The Master Teacher at Christ the King

LIFE OF A DISCIPLE
Interior Life- The Master Teacher grounds her interior life in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Her relationship with Jesus becomes the source for her joy, peace, lessons, vocation, and relationship with students, parents, faculty, and parish community. She engages in a culture of unceasing prayer, good leisure, and purposefully seeking out beauty. She participates frequently in the communal Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, willingly takes on redemptive suffering, and actively prays for graces and involvement in spiritual warfare.
The Master Teacher strives to be mission passionate, to put Jesus first in her life and work. Ultimately, the teacher is not prone to anxiety as her peace rests in the truth that the true Master Teacher is Christ. Insofar as our own methodology, relationships, and will conform to His, the master teacher has an interior confidence resting in Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." 
Exterior Life- The Master Teacher’s interior grounding in Jesus Christ are the basis of an exterior joy and peace. He gives ready witness to Christ in word and deed. His evangelistic efforts are ample, natural, and not forced. He shares his own experience of the kerygma joyfully, crafting his message to the hearts of his listeners. Others notice and note his role as a disciple in the community at large and is a role model of the Christian life for both parents, faculty, and especially students. The Master Teacher pursues obedience and communion with the Church magisterium, especially the parish pastor and the local archbishop.
The Master Teacher integrates his relationship with Christ in the joy of the intellectual life and speaks of this integration with ease.

RELATIONSHIPS
Students- The Master Teacher gracefully balances her authority with joyful rapport. The Master Teacher has a restful leisure in her approach to her relationship with her students, and acts with humor and gentleness. She takes seriously the pastoral vision of the parish that faith, discipleship, and vocations are profoundly nurtured. Her students show her respect.
The Master Teacher takes careful consideration of the individual children in her class, and has prudent and reasonable knowledge of their families, interests, circumstances, and relationship with the Lord and the Church. Yet her authority is clear, and she does not have a friendship with students. The well-being of the students takes priority over her popularity with them.
The Master Teacher disciplines when necessary, with authority and firmness, respect and love, in the context of virtue.
Adults- A school faculty is a community of adults committed to joyfully pursuing the truth of things, witnessing to the joy of knowing and loving, or “a faculty of friends”1. The Master Teacher understands that a fruitful school culture requires a healthy faculty.
The Master Teacher engages with his fellow teachers and staff with care., humility, and
vulnerability. He fosters friendships appropriately with other faculty members, shares joys and difficulties, and acts in service to his fellow faculty members.
The Master Teacher engages his faculty members in the intellectual life and conversations about pedagogy, curriculum, and Catholic culture.
The Master Teacher completely avoids gossip about fellow faculty members, parents, and especially students. When conflict arises, the Master Teacher discerns his approach, then approaches conversation in a mature fashion, working towards solutions and peaceful outcomes, all the while bringing the conflict to the proper avenue for
resolution.
The Master Teacher is courageous and does what is right, even when it is difficult.
The Master Teacher engages with school parents with maturity and frequent communication. He has earned the trust of parents through formal and informal modes of communication.
The Master Teacher takes an active role in forming families in the faith, education, and Catholic culture through his conversation, newsletters, and assignments that involve the family and aim to foster relationships between students and their parents.
The Master Teacher engages with the parish pastor and the school principal through conversation pulsed with respect, openness, vulnerability, and willingness to receive guidance and correction.

CLASSROOM
Wisdom- The Master Teacher draws from a deep breadth of knowledge. She knows and understands the curriculum well, always updating and adjusting it as she learns more, students raise questions, and other circumstances demand.
Familiarity with the content lends itself to delightful presentation and captivating storytelling. Lessons are well-paced and the yearlong curriculum is compelling and complete, even if certain areas receive uneven focus due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. class interests, enrichment opportunities, or dropped lessons).
Her store of knowledge and experience goes far beyond classroom resources as she draws on her own life and interests, local resources, and the knowledge of community members, appropriately using these treasures to enhance the learning of her students.
Her lessons are engaging and holistic, tending to the many facets of learning and humanness. She integrates across subjects regularly, imitating the interconnectedness of Truth. To encourage unity, she seeks opportunities for collaboration across grade bands, with the community at large, and even with other schools.
Nurturing- The Master Teacher does not merely manage his classroom but nurtures it. Strong structure provides security and predictability to his students. Misbehavior and conflicts are resolved with an eye towards virtue and moral formation; students are empowered to replicate such problem-solving and community-building on their own.
Mutual respect and a positive culture pave the way for unrestrained learning.
Physically, the Master Teacher designs his classroom to be visually distinctly Catholic, with a simple aesthetic, not visually overwhelming nor depressingly sparse.
The Master Teacher chooses all décor with intentionality to create a warm, peaceful environment. Beautiful imagery – especially Catholic art – elevate the space, giving wandering eyes something worthwhile to consider. Natural creation is present in the room through plants or animals. This wholesome learning space is complemented by wholesome curriculum and instruction. Lessons are planned and materials organized ahead of the lesson.
The Master Teacher sparks wonder, capturing his students’ minds by their human interests: puzzles, riddles, fascinating questions, engaging narratives, or interaction with any of the five senses. He grounds his pedagogy in truly human faculties. He is a master at asking interesting questions.
His ability to differentiate, present material in a variety of forms, and adapt to his students is organic. All students are invited into consideration of the truth being presented, in a manner that equally encourages and challenges the child. Scaffolds are planned intentionally as he considers his particular lessons, or used spontaneously as necessary as according to his students’ understanding.
The Master Teacher ensures that exercises end in some relevant expression of wisdom, preferably pushing students to exhale truth, goodness or beauty into the work. Through all this, the Master Teacher guides his students to discern deep questions well.
He uses tests as appropriate but uses more holistic opportunities for numerical or linguistic assessment too. Assessments therefore inspire creativity, imitation, and provide a deep picture of student understanding. He appropriately pursues student interest with a curricular flexibility that can only come from confidence and rest. This example empowers students to fall in love with the process of learning, creating a lifelong posture of curiosity.

BALANCE
Self- The Master Teacher enjoys an active intellectual life. As she pours into these things for their own sake, her passion for learning grows ever more contagious. Both her scholastic lessons and her Christian witness benefit from this endeavor. She has learned to balance the many facets of her life, establishing boundaries to safeguard order and ensure proper allotment of energy to her vocation, various responsibilities, rest, and loves. As a result, she is calm, steady, rested, and unhurried.
Work- The Master Teacher prioritizes his work-life balance. The school has a duty to support him in this, enabling him to set and main clear boundaries. These limits serve the teacher; he is not commanded by them. Such balance empowers him to achieve excellence in each realm of his life and better pursue holiness.
The Master Teacher models for others the prudent use of balance and boundaries. He plays the long game, maintaining healthy perspective, limits, and appropriate flexibility in work matters. His grading practices, for example, are tools which serve the student’s passion for learning and pursuit of wisdom; they are not permitted to cripple the health of the
educational project.
General- Overall, the Master Teacher is balanced and realistic. His Christian hope fends off postmodern cynicism. His deep understanding of the anthropology of the human person curbs any temptation towards utilitarianism. His witness effectively radiates the beauty and truth of the Catholic Church.