Teaching has always been a challenging job ever since. It became more challenging as of this time since the new generation is really something else. Whether you are new or not in the field, the following might help you in your search for adjustment and adaptability.

Be innovative. We are now in a digital era and sometimes, our students are way ahead of us in terms of technology. Thus, as an educator, you have to be innovative in all your teaching pedagogies so that you will be at pace with your students. Explore activities that may make use of technologies. Activities that are timely, relevant and creative will surely be good for your learners. Re-imagine a classroom that is also student-centered. If students are actively involved in their own learning, the higher the retention would be. Live with the principle of being “guide on the side” rather than being a “sage on the stage”. This will go a long way.

Have faith in your students. Despite the classroom misbehavior and misconduct, at times, believe in your students, still. As we always hear, we owe to our students to believe in them. They all carry individual baggage within them and we are not here to add more to that. Someone has to have that faith that they can be more and that they can do more. We want to be that someone silently since that is one of the things we embraced when we first set foot on this teaching job. Believing in them, even if it is difficult and even when it is difficult, will not cost us that much. Let us be generous in giving that to them for free. Sometimes, the interest takes time than the capital or investment of faith. However, given enough patience, the growth in them will surely be worth the wait.

Believe in what you can do. There are times when we also question our abilities as teachers throughout the years. It is normal that we sometimes feel not being enough or being ineffective to our students. However, it is not normal if we don’t recover from such feelings and not do anything about it. One way of getting out of these feelings too is to be open-minded with changes and growth. Sometimes, these are painful processes but the product in the end will surely be worthy of the try we made. If we can be generous with giving faith to our students, let us do the same for ourselves. We can never give what we do not have. We cannot teach them something that we, also, do not live on our own. We have to be worthy of emulation and one way of doing it is to live with the values we passed unto them.

Be kind to both ends. Let us be kind to our students and to ourselves. Being kind to them is being sensitive to their feelings and being considerate of their thoughts. We have to be mindful of every single word that we utter because we do not know the impact it can do to them. We have to acknowledge individual intelligence and varied capabilities so that comparing them to others will be out of the picture anymore. More than that, we also have to be kind to ourselves. Sometimes, because of too much pressure for growth, we become harsh on ourselves. Let us minimize in doing such since we might end up being consumed with the society’s expectations and label and these are never healthy at all. If we want to ask for kindness for and from others, we should be the first ones to give it to them.

These are just few of the things to keep in mind in this profession. We do not say that these are adapted right away since we have to process, too, what works for us and what doesn’t. We just have to bear in mind that when times get tough, let us all be strong. We cannot just afford to be weak in front of our students since you never know, someone out there might be getting strength from you. This alone makes it more difficult to keep going since teachers are also humans but in the eyes of our students, we can be heroes. We are heroes. May you find the joy to keep going since whatever you have already accomplished and whatever you are about to accomplish, you are just doing it right, paired with the dedication and compassion to touch lives. Indeed, this makes this profession noble. The world needs you and hey, I heard them say ‘thank you for heeding the call.

Written by:

RODELYN T. CONGSON
Teacher III