After three weeks of teaching and the insanity of practicum, I realize that I must pen down the reasons why I teach before they are dissolved into the demands of higher order thinking, pressure of putting a lesson together with resources, powerpoint slides, lesson plans and worksheets in 45 minutes and wilderness of catering to all possible student responses (and sometimes I cannot even anticipate their answers and have to invent a response impromptu!).
So, I’m not gonna write some teaching philosophy, ridden with terms like “self-directed learning” and “Bronfenbrenner’s Systems Theory”. I’m just gonna keep it real – so that when I’m caught in the whirlpool of self-doubt, I’ll have something real to reach out to.
1. I don’t teach because I want to make a difference in my students lives. I teach because I love the subject that I teach, and I believe that subject can make a difference to my students lives. I am a teacher before being a counselor, nagger, scolder, homework distributer/collector, lesson plan machine, worksheet cutter…etc.
See, only “teacher” sounds good.
2. I teach because it is a job where I inspire for a living. Whether they are stuck in a rut or “cannot be stopped” and “floating in paradise” (actual quotes from a student’s work), I never know when a quip about Animal Farm may give them that ray of enlightenment.
3. I don’t teach because it is a higher calling. I teach because I enjoy it. There are things I hate about it, of course, but even in the midst of the pressure cooker, teaching still gives me an andrenaline rush.
4. I teach because it keeps me learning. It is one of those jobs, where I am paid not to be an expert. I have to know something to deliver the lesson, but I don’t need to know everything. In fact, I’m learning from my students during the lesson. So says a good friend, “in a classroom of 40 students, there are 41 learners.”
5. I teach because it pays. I can do what I love and still can pay for the things I need/want to.
6. I teach because I never have the same thing everyday. I can even teach the same lesson to two different classes and still never achieve exactly the same effect. It is actually quite interesting to conduct ethical human experiments daily. The human dimension in the classroom makes for an exciting, albeit sometimes exhausting and discouraging life.
This list will evolve: It might shrink. It might grow. But at least I know, that I came into this job knowing why I did in the first place.
I think that is very important.
Do you agree or disagree with the above statements? Explain your answers clearly 200 words.
Oops, job hazard.
Don’t you think?
Set Forth 