I'm teaching stuff for the last 6-ish years. First I started with piano and music theory, then I switched to music history, and now in Italy, I do some lectures, but not so regularly as I did when I was living in Zagreb. However, two days ago I did a lecture on contemporary music in one local music school, and to my big surprise, people arrived. You would think that 17-year-olds prefer doing drugs and have unprotected sex in their free time, but obviously, some of them prefer a quiet evening listening to me shitting about my shit. This encounter made me remember how much I enjoy working with teenagers, so I did a little list of things that make me like my profession. So let's check it out, shall we:
1. I never felt younger in my life. They teach me whats hip, they teach me the lingo. I want to wear my Doc Martens and smoke behind the school again.
2. When kids laugh at your jokes... Aaaaaaah jesus, can you even imagine how hard it is to make teenagers laugh?! And by that, I mean WITH you, not AT you.
3. To actually see them listening to me really makes my skinny chest swell with pride. Because god knows nobody listens to me usually. And I'm ALWAYS right!!!!!11!! (this goes to my roommates, friends, family, and boyfriend)
4. When they say thank you after the lecture. No, thank YOU, my beautiful fluffy puppy snowflake, thank YOU for being so sweet and attentive. Those little ass-suckers could make me sell my soul for two thank-yous.
5. You get the opportunity to share your passion with the world, while the peeps trust in you and your knowledge. You become something like an intellectual authority. Because they don't know that in real life I'm a fricking mess.
6. Being asked for advice is the sweetest as well. I wish I could tell them that I'm probably even more confused about the future than they are, but to see that they appreciate my opinion is the best.
7. I also got to learn plenty of new shit. Since there is a nerd hidden deep down in my body, I cannot do things like this superficially. So I explore and do my own researchers in the hope I'll find something cool enough to amaze the kids.
8. There is one line which I heard only a few times in my life, and it kills me every time: „I want to be like you when I grow up.“ My first instinct is always „aww, you little sweetheart... why the hell would you want that?“. But it sure is good for my delicate ego.
Yes, I became a teacher to heal my ego.
Yours truly,
Magda