What this pandemic reminds us as teachers

I never thought I would ever be like this. At about this same time last year, it would have already been more than a month into the school year. Neck deep into lesson plans and barely having time to rest. Yes, if this was just like any another year, I’d be up all night, just to wake up the next morning and be at it again. It’s an exhausting regimen.

I never thought I would ever miss the craziness of going to work every day. The early mornings, late nights, and the buzzing of my students just before I enter the room. Who misses school? Only someone who’s out of his mind would feel like that. Deadlines after deadlines, tests after tests, and lesson after lesson. It’s like a bottomless pit, a crazy routine which will make you, at times, rethink where you are.

At this time of pandemic, a lot has changed. The previous school year was never really concluded, at least not the way we were used to. Now we’re about to start a new one, a new school year. And for some reason, the anxiousness is not present, I’d even go as far as saying I’m excited.

If there is anything good to come out of this pandemic, it’s my renewed zeal for teaching. It has been a reminder that teaching is more than just a job. I am responsible for carving the young minds of my students. It may be cliché, but I do hold my students’bright future in my hands.

My passion for teaching has returned. I feel like a fresh graduate again. The eagerness to interact with my students is back. I am again ready to take on the hustle and bustle of school life. I am reminded of why I got into teaching in the first place, I enjoy people and I enjoy learning. So, bring it on and let’s learn.