Reflections— Chapter 17 — And now, I’m a professor...

Happy are those who can transmit all they know and learn from what they teach. - Cora Coralina

Those who follow my blog, perhaps have already read some article about the pleasure I feel when I help someone and share my knowledge with others. I feel it so hard that I’m always leading lectures, workshops and others.

Now, some of you might stop reading and wonder: “Andressa, you aren’t talking about Technology here… Come on...”

In fact, I don’t only talk about technology in my blog, I also talk about experiences. At last, there may be someone here with a profile like mine and feeling alone on these philosophical questions.

But, let’s come back to the subject in this article…

Now I have a new challenge! To be a professor!

After the master’s degree, I tried to apply for a job in an institution, I talked about it in an article (Reflexões — Capítulo 9 — E a primeira vez que fiz uma aula ensaio!), and I described how was the process, but I never explained about the results…sorry…

Then, my little padawan....

... I didn't get the job!

I was very sad then, but now I can see that it was better for me, I wasn’t ready at all to get this huge responsibility.

The time has passed..

The time has passed…. A long time, actually…. And then, this year, I finally had my first opportunity to become a professor. Of course, I was quite afraid on the first day when I imagined I would teach something. Even though it's something I like to do, I never thought I could really be good at it...

However, after I thought about it, I remembered that I’ve written an article about some kind of professors whom I’ve known as a university student (Reflexões - Capitulo 2 - Tipos de professores (um leve desabafo), in which I tried to list the most common ones

I tried to list the most common and describe them.

• Professors who love their job and never give up teaching;

• Professors who had already given up (but for some reason they keep “teaching”);

• The ones who have many diplomas but no didactics with the students;

• The ones who nobody has any idea about why they are professors (and sometimes I think they don’t either);

• Professors who make distinctions among the students.

But the most important for me, was the moment that I stop to think about what kind of professor I would like to be…

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." (Henry Brooks Adams)

This is so true! Professors have the power of making you love or hate some subject or area.

Every day, since I accepted this opportunity, I’ve been thinking about the future classes that I’d prepare, and how I could improve them. I also think about the classes that I taught, and what exactly I could do differently, if I missed something important, etc.

Every video, text or lecture I see about my subject, I think how I can apply them in my classes, about the relevance that a point of view or knowledge could change my student’s life.

As I wrote in the article I mentioned before: “I want to be able to touch each one's soul and know that when they leave my classroom, they leave better than they entered. Who left wiser, stronger, dreamier and believing even more in themselves and in the future. I want them to have ideas in my classroom and throughout their lives, to turn these ideas into realities and with them help transform people's lives and the world for the better!"

I don’t know yet if I make a good work or not, and I would like to receive this feedback... But I sleep with my mind calm because I know that I ‘m trying give the better of me, my knowledge, my critical and constructive thinks for all my students. My student don’t need to agree with everything that I say, and if disagree ou see my mistake, they can talk woth me without afraid… because for me… this is a real teacher before all!

And as I wrote in the article I mentioned before: “I hope to be able to read students of mine in a few years saying that they miss me, how much I helped them and that I made a difference in a positive way in their lives! And I also hope that in the not too distant future, all teachers will be respected, that everyone will be in the first category I listed and that the entire population will understand its importance!"

References

Image taken from the website: http://boletimjuridico.publicacoesonline.com.br/professora-que-teve-horas-aula-reduzidas-antes-de-licenca-maternidade-recebera-diferencas/