REFLECTIONS ON BEING A TEACHER

Last January 25 and 26, we celebrated UP's "Know Your School Day". I had been a teacher of two subjects, Social Science and Science I-A.

Before, I really wanted to be a teacher, I thought that being a teacher is a very good thing! You don't have to take your time answering those long and headaching assignments. You don't have to sleep late at night studying your lessons and preparing for those tiresome tests. Then, wake up early in the morning just to avoid being late. You also don't have to listen to those dozey and boring lessons. All you have to do is to check your students' works and compute their grades.

But I was wrong- very, very wrong. Teachers have the same routine as what the students have. They also sleep late at night studying their lessons. They even wake up early so that they will not be late in class. If we students, experienced hardships and headaches in studying our lessons and making our assignments, teachers too, experienced the same thing and it is doubled.

We, students, thought that teachers are very lucky. Lucky, because they don't have to worry about assignments and projects which are to be passed on time. They don't have to study very hard and sleep late at night just to get high scores during exams. They don't have to worry about getting low scores and failing the exams.

But we are wrong! Teachers too, study and sleep late at night just to prepare their lessons. They wanted their students to understand their subject matter well. They don't want us to fail the exams. "No teacher wants his/her students to have failing grades".

We must not think that teachers give tests and exams just to make our scores low and give us burden. They give us tests because they wanted to know if the students really understood the lesson well. We may not know, but they feel very sad everytime their students get low scores. On the other hand, their hearts leap for joy everytime their students get good grades. Why? Because it means that their students really understood the lesson.

The student's grade reflects to the teacher. If the whole class gets low scores or failing scores, you may conclude that the problem is with the teacher. But when you see a class wherein only few get low scores, you may say that the problem is with the students and not with the teacher.

We, students, must not belittle our own teachers for they have experienced a lot of hardships just for us to learn. We must always remember all the sacrifices that they have made just for us. They have sacrificed their "TIME" for their loved ones just to teach us. They wanted us to learn because they wanted to fulfill and do their duties and responsibilities as our "second mothers and fathers". We must always keep in our minds and in our hearts, all their teachings because even for a short span of time, they have been a part of our complicated kives. We must respect them!

I may have not have experienced all of the teacher's hardships in teaching but for two days, I have learned something about being a teacher. It's not easy. But if you are determined, nothing is impossible - no matter how many obstacles are waiting for you and how many sacrifices you must make. You can do it! Aja! These are my reflections on being a Teacher.