Why Do I Love to Teach?

by Prof. Ma. Floran Tan

          Sometimes I asked myself what is it in teaching that I love? Is it the everyday grind of the classroom setting featuring the dynamic interactions showcasing various personas and characters? Or probably the exploring of ideas and concepts and their fusion reflecting endless plethora of knowledge ? Or should I say the new and novel insights expressed and presented in the arena of learning on a daily basis?  Or simply the usual exchange of pleasantries and conversations in class and along the corridors? I guess all of these create a picturesque teaching and learning panorama which invigorate and inspire me to wake up everyday and teach.

             Well, it has been 29 yrs. since my romance with teaching started. But before even that, I knew that I have this burning passion to teach. However, this love did not blossom during my teenage years simply because teaching was and still not a well-esteemed or sought after profession, unlike law, medicine, engineering and the likes. With this orientation, I took up Political Science thinking that I wanted to be a lawyer, only to realize that after 4 yrs. I really didn’t want to become one. Looking back, I am grateful that I did not pursue it because most probably I would be the lousiest lawyer by now.

            But more than the transition of cognitive knowledge or honing of skills, what keeps me going are my students whom I regard as the superstars in class. They are just not mere faces because each one is significant and has a role to play under the sun. Greatness is not a monopoly and success is not always equated with wealth nor with fame, though that is often the yardstick, but it’s essence is in finding that purpose of why you live. This very purpose is what I yearn my students to find and it’s my earnest desire, that in one way or the other, I can usher them to this individual greatness.

Photo by Young Educators Society
  
           What makes me deliriously happy is when I see my students soar and fulfill their dreams. It makes me shed joyful tears when they celebrate their milestone like graduation, first job, marriage and among others. But it also breaks my heart when failures and discouragements come their way, hoping and praying that they can pick up themselves and start all over again.

          Just like love, my romance with teaching is not always on fire. There are times when the twists and turns of life choke and leave me breathless gasping for better days. But through the Infinite grace of Someone up there, I manage to rekindle this passion and once again find meanings in the nobility of this profession. In fact, I can’t recall a time when I need to drag my feet just to be in class nor I can’t remember a moment when I came unprepared. For me, the humdrum of the classroom setting is my theraphy....a catharsis that enlivens my spirit and gives life to my very soul. 

           I firmly believe that God fashioned my heart to be a teacher and I’m glad He did. Whether I am in my summit or I am in my lowest point, whether I’m in the pink of health or otherwise, I pray that my romance with teaching will never falter. For those who would be teachers, never despair nor lose heart in this profession. It may not be lucrative, though money is important, but it’s worth the journey because the reward is priceless. In the end what matters are the lives that you’ve touched as they also affected yours and this is the legacy that you’ll forever treasure in your heart.

Popular posts from this blog

A Reaction to F.Sionil Jose's Why We Are Shallow

Image
By Raphael Lactao BSEd - English Student In all the heated arguments and pithy analyzations about the papers given to us by our professor, F. Sionil Jose’s “Why we are shallow” had the most different number of interpretations. We have read plenty of academic papers by venerable researchers and educators, but I did not expect that the great minds in our classroom would become turbulent because of a newspaper article from the literary section. Some thought about it hardly, and some hardly thought about it, and some just over-analyzed the trivial matters in the paper. The thing is, when you read a literary article, you should not be thinking at all, you should be in a meditative state that causes you to process the words, sentences, and paragraphs in a way that you would not judge it at first glance because it is somebody else’s experience. F Sionil Jose did not write that with any form of intellectual back-up or provisions, because he had no need for such, for he only wrote from...
Read more