teachers’ day was on 1st september, but i think now is a good a time as any to reflect on my almost 3 and 1/2 years of teaching since i am almost done with this phase of my career.

perks of my job (in no order of merit)

1) the 5-day week took effect this year

2) flexible hours (i can manage time to free up an afternoon once in a while)

3) school holidays, holidays, holidays (children’s day + youth day + teacher’s day)

4) it takes 5 minutes for me to reach school (literally a stone’s throw away)

5) with this job, i can’t help but think on your feet, improvise, multi-task, manage behaviour, have eyes behind my head (however i use powerpoint more often than whiteboard markers so i seldom need to turn my back), be at 5 places at the same time & fear krptonite.

6) take up interesting courses. so far i have completed 3 modules at NAFA (diploma in art eduction), wilderness 1st responder, instructor rope course and this week i’ll be on a 2 day kayaking 1 star course, all free of charge of course.

7) bosses wouldn’t normally call for a meeting after 5pm or call you at night.

there are no surprise deadlines.

9) there are many avenues for me to express my artistic inclinations. i’ve painted walls, set up booths, prepared drama props, wowed students during art & craft lessons. i know i’ve procrastinated and whined about these tasks from time to time but i know no desk bound job will ever have such opportunities for me.

Other than enjoying such perks, i’ve benefited greatly from my humbling teaching experience. teaching is essentially humanitarian. think of each student as experiencing a personal tsunami; they need disaster relief efforts. Or at least when you’re at it, try not to stir up personal tsumanis within them.

during my stint at the neighbourhood school, i’ve interacted closely with people you only hear of in singapore but seldom meet. children coming from broken families is only the tip of the iceberg, and since its becoming so common, society just shrugs its shoulders and say that there are proper channels of help for the marginalised.

sombre awareness: the care-givers of some of my students are in and out of rehab or are so messed up themselves that academic performance is not a concern, keeping the children close by is. for example, while a colleague and i were concerned about girl skipping remedial, we found out that the girl’s parent (a divorcee) was managing paper work to marry another divorcee with 3 children between them. and this is no ‘one fine day’ michelle phifer-george cloony fairy tale.

i also found out that in most neighbour schools, there will often be at least one student with serious learning disabilities like autism. i had to manage an autistic girl myself for a year. again, society shrugs its shoulders and say that there are proper channels of help for the disadvantaged. the waiting list for the autistic school in singapore is endless and expenses will be incurred. i also suspect that most parents will think that the good money they are paying for, will not cure the child of autism like chasing away a cold or dousing a fever, so what’s the point?

the school has channels of referrals, but the extent of follow up is limited if parents and society are not cooperative. on the other hand, what happens after autistic school? is there societal follow up? during the oral examinations my colleague encountered an autistic candidate who read words vertically after demanding the examiners to introduce themselves to him.

apparently, the autistic student likes to paint and that is when he is calm and collected. accordingly, the school provides him a painting corner to retreat to as and when he needs time out. these improvisions are marvelous efforts on the part of the teachers and they should be saluted.

in a social setting, when two teachers introduce themselves and reveal their professions, an immediate alliance is formed and a knowing smile is exchanged between them. soon, like secret agents, references and acronyms will be pass between them; encrypted codes alien to the outside world.

i would like to caution however, that since teaching is such a taxing job, teachers need to guard themselves against burn out and bitterness. i had to learn not to take things personally. to all teachers, think about this – even after coming out of the most difficult class and yelling your throat hoarse and having your authority undermined and having the worst day of the term, you are still going to return to a place you call home and to people who love you, while chances are, the kids who you were yelling at, don’t have an emotionally safe place to return to. so don’t beat yourself up over bad days, take one day at a time, even superman couldn’t save everyone.

so here’s to the league of extraordinary gentlemen – wishing you a happy teachers’ day.