JOURNAL ENTRY #15: THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING

Yesterday was my first Teacher's Day as an educator and, as this is my final blog entry for the course, I want to share with you a final thought about my short but very fulfilling journey as an educator. About four years ago I was a naive kid who was still in high school and studied a bit of English during the weekends as a hobby. Little did I know that, after spending almost 5 years of my life in front of dozens of English teachers as a student, eventually I'll become one myself. It certainly was unexpected and, to be honest, a little scary at the beginning as I knew that having as responsibility the education of hundreds of young children wouldn't be an easy task. Through my short life, I've witnessed the power and influence teacher could have over a student's life, for better or for worse. I remember having horrible teachers that used to discourage students, pointing out each and every single one of their setbacks and losing their mind every time something didn't come as expected. On the other hand, I also remember having some other teachers who were extremely accessible and kind to me and provided me with many life-changing experiences that I will cherish for the rest of my life. When I decided that I wanted to teach, all of those thoughts started to buzz around my head and I promised myself that I would try to do my best to be more like the second group of teachers that I mentioned: a responsible, gentile open-minded teacher with whom students could feel free to be themselves around and learn something more beyond just grammar and a few words. 

Even though the current picture for teachers in our country doesn't seem as promising and bright as we would want to, I believe that we, from our little corner, are able to leave a mark that might completely change people's lives for the better. Many years ago (even during my first months within my major) I had the perception that teachers were not as important as other professionals (doctors, lawyers) because I was constantly told so and I remember that each time I met someone, when they asked about my professional life, I would say that I was "just a teacher". Nowadays, after acquiring more experience and being more aware of what it takes to truly be a teacher, I'm extremely ashamed of my words and way of thinking back in the day as I came to realized that, as educators in a country like Mexico, there is much to do and it goes way beyond only teaching verb tenses and playing a CD in a recorder. We have in our hands the possibility to instill social and emotional values in many future generations of young kids that will probably get through very difficult times throughout their academic life and will look for a reason to not give up and stay on the right path, and that reason, if we are considered and empathic enough, could be us. Right after I realized that, every time I'm about to get into a classroom, I just think about how thankful and lucky I am as I have the opportunity to be a mentor for my students, which I believe is kind of a big deal considering this aspect of education from the human point of view. I think that there is a big power in being in charge of a classroom and everyone who is fortunate enough to relate to that experience probably knows what I'm talking about. We are important and it's on us if we want to mark our students' lives in a positive or a negative way. A final suggestion: Try to be the teacher you would have wanted to have during your school years. Your students will be thankful for it.