I'm A Teacher

Whenever I'm asked what I do for a living, I say that I teach for a living. There are days that I say it with pride and there are days that I say it with my head hanging down. I say it with pride because I do love my job and I love the kids that I work with but I say it looking to the ground because there are times that I think that I could do a better job.

There are kids that I've taught that I really love and felt that they have taught me things in return. One of my fav students is Rachel. I taught Rachel maybe close to 10 years ago. From her, I learnt that kids emulate and learn from their teachers. Most of you know that I love my nail polish a tad maybe too much and one day I caught Rachel colouring her nails with a highlighter and I was like, Rach! And she broke into the cutest grin. And yes, time to call her mum. She was my flower girl not because I asked her but she asked me too and I was so so honoured that a kid that I taught wanted so badly to be part of my wedding. So 9 years passed since I taught her and then she pops up on Facebook and I was like, wow! You remembered me! Over summer, I met her for lunch and again, I was honoured that she made the time to call me to arrange to meet up. Rach, thanks for reminding me that teaching does really touch lives.

Duane is another kid that I love. He got into the finals of Singapore Idol and from him I learnt to live out my dreams. Hmmmm, I've got too many dreams but Duane had a dream and he went out to live it. And I'm so proud of him.

L was a girl that I taught and she had a mum that had really high expectations of her. She's a lovely girl. And don't get me wrong, her mum would not come across as an abusive mum but she does punish L whenever she does not do well enough. And from teaching L, I learnt to work with parents and be careful of not getting their kids into more trouble.

Dart was a boy that really touched me. He was the in last class that I taught in Singapore before I left. He was from a broken family. In the beginning I didn't know of his home situation. I just knew that he was an active kid that couldn't keep still. It was over time that I began to understand more of his situation. This little kid taught me that patience and misbehaviour normally comes from a deeper issue. I miss him.

Now, why am I not a good teacher? There are times that I snap and snarl at kids, make fun of them and yes, be mean to them. There are times that I look back and reflect and think, I could have handled the situation better and treated the child better. I had a horrid kid once. This kid was the reason why I would not want to get to work. He would bully other kids and beat up other children in my class. When I call his mum, she would turn the tables on me. And there were times that she would even complain against me. But when I looked deeper, his mum was abused physically by her husband, the kid's dad. And that's why he probably beat his friends up too. There was nothing much that I could really do for the kid and the family. About 6 years passed and last I heard, he's in a boys' home.

Over summer, I read Precious by Sapphire. Every teacher should read it. I cannot understand, comprehend or even wonder why no teacher could have stopped the abuses at home for Precious or reported it and why was she even expelled from school!! Yes, it is a depressing but a good book nevertheless. Teaching is not just about academics, it's beyond that.