LEARNING IS ENGAGING,
(Youngsters learn better when they are exposed and when teachers are
patient enough to teach them well, explaining and instructing them where they’ve
gone wrong and showing them how they to achieve-Leading them to Success)
I have been teaching for
merely five years now. As the days go by I’ve always been fascinated on how
great a feeling could be whenever I am with my students. Seeing them like
vending machines for money but trophies worth rewarding.
I have once been a student.
I have tasted the sweetness and bitterness of being one. I’ve once been the
apple of the eye and once been the taboo for some. Whatever my experiences
were, I shall share the best and improve the others which weren’t sweet and
glorious.
Allow me to share a part of
my Primary years. I was six and half years old, I was once a ‘cutie in school.
Almost everybody likes someone white-skinned and long haired like me,
especially when you grow up in a far-away rural area of an island. However,
this particular teacher did not like me much as most do. There was one time
when she had Math lesson with us. It was my turn to count on the “abacus” and I
needed to count at least up to one hundred. Just as I reached the ‘seventies’
(70’s), I counted-pronouncing the words like “sevente-five”. I didn’t know
really what has gone wrong with me but that was what I’ve frequently heard from
my ‘peers and playmates.
Out of anger, my teacher
punished me and asked me to count over and over again. When all my classmates
went home for lunch, I stayed for several more hours counting and counting. I
was puzzled as to what’s wrong with my counting. I was taught how to count and
I knew well I didn’t have a mistake nor had I not counted wrongly. All knew was
I was frustrated to go home, I didn’t have anyone with me to walk home anymore
and I lived about three to four kilometers from school. I was even more worried
knowing that I may be late to come back to school after lunch.
Until recently, when I reached
high school and became more exposed to diverse and open –learning environments then
I realized; that was about ‘pronunciation’ that is what it was all about. I
experienced that kind of cruelty just because of my pronunciation. And I believe
that was unjust and improper from a teacher.
I did not want to keep
recounting that experience, especially the teacher but I need to accept fact
that I have been struggling to forget it. This kind of memory is a nightmare of
my primary years something I wanted to bury but it stays within me. After
several more years, I’ve had an encounter with that teacher again. This time,
she was amazed as what I have become. I am now a person who can speak my mind
and point of views. I now have the ability to tell whether I could agree and
express my feelings and thoughts just how my environment gives to me.
I am no longer that
helpless child, who could not ask questions and don’t receive answers as to why
I am punished that way. I now could ask questions and get right answers. What’s
more is that, I have wider understanding and refined professionalisms than that
of my previous teacher. I am now a teacher by profession and I vow not to do
the same with my students for any reason. I shall become more accommodating,
understanding, helpful and loving to all of them. I have learned and proved
myself that ‘LEARNING IS ENGAGING’.
Youngsters learn better when they are exposed and when teachers are
patient enough to teach them well, explaining and instructing them where they’ve
gone wrong and showing them how they to achieve-Leading them to Success.
This story is for teachers and aspiring teachers out there. God bless us
all!
