Another reflection prepared by Thea Marie Cua of Grade 9 – Wisdom who was among the students handled by Grade 12 Student Teachers during the Switch Day.
A teacher’s work is no easy task, and their students may sometimes tend to overlook that. For the past few years, “The Switch” program has been a part of PIQC’s tradition in celebrating Teacher’s Day. Through this, higher grade level students (Grades 10 to 12) were tasked to step into a teacher’s shoes and see their hard work in a whole new different perspective.
“It [The Switch] gave a good avenue for the students, as teachers to understand the teachers’ role in a day.” — Ms. Mary Grace Rago
Having to step into a teacher’s shoes may sound easy at the beginning, but doing the actual task is harder than they initially believed. A teacher’s work wasn’t just hard, it was exhausting even. Having to maintain discipline within a class without scaring the children off while keeping their composure was hard. Having to keep them happy and interested was hard as well.
“It takes a lot of hard work to be a teacher, and we didn’t even really do much compared to them. They stay in the faculty the compute grades, they come up with ideas and presentations for us. If it was hard for the students to just be teachers by following someone’s directions, imagine how hard it must be for the actual teachers.” — Michael Benjamin Avena
While the students only experienced this for a day, teachers go through this everyday, to a lot of students and classrooms.
The Switch has served as an eyeopener to all the students. To help them appreciate a teacher’s efforts they put into shaping their students’ minds, the efforts they pour out to prepare various lessons and activities. Most importantly, for the students to realize that everything a teacher does is for them to find a path to a brighter future.
“Of all the hard jobs around, one of the hardest is being a good teacher.” — Maggie Gallagher
Below are some comments from other students:
“It was certainly no easy task especially since we handled the toddlers from nursery, even though it was only for a day. Despite the hardship, it was worth it knowing I contributed to the growth and development of these kids. I appreciate the passion teachers have for their career, it is truly honorable.” — Kenneth Bryce Lim
“I did not expect the class to be very noisy when I was inside the kindergarten room. We couldn’t get them to settle down at all. How teachers get to handle them every single day is impressive.” — Lyra Sophia Tan
“It made me realize how hard it is to be a teacher. Without them, there would be no doctors, engineers, and architects. That is why I want to thank all the teachers for quenching our thirst for knowledge.” — Mary Stephanie Sy
Below are comments from teachers:
“Overall I think yes naman. Though syempre there are some points to improve like being more responsible and pag-act as teachers. But since there’s no experience pa naman and ‘di naman sa one day nadedevelop yun, kaya I could say they did a good job.”
“In my own opinion they did the tasks what we had planned and assigned for them in that day. But I think that a day is not enough to experience what are the real responsibilities and jobs of a teacher”