Courage to Teach!

Chatted with GZ briefly some time last week over MSN about how I missed my first batch of students from Simpleville who graduated some 3 years ago... she then promptly set out to organise something with the rest... and I finally met up with a few of them last night for dinner...

This batch of students have a very special place in my heart for many reasons... They were the first batch of students I taught even before I was formally trained as a Jedi... Our age gap is exactly one chinese zodiac cycle apart (that makes us all Tigers!!!)... They were the first batch of students whom I followed up every year till they graduated... They were my first batch of graduating students... They were the most well-behaved and responsive students I could ever ask for...

In the book "Courage to Teach" by Parker J.Palmer, which I'm reading now, it says that "Mentoring is a muatuality that requires more than meeting the right teacher: the teacher must meet the right student. In this encounter, not only are the qualities of the mentor revealed, but the qualities of the student are drawn out in a way that is equally revealing."

How true! I still remembered when I left my previous job in the private sector to join teaching, I wasn't exactly sure what kind of teacher I could really be. My very first 30 mins lesson in my teaching career was with an extremely notorious class... I could still recall that after coming out of that class, I sat in the staff room seriously wondering what have I got myself into? My energy was sapped... nobody in class bothered about me... I was literally ignored... and I couldn't manage their discipline problems without raising my voice...

I learnt gradually that I need to earn their respect...

Thankfully, the other class that I taught, i.e. the group of people in the above photo, were far more encouraging... They were the ones who lifted me up and giving me the self-believe that I needed before I gave up... They were the ones who brought out the teacher in me... They were still in Sec 2 when I first taught them... It's quite an unfortunate set up back then as their class kept receiving all the relief, temporary, contract teachers since they came into the school... When I first started out with them, I found that their foundations in Maths and English were really not up to the level that I thought they should. It was quite unimagniable, for an inexperienced and untrained teacher like me...

But what they lacked in academic abilities, were more than compensated for by their good attitude... I was so fortunate to have started out with them... they were extremely teachable... they responded to me, accepted me, and I literally grew up with them...

I had to leave them after half a year for training, and they gave me a card before I left. Those words of encouragement were extremely motivating for me and I still go back to that card whenever I feel down time and again because it just reminds me of the reason why I chose to teach...

I had the chance to return to Simpleville for teaching practice and I took over this lovely class again. They weren't assigned a permanent Maths teacher and hence I didn't have any trained teacher to understudy during that period of time... So I took over this class almost as if the postion had been left open for me...

After the training practice, I was posted back to Simpleville... I continued with them from where I left off... in fact, it didn't seem as if I've left them at all... after the formal posting, I told myself that I have to teach them well as I felt indebted to this class... I was untrained when I first taught them... I told myself I have to unlearn and relearn all the good teaching practices to help them perform better...

And I requested to follow up with this class every year... I learnt together with them... and I grew so much as a teacher with them...

This batch of students, till today, still hold the record for producing the best N level results, as well as O level results from a normal acad class. I remembered when I saw their O level results in 2004 Feb, I cried... it was tears of happiness... A 4-year journey ended on a sweet note...

But of course, our journey in life didn't end after their O levels... We still kept very much in touch... In fact, I'm very much amazed that some of the boys in the class are now serving NS, a bulk of them are finishing their last semester in polytechnics, a couple of them are already working...

I've always believed that the indicator of how well I've done my job is never the results of my students' O levels results... But rather, the best indicator will be how well they applied themselves in their own respective lives after they've left school...

And I make it a point to keep in touch with my ex-students, and I'm beginning to see some traces of the fruit of my labour... What works, and what didn't... I could tell from all my ex-students...

And I must say that they are the greatest source of strength for me... to see them grow up and mature and seeing them facing up to life's challenges... that's the greatest satisfaction...

After last night's gathering, even though not all of their classmates could make it, so much of their old school days were relived... from all those happy moments, funny moments, juicy gossips, to the lastest updates of how everyone is doing... I felt so blessed that I could bond with them so well, despite the fact that they claim that I was the teacher who scolded them most... ;)

With the latest announcement of how the teaching force remuneration package is going to be improved, I can't help but to wonder if these will really motivate me... The work of a teacher is so complex and unique and beyond a certain point of reward, it really isn't all about material motivation anymore...

For me at least, a gathering like the one I had last night is more than enough motivation and satifaction...

And to the 5NA of 2003, thank you for giving me the Courage to Teach... I am eternal thankful :)