Hello everyone!
Here's my entry for this blogpost.
I hope you enjoy it.
There's a very thin line between a healthy and an unhealthy boast. One little mistake, one may fall into the unhealthy one and overstep boundaries which might cause harm to yourself as your sense of value and moral may depreciate.
When I started holding home lessons - in case I never mentioned it, I am a home educators - I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew my capacity but not that of the kids entrusted in my care. When the classes commenced, I realised I had a mix of under-performing, well- performing and a few interested kids. Learning started well, we had our high and low moments. I had kids who had never held even the 5th position in class.
One particular boy, his mother told me frankly that he was always amongst the bottom 7 in class. I remember his immediate elder brother made fun of him sometimes about it. Actually, his elder brother wanted him to perform well(their parents raised responsible kids).
Prior to that, I had homeschooled the older brother-a very smart young boy- while he was still in primary school. When we prepared towards entrance exams he was to take(he applied for two schools), for the first entrance exam, he topped the list and passed the person who came second by over 30 marks. His parents agreed that it wasn't a good idea for him to still enroll into the school as there might be no competition.
For the second exam, he was chosen as one of the only two students from Rivers State to attend the Nigerian Navy military secondary School. Can you begin to imagine how I felt? His parents and family showered me with praises on end. They never stopped telling people that I coached their child. I felt boast(the healthy boast).
Sometimes, whenever I speak with the parents of any of the kids I teach about their attitude to learn, I'll always mention that they'll top their class. Some parents would just laugh, some would complain that the kids didn't look too serious back at home. One particular parent said I was overly confident. I remember telling her that "I know what I have. I know the kids under my care. I know what they can do. Bring any child their age/class and they'll trash them".
When their results were out for last term, not one of them got below the second position. Not one. Every one of them recieved prizes at their various schools for either bagging a first or second position. Over 6 of them. Their results were excellent. To say I was elated would be an understatement. I held my head high. I told one parent that "I am a very proud teacher!"
You see, these kids worked for it. We put in our time. Our effort. Even when we were tired and uninterested, we persevered. They did well. I remember walking in the street and people looking at me a certain way. It wasn't a bad kind of way. I knew so. Word had gone round, not because any of the kids were dumb but because all of them(who attended the same lesson) performed well. I walked with my shoulders high. It was a win- win for us all.
Now, I did not go around with a chip on my shoulder or try to overplay my role. Rather, the beautiful remarks earned me referrals and in a short while parents within my neighbourhood were contacting me to tutor their kids(even those who had refused to enroll their kids earlier claiming my fee wasn't fair). I could only accept a few as I wanted to take as many as I could handle so I do not get overwhelmed and cannot effectively teach.
While i continued with the lesson, I made sure not to let the wins get in my head or form a big chip on my shoulder as I reminded myself that anyone who puts their mind into it can do it. Because surely, there are so many other person's my age who could handle the children and perform even better and besides, if the ch>ldren hadn't complied with the teachings, there would have been no progress. You can only imagine how their achievement which doubles as mine also.
There! That's it.
Thank you for reading till this point.
Good-day!