on being amazed
When you are exactly at the most intoxicating and nerve-wracking time of the semester...
...when papers pile up on your desk
...when absolutely nothing makes sense on your planner
...when you are about to have your period
...when you have the least amount of "spendable" money in your wallet (and your son's booster shot requires you to spend all of it)
.....something catches you off-guard and makes you happy-happy-joy-joy.
Like last friday when I had the fantastic pleasure of witnessing my students amaze me with their hidden abilities in synchronized dancing (for our department's anniversary). Naks. My jaw literally dropped when I saw an entire class of students strut their stuff on-stage and my initial reaction was...when did they find the time to rehearse all this? And man were they good (looked good too)...like dance majors or something. And then I saw another set of students wearing what seemed like excruciatingly tight clothes which I thought took a lot of guts. Those students who were quiet in class were the ones that blew me away. What I really loved about the whole event was how it probably took a lot of working together to achieve the results. That's something you can never really teach in class....and that's probably going to be their topmost favorite memory when they all become graduates.
At the end of that day, even though my colleagues and I never spoke of what we thought about the presentation, we all had proud looks on our faces. You know how it is when you pretend to be unaffected by something...like it was just another day on the job? Sort of like that. And then, I realized that my feelings of pride were somehow related to what all teachers feel...that even if this job doesn't pay much and requires a whole lot of patience as well as physical and mental energy, it's being able to see your students grow and mature in school that makes it all worthwhile. Meaning, I'm getting older and more ancient by the minute.
...when papers pile up on your desk
...when absolutely nothing makes sense on your planner
...when you are about to have your period
...when you have the least amount of "spendable" money in your wallet (and your son's booster shot requires you to spend all of it)
.....something catches you off-guard and makes you happy-happy-joy-joy.
Like last friday when I had the fantastic pleasure of witnessing my students amaze me with their hidden abilities in synchronized dancing (for our department's anniversary). Naks. My jaw literally dropped when I saw an entire class of students strut their stuff on-stage and my initial reaction was...when did they find the time to rehearse all this? And man were they good (looked good too)...like dance majors or something. And then I saw another set of students wearing what seemed like excruciatingly tight clothes which I thought took a lot of guts. Those students who were quiet in class were the ones that blew me away. What I really loved about the whole event was how it probably took a lot of working together to achieve the results. That's something you can never really teach in class....and that's probably going to be their topmost favorite memory when they all become graduates.
At the end of that day, even though my colleagues and I never spoke of what we thought about the presentation, we all had proud looks on our faces. You know how it is when you pretend to be unaffected by something...like it was just another day on the job? Sort of like that. And then, I realized that my feelings of pride were somehow related to what all teachers feel...that even if this job doesn't pay much and requires a whole lot of patience as well as physical and mental energy, it's being able to see your students grow and mature in school that makes it all worthwhile. Meaning, I'm getting older and more ancient by the minute.
5:01 AM
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