I suppose some might have known how the first few months of contract had been pure hell for me, and that I was pretty close to being axed. (Being on contract gives the Principal of your school the absolute power to do anything to you.) Reason the P cited? That I didn't know how to teach. But I took it in my stride. I mean, being thrown into a school with no idea on teaching styles, the curriculum, class management etc, there would obviously be problems encountered. I'm not very good at play-acting. Some teachers call it working smart, and yeah, to a certain extent, it IS working smart, but teaching isn't about putting on a show for the P whenever he/she steps in for an observation. I didn't believe in that.

But I tried "to put up a show" for my second chance and somehow it did the trick. Needless to say, I survived my one year of contract teaching and moved on into the student-teacher world, with fond memories of my 2E girls.

I'm not trying to scare you people out there, especially those who are thinking of entering the education line. But this is the harsh reality; that once you teach, you would get a lot of responsibilities. I guess in a way, contract did me good. I've had a taste of what real teaching life would be and I know what to expect. Most of my peers comment that practicum doesn't come quite close to real teaching and truth be told, I was pretty shocked at how slack I was during my practicum in year 1. I mean, yeah, there were things to do, but I was bounded by forms, orders from Co-operating Teachers (CTs) and supervisor, as well as their expectations. There were people telling me how to teach, what to teach and so on. I had so many free periods for the purpose of lesson-planning and I wasn't attached to any Co-Curricular Activity (CCA) nor club. No other responsibilities save for teaching.

In contrast with practicum, the real teaching life is filled with worksheets to plan, exam papers to set, CCAs (sometimes not just one but two!), subject committees, weekly lesson planning and the teaching itself. Oh, and let's not forget the housekeeping. In most schools, the form teacher has to prepare the students' personal files (called PDFs or something like that), call up their parents at times to enquire about their progress at home in general, collect miscellanious fees and so on. With all these things, 24 hours a day might not even be sufficient.

Yes, with so many things to handle, one does tend to feel overwhelmed, especially if one is a beginning teacher. New and inexperienced, the senior teachers might belittle you, step on you and cajole you to do their work for them. Don't be surprised if such things happen because they do happen. However, teaching is something that you learn on the job. No one said that it was going to be easy and no one said that you'd be fully-equipped with teaching skills and know-alls once you step out from that teaching institute. Even teachers who have been on the job for years and years sometimes have difficulties, what more the new ones?

Don't be discouraged. Teaching is something that grows on you. The children, their smiles when they greet or wave at you, seeing them achieve their maximum potential (a favourite phrase of my much-hated cheena ex-principal)..these are things that you can't really measure with money. Okay, well technically you can because teachers are now graded and one's grade is reflected in one's pay during the mid-year or something, i.e. the higher the increment, the better the grade. You don't even need to ask what kind of grade.

I don't know why I suddenly wrote about teaching when I'd originally wanted to write about getting married quickly for the love of wanting to have kids. :P Inspired by Cik Kak kita nie punya idea. Hah!

I'd love to have kids if I get married, but I don't want a teacher for a husband.