I think it was grade 8 that my elementary teacher first told me that it would be a great idea if I go into teaching and become a teacher. My first thought was “huh, me? Really?” It’s not that I don’t love kids but I just really didn’t know what to say or think about that statement so I kinda brushed it off. Those who know me know that I’m a very indecisive person so asking me what I want to do is probably a waste of your breath because I will always say “I don’t know man” Fast forward 4 years, I’m in concurrent education majoring in business economics and minoring in french studies. Did I know that I was going to go to York Glendon 4 years ago? Hell nah.
Since I’m part of the concurrent education program, it’s mandatory to take EDUC 1000 - Rethinking Schooling and I honestly thought it was gonna be stupid and a waste of time.
BUT
I was so wrong in so many ways. I’m learning so much in this course but it’s so late though, it’s from 6 to 8:30 which kind of sucks.
Before I started this course, I thought being a teacher means know the material that you’re teaching but it’s not just that. A teacher is not your normal job, it’s much more complex than that. There’s so many things you have to take an account for like your students’ well-being, their learning strategies and etc. I didn’t bother to think further into that until EDUC 1000 happened.
To me, education is constantly changing whether I like it or not. In order to become a good teacher, I need to have an open mind which at times, may be slightly hard for me. I have to be able to take on criticisms and look forward to find new ways to teach. I think teaching as a relationship. You can just think about it during the time you work and then not think about it after work is done. Teaching is not like that. An amazing teacher thinks about their students and their colleagues every day.
I can honestly say that I’m impressed with some of the teachers I’ve had. I didn’t realized how much effort they put in into their work. As students, well at least for me, I constantly complain the amount of work I get from school or the amount of restless nights because of school but I keep forgetting that the teachers are also facing the same problems as me. I forgot about them. I forgot about the preparation they do before each class. I stress about school like 24/7 because I just want to get a good mark but I keep forgetting that it’s not about the mark, it’s about the process and what you learn in class. No good teacher wants their students to fail or to do bad on their assignments and tests. That’s what makes teaching so hard and complex. They do a lot of background work and they are constantly thinking about their students. They wouldn’t feel so great if we, as students, aren’t doing well either.
I want to be a teacher who is not just a teacher to my future students but also a person that they can talk to. The relationship between the student and the teacher is the most important relationship in the teaching world. If you don’t have a good relationship with your students, how can you teach them wholeheartedly? How can you deliver your knowledge to them if they can’t trust you or respect you? A healthy relationship is one of the key aspects of teaching.
But at the same time, I am scared of becoming a teacher because I don’t want to regret for choosing this path or even being a horrible teacher. I don’t want to lose my passion as years go by but how do you not? That’s the question. There are teachers who’ve been teaching for their whole entire life and they just get bored out of it. I don’t want that but it’s not like I can prevent myself feeling like that if that happens.
It’s not a job. It’s a relationship. It takes time and effort and your willingness of keeping that healthy relationship.
As of right now, I’m still questioning if becoming a teacher is a good path for me or not.
Here’s what I wrote to my teacher in my small thank you card for her:
“I’m going to try my best and write this in French.
Je voudrais de vous remercier ce que tu as enseigné durant ces 3 mois. J’ai appris beaucoup de système d’éducation. Tu as approfondi mes connaissances avec les problèmes de l’éducation, mais aussi la beauté de l’éducation. Franchement, je ne sais pas si je vais d’être une bonne enseignante ou de devenir une enseignante mais j’aimerais de continuer d’apprendre et analyser le système d’éducation.
Je voulais partager quelques choses avec vous et c’est mon blog. J’ai créé un blog durant le mois d’octobre parce que cette classe m’enseigne l’important de «retell, relate and reflect». Pour moi, le blog est une façon de «retell, relate and reflect» de mes expériences. Je souhaite que si tu as le temps de voir mon blog et de commenter ou bien m’envoyer un courriel ce que tu penses.
Merci beaucoup de ce que tu as fait dans notre classe.
I tried my best to find a colourful bracelet for education but they didn’t have any colourful/bright beads. I chose this particular bracelet because to me, this is what education looks like as of right now. We are still in the process of changing our old ways (black beads) by implementing small changes (colourful beads). I hope that one day our education can be filled with colourful beads.
The button was given to me when I made this purchase. It promotes anti bullying. I just thought that even though bullying still exists, we can do small actions to promote anti bullying. All the small actions we do will accumulate eventually.”
“It is not our difference that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences” -Audre Lorde
Lots of love,
Heidi 💜💜
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