[DOCUMENT TITLE]

Assessment 1

PREMITA SEEGOOLAM
 Reflective Writing
Growing in a developing country where education is highly valued and competitive pressure thrives
throughout all levels, education has become a means for everyone to escape poverty. Teaching is a
noble vocation that enables one to positively influence and mould the lives of others. Teachers are
considered a special blessing from God, and it is the teacher who will guide the students the
importance of a pen over a weapon. There are many reasons why someone chooses to be a teacher,
but the most common explanation is to make a difference in the lives of younger generations.
Undoubtedly teachers’ profession is one that where knowledge is shared and enhance other skills
and professions. With time, I eventually realised that teaching is indeed my true calling.

As a child, I do not have any good memories of primary school. My primary school was very strict and
used corporal punishment to discipline disobedient students. It was not a joy to go to school as if you
do not know the correct answer, you get punished and humiliated in front of class. I absolutely
despised my primary schooling due to the way I was treated. My secondary schooling, on the other
hand, was better, and I was inspired by a female math teacher who was strict but humble and
considerate at the same time. She genuinely cared about the students and spent time helping them
understanding and ensuring learning was occurring. She was reassuring students that making
mistakes was acceptable as long as they could be corrected within the timeframe.

Whilst still completing high school, I began tutoring for lower school students in my locality which
was in the low socio-economic area; what triggered me to teaching was the realisation that anyone
can achieve their goal with patience, encouragement, support, and persistence. Students' happiness
when they understood a concept was a big achievement for them, and it was an inner contentment
for me to be able to assist them. During that time, I have been able to improve my social and
interpersonal skills which was a big step for me due to my timid nature; and I can say that they
taught me a lot about tolerance, the drive to succeed and bravery. It was clear that I wanted to make
a positive difference in the lives of future students by completing a challenge, inspiring the next
generation to become lifelong learners, and instilling hope in these students. I realised that anyone
could work with the elite, but it requires considerable bravery, social skills, and discipline to work
with students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who are already dealing with a great deal of
issues outside of school. It was obvious that I wanted to contribute to community by working in the
remote community and be a part of an adjustment in which people believe that every human being
has a good side.
Furthermore, being a teacher necessitates more than simply subject knowledge and teaching
abilities. The notion that a teacher simply teaches and then leaves is erroneous; they must deal with
much more, such as behaviour problems, parents queries, school management issues, hectic
schedule with tremendous workload, long working hours among others make the teacher profession
overwhelming. All of these, however, can be overcome through cultivating one's own resilience. As a
mature student with experience in both secondary school and tertiary vocational sectors, I have
acquired an abundance of resilience in dealing with everyday challenges such as self-care, self-
awareness, and emphasizing the importance of physical, emotional, and mental well-being. To be
able to provide a good lesson, I've learned that debriefing with colleagues and building relationships
with students are extremely crucial for learning to take place. Teaching necessitates perseverance,
enthusiasm, dedication, willingness to continue believing that you can assist and enhance students’
learning, a never-give-up attitude, and the willingness to accept and adapt new and different
strategies. With experience and observation around my workplace, I did learn that a resilient teacher
need to have a growth mindset; be open to tackles challenges into opportunities for learning to
occur. Even though, it might be tricky, a resilient teacher will be flexible, adapt and adjust to the
changes and enhance new teaching strategies to ensure learning occurs.

As a mature student with educational experience, I understand why many teachers prefer to leave
their jobs because it is a challenging environment to work in. A resilient teacher will have a variety of
tricks up their sleeve and will work for passion rather than money. My goal for the future is to be a
compassionate and resilient teacher, as well as a role model for the next generation. My 7-year-old
daughter looks up to me as a role model, so I know I'm on the right track.