Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

Simple Style of a Wise Teacher


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"Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord; praise Him, O you servants of the Lord! You who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God" (Psalm 135:1-2),

Teaching is the most honorable profession you can acquire because you have a vital part of creating a new generation. Through teaching others you are not only giving part of yourself each single day but also taking so much gratitude, smiles, and love. Pupils are like sponges that are ready and willing to absorb as much as you can give them to use for their knowledge and for their future.

Love is the most important key in teaching others and without it you end up lacking the key ingredient of succeeding. Also body language can say a lot about you to show if you are enjoying these moments of teaching and how much patience and tolerance you have for your pupils. For when the environment atmosphere is full of love and is inviting to the eyes that will make the soul learn in a much more efficient and successful way. It will also make storytelling interesting by relating the stories to their everyday living which can stimulate the mind and lift up the spirit.

When we talk about teaching we speak about serious matters because teaching others requires many kinds of knowledge and talents, and in order to have an impact on the pupil whom you teach, you need to be a wise teacher and feed yourself first with thoughts of knowledge, fill your heart with love and compassion, nourish your soul with many virtues, and use your given talents to make the storytelling more interesting.

Our goal as Christian teachers is to lead our pupils to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in that we should put in our mind at all times that we are only a tool in God's hand in order to allow Him to come and lead us to what we teach and how we present our knowledge to them, showing us how to stimulate these minds to arouse the sense of learning and spark their ideas, to invite many questions, and to inspire these pupils to want to learn more.

Wise teachers are the ones who allow the Holy Spirit to take over and cross these children beyond the teacher in order to see God at work and encourage them some day to teach others.

We all learn by example so we will never inspire the pupil by giving them knowledge without showing them good moral and Christian characters on our part and without experiencing what we are preaching to them.

"But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

Our best example as a wise teacher is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He catered to what His listeners can grasp, He spoke in many parables which all relate to their lifestyle and everyday living for example:

  • The Parable of the soil (Mark 4)
  • The laborers and the landowner (Matthew 21)
  • The parable of the unjust servant(Luke 16)
  • The parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15)
  • The parable of the mustard seed(Luke 13)

All His teachings revolved around the kingdom of God and about what we do in order to be ready for eternity.

He also did what He preached. He was full of love and compassion toward every one even His enemies, and He never picked and chose who to help but He tried to help anyone who comes in His way regardless if he is a believer or not.

For God shines the sun on everyone, sends the rain to every field, and cares for each one individually sick, hungry, sad,...etc. For God is full of mercy and generosity. And he shows us that in many stories for example:

  • Peter's mother-in-law is healed (Mark 1)
  • A Leper is cleansed (Mark 1)
  • A paralytic is healed (Mark 2)
  • A woman is caught in adultery (John 8)
  • Healing of the blind man (John 9)
  • Four thousand are fed (Mark 8)

"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand they shall be as frontlets between your eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:6-8).

So let us pray and meditate on what is our idea and plan for teaching these pupils in order to have a successful year and bring as many hearts to the Lord. And always be ready to learn new ways to stimulate their interest and energize their learning.

Written by
Nagwa Abdou


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