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Teaching
in General
Teaching
There is a story about a
man who wanted to train his mule. The first thing he did was to pick up a big
stick and hit the mule a resounding wallop between the ears. As the mule
staggered bout
someone said to him
“What is the matter? Why did you do that?”
The man said
“To teach a mule
you must first get his attention.”
That observation my or may
not be true of mules
but there is a good deal of truth in it when applied to
humans. Interest must be awakened before learning can occur. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Life is a matter of
building. Each of us has the opportunity to build something -- a secure family
a good reputation
a career
a relationship to God. But some of those things
can disappear almost overnight due to financial losses
natural disasters and
other unforeseen difficulties.
What are we to do? Daniel
Webster offered excellent advice
saying
"If we work on marble it will
perish. If we work on brass
time will efface it. If we rear temples
they will
crumble to dust. But if we work on men's immortal minds
if we imbue them with
high principles
with just fear of God and love of their fellow-men
we engrave
on those tablets something which time cannot efface
and which will brighten
and brighten to all eternity.
Morning Glory
July 3
1993.
William A. Ward has said
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior
teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
Progress Magazine
December 23
1992.
An item in "The
Report Card" told of a study done in Colorado in which 3000 high school
seniors were asked about their best teachers. From their responses this
composite was drawn. The ideal teacher (1) is genuinely concerned and
interested in students as individuals; (2) requires students to work; (3) is
impartial in dealing with students; and (4) is obviously enthusiastic about
teaching.
Today In The Word
Oct
1989
p.
25.
Teaching is the
inculcation of the incomprehensible into the minds of the ignorant by the means
of the incompetent...is the transfer of material from the teacher's notes to
the student's notebook
without it going through either's minds.
J. Dennis Miller
president of Church Youth Development states that a problem with educating young
people in the church stems from a failure to understand how young people learn.
He claims that adults learn in the following pattern: 1) acceptance of
absolutes; 2) subordination of attitudes and actions to absolutes; 3)
application of truth received to life experience. Knowing something as an adult
is based primarily upon remembering information and intellectual
learning.
Youth
Miller contends
learn in a different way: 1) evaluation of life experience; 2) discovery of
attitudes and actions which validate their life experiences; 3) identifying
truth based on their relevance to life experience; 4) acceptance of truths that
prove reliable from life experience. Life experience is the main influence on
the learning young mind.
Source Unknown.