14. Has Valerie Morton given one a clear idea of the work of a schoolteacher? What do you think of it?

Valerie Morton is an English student, who has just graduated from the University, having received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and is now taking a one-year training course leading to the Diploma of Education, which will qualify her to teach in any kind of school.

In her letter she writes about her life, about the way she is studying and is trained to become a teacher, and particularly about her own experience of being a school teacher. Her so to speak story has really shocked me in some respects, because I have never thought of a teacher’s life in detail. Starting reading the story, I expected it to be a kind of boring list of steps an English student should take to become a teacher or something like that, but in fact, the story turned out to be a real treasure for one who has chosen this profession. Valerie shared her worries and troubles; she gave a clear idea of what being a school teacher means, what a person taking up school teaching should be ready for, and what a young teacher should do to become a real professional.

First of all, she says she has very little time to think of anything but school. Teaching takes all her time and actually, makes all of her be absorbed by the school. Although she is only training to be a teacher and has only 12 teaching periods a week, she spends all her free periods and each evening marking homework and tests and preparing lessons; she drops into bed totally exhausted. She says, a life of a school teacher is only filled with school, because besides doing usual teacher’s work like preparing and giving lessons and marking, a school teacher has a thousand and one other time consuming duties attending staff meetings and meetings of the Parent-Teacher Association; sitting on committees; coaching school teams; supervising other out-of-school activities; writing school reports; answering parents’ question; organizing educational visits and holidays at home and abroad; and so on and so forth.

She admits it was very hard for her to start teaching at school (even though it is only training course). She calls her first two weeks a nightmare: she felt absolutely lost in what seemed to her an enormous, impersonal machine and was overwhelmed by the whole business of teaching. At first she felt depressed and thought she was a complete failure as a teacher, but finally she managed to overcome all her doubts and fears and regained her self-confidence, in which members of the staff helped her a lot.

The story impressed me a lot and gave me a clear idea of what being a school teacher means. I imagine now how much work and patience it takes to become a really skillful, successful teacher, who is loved and appreciated by students, whose lessons are never boring, and who is really able to make students take interest in his or her subject. Moreover, a person who intends to be a teacher, should be deeply in love with not only his or her subject, but also with school and all the duties he or her is expected to do and of course with children.

I’m not sure yet whether I will take up school teaching or not, but anyway I expect my future profession to be connected with teaching one way or another. So, I found the story quite useful, for it is really important for a person to be aware of what life he is going to take up.