Teaching is a privilege

Often teachers, including me, talk about how overworked, underpaid and misunderstood we are. To be fair, though, most of the teachers I work with also have a sense that teaching is both a vocation and a privilege. To be part of the lives of young people can be an awesome experience.

Lately, I have had a sense of this privilege. The creative arts festival, to which I refer in the earlier post "every student has a gift", really showed me what a brilliant bunch of kids I work with. I also enjoyed their encouragement for my participation in the staff item. A colleague of mine wrote an entry in his blog in which he declared: "I pity the teacher who only gets to see his/her students from the other side of the desk".

On the same day as the festival, I received a letter from the principal confirming her approval for me to work on a part-time basis next semester. I had asked for this arrangement as I am trying to carry out a research project for my Master of Education degree. Our school has a high number of part-time teachers, and it was not easy for the administration to accommodate me in this way.

On Friday afternoon, the teacher who sits next to me in the staff room offered me the use of her holiday house over the Queen's birthday holiday. I did not even ask, she just said "you've been working hard, you deserve a break!" I have had other jobs prior to teaching, but the human interaction I have found in this vocation is unparalleled.

For my students, school leaders, and colleagues, thanks be to God.

Elias.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Elias,

Great blog!

Although you and I teach at opposite ends of the curriculum, I see we share many things in common. A passion for teaching and a love of children being just two of them...

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