Experience @ Repeating?

When I went to receive my Anugerah Kecemerlangan Kokurikulum Kebangsaan ( I became second for Guru Cemerlang Kokurikulum Kategori Sekolah Menengah) in Bukit Mertajam December 2008, I think it was Penang's Education Director who mentioned "let 20 years of teaching be 20 years of experience, not 1 year teaching and 19 years repeated".

That phrase REALLY opened my eyes and made me realise that yes, we really need to venture into our profession and gain all the experience that it has to offer us. Not just come and go to school, enter and exit class, gossip in the staff room with no ACTUAL purpose not only professionally but also in life!

First of all, we ARE paid to become teachers. Paid to teach our future generation so that they too get the chance to be somebody in years to come or at least make something of themselves..Thus, if we neglect what we're supposed to be doing in the first place, we ARE depriving them of their rights!

Secondly, we should enjoy what we do everyday, rejoice in our students' achievements not only academically (not necessarily scoring straight As in the examination) but any knowledge that we've shared and all the little efforts that they've made either for themselves or even just to please us!

Thirdly, every single day is unique and it gives us new experience, well to me at least if not everyone. I cherish every single day that comes for I believe that even as adults, we learn something new everyday, not only from life itself but from things and people around us, even our students.

I look forward to meeting my students (but not when I think of the actual school environment that consists not only of students but of human beings that can hardly be called 'friends' and managers of the school, maybe I should open up my own school so I don't have to face anyone else but only my students) because I know that everyday they would try something new to attract my attention and I would TRY to teach them something new too, hoping that they would be able to use it later in life or hereafter.

I guess, we really need to be passionate in whatever we do. I think I am passionate and I try my hardest to do the best I can for everyone around me though I know that that sometimes it is still not good enough. Well, at least I am trying..Back to the topic of experience, I've only been teaching since 2001 so that's not too long or not that inexperience either.

In the (almost) eight years that I've been teaching, I have really learnt a lot, matured and experienced many things that I've never thought I would before. I've also learnt new things that I feel I can be proud of, not only for myself, but for my family as well as for my students.Hence, let our years of teaching be a real adventure that provides us loads of experience instead of being a burden that tortures us everyday for the rest of our life!