Life As A Pre-service Teacher: It’s Alright To Have Mixed Feelings.

by: Tan Sze Yee

“Of all the hard jobs around, one of the hardest is being a good teacher.”

Maggie Gallagher

Having a 5-day stint of school-based experience brings me to a lot of questions in my head. “What will happen after I graduate?”, “Am I ready to be a teacher?”, “Will I be able to control the class?” These questions swirled around my head throughout my School-Based Experience (SBE).

Worries- I have always thought I am ready to be a teacher, until I was given chances to sit in classes. Frankly speaking, stepping into those classes with a range number of 40 to 50 pupils, I got worried. I could not help but to let worries take over my courage. I shivered a little when I first entered the class, knowing that 40 to 50 pairs of eyes were looking up at me. Day 1, Day 2, Day 3,… I was surprised to find out my worries were slowly fading away. Instead, I started to feel a little excited to be in educational field.

Excitement- Despite the naughtiness of the kids, I slowly found themselves to be adorable. I once had the mindset that children are troublesome and annoying. However, I was wrong. During my 5 days in school, I learned to see things from the kids’ angles and the stages they are going through. Everything started to make sense and I am not exaggerating that class control became much easier when I tried to get to know them. This gave me a sense of satisfaction and of course, a little excitement. There were moments where I could not wait to graduate and step into the class to teach these little angels.

If you are a pre-service teacher, just like me, don’t feel afraid when you find yourself to have mixed feelings towards this profession. It is alright to feel perplexed and lost as we never know what to expect in future. All you need to do is to enjoy every moment spent with the kids and you will be amazed by how things turn out to be at the end of the day. Trust me, you will insanely fall in love with this profession!

To all the pre-service teachers out there, “We can do it!”

(378 words)

Targeted audience: Pre-service teachers