Obstacles

This is an essay I submitted to my college advisor when asked to write an essay about what our greatest weakness(es) as a teacher will be.

Obstacles

            For quite some time now I have known I wanted to be a high school English teacher. It is truthfully the only thing I feel I would be good at, besides perhaps psychology, and I feel like it is a wonderful career choice. However, there are certain things about myself, certain obstacles I must overcome, that will hinder my success in this field. Unfortunately, I am a procrastinator, I am somewhat lazy, and I am sometimes impatient and irritable. These are all things I am working on improving, not just for the benefit of my future students, but also for the benefit of myself. They are not the only weaknesses I have, but I believe they are the largest.

            I am a procrastinator, and I am lazy. These go hand in hand to me, because I only procrastinate because I am lazy. I, like most people, don’t like doing work. It stresses me out, so I avoid it. For example, I am writing this essay on the day it is due. I could offer excuses like, I have been sick all weekend, or I have had other responsibilities, but these excuses are, while true, just that: excuses. The annoying part about my procrastination is that in the long run, it stresses me out more than it would if I would just do it immediately. When the time comes for my assignment to be submitted (or whatever the case may be) I worry myself to death and cram things in until it is done. Now, I know this is a problem. It is an issue I am actively working on and have made some semblance of progress in. Hopefully, by the time I begin, or at least finish, student teaching, I will have a better grasp on myself and on my time management. I do not want my students to suffer because their teacher didn’t properly prepare before class.

            I am impatient and irritable. This is also a problem I have identified and am actively working on. Sometimes I have a tendency to lose patience with those people who are close to me, like my son and my fiancé. Honestly, it really makes no sense, because once I get snappy, I already know it’s for no reason. I have a tendency to be impatient with people who do not grasp concepts as quickly as I do, even though I know it is unfair for me to think that way. I know people learn at different paces and in different ways, but sometimes I get somewhat impatient. This issue has only presented itself to me in the type school setting where I am a student however. I am not sure if it would be the same from a teaching perspective, because, until now, I have not gotten impatient with someone I was giving instruction to. This could be due to the fact that my approach to situations is different as a teacher. Nevertheless, I need to make sure this doesn’t ever adversely affect my students.

            I pride myself sometimes in being able to identify the things in me that need work and need to be fixed. I am a human being, and we all have flaws. However, I also know that identifying the flaws is only the first step of solving the larger problem. In my next couple years, while I am still a student above all, I will look for ways for me to help myself with this. I will find different ways to approach problems and situations to compensate for my weaknesses. I deeply care about the profession of teaching, and about the impact of a teacher on the lives of his or her students. For this reason, I never want to lose my patience, or procrastinate about something that could negatively affect the education of any student in my classroom.

Thoughts about The Canterbury Tales

So, Geoffrey Chaucer (probably) never completed The Canterbury Tales, but he did finish enough of it that we get a pretty decent picture of each of his characters. All of the clergy members, except one, were conniving, deceitful, greedy, and manipulative. They took bribes, passed trash off as "holy relics," and lusted after women. My college professor posed this question to the class:

"How did Chaucer, in a time where the Roman Catholic Church ruled all and carried out both laws and sentencing, avoid prosecution for portraying the church and clergy so negatively?"

Some discussion was made between her and my classmates, and I just kinda sat there, hoping someone would answer this foolish question. The general agreement in the class was that too many people really enjoyed The Canterbury Tales and there would be an uproar if the church persecuted him. Also, (and this was the answer given by my teacher), he was just so clever in the way he wrote things and somehow that prevented any backlash the church could dish out.

I just kinda sat there, amazed that everyone was being so...dim.

I will tell you the real answer.

Chaucer lived in the mid to late 1300's. He died without having completed the book. How many people do you know that would publish an uncompleted work? TCT were published after he had already died. Not only that, but barely anyone knew how to read back then AND the printing press hadn't been invented yet. So not only would he not have published it, being unfinished and all, but he could not publish it anyway. THAT is how he avoided prosecution. *sigh*