If there is an aspect of teaching that I am dissatisfied with, it must be the time I had to be away from doing my core business, which is teaching. These times which is usually for tasks that are not directly related to teaching such as being the organizing committee for functions in the school and sometimes it took me out from the classroom. I found that too often such things are disruptive to my teaching. I had to put my lesson on hold to do the things as ordered by the school authorities.
**Sadly this is the reality of being a teacher. One had to be a ‘Jack of All Trades’ being stretched thin. Is it any wonder that majority of ‘mental’ cases are burnt out teachers?
I am also dissatisfied with the way extra-curricular activities were handled. I was a Red Crescent member since my school years and suddenly I was asked to be the teacher-in-charge for the Scouts and Kelab Keselamatan Jalan Raya (which even the other teachers have no idea what is the purpose of most of the clubs). Although both are uniformed bodies, there are differences between both bodies. This ‘bidan terjun’ and ‘tangkap muat’ attitude really gets to me. The victims are both the students and teachers. Students are stuck in clubs or societies that they have no interest in and teachers were stuck figuring out how to handle the club or society as there were no handbook ready as guideline for the club. When extra-curricular activities were held in such haphazard way, is it any wonder that the students dislike it?
The most difficult things that I have experienced as a teacher has got to be dealing with reluctant, rowdy learners, some disgruntled teachers (their negativity really gets on my nerve) and difficult school administrators. There were some students who were really forced to go to school and they are very reluctant and uncooperative in the classroom. Not only were they not focused on the lesson, their behaviour very often disrupts the teaching and learning process. Some of them revealed to me, after much persuasion and coaxing, that most of them felt that going to school served no purpose to them. They were labelled as stupid and hopeless over the years until they subscribed to that idea. They believed that they are stupid and hopeless. The idea has fossilized in them. This is a difficult thing to change and to make the feel their self worth again, although it is not impossible.
Dealing with the disgruntled teachers annoyed me. They were not supportive of things that most new teachers tried to improve, always telling us that soon we’ll give up the idea and it is not worth the effort. ‘Penyapu baru’ was the term that they used to refer to us. For me, their attitude is toxic to the new teachers. Some new teachers will inevitably subscribe to their beliefs however flawed it was in the first place. My father is a retired teacher and I still see his passion in teaching and improving his students until now, so I know that there is no such thing like ‘penyapu lama’. We will be ‘old brooms’ if we allow ourselves to be one. We will be obsolete if we want to remain stagnant.
Ah, the dealing with difficult school administrator. Don’t get me wrong, there are some school administrators who were excellent and motivated others. However, sadly there are some who seemed to be intent on being such a pain to others. For example, I experienced working with a difficult Principal who seemed to subscribe to the belief “Do as I say, NOT do as I do”. He came in late but expected the teachers to be punctual, he puts decisions on hold and this frustrates the teachers to wait for the decisions. His ideas are always right and others should not question it. To question would be seen as questioning his authority. It isn’t any surprise that most teachers were hesitant to approach him but prefer to keep the disappointment to themselves and being more and more dissatisfied as days went by.
Disappointment will lead to a jaded teacher who couldn’t be bothered about things around them. However, this is something that passionate teachers must avoid. Problems will happen in any workplace in the world. Just keep reminded that the main client in the teaching ‘business’ are the students and there shouldn’t be anything that keep us from serving the best we could. The best satisfaction for me is to meet my former students, having them remember me, thanking me (even those naughty ones who gave me a hard time) and seeing that they are doing well. That’s my happiest moment.
-> This reflection is written for one of my subjects and I would like to share it here.
