Casting a Shadow

The school year ends today and with this ending comes many realizations and reflections of how I fared as a teacher. Tough would be the most appropriate word to describe the entire school year especially for the first term with 17 students in class. It was a mixed class of younger fours, turning fives, and two sixes.


One student has special needs so it was difficult to balance between 16 children and one. One child has no English so it was difficult to make her feel at home in school. One child has a fear of school because of a previous school experience. One child focus only on one thing and nothing else, and many more concerns. So as a teacher, it was time to know each and every individual and seek answers for each questions. 


With the help of another teacher and an assistant, the first term went well though we lost one student whose parents decided that the class is not for her six year old daughter. After the term, we lost another one whose needs in class cannot be attended by just caring. The needs were of a different level. 


The second term became a much better environment for all, as we all work and play cooperatively. Though there had been instances of petty arguments and altercations every now and then, the children end up being friends again. The most challenging work for the term was to make some children refrain from acting like their older brothers and sisters to their friends, being bossy or arrogant.


It is the last day of school and as the children leave the premises, each one carries within them a shadow not only of their persona but also of how the year had shaped them. Some had become resilient, polite, confident and more independent. Their shadows will then be cast again in the next school they will attend, to grow as they grow, to become more meaningful as they learn, and to reflect their humble beginnings.