THE JOY OF BEING A TEACHER

Dr.T.V.Rao MD
Today we receive many wishes from our Students, who are more intelligent to
decide the matters on learning and Teachers. A recent celebration of teachers
day on 5th September, I was keenly following, for many decades what is good
and bad of Teachers, Today the job is more like a paid for work as we teach.
Students too have become opportunistic people like anyone in the Today's
society many times act to the advantage of the day, people who are
examiners, occupying the administrative chairs and harm the students with
powers will be understood as Teachers of the Day, however the many real
contributions come from the least anticipated junior staff, When I was in a
University in early 70s the best teachers are many times, who probably not
taken a class in the recent months to say it is not new that manipulations exist
from the last 4 decades and today we see the change in different forms. It is
good many Institutions have taken different decision that the most senior
teachers are declared as Best Teachers, in spite of political push and pulls to
avoid conflicts. I wish if one wishes to live in teaching with passion, should read
Socrates who was a victim of his passion for teaching in a country where
virtues are below the power rule. In spite of many challenges around, us we
should thrive in the system, do not try to be popular in the unpopular world
where you are judged by many incompetent to the profession and highly
placed in the hierarchy, However Teaching is a challenging job with many
unique frustrations, but the rewards of teaching are numerable and invisible,
and many times felt only to our consciousness. Every day, teachers mould the
future through impacting their students views and understandings. Teachers
foster creativity, develop character, give students vision with which to view
the world and provide students with the skills they need to reach their
potential and lead productive lives. Many Teachers with specialization think
they are teaching the same topic however it is not true if one wishes to
improve in life, Teaching is a job that offers a great deal of variety to changing
needs of the Society Each year, we teachers get to work with a new group of
students with unique personalities, experiences and ideas, every batch
contains many talented pupil who can make better contributions than many of
us. I changed many ideas of mine with teaching with passing of years, as
Teachers can introduce new topics into the courses, change the way we teach
a particular topic or design new classes to teach to keep things new and
exciting each year. To say an example, few decades back I was teaching my
students with praising the antibiotics and today I am not positive with
Antibiotics with creation of Superbugs with misuse of Antibiotics. It reminds
me that Teaching Medicine and Science are different from many other static
subjects, as Teaching science and Medicine allows you to be a student of
science throughout your career as you incorporate new research findings,
technologies and science events into our classrooms. While required classes
have mandated or many times fixed curricula that teachers are expected to
follow, it is the teacher who decide what will happen in the classroom each
day. Teachers teach their curriculum in very different ways depending on their
knowledge, personality and beliefs. I think no job like teaching as not many
jobs provide an individual with so much room to be creative and autonomous
each day. Every class makes me think I am the most liberated man to change
the people what they think. Never forget the Teachers have lots of time to
interact with our families, one of the great perks of a teachers schedule is that
it matches up with our childrens school and family schedules. I think many
women join teaching as it works better to improve career of their children. I do
not think there is any Profession where you are paid not only for teaching but
for learning too. Practice to Be a Lifelong Learner we will never learn a topic
better than when we start to teach it. Students always ask the most interesting
questions, prompting you to dig deeper and learn more about the aspects of
science / Medicine they are most curious about. Teaching continues to be the
great profession with lots of humor to anticipate and accepting the matters
make the difference, Adolescents are both easily amused and very amusing so
working with them provides many opportunities for laughter. Sometimes it will
be simple jokes you will make up as you teach that will make your students
laugh. Sometimes it will be funny statements that our students share with us
that make you laugh. A day of teaching when you do not laugh at least a
couple of times will be quite rare. The good teachers never discriminate the
higher performers from low achievers, treat your students with respect.
Students will respond to positive treatment. Students notice how you treat
other students and will react accordingly. Treat all students with equal respect.
In turn, expect respect back from the students. Do not compare one student
from other students as GOD never made any one like others, as we wish that
do not like compared with other Teachers, dont compare one student to
another, except saying how great they all are working. "This is so great.
Everyone is working." or "What a fantastic job you've all done! My life
experience proves be consistent, be persistent Be fair/wise: sometimes you
must treat everybody the same, whether good, bad or indifferent. More
challenges await many of us with Privatization of Education where you find life
unpredictable and many matters are to the advantage of few who believe in
dogmatism and groupism will it succeed? However try improving with the
moral and ethical goal on life to survive in the given situation? It continues to
be current challenge to many, anywhere we are placed. However continue to
practice three simple words BE SIMPLE, BE HUMBLE AND KNOWLEDGED.
Dr.T.V.Rao MD professor of Microbiology Freelance writer