Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Teacher (10/26/06)
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TITLE: The Responsibility of a Teacher | Previous Challenge Entry
By Debbie Sanders
11/01/06 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
As I look back many years ago,
I find two examples in my own life of
what a teacher can be, and what they
should be. As I entered what through
a child’s eyes seemed to be the
largest building I had ever been in at
the tender age of five, I walked hand
and hand with my mother. The
corridor seemed to be at least a mile
long. I remember being so scared,
even though my mother had been
encouraging me for weeks telling me
how much I would learn, and about all
the new friends I would make. We
finally made it to the last room on
the left. As we entered through the
door, my stomach became suddenly
turned upside down. We made our way
in and we met my new teacher. She was
tall, slender, wore glasses and really
wasn’t very attractive. But, I didn’t
know anything yet. The minute the
mothers all left, the terror began. I
must tell you that this was one
experience I had never known anything
about before. She began to yell at us
almost immediately about what we would
not get away with in her class. At my
safe home, I was never talked to in
this harsh tone. This went on for
days and months. Soon the papers
started going home with very poor
marks. My mother knew something was
wrong, because I had always been very
eager to learn at home. Very soon the
daily stomach aches began. . What my
mother had told me would be fun, was
the most frightening experience of my
young life. My mother decided that
she needed to make a visit to our
class just to check everything out.
The minute she entered the building,
she could hear my teacher screaming at
the top of her voice at all of her
pupils. When she reached for the door
handle, it was locked. My mother went
in to action, in a panic. There was a
locked door between her and her child
who was being verbally abused. If was
not only me, but everyone else in the
room except for two children. These
two children had the privilege of
going to kindergarten, the rest of us
had not. The teacher considered them
to be smart and the rest of us lacking
and wasting her time. We endured the
rest of the year, but it had certainly
made a lasting impression on me, being
my first experience at school and with
a teacher. I thought this was the
way it always going to be at school.
As summer came nigh to an end, I began
to feel butterflies dance in my
stomach at the very thought having to
return to that dreadful place.
The dreaded day did come, and
here I was again, walking hand in hand
with my mother going down that same
hallway again, but this time I entered
a room with a real teacher. This
precious lady still holds a special
place in my heart. She inspired not
only me, but every student that walked
into her room. She had such a kind
smile and voice. No one could resist
her invitation to learn. She made me
feel important, and she told me I
could do anything that I wanted. She
believed in me. It is so certain that
we should realize that there is both
life and death in the tongue. She was
a molder of dreams, and she knew it.
I believe that God put her in our
lives. I couldn’t wait to go to
school. What a difference she had
made in my outlook. I am a firm
believer that we must be careful to
choose our words wisely, because we do
not know the impact they will make on
a tender heart. I truly believe that
a teacher’s jog is so under-rated, and
underpaid for that matter. My own
daughter is now a kindergarten
teacher. She has always felt as
though she were looked down upon
because of the profession she chose.
That is when I love to tell
her, “Honey, you have the most
important job in the world, you mold
lives.” I try to remind her to make
her students feel loved and special.
Let them know they do matter and they
can do anything they set their mind
to. You will plant their feet on the
road to success or the road to self
destruction. You choose.
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