Teacher’s Talk: On Becoming a Teacher
 By: Mr. Marlon B. Santos I started teaching when I was 20 and that made me the youngest faculty of a private high school in Hagonoy. I moved to Bulacan State University in 2008 and again I became the youngest person in the Department of English. As the youngest, I always find myself at the mercy of my elders’ advice. During my first few days as a high school teacher, some of my colleagues handed down to me some of their time-honored precepts of what would make a supposedly good teacher; I thanked them and like what I always do with my cherished possessions, I just keep them, but I tried to look for my own code to observe. It is true that the moment we start to teach, there we will learn more. From the universe of realizations I have gathered in the profession, the following weigh the heaviest. These are what make me a teacher: 1. I learned that to be a good teacher, I must formulate my own philosophy. I never stopped until I find answers to the questions: What is education? How do I want to be remembered as a teacher? How should I treat the learners? I remind myself every day to be faithful to my philosophy as I continue to practice my profession. For I understand: to have a philosophy without practice is insufficient, and to teach without philosophy is aimless. Teaching without any philosophical foundation is like playing chess in the dark. 2. I understand that I must establish my own style. All subjects seem to be the same, until teachers make the difference for each subject the way they teach it. This truth dawns upon me: that there is no such thing as boring subject, only boring teachers. So, I pick the good styles of my former teachers, and make my own out of those. 3. I find the secret: to earn my students’ respect, I must know my subject by heart. While it is true that the era when teachers were considered as the sage in the class is a passé, teachers must still have the mastery of their subject. Students nowadays search for people to look up to and for reason they need to take their studies seriously. I want to be that person and that reason for my students that is why I take my teaching seriously. 4. I know it is hard, but I try my best to love my students. Classroom is a melting point of different beliefs, traditions, upbringings, preferences, biases, characters, etc. I would admit that there are times that my patience fails me, but I would regret it afterwards for I know I owe my students understanding and love. To love your students begins with accepting their peculiarities, followed by listening to them, and completed by giving them your trust. 5. Daily dose of reminder: love your job. Blessed are those who love their work, for they will not labor. I know that there are many things that make teaching uninviting for many bright students. Teachers are overworked, yet underpaid, interminable studying, unending paper works, everyday classroom pressures, sometimes ruined love and social life. So, the usual advice I give my students is this: “If you are bright, take engineering, law or medicine; money is there. Yet, if you are brighter, you rather be a teacher, for a teacher makes engineers, lawyers and doctors. Teaching is the noblest, if not the greatest of all the professions. 6. I make it a promise to grow professionally. After two years of working, I felt the need to go back to school. I entered the graduate school and became a student again. Sometimes, we need to attend school not to learn, but to have a passion to learn. That is what graduate school should be—a place to know more on what we think we already know and not only a place that a teacher would have loved to avoid if not for promotion. To study is not only to perpetuate but to challenge the established beliefs and practices. 7. I believe that I can only continue with my work if I know how to stop occasionally. I am not promoting any religious practice or yoga exercise here, but I maintain that a teacher should occasionally be alone with herself. Oftentimes, we are carried away by our work that we tend to forget the reasons why we do them. It is a painful truth that we try to justify our existence by our assignments, titles and jobs that we are prone to the danger of missing the point—our meaning, our essence, our identity. Evaluation applies not only in lesson planning but also in our lives as educators. 8. I convince myself regularly that my world never stops spinning in school. I could be a good teacher while I am a good friend, brother, son, or lover. I never make a less of a teacher if I attend to my other responsibilities outside the walls of the academe. Doing that will make me a well-rounded person; doing the otherwise is the smoothest way to asylum. 9. I realize that to be a teacher is to hold a unique power. With the attention, words, actions, advice and grades I give my students, I could either create or destroy them. Too risky is to be a teacher; when a medical doctor errs in his diagnosis and operation, she misses to save a life. When a teacher errs seriously in her practice, generations after generations will still feel the intensity of it. Truly, the influence of a teacher knows no when. 10. The truth is this: to be a good teacher is a daily decision. Every time I step into the premise of the University and scent the familiar air of another morning, I pray that I may become a good teacher that day. I never fail to keep in mind that the best teacher is never born yet. We need to be born twice: the time our mother gave birth to us and every moment we free ourselves from our self-imposed limitations and take upon ourselves the challenge of becoming the best of what we can be. Enjoy teaching fellows. MARLON BAUTISTA SANTOS is a former Managing Editor of The Mentors’ Journal. At present, he is a student of Philippine Normal University where he is taking Master of Arts in Teaching English Language Arts. He is also a member of the Department of English of the Bulacan State University-College of Arts and Letters. Possibly Related Posts:
|
pwede na.
taray taray!
ako nga tuwing papasok nagdadasal din…
nagdadasal na hindi makapatay ng bata, co-teachers at boss. hahahaha
oy..Boss marlon..Nice..nxt time nman sulat
k ng essay about teachers n my karelasyon n estudyante….
waahahaha…joke lng..Classcard ko..hehe..
master marlon 4 president…hehe. magaling magaling!