Читать книгу 7 Key Qualities of Effective Teachers - Robin Brian Cox - Страница 8

Teaching is a tough job. It can be incredibly rewarding, but also incredibly demanding and, occasionally, demoralizing.

In the last decade, schools and teachers have become more accountable and been placed in the spotlight, blamed for “failing” our young people. At the same time, there has been a dramatic increase in mental illness, particularly anxiety disorder, among youth. If the job of a teacher wasn’t complex and demanding enough, to be a Christian teacher in an increasingly secular society has become even more challenging, particularly if you don’t work in a faith-based school. This is why this book is so important.

I fear that society has lost sight of what teaching and good schools are all about. A teacher today could easily fall into the trap of believing that their worth is measured by the standardized test scores of their students, rather than the difference they have made to another person’s life. I have never had a young person come back to me after they left school and thank me for teaching them to read, but they have thanked me for being there for them or for igniting a passion.

How do I know this? Because, like Robin Cox, I am an educator who loves Jesus. While I am currently the head of one of Australia’s internationally recognized independent schools, and before that, the founding head of another large independent school, I am, at my core, a teacher.

I’m not one of those people who always knew they would become a teacher. You might say I was “called” to become a teacher. I think of it more as being led.

You never really know what you want to do with your life when you are at school—such a hard decision to make when you are still so young. My best subjects were mathematics, engineering science, and technical drawing. The obvious option was to become an engineer. I liked the sound of being an aeronautical engineer. I even toyed with the idea of becoming an architect.

At the conclusion of my school journey, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and neither did my two best mates. So we all took the year off study to work. I was a laborer for a surveying company. The experience gave me time to reflect on who I wanted to be and where I wanted to make an impact.

That was the same year that someone at church asked me to teach Sunday School. I reluctantly took on the role but quickly realized that I loved working with young people! The experience of working at a surveying company also showed me what I didn’t want to do.

I remember walking into the lounge room of my family home to announce to my parents what I had decided. My mother interjected, “You’re going to tell us you’re going into the ministry.”

“Well yes, and no. I’m going to become a teacher.” In my mind, I was going into ministry. God had been working in my life and gently guiding me. Teaching Sunday School showed me that he had bestowed on me certain gifts and talents (which still needed plenty of honing and refinement) that he wanted me to use. I would never find purpose and fulfilment, if I buried these gifts in the ground.

Teaching is a ministry. I am continually astounded by just how many teachers are Christians—people who have committed their lives to Christ, been bestowed particular gifts and are ministering in what you could argue is the most important work you can be called to do: guiding, developing, and transforming the minds and character of the next generation. More Christians than you can imagine are working in secular schools.

My first year of teaching was incredibly challenging. I had twenty-eight five-year-old children. By 11 a.m. of the first day I had exhausted all my lesson plans and ideas. That evening I had never felt so tired. For the first year, I survived on nine cups of coffee a day. That wasn’t sustainable. I worked in a non-Christian environment but, remarkably, God had placed a wonderful Christian woman in the classroom with me as my teacher aide. She became my mentor and source of encouragement. Together we started a staff prayer group, which, by the end, had grown to ten in number.

That was thirty years ago. Over those years I have given some great lessons and delivered some terrible ones. My spirit has soared when I have seen a young person “get it” for the first time or leave me a beautiful note at the end of the year to thank me. Conversely, I have had some dark years as I struggled with an incredibly challenging class, or group of parents whose demands I never seemed able to satisfy. There were times I felt like giving up. If this sounds like you, then you must read on.

If I were asked if there is a particular teacher I remember from my school days, I would answer, “Peter Janda.” Mr. Janda was my science teacher, but I don’t remember him for our science lessons, or for the grades I achieved under his tutelage. I remember him for the conversations and debates we all had about life.

Mr. Janda wasn’t a Christian. He was an atheist. His understanding of science and the world was through the lens of atheism and he loved to try and dispel the truth of God. But something remarkable happened to Mr. Janda when I was in eighth grade. He became a Christian and, overnight, our debates on life changed.

Mr. Janda’s life-changing experience changed the way he saw teaching. For him it became a true ministry opportunity. I can still clearly see him standing in the front of the class leading a passionate debate about the creation of our world and then pulling me aside at the end of the lesson to ask how I was. His impact on me continues to this day. I never had the opportunity to tell Mr. Janda that, because later that year God took him home.

When we give our lives to Christ, our work becomes our ministry. We are called by God, set apart by him to do good works. We are his. Our fulfillment in life is found when we use the gifts God has given to us to obey his commands: to love him with all our heart, soul and mind, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We glorify God when we seek to reflect his love into the lives of everyone we come across.

But what does a teaching ministry look like and how can you sustain yourself for that work? This is an even more challenging question if you work in a secular school, particularly one that is openly hostile to matters of faith. Robin answers these questions in 7 Key Qualities of Effective Teachers. Robin’s passion for young people and skill as a mentor is obviously divinely bestowed. I had the privilege of working with Robin, a profoundly gifted, wise, and experienced educator, and can attest to his skill. In the following pages, Robin tells his deeply personal and powerful story of becoming a teacher. He was so grateful to his teachers that he committed his life to mentoring others.

As I worked with Robin, I witnessed him not only mentor young people, but also walk alongside teachers who were struggling with their personal or professional life. Some had lost sight of why they chose to become a teacher. Robin’s deep empathy, gentle encouragement, extensive experience, and wise counsel lifted them out of that dark place and inspired, motivated, and re-energized their passion for teaching.

If you are lucky enough to be one of the thousands of people mentored by Robin, you will know just how generous he is. 7 Key Qualities of Effective Teachers is a way for Robin to mentor many more—to mentor you.

Pulling together approximately forty-five years of reading, reflection, and experience as an educator across four countries, Robin shares seven qualities of an effective Christian teacher to encourage and grow your ministry no matter where God has placed you. He encourages you to: get right with God; look to Jesus, the great teacher; live a balanced, healthy life; see Jesus in others; and empower your students to live fulfilling, purposeful lives.

Within each of the seven qualities there are practical strategies you can immediately implement, challenging questions for you to reflect on, scripture to encourage your continued walk with God, and stories of inspirational people who have gone before us. You can use the book as an encouragement, a devotional, or even as a professional growth plan. I know that this book will be a great encouragement as you seek God with all your heart, mind and spirit. It is a reminder of what an extraordinary profession teaching is, how gifted you are by God, and how amazing you are to simply turn up each day ready to shape the young people entrusted to your care. You are God’s amazing blessing to others.

Dr. Paul Browning

Headmaster, St Paul’s School, Brisbane, Australia