Who’s your favorite teacher?
Sharing the education of our children
Sharing the education of our children
Mr. Caputo’s creative and dramatic lecturing style, including hilarious British and German accents during our World World II lessons, transformed my perspective on the study of history. What was once dry and boring came alive through his passion for understanding and learning from the past.
Mr. Caputo’s creative and dramatic lecturing style, including hilarious British and German accents during our World World II lessons, transformed my perspective on the study of history. What was once dry and boring came alive through his passion for understanding and learning from the past.
Many of us have an instant answer to: “Who’s your favorite teacher?” Usually, our affection for them stems not just from their ability to transmit the required subject matter, but the intangible qualities of leadership, mentorship, mercy, and attention they showed us. We didn’t just learn algebra and biology, but how to navigate emotions, manage relationships, resolve conflict, and persevere to the end of a task.
Particularly in Catholic schools, teachers have a holy invitation and weighty responsibility to embody, celebrate, and encourage the good, the true, and the beautiful of our Catholic faith. The Church reminds us that parents remain the primary educators of their children, but through enrollment in a Catholic school, the parents are intentionally sharing this sacred responsibility with the faculty and staff.
Discipleship requires community, and Catholic schools are designed to be a strategic partnership whereby children grow in all aspects of their emerging lives: physically, emotionally, intellectually AND spiritually! It’s critical for young people to see the faith of their parents corroborated and supported by other adults who also have consistent roles in their lives. How can these impressionable young souls grow closer to Jesus if the adults in their lives don’t know him and aren’t willing to share him?
Teachers have an unique access to and perspective on their students’ lives, which cannot be minimized as an evangelistic and discipleship opportunity. At critical points in my life, several of my teachers had the courage to challenge me to greater holiness, create opportunities for me to serve, and patiently accompanied me as I wrestled with persistent sin. I’m literally eternally grateful for their faith, conviction, and willingness to accept the often thankless vocation of teaching, and I pray many more will do the same!
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ should impact every aspect of our lives, and I’ve experienced, firsthand, the incredible benefit of when teachers don’t stop being a disciple when the bell rings to start the day. I don’t remember the importance of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, but I’ll never forget the tremendous blessing of teachers who took their responsibility as a teacher as seriously as their responsibility as a witness to the saving love of Jesus Christ!
Pete Burak is the director of i.d.9:16, the young adult outreach of Renewal Ministries. He has a master’s degree in theology and is a frequent speaker on evangelization and discipleship.