Posts Tagged ‘teacher’
After Vegard’s post on why he wants to become a teacher I have felt that I wanted to do a similar post, seeing as I am studying for the same goal. And tonight seems to be the right time for that post.
Why is this such a good time? Maybe because I am currently reading up on school politics for a debate tomorrow. Or maybe because I just chose my major last week. Or maybe both?
When I went to high-school I didn’t have the best of times. My first three years of it I was living in Belgium with my family, and I had some subjects in the norwegian school and some in the american school. I didn’t want to be in Belgium, and the people in Belgium didn’t seem much pleased to have me there either. It was hard, and I didn’t feel like I fitted in. I wasn’t the sweet and cute cheerleader-type of girl, and I wasn’t quite as outspoken as I am now.
I was good in school, but I didn’t want to be there. And the teachers didn’t make it any easier. I wanted a teacher who understood that everything wasn’t all right, but no-one seemed to notice. I went to quite drastic meassures to let it show, and I suffered from periods of depressions.
The third year in Belgium, while in 9th grade, I found somewhere to belong. People who I could concider friends. Things seemed better, but I was still fucked up. I didn’t want to be in class, or in the classroom at all. I did good in classes, but getting up in the morning was hard.
The first couple of years back in Norway were okey. I always did good in school, and I made some friends. But the last year of High School was bad again. I had gone through a lot, I was tired and felt alienated from everything. I didn’t want to go to class. I didn’t want to do anything. I wanted to sleep. I had friends, but I felt alone. I did good in school, and I had my plans and my goals, but I had a teacher who saw that I was struggling with even showing up enough to get my diploma.
This teacher is the reason I didn’t quit. He asked to talk to me, and I told him that I wanted to quit and take a year of, but I knew my parents wouldn’t like it. And he knew that the risk of me never returning to school was big. He helped me through it. He had an open door if I needed to talk, he let me take classes off as long as I did the work. He talked to my other teachers, and thanks to him I got my diploma.
I want to become a teacher to change the way school works. I want to become a teacher to help those who aren’t sure if they’ll make it. I want to become a teacher who isn’t afraid of asking a student what’s wrong, and how I can help.
The school-system is fucked up when teachers see students missing classes and not getting their diplomas without helping them.
The school-system is fucked up when students don’t want to go to school because of the way they’re treated by fellow students and teachers, and no-one does anything to fix it.
And the school-system is fucked up when students in trade-school have to learn Shakespeare, but can’t speak in english about their own profession.
A big problem in Norway is students who quit high-school, never to finish it. Good students who get tired, because the classes aren’t generated to meet their needs.
The teachers are supposed to be there for the students, not the other way around. And thanks to my one teacher who really understood that, I actually finished high-school and am now studying to be a teacher. If I can do that same effort for my students then I will concider my work a success.
Openly yours,
Frida
Hello, my dearies.
I thought I would share with you the tale of the low attention span man.
In his childhood, he could never stick with an activity, because he got tired of football. So he started with taekwondo. He got tired of that, so he started wrestling. He got tired of that, so he started gaming. He switched games and/or characters constantly.
Then he got into politics. He attended lots of stuff, and eventually got himself some positions in boards. He also started a bachelor in political science. But he lost focus after one year, and moved away, leaving his political terms half-finished, for someone else to take over.
In his new city, he started an integrated master-program of English, music and pedagogics, which would leave him as a respectable teacher-man. He also got himself lots of new political positions here.
Right now, our hero is considering moving to Oslo. He has a grand scheme in which he will take lots of awesome subjects, like a bachelors degree in middle eastern studies with Arabic and an obligatory term in an Arabic speaking country, and come out the other end as an awesome teacher with a funny hat.
Oh, low attention span man. Will you ever finish an education?
Ello!
Found this entry piled among my drafts, and I thought I’d finally publish it. This is the story of why I am studying towards becoming a teacher:
It pretty much goes back to a teacher I had in physics back in high school. Physics was not a subject I did well in. I got Ds every test. But for some reason, instead of helping me, this teacher hated me. He hated me ridiculously much, it seemed.
After every test, he would say this in front of the entire class: “Vegard, your test results are too low! Do you not understand the subject? If you need help, you can come ask me!”. That is fucking humiliating to go through after every test, in front of everybody!
That’s not all of it of course, because every time I was at school, the teacher seemed angry, and only went through what he had to then sat at his desk with his papers the rest of the class. But I heard from my friends in the class that when I wasn’t at school, he was happy and told stories, and it was awesome being there. So i felt like if I showed up in class, I would ruin it for the entire class!
That year, I only had absence from school Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Those were my physics days. When I woke up, the thought of meeting this man made my stomach turn!
I made a vow, never should any student have to go through what I went through. So I am becoming a teacher, because if I can keep even one class from having a teacher like that by having me instead, I will deem it a success!
Ole Jan, fuck you!
Vegard