Top Ten Things Adventist Teachers Need To Do

Top Ten Things Adventist Teachers Need To Do

10. Take care of yourself. Teaching is a marathon, not a sprint. Adventist teachers are out there early and often. Teachers have to take time for themselves every day. You MUST take time to talk with God, to study from The Word, read devotional books. But you also need to take trips, go to conferences, spend time with family and spend time with each other when you don't talk about school.

9. Understand that your class is only one of many things that kids have to do. What goes on in your class is important, but remember that, at any given moment in time, there are pressures on their kids' lives that makes what goes on in your class seem powerfully inconsequential. Help them to keep God, family, and friends in the proper perspectives. Your class needs to fit in with every part of their life.

8. Never be afraid to bring an idea or a critique to your superintendent or principal. Don't be afraid to tell them what you think. It is their job to help you be a better teacher. Share with them what you think would make your school a better place and ask them how they can help you.

7. Be as transparent as possible. That means opening your classroom door to colleagues, to parents, to visitors. Give students opportunities to publish their work. Publish a classroom newsletter or blog. Never play "gotcha" with the kids when it comes to expectations.

6. Dictatorship may make for an orderly class, but it rarely helps kids improve. Give students opportunities to feel ownership of the classroom. In the end, you will get what you want or you will get much more. Let them feel that they have a say in the society of the classroom.

5. Remember that inquiry isn't just for kids. If we want our students to push themselves to question more, dig deeper, figure it out for themselves, we must be willing to do that too. Learn with your students.

4. Take ownership of the school outside your classroom. Adventist schools work because everyone makes it happen. Run a club, chair a committee, write a grant, do the thing you always wanted to do in a school but never thought the structure of school could support.

3. Be a community of teachers and learners...Speak the same language. Kids spend too much time figuring out teachers, and that detracts from the work they can do for themselves, not for us. Incorporate the school's core values into your planning, use Journey to Excellence Curriculum Guides to plan units. The way we teach and learn needs to be Bible based and oriented to Adventist schools.

2. Treat your class as a lens, not a silo. Help them to make truth obvious, not simply store it up for the future. The goal is for our kids to be well-rounded, thoughtful Christians. Not all of your students will become leaders in the church. Make sure the others know that what they are learning with you helps them to be a better person.

1. We teach students before we teach subjects. Adventist teachers need to understand and live the profound difference between the statements, "I teach math," and "I teach kids to understand math." Children should never be the implied object of their own education. A teacher is more than a distributor of knowledge. They are models for Christian life. We are guides on the Journey to Excellence and our students need to know God's grace.

And one more – Show love. Show your students, their parents, your colleagues, even your principal and superintendent, that you love them. God is love and more than anything else, you need to show your students that they are loved.

Whatever you do, Show love.

--------------------------------------------------------

The idea for this list came from Chris Lehmann.

Read the original list at http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2010/10/what-i-ask-of-sla-teachers.html