There were times when I could not understand why teachers stay in the profession. I am perfectly sure that many of us are as much qualified as those CEOs whose salaries are astronomically far higher than what many of us are receiving. Surely, teachers would always be happy to think that a student of ten years ago is now very much above in the ladder of success earning money twice the number of digits we are receiving now…, but isn’t that ironic?
Rightly or wrongly, we should accept that many of us count success by the number of digits we have in our paychecks. Yet, most teachers, molders of persons and the fountain of all knowledge ever recorded, stays with the same classroom where we saw them ten years.
Why do we stay?
Rizal, a teacher himself, had long recognized that the youth is the future. I had imagined him thinking to himself , “but the future depends on me….” The future is in the teachers’ hands.
Yes, that sounds so romantic, but should we romanticize the lot most of us are in now?
Fact: A teacher, even if she is the most sincere among us, has to contend with the two widely accepted objectives of education today -- education for living and education for making a living.
Fact: Many teachers are like sailors in a starless night. Many had given up the hope for a piece of earth to land on.
We educate the youth; we lead them to what is good, to what is true, and to what is beautiful. We teach them to teach themselves for life.
Yes, many teachers don't “think much” about their salaries. They always say that they love what they are doing. They say that teaching is a vocation! It is the noblest profession! Granted! But for how long?
My fellow teachers, were there times you thought you can no longer get across what you want to say with your students? Did you think each class hour is getting longer than what it really is? Did you think that your classes are getting boring each new day? And did you feel you can no longer afford to do bell-to-bell teaching?
I felt them sometimes. And many times I thought that maybe I am now stuck in the rut”
If what we felt is true, then we are doing a great disservice to our students.
My fellow teachers, can you not help but spend your last peso a day before the next payday? Do you think that the salaries of your friends are getting higher but that of yours is not? Do you think you can no longer cope up with inflation?.
If what we think is true, then, this time, we are fishermen in the Sahara. We are doing a great disservice to ourselves.
Don’t cry! I believe we can do something about it.
Answer me. Where are you fifteen years ago? Ten years ago? Five years ago? Last year? And where are you now? You are growing professionally , aren't you?
Thomas Carlyle once said," Do the duty that nearest to thee with which thou knowest to be a duty. The second duty will only become more clear. "
Which is your first duty—educating for living or educating for making a living? Knowing your first duty is of utmost importance for this will define the way you would handle your second duty.
Let us assume that all teacher would agree with me that the first duty is to prepare the young to educate themselves through out their lives—educating for living. If a teacher failed on this duty, a child is lost.
Teachers should develop themselves professionally and practice what they teach. That, I see, is the next duty. If a teacher failed on this duty, a teacher and a child are lost.
Five years of teaching students and observing teachers made me realize that the fulfillment of our duties go hand in hand. If we are to teach our students well, then we have to develop ourselves professionally.
Let me share some of my thoughts. Think about them. This is free. Get as much as you can, but do not blame me if you cannot understand them.
First be always informed on current trends and issues. The school library houses periodicals and magazines that feature issues related to our field of specialization. Look for articles relevant to our classroom teaching. Though some of them presented an ideal classroom situation, we can learn so many things from the “experts of the field”. It can stretch out our thinking . New information will motivate us to rethink what we are currently doing in the classroom. We have a shelf for teachers reference. Ask the librarian for them.
Students (our best critics) can easily detect our constant growth in knowledge, and so it will be foolish of them to sleep in our class (but sometimes, they cannot help it especially if they did so many projects the night before). In each meeting, we will be offering them new things to learn. They will desire for our presence. Our desire to learn will inspire them to learn more. We will gain a new confidence and no child will be lost.
Second,attend workshop, seminars and conferences. It was in 1996 when I attended the American Parliamentary Debate Seminar at the Ateneo de Manila University. Two of our three mentors attended the said seminar, too. The other one, our sexagenarian Speech Director, did not attend. I thought the reason to be obvious, as he has been teaching the Art of Argumentation and Debate for a number of decades. But I was surprised to learn from the old man that he was very much interested in attending the seminar. He gave way to the two younger mentors for them to learn more. So great was he.
Many of the subject coordinators can attest to these! Workshops, seminars, and conferences have lots of information to offer which cannot be found in the nook and cranny of some graduate schools. New trends and issues in teaching are “discussed and evaluated” in these educational programs. We will be meeting flesh-and-blood experienced teachers armed with tested knowledge in the field. We will meet people of younger age but of greater knowledge and thicker wallets. There, we will be provided with new challenges.
As we gain knowledge from workshops, our vision of education widens. We will be motivated to apply new techniques. We will be more open-minded and the rest of the learning community cannot help but notice us. They will like us because they know where we are heading. That is none other but up.
“Learn, but learn from the learned” said by a wise man long time ago. A learned teacher radiates senses of vision and confidence. Let us learn more for the child's future. And ours.
Third, Build a culture of collaboration and learning. We are all learners. The school is a community of learners. It provides the faculty, staff, students, parents, and administrators fertile ground for learning. Teachers no matter how learned they are, have a lot more of things to learn. Teachers can collaborate to make learning as natural as breathing.
Every time a teacher prepares a lesson, she prepares individually. That is her subject, anyway. Is it healthy?
I am afraid not. We being model learners must collaborate to study teaching and its effects. Let us initiate a collaborative spirit among the faculty. It will be easy for us because what binds people together, aside from their similarity, is their need for each other. We need each other. Our common concern is the education of the young.
What is collaboration? A teacher sharing information and demonstrating skills to other teachers based on conferences and workshops she attended demonstrates collaboration She shares what she learned because she cares for the department, for the school. This will develop a philosophy of teamwork among the faculty within and among various subject areas. If Jubilee would have a culture of teachers who are more willing to ask help, more open to admitting difficulties in handling some subjects, and come out of their world and see what others are doing, then this would always be a great place to stay.
If the teachers, say in the English area, are doing together their responsibilities to the best of their abilities, then the rest of the community will follow suit. The teachers must be the prime mover. I hope that the integrated approach that the school will be implementing for the years to come will lead to teachers collaboration.
Fourth, look for other sources of income. With the rising prices of commodities, what we are earning in teaching will never be enough. Examine once again your talents. You surely have one.
If you are teaching students to write, why not write and submit them to publications. Yes, not all of us would be J.K. Rawling as not all of us would write a Harry Potter. You can write a book. Your teaching experience is more than a qualification. You need not be a master of words. Put them into the paper and let somebody edit them for you. Frankly, many of us are more qualified than the authors of some textbooks. Many of them stopped teaching long time ago.
If you really need the money, make teaching your part-time job. Good teachers are not judged by the length of time they spent in school. Do this: open a bank account now, not because more and more people will be sharing their monies to you, but because this is what you should do.
And finally, love your work!. What a job we teachers have! We work all day, every moment, for our works will always be works in progress. Our action and inaction will always have something to do with our work. Whatever we did say or failed to say will always have an impact on people who are not even our relatives. We have to love our work—the students—for how could we care for them if we cannot love them.
We cannot deny this: students learn better from us if they like us, much more when they love us. Love begets love. We have to love them first. Do so for what is at stake is our future.
makatanglawin
Rightly or wrongly, we should accept that many of us count success by the number of digits we have in our paychecks. Yet, most teachers, molders of persons and the fountain of all knowledge ever recorded, stays with the same classroom where we saw them ten years.
Why do we stay?
Rizal, a teacher himself, had long recognized that the youth is the future. I had imagined him thinking to himself , “but the future depends on me….” The future is in the teachers’ hands.
Yes, that sounds so romantic, but should we romanticize the lot most of us are in now?
Fact: A teacher, even if she is the most sincere among us, has to contend with the two widely accepted objectives of education today -- education for living and education for making a living.
Fact: Many teachers are like sailors in a starless night. Many had given up the hope for a piece of earth to land on.
We educate the youth; we lead them to what is good, to what is true, and to what is beautiful. We teach them to teach themselves for life.
Yes, many teachers don't “think much” about their salaries. They always say that they love what they are doing. They say that teaching is a vocation! It is the noblest profession! Granted! But for how long?
My fellow teachers, were there times you thought you can no longer get across what you want to say with your students? Did you think each class hour is getting longer than what it really is? Did you think that your classes are getting boring each new day? And did you feel you can no longer afford to do bell-to-bell teaching?
I felt them sometimes. And many times I thought that maybe I am now stuck in the rut”
If what we felt is true, then we are doing a great disservice to our students.
My fellow teachers, can you not help but spend your last peso a day before the next payday? Do you think that the salaries of your friends are getting higher but that of yours is not? Do you think you can no longer cope up with inflation?.
If what we think is true, then, this time, we are fishermen in the Sahara. We are doing a great disservice to ourselves.
Don’t cry! I believe we can do something about it.
Answer me. Where are you fifteen years ago? Ten years ago? Five years ago? Last year? And where are you now? You are growing professionally , aren't you?
Thomas Carlyle once said," Do the duty that nearest to thee with which thou knowest to be a duty. The second duty will only become more clear. "
Which is your first duty—educating for living or educating for making a living? Knowing your first duty is of utmost importance for this will define the way you would handle your second duty.
Let us assume that all teacher would agree with me that the first duty is to prepare the young to educate themselves through out their lives—educating for living. If a teacher failed on this duty, a child is lost.
Teachers should develop themselves professionally and practice what they teach. That, I see, is the next duty. If a teacher failed on this duty, a teacher and a child are lost.
Five years of teaching students and observing teachers made me realize that the fulfillment of our duties go hand in hand. If we are to teach our students well, then we have to develop ourselves professionally.
Let me share some of my thoughts. Think about them. This is free. Get as much as you can, but do not blame me if you cannot understand them.
First be always informed on current trends and issues. The school library houses periodicals and magazines that feature issues related to our field of specialization. Look for articles relevant to our classroom teaching. Though some of them presented an ideal classroom situation, we can learn so many things from the “experts of the field”. It can stretch out our thinking . New information will motivate us to rethink what we are currently doing in the classroom. We have a shelf for teachers reference. Ask the librarian for them.
Students (our best critics) can easily detect our constant growth in knowledge, and so it will be foolish of them to sleep in our class (but sometimes, they cannot help it especially if they did so many projects the night before). In each meeting, we will be offering them new things to learn. They will desire for our presence. Our desire to learn will inspire them to learn more. We will gain a new confidence and no child will be lost.
Second,attend workshop, seminars and conferences. It was in 1996 when I attended the American Parliamentary Debate Seminar at the Ateneo de Manila University. Two of our three mentors attended the said seminar, too. The other one, our sexagenarian Speech Director, did not attend. I thought the reason to be obvious, as he has been teaching the Art of Argumentation and Debate for a number of decades. But I was surprised to learn from the old man that he was very much interested in attending the seminar. He gave way to the two younger mentors for them to learn more. So great was he.
Many of the subject coordinators can attest to these! Workshops, seminars, and conferences have lots of information to offer which cannot be found in the nook and cranny of some graduate schools. New trends and issues in teaching are “discussed and evaluated” in these educational programs. We will be meeting flesh-and-blood experienced teachers armed with tested knowledge in the field. We will meet people of younger age but of greater knowledge and thicker wallets. There, we will be provided with new challenges.
As we gain knowledge from workshops, our vision of education widens. We will be motivated to apply new techniques. We will be more open-minded and the rest of the learning community cannot help but notice us. They will like us because they know where we are heading. That is none other but up.
“Learn, but learn from the learned” said by a wise man long time ago. A learned teacher radiates senses of vision and confidence. Let us learn more for the child's future. And ours.
Third, Build a culture of collaboration and learning. We are all learners. The school is a community of learners. It provides the faculty, staff, students, parents, and administrators fertile ground for learning. Teachers no matter how learned they are, have a lot more of things to learn. Teachers can collaborate to make learning as natural as breathing.
Every time a teacher prepares a lesson, she prepares individually. That is her subject, anyway. Is it healthy?
I am afraid not. We being model learners must collaborate to study teaching and its effects. Let us initiate a collaborative spirit among the faculty. It will be easy for us because what binds people together, aside from their similarity, is their need for each other. We need each other. Our common concern is the education of the young.
What is collaboration? A teacher sharing information and demonstrating skills to other teachers based on conferences and workshops she attended demonstrates collaboration She shares what she learned because she cares for the department, for the school. This will develop a philosophy of teamwork among the faculty within and among various subject areas. If Jubilee would have a culture of teachers who are more willing to ask help, more open to admitting difficulties in handling some subjects, and come out of their world and see what others are doing, then this would always be a great place to stay.
If the teachers, say in the English area, are doing together their responsibilities to the best of their abilities, then the rest of the community will follow suit. The teachers must be the prime mover. I hope that the integrated approach that the school will be implementing for the years to come will lead to teachers collaboration.
Fourth, look for other sources of income. With the rising prices of commodities, what we are earning in teaching will never be enough. Examine once again your talents. You surely have one.
If you are teaching students to write, why not write and submit them to publications. Yes, not all of us would be J.K. Rawling as not all of us would write a Harry Potter. You can write a book. Your teaching experience is more than a qualification. You need not be a master of words. Put them into the paper and let somebody edit them for you. Frankly, many of us are more qualified than the authors of some textbooks. Many of them stopped teaching long time ago.
If you really need the money, make teaching your part-time job. Good teachers are not judged by the length of time they spent in school. Do this: open a bank account now, not because more and more people will be sharing their monies to you, but because this is what you should do.
And finally, love your work!. What a job we teachers have! We work all day, every moment, for our works will always be works in progress. Our action and inaction will always have something to do with our work. Whatever we did say or failed to say will always have an impact on people who are not even our relatives. We have to love our work—the students—for how could we care for them if we cannot love them.
We cannot deny this: students learn better from us if they like us, much more when they love us. Love begets love. We have to love them first. Do so for what is at stake is our future.
makatanglawin
Comments