Thursday 14 March 2013

Never knew I could fall in love again



Cycle to teach, with my violin


"Would you like me to recommend a shrink for you?" The General Practitioner (GP) was concerned for my psychological well-being. Sitting in a clinical chair, body shaking, I was trying to fight back my tears.


Our Teachers


Teachers care for our students’ education, development and life skills. We come from all walks of life, from new graduates to mid-career professionals. Educators with different backgrounds and experiences will bring something new to school lessons, motivate the young ones and inspire them to dream. As teachers, in my opinion, we have a sense of responsibility for our students-we aim to help students realise their potential by recognising that learning is a connection of assuming responsibility, social communication and self-reflection.



Fell out of love


We've all heard about the full workload of teachers in school, is nothing new, and is real. I believe what I'm going to write are sentiments and experiences shared by many teachers. 


I was a music, physical education and a form class teacher; teacher-in-charge and coach for the track & field, and gymnastic teams. Besides those responsibilities, there were activities to be organised for the school as well.

Daily, I would reach school before 6.00am to set up sports equipment to prepare morning technical drills for my athletes and gymnasts; evenings were training sessions of the two co-curricular sporting activities, and the day didn't end after the workouts as there were uncompleted administrative work, and curriculum, camping trip and enrichment programme planning; weekends were also filled up with coaching sessions and the dealing of school-matters.


Recalled the first day of the new school year, as the National Anthem played through the cold morning mist across the school field, I was physically and mentally drained. I asked myself if I could last through the year again-one day I broke down in front of my GP.


Sometimes, we lose sight of what we want to achieve for our students, but yet we find no handbrakes to take a step back, and breathe. 



Fall in love, again


I've since left the Ministry of Education and vowed never to teach again, but little did I know, a surprising hand of destiny reached out to me-give teaching a second chance. Five years later, I decided to face the truth about my life and braved myself to teach. Step-by-step, little-by-little, I found back my love for teaching. 


Teaching a life, for life.



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