An ode to teachers

A teacher dons the hats of a mentor, parent and friend.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

“What do you mean by hectic? It is just an 8-4 job with a lot of holidays and summer vacation, right?” quipped a friend who belongs to a different line of work.

The hours of planning, grading, and creating content, the physical strain, the mental work, and not to mention the emotional investment that goes into the job as a teacher are trivialised like a mere ripple in a pond. In this AI-driven, knowledge-loaded, competitive world where information is available at the click of a button, the role of teachers has catapulted from primarily that of a knowledge disseminator to navigating the complexities of the digital world, tackling the ever-shifting generational needs and nurturing the essential skills for an unpredicted future.

From teaching in the pre-COVID era to holding students’ attention on virtual screens, from teaching in the pre-AI era to ensuring that students use AI ethically and judiciously, it didn’t take aeons to change — the last four years have opened a brave new world, drawing us into a journey that is similar to stepping through the looking glass. To adapt to these changes, it took (still takes) teachers to go beyond the proverbial 8-4 job and burn the midnight oil to engage students, whose attention span is as fleeting as the longest YouTube short (thanks to social media). In a desperate attempt to engage these social media aficionados, an English teacher sits at her home desk in a quiet corner of the city, passionately devising a lesson to present Shakespeare in a contemporary light, aiming to ignite their curiosity about the Bard’s timeless works. Zooming out, we witness numerous creative sparks of ideas illuminating teachers’ desks, each striving uniquely to engage their students.

Decision-making is teachers’ superpower; they make choices at every turn, often involving irrevocable decisions that can profoundly shape or break an individual. “To err is human” but here there is little room for error; much like Newton’s third law, their every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, the reaction can mean the difference between nurturing a lifelong love for learning and leaving young minds disengaged and resigned to mediocrity in a world brimming with creative possibilities.

In a polarised world, where hate speech and politically correct language vie for dominance, selecting content is akin to walking a tightrope in a storm — especially for language teachers, whose resources necessitate reliance on real-world content. Sifting through the vast sea of information to find the right material requires more than just time.

The toils, or rather the chronicles, of teachers do not end with that. In the 21st century, where the world has become a global village, classrooms across the globe are home to a diverse group of learners, each bringing unique cultural backgrounds, learning styles, and linguistic abilities. Much like a juggler, teachers must ensure that they strike the right balance to foster inclusivity and bridge the cultural, linguistic and learning gaps. The pedagogic strategies and techniques keep evolving at a breakneck speed and teachers are expected to be on their toes and embrace the role of lifelong learners to ensure that they don’t churn out mindless and heartless graduates but forge responsible citizens who are mindful of their surroundings and are committed to make the world truly a better place than they found it.

A teacher dons various hats. One moment, a teacher is a master wizard like Dumbledore, guiding with wisdom and power; the next, she is Ron Weasley, a steadfast friend. One moment, she embodies the wisdom of Gandalf, and the next, she is Samwise Gamgee, braving every hardship alongside her students. One moment, a teacher is like a seasoned samurai wielding her katana to sharpen students’ skills, and the next, she’s the Robin to her Batmen. Whatever role a teacher assumes, she remains a constant, like the North Star, not just until her students graduate but long after. Even when her students have left the nest to explore the expanses of the world, she remains anchored, always there to offer guidance.

maithri.venkat@omegaschools.org