Page 6 - Revista

ELITETEACHERS

TEACHING

THE TEACHER'S

DILEMMA: WHEN

TEACHING IS
NOT ENOUGH

By Estefanía Blanco

When I decided to become a teacher, I was really excited about the idea of building bonds with my
students and becoming a role model for them. Among my multiple ideas to carry out was to welcome
my students with a hug as they entered school, to answer their questions always with a smile in my
face and to make sure they found on me someone they felt at ease with. However, all those plans
began to fade as I faced the reality of the teaching practice.

Everyday, I found myself snowed under with work that exceeds the teaching practice. As I look at my
to-do list, I realize that most of the tasks which need to be done along the morning do not have
anything to do with the actual teaching practice.

Teachers need to design lesson plans and objective assessment activities, fill-in reports, create
rubrics, set objectives, check attendance, send e-mails and notifications to parents, tutors, other
teachers or social affairs, make photocopies, create materials for students with special needs of
educational support, attend meetings, and deal with red tape. If we have one hour between classes
we usually have to substitute an absent teacher or try to recover a missing book from the library. Not
to mention the preparation of parent-teacher conferences.

It is not surprising than many teachers, including myself, experience a feeling of failure when they
realise that, despite having accomplished all their chores, they have missed the thirty souls that
entered the classroom at 8:30 in the morning with the willingness to learn, socialize and admire the
adult figure of the teacher who, at certain ages, is seen as a kind of earthly God. The idea that we
cannot succeed as teachers, despite the efforts we put on it, may strip ourselves of our dreams and
hopes.

The feeling of having disappointed them is extrapolated to the fact that we have also failed at
becoming the teacher we have always wanted to be. We end up entering the classroom wearing a
long face, we sit at our desk and go through papers without looking at the people we have in front of
us and we start our lesson so exhausted that no matter how great our lesson plan was, it turns out
boring.
05 The excessive tasks demanded from teachers are making it impossible to make bonds with our
NOVEMBER 2019 | ISSUE 05 leaves me even more tired for my next lesson. The teacher I wanted to be seems just impossible to
students. I keep trying to push myself a bit over the limit and do a bit more everyday, but that only

reach. She is overwhelmed with work and papers. The situation is just very frustrating. I just want to
be there for my students and their needs without worrying about the non-teaching activities that the
teaching practice involves.

To end this reflection, I just want to remark that I will continue to fight to be the teacher who
welcomes students with a smile; a teacher who puts the teaching practice before the to-do list of less
important things; a teacher who is aware that what is expected from her is unrealistic. I do not want
to be a machine. I just want to be a teacher.