In my 7 years of being a teacher, I've trained more than 300 students, a lot of whom now hold very respectable senior positions in the Animation & Visual Effects industry in India. What started as an exciting profession for me 7 years ago has now reached a stage where I can look back and summarize learning outcomes that is the reward of being a part of such a profession. As a teacher, you are blessed with an opportunity to meet a wide diversity of people from far and wide who converge upon you to get directions in their lives. In a way, you're a guide who stands at the cross roads for many a lives, who seek your directions and guidance. There are so many things that one learns as a teacher. One of which is patience and perseverance in the face of thanklessness. Brilliant students who shine above the rest seldom recognize the magnitude of efforts of their mentors in the face of youthful excitement on an early achievement. It is not easy being a teacher after all. Endless hours of constant self-upgradation and learning in a dynamic world amidst deadlines, a constant curriculum re-evolution etc. is what sets you apart from the crowd and if you want your students to be that change, you have to set your own benchmark as a mentor, at least 10 times higher.
No wonder that teaching is rarely a profession of choice for most people. After all, who wants to be in a thankless profession. But this is precisely what sets us apart because a true mentor does not seek worldly rewards, but a gentle and peaceful realization of achievement in crafting the lives and careers of his students. It is in our hearts that we rejoice and reward ourselves with a philosophical gratification of achievement. In a fast moving and competitive world, a teacher is practically left far behind in the pages of one's life. It is however in a teacher's heart that a student always is on the front page, for the only achievement in his life is the reward of being a mentor to a winner.
So, if you've ever achieved anything in your life, do give a moment of two of your time to think about your teachers and mentors who've shaped your life.
And if you're a teacher, know that you hold the greatest and most gifted job in the world - to hold someone's hand and lead them to victory in their lives. And don't worry about thanklessness, for it is like a cloud with a silver lining.
The American Basketball legend Julius Erving once said "Teachers face a thankless task, because no matter how good they are, unless they find a way to personally rationalize the rewards of their effort, nobody else is really going to do it for them en masse"..... A teacher most certainly knows how to rationalize the rewards of their effort.....
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