Teachers are ...
the nicest/kindest/best/most considerate/most gracious people on earth!
Why? I have not met a single teacher or teacher-to-be who proves otherwise since I joined the education field, short it may be. My thank you list in my post "My oldest students thus far" is a good example of this. My stint in a sec school from Mar 05 to Aug 05 is another. Staff culture there is simply superb. Everyone helps everyone else, despite hectic schedules. For example, after reading a reflection written by a Sec 2 NA girl, for not handing in homework and not bringing textbooks to class repeatedly (she wrote about her 'selfish parents', who are separated and who refused to give her more than $2 pocket money per day and money to replace the books she has lost), I approached her form teacher to see if she is aware and to discuss if anything can be done about it. She then shared the background of the student with me and also told me she has spoken to her parents about the issue before but things remained status quo. She then promised to try again although she was not hopeful that it would bring positive results. And as a back up, she would help her apply for free textbooks. What a wonderful teacher! And this was just 1 of the case I had to approach her with regards to her rather problematic form class!
Teachers weren't like this in the past. I grew up watching my classmates getting slapped by teachers, yanked all over the place by the ears or hair; and watching with a sinking heart teachers throwing students' books out of the door, or into the dustbins (aren't they supposed to respect books?); as well as getting caned on the hands when I scored 16 out of 20 for a Science test. Then, I continued to grow up under teachers whose sole purpose in life was to finish teaching what was in the syllabus, without making any effort to 'beautify' or make interesting their lessons; as well as teachers who were biased against those in the last few classes. Pathetic.
Of course there were good teachers, though a minority at that time. The first teacher who showed he really cared for us is now a principal in a pri school in Sengkang. I have not met him since I left school but we were able to exchange news of each other thru my other good friends. :) And I heard he is terribly glad to know that I am becoming a teacher. :) Then, I had one of the best Chinese teacher who conducts her lessons by engaging us in group competitions (not quite CL but one step ahead of the conventional style of teacher talk teaching), and all of us did very well for our Chinese. My improvement in this subject was a phenomenon. :)
I am glad things are no longer the same. And all teachers today deserve to be happy on this Teachers' Day!
SW
Why? I have not met a single teacher or teacher-to-be who proves otherwise since I joined the education field, short it may be. My thank you list in my post "My oldest students thus far" is a good example of this. My stint in a sec school from Mar 05 to Aug 05 is another. Staff culture there is simply superb. Everyone helps everyone else, despite hectic schedules. For example, after reading a reflection written by a Sec 2 NA girl, for not handing in homework and not bringing textbooks to class repeatedly (she wrote about her 'selfish parents', who are separated and who refused to give her more than $2 pocket money per day and money to replace the books she has lost), I approached her form teacher to see if she is aware and to discuss if anything can be done about it. She then shared the background of the student with me and also told me she has spoken to her parents about the issue before but things remained status quo. She then promised to try again although she was not hopeful that it would bring positive results. And as a back up, she would help her apply for free textbooks. What a wonderful teacher! And this was just 1 of the case I had to approach her with regards to her rather problematic form class!
Teachers weren't like this in the past. I grew up watching my classmates getting slapped by teachers, yanked all over the place by the ears or hair; and watching with a sinking heart teachers throwing students' books out of the door, or into the dustbins (aren't they supposed to respect books?); as well as getting caned on the hands when I scored 16 out of 20 for a Science test. Then, I continued to grow up under teachers whose sole purpose in life was to finish teaching what was in the syllabus, without making any effort to 'beautify' or make interesting their lessons; as well as teachers who were biased against those in the last few classes. Pathetic.
Of course there were good teachers, though a minority at that time. The first teacher who showed he really cared for us is now a principal in a pri school in Sengkang. I have not met him since I left school but we were able to exchange news of each other thru my other good friends. :) And I heard he is terribly glad to know that I am becoming a teacher. :) Then, I had one of the best Chinese teacher who conducts her lessons by engaging us in group competitions (not quite CL but one step ahead of the conventional style of teacher talk teaching), and all of us did very well for our Chinese. My improvement in this subject was a phenomenon. :)
I am glad things are no longer the same. And all teachers today deserve to be happy on this Teachers' Day!
SW
posted by S W at
11:17 pm
1 Comments:
I've always thought that the best compliment a teacher could ever receive would be when your own student chooses to be a teacher next time.
Now then I'm reading your blog, my blog service did not receive your feed as well...
By
Geognut, at 12:44 am
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