I was so preoccupied with schoolwork yesterday that I didn't have time to post anything.
In fact, I almost forgot that it was one of my favorite days of the year -- 3.14 -- Pi Day!
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"Pi in the Sky II" by Micajah Bienvenue
San Juan Island, WA
August 2015
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Spending most of the weekend as well as Monday working on our group's final project presentation for Monday night, I've pretty much been on "zombie mode" until today. Technically, I'm now done with the winter school term. In less than three months, I'll be done with the whole program. Time surely flies fast! I can't believe that I've been here this long. (In the photo above, I had just arrived from the Philippines!)
Counting school days is such a strange way of measuring the passage of time. For many students, especially children, school breaks mean emancipation from a deluge of homework, projects and exams. School breaks usually mean freedom.
However, I have mixed feelings about this program ending soon. While the homework assignments take a huge chunk of my time, I could say that they have so far been the most effective way to learn to do things. I always look forward to coming to class because it is such a mentally stimulating environment. I especially admire our teachers who, on top of their regular day jobs, come to class each week fully prepared. These seasoned professionals have mastered their craft so well, and now we are learning from their knowledge and experience. I don't know where their energy comes from.
Lee, our instructor in PR Writing, gave us this writing prompt on our final class meeting:
I think that I still have it in my heart to....
I had so many emotions and meandering thoughts going on that time, so I didn't feel like sharing with the class what I wrote in those five minutes or so. Now that I've regrouped, I'd like to share what I wrote.
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I think I still have it in my heart to become an educator.
I remember promising to myself when I was a little kid that I will never become one. My parents are both teachers – my mother still teaches in our local elementary school and my father is a retired college math professor – and I've always known that their jobs didn't pay very well. They still did their work well, anyway. For them, what their students become is the measure of their own success.
I believe that going to school doesn't necessarily equate to getting an education. It takes hard work and competent teachers to make that happen. My parents have done so much for their students and their workplace beyond teaching, and they continue to do so to this day. They are definitely the reason I grew up with a deep love for learning. While I share their passion for making a positive difference through education and think that it is a worthwhile challenge to be in their role, I don't think the right time has come yet for me to act on this dream.
Someone once said that teachers are molders of dreams, because they spend so much time shaping young minds and preparing them for the future. I've always visualized this description as a potter spinning clay on a wheel. Expertly. Passionately. Lovingly. While clay has many qualities that make it so useful, it takes the most competent potter to shape it to its best form and purpose.
Right now, I'm a student. From time to time, I mentor someone. But someday, I think I'll try my hand at being a teacher. It may not be as cool as training padawans to become Jedi knights, but it will definitely be a life lived with purpose, as I've seen through my parents.
Cheers to all teachers! To my father, the math professor, I hope you had a happy Pi Day!
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