A Teachers Prayer

Lord, let me be just what they need. If they need someone to trust, let me be trustworthy. If they need sympathy, let me sympathize. If they need love, (and they do need love), let me love, in full measure. Let me not anger easily, Lord but let me be just. Permit my justice to be tempered in your mercy. When I stand before them, Lord, let me look strong and good and honest and loving. And let me be as strong and good and honest and loving as I look to them. Help me to counsel the anxious, crack the covering of the shy, temper the rambunctious with a gentle attitude. Permit me to teach only the truth. Help me to inspire them so that learning will not cease at the classroom door. Let the lessons they learn make their lives fruitful and happy. And, Lord, let me bring them to You. Teach them through me to love You. Finally, permit me to learn the lessons they teach.

Teacher's Prayer
I want to teach my students how To live this life on earth To face its struggles and its strife And to improve their worth Not just the lesson in a book Or how the rivers flow But how to choose the proper path Wherever they may go To understand eternal truth And know The right from wrong And gather all the beauty of a Flower And a song for if I help the world to grow In wisdom And in grace Then I shall feel that I have won And I have filled my place And so I ask Your guidance, God That I may do my part For character and confidence And happiness of Heart.

Teachers Prayer
God grant me wisdom, creativity and love. With wisdom, I may look to the future and see the effect that my teaching will have on these children and thus adapt my methods to fit the needs of each one.

With creativity, I can prepare new and interesting projects that can challenge my students and expand their minds to set higher goals and dream loftier dreams. With love, I can praise my students for jobs well done and encourage them to get up and go when they fall.

A Teacher's Reflection
God, I have come to the frightening conclusion. I an the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized. Grant me the insight and patience to make the right decisions to model Jesus in my classroom.

Teacher Reflection
Everything depends on the person who stands in the front of the classroom. The teacher is not an automatic fountain from which intellectual beverages may be obtained. He is either a witness or a stranger. To guide a pupil to the promised land he must have been there himself. When asking herself: do I stand for what I teach? do I believe what I say? she must be able to answer in the affirmative. What we need more than anything else is not textbooks but textpeople. It is the personality of the teacher which is the text that the pupils read: the text that they will never forget.

At Grading Time
There they sit, Father, a neat stack of yellow report cards. And here I sit, an anxious and bewildered Solomon, praying in my heart for wisdom, while the controversy about grading surges on. Should there be an objective standard whereby children are measured against other children? And how do we weigh a child's achievement against his ability and effort? Can we penalize a child for having little natural ability, when he can't get a high mark

no matter how hard he tries? And what about the child for whom "A"s come easily? Will he skim through school never knowing what it is to try? And what is happening when an "A" becomes so important that a child will cheat for it, perhaps to avoid abuse at home? So here I sit, Father, forced to take these cards seriously because other people do. Long on questions, short on answers. Father, as I reach reluctantly for the top card, let me also reach for your promise: "If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God."

Prayer For Educational Institutions Eternal God Bless all schools, colleges, and universities, especially __________, that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach and those who learn may find you to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Book of Common Prayer, USA, 1979 Prayer For Knowledge and Strength Give me O Lord, I pray Thee firm faith, unwavering hope perfect charity. Pour into my heart the Spirit of wisdom and understanding the Spirit of counsel and spiritual strength the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness and the Spirit of Thy holy fear Light eternal, shine in my heart Power eternal, deliver me from evil Wisdom eternal, scatter the darkness of my ignorance Might eternal, pity me Grant that I may ever seek Thy face with all my heart and soul and strength; and, in thine infinite mercy, bring me at last to Thy holy presence where I shall behold Thy glory

and possess Thy promised joys St. Alcuin of York (735-804) Prayer For Knowledge of God's Creation Almighty and everlasting God, You made the universe with all its marvelous order, its atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and the infinite complexity of living creatures: Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of your creation, we may come to know you more truly, and more surely fulfill our role in your eternal purpose; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Book of Common Prayer, USA, 1979 Prayer For Patience and Gentleness Bestow on me, O Lord, a genial spirit and unwearied forbearance; a mild, loving, patient, heart; kindly looks, pleasant cordial speech, and manners in the exchanges of daily life; that I may give offence to none, but as much as in lies, live in charity with all men. Johann Arndt, (1555-1621) Prayer For a Willingness to Serve Others Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) Prayer For a Neighborhood School Heavenly Father You have made human beings in such a way

that all education is most important for their welfare. Our neighborhood school is lacking _________ and can barely teach our children basic morals and knowledge that they need in order to live in union with others and with You, their Creator. Help us to restore our school so that our children may receive knowledge of You And of Your Son, which is eternal life. Amen New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book, adapted Prayer For Wisdom and Understanding Teach me, O my Lord Jesus, instruct me that I may learn from Thee what I ought to teach concerning thee. Anglican Archbishop William Laud (1573-1645) School Prayer For the Anniversary of 9-11 Father, on this anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, we pray that you comfort all those still suffering from this tragedy. We pray for the souls of all those who lost their lives in this, and all, terrorist attacks. May all those consumed by hated for others, be touched by your divine love. We pray in Jesus name. Amen David Bennett Prayer to Follow God Completely O My God give me your grace so that the things of this earth and things more naturally pleasing to me, may not be as close as you are to me. Keep my eyes, my ears, my heart from clinging to the things of this world. Break my bonds, raise my heart. Keep my whole being fixed on you. Let me never lose sight of you; and while I gaze on you, let my love of you grow more and more every day. John Henry Newman (1801-1890) A Prayer of St. Augustine O, God, Grant us in all our duties your help;

in all our perplexities, your guidance; in all our dangers, your protection; and in all our sorrows, your peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, our body, and our blood, our life and our nourishment. Amen. St. Augustine (354-430) A Prayer For God's Inspiration Father, May everything we do begin with your inspiration and continue with your saving help. Let our work always find its origin in you and through you reach completion. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen The Liturgy of the Hours, Week I Prayer for the Light of God O Lord, thou greatest and most true Light, whence the light of the day doth spring! O Light, which dost lighten every man that cometh into the world! O thou Wisdom of the eternal Father, Enlighten my mind, that I may see only those things that please thee, and may be blinded to all other things. Grant that I may walk in thy ways, and that nothing else may be light and pleasant. John Bradford (1510-1555)