I never quite imagined that I would become a teacher. In fact, I fluttered away from the notion with all determination in my university days.
Having completed an English major, most people concluded that I would be ‘herded off’ to a school somewhere to spend my days floating about on mountains of essays and tests.
I felt frustrated and locked in a cage by the comments and suggested life path that spewed out of the mouths of those around me.
The title of “future teacher” felt oppressive and limiting, terrifying actually.
I had determined from that point onward that I would become a journalist, a diplomat, a writer, anything other than a teacher.
I look back on those years with laughter and conviction. It seems ironic now because a few months later, I found myself striding into a classroom, confidently believing that I was there to impact the lives of the students that had been entrusted to me.
What I had failed to see then is what convinces me every day before my lessons begin: those very learners that had been placed in my care were going to be some of the greatest teachers I would experience in my life.
They would bring to life the fierce words of French essayist and moralist Joseph Joubert “to teach is to learn twice.”
It would take a thesis to describe the life lessons I have learned from energetic 14-year-olds and vivacious 17-year-olds.
Learners teach you to understand that giving of yourself and investing in others is beneficial to you as well.
It is from my energetic grade 8s that I have learned to be more patient, compassionate, attentive and caring even in moments of frustration.
Your learners pull you out of your comfort zone, leading you to question your views and attitudes by confronting any narrow-minded thought patterns you may possess.
One of the benefits of working in a multicultural school is that at every corner you turn, you are shaped into a more understanding human being.
You are pushed to face your fears as some of the learners you may encounter have been through life experiences that not many adults have faced.
Seeing a young person battle through challenges in and outside the classroom and come out on the other side more compassionate and considerate, illustrates that tenacity is timeless.
Teaching challenges you to be more creative and purposeful. A learner once remarked that to her, school was “a dream-killer” and that all it did was prepare learners to toil and strive as future employees.
I was challenged by her words and determined that no matter how lost I felt in all the administrative and curriculum requirements, I would fight to keep my dreams, as well as the dreams of my learners, alive.
Sometimes, I feel myself fail dreadfully in that attempt, but I commit myself to try, and to keep pursuing anyway.
Because, in the end, I have been placed before these young minds, to be a light to help them navigate their paths.
My learners teach me about the gift of gratitude instead of complaining, and the value in questioning my assumptions.
As Dr Candace Dowds Barnes, an assistant professor at the University of Central Arkansas states: “I learned that I could not make assumptions about the knowledge, skills and dispositions (of my students), and instead had to investigate what they knew and were able to do.”
They show me that as important as money is, it can never be placed above self-worth.
They desire to know that they matter, just as much as I do. They reveal to me that as great as it is to know how to use the correct grammar in an essay, it is still far more important to know that one is valued beyond one’s excellent results.
Our students are not products. They are, in Dr Robert H Shaffer’s view, “not empty bottles to be filled, but candles to be lit”.
They are unique and at times both frustrating and amazing. Assembly-line education and teaching will never suffice.
I am driven to expect excellence from them, but I must first lead them to it through my actions.
I sometimes fail in my attempts. So, do they. But, we are not perfect beings. We are learning and teaching each other from different positions in the classroom.
None of this is an excuse for familiarity and a lack of excellence, but rather a window of enlightenment to highlight that all we can do is give of our absolute best every single day.
What a privilege it is to know that when it is all over, it is not only the learners who leave with a trunk full of life lessons, but also the men and women who have stood in front of them, day in and day out, planting life-giving seeds and receiving them in return.
