Teaching! The best thing that could have happened to me!

Teaching! What a profession! Working with young children was always in my mind. Of course it never came to my mind that choosing this career would make me face some problems. People I thought were there to help me, tried their hardest to convince me that teaching was not the job for me. If it were not for my perseverance, my faith that this was the right career and a women who believed in me, I would now have been doing something not very meaningful in my life.

Since I was an elementary student, I always wanted to teach children. People always told me: "You are not going to make any money!" "Are you crazy?" "Choose something else!" When I thought about becoming a teacher I never cared about how much money I was going to earn; I just wanted to be in something that I liked. I always felt very good around children.

I started my education studies at a public university. After a year of general studies, every student at the university had to take several tests in order to enter into the different subjects: languages, early childhood education, math, literature, history, etc. My choice was Early Childhood Education. After taking these tests, I was told that I did not have the necessary skills to become a pre-school teacher. I had to think about changing my career. When I heard that, I just felt the world was falling apart. How would I do something else? Who are they to tell me what to do? What kind of tests would take me away from what I believed was my profession?

My friends encouraged me to fight for it. I needed somebody to understand me. Who should I talk to? What should I do in this situation? After desperately looking for help, I found the right person: One of the most important people at the university, a 50 year-old nun who understood my position and promised to help me. What a relief! I was allowed to go on with my dream!

After the third year, I was designated as a student teacher, with two of my friends, to work in a school located in a very poor neighborhood. I had 50 children in a very small classroom. The classes had no ceiling, public bathrooms had no doors. In general, it was a school in very bad condition. This was going to be a challenge! I really felt so lucky to be around children who needed me. We worked a lot to improve the school; we did fund-raisings to finish the construction of the building. I enjoyed working there.

As a student teacher, I had to be observed every once in a while by one of the designated teachers at the university. Every time she came, she had something very unpleasant to say about my teaching style and the way I taught my lessons. I was getting so frustrated. Once again they were telling me I was not meant to be a good teacher. What was going on! Did I choose the wrong career? The principal of my school found out about this and she could not believe it. She was very happy with me and with the way I was helping the children and the community. According to her I was doing a great job.

One day, cameras came to my class. The 50-year-old nun, who once helped me in the beginning of my studies, decided to come to my school and film me in action. This was the best thing that could happen to me. She showed the film to many of the teachers at the university so they could give feedback about what they saw. No one gave a bad comment. I was saved again and went on with my career.

I have been teaching for many years now. Being a teacher is the best thing that has happened to me. This experience has taught me how important it is to let children look at the world with faith, let them find something good in every person and let them laugh, unafraid to admit mistakes. I hope that the children that I once taught will grow tall and strong and can one day say: "I had a teacher once who helped me find myself and learn to grow."

By Rossana