My first teaching experience

After some hesitation when I performed the role of a teacher for the first time, I have to conclude that it was a long long long time ago - when I was a child. It happened on the play ground as I was always the child who explained the rules of all games to other children. I was considered among my friends as a one who possesses a knack for pinpointing the precise steps others should take in order to get results. Later on I was exercising my patience when teaching my younger cousins how to write, count or read the clock. When people ask me to help them learn something, I have the patience to start at the very beginning and the determination to see them through to the successful completion. I remember that when I was in secondary school and we were to write a test in chemistry I always stayed after the classes in order to explain the material to my classmates. The fact that I love explaining things didn’t give me an idea that I should be a teacher. It was a subconscious desire and I hadn’t admitted it until the final grade of my secondary school. When I was 19 I realised that I want to follow my mother and grandmother and become a teacher. It came to me as a sudden insight, but it had always been on some remote corner of my consciousness.
My first teaching experience in classroom settings happened when I was doing my observation in the secondary school. One of the teachers was absent and my mentor was to take care of his students. She gave me keys to a classroom and asked to conduct a lesson. I was shocked and obviously stressed. How to conduct a lesson without preparation? I didn’t know the class. I had no idea what they had done before... Next step – spontaneous improvisation. I checked in their notebooks what they had done before – fortunately it was the beginning of a school year, so it were some basics. I came up with some exercises and we played a few games. I had an impression that 45 minutes lesson lasted 5 minutes. The students were nice and co-operative, which left me with a good impression. I perceive it as a valuable experience. I like people and I feel comfortable working with students, which helped me handle this unexpected situation. I know that being a teacher wouldn’t make me rich, but it would give me a lot of satisfaction.