Teacher = Public Relations.

Huwaaa.. apparently my last post was on 1st August. It's been a while since my last writing. yeah, I'm not a good blogger i guess.. XD. Many things happened in my life, but not all of it updated in my blog. Here just the (almost) most recent thing about me....
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"Miss..miss..help me", "What is this Miss?", "I can't do it Miss, please help me".
Setiap panggilan "Miss" itu dialamatkan padaku. Teriakan dan seruan itu yang sekarang tiap hari kudengar. Suara-suara riuh dan celotehan khas anak kecil membuat hariku semakin meriah. Anak-anak berusia dibawah enam tahun pun saat ini menjadi "klien" ku. Yap, setelah melalui berbagai cerita sebelum dan sesudah lulus kuliah, beberapa pengalaman berkarya dijalani, saat ini aku menyandang status sebagai guru taman kanak-kanak di sebuah sekolah Kristiani berlabel nasional plus. "Pahlawan tanpa tanda jasa" dan "pengabdian" mungkin itu beberapa kata yang terlintas di benak beberapa orang saat mendengar profesi guru.

Kalo ada yang tanya, "Gimana ceritanya jadi guru?", mungkin kita perlu mundur kebelakang lagi.. menuju bertahun-tahun silam saat aku masih duduk di bangku taman kanak-kanak hingga Sekolah Dasar.
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Dulu waktu tiba pertanyaan favorit guru-guru (dan umumnya dipakai di iklan-iklan yang memasang sosok guru), yaitu "nanti kalo sudah besar mau jadi apa?". tidak pernah terlintas di pikiranku untuk menyebut "dokter", "presiden", "arsitek". entah mungkin sejak kecil aku sadar bahwa menggambar bukan bidangku, dan hal-hal yang berbau obat-obatan juga bukan favoritku, aku memilih menyebut "Guru". Bahkan memikirkan pekerjaan yang khas perempuan, yaitu pramugari, pun tidak.
kenapa guru? entahlah. Sejauh yang aku bisa ingat, mungkin dulu aku melihat sosok guru sebagai orang yang sangat pintar. Ia tahu serta mengerti berbagai hal, dan berkuasa hahahhahaha.. berkuasa? iya, sekalipun ia bukan orang tua kami para murid, tapi ia boleh marah-marah dan mengatur kami. Apalagi kalo dia udah pakai bolpoin merahnya. Maka sosok guru seperti Harry Potter bersama tongkat ajaibnya. Bolpoin nmerahnya menari indah di atas setiap kertas pekerjaan yang susah payah dikerjakan oleh murid-muridnya, dicoret-coret dan Taaraaa.. muncullah nilai-nilai kami. hihihihihi.. dan yang paling mengasyikkan: terus berkumpul bersama anak-anak kecil! yah demikianlah di mataku, sebagai anak kecil. Impian menjadi guru ternyata bertahan hingga aku memasuki usia SMP mungkin, dan sejak dahulu aku juga memikirkan kalaupun ternyata aku menjadi guru, aku ingin menjadi guru TK aja. Kenapa? alasannya: "Soalnya pelajaran SD susah, lebih gampang pelajaran TK. kalo ngajarin pelajaran SD, SMP, atau SMP harus susah-susah belajar lagi"

Memasuki pertengahan SMP hingga SMA, aku mulai tahu ada satu profesi yang mengasyikkan : Public Relations. kenapa menarik? because in simple way, i see that vocation is dynamic, and allows me to meet, build and maintain relations with new people. Pemikiran-pemikiran ini yang akhirnya sukses mengantarkanku untuk memilih Jurusan Ilmu Komunikasi di bangku perkuliahan.
Banyak dan susahnya ilmu yang kudapat tentang Public Relations (PR) tidak menyurutkan bayanganku untuk menjadi seorang wanita karir yang berprofesi sebagai PR. Apalagi kalo lihat penampilan & aktifitas para praktisi PR, which is soooo professional, attractive, smart, dynamic. WHoooaaa!!

Each of us, has our own dreams and passions. Dream: comes from our idealistic mind. Passion: comes from our deepest heart. Now, here comes what we call as dilemma . It is when our dreams and passions have their own ways, and we have to decide which one will we go for.

As i graduated, and as i stated above that many things happened, there was a time when I read job offer as a teacher in a school. at that time, i chose to go along with my heart. My passion is "i can do something valuable for children, work with them, and prepare them for brighter future". So what can i do to accomplish my passion? being a teacher is one of the solutions ;)

maybe some people said , "hey, what the used of what you learned at college with what you do now?", "being PR and teacher are very much different from each other, how do you deal with that?".
now I'm saying say : PR and teacher, there are not much differences between them. why? here are some reasons:

1. Knowledge based. How we can say and teach things if we don't know a single thing =)

2. All about image and reputation. as what i've been taught in college, PR is about Image and Reputation. Image: what we show forward, reputation: what people see about us. As a teacher sure i have to watch carefully at my attitude. What i say, what i do, what i watch and see. in short term: be a good example for my students and their parents. =)

3. Know who the publics are. as i learned, PR should recognize who his/her publics are. The primary one, secondary, and so on, because it determined how we treat them. yeah, i thought my primary public was my students, but then i realized that before students, i have to deal with the parents first. Yeah, as the law in PR said: Influence The Decision Maker. In this case, sure the parents are the decision makers. Win their hearts first. How to do it? by giving our best to the children with our heart. ^^

4. Build and maintain relationship between company and public, become the communication technician. it's clear that teacher as one of "front-liners" for the school. Meet the parents, listen to their inputs, embrace their critics, and also stand as behalf of the school.

5. Event Management. Event is one of PR's tools for promoting and campaigning. So, it's important to manage the event from the very beginning until the very last. From planning, until the evaluation. As teachers, sure we deal with so many events for the children, for instance Independence Day, Christmas, etc. In planning, we should think : For whom? What's the objective? and all the preparation.

well, those were just few similarities of PR and Teacher that crossed my mind this time. So in my opinion, now can choose both my dreams and passion =) Once, my best friend said to me, "among us, only you who can finally fulfill your childhood's dream-job. you said you wanted be a kindergarten teacher, now you are!".

if you ask me "how long will you be a teacher?" my answer would be: "I don't know". who can tell what tomorrow brings, but all i know i will always want to do many things for the children thru many ways.