Fruits of Labor

Somebody give Chelsey Sullenburger a medal. Anyone who can land a plane on the Hudson River without anyone dying deserves something more than a thank you.

At my day job I'm a teacher, I teach adults and most of them are old enough to be my parents. To teach them I have to find away to make them respect me, and not see me as someone that reminds them of their children in a way that causes them not to listen to me. That in and of itself poses its own unique set of challenges. Consider personalities, learning speeds, ranges of ages, backgrounds and the fact that for whatever reason adults can forget their maturity in a classroom environment (think high school with more ego) and you have a pot of something that either comes out good or bad or sometimes very indifferent. This week one of my students mentioned that they thought I would do well teaching in a classic classroom environment and I told him that at one point that was a thought of mine. So I wonder how different it would be to deal with the personalities and learning speeds of someone younger than myself and in the middle of their rebellious period. Im not sure that I could or would want to handle that.

I do enjoy the fruits of teaching; at the end of the day I like to see the lightbulb come on for someone. Seeing that they've wrestled with the material and found themselves at a point where they realize that they don't understand something and then work to get to a place where they do understand; they feel accomplishment. When my students accomplish something so do I and I have the pleasure of working in a job where I get to feel accomplishment regularly and get to hear thank you from the students that appreciate what they've learned and experienced. I get to see the results of my labor. Everyone doesn't get to work in position where they get feel, see or experience that so I'm grateful that I do.

I also have great appreciation for the teachers that taught me something and the teachers that are continuing to teach others. It's easy to take that for granted until you have to stand up and try to teach somebody something.

-tw