Teaching notes used at Life Transforming College international - 501, Introduction to Christian Education.

1. THE LAW OF
EDUCATION
Pages 38-53

2. “The true function of the teacher is to
create the most favourable conditions
for self-learning...True teaching is not
that which gives knowledge, but that
which stimulates pupils to gain it. One
might say that he teaches best who
teaches least.”
John Milton Gregory

3. Effective teachers:
•Know their content
•Know those whom
they teach
•They do not
simply inculcate
principles
•They want to
infect people

4. Effective teachers:
•Know their content
•Know those whom
they teach
•They do not
simply inculcate
principles
•They want to
infect people
•inculcate |inˈkəlˌkāt; ˈinkəl-|
•verb
•instill (an attitude, idea, or habit) by
persistent instruction
•• teach (someone) an attitude, idea,
or habit by such instruction

5. Effective teachers:
•Know their content
•Know those whom
they teach
•They do not
simply inculcate
principles
•They want to
infect people

6. The Law of Education
The way people learn
determines the way you
teach

7. John Milton Gregory called this The
Law of the Teaching Process
The key idea is to stimulate and
direct the learners self activities

8. TOTAL SILENCE
IS REQUIRED!

9. This is a nonverbal exercise - You must
communicate without words or sounds (no lip-reading,
notes etc. are allowed).
The group is to form a single straight line, according to
birthdays.
January birthdays will be at the beginning of the line,
earliest dates first followed in order by later
dates. December birthdays will be at the end of the line.
When the line is completed, each person will shout out
his/her birthday, beginning in January.
BIRTHDAY LINE

10. Alice, Brian, Carol and David
have to cross a bridge in 17
minutes. The bridge will
collapse if there are more than
two people on it at the same
time. It is dark and it is too
impossible to cross the bridge
without a torch. There is only
one torch.
CROSSING THE
BRIDGE

11. Alice can cross the bridge in 1 minute. The others
are wounded or injured to varying degrees which
means that it takes:
Brian 2 minutes to cross the bridge;
Carol 5 minutes to cross the bridge;
David 10 minutes to cross the bridge.
If there is more than one person on the bridge,
the bridge can only be crossed at the speed of the
slowest person. How can they cross the bridge in
17 minutes?

12. Alice(1 min) and Brian(2 min) cross the bridge.
Alice(1 min) takes the torch back to the other side.
Carol(5 min) and David(10 min) cross the bridge.
Brian(2 min) takes the torch back to the other side
Alice(1 min) and Brian(2 min) cross the bridge.
2
3
13
15
17

13. The Law of Education
The way people learn
determines the way you
teach

14. Hendricks further defines the law in this way:
“The teacher must excite and direct the
learner’s self-activities, and, as a rule,
tell the learner nothing - and do nothing
for him - that he can learn or do for
himself. Therefore, what’s important is
not what you do as a teacher, but what
learners do as a result of what you do.”

15. The teacher: primarily
a stimulator and
motivator...not the
player but the coach
who directs the players

16. The learner: primarily a investigator
a discoverer and a doer

17. The Ultimate Test of teaching is not
what you do or how well you do it, but
what and how well the learner does.
Good teachers are not focussed on what
they are doing, but what their students
are doing.

18. Plato said,
“What is honoured in a
country is cultivated there”

19. Plato said,
“What is honoured in a
country is cultivated there”
What do you honour - or want to - in
those you teach?
Do you just look for right answers
and repeated truths?
What impresses you in a student (or a
person in general)?
Knowledge, wisdom, understanding,
application?

20. “Many people who have never sat in a
inside a college classroom are brilliantly
educated. They are men and women of
wisdom, and they have received - and are
receiving - an education. They may not
know everything, but what they know they
live - and God is using them as his
instruments to accomplish his purposes”
Hendricks (page 40-41)

21. Abraham Maslow
pointed out 4 levels of
learning (though he is
best known for his
hierarchy of needs);
THE TENSION

24. The learners beginning
point - everyone starts
here - unconscious
incompetence - you are
ignorant and you don’t
know it

25. The next level -
conscious
incompetence - you
know you don’t know. How
do you find out? Someone
tells you, or you find out.

26. The next level -
conscious Competence
- you have learned
something, and are
consciously aware of it as
you do it - e.g. When you
have learned to drive a car

27. The final level -
unconscious
competence - you are so
competent you don’t have
to think about it any more.
Much of the time you can
spend thinking about
something else

28. The art of teaching - and the difficulty of
learning - is getting people to place
themselves at the beginning of this cycle so
that they can start the learning process.
This is not easy -for the teacher or the
student
Without this tension there is no
development, no learning, no
growth.

29. Too much tension leads to...
Frustration, anxiety, stress

30. Too little tension leads to...

31. Too little tension leads to...

32. Too little tension leads to...

33. Too little tension leads to...
So God periodically comes in and
disturbs things - in order to develop us

34. If it was good enough for Jesus...it will be good
enough for us
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered
up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears
to the one who could save him from death, and he
was heard because of his reverent submission.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience
from what he suffered
Hebrews 5:7-8

35. Do you let people in your class feel comfortable?
Do you disturb them so that they realise...I’ve
got to study God’s word more and think
more; I’ve got to try this out in real life
What are the advantages and disadvantages of
both styles - when would each be most
appropriate / inappropriate?

36. ROLE PLAY
In 2‘s - Role play:
A skit about Jonah
A pastoral visit to a dying person
An argument between husband and wife
Presenting the Gospel to a difficult, non-believer
Or another scenario of your choice

37. Hendricks tell the story of getting
up to preach, going into the
pulpit and finding a sign facing
him,
“What in the world are you
trying to do to these
people?”
WHAT IN THE WORLD
ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?

38. Hendricks tell the story of getting
up to preach, going into the
pulpit and finding a sign facing
him,
“What in the world are you
trying to do to these
people?”
WHAT IN THE WORLD
ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?
When asked about it the pastor said,
“Hendricks, I’ve been preaching for 12
years without an objective, and it
finally dawned on me one day that if I
didn’t know what I was doing, there
was a good possibility they didn’t
know what they were supposed to do.
So I’ve started coming into the pulpit
with clear objectives.”

39. Hendricks tell the story of getting
up to preach, going into the
pulpit and finding a sign facing
him,
“What in the world are you
trying to do to these
people?”
WHAT IN THE WORLD
ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?
When asked about it the pastor said,
“Hendricks, I’ve been preaching for 12
years without an objective, and it
finally dawned on me one day that if I
didn’t know what I was doing, there
was a good possibility they didn’t
know what they were supposed to do.
So I’ve started coming into the pulpit
with clear objectives.”
Do you have clear cut
objectives for teaching?
Do you know how to
give a true education?

40. If you want a person to
permanently change you have to
change their thinking - not merely
their behaviour.
They have to understand why they
made the change - if not change
will be superficial and short lived.
Parable of the sower - what
is the major variable?
GOAL 1 - TEACH PEOPLE
HOW TO THINK

41. If you want a person to
permanently change you have to
change their thinking - not merely
their behaviour.
They have to understand why they
made the change - if not change
will be superficial and short lived.
Parable of the sower - what
is the major variable?
GOAL 1 - TEACH PEOPLE
HOW TO THINK
Your task as a teacher is to stretch
the human mind - which like an
elastic band once stretched never
quite returns to its original form.
Warning: There is no danger
of overuse of a brain

42. In the Hospital the relatives gathered in the
waiting room, where their family member lay
gravely ill. Finally, the doctor came in looking
tired and somber.
I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news," he said
as he surveyed the worried faces. "The only
hope left for your loved one at this time is a
brain transplant. It's an experimental
procedure, semi-risky and you will have to pay
for the brain yourselves."

43. The family members sat silent as they absorbed
the news. After a great length of time, someone
asked, "Well, how much does a brain cost?"
The doctor quickly responded, "$20,000 for a
Baptist brain, and $200 for a Pentecostal
brain."
A man, unable to control his curiosity, blurted
out the question everyone wanted to ask, "Why
is the Baptist brain so much more?"

44. The doctor smiled at the childish innocence and
so to the entire group said, "It's just standard
pricing procedure. We have to mark down the
price of the Pentecostal brains, because they've
been used."

45. As a teacher don’t simply rearrange
students existing ideas - or prejudices
Plant seeds - let them germinate - and bear
fruit (who knows what form the fruit will
take!?)
Often students are impacted by things you
think are ‘nothing’
PLANT SEEDS

46. Remember if you want
to teach your students
to think - you must be
able (know how) to
think for yourself

47. [Jesus]...answered, "You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your
strength and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself."
Luke 10:27

48. Create learners who will perpetuate the
learning process for the rest of their lives.
Learning is a process - it goes on all the time
“Every moment you live you learn; as you
learn, you live. Stop learning today, and
you stop living tomorrow.”
Hendricks p.45
GOAL 2 - TEACH PEOPLE
HOW TO LEARN

49. “Often in churches the people who most
need to learn are those who seldom try”
Hendricks p.45

50. Learning should be a logical
process - ideally with 3 steps;
It goes from the whole - to
the part - back to the whole
This is called synthesis
synthesis ¦sinθəsis¦
combination or composition, in
particular the combination of ideas
to form a theory or system : the
synthesis of intellect and emotion in
his work | the ideology represented a
synthesis of certain ideas.

51. Synthesis moves from the big
picture to an analysis of the parts
- breaking them down, seeing
their meaning in the light of the
whole - to putting them back
together so everyone walks out
the door thinking, Now I
understand it and can use it
To get people involved in the
process of learning, first, give
them the big picture

52. Synthesis moves from the big
picture to an analysis of the parts
- breaking them down, seeing
their meaning in the light of the
whole - to putting them back
together so everyone walks out
the door thinking, Now I
understand it and can use it
To get people involved in the
process of learning, first, give
them the big picture
Many people in church life do
not know the big picture because
we specialise in breaking it down
into small parts. What use is a
detailed study of Ephesians if
you have no idea of the whole
theme and flow of the Bible?
Teach people how to study the
Bible for themselves - they will
find out that it is exciting,
encouraging and stimulating.

53. CAN YOU BRIEFLY
SUMMARISE THE
WHOLE BIBLE?

54. God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Joseph ruled
Jacob fooled
Bush talked
Moses balked
Pharaoh plagued
People walked
Sea divided
Tablets guided
THE BIBLE IN 50
WORDS

55. THE BIBLE IN 50
WORDS
Promise landed
Saul freaked
David peeked
Prophets warned
Jesus born
God walked
Love talked
Anger crucified
Hope died
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained

56. 1. Eden to Ur
2. Ur to Haran
3. Haran to Israel
4. Israel to Egypt
5. Egypt back to Israel
6. Israel to Babylon
7. Babylon back to Israel
THE OT IN 7 MOVES

57. 1. Eden to Ur
2. Ur to Haran
3. Haran to Israel
4. Israel to Egypt
5. Egypt back to Israel
6. Israel to Babylon
7. Babylon back to Israel
THE OT IN 7 MOVES

58. Never do anything for a student that
they are capable of doing for them self.
If you do you will make them an
educational cripple - a
pedagogical paraplegic.
Hendricks p47
GOAL 3 - TEACH PEOPLE
HOW TO WORK

59. Teachers have to develop
students who are self
directed, disciplined, and who
do what they do because they
choose to.
Hendricks suggests (p48),
“...you spend more time
questioning answers
than answering
questions”

60. Teachers have to develop
students who are self
directed, disciplined, and who
do what they do because they
choose to.
Hendricks suggests (p48),
“...you spend more time
questioning answers
than answering
questions”
“Our job is not to give quick
and easy answers, patent
medicine solutions that never
work in the realities of life. It’s
far, far better to have students
leave your class scratching their
heads with questions they think
and talk about, and with
problems they’re eager to find
solutions for...then you know
you’ve got some education
going on” Hendricks (p48)

61. Teaching students to think learn and work
requires helping them to master 4 basic skills:
Reading - we have talked about this enough!
Writing - creative assignments are given
Listening
Speaking
BASIC SKILLS

62. Hendricks (p 48), “The
problem with the average
guy coming out of
university is that he can’t
read, can’t write, and he
can’t think. And if you can’t
read, write or think, what
can you do?”
Someone answered,
“Watch television”

63. Listening is a great art - and
crucial to attain
Who do you know that is a
good listener - the best
listener you have ever
experienced?
Why do you think they are a
good listener, what are the
qualities of a good listener?
Who has ever taught you to
listen?

64. THE FOUNDATION OF
THE LEARNING PROCESS
The disciples learned through failure
Luke 9
12 sent out - v.6 healing everywhere
5000 fed - v.10ff
Transfiguration - v.28ff
Can’t cast out a demon - v. 40
Mark says - this type only comes out through
prayer - failure is a learning experience

65. THE FOUNDATION OF
THE LEARNING PROCESS
The disciples learned through failure
Luke 9
12 sent out - v.6 healing everywhere
5000 fed - v.10ff
Transfiguration - v.28ff
Can’t cast out a demon - v. 40
Mark says - this type only comes out through
prayer - failure is a learning experience

66. The principle: never tell or
do anything that a student
can learn for themselves
Exceptions:
•Saving Time
•Students with special
needs for encouragement
and help - failure here
might make them give up
BREAKING THE RULES

67. The principle: never tell or
do anything that a student
can learn for themselves
Exceptions:
•Saving Time
•Students with special
needs for encouragement
and help - failure here
might make them give up
BREAKING THE RULES
•When a student is so highly
motivated they take in everything
you give and still come back for
more.
•Warning: Though it might take
time, once a student gets over the
barrier and into the joy of
discovery and learning, they can
never again settle for education
that is less exciting.

68. And so we come to the end of another
exciting, stimulating, riveting
presentation. Surely by now you
simply cannot wait to be a teacher?
However if you can wait then there
are still future sessions in store.
Come back soon!