Teaching

What is Teaching?

Teaching can be simply defined as the process that enables a person to do something by instruction. The key activities of teaching that we use are:

To instill and impart knowledge.
To instruct, train and to educate.
To enable the pupil to do something.

In other words, you teach a lesson which includes knowledge but also an objective that the children need to achieve.

How is One taught?

To be teachable, a person must be open minded and want to learn. Our prayer should be that God will first of all teach us and then enable us to impart this knowledge to our class. The key parts of learning that we must keep in mind are:

They need to be open minded, so as to be able to listen and remember.
They need to want to learn and be trained.
They need to be able to understand and be instructed.
They need to be able to act upon or reproduce what is required by the teaching.

The Teaching Cycle:

Teaching follows a cycle that is repeated for each lesson that we learn. The Bible shows that we learn, "Line by line ... here a little and there a little" (Isaiah 28:9-10 KJV). In other words, we learn by adding knowledge to what we already know. Your job as the teacher is thus to move the knowledge front of the pupil from, "What he knows" to "What he needs to learn":

The Teaching Cycle

Teaching Objectives:

When you teach, you need to have a clear aim in mind. A good teaching objective should be:

Brief enough to be remembered.
Clear enough to be written down.
Specific enough to be achieved.

A non-specific example is: "To help the class realize the importance of Prayer."

A better example would be: "To help the child understand the importance of daily prayer, and begin a program of daily devotions." This objective is more specific and lends itself to the selection of an appropriate teaching method.

Audience Considerations:

Before teaching, consider the children in your class and ask how suitable the lesson is for them, and whether you will need to revise your plans to effectively teach the group.

Background

What are their religious background and beliefs?
What are their home circumstances?

Capability

Are they sufficiently dexterous to do handicrafts?
Do they have sufficient ability in speaking, reading or understanding English?

Mental

Are you gearing the lesson to suit their age group?
Are you going to use words that they can easily understand?
Are you going to explain Christian terms used in the lesson?

Visual Aids

Are you going to use illustrations to clarify concepts of the topic?
Are you going to use visual aids to excite their imagination?
Are you going to use quizzes or games to increase what they remember?

Heart

Are you reaching out to the children in love?
Are you letting the Holy Spirit minister through you?

If you match your lesson to your audience, you will gain and keep the children's attention and be well on the way to achieving your teaching goals and having an enthusiastic class!

God bless.