My Students...Soon to be Teachers
The noblest profession, they say, is teaching. The most challenging profession also is teaching. One of the least paid also is teaching. I know better because I, for one, is a teacher. Yeah, it is a noble profession. People have high regard of teachers. If not for teachers, no other professionals exist today. Sounds trite but true. Teachers always have seats reserved for them. They are always respected, honored. Teaching is also very challenging. It is a creative balance of parenting, managing and instructing students. It demands so much patience. Unfortunately, mine is fast dwindling...and I'm not paid as much as other less challenging jobs there are in the market. I'm sad!
I am also a part time faculty member of a community college-actually a university extension. I teach Education courses for students desiring to become teachers like me. Of the almost 50 students I have, only eight are gentlemen. Only eight are gentlemen, but they are extraordinary men. Intellectually, they are all above average. However, what I admire so much of these men is their sense of respect to education, to me, their mentor and to themselves as future teachers. In them, I found the satisfaction of working hard, teaching. In these few but elite group of men, I found the appreciation which I sorely missed from my high school students.
It must be the maturity that comes with age and the many experiences in life that these gentlemen have, which made them what they are today. Most of them are beyond 20 years old. Many of them have worked hard to be able to study in college. Most of them are street smart-made to understand life earlier than others, made to experience life harder than others and made to see life beyond life itself. I admire these men. They come from different places, of different backgrounds, yet they are one with me in regarding highly education and pedagogy.
In high school, the culture of appreciating teachers is not so much understood by the students. I don't want to believe age is the culprit. Even 16 year old seniors cannot seem to appreciate the hard work their teachers have done. At the end of the day, I am so physically tired and mentally drained dealing with immature, disrespectful and stubborn students. I always look forward to meeting my college students. Together with the ladies, these gentlemen appreciate so much my effort to teach them the rudiments of becoming a good teacher someday. It is so heart-warming.
My college students are aged with so many life experiences-happy and sad. Because of these, they grow to learn how to appreciate the efforts of others for they themselves have experienced that earning others' approval is so hard. It is very hard to please others. I may not have been a good teacher everyday to my college students, but at least, they are sensitive enough not to show their disdain. They even inspired me more to teach better because I always feel appreciated among these men. This I failed to experience among my high school students...and I'm sad.
The noblest profession, they say, is teaching. The most challenging profession also is teaching. One of the least paid also is teaching. I know better because I, for one, is a teacher. Yeah, it is a noble profession. People have high regard of teachers. If not for teachers, no other professionals exist today. Sounds trite but true. Teachers always have seats reserved for them. They are always respected, honored. Teaching is also very challenging. It is a creative balance of parenting, managing and instructing students. It demands so much patience. Unfortunately, mine is fast dwindling...and I'm not paid as much as other less challenging jobs there are in the market. I'm sad!
I am also a part time faculty member of a community college-actually a university extension. I teach Education courses for students desiring to become teachers like me. Of the almost 50 students I have, only eight are gentlemen. Only eight are gentlemen, but they are extraordinary men. Intellectually, they are all above average. However, what I admire so much of these men is their sense of respect to education, to me, their mentor and to themselves as future teachers. In them, I found the satisfaction of working hard, teaching. In these few but elite group of men, I found the appreciation which I sorely missed from my high school students.
It must be the maturity that comes with age and the many experiences in life that these gentlemen have, which made them what they are today. Most of them are beyond 20 years old. Many of them have worked hard to be able to study in college. Most of them are street smart-made to understand life earlier than others, made to experience life harder than others and made to see life beyond life itself. I admire these men. They come from different places, of different backgrounds, yet they are one with me in regarding highly education and pedagogy.
In high school, the culture of appreciating teachers is not so much understood by the students. I don't want to believe age is the culprit. Even 16 year old seniors cannot seem to appreciate the hard work their teachers have done. At the end of the day, I am so physically tired and mentally drained dealing with immature, disrespectful and stubborn students. I always look forward to meeting my college students. Together with the ladies, these gentlemen appreciate so much my effort to teach them the rudiments of becoming a good teacher someday. It is so heart-warming.
My college students are aged with so many life experiences-happy and sad. Because of these, they grow to learn how to appreciate the efforts of others for they themselves have experienced that earning others' approval is so hard. It is very hard to please others. I may not have been a good teacher everyday to my college students, but at least, they are sensitive enough not to show their disdain. They even inspired me more to teach better because I always feel appreciated among these men. This I failed to experience among my high school students...and I'm sad.
No comments:
Post a Comment