On teaching
October 12, 2009A good professor once said, teaching is an art.
A few years ago, I wanted to enroll in a master’s program in education (when I thought I couldn’t study law anymore). I find teaching a very rewarding profession, having been inspired by a single professor in comparative literature back in college. I felt so grateful of having been on his class that I, for the first time ever in my life, gave him a card. It was a thank you card, telling him he was like a guru, with knowledge emanating from him and we students absorbing it. I’ve never seen one so passionate in his teaching, so eager for everyone to learn. There was no superiority of teacher over student, only the pure desire to teach. The simplicity of his white long sleeves contradicts the grandness of his person. His single word of trust in me sustains my self-esteem, especially when I need it most.
Then, there is this professor I have now. Everyone trembles when she came, wondering if they should have dropped along with the others. She makes everybody feel inferior, not one satisfying her questions. She would have made a good wrinkle cream model, being the one causing too much stress on her students. She never tells the correct answer, only leaving the students with a plummeting self-esteem and an impossibly low grade. She has been known to flunk more students than she passes. Her single comment makes one think twice of his or her plan in life, losing track of his or her vision. But it is in her class that all students prepare so much and that frustration is all too familiar.
You are a good teacher if your students learn. You are a great teacher if you inspire.
Previous Comments
ako, kapag mayaman na ako, as in mayamang-mayaman (so, mga 2 to 3 years from now), gusto ko magturo.
a great teacher is indeed someone who can inspire his/her students. sa mga oras na ito, naalala ko si dodong nemenzo at concepcion dadufalza.. 
“for the first time ever in my life, gave him a card”
di nga? 1st taym? hehe taas ng standard!!! 
wow eks, naaalala mo si pa nemenzo at dadufalza! he he he…
pero mordsith tama ka na magaling ang teacher kung natututo ang students at henyo sya pag naiinspire ang students…i want to leave that kind of legacy sa mga students ko…kahit man lang kalokohan ko mainspire sila at matuto! he he he
uy, ako din, gusto ko maging teacher. sa tingin ko, sa future, teacher pa din ang bagsak ko…
Posted by kg at October 12, 2009, 10:17 am