Whatever gifts you have been given can be enlarged and developed through practice.  For instance, no one gets the gift of teaching fully developed. But with study, feedback, and practice, “good” teacher can become a better teacher, and with time, grow to be a master teacher.  Don’t settle for a half-developed gift.  Stretch yourself and learn all you can. “Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of.”  Take advantage of every opportunity to develop your shape and sharpen your serving skills as teacher. Be not a lame duck.

A few years ago, at a school graduation, something caught my attention after the master of ceremony had announced and awarded the title, “DakilangGuro of the Year”, the words that I heard from the group of graduates banged on my ear and made me to question the award, I would never forget their words,”DakilangGurosi Ma’am, perobinibigayniyanamanangsagotsa test, ganunbaangDakilaparasakanila?.” This statement drove me to interview some experts of God’s law and read some researches on how to become a True Great Teacher of God. Criteria made by superiors in teaching profession for qualification per se in choosing “DakilangGuro” are very different from what God expects of  us. This article outlines a possible for choosing “DakilangGuro” or a “True Great Teacher of God” gathered based on interviews and researches.

 

 

A True Great Teachers- As Real Servants

It is possible to serve in school for a lifetime without ever being a servant. As a teacher, you must have a servant’s heart. How can you know if you have the heart of a servant? Jesus said, “You can tell what they are by what they do.” To be a servant requires a mental shift, a change in your attitudes. God is always more interested in why we do something that in what we do. Attitudes count more than achievements. Sometimes it feels so pity and lonely to see teachers who has many awards but their attitudes are undefined. Here are some guidelines if our compass leads to a true great teacher of God:

1. Do every task either big or small, do it with equal dedicationand compassion.  Whatever you do, you “do it with all your heart.” The size of task in school is enormous. Different students with different family backgrounds, indifferent teachers’ and superior with varied characters, other personnel, paper works and others, all of these you will encounter. But what we are forgetting to do because of these many and big task, are the small task like learn to forgive your co-teachers’ mistakes, such as being tactless to your colleagues, feeling bossy in a sense that you can let others do the work for you,disobeying the rules and others these are sometimes we never pay attention of.  A true great teacher with a real servant heart is revealed in little acts that others don’t think of doing, as when Paul gathered brushwood for a fire to warm everyone after a shipwreck. He was just exhausted as everyone else, but he did what everyone needed. Sometimes, we are neglecting to do the small task and we are too busy doing the big task, I am happy to see some teachers who stop for a while and happily doing the small task to their students, colleagues, and to other people rather than a teacher who is very busy in doing big tasks but no time for doing the small task because of the pride in their heart. What superiors do not see, Our True Superior in Heaven sees everything. Sometimes those who are in high position neglect to do the small task like understanding the request of my co-teacher regarding the teachers’right to have a conducive work area instead she was misinterpreted and physically and verbally abused .

Great opportunities often disguise themselves in small tasks. These little things in life determine the big things. Don’t look for great tasks to do for you to recognize. Just do the not-so-great stuff, and God will assign you whatever he wants you to do.  But before attempting the extraordinary, try serving in an ordinary ways.

1. Maintain a low profile.A true great teacher of God doesn’t promote or call attention to themselves. Instead of acting to impress and dressing for success, they “put on the apron of humility, to serve one another.” If recognized for their service, they humbly accept it but don’t allow notoriety to distract them from their work. Jesus hated this attitude and warned, “When youdo good deeds, don’t try to show off.  If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Fatherin heaven.” Self-promotion and servanthood don’t mix, remember as teacher of God follows the footprints of Jesus Christ as a servant. Real servants don’t serve for the approval or applause of others. They live for an audience of One.  As Paul said, “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” True great teachers of God like in the limelight, quietly serving in the shadows.  The most significant service is often the service that is unseen.

 

1. They do the best with what they have.They don’t make excuses, procrastinate, or wait for better. The school we serve expects us to do of what we can, with what we have, wherever we are.  Less-than-perfect service is always better than the best intention.

 

1. Make themselves available to serve.  A true great teacher doesn’t fill up their time with other pursuits that could limit their availability. They want to be ready to jump into service when called on. Much like a soldier, a servant must always be standing by for duty: “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of every daylife, so that he may please the one enlisted him.” If a teacher only serves when it’s convenient for him, he is not qualified as a great teacher of God.  Great teachers of God do what’s needed, even when it’s inconvenient. I am proud to hear some mobile teachers who are wholeheartedly doing their mission despite of the distances. This is really great!

 

1. He/she pays attention to the needs . A true great teacher is always on the lookout for ways to help others. Others are too selfish to share of what craft they have, they are afraid
   1. Faithful to the school he is serving. Great teachers of God finish their tasks, fulfil their responsibilities, keep their promises, follow the rules and regulation, and complete their commitments.  They don’t leave a job half undone, and they don’t quit when they get discouraged.  They are trustworthy and dependable. Faithful teachers never retire.  They serve faithfully  as long as they’re alive even in other agencies, and others looking for a school that will accept them even they are already retired. You can retire from your career, but you will never retire from being a teacher in mind, in heart and in soul.

A true great teachers see the need of the school, students,his co-teachers, superiors, and other ordinary men, they seize the moment to meet it, just as the Bible commands us: “Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone…” When God puts someone in need infront of you, he is giving you the opportunity to grow in teaching, whatever positions you have. Sometimes we miss many occasions for serving because we lack sensitivity and spontaneity.Great opportunities to serve never last long.  They pass quickly, sometimes never to return again. So take advantage of the moment.

“Never tell your neighbours to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now.”  As John Wesley motto tells us “ Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you  can, as long as you ever can.” Thatis greatness.  You can begin by looking for small tasks that no one else wants to do. Do these little things as if they were great things, because God is watching.

 

The aforementioned above are the lists of criteria of being a true great teacher of God in mind, in heart, and in soul. They require a mental shift, a change in our attitudes. Let’s apply it  themevery day so that after the right time, in our commencement exercise in heaven, God will call our names and awarded, “Well done, my good and faithful servant, you are  A GREAT TEACHER!!! Let’s celebrate together and come to your new classroom of heaven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Ricer M. Borja | Teacher II | Mariveles National High School-Cabcaben | Mariveles, Bataan