Tomorrow marks my 30th day to be launched as a Newly Qualified Teacher in my part-time job as an English tutor. As of today, I was able to fulfill the 100 lessons required for me to reach a new level for promotion.
I was kinda late, actually, because some of my co-mentees had already undergone their training for the new teaching level, and they are now tagged as new level teachers. It took me a little while because I only book at most 3 lessons per day (peak hour slots during the weekdays) since I started, and my weekends are only up to 6 classes during peak hours.
Knowing myself, I am a competitive person, so, seeing them being able to reach a new level makes me want to do it for myself, too. However, due to time constraints, and the inconvenience of teaching in very hot weather, I opted to only teach during the night. Also, I was justifying that this is only a part-time job, and I am contented with the amount that it brings to the table, it's not as big as the others, but it can be a good additional income source.
When I started opening slots, I was expecting that only a few students will be booking my opened slots, however, since I am a new teacher, we are protected and are advertised by the platform for a period of 60 days. After the protection period, we are already on our own. I am grateful that my slots are often booked and that I have regular students who book me for two straight weeks. There are also returning students who book my slots. Moreover, new students become our Mission, when they like us, they will book us again and become potential regular students. As of now, I have 3 regular students. I teach these students at 18:30, 19:30 during the weekdays, and 10:00-11:30 on the weekends.
I realized that it is not easy to get students like you. Their interests and styles differ from one another, so, it's up to you as their teacher to build rapport with them. In one of my previous articles, I mentioned that I've had bad feedback from some of my students and it really made me think if I am doing this right. As I evaluated myself, I think I am doing my very best, carrying myself confidently, and preparing the lessons beforehand. I am not just out of bed and decide to wing it, I put my efforts into making props and other paraphernalia like realia, drawing, etc. I also review the lessons beforehand, research the correct pronunciation of certain words that I am unsure of. Unfortunately, there will be some students who would give you very bad feedback on your performance after you've pretty much done whatever you can to make the lesson engaging and interesting. All I can say is that it's okay, you can always appeal and tell them why the bad feedback was unfair to you.
So, now I am waiting for an opening of a training session for new level qualification, but the dates of the training were all fully-booked. It's good that we have a mentor from who we can ask questions, and there's actually a training request form that we can fill out to be able to join a particular training of our liking.
I would like to end this short article with some encouragement for new, aspiring teachers in the online platform. I am not sure why you chose to be here, I have my own reasons but mine may not be the same as yours. So, whatever it is, always remember these things:
You are a teacher, a molder of young minds. - It's not easy to become one, it's also painful that sometimes, our efforts are not appreciated enough (in terms of good feedback, and even salaries), but always go back to the very reason why you chose this profession - not only for yourself but more so for the young minds that depend on you.
Don't be too hard on yourself. If you are tired and not feeling well, take a day off and rest. Think about your health, whether it be physical, mental, emotional health. Take a break, pause for a while. It's okay to just relax and chill, it's okay to think of yourself.
Do your best. Yes, I've mentioned that sometimes we are unappreciated, but is it a reason for us to not be excellent in our jobs? I always remind myself of that meaning of integrity - being excellent even when no one is looking. I am a mentor myself of new teachers in the school where I work full-time, and one of the questions that my mentee has asked me is what to do during a class observation. I told her, to do what you always do - with or without an observer. Because I speak for authenticity, you should not only do your best because a rater is at the back of the classroom, looking at all the angles of how you handle your class. Think of the observation as a regular class, or better yet, think for your every class like an observation - and you will be able to practice to become excellent every single day.
Teacher, do not be discouraged. You are doing the very best that you can. You are doing this for your growth, for your satisfaction, for your family, for your students, for society, for the world.
I would like to say thank you, Teacher, for everything that you do. :)
