Sheeja Nair, Teacher, St. Xaviers High School, Mumbai
Sheeja is a dedicated and experienced educator with 29 years of teaching experience at St. Xaviers High School. She loves creating a supportive and engaging learning environment where students feel empowered to explore and grow. She is also a mentor for students involved in extracurricular activities and a mentor for new teachers.
I am proud to be a teacher because I find pride and purpose in craving curious minds, seeking guidance & kindling flames of knowledge. This holds the answer to all my questions. Why? What? Makes me proud to be a teacher, desirous of lighting my students way (their thoughts, words, actions) Yes! These are my students who deserve to light their way.
I personally feel a combination of these factors is deeply reflected in my students since 29 years of my teaching experience. I never would constrain the 29 to another 29, but would eternally reward myself to see my students succeed. The love, the joy, the satisfaction that I see in building my students confidence fill me with intrinsic rewards and a strong sense of fulfillment.
For all those who seem to see teaching so easy a task, be they know- without a doubt, it’s hard to be noble, and if teaching is noble, then how could it be easy! Everyday is a unique day with exceptional experiences when with students, because I undergo new challenges from the other end, round the clock. For instance, it could be a struggling student grasping a challenging sum with my extra help, and the ‘EUREKA’ moment is truly worth my role as a teacher. How more often than not to my heart’s content, my students happily draw their love towards a subject that they were never interested upon. And now, it is passionately being taught and learnt with enthusiasm among the peers.
All wonderful memories have recalled once again as I take pride in penning down my development in being a proud teacher and a thorough motivator. I exult also when I recollect that… relaxed emotions running through my students when they fall in a dilemma, with my sight flashing across their eyes and a loud clear message sent across to me- 'Hey guys! Lo! there is Sheeja miss, she’ll manage the rest. Don’t you all worry', gives me a perfect piece of happiness in all that I do for my students. I am also learning in the process and now do I realise why people say ‘learning is a lifelong process.’
Being a responsible teacher, I have taught my students to fish by their self, and have never caught a fish for them. I lend them the bait and let them catch the best. When they finally achieve their best, I try to ensure that though this is their current best, the 'bestest BEST' is yet to come. Keep trying hard and there is hope when you love what you do. Be it academics, activities, athletics or artistic talents, I contribute my best to make them trust their instincts and stay positive. I must say, this satisfaction is at par with my student’s intellectual and personal excellence. I glorify my teacher-self in what my students accomplish and that makes me proud to be called a loving teacher.
I am a good, proud teacher is a combined testament of my very own ‘Teachers’ guidance and my parents acceptance of my passionate love in teaching. The wisdom I acquired from my teachers definitely has gone a long way in defining what I give my students. Once a student, always a student, so very true! This testifies my 200 percent liking to learn even when I teach.
I assert, my class is never boring as described by my students, because I acknowledge my role as a student too, besides portraying myself as a teacher. This calls for loads of appreciation from my teachers, students, parents and I wish, 'Oh! God, how grateful I am. You made me what you meant I should be.'
Fearless of the AI, taking over the traditional chalk-talk class sessions with changing times and trends, I would strongly advise our old school to subsist with the knowledge of technology and keep themselves up-to-date. I look up to my teachers with pride and gratitude should always stand the test of time, never altering the attitude that our students carry for teachers. Today, let me tell you, this is only possible if teachers become proud teachers too. In conclusion, let me quote, 'The ball is in our court, let's CHERISH this lovely teacher-student relationship, so as to never PERISH'.