Thursday, July 15, 2010
Teaching Morally
Wow! What an important chapter for anyone, especially teachers to read. Students are always observing these people (us...their teachers) who they spend so much time with each year. They watch how we teach, how we interact with them and other students, how we interact with colleagues, how we handle disappointment, how we express happiness, how we handle stress and the list goes on and on. They also form opinions of us based on these observations. We can be people that they admire and want to model or not. It truely is up to us. It is a heavy responsibility and an area that many in education tend to forget. Educators are busy people with lots of demands on our time and we have to be careful not to get so wrapped up in the business of teaching the curriculum, that we forget we are also teaching the heart and soul of the child. As Durka states at the end of the chapter, "if we are to expect our students to understand moral rules and principles, this will include "being a certain kind of person ourselves." This is one of the reasons I feel the vocation of teaching makes me a better person. I hold myself accountable for my words and actions and cannot shoulder the responsibility of inappropriate or negative behavior that a student may witness. I want my students to leave my class at the end of the year better individuals than they were at the beginning with God at the center of their souls. Nothing less is acceptable!
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You are so right, Angie, our vocation as teacher does challenge us to be a better person. We have to! They are our future generation. We are their hope, their example and model. We cannot expect them to be moral if we ourselves are not practicing what we expect!!!. Beautifully put--wanting God at the center of their souls, and nothing less!!! Amen!!!
ReplyDeleteBlessed be God!
ReplyDeleteDear Angie,
What a beautiful reflection!
You are absolutely right! Our students know us very well. I always tell them "school is your second home, and your teachers spend more hours with you than some of your parents. I remember the words of a first grade girl when I was giving them a retreat and talking to them about the importance of their teachers and being thankful to them. She said, "Sister, you know we have three moms..." I was only thinking about their real mothers and Mary, she realize I was puzzled...then she said, "Yes! Look, Mary, our mothers, and our teacher" It really was a God moment!
We are like mothers to our students, and I can tell you are an awesome mother!
Your words tell me you are "I want my students to leave my class at the end of the year better individuals than they were at the beginning with God at the center of their souls. Nothing less is acceptable!"
I wish the same for my students!
God bless!