Lasallian Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher—VIGILANCE

 (Reflections by Three Seniors on Teachers who epitomize the Virtue of Vigilance–completed for Ms. Naughton’s Senior Religion Class)

Vigilance

Mr. _____ has the virtue of Vigilance. He is always watchful of me and pays attention to my life, inside and outside of school. When I see him in the halls he always greets me with “How are you doing, _____?” He is always concerned with my well being and my daily life. He would always call me down to his office every now and again to check in and help me with anything that I need. During college applications, Mr. _____ was always vigilant over me and helped me step by step to get through it. He always has a watchful eye for his students and is always helpful even when you don’t expect it.

 

Mr. _____ (my gym teacher) is extremely representative of the virtue of vigilance – during fitness class, Mr. _____ would always watch over us to make sure that we were doing each workout correctly – not only for our safety but also so that we could all get the proper workout that we all enrolled in fitness to achieve. Mr. _____ left no student behind, and always kept an eye out to see who he could help.

 

Another teacher would have to be Mrs. _____, the science teacher, and her virtue is vigilance. Even though a lot of students say they hate her, she is just looking out for everyone, making sure our shirts are tucked in, and making sure we are doing the right things. I have her as a teacher for biotech this year and we do a lot of labs and when we do the labs she is watching over all of us because she wants us to get it right and feel good about ourselves when we get the right results. She seems to genuinely care about us now and in our future, showing us what to do when we mess up and letting us learn from our mistakes when we do a little thing wrong. She seems to be the leader of the pack and we are the cubs; we watch what she does then try to replicate it.  She showed us how to pipette and showed us little tips and tricks that we could use to help us in the future. She makes sure we are all dressed proper and if we show respect for her she respects us back and doesn’t treat us like children.  She treats us like people who want to learn.

 

THE TWELVE VIRTUES OF A GOOD TEACHER

In 1706, John Baptist de La Salle, patron saint of teachers, listed twelve virtues of a good teacher in his Conduct of the Christian Schools. In 1785, Brother Agathon, the fifth superior general of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, reissued the list in a much longer letter titled The Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher. His letter was widely distributed for many years, and even up until the 1930s, a number of Catholic colleges used it as a text in education classes.   (Saint Mary’s Press)

12 virtues

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