I ought to learn teaching

It was the full moon that greeted me good nite, as I walked my way out of the UP College of Education. The air was smooth and cold, and I thought "educators just have so many things that they should be knowledgeable about." So many things, I told myself. I have to learn them too.

I am an educator, by the mere fact that I am teacher. But am not a teacher educated to be a teacher. Serendipity and my irritation to the routines of magazine editing and writing brought me to the academe. I took chance of deviating and mimicking my previous most hated and idolized professors. That's how I learned to tie the ropes, so I survived a challenging decade of being a communication educator locally and abroad.

Tonight was our second meeting for EDUC 380. It is one my cognate course that I took the liberty of enrolling because I felt I needed to learn my craft. Well I have been in the academe for almost 13 years, yet I still find myself inadequate. I guess I am an evidence that learning is indeed lifelong. Oh, there are really a lot that I should learn. Now I think the non-formal education I gained from my teaching experience was not just enough.

Experience may come as an excellent teacher, but only for that particular experience. Teaching is more than an experience. Experience alone could not make one an excellent teacher that he could be. My dear professor in that course encouraged me, that it would not be difficult for me to learn in that seminar on college education. She explained that what I would learn are the appropriate labels to preexisting knowledge which I have learned from experience.

What she said was true. However, I find myself in moments of eureka. The greatest of which is the realization that teachers be they young or old must commit to continuous learning. That is where I am now - learning. I am a teacher and I am a learner. I ought to learn so others may learn when I teach. How I wish that I gain more for my students in this endeavor.