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.
