By Lilia Atanasova, High School Dr Ivan Panov, 12th grade

Working as a teacher is a mission that requires a commitment to the teaching process, showing understanding to the students, and provoking their interest in the school subject. Among the people who have these qualities is Dimitar Dimov – a history teacher at Secondary School ‘Petko Rachov Slaveikov’, located in the city of Kardzhali. 

Also known as ‘The School for Champions’, it is the biggest school in Southern Bulgaria. Dimitar Dimov is one of the most significant people contributing to the good reputation of the school, a founder of the historical club ‘IstOrika’ (in English: ‘HistOrian’), and one of the students’ favorite teachers. He is not just a history teacher, but also a person who incorporates entertainment in his teaching, and in this way, he motivates students to develop personally, take part in various out-of-class activities, and be an inspiration for younger students.

Dimov has been working as a history teacher for 31 years. He himself shares that he has never expected to work exactly in this field. However, it turns out that he likes being a teacher and this is why he has accepted his job as a mission. For him as a teacher, it is a pleasure to teach history. He is on friendly terms with all historical facts and regularities, and he loves creating logical connections and conclusions regarding different historical events, giving the opportunity to his students to analyze them deeper and share their opinions on them.

Dimov is convinced that history has its place in the school curriculum. “Without history, there is no memory. Without memory, there is no present. And without understanding the present, you cannot be ready for the future,” he said.

The teacher and the educational process

Dimov notices that the job of the teacher has been very desired among young people lately, but he shares with sadness that it is mostly connected to the good salary. He believes that not everybody could be a teacher. “A lot of young people consider teaching as something easy – you just teach the lesson and that is all. This is horrible for students because such teachers kill their curiosity and natural interest,” he said.

Dimov is convinced that a teacher should be helpful to his students, curious, patient, have a good sense of humor, and constantly look for modern implementations in education in order to be useful to the fullest in the educational process. In his opinion, a teacher should know more than their students, set a good example with their behavior, and be creative and imaginative so as to motivate them. If these qualities are in sight, students will be respectful of their teacher.

The historian sees many benefits in the job of a teacher. In the first place, working with young people gives him the feeling that he is as young as them. “More or less when they are around students, every teacher remembers their school years, which brings them back in the past,” he shares. What fills him with energy is the anticipation of how the day will go and the curiosity about what his students have prepared on the topics which they find most interesting. The teacher does not deny that disadvantages exist in his job, but he thinks that the main reason behind them is the bureaucracy in the educational system.

Dimov understands that students have different knowledge on the topics and various attitudes, but he aspires to find that thing that will motivate them to put more effort into studying. From his point of view, a teacher should give their students the opportunity to choose how to present their ideas – by writing essays, drawing, composing reports, filming videos, or other out-of-class things, which could be used as an approach when working with students.

Dimov is deeply connected with the school at which he works. Apart from the planned lessons in the school curriculum, he always goes to work earlier and stays there for additional hours. “For me personally, the school is not only a working place, but also a big family – there is always something which you can do, an idea you can come up with, or something you can initiate. There are moments when I feel exhausted, but that is ‘a pleasant exhaustion’, I know that I have helped a student with something.”

The secondary school ‘Petko Rachov Slaveikov’ has approximately 2000 students and 200 teachers. The organization of the educational process and the discipline, though, are at a very high level. Dimov shares that the teachers know their students very well and are aware of how to push them to do their best. He himself does not tolerate students who break the school rules and always manages to find a solution when a student behaves badly.

The historical club ‘IstOrika’

Dimov is the director of the historical club ‘IstrOrika’ at the school, which allows students to expand their historical knowledge.

The idea behind the club was conceived at the beginning of the academic 2009/2010 year when Dimov and some of his students decided to meet once a week to prepare themselves for different competitions. “Everything started as a joke – without a plan, without a timetable, without the teaching staff knowing about that. And at the beginning of the second academic term, our success did not delay and this is how we started,” Dimov recalled.

The preparation in the club contributes to developing the students’ skills and provides them with the opportunity for additional work, which the planned school lessons do not always allow. Melvin Syuleyman, a student and a member of the historical club for 3 years, shares that her membership has helped her develop her social skills because there she has the freedom to communicate with students from other classes. 

“Being a part of the club mastered my innovative thinking and let me think ‘outside the box’ – it taught me that we should not always look at the details but rather investigate them from afar in order to understand everything,” Syuleyman said.

The students from the club regularly participate in competitions and win prizes. They do various tasks under the supervision of Dimov, and Syuleyman is confident that creating historical films is the most entertaining thing for students: “The whole filming process is like a big challenge, yet such a fun experience. It is just so interesting to walk in the shoes of people who lived in the Middle Ages and see what their way of life looked like, what kind of clothes they wore, how they spoke, and how they behaved. The feeling is just amazing!”

Alongside his students and with the support of the teaching staff, Dimov organizes the annual National History Conference in which students from all parts of Bulgaria compete in four categories – report, historical essay, presentation, and historical film.

The decision for such a conference to be organized was made in 2012 when it was the 100th anniversary of the Balkan War and the Liberation of Kardzhali. Institutions in Kardzhali had different ideas to commemorate this event with quizzes and festivals, but after a talk with Milko Bagdasarov – the school headmaster – Dimov and his students from the club decided to organize a national historical conference. 

“I did not know whether we would manage or not, I was so anxious. However, I did not need to be – we succeeded in organizing the conference. And proof of that is the fact we organized seven more historical conferences. The participation of so many young people from all over the country is another proof that young people need such conferences to show their skills and abilities. Of course, such events raise the prestige of our school and our city. All the teachers and students from the school take the responsibility to organize these conferences seriously and are proud of them!”

Being a teacher is a mission

Dimov is convinced that learning is a two-way process: “Personally, I learn from my students. I have the pleasure to teach older students and they make me learn new things every single day in order to be helpful for what they are interested in.”

The historian advises young people who want to become teachers one day to be patient when working with students and ready to give extra lessons in order to realize their own idea or an idea of their students. He adds they shouldn’t bring their personal problems into their professional life. It’s important to not give up after the first disappointment, and to stay positive, Dimov said.

Dimov believes that the mission of being a teacher is to make students good people, in the literal sense of the word. “If you are not a good person, you cannot be good at anything –  your family, job, even among your friends. This is really a mission – a mission possible.”