7 Key Qualities of Effective Teachers. Robin Brian Cox
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•Inspired and intrinsically motivated students
•Students—and staff colleagues, even families of students— enter into a meaningful relationship with Jesus
•Students use their innovative, entrepreneurial, and creative gifts without fear of failure
•Ongoing affirmations of teachers by one another and by school management teams
•A consistent focus, understanding, and support of the health and wellbeing of teachers, which includes manageable stress levels
•Fewer discipline challenges, a reduction in truancy, substance abuse, antisocial behavior, youth suicide, and other youth related mental health issues
•The development of effective communication and relationship-building skills within the school community. For example, more encouragement, empathy, positive peer support, and no judgmental put-downs or bullying
•Families, teachers and students work together to support one another and make a positive difference in their communities
•Students feel the unconditional love and care they crave, feel that their opinions are valued and listened to, and, as they journey through the confusing years of adolescence, feel that their lives have greater meaning and purpose
We are mindful that every teacher is in a different personal space.
We are encouraged to stand tall and Christlike in the grace that embraces our brokenness, conscious of the fact that we never walk alone when the Christian faith, globally, is being battered from all sides. The resurrected Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is with us every step of the way: “God has said: ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Heb 13:5).
“How can I do this?” you might be wondering. “Can I do this as a Christian in a secular school?” “How can I show Christian love in a tangible way that does not set me up for abuse?” “How can I do this in a way that will honor God when speaking about faith is not allowed in the classroom?” “How can I do this when we are under so much pressure from management and parents to deliver academic results?”
In moments of frustration and self-doubt, the words of Holocaust survivor and neurologist Viktor Frankel can inspire us: “Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
And, we embrace the life lesson that the apostle Paul shared with the Philippians: “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:12–13).
Who is the student?
A child of God, not a tool of the State.
Who is the teacher?
A guide, not a guard.
What is the faculty?
A community of scholars not a union of mechanics.
Who is the principal?
A master of teaching, not a master of teachers.
What is learning?
A journey, not a destination.
What is discovery?
Questioning the answers, not answering the questions.
What is the process?
Discovering ideas, not covering the content.
What is the goal?
Open minds, not closed issues.
What is the test?
Being and becoming, not remembering and reviving.
What is a school?
Whatever we choose to make it.
—Author unknown
When God gives us children he gives us an assignment, and the assignment quite simply is this: to love them unconditionally, value them highly, and prepare them for a role in life in which they will find meaning and purpose.
—Selwyn Hughes, Christian minister
The Call—My Story
Teachers are those who use themselves as bridges, over which they invite their students to cross; then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.
—Nikos Kazantzakis, writer
Why did you choose teaching as a career?
Is your career a response to a “calling”? Or did you have an interest in teaching young people and decide to enter the teaching profession, and you happen to be a Christian as well?
For as long as I can remember, I felt that God had called me to teaching.
I decided to become a teacher when I was about eleven. I was recovering from major operations to remove a cancerous growth from my right jawbone. I had undergone radiation treatment for a few months—two-and-a-half times the adult dose. My doctors, who were unsure if they had been able to remove all the cancer, told my parents that I probably had two years to live.
During this time my mother died unexpectedly. She suffered a pulmonary embolism while recovering from a relatively minor operation. Death was quick. My family was thrown into disarray as we came to terms with the enormity of our loss. Unbeknown to me at the time, God would make good on his promise: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer 29:11)
My amazing teachers
While undergoing cancer treatment and in the years that followed, some authentic and amazing teachers blessed and encouraged me. They modeled empathy, put up with my nonsense, tolerated my cheekiness, and were far too patient with my academic performance—maybe non-performance would be closer to the truth. They spoke more than enough times to the potential they could see in me and which I struggled to visualize for a long time. They nurtured and guided a shy, disfigured young boy with low self-esteem on an awesome self-discovery and self-empowerment journey for which I shall be eternally grateful.
They identified my passion for sport, the arena in which they would start their work, encouraging me to become the best person I could be once my doctors allowed me to play non-contact sport again.
Peter, my cricket coach, included me in the cricket team. He protected me from possible danger. He used his years of experience as a teacher to help me develop my self-confidence and self-belief as a sportsman. He also drilled into me the importance of teamwork.
John, another teacher, gave me a role as a touch-judge or linesman of the under thirteen rugby union team. I wrote brief match reports, which were placed on the junior school noticeboard. I began to take an interest in writing. My life was gaining meaning and purpose.
Other teachers, coaches and family members fanned my sporting flames, while my academic results remained inconsistent. I eventually graduated from school and achieved state representation in cross-country, cricket, and field hockey, captained school teams, and was appointed school captain (head student) in my final year at school.
My sporting ambitions were curtailed when I was at university because of the increased risk of potentially serious facial damage, a devastating experience at the time. I decided, once over the shock, to become the best teacher and sports coach I could be.
Now that I am retired, I look back on my career with a multitude of wonderful memories—teaching in four countries, coaching and managing sports teams to under-nineteen at international levels, and becoming a school principal at a Christian school and a secular school. I had opportunities to develop peer mentor and peer support programs in three countries and establish