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Workingwithapassionate Creed (Booklet)
Workingwithapassionate Creed (Booklet)
Workingwithapassionate Creed (Booklet)
Introduction
This article explores the relationship between the way God has graced each human being so that they contribute and participate in His kingdom, and the importance of understanding that sense of purpose and calling in being an effective and inspirational teacher. Inspirational teachers know who they are, are vital and full of passion. They love to teach as a painter loves to paint, as a writer loves to write, as a singer loves to sing. They have a serious purpose and yet enjoy enormously what they do (Cronin, 1993, p. 2; italics added). This serious purpose can be described as a calling or vocation. Within teacher education literature it might be described within a Philosophy of Education, or a Passionate Creed (LaBoskey, 1994). As Intrator and Kunzman (2006, p. 16) wrote:
Teachers who make a difference employ various methods, and their success cannot be linked merely to facility with a technique or a method. Instead, the authors contend that a teachers capacity to teach well is linked to a set of ineffable, hard-to-codify qualities that often become characterized as heart, passion, or connectedness. These intricate qualities emerge from the inner or core landscape of a teachers life and represent the integral feature of inspired and memorable teaching.
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In shaping this statement, Angela drew on the meaning of her name, scriptures, favourite sayings. She was able to take these commitments and explain how they looked like in the classroom and what they meant for the process of teaching, learning, behaviour guidance, planning and assessment. She also did not see it as a finished work but wrote:
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For those who are teachers, this notion of a Passionate Creed is closely tied to the image of a good teacher. This mental picture of a good teacher inspires them to achieve a certain way of teaching including the way the classroom environment was structured or designed. LaBoskey quotes Elbazs (1983, p. 134) writing: On this level, the teachers feelings, values needs and beliefs combine as she forms images of how teaching should be, and marshals experience, theoretical knowledge, school folklore, to give substance to these images. However, these ideas are not just for teachers. We see them operating in the life of: Jesus - who wanted to do always act in a way that pleased his father and to point people to Him (see John 10:37, 38; 12:45; 13:7; 14:7-10). Paul the apostle always presents himself as a servant of Christ. This image of a servant shaped the way he lived and worked always seeking to please His master and saviour, Jesus Christ.
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Because of this clarity her work was not diluted but rather she concentrated on the focus God had planted in her heart leaving other work to those called to that work. People would criticise her for loving the individual poor but she would answer that she had been called to feed, clothe, bathe and tend the poorest of the poor. If she tried to do things outside of her calling, she would be less effective in the little things God had given her to do.
a teacher educator from California spent several months as a volunteer at Shishu Bavan, or home for babies in what was then known as Calcutta (now Kolkata)
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For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
When we read this together with Scriptures such as Psalm 8, Jeremiah 29 verse 11; 2 Peter 1 verse 3, Psalm 20 verse 4 and Psalm 37 verses 4 & 23; Romans 12, Ephesians 4; 1 Corinthians 12, we also realise that God has placed within each of us specific desires, graces or ways of being and serving to bring Him glory. These work together so that, with reliance on the grace of God, we contribute to the Kingdom of God coming on earth (Matthew 6). It is why we are different. Each of us is given something to do that shows who God is (1 Corinthians 12 verse 7, The Message). Paul, the apostle uses different lists to describe different ways we experience the way Gods spirit gets worked into our lives. In Ephesians 4 we read about different ways to serve or minister, In Romans 12 we read about different functions or motivations, and in 1 Corinthians 12 different expressions of the spirit at work. According to theological writers such as Perry Downs from Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Chicago, even
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Conclusion
Effective teaching is intentional. Each aspect of the reciprocal teaching and learning process is shaped to lead to maximum learner engagement and connection. This process
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A person who really knows and believes something understands it and lives by it. It becomes part of them and the way they view the world (Hansen, 2001, p. 56).
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