diligent, you will be involved in after school meetings, committees, assisting students, grading homework, assignments, projects and calling parents. All these demand some sacrifice of your personal time. If you’re committed to excellence as a teacher, it’s a sacrifice you can live with. If not, you will be uncomfortable at best.
That’s the kind of idea I live for so long… I’ve been in Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila for 4 years, studying the itinerary I’m not even fond of, but I just learned to live with it. Having been able to graduate with a degree, I can pick any of the jobs that I want; that is my state of mind. I don’t want to be a teacher, I will never be a teacher.
Then student teaching came in, I was at doomed. I’m not supposed to be where I am. Everything is so complex. I think I am having a cold feet. But I am on my way.
Before student teaching started, a friend of mine who is a teacher had given me some advice. She told me, “you have got to love it.” At first, I didnt understand what she had meant, until I actually became a teacher in a real classroom setting.
It was really difficult to be a teacher but you have to IGNORE THE NEGATIVE. I cannot stress enough how important this is. I have taught for only few months, and for the first week I was miserable because I fed into the hype. I was trying to be a “professional educator”. I forgot that I need to be a teacher, a good one. And a good teacher becomes attached to her students, knowing that it will be hard to say goodbye at the end of the school year, realizing that even if she never sees them again, they will carry her in their futures’ and remember her with their successes’.
Nothing could be more satisfying than to see all cheerful students excited to come to school everyday just to see you. The students I teach blow me away everyday with how much they know and how quickly they take things in. Watching them grow and improve and knowing that I have helped them along the way is very satisfying. I actually enjoyed what I am doing that time, which is strange. It was no fun, but I’m certainly happy.
I guess, once you love what you are doing, everything else comes by easily. I never wanted to be a teacher, but then I realized… maybe I was born to be one, and I am well on my way. See yah soon students! =)
♥Gel♥
