Surviving Teaching and Stuffing Grapes In Your Mouth

Image source

Have you ever been dared to see how many grapes you could stuff in your mouth? More importantly, have you ever tried it? I have and my record is 24. Its one of those things that can make you look pretty foolish and not to mention funny. Its one of those moves that may make your first day reconsider if he/she should go out with you ever again. Of course, based on the title, you know that this is not just a post about stuffing grapes in your mouth. While you may think that there are not many lessons that one can learn from stuffing grapes in your mouth, I would like to talk about a few.

Yesterday, I wrote a post of how one will know if the teaching profession is for them. However, how would you know if you have what it takes to survive teaching? To answer that, lets look at the experience of stuffing grapes in your mouth.

It Takes Sheer Will

It is not easy for one to stuff a load of grapes into your mouth. It takes sheer will to do so. As you fill up your mouth with more grapes than you meant to, you feel your mouth stretched to the brim. It is uncomfortable, it is tiring and it is very much how teaching is like. All the shows and blog posts will not prepare you for the horror that may await you in the class. Of course, there are some of us who are blessed with wonderful classes. But, if you do get a class that requires extra grace, you will find yourself stretched and stuffed with an insane amount of work.

Image source

Just like having your mouth stuffed with grapes, you could give up or you could just try to stuff in just one more to break your previous record. If you have that kind of will to go the distance, if you can weather the pressure, you will survive teaching, because no matter how bad your day is, you will power through it with your sheer will. I remember having 8 hour class days at one point. I was tired of standing and teaching for the whole day. I could leave my class early or hide away in the toilet. If I did that, my students wouldn't have mind because that would make it a free period for them. However, duty calls and with that I would power through the 8 hours no matter how much my legs would scream at me.

Haters Gonna Hate

Unless you are going to stuff your mouth full of grapes with someone that you are close to, it is likely that most people would tell you to stop making a fool out of yourself. These people shall be dubbed the haters. While they are probably looking out for you, hoping that you won't choke while stuffing all those grapes in your mouth, the same can't be said about people telling you to stop doing your job.

In every work place, you will find that there will be one or two who would tell you to chill and not do more than you are supposed to. The same goes for teaching and they are the haters because they try to suck you into the same work ethics as themselves. If you do not, they will see you as a threat and may say or do things to make your life difficult.

Image source

Then, there is the other group of people who would tell you how much better your life would be if you would quit teaching. These people would point out how much more you would earn in a corporate job or how awesome it is to deal with adults instead of children (I disagree, children are more fun).

In dealing with both groups of people, if you would ignore what they say and go about doing your best for your students and profession, you will fare pretty well in the profession. Most of my peers who end up leaving the job were influenced and swayed by some who promised them that the world outside of teaching is a better place, only to find out that other professions have their share of issues as well.

Conclusion

No matter if you are in the midst of becoming a teacher or have been one for a while, teaching is one of those jobs that could stretch you to your limit, much like stretching your mouth to stuff all the grapes into. It is also one of those jobs that could demotivate you with some trying to get by through doing the bare minimum of their job requirement. However, it is one of those jobs that rewards you with love, adoration and respect from your students. Even if you don't get it from your students, at the end, you would at least go to bed at night knowing that you have done a service to society. It doesn't matter if you are a 'bad' or 'good' teacher, you took your time to impact the next generation.

Much like stuffing grapes in your mouth, once you get past the haters and power through the challenges with sheer will, you will find the feeling of breaking your grape stuffing record to be nothing short of glorious.

---