These past 2 days I’ve been on a ‘Teachers Course’, and one of the questions that the Shaykh who was delivering the course asked us was, “Is there a teacher you loved from school who you can still remember today?” Everyone in the room nodded their head, and for a moment we all recollected our time at school/college/university.
The impact that teachers have on a student is beyond words. You can love a subject you previously hated simply because of the teacher (or vice versa), and your schooling can be good or bad, not necessarily because of your intellect or circle of friends, but because of the way the teacher decided to teach you or give you tarbiyyah. The best teachers are those who inspire us, who believe in us until we believe in ourselves, who push us, open up our minds, show us different worlds, help us understand, help us break barriers, and who truly bring out the best in us.
When the Shaykh asked us this question, I remembered 2 teachers in primary school (Years 3 and 4), and they particularly stuck out because they were so patient with me, taught me from scratch and always defended me from the system at a time when I was new to the country and finding a hard time settling in. I was about 6 years old and our family had just escaped a war and were trying to adjust to a new country, a new language, a new culture etc. Pupils from this sort of background can find it hard to get their head around school for the first year or two, but these two were very supportive and helped smooth out what was a rocky start. I wish I could tell them today how much they helped me, building up my confidence etc and at the end I finished high school with the highest grades alhamdulillah.
I’m sure you will all find this funny, but there’s another reason why I can’t forget those 2 teachers’ names:
The first one was called Miss Car. But that’s not the funny part. After the school year ended, we moved halfway across the City and I went to a new school and met my next teacher: Miss Van! I’m not joking, they were really called Miss Car and Miss Van! We then moved house again and as I went into my new Year 5 class, I seriously went in expecting to meet a Miss Lorry! But that didn’t happen (phew). Come to think of it though, maybe this is why I had recurring dreams as a kid where I would be driving the latest sports car! I always seemed to be driving in my dreams lol.
Jokes aside, we might not always realise the impact that teachers have on us, but long after we leave school, we realise that there are some teachers we just never forget.
Actually I think she spelled her name as Miss Carr. But still, it meant the same thing to me 🙂
Reblogged this on Ilm Adventures and commented:
A lovely reminiscent post by Fajr WordPress.
Mine is Miss W. so true. I hope to be that educator for my students.
so true.
How true! I, too, had quite a few nice teachers myself in my early years, but there was a Sudanese teacher — in my high school years — that I remember the most. He was part of a team of teachers from all over the world sent to our country (Somalia) by the United Nations under Development Programs — the so called (UNDP). I am not and/or never have been a fan of the UN, but probably, that is the only good thing I can think of that the UN has ever done for Somalia. But that is another subject. 🙁
AbdulWahhab was his name; he was so good at his profession that I remember his class — after a very short time in the same school year — was getting bigger day after day because students from next door classes noticed him and started to join us. Then, someone at the school’s office came up with the idea to give him last hours of the day, I am not sure why they did that, but it worked even better for all of us; now he and us (Including students from other classes) had more time together. It was great and we loved it.
Sometimes in order to stimulate our thinking process and inspire us, he would have us chose about a subject — even if it was outside of our curriculum — and he would talk about it as much as possible. Politics, Geopolitics, History and even Relationships — you name it! He talked about all of them. The best part was, the very next day, he would come up at least five questions and the one who got the most answers right, he would take to the school’s cafeteria and buy what s/he wanted, but before that he would make the rest of us give a standing ovation to the winner. We all loved it, I remember.
He was soft spoken, always calm, and seemed very happy with his job. In addition, anytime anyone of us got to him and asked something, he answered in a positive way; that was the same even after I graduated — I heard. Yes, as you said and I agree with you, it is true that some teachers you will never forget. Perhaps, because of him extending his hand to us students (And those from next door classes) at the right time is why I still remember him after all these years.
I could even go further; as I said, AbdulWahhab was his name. I believe, that was not a coincidence. May Allah (SWT) bless you wherever you are, ya ustad AbdulWahhab. May Allah (SWT) bless all our other teachers as well. Amin!