the unexpected lesson.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of posts on Facebook by fellow course mates about missing teaching and being a teacher. Though the statuses are recent, I doubt the feelings are that new. A week after I left STAR I desperately missed my students. I gave them my number and created a new Facebook account for them to add me (because work and social life just do not mix). After I got back from holiday, I switched on my phone to find a few of the missed calls and texts were from my students. One message read, "teacher, are you okay?"

I couldn't help but laugh a little. How cute and thoughtful :)

We stayed in contact for a couple more weeks after that but then, life happened. They got back to school and I got back to being a student immersing myself in my term paper. I started to forget about them, and (I thought) they forgot about me. But one day, after abandoning my other Facebook for quite some time, I went back there, just to see how they were doing. I found that they had posted a class photo with me in it. I wanted to cry, because exactly the day before, I had posted the same photo on my real Facebook saying how badly I missed them, and how they'll never know how much they mean to me. Yesterday, I went to check updates in that account. I visited a few pages and saw that some of them had that picture as their cover photo. Now I miss them even more.

This morning, I got a surprise text message from Pn. Christina. Remember her? The sweetest most nicest teacher to me and my partner when we were in that school. She asked me about posting, whether we had gotten posted yet or not. I told her I wasn't getting posted because I wasn't under the KPM. We caught up for a little and I'm glad to hear that shes doing fine. She misses us, she says. I miss her too. I remember when I wrote her a thank you card and left her a present on her table the day before our last day. She had been transferred to the morning session a few days before so she only got my card and present on the last day of school. Even though it was the last day and the morning session had already gone back early, she stayed back, just to thank me. She said she cried reading the card. I had written her a super lenghty thank you right from the bottom of my heart and even that, I felt, was not enough to thank her for all that she had done for us. I cried writing it too. hihi. I know, I get stupidly emotional about these things sometimes.

You know, now matter how terribly misserable I was some days during my practicum, I don't think I ever hated being a teacher. It was always other things that pissed me off. Sure there were times when students who would tick me off - testing me and my patience but never enough to make me hate teaching. Deep down, I don't think I can ever stop being a teacher at heart. 

Being a teacher has taught me more about being human than I can ever imagine. I honestly think I have become better because of it. I hope I never burn out. Oh please don't ever let me burn out.

Oh, these are just a few random snapshots of my life as a trainee teacher ;)

Teachers Day celebration :D

some cheeky kids homework -__-"

drafting my next lesson during relief

another secret message:

"minta maaf cikgu untuk membising"

:P

I'd always mistakenly sign our attendance in the 'waktu' column

p/s: sometimes to save time we secretly sign for each other too

"ish pazlan, awak ni nakal lah! penat lah saya!"
"sangat."

"ha?" 

"sangat cikgu, saya nakal sangat!"

view from my table

err.. PUAN Syafiqah??

I loved giving them artsy work to do just to make things fun. They equally loved it :D

kitty helping me with my Sivik dan Kewarganegaraan LP

R.I.P kitty

my partner had a few of his most talented mates come over to help us with our mural. thank you Jezz, syapik and Wak for the big help.
(photo taken from Jezz's FB - that's the smiley guy in the skull t-shirt)
 

Oh, p/s: I have many more photos of my time there but they kinda disappeared from my phone before I had the chance to transfer them to my laptop. What a shame but, oh well. More space for new memories :D

the art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.