The Teacher I am Today

I don’t know if I can call myself a teacher yet. Well, a teacher is a broad term anyway. As learning can be found anywhere, so can teachers be right? Well, as of now I am training through means of undergraduate studies in order to become a professional teacher someday. I am actually pretty much confident I’ll become an English teacher somewhere in the near future. I can practically see it now. I guess this is what other people call “living the dream.” Yes, it is my dream to become a teacher. I always have since I was very young. The difference would be I used to want becoming a Mathematics teacher. Until recently, though not that recent, I developed this passion for literature and reading combined with the passion for teaching that grew in me through time. Then there we have it: an English teacher in the making.
I actually had lots of teaching experiences before (many of us had). I have had classmates and friends ask me to teach or help them with their studies. In my third year in high school, I had a consistent Math session with a friend Sheilla at Dunkin’ Donuts. It was more of a group study really though we get to teach each other every now and then. In my fourth year I had a larger group. We were four, and we always went to the library or canteen to do our homework together. From time to time I get to teach them some Math. We also review together which would suggest that we teach one another. When I was younger I always held ‘classes.’ I’m sure you’ve heard of “bahay-bahayan?” Well, our version of it is teacher-teacher-an. After I stopped playing it (which I did for many years) my sisters did the same. My youngest sibling also has the desire to become the teacher and she continues the ‘legacy’ we’ve made though not so much anymore nowadays. (I’m guessing the fact that we are now leaving in a condominium comprising of teachers had something to do with it.) It’s funny to think that in all of those games we sisters were always the teachers. It was also through those games that I acquired of a pen name—Jenny Alvarez—which I still keep. Now why am I saying all of these? Reminiscing all of these teaching moments allows me to realize how this want have developed in me.
Even though I’m just a sophomore now and am still technically far from becoming a professional teacher, I can already testify that I am dedicated to this profession. I want this so much I am willing to give my all to hone my skills and just grow in it. I’d like to become the teacher I’ve always loved. A teacher who is caring and passionate about her students, mastery of her skills, her profession and developing in it: this is the English teacher I’d want to be. All these may sound generic but uhm I know that reality would always strike that not all teachers-to-be are teacher-aspirants. Not all have their heart in it, or at least not yet. It’s not that I’d like to segregate myself from them but I’d like to say that I feel happy for I know that this is where I belong.
I plan to be a teacher and I plan to give my best and exert much effort in this. And I realize, I have to grow first as a student for every good leader is a first a good follower. I am committed to this and if it were for no one else, I’d willingly do it for myself.