My last day as a teacher

Today marks the last day that I would be a relief teacher in Swiss Cottage Secondary School.

It was a day of mixed emotions of sadness, warmth and joy. Indeed, it was a great joy to be able to teach. More so, it was an even greater joy to see how much the students actually appreciate me as their teacher.

I recall the 1st day that I stepped into Swiss Cottage Secondary as a teacher without any past experience. Told to relieve a class, it then seemed like an impossible situation to me. An extremely timid, soft-spoken me was totally clueless how I could even speak in front of a class of thirty-odd students, let alone manage the class or teach them. True enough, on that day, I couldn’t even deliver simple instructions to the class. It was a very traumatising experience.

As I reflect on my teaching experience, I want to dedicate this post to God. I want to thank him for how much he has shown himself during these few months and yet I’ve failed to see clearly what he has done.

The reason why I could even have the mere courage to speak in front of a class today is not because I am capable or have gained any experience in doing so. But it was because God answered a prayer on the night after my 1st working day. I prayed for courage and he has given me courage.

More remarkable was this inner joy to teach my classes. Though I admit that this didn’t last through the whole 3 months, it did existed. This joy that I had to teach was so remarkable that it even marvelled me, it even made me pause and ponder why I was teaching with so much passion. It couldn’t be a half-hearted me! It has to be God. Again, he answered prayers.

Finally, it was about praying for my N class. Initially, I felt it almost impossible to manage a rowdy and naughty N class; firstly, being a very timid person and secondly, things in the class were close to being out-of-hand at times. I do thank God that he has kept me through. He has restrained my hot-temperness. Surprisingly, I didn’t get angry with the class at all when they got out-of-hand. In fact, the joy I get teaching them was even much more than the joy I get teaching my easy classes. Then, I remembered that I actually prayed for this particular class during DG.

Our God is a God who answers prayers. I thank God that even through daily working life, he manifests himself to me.

Another thing I learnt about teaching, apart from all the techincalities, is that the only thing needed was love. With love, all things would fall into place. Wouldn’t it be same for other things too? If all these were to be done with love, with a genuine heart, wouldn’t all things fall wonderfully in place?