I am almost at the end of my teaching experience journey. That was actually painful to think, say and write. Everyone asks me, “How does it feel to be a teacher?” I have probably answered this before in this series but I cannot express this enough, it is so fulfilling; I wake up in the mornings feeling like I have purpose. Okay, admitting, this week was tough. I want to blame it on the change of season, but I actually don’t have any answers. The difference between purpose and an awesome day is literally just deciding to get out of bed. I swear, I only struggle with just that. Then for some reason as soon as I am out of bed I have so much energy to get things done as if I never felt like staying in bed in the first place.
So I came to the personal realisation that even with the most passion and daily fulfillment that does not mean you can’t get tired as it is the humanly thing to go through. Feeling deflated, exhausted, like “what the hell” type of feelings is very normal. But being able to laugh it off is very much a required skill.
I follow an IG page called Teacher Goals. One of the most teacher-relatable pages I know (I think I follow them on Linkedin as well). The page takes real things/events that teachers are thinking about and tries to make them comical or universally understandable. Sometimes I use it as an escape.
Then things get real and the page brings that to light to remind us of what it means to be a teacher. That’s when I feel like someone out there gets the idea. It really is nice to feel part of a community even if you know nobody.
This one particularly made sense for this week. A good conversation to have because mental health is important for everyone. Being a teacher sometimes means wanting to take care of every child and all their needs, especially the ones who aren’t so great in your subject. You want them to succeed and develope to be amazing human beings who can take can the world! But, apparently you can’t be superhuman 24/7; it is more like only once in a while or on occassion.
These past few weeks I learned that a 100% class pass rate is not easy to achieve. In fact I had to accept that I can only offer I give so much of myself and that results will not always be my fault.
That is hard to hear but truth is hard to hear sometimes. It does not always sit well within when you want to help a child, but actually it is outside of you current capabilities. And it does not always sit well to accept that you can’t make everybody study. As I mark scripts some learners make me feel like I am awesome, then there are those who just break my heart. Others come up with the funniest things, like recently a grade 8 learner wrote the absolute value of r as an answer, but the question did not include “r” but also absolute values are not even in the syllabus.
I have already mentioned that teaching is an emotional act. I guess this was me reiterating that but also highlighting that one can find humour in everything.
Find humour in everything. Laughter can be the best medicine!!
Thank you for reading! Share with everyone on all social platforms! Love and appreciation to you all!
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