Uncovering Teaching.

Since the beginning of the second semester, I’ve been involved more and more at work, letting it take up most of my time in proportion to my university courses. Of course, it’s beneficial and an impacting experience that revealed a lot in terms of who I am and what I’d like to end up in the future.

I won’t say that I will surely become a teacher but, the idea is highly appealing now. In the past, I thought teaching was such a mediocre career that would never water my thirst for ambition and greatness. It’s true that teaching can become a sedentary job, but it doesn’t have to be. The past few months proved to me how much eye-opening it can be designed to be.

Teaching is not about being a teacher, because if we really thought about it so stereotypically, it would become “spoon-feeding”, basically. The authority teachers have in the classroom sometimes allows them to forget the purpose of what they’re doing, and we humans are inclined to put ourselves in control. But this isn’t how it should be, and this is the point where it dissects the perimeter of our comfort zones as individuals. Simultaneously, it is when magic starts to really happen.

Being a truly successful teacher involves the empowerment of students in their own learning processes. It’s not easy, I must admit, since they’ve been used to being fed information for so long. However, as students unconsciously realise how powerful and knowledgeable they become, they turn passionate, more capable and respectful towards the world surrounding them. In theory, it might seem heavenly but I know in practice, hurdles would appear and topple efforts causing grave disappointment.

This is what I’m currently working on: exploring. I don’t have the authority to teach in class nor do I have the qualifications yet, I’m pondering over the different strategies that have proven to work for so many intellectually-enlightened teachers out there. And truly, I’d like to be one of them. I’m trying to implement baby steps in the private lessons I give by forcing the student to ask questions, think deeper and truly find joy in figuring out what has been obscured by not knowing, and there is improvement. It’s spellbinding, to be honest. I visualise myself as a teacher, providing the classroom a menu of possibilities based on their own talents and abilities, to reach to the same aim. It needs so much planning and preparation yet, I don’t believe it’s impossible. It’s quite highly attainable, only through the baby steps.

All I know is that I need to empower myself first. I need to believe that I am able to break the many norms in the learning environment and actually do something imprinting. I find it through becoming a teacher; something that my heart is yearning for. I see the teachers surrounding me engulfed by negativity and it sickens me, though they’re not always wrong. Financial problems always do arise, but one shouldn’t base their wellness just upon this aspect. I believe money will come, only if one exerts unlimited efforts to create value.

I was never a leader and thought I’d never be one because simply, I’m not really good at leadership. This fact, on the contrary, drives me towards being one in what I’m doing. I’m currently stretching my comfort zone and am establishing a student council at school and will be responsible for organising it. Instead of controlling what is being said, I’ll choose to listen and empower. I’ll choose to make the students feel like they’re significant, and they’re more than their simple teenage problems and emotions. They are their dreams and visions, they are the change they want to see in themselves. It will be hard and perhaps I’ll fail, but that’s okay. I will start by myself and make sure I empower my mind to accept the downsides of everything yet, find solutions with constructive feedback.

Perhaps the most difficult thing about adult life is the overlapping responsibilities. One needs to secure his/her financial situation, work hard, think of what to cook the next day, assign time for cleaning up, remembering the bills to be paid, considering room for advancement and development. With all this, how can anyone prioritise so many important issues? It’s possible, nevertheless. It just takes so much confidence to feel completely capable to strike a balance between it all.

This is such a long post, but I thought I needed to document it. One day, if I ever become a teacher, I’d like to look back and remember my aspirations and see whether my mindset has changed. I hope somethings never do in that aspect and everyone is telling me the same.

I promise I won’t give up on my dreams.