MIRRORING ONESELF IN TEACHING

FRANZ PHILIP G. TULABUT

As I have started my teaching career, there are a lot of questions that have come to my mind… Is this the path that I will really undertake for the rest of my life? Will I be fulfilled just like the other teachers who have reached the prime time in their chosen profession? Do I truly love the profession I have selected? Is this occupation my dream job? Imagine, how critical tome the career I have preferred, with these seemingly endless interrogations I have to do with myself as I journey with my present job, the teaching profession.

Well, at first, I cannot really visualize myself be in the teaching profession for a long period of time. This is why I keep on asking myself how come there are several teachers who have served the students for many years. I cannot convince myself that I will become one of them sooner or later, teaching the same subject perhaps, dealing with the same challenge over and over again which is teaching the students.

However, as time passes by, as I begin my journey everyday at school, I come to realize the reason behind staying in the profession for almost half of one’s life. This is because some teachers have treated their career as a vocation. It is a mission of nurturing learners’minds and hearts, transforming them to be productive adults in the future. With these in mind, I have kept myself motivated to continue taking the path probably for the rest of my life.

I have understood that in the future, I may be like other teachers who have loved the profession thus, have preferred to stay until the time they will retire. With my struggle whether it is my dream job or not or whether I will be fulfilled or not, does not matter to me anymore.

What matters to me now is that as long as I am in the teaching profession, I will perform to the best of my ability, my duties and responsibilities as a teacher, so that the transfer of meaningful learning in the classroom will happen hence, my students will become dynamic and creative citizens of our country in the future.

At the moment, you may wonder if all my queries regarding teaching as my chosen profession have been satisfied, definitely not. This is because in my everyday account of my experiences as a teacher, there is always that what we call excitement which allows many questions to play in my mind that when are answered yield to another set of questions.

— oOo— The author is Teacher II at Pampanga High School