June '07 Blog #2: What is the impact that this experience has had on your life?

The entire teaching experience has had a positive effect on my life. The whole experience has been a learning experience and for that I am grateful. I have developed more time management skills. I have learned that people lie and that everyone is not generally nice. Before teaching I think I was more naïve and very ignorant towards the struggle teachers face every day. After this experience, I have learned that no matter how mad they make you that your students are just kids.

Throughout this experience, I have come in contact with many different people with many different situations and difficulties who are trying to reach the same goal. I have learned to become more of a realist than an idealist. I have also learned patience and compassion. I have learned that sometimes you have to work hard in order to see results. I have learned that sometimes when you work hard, you don’t see instant results. I have learned how to change and to approach different situations in different ways. I have learned that it does matter what you say but more importantly, it matters how you say it.

I know this experience has made me grow up and has loosened the grip on my once very carefree life. I have to wake up before ten o’clock now and actually put on real clothes. My actions do not just affect me, but they now affect my students. For example, if I didn’t want to study for a test in college, then oh well. I would reap the results of my actions. In school, if I don’t want to plan for a lesson, then not only am I reaping the consequences, but my students are as well. Responsibility is the word I’m looking for. I have developed more of it and believe that I am better because of it.

MTC alone has been a mostly positive experience. Having the support of fellow teachers doing the same work you do and facing the same struggles you do has been very rewarding. Just observing and listening to the various ways people approach the same difficulties you have is a learning experience within itself. The course work better prepares you for the obstacles that you will face in your field.

The success and failures are two of the biggest impacts. Your success can come at a time when you have given up all hope for the future. A child who has never ever answered a question right all year, can raise his hand and answer a question that the entire class couldn’t answer. You can have a student who has failed all his tests with a 50% or lower, but on his next test, this student has failed with 65%. At times like these, the success seems so minute, but for a teacher this time is the perfect time to rejoice in a very small success. On the other spectrum, failure is just as important. Here, you have tried many ways to get your students to retain and comprehend a concept, but everything that you’ve tried is not working. From failures like these you learn how to adapt and to keeping teaching until you find a way that reaches them.

Teaching has had a major impact on my life. I view things differently now, and I have a different attitude and more respect towards those who make teaching their profession. The satisfaction that you receive from a success and the learning experience that you receive from failures make teaching a worthwhile experience.