Why Teach?

I graduated in a Pharmacy school and decided to teach. I am currently an Assistant Instructor where most of my roles include motivating students to be engage in the learning process. I teach Pharmacy courses to aspiring pharmacist—which is a noble thing to do minus the meager salary (relative to government employees such as Elem or High School teachers).

Teaching is one of those atypical jobs. It is not a regular 8 to 5 work. You won’t find yourself confine in an office space doing clerical work alone but rather more complex than that. After tiring yourself in the four walls of the classroom, you still have to extend your work even at home. You have papers to check, lessons to prepare, readings to make, presentations to beat, exams and quizzes to construct, professional development to attend, regular meetings and school functions to engage and a whole lot more.

Teaching is not only teaching. You don’t end up talking on stage alone. Instead you become a manager, counsellor, father, mother, friend to your students. You have to look into class discipline and behavior. It entails a major reconstruction of yourself in the first place. You are a role model that students look up to so you better keep that image shining. A lot of times you deal with emotions and interactions. It is difficult to handle unmotivated students, disengaged individuals, unruly behaviors, delinquency and other unacceptable standards. Being flexible and adaptable to the needs of everyone is then an essential talent. Empathy towards the diverse students is a must in teaching.

The typical day of a teacher include waking up early in the morning, preparing tasks for the day, presenting lectures in diversified format and instruction strategies to meet the needs of each one learner. There is no single best way to deliver, there is no one method that caters to every students’ enriching experience. After meeting the objectives for the session, assessments must be done. Doing an evaluation is not a simple task. 

Selecting the appropriate type of questions to include in the assessment so that it truly will gauge students’ understanding is a major feat. You cannot simply ask memory-recall questions. Instead critical thinking or one that stimulate higher order thinking skills must be included. It could be an essay, drawing a diagram, elaborating facts, describing phenomena, problem-solving and various others. After assessment, judging students’ work based on predetermined criteria is next. This too requires patience for you have to read and critically appraised each students’ work to be able to provide constructive feedback. Then, many other related school functions have to be attended to. Most of the time you arrived home late in the day, tired and fulfilled.

Despite the daily struggle to survive in the classroom and the under-appreciated pay that teachers receive, we still do our job to the best we can. We don’t work for money alone, we do it for love. It is a life purpose that you discover along the process. The journey to discovery is rough and depressing process but it is all worth it in the end.

Are you a teacher, a student, a parent or school administrator? You may want to leave a comment regarding your views on our school system or perhaps share an interesting experience.