This is probably the most valuable lesson I learned in college.
A teacher has to master his/her subject matter, because, after all, how can he/she impart knowledge s/he doesn't have?
When I myself went teaching, I realized that this adage applied not only to teaching students, but to life, in general. It is true, "You can't give what you don't have." You can't give a child a mango, for example, if you don't have one.
Teaching in a private high school, with students who had more technological gadgets than I had shoes in my closet. My mastery of my subject definitely was useful, but other than that, there were other things I found out that I needed to equip myself with. Material things, apparently these children did not lack. I found they yearn for something else, aside from the education they obviously went to school for. Many times, I found myself faced with a boy who had crush, but was confused what to do with his feelings. Or the girl who seemed to be ignored by her parents, apart from giving her all the things money could buy. Or the boy that rarely stayed still, and seemed to be living his life annoying others.Then there was a boy who was at odds with the world. And more. Clearly, all these situations needed something else beyond the academic knowledge a teacher had studied and trained for in college. It's not that the college did not warn us about these non-academic situations at work. It's more of deciding on the actual situation and not knowing the outcome.
When I transferred to a public school, it was a different game. And I needed another game plan. Here, the students have other challenges. Some of them, academically inclined, but were hindered by material lack. Like some of them would go to school with empty stomach and could not concentrate on the lesson, much less anything else. Or others would be absent not because of laziness but because of industriousness--they needed to help their parents at the farm or something. Still others just because they did not have anything to wear--and I am not talking about lack of clothes in trendy fashion. I am talking about practically not having clothes for school at all. One time, we had one student who passed out while doing a class activity. I found out later, he didn't have breakfast; he walked three kilometers to school that morning; and he had had no snacks nor lunch. It was a wonder how he was able to participate in his other class activities. Our school's dilemma was the academic and social growth of our students. They would, for instance, win in inter-school activities, but it was hard to send them forward to the next level for lack of budget. Sometimes, if teachers could not get the amount, these children, deserving as they were, could not proceed to the next stage of the competition.
The teacher's life does not revolve just around the school. Outside, they have family and friends who also need their attention.At home, they had to take care of their children and their spouse. They need to put food on the table, clothes on their family, roof on top of their heads. And much more. But even the single teachers also face their own challenges. Often, taking for granted their availability, people seem to think that single teachers do not have any familial responsibility and therefore demand more of them.
Their community would also ask for their time. The town fiesta would need organizers; the purok would need hands in cleaning the posts; the women's organization would have an outreach; the church would need a lector and a catechist; a friend needed someone to watch over her children while he/she ran errands; a relative needed money for her daughter's tuition or for his boy's medicine.
Such an overwhelming picture.
"You cannot give what you do not have." With this in mind, does this mean that a teacher has to have everything and be everything to do his/her duties properly?
To balance all the roles a teacher needs to perform, and at the same time be centered as a person, a teacher needs to be equipped with everything necessary to keep from being overwhelmed.
Short of being a superhuman, how does a teacher deal with all this? An interesting question. The answer is still, and always, an ongoing process of experimentation and discovery.
The good news is that a teacher is not alone in this. In the Philippines, there are thousands of teachers, who might have similar experiences and problems, and therefore, might also have answers that might be helpful. Aside from that, there are other people from different fields who have a lot of things to share willingly and voluntarily, to make life easier for an educator.
All we need to do is open our hearts and minds to such experiences and try something that would make our lives better. And then, do our part in also sharing what we know to those who might be able to learn from them.
Together, we can continually enrich ourselves for a better life.
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