At social gatherings I get asked a lot what I do and when I tell them I teach, the casual response sometimes is 'so just a teacher" which puts an instant freeze on the smalltalk because I can only blink and stare back at them all the while thinking - now do they actually want me to say something in response to that - but more importantly, do I want to respond to that ignorant opinion of an even ignorant, bigoted person?
Teaching skills of academia to secondary students (teenagers) is one of the hardest but also the most rewarding jobs you can do - and I think most parents of teenage children will agree with me here when I say - at this age, you get the best of them and the worst of them. So I can honestly say, you end up not just teaching them, but listening to their tales of woe from home, smoothing over their ruffled feathers when they have an emotional tiff with a peer and rejoicing in their little triumphs. They can make your day so much interesting by their lively, carefree banter and so much harder when they are sullen and unapproachable. They are polite and lovely one day and drive you up the wall the next.
But that is just one part of being a teacher, what I have said above is never even mentioned in any teaching job description. The real job-spec involves grappling with new and newer technology, making engaging lessons, involving every single student in the learning journey, marking, monitoring and reporting progress, while all the time learning, learning and learning more - yes that's the one job where learning never stops - and to top it all you have to prove you are good at what you do to inspectors, people coming in to observe you and pass judgment on you without blinking an eyelid. So why do I teach? Because its a job like no other - everything pales in comparison when you see the difference you are making in a pupils intellect - when they get it, their faces light up and when they discover something on their own, their excitement knows no bounds - and it is so very rewarding to be an instigator of that enlightenment.
And that's not all, most teachers I know have a huge skill set from their previous jobs- I myself was never always a teacher - and they bring that skill set to their teaching everyday enriching students life even further. But most people don't see that - to them you are just a teacher. So when someone asks me what I do, maybe I should shrug my shoulders and say 'you know, just a teacher' and see what they have to say...
Teaching skills of academia to secondary students (teenagers) is one of the hardest but also the most rewarding jobs you can do - and I think most parents of teenage children will agree with me here when I say - at this age, you get the best of them and the worst of them. So I can honestly say, you end up not just teaching them, but listening to their tales of woe from home, smoothing over their ruffled feathers when they have an emotional tiff with a peer and rejoicing in their little triumphs. They can make your day so much interesting by their lively, carefree banter and so much harder when they are sullen and unapproachable. They are polite and lovely one day and drive you up the wall the next.
But that is just one part of being a teacher, what I have said above is never even mentioned in any teaching job description. The real job-spec involves grappling with new and newer technology, making engaging lessons, involving every single student in the learning journey, marking, monitoring and reporting progress, while all the time learning, learning and learning more - yes that's the one job where learning never stops - and to top it all you have to prove you are good at what you do to inspectors, people coming in to observe you and pass judgment on you without blinking an eyelid. So why do I teach? Because its a job like no other - everything pales in comparison when you see the difference you are making in a pupils intellect - when they get it, their faces light up and when they discover something on their own, their excitement knows no bounds - and it is so very rewarding to be an instigator of that enlightenment.
And that's not all, most teachers I know have a huge skill set from their previous jobs- I myself was never always a teacher - and they bring that skill set to their teaching everyday enriching students life even further. But most people don't see that - to them you are just a teacher. So when someone asks me what I do, maybe I should shrug my shoulders and say 'you know, just a teacher' and see what they have to say...
