John 20:16
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"
Being a teacher candidate in a Catholic School allows a wonderful opportunity to view teaching, not just as a career, but as a vocation; a calling to live out the Gospel through one's work.
Living out the Gospel message can mean many things. Through our faith and how we live it, through the way we treat others, especially the most vulnerable in our society, and through the way we strive to be more and more like Jesus.
The focus here is on the way that Jesus taught. Today we talk a lot about "Teaching versus Telling" and The Socratic Method of teaching. Make no mistakes about it, Jesus was brilliant, and he wanted his followers to go out and evangelize, yet he was not a "telling" teacher who lectured until Gentile and Jew alike were comatose. What did Jesus do? Why would I tell you when he can show you?
"That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them."
Now it would be self-indulgent to suggest that anyone but Jesus has the secrets to the kingdom of heaven, but teachers do have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share. Jesus shows us how to build the bridge between teacher and student; tell them a story! He understood that people do not learn by being told what to do. They learn when the lesson is embedded in a vehicle light and gentle enough to cross the fragile bridge of human relationships. Trying to enact a military operation to force knowledge is not only unsuccessful, but dangerous. The students will feel judged, guilty, the bridge will be broken and rebellion will ensue.
The only way to engage students is to listen to them (this bridge is a two-way street), and like Jesus, withholding judgement by using fiction. We can use this powerful method as teachers to connect with our students and make sure that the seeds we sow fall on the good soil.
