A teacher’s life can be called a cycle – with all the technical aspects that you will have to fulfil and finish everyday – the lesson plan, the visual aids, the board work for the next and the teaching and learning process from 7:30 to 4:30 – everything is repetitious. You would sleep tonight and wake up the next morning and you will still do the same thing – over and over again. Not to mention the many other tasks a teacher needs to accomplish from time to time like reports on achievement, testing, reading and the school head’s class observation depending on the scheduled dates. At some other times, you will have to be sent to seminars and trainings to enhance your skills but your other works have been left out and you need to catch up after the seminar or training.
Can you imagine how a retired teacher was able to do that for more than three or four decades of her life?
It seems monotonous, doesn’t it?
On the other side of it, a teacher’s life can also be very challenging – challenging, demanding and taxing!
And why not?
Dealing with about 30 to 40 up to 50 pupils everyday would be like dealing with 30, 40 or 50 different individual with varied needs, expectations and values – some may like being very strict but others might think you’re already a monster in their favourite game. Some may love you being very communicative asking them of their problems while others might think you can be very intrusive of their privacy. While some might be happy that you are teaching a song or a dance, others might think you being too corny. And where do we suppose to place ourselves?
Being a teacher is also demanding because as a teacher, the profession takes more from you than what you get from it. We even think about our lesson even before we sleep; we line up our activities for the next day while cooking dinner for the family; we scribble new techniques and strategies for the next lesson while talking to a friend over the phone, we take notes of the news we are watching because we have to ask questions about the latest events the next day; we even worry about our pupil’s personal problems (which the child confided the day before) while dressing up before going to school the next day.
So, being a teacher is monotonous, yes. But still, it is challenging…demanding yet fulfilling.
By: Maricar S. Gerella | Abucay North Elementary School | Abucay, Bataan
