How to Train Teachers: (Including Yourself)
NYCE c.1989 William Cobb
1) Know what good teaching looks like.
2) Meet with likeminded souls for accountability and additional input.
3) Work on understanding and then developing/improving one area per month.
4) Take 15 minutes during each SS teachers' meeting to illustrate a principle or demonstrate a new method.
I. TEACHER
The teacher must aspire to be used by God to change lives
The purpose of teaching is to cause change
Matt 28 (teach to obey)
Deut 6 (cause to learn)
Ethos/Pathos/Logos
Application: Purpose to be a growing, changing, Christlike teacher.
Help: Teaching to Change Lives, Howard Hendricks.
II. BIBLE
The teacher must inquire into the Scriptures to determine what God wants us to know, feel, and do
Before you are ready to teach you must know:
1) the general principle (timeless truth) of the passage;
2) what God intended the original audience to do as a result of His revelation;
3) what five things God could desire your audience to do as a result of His revelation;
Application: Get involved in a personal discovery Bible Study.
Help: Effective Bible Teaching, Wilhot & Ryken. Joy of Discovery Bible Study, Olivetta Wald.
III. STUDENT
The teacher must inquire into the students lives to determine: their needs and interests, (what they currently know, feel, and do) and how to involve them in the learning process
Application: Develop a list of the top 25 needs of your students generally and their top three needs and interests individually.
Help: Creative Bible Teaching, Larry Richards, Moody Press. Understanding People, Evangelical Teacher Training Association (ETTA)
IV. OBJECTIVES
The teacher must perspire to develop SMART objectives for each lesson, stated in terms of what the students should know, feel, and do
Specific
Measurable/Motivational
Attainable/Applicable
Realistic/Real Need
Transformational/True to the Text
Application: Write your own objectives for growth and change this next year. Determine 10 SMART objectives for the group you teach.
Help: Christian Educators Handbook, Hendricks & Gangel. also: Richards
V. METHODS
The teacher must perspire to use creative, appropriate and varied methods to INVOLVE the students and achieve the desired objectives
Application: Use one new method every time you teach to get the students interested and involved.
Help: 24 Ways to Improve your Teaching, K. Gangel, Victor Books. How to do Bible Learning Activities, E. Stewart, GL Pub.
40 Ways to Teach in Groups, M. Leypoldt, Judson Press.
VI. MOTIVATION
The teacher must perspire to motivate students by making them feel their need for truth and appealing to their felt needs, desires and interests
Possessions/Pleasure/Power
Fear/Desire
Application: Always ask yourself what benefit will the student get from paying attention.
Help: The Teaching Techniques of Jesus, Herman Horne, Kregel.
VII. LESSON PLAN
The teacher must perspire to logically structure the class time to move from the known to the unknown so that the objectives are achieved
Hook
Book
Look
Took
Application: Develop a lesson plan form and use it!
Help: Seven Laws of Teaching, Milton Gregory. also: Richards.
VIII. COMMUNICATION
The teacher uses his/her own life, common language and experiences, and the sequenced lesson to inspire the student to change and grow
INTRODUCTION: 1) Attention; 2) Interest; 3) Need; 4)Benefit
BODY: Transition/Text/Idea/Point: Restate, Explain, Prove, Illustrate/Support, Apply, Transition
CONCLUSION: Review, Summarize, Emphasize, Appeal, Apply, END!
Application: Develop a checklist for good communication principles and techniques and ask someone to evaluate you. (Or do yourself on tape.)
Help: Biblical Preaching, Haddon Robinson.
IX. BARRIERS
The teacher must avoid or overcome barriers to inspire the student to change
Climate
Conditioning
Communication
Contentment
Contact
X. EVALUATION
The teacher must evaluate the degree to which the class objectives were achieved and determine how to maintain or increase effectiveness
A. A rut is a grave with the ends kicked out. An effective teacher experiments, reflects, evaluates and learns from each class experience. An effective teacher develops a checklist of good teaching methods for self evaluation and seeks out input from an objective source. Planning for the next class begins with an evaluation of the last class.
B. Ten years of experience can be a month's worth of mistakes repeated 120 times. Only practice with evaluation makes perfect. A poor teacher never stops to determine if the objectives have been reached or if there is a better way to accomplish God's purposes for the lives of his/her students. A poor teacher who does not evaluate scatters seed on cement and wonders why the Holy Spirit can't change the students. (It's because the HS can't change the teacher first.)
Application: Develop a lesson evaluation form and use it!
NYCE c 1989 William Cobb