Memoir Monday: My first teaching job
My first teaching job
I thought I didn't work when I was young, but rewinding the cassette, I discover that I did. My first boss was my dad. I was about 15 when I became a fan of Menudo, a musical group, and I liked to go to the movies every weekend. Since I needed extra money to pay for my tastes, my dad decided to pay me 5 bolivars a week if I would accompany him to the market. At that time I was studying in high school so I woke up early from Monday to Friday and with that job I also had to wake up early on Saturdays. I remember waking up very sleepy, but it was worth it because I not only had money to watch movies, but also to buy magazines, T-shirts, pendants, records of my favorite band.
But my real first job came after I graduated. I had a great friend who adored me very much and we had done our degree together. He was reluctant to the idea of not seeing me anymore, so one day he went out to look for a job for him and me. My surprise: they gave him a job as an English teacher and me as a Spanish teacher.
We had finished college in July, but our graduation ceremony, where we would receive our degree, would be in December, so we would have a job for about three months, more or less. Although at first I was very scared because I was “facing” students of all ages, I thought that was what I had studied for and that is why I accepted to work.
In that high school I realized that theory is one thing and practice is another. I could be good at answering a test, but I had to see what I was like facing adolescents with behavioral, learning and family problems.
Nelson and I
_You're just saying that now because you're just starting out. Let you be at it longer and you'll hate the students.
They laughed at me because I taught my classes with music, games, movies.
But my age was an advantage in dealing with my students because they saw me as an older sister and I managed to gain their trust.
Since I was the new teacher, I was given the worst section of the school: boys with drug problems, abused, with personality and learning problems. At first it was hard, but little by little I gained the trust and respect of those teenagers who were just looking for attention.
I would take an hour or more to talk to them: in those hours they would tell me that their parents beat them, that their parents abused them, that they sold drugs in their homes, that they were gay and their family didn't know it, that they had sexual relations. I became their confidant, their friend, but especially their counselor. Their parents would talk to me so that I would talk to their children:
"They listen to you, teacher!" Desiree's mom, Antonio's mom, Wilita's dad would say to me....
At the end of those three months, I was a different girl: my first students had given me a professional maturity that I would never have acquired in books. They, my 7F students, had also changed a lot: they were the best students in high school and that, with much or little humility, I did.
During those three months they paid me nothing, they paid me when I finished my contract. Although they asked me to stay working there, I couldn't because they offered me a job at the university and that meant a better work environment, better pay and more opportunities to develop as a teacher. So after I got my degree, I started working at the university.
To be honest, more than the money I was paid at the end of those three months, my best reward was the emotional, experiential and professional gratification I got with those students. Undoubtedly: an unforgettable job.
All images are free of charge and the text is my own, translated in Deepl
Thanks for your support, friends
I like how you used the proceeds of those first few jobs to buy a computer. How important was that computer to your future? I bought my first real computer around 1993 and it was the gateway to everything that has happened with my life and writing career. That first teaching job sounds like the ultimate training for the rest of your teaching career! I bet your head was spinning at first dealing with all those students. If the school system in Venezuela is anything like the US I can imagine that was a bit like herding cats. We all need friends like Nelson who look out for our best interests. As we get older we realize how rare and valuable those kinds of people are. Thank you for participating again this week, Nancy! I'm uncovering forgotten memories too as I'm writing working on my own prompts.
Do you remember the movie Dangerous Minds? Well, I was like Michelle Pfeiffer in that movie: the teacher fighting against the system. From that experience I have many stories (pleasant and unpleasant) that helped me gain experience in the educational field. That computer served me in my work as a teacher and then I gave it to my oldest nephew as a gift when he entered college. It was a desktop computer, I remember. As for Nelson, we drifted apart because he became a Chavista, but I still appreciate him. I hope you are well. A big hug, my friend