Seven Laws of Teaching
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The document outlines 7 strategic concepts or "laws" for effective religious education teaching. The laws are: the law of the teacher, the law of education, the law of activity, the law of communication, the law of the heart, the law of encouragement, and the law of readiness. Following these laws means being passionate and committed to students, engaging them through active learning, building strong relationships through communication, and motivating them both intrinsically and extrinsically. Effective teaching requires investment from both teacher and student to ensure maximum learning and impact.
Seven Laws of Teaching
- 2. Religious Education – A Passion to Communicate / Teaching to Change Lives RE teachers are more than professional. It is intensely personal. RE teachers need to be passionate and committed to their students. There are 7 strategic concepts (laws, principles, rules) in teaching. The law of the T eacher The law of the E ducation The law of the A ctivity The law of the C ommunication The law of the H eart The law of E ncouragement The law of R eadiness These 7 laws essentially call for a passion to communicate. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 3. The Law of the Teacher If you stop growing today, you stop teaching tomorrow Luke 6:40: “Everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” If you want to minister to others, ask God first of all to minister to you. He wants to work through you – but He can’t until He works in you. He will use you as His instrument, but He wants to sharpen and cleanse that instrument to make it a more effective tool in His hands. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 4. The Law of the Teacher – The Search for Teachers “ In the search for good teachers, look for FAT people – those who are Faithful, Available , and Teachable .” “… effective teaching comes only through a changed person. The more you change, the more you become an instrument of change in the lives of others. If you want to become a change agent, you also must change.” The two factors that will influence you the most in the years ahead are the books you read and the people you’re around. “ Experience does not necessarily make you better; in fact it tends to make you worse, unless it’s evaluated experience . The good teacher’s greatest threat is satisfaction – the failure to keep asking, ‘How can I improve?” RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 5. The Law of Education How people learn determines how you teach – stimulating and directing the learner’s self-activities . The teacher must excite and direct the learner’s self-activities, tell the learner nothing – and do nothing for him – that he can learn or do for himself. What’s important is not what you do as a teacher, but what the learners do as a result of what you do . RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 6. The Law of Education – Think, Learn & Work Basic goals: Teach people how to think – If you want to change a person permanently, make sure his thinking changes, and not merely his behavior. Teach people how to learn – Create learners who will perpetuate the learning process for the rest of their lives. Teach people how to work – never doing anything for a student that he is capable of doing for himself. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 7. The Law of Activity Maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement. Students will learn best as they are most active in the process . They need to be guided in their practice, taught to properly evaluate their experience, and learn not by repeating their mistakes but by doing the right things. Hearing is the most inefficient means of learning – people only retain at the most 10% of what they hear. But they will retain up to 50% of what they see and up to 90% of what they do. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 8. The Law of Activity – Quality Activity Purposeful activity implies quality activity. Practice makes perfect. Experience is the best teacher. We learn by doing. ……… RE - 7 Laws of Teaching Well-guided practice makes perfect Properly evaluated experience is the best teacher We learn by doing the right things
- 9. The Law of Communication Communication is the reason for our existence as teachers. – It’s also our number one teaching problem. To truly impart information requires the building of bridges . This means really knowing one’s students, which in itself means spending time with them outside the classroom. Communication will be more effective to the degree that it is something the teacher deeply knows, feels and does. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 10. The Law of Communication – Intellect, Emotion, and Volition All communication has three essential components: intellect, emotion, and volition – thought, feeling, and action. Whatever it is I want to communicate to another individual, it involves … something I know , … something I feel , … and something I’m doing . RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 11. The Law of the Heart Teaching that impacts is not head to head, but heart to heart. Plato’s triumvirate of ethos (character/credibility), pathos (compassion) and logos (content). Ethos, pathos and logos are like a pyramid where each is dependent upon the previous. – Character, Compassion, Content . Without the foundation of character/credibility , there will not be the confidence in the teacher which is foundational to the implicit contract between teacher and student. The student needs to know that the teacher cares about him, and third of course, is content. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 12. The Law of Encouragement Teaching tends to be most effective when the learner is properly motivated . Extrinsic motivation : motivation from without. Intrinsic motivation : motivation from within. Developing a strong sense of felt need: people will not learn what they have no felt need for, and will invest themselves in learning that for which they do have a felt need. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 13. The Law of Encouragement The key question is: Are you motivated? – Motivated people become change agent. If one-tenth of what you believe is true, you ought to be ten times as excited as you are. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 14. The Law of Readiness The teaching-learning process will be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared. Assignments They precipitate thinking – assignments are mental warm-up. They provide a background, a foundation on which to build. They develop habits of independent study – and this is the most important benefit of good assignments. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 15. Good Assignments The characteristics of good assignments: They must be creative, not simply busy work. Need a clear objective for the assignments; designed with a purpose. They must be thought-provoking. They should question more answers rather than answer more questions. Stretch the learners’ minds. Assignments must be doable. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 16. Making the Investment The law of the T eacher – stop growing today, and you stop teaching tomorrow. The law of the E ducation – how people learn determines how you teach. The law of the A ctivity – maximum learning is always the result of maximum involvement. The law of the C ommunication – to truly impart information requires the building of bridge. The law of the H eart – teaching that impacts is not head to head, but heart to heart. The law of E ncouragement – teaching tends to be most effective when the learner is properly motivated . The law of R eadiness – the teaching-learning process will be most effective when both student and teacher are adequately prepared. The key is not what you do for God but what you allow Him to do through you. God wants to use you as his catalyst – and you let him transform and renew your thinking, you’ll be ready for His use. – Are you willing to pay the price for development? Effective teaching isn’t available at any bargain basement sale. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching
- 17. Suggested Readings Teaching to Change Lives – Howard G. Hendricks Creative Teaching Methods: Be An Effective Christian Teacher – Marlene D. LeFever Learning Styles: Reaching Everyone God Gave You – Marlene D. LeFever The Seven Laws of the Learner: How to Teach Almost Anything to Practically Anyone! – Bruce Wilkinson Wisdom and Eloquence: A Christian Paradigm for Classical Learning – Robert Littlejohn & Charles T. Evans Recovering The Lost Tools of Learning: An Approach to Distinctively Christian Education A Mind At A Time: How Every Child Can Succeed – Mel Levine, M.D. RE - 7 Laws of Teaching