Photo courtesy of Xavier von Erlach

“Being a teacher is the most difficult yet the noblest and most fulfilling among all professions.”

Whenever I get the chance to talk about the teaching profession or whenever people ask me about my perception on the wonderful world of the teaching profession, I always begin my sharing with this statement.

I have been engaging myself to teaching since my elementary years and it is my firm belief that being a teacher does not merely rely or depend on any educational attainment, undergraduate degree or professional requirements. For me, one does not need to be a graduate of a four-year Education course to be considered as a teacher. As the cliché says, “To teach is to love.” From that statement itself, whoever has the capability to love himself or herself and the people around him or her has the power to teach.

As a teacher, the core of my profession is love. I teach because I know how to love. It is always the primary reason why I want to teach and why I continue to teach. My love for my students is what keeps me going. For me, if the reason of a person in teaching his or her students is only for him or for her to get paid, that “teacher” should not be called a teacher.

The teaching profession is not just like any other work or job. Aside from being a profession, teaching is, first and foremost, a vocation. There should be “heart” in teaching. For one to be considered as a teacher, he or she should first have the eagerness to teach. Nowadays, many college students who take Education program land in a non-teaching job after graduating. Why? It is because they really do not have the “heart” in teaching. When asked why they took Education as their undergraduate program, they would always say reasons like “because Education course or program is inexpensive,” or “because that’s what my parents want for me,” and even worse, “because I have no choice.”

Being a teacher is not only educating the minds of the students. It requires not only teaching the students with what the textbooks say but most importantly, being a teacher imparts values to his or her students. This belief brings me to my own philosophy as a teacher, particularly as a language teacher focusing in the English language. Just a brief overview on the fundamentals of language teaching, we all know that language has two important aspects – its forms and its functions. Language form talks about how language is structured while language function refers to what students do with language as they engage with content and interact with other people. Between these two aspects of language, what is more important for the students to master more is the functions of the language. That is why I always say to my students that to be fluent in using the English language is just a bonus. What’s more important for me as their English teacher is that they will be able to use the language in communicating with other people and knowing that they understand the message they want to convey despite of their imperfections in the aspect of the structure or form of the language. With this, as an English teacher, I have this mantra that I always remind my students of: “I look not on your errors. I look at your efforts.” I always prefer students who are not that good in terms of the use of the language but give so much effort to cope up with their lessons rather that those students who are really good, even fluent with the use of the language but do not exert more effort to learn because of pride and sense of superiority. What I always remind my students is that if they can use the language in creating a smooth communication with other people, they are good to go.

This philosophy in teaching, for me, is what teachers like me should ponder on and try to embody. Students are already bombarded with concepts and ideas. Yes, it is true to say that they already know how to create good sentences. But, what’s next? Do they know how to use that knowledge in real life situations? Yes, they can already solve mathematical problems in their math classes. But, what’s the point if they cannot apply that in buying goods in the market? Yes, they already are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in their social science classes. But, why do majority of the youth today always give more priority in buying what they want rather than buying what they really need?

Students in the present times need to learn more the values that they can get from the concepts that their teachers teach them. Most importantly, they should be able to know how to apply these values in their everyday lives. And that is supposed to be our main objective as 21st century teachers. Values integration in teaching and learning is one of the relevant issues nowadays. It is my firm belief that we, teachers, should learn how to incorporate values education in our classroom whether we teach English, Science, Math, Araling Panlipunan, Physical Education or other learning areas. We can do this if we start to teach our students to have sense of social awareness and responsibility. Students should know that whatever they do can greatly affect other people’s lives and each of us has accountability to one another. And being a socially aware and responsible citizens, they surely can make positive changes in the world.

Also, as a teacher, we should always acknowledge our own imperfections and with these flaws, we should know how to continue learning new things, things even beyond our comfort zones. 21st century learners are now far more advance that we do as teachers. It is challenging in our part to get along with these kinds of learners. But who are we to dislike them? We cannot do anything about it but to try and to give our very best to be able to meet their expectations. That is why we should not be afraid of admitting our imperfections. Then use these imperfections to be better.

Life as a teacher requires so many things to sacrifice. But if you continue to love what you do and you love the people for whom you do it, you will never get tired of teaching… and yes, that what makes the teaching profession the most difficult yet the noblest and the most fulfilling of all professions!