Day in and day out, we go through the motions of student life, and everything that comes with it. It’s easy to get a feeling of monotony from it all.
At the end of last year, I was exhausted, too. But as I walked off campus at the end of May, I wasn’t about to enjoy a long summer vacation.
Instead, I would be back on campus in a week. Earlier that year, I signed up for the Brendan Court ’06 Summer Enrichment program, which the school hosts every year in June. It’s a free educational program that lasts a few weeks and is meant to supplement the education of rising seventh and eighth grade boys while also giving them something fun to do.
My role there was to be a teacher: the one providing this education and managing the experience that the boys would have.
We only get only about a week or so before switching from school to, well, more school. And that included middle schoolers that might prefer a summer off. Things actually turned out pretty well, though. Not only was it a nice way to have fun, help others and better myself, it also gave me something to do and a chance to earn community service hours doing something I cared about. I walked away really enjoying the way I spent my time, even though it was quite the commitment — I plan on returning again next year.
What surprised me most, though, was the new perspective I got. As much as it was an educational experience for the kids, it was one for me, too. Having to teach the boys and guide their behavior took so much more involvement than almost any other volunteer experiences I had ever gone through at that point, and this was repeated over the course of weeks, not hours. On top of this, I had to maintain their focus and attention during a summer they could be using to play or go on vacation with. Most of all, though, this experience made me appreciate the people who tirelessly do this job for a living: teachers.
I learned how much more there is to teaching than just giving the lesson – it’s planning the days out, adjusting those plans, working with each student, finding a way to make them engaged and doing all this while still trying to enjoy my normal life.
The road is bumpy — some students need unique strategies to work effectively, others move faster and others move slower. The adjustment and level of care I needed to give quickly became a lot. I suddenly found myself needing to learn how to teach in a place where I had only ever been a student.
At the program’s end, I was already worn out, even though it had only been a couple of weeks. I left with a new appreciation and admiration for the countless people who do the work almost every single day for their entire career, and whose work so often goes criticized, unappreciated and undercompensated.
I know that I will continue my student life with an entirely different perspective of my own teachers. It’s one thing when you’ve just been around them, but it’s entirely different when you’ve been in their shoes.
