Merry Christmas!

Enjoy your Christmas break! 

God bless you fellow teachers,

Donna

The 5 Characteristics of a Christian Teacher (Finale!)

Pointing our students to Christ – it’s where we began and will end this series.  It’s what Christian teachers are conscious of day in and day out.  It’s our mission, our purpose, our passion, and our commitment.  If we all could have a common mission statement, I believe Pointing Our Students To Christ would be universally agreed upon.  

Indeed, characteristics 1-4 drive us to do just that…

• Step 1 –  PASSION

• Step 2 –  BEARING FRUIT

• Step 3 –  RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

• Step 4 –  WITNESSING

Finally, we come to characteristic #5!  And that is… always endeavoring to IMPROVE our craft.  Christian teachers should be the best teachers in the profession.  Amen?  Of course, years of experience help us become better teachers, but we are by no means perfect.  We can always improve and need to be mindful of that fact.

So how can we improve?  By looking to Jesus of course!  Jesus is our mentor and example of the perfect teacher. Who Was The Best Teacher, EVER?  is a blog post I wrote on this very subject.  If we can be just a smidgen of the teacher Jesus exemplified, then we will be just fine, and of course we will be pointing our students to Christ as a result.  Please click on the above link to access the post.

Of course, these are not all of the characteristics our students witness as we endeavor to point them to Christ, but it would be the 5 that would be the most recognizable to anyone who entered our classroom and saw us in action.  Jesus, for certain, is watching and surely smiles at what He sees. 🙂

God bless you, dear Christian teachers.  Until next week, stay devoted by pointing students to Christ.

 

 

 

The 5 Characteristics of a Christian Teacher Pt. 3

 

We are pointing our students to Jesus, fellow Christian teachers….but how do we do this in the public school classroom?  Well, before we begin, let’s do a quick recap of the first 3 characteristics as to what students will witness in the Christian teacher’s classroom.

#1 – PASSION                    #2 – FRUIT                #3 – RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

(Please click on the above links for more info!)

So that now brings us to characteristic #4:  WITNESSING

I came across this quote a while back and I LOVE IT!  It shares what we talk about at Devotions for Teachers all the time.  Isn’t it encouraging to know that since God is everywhere and He is in us, then He is in our classrooms and can change hearts and minds as a result?  AMEN!

Sharing Jesus was a topic on a blog post at the beginning of this year too. I am reposting it and encourage you to share Jesus however you can.  Just pray and ask God to show you what you can do, and He will!  Please click on the link below and may God richly bless you in your classroom this week.  Until next week when we finish this series with characteristic #5, stay devoted!

https://devotionsforteachers.org/2016/01/24/how-to-make-2016-the-best-year-ever-part-3/

#BeAnIntentionalWitnessForChrist

What Does Being a Christian Teacher Look Like? (The 5 Characteristics of a Christian Teacher) Part 2

 …but not the ones who harp all the time! 😉

Last week, we began our series on the 5 characteristics of a Christian teacher.  Ultimately, we are pointing our students to Christ, with our character and actions in the classroom being our witness. Here is a quick recap:

• Christian teachers are passionate about teaching.  (Even though we sometimes complain, we’ve got to get our teaching fix, because it’s our calling.)  See 2 Timothy 1:6

• Christian teachers are fruit producers bearing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. See Galations 5:22-23

Next on the list is…

•  Christian teachers build relationships with their students.

  

  You may be thinking that most teachers build relationships day in and day out with students.  And yes, they do! The difference is Christian teachers build them by serving and ministering to students.  For example, when we see a student in need, whether it’s small or large, we look for a way to meet that need.  Whether it includes pencils and paper, help with school work, or something bigger like clothes or even a mattress on which to sleep, we do our best to serve them at their point of need. After all, when we are serving our students, we are serving Christ.  

  More importantly though, it means taking time to listen and talk to students. Teachers are already spending time with students during class, but Christian teachers take that extra bit of “me” time and shave off a few minutes here and there, as well as time before, between, and after class to get to know their students better.  We serve our kids something more valuable than gold when we serve them with our time!

  
  

  The most striking difference of all though, is that the most effective way Christian teachers build relationships with their students is by loving them and praying for them.  Stop and think about that for a moment.  Who do we pray for the most?  Is it not those with whom we have a close relationship?  With those we love?  It’s nearly impossible to not build a relationship with the people in our lives for whom we pray and love fervently. Amen?

Next week we will continue with the 5 characteristics of Christian teachers.  Until then, continue with your passionate, fruit bearing, relationship building teaching dear Christian teachers!  God bless you and stay devoted.

#ChristianTeachersAreTheBestTeachers