Assignment: Today write a response to the following tweet.
EJ KohYou study, study, study, and at the end, you are lucky enough to discover the greatest gift of education: that you know nothing at all.
I felt the same when I completed my education degree, I got the job because of the document which said I successfully completed the course.
While teaching in the classroom I felt I knew nothing, all the courses I took were not helping me in the classroom.
I actually started learning when I was in the classroom with the kids.
When I thought through it dawned on me, I had to study because by doing so, I was gaining experience in handling situations, ones I never faced before.
In my second year of teaching, I was in charge of teaching forty-two kids in the second grade. I was told by one of the kids I was their sixth teacher in six months.
It should have frightened me, like Julie Andrews, who said: what’s wrong with the children?
I stood in front of those little tikes unmoved by this announcement. The word cheeky came to mind, but since it was my first day; I let it go to see who comes up a winner in this competition , me or the forty-two sharp-minded kids?
I did not have to wait too long, next day as soon as the recess bell rung, it didn’t even take forty-two seconds for them to disappear from the classroom.
This experience did not scare me, it certainly made me think. I walked out of the classroom, went to the verandah to see where these hooligans were hanging out.
My thoughts were interrupted by the gym teacher, a fine and knowledgeable man who warned me these are the worst children in the whole school. I took all this information and waited for the following day.
The day had come for me to take some action, the kids were working on the task I gave them while I looked at my watch to see the time, it was 10.10 AM, the bell for recess would ring after five minutes . I promptly went to the door and locked it.
I turned around and saw the kids looking at me, I told them: if anyone stands up before I tell them to, there will be no recess for you.
There was pin-drop silence, I further announced they will have to stand in a line and wait for me to tell them to walk out of the classroom.
They did as I told them, after this incidence I never had any problems with them. When they were asked what kind of a teacher I was, “she’s the best teacher we ever had.” they said.
In my courses I didn’t learn anything about discipline. In real life I did. My mom had twelve of us, and out of them eight were boys, my mom was strict and my brothers were afraid to disobey her. I learned early on from my mother how to discipline children.
I put this knowledge into practice when my turn came and never had problems teaching kids. Kids are the sweetest human beings on this earth, they understand a lot.
All those hours, days,months and years of learning, provided me with the experience I gathered to use my education wisely.
……………………………:)
Sabethville 