I am a relatively inexperienced teacher. All in all if I scrape and pull all my teaching experience together it would come to about 2-2.5 years experience. I'm very green, and increasingly in every teaching situation I find myself in I am more and more aware of how much I too am there to learn.
There isn't much going on at the moment, so I haven't been given my own classes to teach. In an attempt to justify paying me for a 30 hour week I've been sent to observe other teachers at work, and contribute in as far as they (want to) let me. Originally this just felt like a royal fobbing off but remembering some sound advice given to me by a wise man a long time ago- " In every situation you listen, take what you need, and throw away the rest."
I have seen shy teachers, loud teachers, short teachers, teachers who drill through read-and-repeat, teachers who teach as if they were in a coffee shop socialising with their students. I have seen some few things I have decided that I never want to do, and a great many more that I would wish to emulate. Most importantly I have seen people pour their heart, soul, energy and ideas into connecting with their students, taking teaching one step further then just imparting information. A book can do that. A person offers so much more.
With all this time on my hands (observing isn't a very taxing activity!) I found myself thinking of all the teachers I have known. Of course there are the ones that literally changed my life making me want to join the profession, such as Mrs Bowers my IGCSE Geography teacher, and some others. But also all the others who have taught me so much, and probably more than I ever learned in school. My mother and Father, who taught me values explicitly, and life by example, and who taught me to love to learn. The great number of parental-guide figures across the world, in England, Mauritius, Africa who in advising me shared their life experiences and little or great knowledge of the world and the way it works. The great number of people I have met who imparted a small or large portion of their personal narrative, whether in a taxi, on a bus, at the airport or at someone's house. And the small but precious number of dear friends who share their lives, loves and luchas with me. If humanity itself, in terms of it's history, has been preserved (and even at times constructed) by the sharing of information, then aren't we all teachers? Hmm...
(Coming back to this post it reads more than a little philosophical... I must be missing my family!!)
There isn't much going on at the moment, so I haven't been given my own classes to teach. In an attempt to justify paying me for a 30 hour week I've been sent to observe other teachers at work, and contribute in as far as they (want to) let me. Originally this just felt like a royal fobbing off but remembering some sound advice given to me by a wise man a long time ago- " In every situation you listen, take what you need, and throw away the rest."
I have seen shy teachers, loud teachers, short teachers, teachers who drill through read-and-repeat, teachers who teach as if they were in a coffee shop socialising with their students. I have seen some few things I have decided that I never want to do, and a great many more that I would wish to emulate. Most importantly I have seen people pour their heart, soul, energy and ideas into connecting with their students, taking teaching one step further then just imparting information. A book can do that. A person offers so much more.
With all this time on my hands (observing isn't a very taxing activity!) I found myself thinking of all the teachers I have known. Of course there are the ones that literally changed my life making me want to join the profession, such as Mrs Bowers my IGCSE Geography teacher, and some others. But also all the others who have taught me so much, and probably more than I ever learned in school. My mother and Father, who taught me values explicitly, and life by example, and who taught me to love to learn. The great number of parental-guide figures across the world, in England, Mauritius, Africa who in advising me shared their life experiences and little or great knowledge of the world and the way it works. The great number of people I have met who imparted a small or large portion of their personal narrative, whether in a taxi, on a bus, at the airport or at someone's house. And the small but precious number of dear friends who share their lives, loves and luchas with me. If humanity itself, in terms of it's history, has been preserved (and even at times constructed) by the sharing of information, then aren't we all teachers? Hmm...
(Coming back to this post it reads more than a little philosophical... I must be missing my family!!)
Dale a un hombre un pescado y lo alimentarás por un día. Enséñale a pescar y lo alimentarás para toda la vida!
ReplyDeleteGive a man a fish and you feed him fr a day. TEACH him how to fish and you feed him for life!
I know you may still be a "green" teacher, but seriously...you've always been good at explaining and teaching. I always loved that about you: no matter what, you were interested in presenting what you wanted others to understand in interesting, colourful ways. It's why you were so good at theatre, in stuff like MUN, and other things - like being a friend.
ReplyDelete