UBC Day 7 // The Past Vs The Present and Future

Today is Saturday. In the past I used my Saturday’s for cleaning, laundry, listening to music on loud reverberation, catching up on current movies/series, exploring my city and catching up with friends and family, doing some clothing/style updates and trying a new recipe or preparing the coming week’s meal. The UBC Day 7 challenge wants us to share what has changed in what we are doing today vs 1,3,5 or maybe even 10 years ago.A lot has changed. Even while it seems nothing has changed. A lot has. Career/Education Wise: I began teaching right after my Secondary School Education. I told you in the last Challenge that my first Jamb result was withheld, so I have never been sure if I did scale the cut-off mark or not. What I didn’t say was that I had written that first Jamb examination a year after I graduated from Secondary School. Yes, I didn’t write the Jamb that came in the same year as the WAEC and NECO for my SS3 set. I waited at home till the next Jamb and when that was withheld, I waited another year for the following Jamb.During the almost 2 year wait to gain admission into University. I got a job teaching a Nursery and Primary School close to home. This was between 2002-2004. I was paid a monthly sum of 4000 naira. The school was owned by an elderly couple who had retired from the UK. I watched the proprietor tend his small garden and I indulged in his very size-able library of books on Shakespeare, Greek Myths and so many others and wondered about the heap of unwrapped gifts scaling back several years in the library. Oh and I remember the clean tea cups on the hallway table and the help mopping every foot stain on the floor. I enjoyed teaching the Nursery class and when I quickly got promoted to a Primary class I enjoyed teaching that class too. My father had wanted me to stay home. He said to me “I’ll pay you that amount” He’d felt I was too young. And yes, I was too young. I wasn’t even 16 yet, but I’d discovered my love for teaching and I haven’t fallen out of love with it, even through my stumbles.  A lot has changed in teaching. Teaching is no longer about just delivering lesson content. With the use of technology and the push to understand the individuality of one’s students, teaching has become about delivering lessons in such a way that accommodates the learning styles of varied students. In years from now, I have set goals I would love to achieve as an educator. I have made a lot of growth as regards my capacity to educate, but I’m not there yet. I am not aiming for perfection. There is no such thing, but I’m aiming for a quiet social change in the students I impart. I am aiming that they grow to think a lot for themselves and make their own decisions even while following societal norms. I learn as they learn.So, you see....no sugar daddy supporting my life style or life choices. ;-)What about you? What has changed in what you are doing today vs 1,3,5 or maybe even 10 years ago? Where do you see yourself going in the future?