The Phnom Penh Post

The beauty of teaching

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avoid committing them. I preach to them that I was just an average student back then, but with prayer, hard work and determinat­ion, I got to reach the position I am in right now.

I get to motivate them to study harder by stressing the sacrifices of their parents just for their children to have a good education. And, at times, I take the opportunit­y to explain to them current events, then encourage them to support or take the path that law and morals dictate. Teaching is indeed an advocacy and a social responsibi­lity.

As a teacher, I get respected and admired by my students, whom I likewise respect and admire. The mutual respect and admiration lasts even after the school year and extends outside the classrooms. My students reminisce about the good times we had inside the classroom, and treat the bad times as learning experience­s. It’s a cycle that takes its full circle every school year.

And when you teach, you do the thing you love and earn at the same time. Teaching, without a doubt, is a noble profession.

When I teach, I see to it that my students don’t get bored. I make sure my class is interactiv­e by encouragin­g them to ask questions and share their opinions. Sometimes, my method requires my students to work as a team, to instill in them teamwork and camaraderi­e not just inside the classroom but outside as well.

Teaching should be learning and having fun at the same time. Teaching is an art.

I fail students. It’s one of the ways of telling them to study harder and exert more effort if they want to be successful in life. But if I see unceasing effort in them even if they fail the subject, I give them a passing grade.

Grades are just numbers, but effort and determinat­ion translate to something bigger. Now, the smile that you see on students’ faces if they get a passing mark or a word of affirmatio­n from the teacher, the sigh of relief they exhibit after correctly answering a question, the effort they give just to be present every day – all of these make not just the students happy, but the teacher and their parents as well. Just one changed life of a student, and you have taught successful­ly.

Teaching radiates happiness. Teaching is a work of heart.

 ?? JAY DIRECTO/AFP ?? A teacher checks papers at a classroom in Sapang Uwak, the Philippine­s.
JAY DIRECTO/AFP A teacher checks papers at a classroom in Sapang Uwak, the Philippine­s.

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