TEACHERS: FINDING JOY IN THEIR JOBS

MICHAEL N. PUNO

To teach is to touch lives forever, this quotation was taken from a famous title of a book. It catches my attention and inspires me as part of the teaching force in the public school. Teaching is indeed a noble profession and no amount of money ever be equivalent to the time and effort that the teacher does every day for their students. Dealing with diverse students every day is not that easy and it requires a lot of patience and understanding.

In a busy classroom of a school, there is a teacher who has a lot of work to do. Lesson plan, lesson presentation, activities, reports, and other work-related activities. Sometimes a teacher is confused about his role in a school, there are times when he needs to be a nurse when a student gets injured. Sometimes a dentist, a second parent, and many other roles aside from teaching. But despite the challenges, teachers stay positive and motivated. This article shares the stories of these teachers who work hard to help their students learn and grow.

Teachers enjoy doing what they love, even with so much to do, teachers love their job. They feel happy when they see their students learning and improving. Some students are struggling in learning math equations, and English grammar. However, because of a teacher’s perseverance, determination, and willingness to help the student. When they learn it, they are the happiest and it makes them fulfilled and accomplished. These moments remind them why they became teachers in the first place.

Teachers support each other when things get tough. They talk to their friends, learn from each other, and help each other out. After a long day of work, one of the comforting things about being a teacher is seat for a while in the teachers’ room and talking about anything while eating simple snacks. Everyone is sharing what happened in their classroom, there are serious talks and there are also things that make them laugh out loud. This makes them feel better and stronger as a team.

Teachers always keep things interesting and always try new ways of teaching. They use technology and come up with fun activities to make learning more exciting. Nowadays, thanks to our innovative and creative teachers, there are no more hard subjects and hard-to-understand lessons. Every day, their lesson in Math, English, and other subjects are well-presented and interesting. Gamification of lessons, interactive activities, and collaboration that promote creativity and critical thinking are some of the new ways for a teacher to teach. This helps them stay excited about teaching and helps their students learn better too.

Teachers are happy when they feel appreciated, even though their job is hard they feel happy when people say thank you to them. They said that the only person who is not jealous of a student’s accomplishment is their teacher. Teachers are very proud when their students achieve something in life, seeing them successful makes them fulfilled and accomplished for they believe that they have contributed something to that success. A dedicated teacher will do everything for his students without asking for any return. Seeing them learn and use this learning to create their own life is a big reward for the teacher. Flowers, gifts, and other material things are not important for teachers but what matters to them is showing them that they are respected, appreciated, and valued by their students. When students, parents, and others show that they appreciate their hard work, it makes them feel good and motivated to keep going.

Despite the challenges, teachers keep smiling and working hard. They love helping their students learn and grow. With support from each other and recognition for their efforts, they stay motivated to make a difference in their students’ lives. A teacher’s work is incomparable to any profession or job in the world, it's not just they simply teach inside the classroom, but they touch lives forever.

-oOoThe

I at Anita G. Flores National High School

author is Teacher