On Teaching

Being a teacher... What does it mean? Is it difficult or not to be a teacher? Is it a job or a way of life? So much has been already said about it, but still these questions remain vital. They cannot be answered simply.
Some people really think that it is a simple job: you come to school, you give your lessons and you leave. What can be easier? But what can be more difficult than working with children? I would say – nothing! There is no work more responsible and difficult than “making” real persons out of those little innocent creatures. We should realize how much those first years in school influence the life of a person in the future. Children are “new members of society”, they look at people around and act like them; they take habits and words from them, treatment and behaviour. And of course, they adopt most from the people they see most often. Those people are teachers.

But what can a teacher give to his pupils? Just that which he has himself. Only a wise and clever teacher can educate those “little people”, make them kind and smart, but at the same moment not repress their own points of view, their opinions and thoughts. It is always easy to say: “That is good” and “That is bad”, but not easy to explain why. Children should understand what they do and why they do it. Teachers become a kind of parent for their pupils: some are strict, some are kind, some have a sense of humour and are patient, some are not. But the most important thing is that only SOME become parents.

Children are very pure and open creatures, they feel everything straightaway. They will never invest their trust in an unworthy person.

To be a teacher is an art. For some people it is just routine work, and for another – it is life itself. Such people pour all their knowledge and experience into their pupils, but they also give their hearts and souls, they live through the children, they love their pupils.

All the professions are very important. But how important is teaching? I think it is one of the most necessary and difficult professions. So much depends on these teachers. The material they work with are children and a teacher will never have a second chance to correct the mistakes that he or she has made.

Children absorb every word of their teacher like a sponge, every movement and every thought, even the bad ones. It is not easy to control yourself all the time and not to put anything bad in those little heads. Children always remember their best and “favourite” teachers from school; they never forget their advice and always try to behave the way the teacher taught them. What can be better than such gratitude? Children are very grateful, they will never forget good treatment; even if they can not understand how wise their teacher is, they will realize it later and will always remember this person, who devoted his life to them. Every time such teacher a sends his pupils out into life, he parts with a part of his or her own heart.

To be a teacher is a very difficult thing, but how great it is to see a nice, educated person and to hear from him “Good morning” and to know that this is your pupil. These moments of pride are the best in a teacher’s life. After that he has new strength to teach more children and goes to school with a light heart, knowing that his labour is never done in vain.