dear all,
experience makes you succeedi still remembered the first time when i became a technical secondary school teacher of english literature. it seemed that it happened yesterday.
at that day, i got quite ready and i had the confidence to be a good teacher. i arrived at the classroom, eager to share my knowledge and experience with all the students of my class. having prepared for two days, i had no doubt to hold their attention and to impress on them my admiration for the literature.
“stand up!” the monitor spoke loudly. the entire class stood up as i entered the classroom. i was a little puzzled, but quickly that awkwardness was over, i regained my calmness and began my well-prepared lecture, sure to gain their respect--- or even their admiration. ‘i’m your english, miss jiang. today we are going to learn . . . ’ i was very pleased with work . as the bell rang, i went back to my office full of a sense of achievement. the following day when i read my students’ diaries, the rosy glow was gradually replaced by a strong sense of sadness. the first diary said, “our literature teacher didn’t teach us anything today. perhaps her next lecture would be better.” greatly surprised, i read diary after diary, each expressed a similar theme. “didn’t i teach them anything? i described the entire framework and laid the background for the passage we would study in class,” i puzzled. “how should they say i taught them nothing?”
it was a long term, and it gradually became clear that my ideas about education weren’t the same as those of my students. i thought a teacher’s job was to raise interesting questions and provide enough background so that students could draw their own conclusions. my students thought a teacher’s job was to provide exact information as directly and clearly as possible. what a difference! i tell myself i can handle it.’ compared to what others have been through , i’m fortunate. thinking of these sentences i felt something important struck me. i believe my life would not be that bad and it was proved to be true. later during my life and work i always told myself ‘i can handle it.’ when my own goals seemed far off or when my problems seemed too overwhelming. and every time i said it, i always came back to my senses.
now the experience with my students has made me learn a lot, and made me be a better english teacher.