Lesson from My Teaching Experience

I never thought that I would be a teacher and teaching in elementary school. I was a teacher at one of Christian Schools in Surabaya, Anak Bangsa School. My teaching experience had been incredible and I think I learned as much from the class as the students did and also from all SAB teachers. There were ups and downs.

I taught grade 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 5A, 5B, 5C as an English teacher so you can imagine how I dealed with seven classes everyday, I prepared the lesson plans, syllabus, prota, promest, worksheets, question tests, corrections and many more for grade 1, 2, 5. I worked in the midnight when everybody went to sleep, and I went to work in the early morning when everybody still slept. And I was very exhausted. I knew the best and the worst become an elementary teacher very well. I worked at 6.45 until 16.00 from Monday to Friday.

I worked since 2015 after I graduated from college. So this was my first "real job". And whatever happened I was very grateful for this opportunity. When I was offered the opportunity to teach grade 1, 2, 5 I thought it would be a great experience and I knew it would look good on my resume. And I wondered how much fun it would be. I was very nervous at the time but when I began to really enjoy it and before long my anxiety about teaching went away.

I loved all of the students and they were so cute, funny, caring and sweet. To be honest, they were the only reason why I enjoyed my teaching and survived at this school. And just because the students were great and the teaching experience was fun, didn't mean it was easy. Each one of my students had different level of experience, different uses, different things they wanted to learn. This made it very hard to try and get everyone on the same page.

And the reason why I quitted and surrendered was the colleagues. I admit the school is big, I love the headmaster and the administration but the environment (people surrounding) is unhealty. Maybe I was too young and it was my first time worked in the real world. I was too naive and easily gave up on silly things. But at the time I was so mad because some teachers were such a big mouth and could't keep a secret. We all didn't trust each others. Some teachers talked bad behind each others and even the worst, they talked something which was not true and very personal. Some teachers even talked bad about their own headmaster. And the headmaster seemed don't care about it. They liked gossip. I always heared something bad every single day and suddenly I got emotional at class, at home, at 

everywhere. And then I realized I would become one of them if I always be with them. "You are who you surround yourself with, who you spend time with the most is who you will become."

I am the person who can't be productive at work without being happy. I was totally stressed out. Thankfully I had five or six teachers who always cheered me up and stood by myself. They always brought sunshine everywhere they went to. But some teachers always searched my mistakes, my issues, even at small things, my religion and etc. I was so done. The teacher's room was like hell. Some teachers liked spread negativity, criticized all the time, wasted another teacher's time. Some teachers were jealous and liked to play the victim, some people were self centered and disrespect boundaries. I was not give up in the middle by the way. I finished it untill the end. I didn't regret at all with my decision and I thought that was still my best decision removing all toxic people from my life. I wondered why they were so manipulative, blind with money, they wanted to be leaders, judgemental, inconsistent. They can only leave me emotionally wiped out, frustrated and unfulfilled. I wish I never meet kind of those people again.

Anyway I still admire SAB even at the darkest. I wish the school is bigger and bigger and brings out the best of people. And I wish the best to my friends at SAB, I know we all need money but peace and happiness are very important and I wish the best to the students.

Thankyou Ms. pinksy, Ms. Ruth, Mr. El, Ms. Nacy as headmaster, and Ms. Jessica,Ms Debora, Ms. Vivi, Ms Ani, Ms. Wiwin, I miss you all so much

And thank you SAB for the opportunity!