By Anna Panunto
In 2021, I decided that I needed a change and that the only way was to get outside of my comfort zone. In the midst of a global pandemic and recovering from a painful divorce along with other family challenges, I decided to challenge myself as a teacher .
Source: PixabayFor over 20 years, I had been a classroom adult education teacher and a very confident one, I must add. Over the years, I published various articles and other creative pieces that depicted my passion for teaching, coaching and mentoring . The main idea in all of my past publications was how to conduct a safe learning environment in the physical classroom. It hasn’t been until recently that I discovered the flip side of the “education coin”. How can I as a teacher conduct a safe learning environment for myself? My challenge has been put to work as a Correspondence based teacher in Academic English – a new challenge with only 6 months experience in this new world.
My first challenge was trying to understand teaching with objectivity . As a Correspondence based Academic English teacher, I must remain objective at all times. My daily routine consists of correcting assignments from various levels, doing short tutorials via google meet, in person, or over the phone, and correcting final exams. Basically, I have minimum contact with students – some I never even get to meet in person. All they do is receive my marks with some of my comments and it pretty much ends there. Where is the challenge? The daily human contact that I once had is gone. Nevertheless, every assignment that I do correct, is still coming from a human being that has set goals in order to pursue his or her career. So, teaching with objectivity means knowing how to access an assignment and an exam without knowing the person – evaluating what you read and hear via recording for what it is. This part remains challenging for me as I realized how emotional I am and how I connect the actual person with the work. Yet, in some aspects of life, this is not always ideal.
My second challenge was trying to still feel as a teacher who made a difference. With a global pandemic and all its ramifications, human interaction has been even more restrictive and limiting inside and outside the educational realm. How can I feel as if I am making any difference, if students do not even get to know me ? Well, I learned that education is multifaceted and should not be limited to just classroom teaching. We can still make a fundamental difference by being cooperative via online, organized with corrections, pleasant and helpful during all tutorials, and attentive during final exams. The focus in this area of education is more goal oriented and there is less feedback coming from students but it does not take away the aspect of education that is still there. So, making a difference does not always come in the same form.
My third challenge was dealing with my own loneliness and feeling of isolation. As a classroom teacher, I was used to doing extra curricular activities with my students and having some kind of mentorship with them. This social interaction is practically non-existent as a correspondence based teacher and they are not my students per se but part of a collective. So, I cannot say, this is my student, my class, etc… We are all part of one collective – be it students, teachers, and staff. Only recently did I sadly discover that my loneliness was selfish. As a Correspondence based teacher, it is not about me at all. It is all about being efficient, effective, organized, and objective in order to help students succeed in their goals.
Wrapping up, it is salient to say that this challenge is expanding my horizons in the world of education and even more so, in the midst of a pandemic. I am in awe of how determined these adult learners are and how I can perhaps, learn from them – just by being in my safe corner correcting, observing, and taking in all new information about what it truly means to be determined!