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Salam/Hello readers,
Apologies for the long hiatus and wait for a new post from me. I've been overwhelmed and caught up with lots of work especially with the new heightened measures in Phase 2 right now in Singapore.
It's definitely tough on our side. As many have known, preschool/kindergarten/childcare centres remain opened despite Pri Schools & Sec Schools being closed for HBL. so yeap, you can imagine how much work we have to do on top of what we already have. Especially when my school decided on having 25th May 2021 being the last day of school for the children. As they foresee there'll be lesser children coming to school, and best for the children to just stay at home like that.
Aside from that, I've also been recharging myself with my life during these 2 weeks holidays. (Hehehehe)
But Alhamdulillah for holidays right now! Hahahah. However, that's not what this post is going to be about. Rather, I'm going to share and explain to you readers the life of a Early Childhood Educator, be it in the Kindergarten setting or Childcare setting.
A preschool teacher is more than just a teacher.
Let's look into a day's life of Teacher Hidayah.
I start my day by waking up early in the morning for Subuh & then get ready for work by 6.20am.. I need to be in school def earlier than the students. As for me, I have to be in school by 7.45am, as our first session class starts at 8am. I'll leave house at about 6.30am-ish. The moment I arrive school, I will only have like 5-10mins to prepare my first session class lessons etc. Then we have our mandatory 5-min meeting/briefing of what to expect for the day and whatso ever. After which, session 1 (8am - 11am) starts. My only free session is the 2nd session which is from 11am to 2pm. Sounds long right? but hey ... lets look deeper ya .
11am till about 12pm I'll be assisting my colleague's class. I'll normally take my lunch break from 12pm to 1pm. Then 1pm to 2pm, I'll have my Zohor prayers & prepare for my 3rd session lesson and the next day's lesson. 2pm to 5pm will be my 3rd session class lesson. so yeaa then 5pm clockout. That's basically just a day routine. imagine this x 5. 😊
& Can you also imagine what happens if 1 staff is down during that day, keeping in mind that you dont have extra teaching staff manpower. I may have to cover my colleague's class during my supposed to 2nd session break. which tend to result in me having rushed lunch time & zuhur prayers :') 😫
So what do I or Preschool teacher actually do?
Do we just teach ABCs & 123s ?
Do we just wash the children's backside ?
It sounds easy isn't it ?
No readers. Its not. Nothing in this world is ever easy. A teacher is also an observer, a police officer, a counsellor, a traffic controller, a mom, an artist..... and the list goes on. You name it. We wear different hats every time 😅. Try being in a class of 20 children and you have a group from them who just cant sit still or have short attention span or like a ball full of energy, and then there you are trying your best to deliver a lesson, but always failed cuz you will blow off your steam cuz of them . Yeaa imagine that . Its not easy my friends.
A teacher is an observer, as we need to take note our student's development. To see whether the child is developing according to its milestone. To see whether the child is progressing or digressing or being stagnant. To see if the child needed any special attention and to highlight any red flags seen. We dont just observe, we have to document it down as well. E-portfolios, pictures, videos, records and checklist. all these are included in our workload aside from just teaching. & imagine having to have 20 copies each...… 😵
A teacher is also a consellor/mom/police officer. Disputes among children, regarding not sharing of toys, not taking turns is a common scene that happened in class daily. We, the teacher have to be the ones listening to their 'complaints', we have to be the middle man in settling the children's tension. We have to be the ones ensuring that they meant their sorry etc.
I can drag more by just explaining what a teacher does. We even have to 'risk' ourselves especially during the last few days before holidays when the COVID-19 cases in Singapore started to spike. We had to come to work as usual because preschool wasn't close. We still have parents sending children to school during the tight period. & even despite that, we still got backlashed. We still receive negative comments etc.
We don't ask for much, we totally understand the parents struggle who have to send their children to school and whatever nots. We as teachers, we try to understand parents situation. But We also would like to be understood. Like i said, we wont ask for much. Honestly, a simple act/gesture of appreciation will have already meant a lot to me and will definitely make my day. I believe the same applies to any other teachers as well. We are providing the service for your children & we even prioritise children before any other thing. We will always put on this "Always children's safety first, always them first" ... Tell me, where did we went wrong that we got backlashed. It's just upsetting honestly. 😠I mean you never know what happened to the teacher's own personal life and then ... to receive those treatments ... its never nice my dear readers. Have some empathy ya kawan2. The teachers could be having some personal problems but they put it aside and prioritise the children more than themselves... Kemmon la kemmon . (i dah mcm mengamok dgn ni bende eh) HAHAHA..
BUT THAT'S THAT yknw ... from the management side also ... haiss we dont ask for much.. but to be understood of the situation we're facing .. thats all. haiss... It's an overwhelming period for many of us, thus its only fair if yknw, listen to our feedbacks and do something about it rather than just shuck our feedbacks aside thinking that all your staffs can do it like you can do it.
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That's it ! hahaha done ranting, done sharing, done complaining about a teacher's life struggle. My struggle may or may not be the same as the other teachers. Nevertheless, I believe we really really appreciate if we are understood and we will be really really thankful for having people around who appreciate us. A simple 'thank you' to us will mean a lot to us.
Thank you, you , for reading my post for today. To many more in the future.
(Please give me idea of what to write about next.....)
Love,
Hidayah 💛🌼
