What My Job Has Taught Me

I walked into the classroom on this particular day to teach the SS1 students as a Nigerian Corper. I was halfway through the lesson when I noticed one of the students was paying attention to me. His gaze was focused on me without letting the rest of the stubborn boys behind and beside him distract him. I knew if there was a seat in the front, he would change from where he was sitting.

As it's my usual thing to always ask questions as an evaluation at the end of my lesson, I asked some students, particularly pointing at the guy so he could answer, but he was just looking at me. I felt a bit angry because at that point, I thought my time had just been wasted after like 45 minutes of standing and teaching. As I stood, waiting for him to talk, a student beside him said, "Corper, he doesn't understand you."

He doesn't understand me, how? I was surprised. I asked him again if it was true but he didn't respond. Then a girl spoke in a language he understood and he spoke. I became confused, then I asked how come? That was when I discovered the boy couldn't understand English but only his native language; he came from somewhere in the part of Ghana as he said.

I was shocked when I discovered again how he hadn't been understanding me for a whole two weeks since he joined my class, and I was always busy delivering my lessons and would leave once I was done thinking everyone understood. That experience taught me a lesson that day - patience and being observant of people.

I love teaching and I'm always happy to do my best in my job to make sure every student I teach understands me before leaving the class. What that taught me was to always be observant while in the classroom and not focus only on those I think are the brilliant ones. As teachers, we are responsible for every student in the classroom and we have to ensure they grasp every knowledge dished out to them with patience.

If I hadn't been observant or taken my time to point at the guy and if I hadn't concluded that those at the back were the set of the unserious ones who only come to school to disturb the serious ones and because of that, ignored them, I wouldn't have noticed his problem and found a means to make sure he was following up. I noticed he's an intelligent student but only needs time to learn how to speak and understand the English language.

Before I left the school, one of the teachers took it upon herself to guide him in simple English and how to use it in words. Another thing was how we became friends. When he sees me approaching, he would smile at me, and sometimes, he would just come around to the office to say Hi.

Another thing my job taught me about people is that sometimes, we don't know what they are going through, and just a simple joke or humour could lighten their mood. Many times, when I walk into the class, I take a few minutes of my time to share a funny story and other times, I tell them about me, mostly the part I know would make them laugh.

We all would laugh together, and once it was time to learn, everyone would behave, especially on days when most of them would decide to behave rude, of which I don't hesitate to remind them to always know their place when I'm in class.

There's always time for jokes, and when it's time to get serious, they should not be mixed together, I would tell them.

The moment I spent in the school, they were always eager for me to come and teach them even on days I don't take them. They would say they like how I make them happy and feel free with me. I try to make everyone smile, at least in my class with the way I interact with them, talking to them like a big sister would, and with that, they all flowed well with me.

As a teacher, it's good to be friendly with people, especially those who are not always in a good mood. These kinds of people need to be shown love and not be ignored or neglected. We don't know the impact our sweet words or jokes could have on someone, particularly one who has been down but just decided to come to school to see if anything can happen to make them feel better. So, it's our responsibility to put smiles on people's faces, mostly those put in our care to steward.

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_{Images are mine}