Teaching is the hardest thing I’ve ever done and I’ve written Assembly Language.
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When I was six, I wanted to be a teacher.
When I was seven, we went on holiday to Egypt and tripped over the corner of a pyramid because I didn’t see it.
When I was eight I overheard my Mum complaining about how stretched she was marking homework for her students.
When I was ten, I saw my Mum writing end of school reports over the holidays she was meant to have.
When I was thirteen, I wanted to be an architect.
When I was fourteen, my Uncle moved to be a headteacher at a new school and I heard the endless gripes he had.
When I was fifteen, I learnt I couldn’t draw a building to save my life.
When I was sixteen, I chose to spend half of my school time learning computing.
When I was seventeen, my Mum quit teaching because of impossible targets and ever encroaching regulation.
When I was eighteen, I studied computer science and wanted to be a programmer.
When I was twenty, I got my first job making Android apps.
When I was twenty-one, I became a qualified programmer.
Now I’m twenty-five and I’m a… teacher? How did this happen?
I was raised by educators. My mother, grandmother and uncle were all teachers for the largest parts of their lives, my dad was on the PTA all the way through my primary school and I probably saw more teachers at home through family friends than I did at school itself.
Being brought up around so many teachers gave me an incredible start in life, surrounded by people who had spent much of their lives being patient and articulate with children, it turns out, is a great environment to grow up in. However, one side effect of this is you see the side of teaching that many do not; the late nights marking homework, the comments passed over cups of coffee bemoaning the newest ‘fashionable’ teaching method, and more stories of vomiting children than I care to recall. If you want to be put off being a teacher, simply talk to a teacher.
What I didn’t see however, was just how hard teaching is. One area that I think I do well in as a programmer is being able to give constructive feedback in a way that presents issues as “us versus the problem” instead of “me versus you”. I’m also lucky enough to have worked in teams that share this ethos. This is, however, absolutely nothing like teaching. It is incredibly hard to push, guide and encourage all at the same time and do so in a way which also educates is nigh-on impossible. With teaching you are always walking a fine line between pushing the students enough that they are learning and reassuring them that they can do the work you set.
I honestly believe teaching is magic; I find it amazing that I can talk to somebody and transfer knowledge using nothing more than two minds and that the end of the day they can be more well off that at the start of it with no resources expended. Seeing knowledge grow is infinitely rewarding in a way that no other work I’ve ever done has been. However the issue with magic is, I’m a pretty terrible Harry Potter. I get tired, I run out of patience and sometimes don’t take the needed time for everybody in the class to follow along. I try my hardest, but it’s a skill that obviously takes years to hone. It is draining in a way that coding doesn’t even come close to and this is coming from somebody who once did a eighty-five hour work week.
What I love about teaching is learning how people tick. I often feel it is the very antitheses of programming, with the latter you can see the exactly path to every solution, but with teaching it’s like a puzzle. You try different techniques to help people learn and over time and as you get to know each other you discover the short-cuts and pathways through peoples minds. I know that Zohir likes to see code, that Amjad likes diagrams while Ioanna prefers metaphors. This isn’t something you can be told, it’s a mutual language you build on a personal level with each student. Teaching somebody for a prolonged period of time is a very unique relationship and one that I’ve not really experienced before.
To anyone who does this professionally; I have so much respect for what you do. I can’t even imagine doing this work with the threat of losing your job if you under-perform. I can’t imagine doing this job with student who don’t want to be here. Most of all, I can’t imagine doing this for the rest of my life. Teaching is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done and I’ll use the skills that I’m developing here in whatever I do in my life.
I’ll leave you all with a video that completely changed the way that I look at teaching and the way I approach my lessons. It’s good watching for anybody who mentors, teaches or works in an environment where they are expected to guide.
