Personal Reflection

More than just teaching.

My views on teachers can be cynical in my early years. The way they teach the students with lack of regard of the students' condition and sometimes emotions might have affected how a student views an adult and adulthood and even the way they view education which it often times will cause them to not value the meaning of education. 

It takes more than just a witty mind and photographic memory to be able to teach, it is more than just knowing everything and be the sole information provider to become a teacher. And as a matter of fact, becoming a teacher doesn't mean we would stop learning, the more we teach, the more we learn and understand about the students and ourselves. In these two weeks, it has certainly open my eyes on how much effort does it take to become an excellent teacher. Just like Ms. Sahmalah would say: "It is either you become the best or the worst teacher to the students as they will remember you throughout their years," and this has certainly prove that a teacher is a pillar of society where they cultivate people to be learned. Also, the style of teaching and the choice of teaching medium will have different effects on different students as "each batch is never the same," and you have to think on your feet on how to deal with different students. Not only that, I have also realize that it is alright to admit your mistakes as well as the depth of your knowledge to the students sometimes (though try to not make too much mistakes or the students will lose faith in your teaching) as we are not perfect.

According to the teachers, ones health is crucial as it will reflect who you are as a person. Because teachers are seen as a role model to students, if a teacher failed to take care of themselves, then taking care others is out of the question. Not only that, respect is a key in communication, regardless whoever they are and if you respect them, they will respect you too and thus this will ensure tolerance and mindfulness to those who share different beliefs and cultural backgrounds than us with thoughtfulness and sensibility and especially when we are in an international community. Aside from that we must also create a safe and welcoming environment for the students so that they would look forward to our class and more importantly to learning. And sometimes, a student's body language and gesture might suggest their condition such as being bullied or not at all interested in participating in classroom discussions or even the lack of ability to finish and submit their homework and we must do whatever we can to optimize their learning experience.

And finally as a teacher, we must be mindful of our actions as the students view us as role models, like social learning, monkey see monkey do, our choice of words and attitudes will be displayed to them and even the school to the public.

Before...

The thought of teachers would dread me, despite the fact that I understood that they did their best in teaching, but they were never the best in being efficient. At times, the teachers would feel ashamed to admit their mistakes and would dismiss our ideas because "we are kids" and thus most of us rarely speak out or even plan to pay attention in class. I was and still am very confident in my English proficiency and would always ace my English test so it was never a bother to me until an English teacher whom I thought was a good teacher ridiculed me for my choice of words in describing an object when in reality it was their vocabulary that was limited and thus making me doubt about the teachers' competence and reliability in her information and this fuels me to become a teacher, a reliable and excellent teacher who should not be ashamed of admitting their mistakes.

After...

My impression on teachers seemed to improve when I'm in my secondary years where the English teacher was firm but very resourceful. Their efforts in improving the quality of teaching has further fueled me to become a teacher as I admire their ability to eliminate the formalities without overdoing the boundaries between teacher and student. Because of this, it removes the stereotype of the complete authoritative as well as the all-knowing figure that a teacher must possess (though this teacher is indeed always right and is pure English). Aside from that, language is generally a very broad and fun thing to learn; it also improves ones confidence in speaking as their proficiency rise if they practice more. To top it off, I would want to take in whatever experience I have with the teachers as well as the students to shape and improve myself as a teacher in the future.