WHY DID I BECOME A TEACHER?

According to Dr William Arthur Ward, an author, educator, and motivational speaker, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” Speaking of great teachers, I had had many, but of being a teacher, I never planned or dreamed of becoming one. I was inspired to become a teacher after my high school graduation.

Over the years, I was blessed to have great teachers who inspired me to learn better and to fly higher toward my ambition. They made teaching and learning processes inside the classroom fun, cool, and exciting. Because of them, I was inspired to become a teacher—engaging myself in a unique discipline that has passion to help children—wanting to make a difference in young people’s lives and to inspire them to make their local and academic communities and even their global village a better place to live and to learn.

Two months after I took the very first Licensure Examination for Teachers administered by the Professional Regulation Commission, the Makati Science High School, the seat of secondary education not only in the City of Makati but also in the National Capital Region, invited me to teach Elective English subjects, i. e., Creative Writing, Technical Writing, and Journalism and Print Media, and to establish The Makati Science Vision, the official student publication of the Makati Science High School, which will become, later, as one of the best school papers in the country.

At first, I was daunted and petrified. I was extremely nervous about my intellectual and professional capability to tackle the job, teaching an academic subject that I did not study in college, except that I was a campus journalist since my high school days. However, in God’s grace, I quickly learned the tricks of the trade by reading books and periodicals, attending seminars and conferences, undergoing professional development courses, and most importantly, pursuing my master’s degree in the University of the Philippines. Later, I enjoyed teaching my students and working with my editorial staff.

Despite the low pay, the many paper works, and the weary emotional pressure, I found fulfillment in teaching especially when my students perform and participate better in classroom activities and examinations and when they give me little notes and tokens of love, gratitude, and appreciation. And though teaching entails much passion, dedication, and compassion, I found enough motivation everyday by knowing in my mind and my heart that I was once a grade school pupil and high school student and that I know how and what my students feel and think inside and outside of the classroom.

In my 12 years of classroom teaching, I found enough joys of teaching: sharing tears and laughter with my students and celebrating their triumphs and successes in life; molding and affecting my students’ future and inspiring them to develop their fullest potentials and to help them actualize their dreams and aspirations; and learning life skills while teaching them, enjoying a tenured job and happy summer vacations, living a fruitful and conducive family and professional life, providing creative and energized learning and teaching environment, and working with intelligent students, helpful and friendly faculty, and beautiful and fully-equipped school. All of these give me an exhilarating high that makes me continue teaching.