To Inspire: A Journey

i must admit that before i became a teacher, i thought of so many ways to avoid teaching. my passion was in writing, and during my teaching practice, i went for an interview to become an NST journalist. that was like eons ago.

however, Allah has decreed that i teach, and despite my sulking and rebellion, i had to turn down NST offer to become a journalist and became a teacher on 1st June 1997. it was very hard at first, because it seemed mundane and my heart wasnt into it. but after awhile, grouses turned into words of inspiration as my passion grew when i sincerely felt that it was my duty to enlighten them and bring them out of their safe cocoons (here i meant my students in SMKA Tok Jiring). they were a decent lot, but i had to bring them out of their safety net because they thought that being in a good school was enough. i know that being a teacher means i have to be able to build a rapport with them, to be a friend and not an enemy so that imparting knowledge will be easier. as a result, some of my ex-students still keep in touch with me, one of them took up Literature in UIA and another took up TESL and only recently called me up to tell me she's a lecturer in UITM Dungun (and i, with my MA, still teach in school *sigh*).

My years in SS are the best in my professional life, simply because the students are of good background, they know that they have to achieve academic excellence - but all the while they had a lot of fun, in a school full of tradition that churned out distinguished elites and also royal personages, like the school song goes "tradisi kekal abadi". i felt the sense of tradition because most of my siblings studied there, and had i not studied at my beloved Seri Puteri, i would have become a Sulaimanian myself. although, i must say that whenever i started my "lecture", i would start with "when i was in Seri Puteri..." and the students would groan and roll their eyes. however, i was satisfied teaching there, because the effort put in was worth it, despite the teachers being pushed to produce more A students. i'm proud of my LCDS students, especially the committee members because it was the students who ran the society, not the teacher. by running the society they learnt something about leadership and responsibility - something that is a valuable experience for their future. and there were my tuition girls - the 1119 group and also the Literature girls, who i hope i had helped mould in becoming good young adults.

out of this, one student from my first Literature class, Sharmyn, had scored 2A and is now taking TESL in New Zealand. she reported that her lecturers told her to do MA in Literature. i'm ecstatic! SS best student (and also Terengganu best student) Khairina also told me that she's planning to take Literature in English as an elective when she goes to Lembah Beringin, and today i received the word that her Literature classmates Umi and Maryam have been accepted into TESL programme.

i'm happy to have inspired my students and hopefully they will become better people and good educators.

i may not be a guru pakar or a superteacher, but my passion speaks for myself.