Teaching is about one third inspiration, knowledge, imagination, and two thirds just sheer hard work and discipline. I am finding myself constantly up and down in this job. The ups are always about working with the kids. The downs are always about the lack of a work-life balance. Frankly there is no balance. i have loads of work, and no life.
What keeps coming to mind as I think of this job is the word sacrifice. Not to dress it up as heroic, brave or in some way imply that we teachers are saviours of the world. Get thy homework in on time and ye shall have eternal life.
Its more a case of the fact that this is a job that needs to be done. Its always about the kids, giving them a future, helping them grow into productive and caring citizens. For that to happen I have to give a lot of myself. I sacrifice my spare time to make sure my lessons are properly planned and that marking is done, and a million other little jobs that always come up. Stuff just has to be done or else the kids don't learn.
In giving of myself of course I get a lot back in return. I get to share in the lives of hundreds of people as they learn to be, and eventually become, adults. I see their highs and lows, and their middles. I get to reward their successes, pick them up after their failures, and keep them going during their gooey middles. I don't just mark books, collect homework or set tests. I build confidence and esteem, develop social skills, fix broken hearts, listen to problems, give attention when no-one else does, and generally exist for these kids.
Teaching in interdependence in action. The kids need me. Not as the individual that I am, but just as someone willing to be available for them. And in return I need them. I need them to remind me why the sacrifice is so worthwhile. I need them to give my life meaning and to help find my own identity and ultimately my own destiny.
So maybe I have less time for watching TV, listening to music or just wasting time on the Internet. but perhaps in sacrificing this kind of free time, I am actually giving myself a much more valuable gift in living alongside these lives as they develop. Would I rather be a passive consumer of culture, or would I rather take part in helping spawn our future artists, film-makers, doctors, politicians, musicians?
When I think of it like that, it seems an easy choice.
