Saša Čorboloković, one of the sixteen awarded educators of the first generation in 2014, addressed his colleagues and guests at the sixth award presentation ceremony for the Best Educators of Serbia.
With his colleagues, co-workers, newly awarded educators and other guests, Saša shared his experience of why the year 2014 and receiving the title of the Best Educator of Serbia had been special to him.
Dear colleagues, members of the Association "Živojin Mišić",
I would like to greet you all as a representative of the first (and oldest) generation awarded in 2014. When Ivona asked me if I wanted to write something, I accepted without thinking because 2014 was a special year for me for several reasons.
First,at the award ceremony at the Zepter Hotel, I met some new people, for whom, after a few exchanged sentences, I had the impression that I had known them for years. We were connected by the same attitude towards work, excellent results, fluency of ideas and persistence and perseverance in their realization. Then I realized that I am not alone in my mission and that there are still those who have not given up, let alone given up providing each new generation a quality education, not because someone pays them extra, not because principals respect and reward them, or have ideal working conditions, but because they are eternal enthusiasts, people who love their calling and working with children. Everyone is, therefore, aware that they are working now, that they cannot (and should not) live from the past or from waiting for a better time, but they can keep up with the times.
Secondly,it is also impressive how much one association values the work of teachers at a time when everyone is competing in underestimating the job of an educator, forgetting that the teaching profession is the basis of all other professions. The road to a good teacher is long and never finished. Instead of motivating and enabling the continuous progress of every teacher, it seems to slow it down and make it impossible. Children are neither better nor worse, they are a picture of the time in which they grow up, and it is our job to find the best way to work with them. It is not easy, but it is possible and achievable. The Association "Živojin Mišić" understood that, which many others did not. It has enabled and enables dedicated people to get to know, compare and share their pedagogical and methodological experiences. The association is conceived as a place to make numerous friends and associates. In that way, enthusiasm is not an isolated and lonely phenomenon that the environment suffocates over time, but an extensive network of contacts and people who give teaching a sacred place for shaping children's souls.
Third,the award encouraged me to be even better and even more successful in what I do. Every following year, I have attended the solemn announcement of new generations of educators and was happy that there were more and more of us. After the award ceremony, I would continue to follow the work of the new winners, to change under their influence and thus improve myself.
Today I am extremely glad that I can congratulate the new generation and wish them to keep company and co-operate, just like us, in 2014. Enjoy your well-deserved award and let your professional skills be a signpost in schools, environments in which you work and let the teaching image be even richer and more meaningful by your own examples. This is your day! Welcome among the best where there is your well-deserved place.”