“Find your passion… or sometimes, passion accidentally finds you.”
I never imagined I would have entered the world of teaching. I never imagined I would have become a teacher in any possible ways. I had no idea what and how it’s going to be.
But fate comes fate, I was given two teaching classes because the school where I work was short on teachers during that semester. Of course, I didn’t take the responsibility right away. I had to think over it. I do not have a background in teaching a big class, to begin with. However, in the end, I took the challenge. And so my story goes.
My first day of class was the most awkward. Believe me, I am not good at dealing with people. I know to myself that I am an introvert so dealing with people is a huge task, let alone a whole class of teenage guys and gals. Luckily, I was good to pretend that I am confident enough to start the class and begin it with a “getting-to-know-you” activity. Thank heavens, I survived.
But that’s not all about it. I have to study materials and concepts that I wasn’t actually familiar with before. So, I spent my free time reading articles and watching several explanations on Youtube, thinking about how I can deliver these technical terms in a simpler manner. I had to read in advance so that if my students ask me questions, I can proudly answer each of them. I thought at that moment, if someone will be given an A+ for effort, I absolutely deserved it.
I used to think that teaching is an easy job because most of my teachers previously seem to do it effortlessly. I thought it is so simple because you all you need to do is to speak in front and deliver the things written in your reference book. Of course, I was wrong. As the saying goes, “You’ll never actually know unless you try.” At that moment, I truly appreciate how most of my teachers back then have gone through in order to impart knowledge to our young minds (Thank you, ma’am and sir!).
Days and weeks passed. I got used to spending weekends making colorful, interesting powerpoint presentations and finding all those relevant memes so that each week’s classes won’t be boring.
As time went by, I look forward to seeing my classes. Meeting my students do not feel awkward anymore. I can naturally speak in front of them, in fact, I can smoothly deliver my corny jokes as well. And whenever I see them speak up and express themselves, I feel so proud. I never imagined that seeing them interested and engaged in discussions will bring so much joy and fulfillment.
What’s even more fulfilling is hearing from my students such kind words of appreciation as if I became a huge part of their lives.
As what I always say, I couldn’t think of any other ways to have done my life the way I did it now and a few years back. My teaching journey is one of the highlights of my well-being and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I thought to myself that would like to do more of this now and in the future. Because at the end of the day, I realized that it is not how much you made but how well you lived. And so far, this is how I want to live my life. This is the way I know I can pay forward all the blessings I am receiving.
I realized that the best way for me to learn is to teach. In teaching, I am also studying – not just I need to master the reference materials but also, I need to do a comprehensive analysis of my students. Yes, each of them. I need to know how they will be able to learn each concept well. I need to know how I will be able to make them understand the technical terms in an easier and more interesting manner. I need to know what they need the most.
And most importantly, I learned that teaching is a work of heart. Teaching is not only executed by the mouth and mind alone, it is done by the heart. You have to have that passion in teaching. You have to love what you are doing. Students will feel that, trust me. When I present myself to my students naturally, thoughts come out naturally. The ideas are just overflowing and it becomes easier to impart important life lessons to them. I recognized that I have that power to teach them life lessons that are actually not written in the pages of the book.
The Universe indeed has its ways of working things out which makes you meet beings and situations that will suddenly change your perspectives in life -- perspectives that transform life, making it more meaningful.
And wonderful.