Introduction to Christian Education: Section 1

Introduction to Christian Education

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This course provides foundational t e a ch i n g fo r t he s t uden t to understand the qualities of good teachers and how to grow and develop such qualities in their own lives. Additionally the participant will discover how students of all ages learn, being provided with a base that enables them to maximise their own effectiveness as a teacher in both casual and formal settings.

Course Objectives Upon completing this course, the student should: 1. Be able to describe that qualities of an effective teacher.2. Be able to select appropriate development paths for personal improvement as a teacher.3. Be able to describe each of the seven laws of the learner.4. Be able to apply the seven laws of the learner, and so increase their own effectiveness as a teacher.

What different methods of teaching can you think of?

Which do you find the most helpful - why?

TEACHING TIPS EIGHT WAYS TO TEACH

1

EIGHT WAYS TO TEACH

MULTIPLE

INTELLIGENCES

TEACHING

ACTIVITIES

TEACHING

MATERIALS

INSTRUCTIONAL

STRATEGIES

Linguistic/ verbal

Lectures, discussions, word games, storytelling, choral reading, Journal writing, etc.

Books, tape recorders, typewriters, stamp sets, books on tape, etc.

Read about it, write about it, talk about it, listen to it

Logical/

mathematical

Brain teasers, problem solving, science experiments, mental calculations, number games, critical thinking, etc.

Calculators, math manipulatives, science equipment, math games, etc.

Quantify it, think critically about it, conceptualize it, chart it, graph it, formulate it

Spatial/

visual

Visual presentations, art activities, imagination games, mind-mapping, metaphors, visualizations, etc.

Graphs, maps, video, LEGO sets, art materials, optical illusions, cameras, picture library, etc.

See it, draw it, visualize it, color it, mind-map it, PowerPoint it, illustrate it.

Bodily/ kinesthetic

Hands-on learning, drama, dance, sports that teach, tactile activities, relaxation, exercises, etc.

Building tools, clay, sports equipment, manipulatives, tactile learning resources, etc.

Build it, act it out, touch it, dance it, tap it, role play it

Musical/ rhythmic

Super-learning, rapping, songs that teach, etc.

Tape recorders, tape collections, musical instruments, etc.

Sing it, rap it, listen to it, tap it, music video it

Interpersonal/ social

Cooperative learning, peer tutoring, community involvement, social gatherings, simulations, etc.

Board games, party supplies, props for role plays, etc.

Teach it, collaborate on it, interact with respect to it, discuss it, role play it

Intrapersonal/ reflective

Individualized instruction, independent study, options in courses of study, self-esteem building, etc.

Self-checking materials, journals, materials for projects, etc.

Connect it to your personal life, make choices with regard to it, meditate on it, reflect on it

Naturalist Things that related to the outdoors, plants, animals, nature.

Outdoor meetings, pictures, photos, video, PowerPoint

Visit it, touch it, build it, watch it, hike it, camp it, fieldtrip it

Select a story in the Bible involving Jesus and in 1-2

minutes tell it to the class in as

interesting a way as possible

The Law of the Teacher

Pages 17-36

If you stop growing today,

You stop teaching

tomorrow


You stop teaching

tomorrow

What does this mean?Is it true?

How would you express it “better”?


You should stop

teaching tomorrow


You stop teaching tomorrow

(you teach from theoverflow of your life)

•Some teachers try substituting personality or methodology

To paraphrase this principle:

•You cannot communicate out of a vacuum

•You cannot impart what you do not possess

•If you don’t truly know it - you can’t give it

•You, the teacher, have to primarily be a learner

•You have to grow - to change - to develop greater understanding and new insights

•You have not ‘arrived’ yet

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus

Christ.

2 Peter 3:18

As a teacher you must continually ask yourself

the question,“How can I improve?”

As a teacher are there

areas should you be

continually growing in?

Hendricks cites a college professor

who was ‘always’ at his desk studying.

The professor told him,

“I would rather have my students drink

from a running stream than a stagnant pond”

“Everyone who is fully trained will be like his

teacher”Luke 6:40b

•As a teacher does that verse motivate you to change?

What does motivate you to change?

•If you want to minister to others first you have to let God minister in you

•“Human personality is the vehicle of effective teaching” (p. 19)

The Search for Teachers

•What ‘qualifications’ would you look for in a teacher for Sunday school?

•Would they be different for a teacher during the main Sunday church service?

•What of a cottage prayer (or home group) meeting leader?

•Faithful - in what they have done

•Available - no need for arm twisting

•Teachable - willing to learn

Their knowledge is not the first consideration

Most people need building up in order to take on a teaching role

Bad ways to select a Sunday School Teacher

•Begging for help - because no-one has volunteered even after other appeals

•Arm Twisting - e.g. making it sound so easy (just read the material)

•Last minute desperation - take anyone

Making Change

•How have you changed (+ve) - in the last week, month, year? Be very specific

•Frontiers, questions, interests, mental energy...

•You can’t teach an old dog new tricks - thankfully you are not old, a dog, or learning tricks

“Effective teaching comes only through changed people - the more you change the more you become an instrument of change in the lives of others. If you want to become an agent of change, you must also change.” (p21)

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”

Philippians 3:13-14

This was near the end of Paul’s life

Correctly related to the past - not overly enamoured or defeated by failures

Learn from the past - don’t live in it

Press on in the present - don’t relax or sit back

Growth: the Larger Picture

Jesus is described in Lk 2:52

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

4 areas of growth - not simply spiritual

Wisdom what is it?

Wisdom what is it?

In the Biblical sense, wisdom is the

"ability to judge correctly and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge

and understanding"

Lockyer

True wisdom is always consistent with the two great wisdom themes of the Bible: reverence to God, our Creator, and respect for all persons, everywhere.

http://www.twopaths.com/introduc.htm

You should be growing;

intellectually

physically

socially

as well as spiritually

Don’t spend time comparing yourself to others - growth is individual and is affected by many factors

“Lord, how am I doing?”

e.g. Values and habits;

some should be retained

some should be refined

some should be rejected

Simply make sure you are in the process

Make sure you are not succeeding at doing the wrong things

Your Intellectual Dimension

Hendricks suggests 3 ways to grow intellectually

1. Maintain a Consistent Study and Reading Programme

If you find reading alone doesn’t change or contribute - try reading and then reflecting on it - adjust the time so it is 50% reading 50% reflection

Read people - they are amazing!

When you are with someone significant:

Keep your mouth shut except to ask penetrating questions

Pick peoples brains, take advantage of what they know or have experienced

Edgar Watson Howe once Joked, “No Man would listen to you talk if he didn’t know it was his turn next.”

Understand the incredible value of becoming a good listener.

Reading and Preaching

Quotes taken from John Stott’s ‘I Believe in Preaching’.

“None will ever be a good minister of the Word of God unless he is first of all a good scholar.”

John Calvin

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“He who has ceased to learn has ceased to teach. He who no longer sows in the study will no more reap in the pulpit.”

Charles Spurgeon

“The preacher’s life must be a life of large accumulation…..He must not be always trying to make sermons, but always seeking truth, and out of the truth which he has won the sermons will make themselves….Here is the need of broad and generous culture. Learn to study for the sake of truth, learn to think for the profit and the joy of thinking. Then your sermons shall be like the leaping of a fountain, and not like the pumping of a pump.”

Phillips Brooks

“If I had only three years to serve the Lord, I would spend two of them studying and preparing.”

Donald Grey Barnhouse

2. Enroll in Continuing Education Courses

Courses to improve not only content but skill.

Most important is your own personal Bible study programme - you need a strong input of the Word of God

“Many of us who are “under” the Word of God are not “in” it for ourselves - getting into it and letting it get into us”

Hendricks (p. 27)

The impact of the teaching ministry can be immense:

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2 Timothy 2:2

It is a ministry of multiplication - passed on from generation to generation

3. Get to know your students

Become an authority on the needs and characteristics of their age group - then go beyond that and study your students individually, find out as much as possible about them.

Pray for your students in specific (not general) ways.

Be careful never to label a student

Do not base your opinion of them on one observation or comment

Beware of having favourites

Beware of forming a negative opinion based on energy levels of the child or difficulties they cause you

Your Physical Dimension

Are there areas of the physical part of your life that are not under control?

“The physical dimension is often the area evangelical Christians neglect most consistently. The reason: We’re prone to deny our humanity. So we’re forever prostituting the body...(By the way, if you want to know the area of greatest need in your Christian life, try looking at passages you have not underlined in your Bible”

Hendricks (p. 29-30)

Money - is it under control, do you spend too much, are you in debt?

Material Possessions - a man from a rich family was asked how in the midst of such wealth he was not overcome by materialism, he answered, “My parents taught us that everything in our home was either an idol or a tool.”

Use of Time - who, or what, is planning your use of time?

Sex Life - bad news, this applies as much to singles as to married people!

Thought Life - what do you fill your mind with?

Diet - if I walked into your church drunk you would never let me preach - if I walk in fat you feed me more

Exercise - it has been suggested that a regular, systematic exercise programme can add 5-15 years to your life

Sleep - how much do you get / need?

Do you need a change of pace?

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit - do you treat it as such?

Look at the grid below: Is your life balanced, or in need of correction?

Look at the grid below: Is your life balanced, or in need of correction?

How much time do I spend with

people?

How much time do I spend alone?

How much time do I spend at

work?

How much time do I spend at

play?

Your Social Dimension

Do you on socialise with Baptists (only with people who agree with you?)

What non-Christian friends do you have?

What efforts are you making?

Do you have friends in different age groups?

A close friend is someone who

...knows everything about you, yet totally accepts you

...will listen to your most heretical ideas without rejecting you

...and knows how to criticise you in a way you will listen to

Is your husband / wife your best friend?

How am I doing?

“The unexamined life is not worth living”

Just because you have been teaching (or doing something) for a long time it does not mean anything - only that God is gracious.

“Experience does not necessarily make you better; in fact it makes you worse unless it is evaluated experience”

Hendricks (p. 35)

Just because you have been teaching (or doing something) for a long time it does not mean anything - only that God is gracious.

The good teachers greatest threat is satisfaction - the failure to keep asking,

“How can I improve?”

Maybe a better question is, “Lord, how am I doing - in the light of what you want me to be?”

Self examination should be based on 3 questions:

1. What are my strengths?

2. What are my weaknesses?

3. What do I have to change?

“The process of change is essentially the process of changing habit patterns - if you do something once you can do it twice - do it twice and you can do it three times - do it three times and you are beginning to make a habit of it”

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Introduction to Christian Education: Section 1

Education

Transcript of Introduction to Christian Education: Section 1