OUTSTANDING TEACHER

Adonnis B. Cajes

Herein lies the crux of the matter: “Are outstanding teachers born or made?” like in any profession, students who were forced to take a certain profession do not become as effective as those who have voluntarily chosen the same. However, there are instances wherein the former came to realize that she came to love the profession, which was forced up[on her and in the end, shone above the restof her contemporaries. Thus, teachers must try to love deeply the teaching profession. This is most possible because, as higher forms of being, emotions are part of our mental processes. The hypothalamus (part of the brain) is the seat of all our emotions and we can choose to control it or be controlled by it. By exerting effort to love our profession, wecan all become teachers. We are outstanding because we chose to beconme outstanding.

An outstanding teacher embraced the teaching profession with a passion that permeates his whole being. He is not the teacher with the most academic degrees. He is not one who has the most decorated for what he has achieved. I am not a teacher who is most like. However, he is the teacher who has prepared and continue to prepare himself in order to give the best education to his students. That makes an outstanding teacher.

All teachers have the professional competence to be an educator. Their passing the regulatory examinations given by the professional regulatory bodies of the government will speak for itself. However, to be an outstanding teacher requires more than just mere intellectual competence. It needs a deep sense of truly caring for the quality of education that our students are receiving. It requires a teacher to trancend beyond the ordinary classroom lectures and develop tailor-fit teaching strategies that will both fullfil the guidelines set by the government and, most importantly, educate our students both in the content of the textbooks as well as its application in life.

Man is a biopsychosocial cultural and spiritual being. Being spiritual also entails being moral and ethical. Man is a holistic being which needs balance. To excel in one aspect alone will put the whole being of a teacher in tormoil and degrades her capability to be effective and efficient in her profession. For instance, a teacher or any professional for that matter, who has multiple PhDs but has shown questionable moral character could not possibly teach students with moral ascendancy. Thus, educators must endeavor to develop all aspects of themeselves for them to excel as molders of young minds.

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The author is author is Teacher III at Castuli Elementary School