One Step At a Time

Dear Student,

"To be a part of a child's life and celebrate his every little success forms the greatest moments of any teacher's life."

There are days, more like moments when you are downright confused, messy and in a haze of a crazy spiral mess. The more you share the more varied views or advice you receive. And if, you are not completely sane and in one of those moods it affects you the most, dampening your mood and spoiling your day. It's not just you whose affected but the people you hang out with; your colleagues and if you're a teacher the worst hit party are your students. They bear the brunt of your mood swings. But is it right or is it mental? It would be unwise to say, you're correct and blame your students for everything, "Hey I was stressed out and you added to it" or "It's all your fault, kids these days I tell you no respect for elders or teachers." et al. I mean it's easy to jot down excuses and blame others, why do we not look at our faults? It could have been us and not them.

From the past one week or so, I've been listening to this; "You're too friendly or you care too much. It's okay to care for your friends and family. But there is a line between a student and a teacher. You shouldn't be friendly with them, at least not outside the class and blah blah." End of story what all that yielded was;
1. Not to be friendly to students.
2. Only be strict.
3. Do Not Care, there's a line that divides you.

I freaked up, big time. On one hand I've had some exceptionally awesome teachers, who went on caring for us like we were their own kids. And the best part was, they loved us; loved me, were friendly & caring, heard us out even if they couldn't help us and always, always gave us advice; not the bookish one but of their own experiences. And I realize we respected them, still do and even remember them, are in touch with them, if not all some. They taught well, maybe they weren't perfectionist, no one is or maybe they were. But they respected us, us students. And looking back now, I don't remember how they taught me or if, they ever made a goof-up in class, what I do clearly remember is, how they made me feel. Heck, they didn't even lose hope in me when I and my so-called friends thought I was a lost cause. After all, all we need is a bit of love, hope & lots of faith.

And today I finally took the courage to ask my mum, "Hey what kind of a teacher were you?" And you know what she told me? "I was friendly, caring; I was new obviously so it was not a cake walk everyone is at one point but I maintained good relations both in and out of class. Experience and perfection in teaching comes with time, when delivering a lecture. But friendliness it should be there from the start. And what you need to have is patience, lots of patience."

This reminds me I read somewhere, "It doesn't matter if your student is 5 years younger to you or 15, he or she is your student & if you treat them well, they will treat you well, and respect you." After all to gain respect & friends one should be the same. You get what you give.

There will be hundred's of people who will advice you, but only ten will truly do and mean it. So today, my confusion has resolved and I'm sorry for being mean and selfish and for being angry when there was no need, anger is never the solution. I love you guys and that's it. I've loved every single student of mine that I've taught till date and In shaa Allah will do in future too.

And an ending quote, "The best thing about being a teacher is that as they grow, we grow with them."

-love, Fatima

P.S: The opening and closing quotes of this letter are from, Make A Difference page couldn't help but share.