HOW I GREW IN EDUCATION

Diary Dear,

Remember I told you I never wanted to be a teacher now not only did I find myself in it, I have grown and I am still growing!

Well, let me tell you how it came about.

Back then, I was a spinster (does anyone still use this word?) and had my time to myself, so when school closed at 3:30pm and my colleagues left, that was when work actually began for me. I would go on line and looked for lesson plans and copied and pasted them to suit me, so that I could give an astounding lesson to my pupils.

The real deal came when the proprietress, Mrs. Ume, decided to send some people for Jolly phonics training in 2012, and while others valued their Saturdays, I decided to make use of mine in a training. It was fun meeting other educators, especially someone who had come all the way from Kano to Abuja for this training!

During training session that Friday, I was delegated to train the other teachers. And that was the beginning of my growth journey.

That same year, she came with an offer of who wanted to go for a 3 day training during a public holiday. Ah! What was I born for? I flew at that opportunity. The next year, I went for 2 more and that is how I became a CPD addict. Before I left that school, where I served for 4 years, I had 7 trainings all paid for by the school.

When I left there I joined another school that da a Head that was a CPD guru. There, I also grew and got to understand that as a teacher, I cannot afford not to always learn. It was there that I learnt the beauty of online learning.

I bloomed here as I was like a maniac, always looking for new courses to attend, both online and physical.

But apart from that, there were some events that I needn't attend, but I ensured that I did, even when most of my colleagues didn't because it was optional. Things like, rewriting the school policy, Strategic Management meeting, School budgeting Planning committee meeting, Calendar planning Curriculum development and some such insignificant things like that.

Guess what? These are some of the things that have paid my bills today.

I find it funny when teachers are asked to come to some school events today, and they cherish their time so much that they blatantly refuse to come - not that it is wrong though -but they all hope to be mentors and school leaders tomorrow; so what exactly do they have to offer, when they have not trained themselves in some certain aspects, what do they have to give?

Tomorrow, they would expect to fix a meeting and want every single soul to drop what they are doing and attend to them? I laugh in Jaba.

Living things need nourishment, sunlight and basically lots of love to grow; so the sooner teachers realize that the teaching career is as much a living profession as any other living thing, the better this noble profession will bloom for them.

Alright Diary, I need to study for a bit before I call it a night.

'Till next time.

RMK-E