Learning to teach
Working at Kumon, a math and reading center for children, has taught me to appreciate my first grade teachers. I don’t think elementary teachers get nearly enough credit for what they do. Not that high school and college teachers shouldn’t be appreciated but young children are one of the hardest-to-reach age groups.
I discovered that it takes a certain quality and ability to be able to hold a child’s attention. In Kumon this is slightly easier since these kids are already motivated, or pushed by their parents, to work hard. Still, kids will be kids, and trying to explain addition to a 5-year-old isn’t the easiest thing in the world, especially if they aren’t supposed to count on their fingers.
Explaining isn’t the only problem, though. In fact, that’s one of the easier parts. Getting a kid to concentrate on math is hard to do when there are interesting treasures to be found inside their noses. Yet you have to hide your emotions and patiently try to keep them working.
Patience. If there’s one thing you learn it’s patience. Kids hold all sorts of odd habits, and some of them can really get on your nerves. Some keep falling asleep and so it’s impossible to get them to finish in under an hour even with constant supervision. And then there are the few worksheets filled with artwork, so you have to find the answers yet even when you do it’s so messy that it takes a little bit of imagination to figure out what it says. It’s enough to drive anyone up the wall, and it definitely makes you sympathize with teachers.
When it’s all said and done, though, I feel a certain satisfaction in having done my part to help others. Yet no matter how terrible they are, kids are still cute and it’s impossible not to smile at them. After all, you were once a little kid, too.
—Avanti Chajed